Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said he is starting to get feelers to become the running mate of either Senator Grace Poe or Local Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas.
Cayetano said there was no formal offer yet from both camps but the idea was already being floated by supporters and common friends of Poe and Roxas, who have yet to declare whether or not they would run for president next year.
“Noong nakita nila na without Grace sa vice president, nagna-number one ako, they were asking if we are interested—hindi si Secretary Roxas mismo kundi ilan sa mga nakapalibot sa kanya,” he said when asked during a press conference on Friday about reports of a possible “Roxas-Cayetano” tandem in 2016.
(When they saw that I’m number one without Grace in the vice presidential survey, they were asking if we are interested—not Secretary Roxas himself but some of the people around him)
“But it’s the same thing for example, some of the people in the business community supporting Grace have asked me whether I’m open to a Grace-Cayetano and I said, unang-una, bago n’yo ako tanungin, tanungin n’yo muna ang kandidato ninyo kasi s’ya na ang nagsabi na may gusto s’yang katambal (before you ask me, you have to ask your candidate because she already has a preferred running mate),” he added.
He was apparently referring to Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who Poe had earlier said she was more comfortable to run with in case she decides to run for president next year.
READ: Poe ‘comfortable’ with Escudero as her VP
Like Poe and Roxas, Escudero have yet to publicly declare his plans next year.
Cayetano also made it clear that even the people who had floated the idea made no formal offer for him to run for president, simply calling the discussions as “formal inquiries.”
“Let me just say that there are formal inquiries but not from the party itself and not from the candidate himself,” he said, referring to the camp of Roxas.
“It’s simply, they were asking ano ang plano ni Senator Alan (what Senator Alan’s plans are)? Is he open to run for vice president, nasa ganung stage pa lang (it’s only on that stage),” he further said.
But at present, Cayetano reiterated that his focus was to run for president. IDL
READ: Cayetano: ‘If I do run, I will run for president’ but…