The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Barely six months before the filing of Certificates of Candidacy in October this year, Sen. Grace Poe is, without a doubt, the Liberal Party’s best bet in the presidential election of 2016.
Senator Poe has seen her numbers jump by 10 percentage points to 31 percent in the latest Social Weather Stations survey. She is now tantalizingly within striking distance of front-runner Vice President Jejomar Binay’s 36 percent rating. Many say the figure will still go up once she declares her intention to run for president.
The ruling party’s sentimental favorite, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, continues to struggle at the polling surveys. Roxas is a fine and decent man but it is increasingly clear that the presidency is not in the cards for him.
We heard that he has already put together a group of international and local PR executives to drum up public interest in him, but to no avail. Ordinary people, especially the masa voters, simply cannot connect and identify with him.
It cannot be said that major opportunities were not opened to Roxas to give him the chance to shine. After the one-year prohibition in the appointment of losing candidates, Roxas was immediately appointed by President Aquino to head the Department of Transportation and Communication.
We all know what happened when he took over the DOTC. There was widespread paralysis by analysis. Even low-hanging fruits such as MRT and LRT infrastructure projects failed to materialize. One of its major attached agencies, the Naia, was even tagged as one of the worst airports in the world.
Roxas was then appointed to the Department of the Interior and Local Government. This post should have showcased his leadership ability working with mayors, governors and other local chief executives all over the country.
But what most people remember were the actuations of Roxas who was stationed in Tacloban City before Supertyphoon Yolanda struck central Visayas. Roxas tussled famously with the mayor of Tacloban, which was even caught on video.
What struck people was the failure of the government to assist the hundreds of thousands who suffered in the immediate aftermath of the killer typhoon. The government’s slow response underscored the kind of leadership that was muddled, incompetent and seemingly lacking in compassion, which is ironic because Roxas is from the Visayas.
And then there was the Mamasapano tragedy. In fairness to the DILG secretary, he was deliberately kept out of the loop by the President and people privy to the operation, which cost the lives of 44 elite PNP-SAF troopers. He was made to look like a fool, not being informed of what was going on in his own backyard.
Many say that would have been the most opportune time for Secretary Mar to resign from the government, but he did not. On the contrary, he continued to express his support for the President, instead of criticizing the leadership for the bungled handling of the police operation.
This has given rise to the perception that Roxas is not willing to sacrifice his presidential ambition by breaking away from the ruling coalition. It appears he is just biding his time and has his eyes locked on the Office of the President.
But the numbers are clear and the figures don’t lie. Roxas’s numbers continue to go down while that of Senator Poe’s are picking up.
If the ruling LP coalition wants to have a fighting chance of winning in next year’s presidential election, they have no choice but to find a stronger candidate than Roxas. President Aquino and the LP have given Roxas ample opportunity to find favor with the voting population in the last five years.
It is now time to look for a more viable option.
At this point, it is crystal clear that only Senator Poe, assuming she gets the nod of President Aquino and the LP as their official presidential standard bearer, has the chance to beat Binay in 2016.