NPC may not endorse presidential bet in 2016

MANILA, Philippines - The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), the second largest political group after the ruling Liberal Party (LP), may not endorse a presidential candidate in the 2016 elections.

“That is possible, but we will try to arrive at a decision to support common candidates for president and vice president,” NPC spokesman Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga said yesterday.

“However, such decision is being made difficult by the individual presidential preferences of members,” he said.

Enverga admitted though that many NPC members are inclined to support the tandem of Sens. Grace Poe and Francis Escudero.

He recalled that in 2004, the party identified with billionaire businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. was split between Poe’s father, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., and then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, while it supported then Sen. Benigno Aquino III in the 2010 polls.

Arroyo won reelection, beating the late actor by nearly one million votes. Six months later, Poe died after suffering a stroke.

The NPC met with Poe and Escudero, Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II and Vice President Jejomar Binay in August and September.

The dialogues were supposedly part of the party’s vetting process for a presidential team its members can support.

After the party’s first meeting with Poe and Escudero, party leaders, including Sen. Vicente Sotto III and Reps. Giorgidi Aggabao of Isabela and Mark Llandro Mendoza of Batangas, were optimistic that the party would soon announce its decision to support the two senators. – With Perseus Echeminada