Poe still undecided on running, says Escudero

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines—With a month left before the filing of certificates of candidacy for next year’s national elections, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said his friend, Sen. Grace Poe, has yet to decide whether to run for higher office.

“What [Poe] is going through now is difficult. She is new in politics and it is not easy to decide if you have no money, no political party and no machinery,” Escudero told reporters here on Thursday.

“Believe it or not, Senator Poe still has to decide whether she would run for President, for Vice President or would stay a senator,” he said.

Announcement soon

Escudero, who visited schools here on Thursday, also reiterated that he and Poe would not fight for a single position, saying he promised her his support “whatever her plans will be—as a candidate, as an ordinary voter or a supporter.”

He said people should just wait for Poe’s announcement, coming soon.

As for his plans for 2016, Escudero said he was not sure if he would be Poe’s running mate should she seek the presidency, “although we are talking about that [possibility].”

He said claims that Poe has become his “puppet” and would do his bidding came from the Liberal Party, the administration party courting the senator to become outgoing Interior Secretary Mar Roxas’ running mate in 2016.

Not liability to her

President Aquino, during the Meet the Inquirer Multimedia forum on Tuesday, said the administration party’s door remains open to Poe as Roxas’ running mate.

Escudero also laughed off an observation that he, as Poe’s close political adviser, had become her liability.

“Why should Senator Poe seek the advice of her political foes? They would not give sound advice to you,” he said.

Escudero defended Poe from people who criticized her lack of political experience and unpreparedness for the presidency.

He said President Aquino was a junior senator when he was thrust into the presidency in 2010.

“But the country, under [Aquino], has undergone a lot of development. What is important is having the heart to serve the people,” Escudero said.