Presidential candidates Mar Roxas and Grace Poe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Presidential candidates Grace Poe and Mar Roxas on Friday refused to budge despite President Benigno Aquino III’s call to them to unite and work together to stop Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte from capturing Malacañang in Monday’s national elections.
Poe remains in second place in the latest Social Weather Stations poll, with 22 percent voter support.
Roxas, Mr. Aquino’s chosen candidate, has 20 percent, but he is statistically tied with Poe, as the poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1 percentage point.
READ: Duterte keeps huge lead
Warning that the Philippines faced another dictatorship should Duterte—who promises to kill tens of thousands of criminals outside the justice system, shut down Congress, and pardon himself—win the presidential race, Mr. Aquino on Friday asked Roxas and Poe to sit down at a unity meeting and discuss how they could thwart Duterte’s impending victory.
READ: Aquino to voters: Urge Roxas, Poe to unite
Speaking at a hastily called news conference at his campaign headquarters in Quezon City on Friday afternoon, Roxas invited Poe to a meeting.
“Grace, let’s talk,” Roxas said. “I will adjust my schedules to your convenience. Just tell me where and when and I will come.”
READ: Roxas invites Poe to ‘unity’ meeting
“This is for unity. This is for our country. This is for our future,” he said.
Roxas did not say whether he was willing to withdraw from the presidential race to give way to Poe, but hinted that one of them had to quit.
“The country’s future, the people’s future, is more important than the political career of any politician or candidate. I call for unity. I call for decency, for democracy,” he said.
Poe not quitting
In a radio interview last night, Poe said she and Roxas could meet anytime, but Roxas should not expect her to withdraw from the presidential election.
“If his call is for the good of the country, we can talk about that anytime,” she said.
READ: Poe on Roxas’ unity call: We can talk, but I won’t quit
It is up to Roxas’ camp to say if it is giving way to her or providing her with its machinery for the election, she added.
If it was in Roxas’ heart and if he believed one of them had to withdraw from the election to boost the other’s chances, then why not, Poe said.
“That is his decision. But for me, we have nothing more to talk about if that is what he is expecting from me,” she said.
Poe said Roxas had her phone number, but instead of calling her he went to the media first.
‘That’s unfortunate’
Roxas issued a statement Friday night, lamenting Poe’s rejection of his offer.
“It is unfortunate that Senator Poe has rejected and ridiculed my offer to meet and talk about unity and our country’s way forward,” Roxas said.
READ: Despite Poe rejection, Roxas to continue ‘fight for democracy’
“According to her, ‘At this point, what else do we have to talk about?’” he said.
“I made this conversation public because the matter is not between the two of us. It involves our supporters, our constituencies. With just a few days before the elections, it is important that the public is informed because at the end of all this, it is their interest [that is] at stake,” he said.
“I repeat, important things are at stake in these talks: our democracy, the economy, jobs, the interest of our country. For these and so many [other] reasons, I will not budge. As [I have said before], this is a fight worth fighting, this is a good fight. I will continue fighting. We can win this,” he said in Filipino. TVJ
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