Trillanes: ‘I know for a fact that Grace Poe is running for president’

Senator Grace Poe and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

ILOILO CITY—Senator Grace Poe will announce her bid for the presidency in 2016 next week, according to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

He, however, declined to say how he was privy to such information.

“I know for a fact that she (Poe) is running for president. I’m inside. Off the record I will tell you why I am sure. But for now just take my word for it,” Trillanes said.

He said in a news conference at Iloilo Grand Hotel that Poe will run as an independent candidate and will declare her bid in mid-September.

Trillanes, who was in Miag-ao town as a guest of the Hablon festival, confirmed he would also run for vice president as an independent candidate and would carry Poe was his president.

Trillanes said his group, the Magdalo, made a decision to support Poe following a consultation.

He said the party believes that Poe has the qualifications and the capability to become the next president.

He pointed out that Poe won against Roxas during the Magdalo selection on who to support for president in 2016.

He admitted that Poe will not pick him as a running mate because she has already selected Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, a close family friend.

Still, he added that this would not stop him from carrying Poe as the Magdalo’s bet for president.

Trillanes is a member of Nacionalista Party (NP) which is allied with the Liberal Party of the administration, but he is banking on the strength of his partylist group Magdalo.

He said the Magdalo has “massive grassroots” membership across the country.

“Nacionalista Party will declare a zona libre (free zone) once two of their members or allies are running in one position. That’s the stand of the party for now. In my case, we have the Magdalo group scattered across the country,” Trillanes said. JE