LP stalwart: Binay has edge in 3-way fight with Poe, Roxas

A LIBERAL Party member and House leader said that Vice President Jejomar Binay might edge out survey frontrunner Senator Grace Poe and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas if the 2016 elections will become a three-way presidential race.

“What I’m saying is sa three-way fight, siyempre mas malaki ang tsansa ni—hindi ko sinasabing mananalo si Vice President (Jejomar Binay)—pero dahil bumaba na ang rating nya, mas mabuti sa kanya na dalawa o tatlo ang kalaban,” House Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales II said in a radio dzBB interview on Sunday.

Gonzales, who is also the head of the Liberal Party’s chair for Parliamentary Caucus, said that although Binay’s ratings dropped, it is yet to translate to higher ratings for Roxas.

“Ang magiging mabigat na kalaban ni Mar ay the vice president. Dahil siyempre yung kay VP…let us accept the fact na bumaba na ang kanyang ratings. Titingnan mo ngayon kung kanino pumunta yong binaba niya. Pinaghatian ba ni Mar, napunta kay Chiz (Escudero), o napunta kay Mar lahat, napunta kay Grace (Poe) o pinaghatian nila down the middle?” he added.

(The Vice President will be Mar’s strongest opponent. Let us accept that VP’s ratings have dropped. However, let us analyze if the points he lost went to Mar, or to Chiz or to Grace or did they share it down the middle?)

Of the three possible candidates, only Binay has publicly declared that he will seek the highest position in the country. Roxas, the presumptive administration bet, has yet to formally announce his presidential bid while Poe remains mum about her 2016 political ambitions.

Last week, President Benigno Aquino III met with Escudero, Roxas and Poe in Malacañang. Talks about what transpired during the dinner at the Palace supposedly centered on Aquino’s desire to keep the administration coalition intact and have a single presidential bet which will be backed by the administration party.

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