MANILA, Philippines–With President Aquino out of the 2016 presidential election, the ruling Liberal Party (LP) is searching for the “right candidate,” but Interior Secretary Mar Roxas remains its “presumptive candidate,” allies in the Senate and the House of Representatives said on Wednesday.
Sen. Bam Aquino, an LP member, said the President expected reform-minded individuals to carry on the administration’s policies.
“He will reveal the right candidate at the right time. It’s still too early,” the President’s cousin told reporters. “But for the LP, I think right now the presumptive candidate is Secretary Roxas.”
Another LP stalwart, Sen. Ralph Recto, agreed that many party members were backing Roxas.
“We all know that he is interested in becoming President. Many in the party support it. I don’t know of anyone in the party interested in running for President,” he told reporters.
Recto said an endorsement by the President would boost Roxas’ ratings in the polls. “That will always help. Whoever the President endorses will always help,” he said.
Senate President Franklin Drilon said the President had realized that the “right leader” would have to carry on the administration’s reform policies.
“I have said before that the President is sensitive to the surveys. He’s studying the surveys. And I’m sure that he will listen to his bosses, and he will act in accordance with the national interest,” Drilon said in an interview.
“Now he has come to the conclusion that the reforms he has started can be continued and preserved by electing the right leader,” he added.
Asked if the country’s leader should come from LP’s ranks, Drilon said: “Certainly, we would wish that.”
Right solution
Speaking before semiconductor and electronics industry players on Tuesday, Aquino declared that seeking a second term was not the “right solution.” To ensure the country’s competitiveness, he said he would vote for the “right candidate” in the 2016 presidential race, but did not elaborate.
Aquino first broached the idea of seeking a second term in a TV interview in August. In an interview with the Inquirer later, Aquino said he did not want his administration’s gains to go to waste.
The President said he wanted to fend off those who want to destabilize the government, flush out the aspirants for the presidency in 2016, and fight those who want to make him a lame duck. He later raised the possibility of amending the Constitution to allow him to seek a second term.
Recto said the President’s pronouncement was consistent with the single, fixed six-year term set by the Constitution. “So to me, that is the default position. That is what the Constitution says,” Recto said.
“I concur with the President that a second term may create political turmoil and divisiveness, and is counterproductive in attaining economic development,” opposition Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said.
Presumptive candidate
“Mar has been the presumptive candidate. But as the ruling party running this country, we are all focused on supporting the projects and programs of the President,” said Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento, LP secretary general. “We will have to follow the process under our party constitution in selecting our standard-bearer in due time.”
Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas said: “Now that the President has already declared that a second term is out, the party will focus on its presumptive candidate Secretary Mar Roxas.”
Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas of the LP said that Roxas’ climb in the survey of possible presidential candidates from 6 percent in June to 13 percent in September had made Roxas the most likely LP candidate in 2016.
“We expect his numbers to increase in the coming months,” Vargas said.
Not so fast
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., however, said the entire LP membership had yet to make up its mind on who would be the party’s chosen one in 2016. The LP vice president said the party would choose not only among its ranks but also worthy and winnable candidates among its “allies and believers.”
Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said: “Although Secretary Mar has the edge and the sentimental choice, we should not exclude others who embrace the daang matuwid principle of P-Noy like Sen. Grace Poe or Senator Chiz or Sen. (Alan Peter) Cayetano or Congresswoman Leni Robredo.”
‘Noted’
“Noted,” Vice President Jejomar Binay said with a laugh.
Binay, who has declared early on his bid to seek the presidency in 2016, was asked in Tiaong, Quezon province, about the President’s statement that he was stepping aside at the end of his term. He said he would certainly continue the President’s reform program if elected.
The Vice President said he had been going around to clear his name from corruption charges against him, including the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Building II and ownership of a 350-hectare property in Batangas province dubbed “Hacienda Binay.”
His spokesman, Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, said in a statement: “We are glad that the President has reaffirmed his deference to his late mother’s Freedom Constitution by categorically ruling out the Charter change that would have allowed him to seek a second term.
“Over and above all the present noise about Senate inquiries and upcoming debates, it is Vice President Jojo Binay who has made available for public inspection his record of legal activism and public service over half a century, no less transparently than his declaration to seek the presidency right from the start.”–With reports from Christine O. Avendaño in Manila and Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon