Senator Grace Poe (left) and Congresswoman Leni Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Reelectionist Senator Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III raised the possibility on Monday that the country might be the first in the world to have two women leaders.
Osmeña was referring to Senator Grace Poe, who topped the latest Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) presidential survey, and Camarines Sur Representative Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, who closed in on her top rivals in the vice presidential race based on the same survey.
READ: Poe grabs top spot in latest SWS poll; Binay loses big
Poe is an independent presidential candidate while Robredo is running mate of Liberal Party standard-bearer former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.
“Getting better kasi ngayon nakikita ko siya na (It’s getting better now, I can see) she’s addressing groups alone,” Osmeña said in an interview at the Senate when sought to react to the latest SWS survey.
“Normally pag nakabitbit ka sa presidential candidates, matatakpan talaga di ba? Lahat ng attention grupo ng crowd, ng mga listeners doon po sa presidential candidate hindi po sa vice president.”
(Normally if you tag along with presidential candidates, you will be overshadowed, right? All the attentions, groups of crowd and listeners will go to the presidential candidate, not to the vice [presidential candidate].)
“Ngayon na nakikita ko na somosolo na siya (Now I can see that see’s she’s addressing groups alone), she’s going to be all right,” said Osmeña, who admitted helping Robredo in the campaign.
Osmeña earlier said that Robredo could overtake her rivals if she would be given a free hand to develop her on message and run her own campaign.
READ: Osmeña on Robredo: ‘Allow her to develop her own message’
The SWS survey conducted from March 4 to 7 showed Poe topping the presidential race with 27 percent, followed by Vice President Jejomar Binay with 24 percent, Roxas with 22 percent, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with 21 percent and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago with four percent.
In the vice presidential race, Poe’s running mate, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero remained the top choice with 28 percent, followed by Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. with 26 percent, Robredo with 24 percent, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano with 11 percent, Senator Antonio Trillanes with six percent and Senator Gregorio Honasan with five percent.
READ: Robredo jumps in SWS survey, narrows gap with Escudero, Marcos
Osmeña said Robredo’s showing in the latest survey was “very convincing.”
“We might be the first country of the world headed by two women,” he said.
“Kaya when they always ask me, ‘tutulong ka ba sa gender equality.’ Sabi ko, ‘lugi dito yung mga lalaki kasi alam natin it’s the women that run the show.’ Sa bahay ko lang asawa ko ang boss e…” he added in jest.
(That’s why when they always ask me, ‘Will you help in gender equality,’ I say ‘The men are on the losing side because we know it’s the women that run the show. In our house, my wife is the boss.)
Osmeña also believes that Robredo benefitted from the issues raised against Marcos.
“People are looking for decency in government. Talagang hanggang ngayon halos number one pa rin ang corruption as an issue in the campaign, kaya nga ginagamit ng LP ‘matuwid na daan’ (Up to now, corruption is the number one issue in the campaign, that’s why LP uses the ‘straight path’), that’s an anti-corruption message, anti-corruption slogan so corruption is still one of the most, the biggest concern of the voters.”
Meanwhile, Osmeña could not say if Poe’s ratings would continue to rise until the election day, saying, “This is the game of mistakes.”
Asked what he thinks Poe should be wary to keep her good ratings, Osmeña said: “That’s a very hard advice…para sa akin (for me), just be yourself.” RAM
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