Experience didn’t help VPs-turned-presidents’ performance – Poe

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Grace Poe questioned a suggestion that she should run for vice president first before aiming for the presidency.

In a radio interview on Sunday, July 19, Poe said that the experience that the vice presidency brings might not be a big help for her presidential aspiration.

“Experience is important. But if we’ll consider being vice president as experience [for the presidency], let’s look back at the past. Has this been really helpful?” Poe said.

Among the past vice presidents who eventually ran and won as presidents are Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Estrada was impeached in 2001 due to issues of corruption, while Arroyo has been subjected to hospital arrests due to cases filed after her term.

Poll surveys show that Poe’s closest competition is Vice President Jejomar Binay, who’s also facing charges of corruption. In the June Social Weather Stations survey, Poe led the list of preferred presidential candidates with 42%, followed by Binay with 34%, and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II with 21%.

“If the intention to serve has vanished, you will fall short. And that has happened even to those who’ve had government experience prior to being a president,” she said.

Poe reacted to the statement of Senator Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III, who suggested that Poe should settle for the vice presidency first. 

Binay has once remarked that the country can’t afford to have an ‘inexperienced’ president, which may refer to the neophyte senator. But Poe replied that she had been honing important leadership qualities from her parents, who taught her about honesty and charity, since childhood. – Rappler.com