Palace on Poe platform: Been there, done that

MANILA, Philippines - Been there, done that.

Sen. Grace Poe’s platform of government as presidential candidate is just an affirmation of President Aquino’s daang matuwid or straight path policy.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda particularly took note of Poe’s statement that the administration did not have a monopoly of the straight path as she enumerated what she intended to do for the country.

“What is clear is we’re running on the platform of daang matuwid or of continuity of the reforms President Aquino has undertaken. They are running on a campaign of bagong umaga or change,” Lacierda said, referring to Poe’s advertisements on the dawning of a new day for the country.

“All the aspirations that have been enunciated have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented. Having said that, we wish Sen. Grace Poe all the best,” Lacierda said.

Now that Poe has come out to play in the presidential derby, Lacierda said President Aquino will play “front and center” in the campaign of the administration’s standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II.

“We are running on a platform (of) straight path… we are confident of our campaign platform. We are confident that the people, as they continue to see the benefits that they receive… will rely (on) and trust the straight path coalition and platform,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda stressed the President would campaign for Roxas and other candidates to press for continuity and the rest of their advocacies.

Lacierda also reiterated the need for continuity of the reform measures President Aquino had started in mid-2010, saying the six-year term for a chief executive is “too short” for reforms to really bear fruit.

“We’re running from a platform of continuity. This is a very unique situation in our electoral history where every time there is an election everybody talks about change,” he said.

Lacierda said people would have to choose between the platform of continuity of Roxas as against “Bagong Umaga (dawn of a new day)” or change being advocated by Poe.

“You know, pardon me when I keep on saying this but the President has also answered this question. Yes, he will play a front and center role in the campaign because after all this is a referendum on the straight path,” Lacierda said.

“It’s as simple as this – and this is historical, not my own personal opinion – elections in the Philippines (have) always been binary. When I say ‘binary,’ it’s administration, it’s opposition. So how do you classify Grace and how do you classify Vice President (Jejomar) Binay? It depends on the platform that they are going to espouse. As far as we are concerned, the straight path coalition is the administration platform. We are going to push for a platform of good governance, of straight path,” Lacierda said.

According to Lacierda, Roxas will have his own campaign sorties because the President is also in the thick of governance.

“There will be some situations where perhaps the President will be campaigning together with Secretary Mar Roxas, but Secretary Mar Roxas has his own campaign schedule,” he said.

Lacierda said they would consistently tell the public that they were running on the basis of platform, not personalities.

He said Filipino voters would, for the first time, think about continuing government’s programs and projects as against previous elections where people clamored for complete change.

“This is a very unique situation in our electoral history where every time there is an election everybody talks about change. This is the situation in our electoral history where we’re going to talk about continuity. Continue the straight path. We have done a lot, President Aquino has done a lot and we believe that the good things that are happening …we say that six years (are) too short to continue all the reforms,” Lacierda said. – Delon Porcalla, Marvin Sy, Jess Diaz