Roxas rues Erap support for Grace Poe
During happier times, Mar Roxas and Joseph Estrada exchanged pleasantries during a chance encounter in August last year. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net
Stung by the decision of former President Joseph Estrada to endorse Sen. Grace Poe, Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas suggested on Tuesday that the Manila mayor’s choice was influenced by his friendship with the senator’s father.
“I understand that former President Erap endorsed Senator Grace—he’s a close friend of [the late action star] Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ)—so it’s only natural that he will support Senator Grace,” Roxas said in General Nakar, Quezon province, referring to the late actor and Poe’s adoptive father.
Roxas said he took comfort in recalling how Estrada, under whose presidency he served as trade and industry secretary, referred to him as one of the best and most effective members of the Estrada Cabinet.
“I can still stand on what he previously stated from his own lips—that the most effective, competent member of his Cabinet who produced 1 million jobs for the country was Mar Roxas,” he said.
Roxas said he respected Estrada’s decision though “it also came from his own lips that my leadership has sense and meaning.”
“But we are running for President. What qualities are we looking for in a President—one who created jobs or just because someone is the daughter of his friend?” Roxas said.
The endorsement from Estrada, whose political clout remains strong, is seen as a major coup for Poe, the front-runner in the latest pre-election surveys. Roxas trails in the third or fourth place, but not far behind.
Though he missed out on Estrada’s endorsement, the LP candidate got the nod of former senator and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Estrada’s rival for Manila mayor.
Adverse impact on Binay
The camp of presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said Estrada’s endorsement of Poe would hurt Vice President Jejomar Binay, but not the mayor.
“[The endorsement] is expected given his long association with FPJ,” Peter Laviña, spokesperson for Duterte, said in a text message.
Laviña said the endorsement from the deposed President would have some bearing on the upcoming elections. “Yes, on Binay but not on Mayor Duterte, because of their association in UNA (United Nationalist Alliance),” he said.
Estrada, along with Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Binay, founded UNA as a multiparty electoral alliance for the 2010 presidential election.
For his presidential bid, Binay launched UNA as the main opposition party.
Estrada left UNA last year.
“Erap has been taking jabs at Duterte but it has no effect because the ratings and support Duterte is getting continue to rise,” Laviña said.
Recent Pulse Asia survey results show Duterte catching up with Poe with a 1 percentage point difference.
Binay came in third, followed by former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, respectively
Expected
UNA said it respected Estrada’s decision to support Poe.
“We expected [that decision] because he (Estrada) did say he will be for Poe if she is not disqualified from running for President and that he will be for the Vice President if she is disqualified,” said UNA president and Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco.
In a radio interview, Tiangco said the party had expected Estrada to support Poe when the Supreme Court early this month ruled in favor of Poe.
“We respect his decision. And of course, now that he is seeking reelection, we wish him all the luck,” Tiangco said.
He said Estrada’s nephew ER Ejercito, who is running for mayor in Laguna province, was supporting Binay.
“Wala tayong magagawa (Nothing we can do about it),” Estrada said of Binay’s possible antagonistic reaction to his endorsement of Poe.
Good potential
Estrada said that while Poe and Binay were both qualified to hold the country’s top post, it was in his goddaughter whom he saw “good potential” as the next President.
“I can’t do anything [should Binay harbor ill feelings]; my decision [to support Poe] was dictated by my heart,” Estrada said.
“Anyway, [Binay] has been serving for a long time, first as Makati mayor and then as Vice President. Let’s give these kids (referring also to Bongbong Marcos, whose vice presidential bid he also endorsed) a chance,” he added.
Estrada, who won around 40 percent of the electorate—or almost 11 million votes—when he first ran for President in 1998, and came in second in the 2010 elections with 26 percent of the votes (around 10 million), could draw support for Poe and Marcos with his endorsement, especially among the masses who still strongly identify with Estrada’s movie-actor persona.
Gratitude
Estrada said he chose to support Marcos instead of Poe’s running mate Chiz Escudero as an “act of gratitude” toward Marcos’ mother, Rep. Imelda Marcos, who served as governor of Metropolitan Manila in the 1970s.
“She was able to do a lot for Tondo, especially when it came to housing. She was also able to provide jobs for the poor in Manila,” said Estrada. “[Escudero] hasn’t really done anything for Manila; maybe for Bicol, yes.”
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