Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, President Benigno Aquino III’s presumptive choice to succeed him, is in a “good” place despite lagging behind in surveys, a top Liberal Party strategist said Tuesday.
Though Roxas was trailing Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Grace Poe in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad was confident he would experience a “bump upwards” once he declared his candidacy.
Roxas placed third with 19 percent in the SWS survey, which was topped by Binay with 37 percent followed by Poe with 21 percent.
Silver lining
Abad, who was a campaign manager for Aquino in the 2010 presidential race, saw a silver lining in the results, saying Binay’s standing with 37 percent meant that “those who may not vote for him is about 63 percent.”
“Eventually this thing will simplify into two or three candidates so in that sense, (Roxas’ standing) at this stage, I think, is good,” Abad told reporters at the sidelines of the President’s signing of the 2015 national budget.
“But (the number) will definitely be better if eventually he decides to run and the party selects him because there is always a bump upwards when candidates declare themselves available and even more so if they are endorsed by the sitting president.”
“So there are more positive sides, upsides I should say, that he will enjoy once those declarations are made,” he added.
People have no basis yet
Abad downplayed surveys on prospective winners in the 2016 presidential election, saying “people have not really sat down to think about these things.”
“These are just really top-of-mind responses since there’s only one candidate who has declared himself a candidate in 2016 and all the others have not,” he said.
“I think the people don’t have the basis (yet) really to make firmer judgment as to who they should pick.”
Binay has long announced his intention to run for president, to which he attributed the recent exposes in the Senate about his alleged corruption and ill-gotten wealth. He claimed the allegations were rehashed and were intended to derail his presidential run.
Abad said it was “premature” to tackle the possibility of the LP adopting a guest candidate. The idea was floated because of Roxas’ poor showing in the surveys.
LP’s choice
Abad said his party “should be given the opportunity to consider first candidates within its ranks.”
“I think that’s the first thing that the party, any political party, will do—look within its ranks to see who are probable and test the possibilities for the candidate or those candidates,” he said.
“The talk about choosing from the outside is a secondary process that should happen after the initial process made by the party.”
RELATED STORIES