Binay: Escudero, Grace Poe will be UNA guest candidates

SENATOR Francis Escudero and Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chairperson Grace Poe-Llamanzares will be adopted as guest candidates of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) if they will join the Liberal Party slate for next year’s senatorial elections, Vice President Jejomar Binay said late Saturday.

Llamanzares had said she will run under the administration, while Escudero has yet to decide where to align himself.

“I won’t be hypocrite. She is very much qualified to be a member of the Senate. If the Liberal (Party) will get her, she will be a guest candidate in UNA,” Binay told reporters.

In the case of Escudero, the Vice President said: “If he will be part of the Liberal Party, then he will be our guest candidate. If not, he will be part of our regular slate.”

Binay and Escudero worked together during the failed presidential bid of Llamanzares’ deceased father Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004.

The UNA executive committee composed primarily of Binay, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and former President Joseph Estrada is set to hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the alliance’s final 12-man slate.

So far, UNA has nine candidates, some of them figuring consistently in surveys like re-electionist Senator Gregorio Honasan II, Cagayan Representative Jack Enrile, San Juan Representative JV Ejercito and former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Last week, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia pulled out of the race to run as congresswoman of the province’s third district, currently under her brother Pablo John.

UNA is also considering the Binay’s daughter Nancy to be part of the slate but the Vice President asked the media to wait for the official announcement.

Meanwhile, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Director General Joel Villanueva will hold a press conference at his Taguig office on Monday to announce his decision whether to run for the Senate or not.

However, reports said Villanueva was already asked by President Benigno Aquino III in a meeting in Malacañang last Friday to continue with his duties as Tesda chief.

“I wanted to break my silence and share also the outcome of my meeting with PNoy (Aquino). I have already weighed all options with my family,” Villanueva told Sun.Star.

Villanueva, a former party-list lawmaker, only placed 26th in a recent Pulse Asia survey on potential senatorial bets. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)