Mar-Leni tandem almost sealed

MANILA, Philippines - The team-up between Liberal Party presidential candidate Mar Roxas and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo is almost “sealed,” Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said yesterday.

“It looks like Robredo will be the VP candidate,” the Speaker said in a text message.

He had endorsed Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to be Roxas’ vice presidential candidate, describing him as a “fighter.”

“Alan is a fighter… And there are too many polite guys here (in Philippine politics). We need someone like that,” Belmonte said.

He also said President Aquino should leave the choice of the LP vice presidential candidate to Roxas.

Roxas has reportedly offered the vice presidential slot to Robredo largely because she is Aquino’s choice. Sources said the President could still not forget Cayetano’s nasty criticism of him during the 2010 presidential campaign.

Like Belmonte, several LP leaders are rooting for Cayetano, who belongs to the Nacionalista Party.

“If we get Alan and we draft (Las Piñas congressman) Mark Villar, we will get the support of the Nacionalista Party (NP),” one LP leader said.

Villar’s father, former senator Manuel Villar Jr., heads NP. 

Robredo has said she is not interested in the vice presidency and that taking care of her children is her first priority. Her three daughters are opposed to her seeking higher office.

She said she does not have the resources and the national awareness required for a vice presidential run.

She said she also has not learned the ways of a politician.

“I am basically a black-and-white person,” she added.

She pointed out that she is still learning how to deal with officials in her district and province.

“I do not even know how long I will last in politics,” she stressed.

If she accepts Roxas’ offer, she is expected to split Bicol’s more than two million votes between her and fellow Bicolano Sen. Francis Escudero, who is Sen. Grace Poe’s vice presidential candidate. Escudero is from Sorsogon.