Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II was in Pasig City on Thursday (August 6) to meet with local officials for the third time in less than three weeks.
After meeting with city mayors and vice governors in previous days, he went to the general assembly of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP).
Provincial governors from all over the country were present.
It was the first time Roxas met the governors as the administration’s standard-bearer for next year’s elections.
“Nagpapaalam ako sa inyo. Nais kong iparating sa inyo na I found our work together to be very fulfilling,” Roxas said.
[Translation: “I bid you farewell and I want to tell you all that I found our work together to be very fulfilling.”]
But he wasnt there just to say goodbye — now that he’s about to resign from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Roxas stopped short of asking for their support at the polls — but he brought them a P6.5-billion infrastructure program to benefit their provinces.
Local governments that would qualify for the program would receive funds for road rehabilitation and repairs.
Budget secretary and Liberal Party (LP) stalwart Florencio “Butch” Abad was at the meeting, too.
LPP national president Gov. Alfonso Umali of Mindoro, an administration ally, said he invited Roxas to their gathering.
He’s optimistic about the group’s support for Roxas.
Apart from local officials, it’s no secret that Roxas has also been courting Sen. Grace Poe to be his vice-presidential running mate.
But it seemed he still had no plans to meet with her formally.
Poe had said, it may take her a while to decide if she would run.
And it’s unclear how long the Liberal Party would wait.
But Abad said the party was convinced she’s qualified to run in 2016 — and they dismissed questions about her citizenship and residency.
“If we believe that, we will not be pursuing her. And we are pursuing her, so for us, that is a non-issue,” Abad said.
With or without a running mate, Roxas said he would start working on his platform. He said he would come out with a series of policy speeches soon, to give the people an idea of what he had in store for them.
