MANILA:
Senator Grace Poe is a top contender for VP in 2016, a recent survey showed, but
somehow in its place she is groomed as a potential candidate for president and
somebody is now turning from side to side with this development.
Even
then, Poe declares that she had no plans to run for president even if the
circumstances were favorable for her run. Or is she?
She
says she has no plans still and leaves to fate what is in store for her, aiming
for the presidency is quite daunting and that she is not yet ready.
The
Inquirer reported the statement she released, which clarified “that I have not
made any plans to run for higher office.”
Poe,
of late, steered the passage of the freedom of information bill in the Senate.
She formerly was chair of the Movie and Television Review and Classification
Board (MTRCB) when President Noynoy Aquino convinced her to run for senator.
Media
pundits see Grace Sonora Poe Llamanzares, the senator’s full name, as a
possible challenger to Vice President Jejomar Binay in the 2016 presidential
elections.
Writer
Marlen V. Ronquillo writes in his column that Poe is the only politician who
can challenge—and possibly beat—Binay in the 2016. The reason has nothing to do
with competence and integrity or superior organization and or better messaging,
but the predisposition and mind set of Filipino voters who want to give closure
to sad chapters in the country’s political history.
This
is the perception that Poe’s dad was cheated out in the 2014 election, voters
may want to close that chapter and give the senator a chance to do what his
late dad was not destined to do, explained Ronquillo.
“Will
Mr. Binay face a formidable challenger in Grace Poe in 2016? This is probably
the only question that still gives Mr. Binay nightmares these days,” writes
Ronquillo.
Meanwhile,
colleague and good friend Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who followed Poe by
some percent in the surveys, was also rumored to run for higher office. It was
not certain, however, who between the two would run for president.
In
a PDI report last July, Poe said such decision of running for president is
something she and Chiz need to talk about and that there would be
considerations.
.
In
a latest Pulse Asia survey, the names of those listed as most likely setting
sights on the presidency are: Poe, Binay, Defensor-Santiago, Escudero, Roxas,
Marcos Jr., and Cayetano.
President
Aquino’s party mates have expressed inclination for Roxas as their
standard-bearer in 2016, but Malacañang said the president would announce his
choice in due time. (MICHAEL MEDINA)