Cayetano ‘dreams of changing’ PH but remains fickle about 2016 plans

MANILA, Philippines—After saying that he was not certain about running for higher office in 2016, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano is now singing a slightly different tune, saying he dreams of “changing the country,” which, he said “can be done with a good presidency.”

Cayetano, in an interview last October, said that “All politicians want to run, but whether (I’m) running in 2016, I don’t know.”

But asked again on Wednesday if he would still pursue his presidential bid in 2016 despite his low ranking in the surveys, the senator said: “Yes. Yes I still dream of changing the country and still dream that it can be done with a good presidency.”

“However, having said that, I’m very practical so it depends on what surveys you look at because there are some surveys where (some of) the candidacy of some of the NP candidates including myself [is] viable,” he added.

There were some surveys, he said, where some candidates of the Nacionalista Party (NP) including him had a good standing in the poll with only three to five names of possible presidential candidates.

Asked how he ranked based on a three-way or five-way survey, Cayetano said: “Very good, Number 2 to 3. Depende kung sino ang nandu’n kasi maraming candidates ang nag-aagawan ng boto e (It depends on who will run, because right now, there are a lot of prospects fighting for the votes)…”

Vice President Jejomar Binay, who announced his presidential bid, remains the voters’ top choice based on surveys conducted by two polling firms, the Pulse Asia and Social Weather Station.

Originally posted: 3:18 PM | Wednesday, January 7th, 2015

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