MANILA, Philippines – Could the Liberal Party (LP) be thinking of fielding Senator Grace Poe as its standard bearer in 2016?

Asked this question on the same day surveys showed a surge in Poe’s numbers, LP stalwart Budget Secretary Florencio Abad told Rappler he thinks it is unlikely Poe and the party’s presumed standard bearer Manuel Roxas II would run against each other.

“I don’t think Mar and Poe will run at the same time,” he said on Wednesday, December 10. “Both of them will be supported by the President.”

He, however, admitted that a Roxas-Poe tandem is a possibility, although he did not specify who the presidential candidate in such a duo would be. He conceded there are two probable combinations to such an arrangement.

“In the case of Mar and Grace Poe, of course there’s a possibility,” he said. “Any political party will of course look at those numbers and know that realistically this one (Poe) is now a contender…. She’s a woman with a lot of options.”

The latest Pulse Asia nationwide survey on 2016 presidential preferences shows Poe’s numbers jumped from 10% to 18%. It put her only 8 percentage points behind longtime frontrunner Vice President Jejomar Binay, who dropped 5 percentage points in the presidential race – from 31% in September to 26% in November 2014.

Roxas, meanwhile, lost 7 percentage points, from 13% to 6%, sliding to 6th place from 2nd in the September survey.

Two trends

Meanwhile, a separate Social Weather Stations survey released also on Wednesday showed President Benigno Aquino III’s approval ratings rise, to 63% in December, from 59% in September .

Abad, however, emphasized that it is too early to make any decisions based on current surveys. He pointed out that only two trends are clear so far: Binay’s numbers are plunging, and the President’s are going up. The rest – like Roxas’ – are still “very erratic,” he said.

“If you look at the numbers there are two things that are trending, which means there’s a pattern,” he said.

“Of course you can’t make any firm conclusions on a survey, but certainly it gives you a possible trend. Binay is trending down…and investigations are not even done yet, not even halfway yet, so his prospects look bad,” Abad said.

He also highlighted Aquino’s rising approval ratings, pointing out that it is the “first time a president’s numbers are higher than the Vice President’s.”

“With Binay falling and Noynoy going up, I think the President will have a significant say in who’s going to be [the next President],” he said.

Aside from those two trends, Abad said, surveys “will be more indicative” once they become stable. 

Poe, who previously dismissed any possibility of running for president, appeared to have had a slight change in her position the day the survey results were released.

While saying she does not think she is ready for the responsibility, she seemed more open to running, saying: “I’m already thinking hard about it. It is not to say yes, but to be ready for anything eventually, including the option of staying in the Senate, where it is already an honor to be in.” 

Asked by reporters what would make her decide to give it a go, she said she didn’t want to reveal what her tipping point would be because interested sectors might just try to do something about it. 

Poe indicated that her father’s experience of being betrayed by political allies in the 2004 presidential election is still fresh in her mind and is discouraging her. – Rappler.com