Roxas-Cayetano shaping up as LP tandem in 2016

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said he is open to a proposal to be the running mate of Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II in the 2016 general elections.

Cayetano, secretary general of Nacionalista Party (NP), told reporters here on Friday that he was holding talks with LP stalwarts Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, who are pushing him to partner with Roxas in 2016.

“I told them I will keep my door open,” Cayetano said.

He had earlier said he was no longer pursuing plans for a presidential bid.

Belmonte believes that Cayetano would complement Roxas.

Earlier, Drilon advised Roxas not to wait for Sen. Grace Poe’s decision whether to accept the LP’s offer to be his running mate and choose other possible candidates for vice president.

The NP allied with the administration party in the 2013 elections.

Cayetano said he is holding informal talks with other political parties to run with in 2016.

He said he is in talks with people close to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has been faring good in presidential surveys.

He added that Sen. Cynthia Villar, wife of NP president and former senator Manny Villar, was meeting with Duterte.

According to Cayetano, he wants to run under the NP but the party has yet to decide who among him and Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and Antonio Trillanes IV will be the party’s official vice presidential candidate in 2016.

Trillanes earlier announced that he would run for vice president with or without NP’s support.

Cayetano said he has been talking to other NP officials to come up with a process that would be acceptable to all.

Cayetano said 2016 is not yet the time for him to seek the country’s highest post after seeing the results of presidential surveys.

Meanwhile, Roxas could still not give a definite answer on who will be his running mate in next year’s polls.

“What will be, will be,” Roxas said when asked by reporters about the LP’s efforts to convince Poe to be his running mate.

Poe said she has yet to arrive at a decision for the 2016 elections though she has been attending speaking engagements and going around the country.

Roxas attended a gathering in Novaliches, Quezon City initiated by Rep. Alfred Vargas on Saturday. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe