Grace Poe for president in a coalition – FPJ Campaign Manager

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A campaign manager of then presidential candidate Fernando Poe,Jr and the No.1 supporter of Senator Grace Poe in Pangasinan said that the latter will be joining a coalition of political parties and not the Liberal Party in case she decides to run for the presidency in the 2016 election.

Rosendo So (extreme right), renowned political kingmaker in Pangasinan, 
poses with (from left) former Congressman Mark Cojuangco, the chair of
the Nationalist People's Coalition in the province, Senators Grace Poe and
Chiz Escudero. Both senators have been a long time allies of  So and Co-
juangco.

Rosendo So, a renowned kingmaker of the 3 million populated province, said that Senator Poe would not be running under the Liberal Party (LP) or the Nationalist People’s Coalition but she would take shelter on the coalition of major political parties sans LP that believe her as the real deal on the 2016 presidential election.

“The other parties that would coalesce for her presidential bid are any of the following:  NPC, Nationalista incase  Senator Alan Peter Cayetano foregoes his presidential ambition, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan in case Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte nixes his presidential bid, People Power-Christian Muslim Democrats under Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Centrist Democratic Party of the Philippines  under Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan under Rep. Imelda Marcos, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino under former Senator Edgardo Angara, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino under former President Joseph Estrada , and People's Reform Party under Senator Merriam Santiago,” a source, who asked anonymity, who is closed to Senator Poe, said.

The same source said the lady senator, who was breathing 4 points behind Vice President Jejomar Binay for the presidential run in 2016 based on the May 8 to 18 survey of Manila Standard Today (MST), will not join the LP because the leadership and the card carrying members there would fight tooth and nail for Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas' inclusion as the presidential contender of the party that adopted President Benigno Aquino III in the 2010 presidential election.

The source doubts Roxas can win the presidential derby as its stocks continue to plunge as reflected by the latest survey. He placed No. 4 with Senator Santiago with eight percentages each.

The MST surveys, published too by the prestigious Rapple.com online magazine, saw Binay in No.1 with 28 percent, Poe in No. 2 with 24 percentages point.

Manila Mayor  Estrada and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte were tied in third place with 10 percent each.

Senator Miriam Santiago and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II—the administration’s presumptive standard bearer—shared the fourth spot at eight percent each.

Senator Francis Escudero was in fifth place at four percent; Senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Cayetano were tied in sixth place at three percent each; and former Senator Panfilo Lacson was in seventh place at one percent.

Those polled were also most likely to give their vote to Poe if their preferred presidential bet decided to withdraw from the race.

Among the possible candidates for vice president, Poe led the pack at 23 percent with Escudero at close second at 16 percent.

The other possible vice presidential candidates included Cayetano and Duterte at 11 percent each, Estrada and Lacson at seven percent each, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (six percent), Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos and Marcos at five percent each, and former senator Francis Pangilinan and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao at four percent each.

The poll had a sample size of 1,500 with 300 respondents each from the National Capital Region, North/Central Luzon, South Luzon/Bicol, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The Standard Poll had error margins of +/- 2.6 percent for the national result and +/- 6 percent for the regional results.

All regions were represented in the survey.

So, the chair of Abono Party-list Party and the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura  (SINAG) eyed a Poe-Escudero tandem in the 2016 polls.

The Abono Chairman is the campaign manager of former Congressman Mark Cojuangco who is going to challenge the son of Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino in the 2016 gubernatorial election.

The source said that So, a big time businessman, would be the major financial campaign contributor of Poe just like what he had done to her father known in the celluloid screen as FPJ in the 2004 presidential election versus then President Gloria M. Arroyo.

The source said when So and Espino were allies against the wife of then Governor Victor Agbayani for the gubernatorial post in the 2007 election, So spent P100 million while Espino bankrolled P150 million of their personal monies to defeat Jamie Agbayani by  33,087 votes votes.

Last June 2, So brought Senator Poe in the cities of Dagupan and San Carlos for powwows and sentimental visit at the village in San Carlos of her grandfather Fernando Poe, Sr and father and broke breads with kin there.

“Wala pang TV ads si Grace Poe unlike Binay, Roxas, Duterte, and Cayetano but look at her meteoric rise in the latest surveys,” So exclaimed.

The lady solon is believed to eclipse Vice President Binay after her ballyhooed media covered emotional visit at the Jaro Cathedral when she dropped by at the place where she was left by her parent, picked up the illustrative daughter of a haciendero in Bacolod, and was given away for adoption to the couple actors Fernando Poe, Jr. And Susan Roces.

“Her being a foundling, and the massive media coverage on that visit and the insensitive ridicules she got from Binay’s political hatchet men lawyer JV Bautista and Congressman Toby Tiangco if covered thereafter by the polls of Social Weather Station and Pulse Asia, then all cards are off.  Grace Poe would be the indisputable No. 1 presidential contender in 2016,” a political columnist, who asked not to be named, said.