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Palace: Arroyo to stay away from Gibo sorties


President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will likely keep away from the sorties of administration standard bearer Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. during the entire campaign period, Malacañang said on Thursday. Deputy presidential spokeswoman Charito Planas said President Arroyo will also refuse to answer questions about politics, choosing to spend her remaining days in office to “inspect" projects. “Mrs. Arroyo wants certain government projects finished, so she will not answer questions about the campaign. Her attention is completely on wrapping up her presidency and checking the status of projects," Planas said in an interview on dzXL radio. Arroyo has 140 days or so left in office, and she wants the next president to inherit many completed projects, Planas said, adding that many administrations suffered from a lack of continuity due to unfinished projects of previous administrations. “With the recent changes in administrations, finished projects were not maintained while unfinished projects were abandoned. This is why Mrs. Arroyo is going around the country so she can report to her successor on the projects that were completed and those that were not," she said. Meanwhile, Teodoro has continued to lag behind in recent presidential surveys conducted by pollsters such as Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations. 'Kiss of death' But a Pulse Asia survey conducted in late October 2009 and released in December last year showed Mrs. Arroyo and three other personalities carry the proverbial “kiss of death." The survey showed that aside from Mrs. Arroyo, those with the supposed jinx include former President Joseph Estrada, Filipino boxing champ Emmanuel “Manny" Pacquiao, and television host Willie Revillame. [See: Pulse Asia – Table 9] “Small to sizable majorities (58 percent to 79 percent) are surely/probably not supporting a presidential bet endorsed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former President Joseph Estrada, Mr. Willie Revillame, and People’s Champ Manny Pacquiao," Pulse Asia said in its website. On the other hand, it said the presidential bid of a candidate endorsed by these personalities “would be surely/probably supported by 15 percent to 37 percent of Filipinos." It also said a candidate supported by television personality Kris Aquino would “surely/probably get the support of 45 percent of Filipinos," that candidate “would surely/probably not be elected by 49 percent." [See: Pulse Asia’s Ulat ng Bayan] LBG, GMANews.TV

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