NPC, NP defer poll planning; to bare 2016 bets after Sona

BOTH the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) have decided to hold off planning for the elections until after President Benigno Aquino III’s last State of the Nation Address (Sona).

“We are going to call for a meeting. The agreement was to call for a meeting after the Sona,” said Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III of the NPC. He spoke with Palace reporters on Tuesday at the sidelines of an event in Malacañang.

Sotto said they would discuss during that meeting who they will support as candidates for the president and vice president.

On the other hand, Senator Cynthia Villar of the NP said no movement is happening yet in their ranks because they are waiting for their members to announce their candidacies.

“Maybe after the Sona because we will see each other then,” she said.

She said only Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has declared his decision to run as vice president in 2016.

READ: Trillanes: I will run for vice president in 2016

Villar said other members who are mulling to run for higher office include Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Alan Peter Cayetano.

READ: Bongbong Marcos mulls 2016 presidential bid | Alan Cayetano says 2016 plans depend on survey results

“Senator Trillanes very clear he will run as vice president with or without the party. But the two others, I don’t know what their plans are,” Villar said.

NP and NPC are members of Liberal Party (LP)-led administration coalition formed before the 2013 elections. Other members are Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party, and the National Unity Party.

The coalition adopted Senators Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Grace Poe as guest senatorial candidates although both ran as independent. Escudero and Poe, together with LP stalwart and Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, are among personalities being considered to run as LP standard-bearers.

Aquino has met with the three in a bid to keep the coalition intact. It is not clear if he has made up his mind about who to support as president and vice president. A number of LP members have been pushing for the candidacy of Roxas, who stepped back in 2010 to allow Aquino to run for president. But Poe and Escudero are also considering running as an independent tandem.

Before running as independent, Escudero was a member of the NPC.

Sotto said many NPC members would support Poe, who led the last electoral survey of Pulse Asia, if she decides to run in 2016.

“Many of us will be supporting her. I for one,” he said.

“There are others also headed by Mark Cojuangco who are supportive of Vice President Binay,” he added.

Binay had been leading the presidential surveys before Poe closed in on him.

Asked if he thinks Poe will run as vice president, he said, “I doubt it because I know for a fact that Senator Escudero is running as an independent vice presidential candidate. I don’t think she would want to not support him. I think the commitment is to support him.”

However, he said he is not sure if the Poe-Escudero tandem would push through.

“They are seriously considering it. That I know for a fact,” he said.

Villar, on the other hand, said their support for Poe would depend if she would join the coalition. She said both Trillanes and Cayetano have declared they won’t support Binay but she is not sure if they are for Poe or Roxas.