Grace Poe says she’s not ready for presidency

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Grace Poe is a strong performer in surveys on voter preferences for presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2016 elections, but she is still unconvinced that she is ready to take the plunge and run for higher office.

Poe continued to be a favorite among the possible candidates for the presidential and vice presidential elections based on the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was the first to announce plans to run for president, continues to lead the pack, with a dominant 41 percent of the survey respondents picking him as their candidate for the country’s top post.

Poe came in second with 12 percent of the votes of survey respondents.

But in the case of possible vice presidential candidates, Poe was the top choice, garnering 26 percent of the votes of survey respondents.

In a text message, Poe expressed her gratitude to the electorate for their continued trust in her as a public official.

“But as I’ve said, as a neophyte public servant, I know I have a lot to learn and to prove to be worthy to run for higher office,” Poe said.

Poe was number one in the 2013 senatorial elections, outperforming several veteran politicians, including senators who ran for reelection.

She has remained popular a year after her assumption as senator with her success in steering various bills to approval, including the proposed Freedom of Information Act.

In spite of her seeming reluctance to run for higher office, Poe was recently mentioned as a possible running mate of Sen. Francis Escudero, who is close to her.

Apart from Binay, only Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano has openly declared his intention to run for president in 2016.

In the case of the vice presidency, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV expressed his interest to be a candidate.

However, being a member of the Nacionalista Party, Trillanes said that he would wait for the party’s decision on who to field in the 2016 elections.