NP’s dilemma: What if Marcos, Trillanes, Cayetano all run for VP?

Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Alan Peter Cayetano, and Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

It would be a “zona libre” (free zone) for the Nacionalista Party (NP) if three of its members would run for vice president in 2016, Senator Cynthia Villar said on Tuesday.

Villar, wife of former Senator and NP president Manny Villar, said it would be difficult for the party if its stalwarts —Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and Antonio Trillanes IV— all run for vice president.

So far, only Trillanes has publicly declared his intention to run for vice president.

READ: Trillanes ‘100% sure’ to run as VP

While he has declared his desire to run for president, Cayetano said he had been receiving feelers to run for vice president from supporters of Senator Grace Poe and Local Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.

READ: Alan Cayetano: I’ve been getting feelers to be VP of Poe, Roxas

Marcos, on the other hand, has not publicly declared his plans for 2016. His name, however, has been floated as a possible running-mate of opposition leader Vice President Jejomar Binay.

READ: Binay eyes Bongbong Marcos as VP bet

“Para ngang marami sa kanila ang (tatakbong) vice president, so that would be the difficulty for us; sana kung isa lang from the NP, that would be easy,” Mrs. Villar told reporters.

(It seems like many of them will be running for vice president, so that would be the difficulty for us; if only one of them would just run, then it would be easier for us.)

But what if all three party members to run against each other in next year’s vice presidential race? Then Mrs. Villar said: “E siguro kung hindi namin sila mapigil e ‘di zona libre (If we cannot control them, then it would be a free zone).”

Villar said that in such scenario, NP members are free to support whomever they want.

Unlike Marcos, Cayetano and Trillanes will continue to serve in the Senate until 2019 even if they run and lose in the upcoming elections. IDL