Cabinet not solid for Mar?

MANILA, Philippines - Is the entire Cabinet solidly behind President Aquino’s anointed successor? Malacañang will only say that this statement may be sweeping or “too general.”

But Cabinet members are free to choose any presidential candidate they want to support and Aquino will not take it against them, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said yesterday.

He said he would prefer that Cabinet members support Aquino’s choice – Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II.

Coloma stressed that Aquino does not have the habit of forcing anybody against his will.

Aquino told reporters in a chance interview yesterday that he had not seen any problem among members of his official family over his decision to choose Roxas as his successor.

“Not from my perspective. Maybe you should ask… the others,” the President told reporters following a meeting with officials and members of his communications team at the New Executive Building.

Asked whether Cabinet members could decide for themselves who to support in 2016, Aquino said: “Of course. We are not dictating on one another. We are always into consensus building.”

Aquino said he could understand reports that Cabinet officials were now divided because of his decision to anoint Roxas due to the political season.

“They can allege. At the end of the day, is there proof?” Aquino said.

Sources revealed Aquino had been busy sending text messages to his allies in the House of Representatives to persuade them to support Roxas.

When asked if the entire Cabinet supported Roxas’ candidacy, Coloma said it may be “too general” to state such a situation.

What is certain is that every member of the Cabinet is an alter ego of the President, he said. – With Aurea Calica