Aquino close to endorsing Roxas as his anointed

By: Nikko Dizon - 9 years ago

Video by Cathy Miranda/INQUIRER.net

SANTA BARBARA, Iloilo—Interior Secretary Mar Roxas is a dependable worker who always gets the job done, President Benigno Aquino III said on Friday.

Did the President simply praise Roxas or did he drop a hint that Roxas was his chosen candidate for President in next year’s general elections?

Mr. Aquino has said he will announce his chosen candidate after his last address to a joint session of Congress on July 27.

He has also said, however, that Roxas remains at the top of the administration’s list of potential candidates.

Speaking during Independence Day rites here, Mr. Aquino said it was Roxas who presented the idea of creating a Negros Island Region, bringing to his attention the clamor of the people in Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.

READ: Aquino OKs creation of Negros Island Region

“You know, Mar Roxas, a true son of Panay, advanced this initiative,’’ he said. “[As] in the past, we know that whenever we task Mar Roxas to lead a project or program, you can expect that initiative will succeed.”

Among those on the stage with the President was Roxas himself, as well as other leaders of the ruling Liberal Party like Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. In the background was the nearly 200-year-old Santa Barbara Church.

What Roxas thinks

After the reception for foreign diplomats that followed the ceremonies, reporters asked Roxas what he thought of the President’s statements.

“Let’s make the President’s statement speak for itself,” Roxas said.

Drilon, in a talk with reporters, said he agreed with observations that the President “stopped short” of endorsing Roxas.

But he added: “Let the President do the announcement.”

READ: Roxas will be LP’s bet—Drilon

Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas said the administration’s presidential candidate would most probably come from the LP.

“It has about 85 percent probability,” Treñas said.

Mr. Aquino has been meeting with Sen. Grace Poe, who topped the 2013 senatorial election and is now running second to Vice President Jejomar Binay in the presidential polls, ahead of Roxas.

Poe, however, has said she has not decided whether she will run for higher office next year.

READ: Drilon: Roxas can beat Jojo Binay, Grace Poe

Mr. Aquino is also scheduled to meet with Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero next week as part of his “consultations” on the 2016 elections.

Right leader

In his speech, Mr. Aquino said that on his recent trip to Japan, he was asked how the reforms he had begun would continue after he stepped down.

“My response to them: It is up to the Filipino people. They will continue the change, which they themselves started,’’ Mr. Aquino said.

“They know what is right from what is wrong. I am optimistic that they will choose the right leader, especially because they have seen what our agenda of good governance brings.”

The President said the Filipino people demonstrated in 1986 and in 2010 their unity and “put an end to the crooked ways of the past.”

“Now that we are nearing the end of our term, I remember what those who stood up against martial law asked those who hesitated to stand up against the dictatorship: ‘If not now, when? If not you, who?’” Mr. Aquino said. With a report from Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas