Amid Aquino’s hope on Poe, LP looks for more viable VP bet

Senator Franklin Drilon (Photo by Joseph Vidal/PRIB via Drilon’s Facebook page)

MANILA – While President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III remained hopeful in having Senator Grace Poe as the ruling Liberal Party’s (LP) vice presidential bid, the political party admitted already looking for other possible candidates.

With the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacies (COCs) nearing, the LP has been intent in seeking standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II’s running mate.

“We will continue to search for an appropriate running mate. At the end of the day, we will let the party decide,” LP vice chairman and Senate President Franklin Drilon said.

“We cannot scramble if at the end Senator Grace Poe will finally say, ‘I am running for president.’ It might be too late. So it is better that we are prepared,” Drilon added.

The LP stalwart earlier asked the political party’s National Executive Council to start searching for available vice presidential bets as he believed that Poe’s actions already gave hints that she will be joining the presidential race in next year’s national elections.

Should the neophyte senator indeed seek a higher post in the coming elections, she would first have to settle her citizenship case pending before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).