Be prepared if Poe finally says no to Roxas, Drilon tells LP

THE administration’s Liberal Party (LP) cannot do anything if Senator Grace Poe does not want to run with its standard-bearer, outgoing Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, an LP official said on Wednesday.

“We will continue to search for an appropriate running mate. At the end of the day we will let the party decide,” Senate President Franklin Drilon, vice chairman of LP, said in an interview at the Senate.

“We cannot scramble if at the end Senator Grace Poe will finally say, ‘I am running for President,’ it might be too late. So it is better that we are prepared,” Drilon said.

Drilon earlier said that the LP should stop pursuing Poe since it seemed clear anyway that the latter is poised to run for president in 2016.

He recognized President Aquino’s desire though to keep the administration coalition when the latter said that the LP would not give up on Poe until the end of the filing of candidacy in October this year.

READ: Aquino: LP not giving up on Poe until filing of candidacy

“Certainly, we know that he (Aquino) wants to maintain the coalition but if Senator Grace doesn’t want to join us and be the running mate of Secretary Mar, I guess then we can’t do anything,” Drilon said.

Asked if the whole party would be the one to decide on Roxas’ running mate, Drilon said: “The views of the President will be given the highest importance.” Maila Ager/AC