ROXAS CITY—Some critics suspect that barring the Partido ng Galing at Puso led by presidential candidate Grace Poe and her running mate Francis Escudero from campaigning in Roxas City, also known as “[Manuel] Roxas country,” could be part of the sabotage operations of the ruling Liberal Party against its opponents.
The administration’s standard bearer, Manuel Roxas II, is among the candidates for president in the coming elections and a rival of Poe. He is among the “great sons” of the province of Capiz, the capital of which is Roxas City.
But Roxas on Wednesday denied any involvement in the barring of Poe and Escudero from holding a forum with students here and their supporters' being barred from entering a mall.
"I don't disallow anyone and Capiz is always open to other candidates who want to express their platforms," Roxas said.
But Escudero criticized Roxas on Wednesday when he said Roxas could have done more for his own province due to his “closeness” to two former presidents—Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—and incumbent President Benigno Aquino III.
While Poe is a leading candidate for president, Roxas is lagging behind in all the presidential surveys despite the endorsement by Aquino.
Roxas was the president of the ruling Liberal Party before he quit to run for president. He was succeeded by Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, then the party’s secretary general.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, who earlier claimed that Poe and Roxas and their candidates will not get the “Ilonggo votes” in Iloilo, his home province, is the national vice chairman of the LP while the President is the party’s national chairman.
But the numbers could prove wrong as the Ilonggos had supported Poe when she ran for senator in 2013 and topped the senatorial race in Iloilo City.
Poe and her partymates held a campaign rally in Jaro City Wednesday night and promised to take her oath in front of the Jaro Cathedral if she won the presidency.
While the biological parents and relatives of Poe have remained unknown, she traces her roots in Jadro, having been found as a baby abandoned near the waterfont inside said church.
Poe and Escudero were barred from holding a consultation forum with students here.
Sought for comment Poe said the much-touted “Daang Matuwid” policy of the Aquino administration should not have allowed it.
“That’s why we have been saying that no particular group has a monopoly to righteousness. We have witnessed how politicking renders our good intentions useless,” Poe said.
“If I would be given a chance, I will not allow this kind of politicis because the Philippines is for every Filipino. Every student and every citizen of every city or province has the right to listen to a candidate so they will have knowledge about the right platform."
She said she experienced the same thing when reporters were prevented from entering a school in Cebu.
“I wish we were given a chance to talk to the students. They did this to me before in a school where they did not allow the media to enter but let me speak for two minutes,” Poe said.
“It was [the government’s] chance to show that the Righteous Path welcomed everyone and not just a chosen few."