Just kidding folks, Mar Roxas really didn’t say that, but he might as well have said it.
Thing is, Roxas’ reaction to Senator Grace Poe’s announcement of her decision to run as president instead of accepting an offer to be his running mate in the 2016 elections might serve as an indication of the character and type of leadership he is offering.
Instead of showing confidence and charm by welcoming Poe’s announcement and wishing her well as she joins the race to the Philippine presidency, Roxas’ reaction gives off an insecure and bratty vibe. For some reason, I imagine it is the same sort of reaction a kid would have if he is asked to share a favorite toy with another kid.
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Here is an excerpt of his reaction published in Rappler:
He added: “So, kung anuman ang kanyang napagpasyahan at desisyon na ia-anunsyo bukas ay re-respetuhin natin. Kung ayaw na niya sa Daang Matuwid ay nasasakanya naman po yun (So, whatever her decision is and whatever she announces tomorrow, we will respect that. If she doesn’t want to be part of the Daang Matuwid, that’s her decision).”
(Full article here: http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2016/105981-mar-roxas-comment-grace-poe-plan)
In the Youtube video embedded in the Rappler article, reporters tried to draw Roxas reaction out and this was the exchange that transpired:
Reporter: Sinasabi ni Grace Poe na walang may monopolya ng daang matuwid
Roxas: Well opinion niya yan. Nagsimula ang kanyang pagiging lingkod bayan nung pinili siya ng ating Pangulong Pnoy na maging kabahagi ng daang matuwid nang siya ay tinalagang mtrcb…. (truncated)
Reporter… So she cannot claim daang matuwid?
Roxas: Well, ang ama ng daang matuwid ay si? Diba parang malinaw na yun?
With Roxas, you pretty much have to read between the lines most of the times because he tends to pussyfoot a lot and this is why, instead of saying outright that HE ALONE is the candidate representing DAANG MATUWID, he had to keep referring to Aquino.
That to me is rather weak.
Remember that time when Roxas shouted choice curse words at an anti-Charter Change rally on Ayala Avenue? Well, just putting that together with what former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in his 9th State of the Nation Address, it seems Roxas was the one being referred to as pussyfoot.
To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public.
(Read the rest of the speech here http://www.gov.ph/2009/07/27/gloria-macapagal-arroyo-ninth-state-of-the-nation-address-july-27-2009/ )
In a column by Cito Beltran, advise is given to Roxas in the manner in which he should pursue his lofty aspirations back in 2009:
“MR. Pussyfoot foot” should realize that once you get personal and ugly, you automatically cast off the mantle of decency from the table. Those you attack and single out will then have no second thoughts “doing unto you, what you have done unto others”.
As a result, “MR. Pussyfoot” got a taste of his own medicine from no less than the President and in the most public of events, the same way he has subjected others to very public accusation and public humiliation.
Perhaps it is time for “MR. Pussyfoot” to step on the brakes and step down from the train. We don’t have to agree on everything but we can all agree not to be disagreeable. Putting one’s foot on the ground in humility will make you a better foe, if not a better man.
(Read the rest of the column here http://www.philstar.com/opinion/490739/mr-pussyfoot)
Thing is, I think Roxas had just but barely restrained himself in that interview regarding Grace Poe’s candidacy and what he essentially said was something like, “It’s my way or the highway.”
This typically pig-headed attitude had surfaced before during that now infamous video of him berating Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez and saying:
“You have to understand that you are a Romualdez and the president is an Aquino. So we just want to legalize this. Now if this is not legalized, then okay you are in charge… Bahala kayo sa buhay ninyo!”
(See video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_oxV8ylgOI)
As if that weren’t enough, he had to follow it up with something that Cito Beltran might regard as sadistic. In this video which you can find here, Roxas was heard asking if Romualdez had already gotten stress debriefing and insinuated that he may not be in the right mental state. At the end of the video, Roxas guffawed.
Given the huge number of memes attacking Grace Poe and Jejomar Binay that I come across everyday, I really do wonder if Roxas’ campaign team is funding such operations and if the funds being used are coming from his own pocket.
Thing is, I’ve also been seeing Palace spokespersons Edwin Lacierda and Abigal Valte speaking for Mar Roxas and the Liberal Party when they should be constraining themselves to matters involving the President — which, after all, is what they are really being paid as government employees to do.
At the very least, it would be improper for these people to use government time and resources to speak for Mar Roxas and the LP.
Anyway, going back to Roxas and Daang Matuwid… my hunch is that if he becomes president, we can expect more of the yellow ribbon mania. We can expect that everyone who didn’t support him in his campaign for president will be hunted down and vilified. We can expect that those who didn’t don the yellow ribbon will not have a voice in his administration.
What we face with Roxas is either his way or the highway… That doesn’t look very democratic, does it? It seems arrogant and despotic!
JP Fenix wrote something about this kind of yellow ribbon/yellow army centered rule which I hope will not be the way it will be for the next six years after Noynoy Aquino steps down:
And that’s why I have a beef with that DAMNED YELLOW RIBBON. It is partisan and exclusive. It is a yellow agenda, for a yellow army. If you don’t subscribe to the yellow agenda, you are not one of us. If you don’t subscribe to the yellow agenda, you are not deserving of our good graces.
—
And ever since PNoy was elected president, and in every celebration or crisis we experienced as a nation, all the ups and downs we have faced, good or bad we have had, I feel increasingly excluded. I am distanced by that DAMNED YELLOW RIBBON.
Writer.
It has been said countless times here, “daang matuwid” is nothing but a road to perdition. The daang matuwid term is almost over, and look where that road has brought us to? More unemployment, more OFWs, more pagpag. All the while, more money to line their already bulging pockets.
