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.
Heavy burden
Escudero said that what was clear to him was that the President was having a hard time with the decision of choosing his desired successor.
It does not mean that the LP members are not qualified, it could just mean that the President is weighing several options, including winnability, the commitment to his reform program, and sincerity, he said.
Also on the President’s mind is the fact that there are people waiting for his guidance on who to support. If he makes the wrong choice, he would be blamed, Escudero said.
“That is the heavier burden probably that he is carrying, according to him,” he added.
1st time meet
A well-placed Palace source on Friday said nothing concrete came out of the President’s meeting with the two senators that lasted for more than four hours.
What was clear was that the President wanted the two senators to meet with him and Roxas, and that the 2013 coalition under which Poe and Escudero ran, would remain intact, the source said.
The source said no horse trading took place. Instead, it was a relaxed meeting that started at 1:30 p.m. and ended shortly before 6 p.m.
There was no one else at the meeting but it was the first time that the President met with Poe and Escudero together.
“The President and the two senators did not discuss who would run for President and Vice President under this coalition,” the source said, requesting anonymity for lack of authority to speak to the media.
Lunch meeting with Roxas
The Inquirer has learned that the President met with Roxas and Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad, an LP leader, at the Palace on Friday.
READ: Roxas confirms meeting with Aquino, but won’t bare details
The lunch meeting was apparently an offshoot of Mr. Aquino’s meeting with Poe and Escudero on Thursday, according to the Inquirer source who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak to the media.
Roxas, in a statement, confirmed the meeting but said that as a Cabinet member he considered the meeting with the President “privileged conversation.”
“With due respect and deference to the President who has yet to speak on the matter, I will not discuss the details of my meeting with the President and Secretary Butch Abad this lunchtime,” he said.
“However, I am confident that what we have been working on for the past five years and the continuity of the reforms that have brought unprecedented benefits to our people remain paramount in the President’s mind. This consideration will define his choice in 2016,” Roxas added.
No offer of any kind
Escudero said there was no offer of any position of any kind to either himself or Poe during the meeting.
He did not get the sense that he was being persuaded not to team up with Poe because of a desire of certain LP members for a Roxas-Poe ticket. He said his discussion with Mr. Aquino, who is a close friend, was lighthearted.
In a text message late Thursday, Poe also said particular positions were not tackled at the Palace meeting.
“No specific commitments or positions were mentioned,” she said.
What the President discussed was his wish for his allies to remain together, Poe and Escudero said.
According to Escudero, Mr. Aquino told the senators that he would prefer a united ticket in the 2016 elections.
“We discussed 2016 but only to the extent of hopefully having a united ticket,” Poe added.
The President hoped that the coalition that had backed him in previous elections would remain intact and support his anointed one, said Escudero.
Doing a Cory?
Mr. Aquino recalled the situation in 1992 when several allies of his mother, then President Corazon Aquino, vied for the presidency, said Escudero.
President Cory chose not to endorse the ruling party’s presumptive presidential bet, House Speaker Ramon Mitra, a most loyal Cory supporter through the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship. President Cory endorsed Fidel Ramos.
But given that the President has not decided yet who to back, it would be difficult to say whether his chosen one could get the coalition’s backing, he noted.
Meeting with Roxas
Escudero said he was open to the meeting with Roxas, and was leaving the agenda up to the President.
As to what such a meeting could accomplish, he said it could keep lines open between each of them.
“Whatever the decision of anyone, it would not be a reason to fight, lambast each other or take things personally. We can always learn something from discussions, dialogues could always contribute something good. There is nothing to lose,” he said.
Escudero said he and Roxas are on speaking terms.
But there is no ignoring their political history. In 2010, Escudero endorsed the vice-presidential candidacy of Jejomar Binay over that of Roxas, who was Mr. Aquino’s running mate. Binay won.
But Escudero and Binay have apparently had a falling-out. In 2013, Binay dropped Escudero from his party’s senatorial slate after he failed to appear in the party’s sorties. Escudero was one of the common candidates of the opposition and administration coalitions before Binay decided to dump him.
Escudero said his meeting with the President would help him in making up his mind whether or not to run for higher office in 2016.
Roxas reaction
Sought for comment earlier yesterday about the President’s meeting with the two senators, Roxas said he agreed that the LP and its coalition allies should maintain their relationship and rally behind common candidates in 2016.
Those supporting the President’s daang matuwid (straight path) advocacy should join together in continuing its gains during the past five years, he told reporters in Batangas City.
“That’s how it should be,” he said, “because those who are supporting ‘daang matuwid’ are advocating stability in our country and we maintain our belief that if there’s no corruption, there’s no poverty.”
Asked if he and the President would sit down with Poe and Escudero, Roxas said he was scheduled to meet with Mr. Aquino over lunch yesterday.
Asked who between Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte he would choose as his running mate, Roxas quipped: “Why only them? We have a partner here in Batangas,” referring to Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos, the wife of Sen. Ralph Recto, an LP member.
Pressed further if Santos may eventually end up as his running mate, he replied: “Why not? (But) it’s not for me to say.” With reports from Marlon Ramos and Nikko Dizon/ TVJ