President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has finally broken her silence on who she wants to succeed her as the standard bearer of the administration party. According to Vice President Noli De Castro, the President has invited him to join the administration party and that she wants him to be the presidential candidate of the party for 2010. Despite the invitation by the President, De Castro said that he gave no commitment to Arroyo and that he still needs time before he makes his final decision if he will indeed run or not for the Presidency.
Power of the Administration
People are wondering why it’s such a big deal if a candidate were to run with the administration party. The truth of the matter is that they are far superior in terms of local on-the-ground machinery. Majority of local government officials are with the administration – Mayors and Governors. These are key figures that can influence the vote in their respective provinces because of their stature and resources.
This is definitely a very tempting offer for VP De Castro. That’s why I was a bit amazed that he decided not to say yes yet. It’s logical for GMA to go for De Castro though since the other administration bets are really doing poorly in surveys. MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando just rated at 1% in the last PULSE ASIA survey and Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro also didn’t do well. I also don’t think BF will get any better because he’s now being hounded by the cash gift scandal. The only one who’s been showing consistent performance is VP De Castro, probably because of the media mileage he got when he was still a broadcaster for ABS-CBN.
This is what De Castro said when asked about his reaction:
“When the President is hardworking, the members of the Cabinet cannot be lazy. So when your leader is hardworking, we learn and my OJT (on the job training) for the last six years has been great,” he said.
De Castro, however, stressed that he was not waiting for the President’s anointment to convince him to run.
“Not really. I’m not asking for it, but kung ibibigay, of course, I will be grateful,” he said.
On a being third placer in the latest Pulse Asia survey of presidential candidates, De Castro said he was pleased with the ranking since he has not declared his candidacy for the top post.
He also said that he was not worried if his standing in the surveys would continue to decline.
“It’s just a survey. My rating is still good,” he said.
Source: Inquirer.Net
It will be very interesting to see how VP De Castro will fare now that he’s received GMA’s kiss of death. I’m very interested to see his ratings in the next SWS or Pulse Asia survey.
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De Castro is hesitant simply because the so called machinery of the administration is proven ineffective on a national level candidates as what happened last senatorial elections wherein the administrations candidates performed so poorly. Unlike before i think the voters now cannot be influenced by their local politicians anymore in choosing candidates on a national level. Just like what happened last elections.
Good points bro. TEAM UNITY’s machinery failed miserably in the last national elections for the senatorial line-up.