Kung sa kanya lang yun, well he can shove it up his places where the sun don’t shine.
I couldn’t agree more…
In fact, if the Idiot #2 wants I’ll will help shoving it in.
“Mar Roxas: ‘Akin Lang Ang Daang Matuwid.’”
There is definitely no genuine sincerity and humility in those words—which is really what the aristocratic/arrogant Filipino people really lack of in their dysfunctional value system.
i dont see a quality of a good leader in him. you’ll see that on his actions
The Failippines under the presidency of Manuel “Mar” Araneta Roxas II translates into a whimpering isolationism in foreign policy, a mulish obstructionism in domestic policy, and a pusillanimous pussyfooting on the critical issue of law and order.
Sorry Manuel “Mar” Araneta Roxas II. I’ve no time for your pussy footing around, I’ve got better things to do then you.
“Given the huge number of memes attacking Grace Poe and Jejomar Binay that I come across everyday, I really do wonder if Roxas’ campaign team is funding such operations and if the funds being used are coming from his own pocket.”
I also read a lot of this stuff. In fact, I am one of those memes you are referring to. But I am also commenting on the moves of Mr. Mar Roxas and every administration official. Also other commenters do not confine themselves to Sen. Grace Poe and VP Jojo Binay. Read MST, Manila Times and The Tribune daily. So your comment is rather unfair.
If Daang Matuwid is related to principles and values, then it can’t be owned by anyone, but should be owned by all.
Integrity is neither Ilocano, Tagalog, Visayan, nor Tausog, but of humans. Honesty is neither Brazilian nor Filipino, but of humans. Transparency is neither Chinese nor Russian, but of humans. Prudence is neither German nor Italian, but of humans. Courage is neither Batangueño nor Waray, but of humans. Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is neither French nor American, but of humans. …..These are timeless human values that could be acquired by any and all human.
As a leader, I could talk of priority values. I could say that this society may, at this point in time, need to focus on integrity, honesty and transparency, and give that grouping of values a label as say, Daang Matuwid. But, it is NOT like I discovered a group of islands and named it Spratlys for these are not physical things, but of the abstract and the universal. So, as a sincere leader, I will explain the label and the terms related to the label, but will never personally attach it to me, for persons could fail and damage the label. Instead, as a good leader, I will put the label in a pedestal, stripped of any personality, so that it retains the universality which it represents, and just lead the constituents to that which should not be owned by anyone, but can be owned by all.
It is different when I make the label a tagline to a brand. It may be a tagline to something substantive or vacuous, but it becomes a way of identifying that something, and soon it becomes a slogan to push and pull that something. The slogan will rise or fall depending on the substantiveness or vacuousness of that something. Now, it is clear that this is what they did with Daang Matuwid; it is a tagline, a slogan, of a brand, a product, which happens to be PNoy. Now, that PNoy has become the exemplar par excellence of anything vacuous that ever existed, then Daang Matuwid has become something vacuous, hypocritical and repulsive.
Now, I don’t understand why tra-Poe of Cheat Chiz and Mar of LP (Lipat Poe) would be jockeying for something that is so repulsive and hypocritical. Either they don’t know they look so ridiculous and laughable, or our voters are simply that dense.
politics in our country is the worst. i see no light with this. Are these the leaders we need? i just hopeless with this matter unless i see unity with them.
Add,
“If Daang Matuwid is related to principles and values, then it can’t be owned by anyone, but should be owned by all.”
This saying will never “be owned by all” because that would mean each of us will have to set aside his (or her) self-interests, and apply its purpose for the good of the whole country–instead of as individually–which is imcomprehensible in the minds of the Filipino people.
Aeta
You have very good point there, Aeta. But, universal values always have a wide appeal that when shown could be something doable will have people pursuing it on their own. The benefit of such values is something that even masa could grasp. You see why even if PNoy is failing, a good number of people are still using it in one form or another, even to deride PNoy
Must say they had a good slogan, what, with MonJ there, who is one of best ad men here and abroad. He is of the Chicken Joy fame. What he overlooked is that PNoy could turn out to be a chicken sh*t, and PNoy has. So, all this ad creativity gone to waste, really. Big possibility, I think, MonJ will talk some time in the future that moving to a govt career is the biggest regret of his life.
“Daan Matuwid ay diretso sa Bulsa nila”…Roxas is the same as the mentally retarded Aquino. He has no leadership quality. He plays too much politics. And, will kiss the Ass of Aquino, everytime, his boss wants something done. He excludes anybody who does not share his political ideology.
No tolerance to those who disagree. That “Daan Matuwid” is a Crooked Road, used by Crooks, like Roxas , Aquino and their YellowTard followers.
welcome our new dark overlord jejomar binay. poe’s candidacy certainly splits the daang matuwid vote and roxas in pinoy fashion is passive-aggressive b!@#hing about it. add in marcos jr as vp and binay should have this wrapped up.
The comments make me feel frustrated because of a very big chunk of our electorate are politically illiterate and so can not grasp the importance of what is said about unfitness of those who have confirmed their desire to lead this republic as its top huncho.
Quetion mr. roxas, What is daang matuwid? for sure you’ll focus on the corruption issue of our country. This simply means that there are more political quarrels to come. This gonna be a non-stop partisan politics.
iam just fell hopeless for these politikos. They have no unity. They always say bad things to each others.
poor roxas, another loss for 2016. Nothing he does rises an iota on his popularity
Binay will surely lose in 2016. Poe will be badly damaged because of citizenship and residency issues. Who’s left? Roxas.
Sayo na yang Daang Matuwid mo, bahala ka sa buhay mo, p*tang%na mo.