Aquino seeks Roxas-Poe meet

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Sen. Grace Poe. FILE PHOTOS

With his self-imposed deadline less than a month away, President Benigno Aquino III is having a hard time deciding who to anoint as his presidential candidate in 2016, according to Sen. Francis Escudero who met with the President and Sen. Grace Poe on Thursday.

According to Escudero, Mr. Aquino’s decision to meet with nonparty mates underscored the fact that he has no decision yet and is considering other options, including Poe and himself, on who to endorse in 2016.

He said Mr. Aquino had proposed a meeting between Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Poe, Escudero and himself, preferably before his last State of the Nation Address on July 27.

READ: Aquino asks Poe, Escudero for a meeting with Roxas / Escudero still undecided on support for Roxas in 2016

Escudero disclosed directly that he asked the President during the four-and-a-half hour meeting at the Palace whether he had already decided whom to support.

“He said he had none yet,” the senator told reporters on Friday.

“The mere fact that he’s talking to Senator Poe, and he has no decision yet up to now even if only one member of the (ruling Liberal Party) indicated an intention to run, is proof that he has not made up his mind and he’s widening his perspective when it comes to his options,” Escudero said.

Poe has topped the most recent presidential and vice-presidential candidate preference surveys. Escudero has also been rating highly in the vice-presidential preference surveys.

Roxas, who famously gave up his presidential ambitions to give way to the then Senator Aquino in the presidential race of 2010, is the LP’s only contender for the position in 2016, but has been hard put to improve his numbers.

Poe and Escudero, who ran on the senatorial slate of the administration coalition in 2013 but have chosen to remain independents, are rumored to be contemplating a team-up in 2016.