Zamora: Binay, Roxas still leading contenders for 2016 election

House Minority leader Ronaldo Zamora (Photo from congress.gov.ph) and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas (Inquirer file photo)

MANILA, Philippines—House Minority leader Ronaldo Zamora said Friday Vice President Jejomar Binay and Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas were still the top prospects for the presidential race in 2016 and all the rest were just pretenders.

“In order to have a serious chance at winning the presidency, one has to have funds, an organization or a party, and name recall. At this point, only Binay and Roxas have these, the rest are just pretenders,” Zamora said in an interview.

Zamora, San Juan’s representative in the House of Representatives, is perceived to be a backer of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano of the Nacionalista Party, who has announced his desire to run for president in the 2016 elections. But Zamora said Cayetano merely had an office in a building owned by the Zamoras at the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Binay has already announced his plan to pursue his presidential ambition with either Sen. Jinggoy Estrada or Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos as his vice presidential running mate.

The ruling Liberal Party has continued to look to Roxas as its presidential bet in 2016 despite his narrow loss to Binay in 2010.

Some LP insiders claim that President Benigno Aquino III has been coaxing his friend, Sen. Francis Escudero, to be Roxas’ running mate. Other LP members believe that the President could follow in his mother’s footsteps and choose another bet outside of LP.  The late President Corazon Aquino picked Fidel V. Ramos over the administration party’s choice then, former House Speaker Ramon Mitra, in the 1992 presidential elections.

LP leaders reckoned that an endorsement by the President, whose popularity has remained relatively high since his landslide victory four years ago, could provide the winning edge to any aspirant who was popular but lacked the necessary resources such as Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Grace Poe.

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