Manila: Former front-runner Sen. Grace Poe, an independent presidential candidate, who came in third in pre-election surveys, refused to quit the race as requested by allies, including the ruling Liberal Party (LP) of President Benigno Aquino, to allow LP’s presidential bet Mar Roxas to defeat Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City, southern Philippines.
“Who are they?” asked Poe, when asked to react to the petition of change.org for her to be patriotic, withdraw from the race, and allow Roxas — who ranked second in a recent pre-election survey — to get her voters to vote for him and defeat top-raking Duterte, the presidential bet of the Philippine Democratic Party-People’s Power (PDP-Laban).
“We do not belong to a syndicate that can easily trade positions and support for a common cause [such as the victory of Roxas],” explained Poe.
She always denied rumours that she was the secret candidate of President Aquino when she was a front-runner in pre-election surveys. At the time, Roxas was lagging behind: ranking fourth in pre-elections polls among five presidential contenders.
The Aquino family was also divided between Roxas and Vice-President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), when Binay was a front-runner. He landed fourth in a recent pre-election survey.
Instead of commiserating with Roxas or siding with any of the other presidential candidates, as normally done at the last leg of the campaign, Poe started criticising them in her desire to reclaim votes three days ahead of the May 9 polls.
“Our people want to be safe in the streets, and their military to have equipment to defend everyone, including the fishermen who are now prevented to fish [in the South China Sea because China has claimed the entire sea-lane],” said Poe, adding, “Our people are dismayed by corruption that has made our airports dangerous, where overseas Filipino workers are victimised by people who demand money from OFWs so they would not be persecuted for bullets allegedly found in their luggage.”
It was an apparent dig at Roxas — whose pre-election numbers suffered for a long time because of voters’ criticism of Aquino’s inefficiency.
Poe called Duterte “an executioner” — referring to his promise to end criminals and drug lords in three to six months. Rights groups claimed he was behind extrajudicial killings that stopped criminality in Davao City where he has been a mayor for two decades.
“[He gives us the option of] an executioner who makes us afraid or a government that is feared and can never allow us to achieve our dreams,” argued Poe, adding that voting for Duterte is “like taking a medicine that will make our condition worse.”
But earlier, Poe also promised to appoint a crime tsar who could end the reign of corrupt officials, criminals and drug lords in one month.
Poe said that voters should not choose Binay, similar to the relentless attack launched by the Aquino administration against the vice president for years.
“President Aquino, the official supporter of Roxas, is the greatest loser if it’s true that he allegedly supported Roxas and Binay, because he opted to be a kingmaker outside of his political party,” said a political analyst who requested for anonymity, adding that Aquino wanted to bank on a winnable candidate for political expediency because he wanted protection from the next president and political enemies.
Aquino did not have time to negotiate with Duterte because his popularity started to rise only from early March to end of April, the same political analyst said.
Calls for a candidate to withdraw from the race are not abnormal in Philippine politics. Past presidential candidates often accepted payments to withdraw when requested by allies or mentors who want to defeat one candidate, historians said.
