Liberal Party presidential bet Mar Roxas and Sen. Grace Poe. FILE PHOTOS
“I invite Senator Grace Poe to join this tandem.”
Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas invited Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday to be his running mate in the 2016 presidential elections under the administration coalition.
“Inimbita ho natin, bukas po ang ang partido, bukas po ako. Inimbita ho namin si Senadora Grace Poe na sumama dito sa tandem na ito, na sumama sa ating movement, sa ating laban na pagpapatuloy, pagpapalawak ng daang matuwid,” Roxas said during a live guesting on GMA 7’s “Unang Hirit.”
(The party and I are inviting Senator Grace Poe to join this tandem, to join this movement and to continue the fight and the straight path.)
Poe, meanwhile, said that as a friend, she is open to meet with Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, who asked her on television Wednesday morning to be his running mate in 2016.
“I first heard of his invitation to meet through media also this morning. Prior to that we have not spoken about it,” Poe said in a text message to reporters.
But asked if she was willing to sit down again with Roxas to talk about the 2016 elections, the senator said: “(I’m) always open to meet Secretary Roxas as a friend. But there is no particular date arranged.”
Roxas, however, disproved the statement of Poe that she was not asked by his camp to join the administration coalition to be its vice presidential candidate.
He said that he had previously asked Poe to become his vice president months before he was officially endorsed by President Benigno Aquino III as the administration’s presidential candidate last July 30 at Club Filipino.
READ: Poe says no invitation from LP to run as Roxas’ VP
Recalling Poe’s answer, Roxas quoted the senator who said that she “still thinking about it.”
Roxas was also not surprised by Poe’s statement, saying that the senator might have not considered his offer as formal.
“Baka siguro akala niya walang pormal [na alok] kasi hindi pa naman ako endorsed noong mga panahon na iyon (Maybe she thought that there was no formal offer yet because I was not endorsed during that time),” he added.
The LP presidential bet said that he will formalize his offer to Poe within the day.
The two first met about next year’s elections last July 15 with President Benigno Aquino III and Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
At that time, none of the three–Roxas, Poe and Escudero–have declared their plans in 2016 until last week when the President formally endorsed Roxas to be the administration’s bet next year.
While he has endorsed Roxas to be his successor, Aquino has said that he still wants Poe to remain in the coalition to secure a united vote in the 2016 elections.
READ: Aquino says he’s still ‘pining’ for Grace Poe
Poe and Escudero have continued to remain mum about their plans next year though they emerged to be the voters’ choice for president, and vice president, respectively, based on the latest Pulse Asia survey. JE/IDL
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