“Good luck.”
This is what a Liberal Party (LP) official has to say to Senator Alan Peter Cayetano after declaring his bid for the Vice Presidency in 2016.
A press conference with LP members Tuesday suddenly changed tune when earlier an official has been bantering on the potential of Cayetano as Roxas’ running mate – at least, until Cayetano announced his bid for VP in the turf of another supposed presidential candidate.
READ: Alan Cayetano: I am running for Vice President
In the briefing, Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Treñas was telling reporters that the LP’s next best bet to Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo for Roxas’ veep is Cayetano, a Nacionalista Party member who played a key role in the Senate investigation over the alleged corruption committed by Vice President Jejomar Binay when he was still mayor of Makati City.
Binay and Roxas are against each other for the top posts in 2016.
Suddenly, Cayetano announced he would gun for the vice presidency in 2016. He made the announcement in Davao city, the turf of another supposed presidential aspirant Davao city Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. (Duterte has closed the door on the presidential bid, however, but he has asked for more time for “soul-searching.”)
READ: Give me time for ‘final soul-searching,’ Duterte asks supporters
Treñas only said to Cayetano: “Goodluck to him.”
Treñas seemed to have changed tune when he just told reporters Cayetano is the next best contender especially with neophyte Camarines Sur. Rep. Leni Robredo, the widow of the late Interior Sec. Jesse Robredo, remains hesitant if she could take the cudgels as Roxas’ running mate.
READ: Leni Robredo has 21 days to decide
Treñas said there was a strong lobby coming from LP members on fielding Cayetano as Roxas’ vice president
“I think Senator Cayetano has always been a strong candidate for the vice president of Secretary Mar. There’s a very strong lobby coming from a lot of members for the Liberal,” said Treñas, who is LP Parliamentary Caucus Deputy Chair for Visayas.
Asked why the LP is torn between someone hesitant, Robredo, and another who was only waiting for a party to take him as veep, Cayetano, Treñas only said it would be unfair to judge Robredo when she has yet to make a decision.
“The offer was already made with Leni Robredo and we have to wait until such time she closes the door. When she closes the door, we’ll proceed to the next step… It will not be fair for congresswoman Leni until she makes that final decision,” Treñas said.
In the same press conference, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said Robredo, hesitant she may be, is not a baggage to Roxas’ presidential bid.
Evardone said the LP is confident Rep. Robredo still has the sympathy of the supporters of her husband Jesse, who died in a chopper crash in 2012.
“(Leni) will make a major asset to the ticket of the administration. ‘Yung sympathy kay Secretary Jesse, nandun pa rin, at performance niya rito sa House,” Evardone said.
Robredo is the wife of former Interior Secretary Jesse, who died when the airplane he was riding on crashed in the waters off the shoreline of Masbate city on Aug. 18, 2012.
Robredo ran for the congressional seat in 2013 and won, whipping the Villafuerte political dynasty which ruled the third congressional district for more than 40 years.
In an interview Monday, Rep. Robredo asked for more time now that the LP supposedly gave her until tomorrow, Wednesday, to give her final decision.
She said the stumbling block to her making a commitment is the effect a vice presidential bid may have on her daughters, who have just lost their father in 2012.
“Maraming apprehensions (ang mga anak ko). Nag-aadjust pa sila na wala silang tatay, na iyong nanay nila biglang naging politiko, tapos ngayon may bago na naman. Parang iyong bugbog kasi sunud-sunod. Kailangan namang bigyan (kami) ng mas maraming space,” Robredo said.
(My daughters have so many apprehensions. They are still adjusting from the loss of their father, then their mother suddely become a politician, and now there’s a new [phase coming in]. It’s been too much for them. They need more space [to adjust].)