Roxas still Aquino’s candidate, says Abad

Despite President Aquino’s recent statement that Sen. Grace Poe, who is facing several disqualification cases over questions on her citizenship, should be allowed to seek the presidency,  Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas remains the man for him, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

“From the very start, (the President) believes that Secretary Roxas, among all candidates who presented themselves, is the most qualified to continue pursuing daang matuwid (straight path),” Abad said.

He could vouch for this, having heard Mr. Aquino state it repeatedly in public and privately, the LP official said.

Abad explained that Mr. Aquino made the statement based on his assumption that after all the (fuss) regarding Poe’s case, “at the end of the day, you have to face the electorate.”

And that was why, Abad said, it was important for the Poe citizenship issue to be settled before the May 2016 elections, “so that the clear choice of the people… at the end of the day, is the one (who) governs us.”

Catching up in surveys

Asked whether Roxas would benefit should Poe be disqualified in the presidential race, Abad said no one could say for sure, because should this “unfortunate” situation happen, the next question is, “where will Poe’s votes go?”

He answered the question himself: “We don’t know yet, (since) even the more basic question (of citizenship) is hard to determine because there are quite a number of cases filed,” he said.

On the possibility of Roxas catching up with survey topnotcher Poe, Abad said the LP standard-bearer had six months to woo voters.

“Six months is a very long time in politics,” he said.

Abad said Roxas’  running mate, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, who was similarly lagging in popularity surveys, just needed more exposure because voters were unaware of her vice presidential bid.

“She has a very high conversion rate so once (voters become) aware that she is a candidate, then there is a good chance they will vote for her,” he added.