Will LP drop Robredo? Lacierda belies claims

8TH GO NEGOSYO SUMMIT – LENI ROBREDO / FEBRUARY 18 2016
Liberal Party Vice Presidential bet and Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo greets guests and participants at the 8th Go Negosyo Filipina Entrepreneurship Summit in World Trade Center, Pasay City.
INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Thursday shot back at a political strategist who claimed that the ruling Liberal Party (LP) will drop Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo as its candidate for the vice presidency due to poor survey rankings.

“Mar (Roxas) and Leni have been going out on a tandem campaign and both have been reinforcing Daang Matuwid and each other in their speeches. So, why listen to her when all you need to watch and listen are Mar and Leni on the campaign trail?” Lacierda told media in a text message.

Malou Tiquia, founder of campaigns management firm Publicus Asia, on Facebook complained that she received information from “two different but credible sources” that Robredo might be junked by LP “if she does not pick her numbers.”

Tiquia, who has been publicly supporting Robredo, said the congresswoman’s rankings has improved but “she (Robredo) is plateauing…because there is not enough support to get her message out.”

Earlier reports said that while Tiquia has been supporting Robredo, her bet for the presidency is opposition leader Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“Is it true that she was a consultant for VP Binay in his terrible debate performance and that she is rooting for Binay as President and Leni for VP? If so, I am not surprised at her efforts to wormtongue a different tandem considering the debacle of Binay last Sunday,” Lacierda said of Tiquia.

In her post, the Publicus CEO said Robredo “remains loyal to a fault to LP” and that the ruling party’s possible decision to junk her “at this early stage is cruel.”

She claimed that people are wary of Robredo’s chances to counter the rise of Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., running mate of presidential candidate Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday spoke against the Marcos family, zeroing in on the senator who supposedly blocked the passage of the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law.

READ:Aquino slams Marcos son, says martial law not PH’s ‘golden age’

BBL is dead, says Bongbong Marcos

The Aquino and Marcos families have been at odds since the administration of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was accused of masterminding the assassination of his number one critic, former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the President’s father.

READ: ‘I am what I am because of martial law’

Tiquia’s sources reportedly said that another vice presidential candidate had better chances at beating Marcos. But she answered, “That easy, you junk her? What kind of party are you? What kind of leader do you have?”

Tiquia, referring to the latest Pulse Asia survey, said she asked her source if LP will hold unto Robredo if her preference ratings increased to 25 percent.

READ: Poe regains lead, Binay, Roxas, Duterte in statistical tie–Pulse Asia

“That person was quiet,” she said in her post. “I ended the conversation with: ‘You don’t junk Leni, you give her the wherewithal to fight.’ The person said I should not get mad because this is just politics.”

“This is politics and Leni will win because she is better than your Plan B,” Tiquia ended her post. TVJ

RELATED VIDEOS