Roxas strengthens hold as LP bet for President, says Abad

By: Maila Ager - 10 years ago

MANILA, Philippines — Secretary Mar Roxas’ “surge” in the latest Pulse Asia survey has further strengthened his hold as the presumptive presidential bet of the Liberal Party (LP), an LP stalwart and Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad told INQUIRER.net on Tuesday.

From 7 percent in July, Roxas’ rating went up to 13 percent in the Pulse Asia survey conducted from September 8 to 15 this year. He came second to Vice President Jejomar Binay, whose rating went down from 41 percent to 31 percent.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

With Roxas’ improved rating, Abad said the LP would further push for his presidential bid in 2016.

“Well especially after the survey today, I’m sure his position as the probable standard bearer of the party has strengthened because of that surge in the latest survey,” Abad said before attending a budget hearing in the Senate.

“And if he maintains that momentum, then I think he can further solidify his hold on his current position as the presumptive presidential candidate of the LP,” he said.

But Abad said until now, Roxas, who heads the Department of Interior and Local Government, has not yet made any declaration if he would seek the presidency in 2016.

“If you recall the speech of the President last Friday, his basic message was ‘balik muna tayo sa trabaho’ and concentrate on the next 21 months and I think the people appreciate that because if you notice, Secretary [Roxas] is just plainly doing his job. No announcements, no endorsements, no fanfare but his rating surged so I think people would like to see us work rather than politicking,” said the Budget Secretary.

Nonetheless, the LP stalwart described the latest survey “intriguing” considering that Roxas is up against Binay, who has publicly declared his presidential bid.

“It’s intriguing because you know the declared candidate has been repeatedly proclaiming himself as a candidate versus somebody who has not and who has just been quietly doing his work. They seem to have gone the opposite directions so I think people appreciate the fact that as the President called us to do, let’s work first,” Abad added.