No Poe, Escudero in 2016 LP ticket? No problem, says Palace

IF presidential survey front-runner Senator Grace Poe and Senator Chiz Escudero decide not to join the administration in a unified ticket in the 2016 elections, the Liberal Party is prepared.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that like any organization or political party, LP is bracing for the worst.

“As in any organization, as in any individual, the answer is: you prepare—you hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Lacierda said at a press briefing.

The Palace official said that no final parameters have been set as to how the LP will collaborate with Poe and Escudero who are not members of the ruling party.

“These are political configurations, which have yet to be finalized. So for that particular reason, we have discussions with the President—Senator Grace, Senator Escudero and Secretary Mar Roxas,” he said.

Poe and Escudero are not members of any political party but ran under the administration’s “Team PNoy” senatorial ticket in 2013. It was a coalition of LP, Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party and the National Unity Party.

Last week, President Benigno Aquino III met with Poe and Escudero in a bid to keep the coalition intact for the 2016 polls.

During the meeting, Escudero said that Aquino wants the coalition “to support a common bet.”

Poe is the leading presidential candidate in recent opinion polls conducted by the Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia.

Presumed administration bet Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, meanwhile, is only third in polls after Vice President Jejomar Binay and Poe.

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