MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Franklin Drilon believes Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s decision not to join the presidential race is favorable to the administration’s presidential bet, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II.
Drilon said the removal of Duterte from the equation bodes well for the administration because it would be one less candidate to split the votes of Roxas. Duterte’s withdrawal would leave one administration bet to go up against two “opposition” rivals, referring to Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Grace Poe.
“The field is now down to three, I assume, with Senator Poe as part of it. It is better. We are the administration. You would have two representing the opposition,” Drilon said.
“The platform that the party will be presenting is the daang matuwid (straight path). We are the administration and we will defend that policy,” he added.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda also believes that Duterte’s decision not to run for president is a big boost to Roxas.
Salceda said “Duterte had an edge among would-be presidential candidates because Mindanao is his bailiwick.” Duterte can get as much as 40 percent of the total votes from Mindanao. Since Duterte decided not to run for president, Roxas is the biggest beneficiary.
Salceda also said he would campaign for Roxas, and noted that Bicol accounts for eight percent of total votes.
“The unity ticket is an ongoing negotiation among 2016 candidates to ensure a Roxas win from congressmen, governor down to mayors in Albay,” he added.
But Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, president of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), who has been pushing for Duterte to run as the party’s presidential candidate, said he is still hopeful that the mayor would reconsider his decision and push through with his bid for the presidency.
He said that Duterte has been in a similar situation before, where he changed his mind at the last minute after initially saying that he would not be running for office. – With Evelyn Macairan, Celso Amo, Edith Regalado