LP stalwart: Aquino’s support for Mar Roxas only

President Benigno Aquino III, Senator Grace Poe and LP presidential bet Mar Roxas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

There is no doubt that former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II is the President’s bet despite the latter’s earlier statement that Senator Grace Poe should be allowed to join the 2016 presidential race, a Liberal Party (LP) stalwart said on Wednesday.

“There’s no doubt about that. From the very start, he believes that Secretary Roxas , among all the candidates who have already presented themselves, is most qualified to continue his work in pursuing “Daang Matuwid and so itutuloy talaga ni Secretary Roxas (Secretary Roxas shall continue it),” Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad told reporters at the Senate.

Abad was reacting to President Benigno Aquino III’s earlier statement that Poe, who has been facing various disqualification cases, should be allowed to run.

READ: Poe thanks Aquino for ‘support’ amid disqualification cases

He explained that the President’s statement simply meant that the voters will make the final decision after Poe settles all questions regarding her qualifications to seek the presidency.

“You know, the assumption of the president there is once this case goes through all that process, then at the end of the day, you have to face the electorate and that’s really what’s going to happen,” Abad said.

“There’s a process that you go through as a candidate, ‘di ba (right)? You have to satisfy all the qualifications and if there are questions, they have to be settled.”

“And it’s not even within the jurisdiction of the executive. When matters are raised before the Senate Electoral Tribunal or the Comelec, and eventually the Supreme Court, that’s beyond the President’s discretion,” he added.

Asked if Roxas, the LP’s bet, would benefit if Poe would be disqualified from the race, Abad said: “You really can’t say because the next question that you have to ask is if in case that happens—that would be unfortunate—where will her votes go? We don’t know yet. But even the more basic question is hard to determine because there are quite a number of cases that have been filed.”

READ: Roxas confident Poe won’t trace disqualification cases to him

Abad also dispelled speculations that Aquino’s statement and the vote of a member of the SET, Senator Bam Aquino, who happens to be an LP member and cousin of the President, against the disqualification of Poe could be a sign of the Aquinos’ leaning toward the lady senator.

“You know in this season, people come out with all of these assessments but I have no doubt and the President has repeatedly said that his candidate is Secretary Mar Roxas and he also believes that he’s the most qualified to succeed him. There’s no doubt about that, I can vouch for that,” he further said.

Asked again if that means the Aquino family were all behind Roxas, Abad said: “I can only speak for the President because I’ve heard him speak both in public as well as in private and his statements have been consistent.” IDL