Palace says Noynoy-Mar tandem ‘predictable’

Malacañang on Sunday belittled the tandem of senators Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III and Manuel “Mar" Roxas II in next year’s elections, saying it was a “predictable development." Presidential adviser for political affairs Gabriel Claudio said they knew Roxas would settle for a vice presidential bid when he dropped his presidential ambition last month to support Aquino, his party-mate at the Liberal Party (LP). Despite this, Claudio wished the tandem well. “They have a natural synergy of political beliefs and ideology because of their friendship and shared party loyalties. We congratulate and wish them both well," he said.

Reports said Roxas has already accepted the offer to be Aquino’s running mate – a partnership that the LP will formalize and publicly announce in a press conference at Club Filipino in San Juan on Monday morning. The only son of the late President Corazon Aquino and slain senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr. said he offered Roxas the vice presidential position after the latter made a "sacrifice" of withdrawing his bid for the presidency. Aquino bared his plans to run for the presidency last Sept. 9 after having a weekend retreat. He will possibly go against his second cousin, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. The administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD last week came up with a consensus to support Teodoro’s bid for the presidency. - GMANews.TV