Noynoy stands by Mar amid Noynoy-Binay buzz

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte — Amid growing support for an Aquino-Binay tandem, Liberal Party standard bearer Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on Tuesday maintained his support for his running mate, Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II. Aquino said he is confident that if he wins as president and something untoward happens to him, the government will be left in good hands under Roxas. "Gusto ko iliwanag, sa akin kandidato ko kaisa-isa kong partner sa laban na ito, si Mar, dahil sigurado akong ipagpatuloy niya kung sakaling di ko kayanin (I want to make it clear that I have only one candidate and one partner in this fight, and that is Mar, because I am certain he will finish what I have begun)," he said. Some groups have been pushing for an Aquino-Binay tandem even though Jejomar Binay, the incumbent mayor of Makati City, is the running mate of former president Joseph Estrada, who is seeking to return to Malacañang. Senator Francis Escudero, who has lent some of his staff to Aquino's campaign team, is also endorsing Aquino and Binay. Escudero is rumored to be one of Roxas' prospective rivals if the two both decide to seek the presidency in 2016. Aside from standing by his running mate, Aquino also downplayed Binay's steady rise in vice presidential preference surveys, pointing out that Binay's rating is still far from that of Roxas. Aquino said Binay is only competing with Senator Loren Legarda of the Nationalist People's Coalition for the Number 2 spot in the surveys. A BusinessWorld-commissioned survey released Monday showed Roxas still leading the vice presidential race even though his score dropped by three points to 39 percent. Binay and Legarda were virtually tied at second place with 25 percent and 24 percent, respectively. The survey, which had 2,400 respondents, has a ±2% margin of error. It was conducted April 16 to 19, less than a month before the May 10 elections Last year, Roxas, who had eyed the presidency way before the election period slid down to vice president to give way to Aquino. Aquino decided to run for president upon the urging of several groups who made the clamor following the death of Aquino's mother, former president Corazon Aquino. — LBG/KBK, GMANews.TV