Senator Grace Poe. FILE PHOTO
President Aquino is still hoping to convince Sen. Grace Poe to be the running mate of Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas and keep the administration coalition intact for the 2016 elections.
But the President admitted that three months before the deadline for the filing certificates of candidacy was not the ideal time to make a hard push to try and convince Poe to slide down to Vice President.
“We are still hoping. We still want to have that very unified group that will preserve the coalition as much as possible that can ensure the victory of the agenda,” Aquino told reporters in an interview following his speech at the 111th anniversary of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The President said he could not allow the gains of the anticorruption thrust of his administration to be put at risk with a change in government.
Before endorsing Roxas on Friday, the President had met several times with Poe, who declared that she was more comfortable running with Sen. Francis Escudero than with Roxas.
Aquino said that he and Poe, Roxas and Escudero wanted to continue his reform agenda in the next administration.
“Hopefully, we can get to board one—one route towards this direction. But we recognize that there might be some differences that are not substantial. But perhaps right now might not be the right moment to fully coalesce,” said the President, who pointed out that nothing was final until all candidates had firmed up their plans by October.
Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice said the LP remained hopeful that Poe would “make a sacrifice” on her own volition.
“We believe she is not ready to be President. If she were a fruit, we want to take her but we won’t eat her until she’s ripe,” he said.
Full confidence
Aside from Poe, the President said there were others being considered for Roxas’ running mate but he preferred that Roxas himself make the announcement.
“I am part of the discussions but at the end of the day, the presidential candidate should have full confidence in the running mate. It’s not solely the decision of Mar. We are a party that prides itself on consensus building,” Aquino said.
The President also committed to aggressively campaign for Roxas. He hoped the campaign would veer away from personality politics to platform-based politics.
He told critics his administration had no “tradition” of using government funds to push its candidates.
“By the tone of these critics, they sound like I have no right to join the campaign. If you’re President of the republic, does it mean you have no more opinions? If I endorse somebody, will I leave him to fend for himself?” Aquino said.
Erice earlier said the President should campaign for Roxas as if he were running for the presidency himself.
As this developed, members of the Liberal Party will converge on Green Hills, San Juan City, Tuesday in show of force for Roxas.
Call for meeting
Quezon City Rep. Bolet Banal said Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Senate President Franklin Drilon had called for the gathering which would be held at the Gloria Maris restaurant, located just a few blocks from historic Club Filipino where President Aquino announced his endorsement of Roxas’ presidential bid last Friday.
“Drilon and Belmonte called for this meeting of our friends from different parts of the country,” Banal told reporters after attending Roxas’ farewell speech at the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
“They support and believe the ‘daang matuwid’ (straight path) of President Aquino. They also support the President’s choice of his successor who will continue the reforms of the straight path,” he added.
According to Banal, calls for a meeting gathered momentum after Aquino made known his support of Roxas’ candidacy.
“Even other groups and sectors were asking how they could show their support for Secretary Mar Roxas,” he said.
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