Poe, Escudero on the road: Powerful 3rd Force shaping up

By: Leila B. Salaverria, Nikko Dizon - 9 years ago

Senators Grace Poe and Chiz Escudero. INQUIRER PHOTO

Only days after meeting with President Benigno Aquino III to discuss 2016 election matters, Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero are appearing together at the T’nalak Festival on Saturday in Koronadal, South Cotabato, fueling speculations that the two are definitely running as a team in 2016.

This is the first time the close friends are appearing in a sortie as a team that would indicate that the six-hourlong meeting in Malacañang on Wednesday, failed to lead to a consensus on a possible team-up for 2016 that Mr. Aquino would endorse.

The meeting included Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the presumptive standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), and Budget Secretary Butch Abad, an LP official.

Poe will be the guest speaker at the T’nalak Festival in Koronadal, where Escudero is also a guest. They are scheduled to have radio guestings.

Also expected to join them is Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar, a member of the Nacionalista Party, a coalition partner of the administration coalition.

It was South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes, a Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) member, who invited Poe and Escudero to the festival.

If there is an indication that the Poe-Escudero team-up is a “go” in 2016, it is their appearance at the Koronadal festival. This is the first time the two will be seen in what could be considered an unofficial campaign sortie.

“They are testing the waters,” said House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., the LP vice chair.

Rock solid

Several sources interviewed by the Inquirer have said that the President knows the 2016 team-up of Poe and Escudero is rock solid and that his dream of a “coalition” between Roxas and Poe is fading fast.

“President Aquino is not stopping a Grace and Chiz tandem in 2016, if the result of the dinner last Wednesday is any indication,” said a source close to the two senators.

The six-hour dinner at Bahay Pangarap hosted by the President for Poe, Escudero and Roxas did not yield any concrete results.

READ: Aquino hosts make-or-break dinner meeting

There was no categorical declaration or agreement among the four, particularly on who should run as President and Vice President under an Aquino-endorsed administration ticket.

READ: Guess who’s coming to dinner at the Palace

“The nonconclusive ending of the meeting indicates that the President is not opposed to team Grace-Chiz. That dinner was the perfect opportunity for the President to say something categorical but he did not say anything. The President did not, and has not, asked Grace and Chiz to reconsider their 2016 plans,” the source said.

Another meeting among the four is scheduled before the President’s State of the Nation Address on July 27.

Aquino’s heart for Roxas

“President Aquino’s heart is for Mar but his brain and every bone in his body are for Grace,” said another source close to the President.

The source explained that the President is a firm believer in “the numbers,” referring to voter preference surveys.

Poe is leading in the surveys while Roxas continues to be a far fourth.

READ: Grace Poe a sure winner, says Roxas’ ally

The sources said the President has known that the coalition he wants may be beyond reach but he continues to pursue it for several reasons.

This includes taking into account what the LP wants, his alliance with Roxas, as well as consideration for Roxas’ mother, Judy Araneta-Roxas, who had announced her son’s presidential bid in May.

READ: Surprise: Roxas tells LP he will run in 2016

A Palace source said the President could not break a mother’s heart.

Political analyst Prospero de Vera said “the series of dinners mean that the President cannot lock in a Roxas-Poe or a Poe-Roxas tandem because it has been dragging on.”

Elephant in the room

“The elephant in the room is Chiz. The President’s convincing power has not produced the expected result,” De Vera said, referring to Escudero by his nickname.

The mere fact that they can issue statements about the meetings indicate that Poe and Escudero are “negotiating from a position of strength.”

“Notice Mar is excessively quiet while the other two are telegraphing their punches. They could be saying [the President] could carry both [Roxas and Poe-Escudero] instead of just one of the two presidential candidates,” De Vera said.

The two senators enjoy the “luxury of being able to telegraph their messages to put pressure on whoever is telegraphing,” he said.

On the other hand, silence and no telegraphing of punches only happens “if both parties are negotiating from an even or neutral position,” he said.

LP leaders’ thinking

The Inquirer asked Abad if Roxas would still run for President if Mr. Aquino does not endorse him.

“We did not go down to that detail yet. The President laid down key premises for the discussion, which he mentioned to the media,” Abad replied in a text message.

These are the acknowledgements of the transformation that benefited the people for the past five years, that despite these positive changes, “much more still needs to be done,” and that “it is important that the transformation process must continue on to the next administration.”

He said senior LP leaders, Senate President Franklin Drilon and Belmonte, expressed their support for these premises “and the process he has initiated.”

The President, Abad, Drilon and Belmonte met on Thursday night. Roxas was not at the meeting.

Abad said Mr. Aquino updated Drilon and Belmonte about what happened at the Wednesday dinner with Roxas, Poe and Escudero.

The only complete team

Among all those who have declared interest in running in 2016, the only “complete team” in terms of having running mates are Poe and Escudero.

Roxas’ allies are still intent on having Poe for his running mate. Vice President Jejomar Binay has no vice-presidential candidate yet.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has announced that he is running for Vice President but he does not have a presidential candidate. The same goes for Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano who is rumored to be joining the vice-presidential race.

Poe and Escudero have yet to announce their plans for 2016, but they have repeatedly spoken of their desire to remain independents and not join a political party.

According to a source close to Poe and Escudero, if the two decide to push through with their plan to run as independents, they can expect to get support from politicians from various parties.

Support the ‘p’s’

The source said the politicians who have indicated their intention to support the two would come from “all parties with a ‘p,’” meaning most of the political parties currently in existence, save for the opposition United Nationalist Alliance of Binay.

Supporters could come from the LP, the NP, the National Unity Party, and the Nationalist People’s Coalition, the source said.

The NPC president, Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao, earlier said that party members are inclined to support a Poe-Escudero tandem.

Leaving Chiz out

De Vera said that Poe could be absorbed by other political parties like the NP and even the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban, if Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte does not push through with his presidential bid.

“I don’t think any of the parties would carry both [Poe and Escudero] because that would be taking in two people from the outside. [An option] for the two would be to run for independent but that is difficult because nobody has done it in our political history,” he said.

“The catch, really, is the parties will try to adopt Poe as their presidential candidate, put in their own vice-presidential candidate and leave Chiz out in the cold,” De Vera said.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III thinks Poe has yet to make a final decision and is still “seriously considering the possibility of running.”

But Sotto thinks that if she decides to do so, she will run as an independent.

“She’s doing fine as an independent. Why disturb it? She can be adopted by other parties. If ever she decides to run, I don’t see any reason [for her] to join a political party,” said Sotto in a phone interview.

What she has learned

Poe on Friday said that while she and Mr. Aquino have not come to an agreement about the 2016 elections after meeting four times, she said it has helped her to see what needs to be done to improve the country’s situation.

“These meetings with the President help me have a wider perspective of what we need to attain for our country,” she said in a text message.

“In the end, whatever comes out of these meetings should help us discern and selflessly decide on what we should do to achieve genuine progress and reforms for our nation,” she said.

Poe spoke of her admiration for the President, though she believes more could be done.

She said she believes in his sincerity.

“What he represents has inspired many of our countrymen, and has given us hope that it is possible to have a good person occupy the highest post in the land,” she said.

But she also said that even with the progress in good governance, “even the President agrees that this is a process that should be strengthened.”

“And much more needs to be done to achieve inclusive growth,” she added. TVJ