Cayetano undecided on 2016 presidential bid

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano admitted that the drop in his ratings in the latest survey on presidential preferences for the 2016 elections has made him think twice about whether to push through with his bid for the presidency.

In an interview with reporters in Taguig City yesterday, Cayetano said he could not help but reconsider his plan to run for president after seeing how poorly he performed in the recent survey.

Pulse Asia, in its survey on voter preferences for the 2016 national elections conducted last September, showed that Cayetano received a mere one percent from respondents.

This was a significant drop from the five percent that he received in the survey conducted last June by the same polling firm.

“All politicians want to run but whether I’m running in 2016, I don’t know. With the present ratings, who would run?” Cayetano said.

Cayetano has been leading the Senate’s probe into the alleged overpriced parking building constructed by the city government of Makati when Vice President Jejomar Binay was still the mayor.

Binay, who was the first to declare his intention to run for president in 2016, also suffered a drop in the survey rating, from 41 percent in June to 31 percent in September.

Cayetano said he is not bothered by the drop in his ratings even if it had something to do with his participation in the probe into the alleged misdeeds of Binay.

“When I do investigations, I don’t really care about the consequences or about the ratings,” he said.

“Everyone told me not to get involved in this because you would become a target. The camp of Binay has repeatedly stated that I am harassing them. But now they are going over the COA reports.

“All of the contractors of the city of Taguig are being offered P10 million to P20 million to testify or make up a story against us,” he said.

Asked if he was ditching his bid for the presidency, Cayetano said he is not closing the doors just yet.

“From the start, I never said I’m bent on anything. If the doors are open I will take the step. I’m fatalistic when it comes to this issue. Wherever the Lord wants me to be, whatever position that is, I’m happy anywhere we are.”

One position that he is not interested in pursuing though is that of vice president, he said.

He explained that he would not be able to implement his plans effectively as vice president so he would rather remain as a senator or run for mayor.

Cayetano said he is sure of one thing right now – to have his first child with his wife, Taguig Mayor Laarni Cayetano.

“In fact, our focus right now is not the presidency, but to have a baby, I can tell you honestly,” he said.