Belmonte agrees LP should drop Poe as Mar's running mate

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Sunday said the Liberal Party should already look for another possible running mate for Interior Secretary Mar Roxas because he believes Senator Grace Poe will also run for president in 2016.

 

"I myself agree with Senator Drilon na si Senator Grace and with the tandem with Senator Chiz is already a go. There are many indications that they are already putting together a campaign," Belmonte, LP vice chairman, said in an interview over radio dzBB.

 

Belmonte, who was also a supporter of a Mar-Grace tandem, said his fellow members in the LP are evaluating the possiblity of giving up Poe and start looking for  another potential running mate for Roxas.

 

The House speaker said he is proposing Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, an official of the Nacionalista Party, to be Roxas' running mate.

 

"Definitely I am very option to the notion that the vice presidential candidate need not be a Liberal. Outside of that, I want to give it to those, the candidates themselves, to pop some names to us," he said.

 

Belmonte said that ultimately, Roxas has the final say on who should be his running mate.

 

"I'm sure he is also scouting around for others," he added.

Aside from Poe and Cayetano, the names of Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and Batangas Gov. vilma Santos also came up as possible running mates of Roxas.

 

Drilon also mentioned the name of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV as possible running mate of Roxas.

 

Drilon, also vice chairman of the Liberal Party, has also said that he is sure Poe will run for president in 2016.

 

He said he will ask the party's National Executive Council (NECO) to meet and nominate a vice presidential candidate.

 

"In my view, Sen. Grace Poe is already a candidate for president. The writings are on the wall. She will run. So we prepare and complete our slate for 2016, including the senators," he said.

 

President Benigno Aquino III and Roxas met several times with Poe to ask her to be the interior secretary's running mate.

 

Poe, who led the latest presidential preference surveys, and Escudero have also met with members of the Nationalists People's Coalition.

Only Roxas and Vice President Jejomar Binay have declared their presidential run in 2016. —ALG, GMA News