MANILA – According to House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III may be delaying his endorsement as he first wanted to make sure that his preferred presidential candidate in next year’s national elections will be supported by the ruling Liberal Party (LP) and the administration coalition.
“Based on his pronouncement that he is considering not only his leadership in the LP but also [the backing of the coalition], I would suppose that this is important to him,” Gonzales said in an interview with dzBB.
“This is what is probably delaying his decision – how to be sure that when he [makes] his choice, it will have the support not only of the Liberal Party but also of the coalition partners. That is the problem. This means the President’s decision to endorse anybody will not be necessarily acceptable,” he added.
It can be recalled that Aquino hosted a dinner and held several meetings with Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and Senators Grace Poe and Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
Poe, however, later on clarified that neither of the dinner or the meetings discussed who among them would be the President’s preferred successor.
Roxas was LP’s presumptive standard-bearer while Poe and Escudero were independents who ran alongside Team P-Noy in the previous national elections.
Gonzales also noted that Aquino would have made his endorsement earlier if he was only choosing from the LP with Roxas as its sole presidential bid.
LP’s coalition partners National People’s Coalition, National Unity party and Nacionalista Party (NP), on the other hand, had not presidential candidates.
“He (Aquino) has a debt of gratitude to Mar but he also owes a debt of gratitude to those who stood by him [amid] his problems, particularly the last three years of his term,” he said.
Gonzales admitted that he was unsure if Roxas, Poe or Escudero would be openly supported by the LP and its coalition.
“I’m not trying to second-guess the President. For all we know, he has talked to them (administration coalition). The President, by this time, has a very high political maturity, and I’m sure he is not alone in making this decision. As to what he is doing or who he is talking to, I don’t know,” he said.
Moreover, Gonzales stressed that Aquino’s endorsement would be an advantage to any candidate but it did not guarantee victory.
“If the President endorsed Mar, we’re not sure if that is acceptable. We also do not know if Grace and Chiz have their own political supporters,” he said.