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Senator Francis Escudero has accepted the offer of Sen. Grace Poe to run for Vice President in the 2016 elections.
The lawmaker, who dabbled with the idea of running for a higher position in 2010, will run as the Vice President of Grace Poe, who announced on Wednesday her decision to run for president.
Escudero, accompanied by wife Heart Evangelista, announced his decision during an event at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, which had served as a venue for historic events in the country such as the oath taking of Corazon Aquino as President after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, and the announcement of then Senator Benigno Aquino III’s presidential bid.
“Tinatanggap ko ng may buong tapang at pagkukumbaba na maging katuwang niya (Poe) sa mga landas na kanyang tatahakin sa mga susunod na araw,” he said, triggering the audience to cheer “Grace-Chiz.”
Escudero’s announcement of his bid for the second highest position in the country is no longer a surprise. Poe has always said she prefers Escudero to be her running mate.
In 2004, Escudero served as the campaign spokesman of Poe’s father, the late movie king Fernando Poe Jr.
The long-running friendship between the Poe family and Escudero makes the latter the obvious choice for the lady senator, who is currently the front runner in the presidential race according to the pre-election surveys of Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia.
The closeness of Poe and Escudero is what analysts and pundits believe derailed the Liberal Party’s plan to pair Poe with former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.
This was not the first that Escudero served as a stumbling block for Roxas. In 2010, Escudero endorsed the NoyBi (Benigno Aquino III and Jejomar Binay) tandem, even if Roxas was Aquino’s running mate.
Escudero, however, is not anymore in good terms with the vice-president. The rift between the two started when Binay dropped him and Poe in his senatorial lineup.
Text: Dharel Placido, ABS-CBNnews.com
Photo: Francis Chiz Escudero Facebook page
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
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