LP resets Mar proclamation this week

MANILA, Philippines - The expected proclamation of Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II as presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) has been moved.

“It’s either Wednesday or Friday this week. The party has reserved the Club Filipino for those days,” Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, who belongs to LP, told reporters
yesterday.

“I erred in saying over the weekend that it will be tomorrow,” he said.

He said there is a plan to hold the proclamation on Friday, since it would coincide with the birthday of Roxas’ mother, Judy Roxas Araneta.

Another LP congressman, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, said they have been told to stay in Metro Manila until the weekend.

“We are on standby for Wednesday or Friday, we cannot return yet to our districts,” he said.

For his part, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Mujiv Hataman said he and local officials in the region would support President Aquino’s choice of his successor.

“If it is Secretary Roxas, we will support him. We owe much to P-Noy. He has given ARMM the funds it needs for development, infrastructure and other social services. He has been trying very hard to bring peace and progress to Mindanao,” he said.

The President has promised to announce his anointed successor after his sixth and last State of the Nation Address. He has previously said Roxas was No. 1 on his list.

In an interview over GMA News, Roxas said running for president in the coming elections is not a personal decision.

“It’s not for me to say. It is the decision of all those who pursue the straight path
(daang matuwid),” he said.

“But if ever he passes the ball to me – with Aquino like the captain ball of a team – I will not just dribble it. I will shoot it, even dunk the ball,” he added.

When asked whether Aquino would announce his anointed successor on July 31, Roxas said he is not certain of the information.

“All I know is that July 31 is St. Ignatius’ Day,” he said, referring to the patron saint of Ateneo de Manila University where the interior chief attended grade school and high school.