THE Nationalist People’s Coalition formally announced yesterday it has decided to support the presidential bid of Sen. Grace Poe, even if the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the disqualification cases filed against her, and that of Poe’s running mate, Sen. Francis Escudero.
Poe and Escudero, who are running under the “Partido Galing at Puso,” thanked the party as they said the endorsement would boost their candidacies but said they would maintain their independence.
The NPC is the second biggest political party in the country based on the number of incumbent congressmen, governors and city mayors.
The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay, standard-bearer of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance, and of administration standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II belittled the NPC endorsement. They both claim to have supporters within the NPC.
Binay spokesman Mon Ilagan said the NPC support for Poe and Escudero would not affect Binay’s chances in the elections as he said some NPC members are supporting Binay.
Akbayan party-list Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez, spokesman for the administration’s “Daang Matuwid” coalition, said some party members are not aware of the decision.
“I’ve talked to some of Mar’s supporters from NPC, and they say they had absolutely no knowledge of this endorsement. Apparently, there’s some confusion within their ranks,” he said.
Gutierrez said it could be similar to what happened in 2010, when the same group in NPC claimed that they “endorsed” Sen. Manny Villar’s presidential bid only to formally endorse Sen. Benigno Aquino III shortly after.
“We will wait for further developments,” he said.
House deputy Speaker Giorgidi Aggabao of Isabela, NPC president, said the Poe-Escudero tandem is the “best” among all candidates vying for the country’s top two posts.
“They embody the principles we want to see in our president and vice president such as clean, brave, hard-working and compassionate,” he said.
The party’s decision did not come as a surprise because Aggabao has been saying since last year that majority of their members are backing Poe and Escudero.
The NPC, founded by business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., is the second largest political party at the House. It has as members Senators Loren Legarda and Vicente Sotto III, at least 40 congressmen, 14 governors and 22 mayors. The party has around 250 members in the country and is fielding at least 4,000 candidates in the May polls.
The NPC supported the presidential candidacy of Poe’s father, the late Fernando Poe Jr., in 2004 and allied with the administration in 2010 when then Sen. Benigno Aquino III became president.
The party’s decision came after a series of meetings with Poe, Escudero, Binay, Roxas, and PDP-Laban standard bearer Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Aggabao said Poe will be a runaway winner in the presidential race once the SC upholds her Filipino citizenship.
The NPC is also expecting the High Court to rule that Poe has met the 10-year constitutional residency requirement for presidential candidates.
“If she will hurdle the SC, she will own the finish line,” Aggabao said adding 90 percent of NPC members backed the decision. “Perhaps her poll numbers will go through the roof.”
Aggabao said a favorable SC ruling and the NPC support will translate to 10 percentage point increase in her ratings.
