PNoy, Grace Poe talk for five hours one last time before SONA

(Updated 8:49 a.m., July 21) Senator Grace Poe confirmed Monday night that she met with President Benigno Aquino III earlier in the day but was otherwise tight-lipped on the details of their five-hour discussion.

 

In a text message to reporters, Poe said that she felt that Aquino was in "a difficult position" on the choice of the administration's standard-bearer for the 2016 elections.

"I understand and sympathize with his predicament and situation. I consider him a true and sincere friend and he has my utmost respect. He reiterated his desire for all of us to continue working together and that he believes that, like him, we can and will do what is best for our country," she said.

Poe said that there was mutual respect between her and the president and that the meeting will likely be the last before Aquino delivers his final State of the Nation Address next Monday.

Aquino has said that he will announce his preferred successor after the SONA.

 

"We both agreed that we both have the best interest of our country in mind in whatever decisions we will make in the coming days," Poe said. 

Poe was the frontrunner in a pre-election survey for preferred presidential candidates released in June while Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the administration Liberal Party's presumptive standard-bearer, was in fourth place.

Aquino last week met with Roxas, and Senators Poe and Francis "Chiz" Escudero as regards the 2016 elections and has said that he hopes for a united ticket in 2016.

In a media interview in Camp Crame, Aquino said Thursday he is already "closer" to choosing his preferred successor after his Wednesday night meeting with the three.

Aquino said they all agreed that they will not put "at risk" the reforms he started come election time in 2016.

The President added that all parties were amenable to taking the “sure” route toward sustaining his reform programs.

“Sa gabay at tulong ng sambayanang Pilipino maninigurado tayo na 'yung transpormasyong nangyayari, hindi lang ilalayo natin doon sa panganib. Sisiguraduhin nating talagang mas mapapabilis pa at mas mapapalawak 'yung benepisyo sa ating mga kababayan,” Aquino told reporters.

‘PNoy to let Mar, Grace, Chiz come to terms’

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, a senior political adviser to Aquino, said he expected the President to allow the three to agree among themselves as regards their participation in the administration ticket in 2016.

"I think, knowing the President, I think he will allow the parties to come to terms and if they can come to terms even without him having to interfere, that is good," he added.

Senator Ralph Recto, the Senate President Pro Tempore and a stalwart of the LP, said Aquino should allow the party to choose its presidential and vice presidential candidates in a convention.

"Tama naman ang Presidente na kausapin niya (sina Poe at Escudero). The idea is to preserve the coalition. But if I had my way, there must be a process just like in the US," Recto told reporters.
 
He said the process must be done even if it is only Roxas who has expressed readiness to run for President.
 
"There must be a nomination process, maganda sana 'yung ganun," he said.

Among the three, only Roxas is a member of the LP. Poe and Escudero are independent lawmakers who ran under the LP-led coalition in 2013.

Public appearance

Poe and Escudero, who have been doing well in surveys for preferred candidate for vice president, were at the T’nalak Festival in Koronadal City in South Cotabato over the weekend.

Roxas was unaffected by being left out of the first public appearance of Poe and Escudero since their meeting with Aquino last week.

"Kabahagi ng trabaho. Dapat lang na nakikita na 'yung sitwasyon sa ating probinsiya. Iyon ang dating sa 'kin," Roxas told reporters in a chance interview in Zamboanga City.