The latest survey revealed the frontrunners for the 2016 presidential election. That election may be far yet, but the survey, in a way, helps the contenders and the administration in planning who to endorse.
Many do not believe the surveys. I don’t blame them but surveys help candidates plan their moves, serving as guide for contenders to increase their chances of winning.
The latest survey showed that Vice President Jejomar Binay has remained as the top choice for the 2016 presidential race. Liberal Party and administration bet Secretary Mar Roxas is far behind, occupying the fifth spot. This prompted an international organization to suggest to the President to choose a more viable candidate than Mar Roxas. They fear that Roxas may not be a very viable contender for the 2016 election.
The President is indebted to Roxas, who gave up his presidential ambition to give way for Aquino in the 2010 elections.
Sen. Grace Poe followed Binay in the survey and thus may be a viable presidential candidate.
Except that Poe does not have much political experience, being a neophyte in the political arena.
The Liberal Party is hoping that a strong contender will suddenly surface to grab the presidency in 2016, just like what happened with President Benigno Aquino III.
In the case of Binay, he has been successful in shying away from controversies as vice president although issues when he was mayor of Makati continue to haunt him.
Mar Roxas had the chance when the President chose him to take the helm of the Department of Interior and Local Government or DILG, succeeding the late Secretary Jesse Robredo who died in a plane accident.
But Roxas is far behind Robredo in handling the affairs of the DILG, especially during the Yolanda aftermath in Tacloban City. People perceived that he was just too elite in the way he handled the affairs in Tacloban City during the disaster. He would have been an ideal candidate for presidency in 2016. He is highly qualified and has no record of graft and corruption. But he has so far failed to catch the imagination of the Filipino people.
Other contenders, like Senator Allan Peter Cayetano, have to work doubly hard to make themselves viable presidential candidates.
We hope that we shall be able to choose highly qualified and competent presidential candidates in 2016, and pray for the people to have better choices.
We hope and pray, too, that the people have learned their lessons, and will exercise their right of suffrage properly in choosing the next president of our beloved country.
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I am elated that some private lot owners in the Banilad-Talamban corridor followed the lad of the University of San Carlos, which earlier agreed to voluntarily move its fence back several meters to give way to road widening.
These private lot owners are showing selflessness and a sense of corporate social responsibility in doing this to ease traffic in the area.
They probably see how traffic congestion badly affects their businesses in the Banilad and Talamban corridor.
I hope many other owners and establishments follow suit.
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