Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—One down, who’s next?
Suddenly, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano isn’t sure about running for president in 2016, no thanks to a steep drop in his rating.
Despite his high-profile role in the Senate inquiry into the Makati carpark fiasco, Cayetano saw his rating dip from 5 percent to 1 percent in the Pulse Asia September survey of voters’ preferences for potential presidential candidates in 2016.
In that survey, Vice President Jejomar Binay led the pack with 31 percent.
“All politicians want to run, but whether I’m running in 2016 I don’t know. With the present ratings, who would run with such low ratings?” Cayetano told reporters in Taguig City.
The Senate majority floor leader had dropped broad hints about his presidential plans. In fact, as early as March, he formed a team to monitor surveys and gauge his chances. He also planned to mount an advertising campaign to boost his chances.
“I want to be President of this country someday. I think I can do something great for God and our people. But is 2016 my time? Or is it 2022? 2028? Or never?” Cayetano said over national TV in early March.
And early on, even before the Senate decided to hear the allegedly overpriced P2.28-billion carpark, he had been taking a dig at Vice President Binay, the consistent front-runner in the polls.
That strategy, however, may have partly backfired on the senator. It may have worked in bringing down Binay’s ratings, however.
Cayetano, who has teamed up with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV in taking Binay to task over the carpark, shrugged off the apparent backlash of the inquiry against him in the polls.
“When I do investigations, I don’t really care about the consequences or about the ratings,” he said.
The senator said he had been warned of becoming an open target for attacks if he joined the inquiry, but went ahead just the same. Otherwise, he said, Trillanes could hold the fort on his own.
“If I was really intent on running for President, I would not have joined the investigation,” he said.
At the hearing by the Senate Blue Ribbon sub-committee, Binay was accused of ordering the rigging of bidding for infrastructure projects to favor a contractor, and of pocketing kickbacks from the deals. He was recently accused of owning a P1.2-billion, 350-hectare high-end farm in Batangas. He has flatly denied the charges.
But would he reconsider running for the country’s top post? “As I said from the start, I never said I’m bent on anything. If the doors are open… if it’s not for me, it’s not for me. I’m a fatalistic person. Wherever God wants me to put in, whatever the position is, I’m happy anywhere we are.” Cayetano said.
Besides, Cayetano said, he and his wife, Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano, were now working on having a baby.
“In fact, our focus now is not the presidency, but to have a baby— I can tell you very honestly,” he said.
For now, under the circumstances, Cayetano ruled out running for vice president.
“My problem with being VP is that, unless you are super-close to the President, you cannot really implement your plans. As I said, I’d rather be a senator, or maybe a mayor than a VP, but nothing is final,” he said.