Drilon shoots down prospect of Aquino running again after term ends

Senator President Franklin Drilon is not in favor of President Benigno Aquino III seeking any other positions in government after his term ends in 2016.

“If you ask me, I think the President will not seek any local position, that’s my assessment, after his presidency,” Drilon said during a weekly forum at the Senate on Thursday.

“And personally, I’d prefer that so that he becomes a statesman…,” he added, when sought for comment on media reports that the President might consider running for a different position next year.

Drilon said he was not aware that there was such a plan and that there was no discussion on that within the Liberal Party where he and Aquino both belong.

READ: Aquino tells why he’s open to 2nd term | ‘Let him have peace away from gov’t’ — Escudero on calls for Aquino’s 2nd term

But personally, he said, he was not in favor that a president would seek another post in government after his or her term in Malacañang.

“I’m not in favor of that. Period,” he said.

Aquino’s predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, ran and won a seat in the House of Representatives after she stepped down in 2010.

Ousted President Joseph Estrada, on the other hand, ran but lost to Aquino in 2010. He is now the incumbent mayor of Manila after he ran and won in 2013. IDL