MAR ROXAS
Poor Mar Roxas. He is reduced to an absurd caricature by
memes created and shared by people whose anger for anything yellow surpasses
their ability to think objectively.
I
believe that Mar is a decent guy, a stickler for structure (which can be good
or bad), and someone who can be trusted to keep his hands off public money (And
the collective eyebrows of the anti-Mar brigade shoots up).
He however has two weaknesses that are too humongous for him to
overcome. First, he belongs to a party.
Second, he is Mar Roxas.
The Daang Matuwid catchphrase is weighed down by the many
inconsistencies of its results over the past 5 years that repeatedly pushing for it renders it as an
empty, or at best an unwieldy mantra. I
admit that the Aquino administration, despite the noise and scorch-earth
conclusion of its detractors, has made significant headways in many areas of
governance, including the promotion of tourism to local and foreign
wanderlusts, filing of arbitration case in disputed territories and – yes, the fight against graft and corruption particularly in
DPWH where roads and bridges to nowhere and the 20% kickback were once standard and widespread practices.
But alas, good news is not news to the Filipino. What’s news is DOTC mishandling MRT/LRT lines
and miraculous bullets appearing inside passenger luggages at the airport, Deaprtment of Agriculture issuing import permits to smugglers and smugglers
having their way at the Bureau of Customs, LTO collecting fees for non-existent
stickers, plates and licenses, to name some of the spectacular blunders that
make the prospect of continuing on the same road such a difficult sell.
So where is Mar in this mix? Unfortunately, right in the
middle – the guy obligated to convince people that what is not working is
actually working, or will eventually work given more time. Tough pitch for any man to pull off; and I
see only one way Mar doing it. But he
should have done it a looooonnngg time ago.
He should have risen above the muck and acknowledged the administration’s shortcomings, then
swiftly moved to right the ship, starting with the obvious -- letting heads of people central
to the Liberal Party, like Abaya and Alcala, roll.
But no, Roxas is a team player, a loyal ally through and
through that he would allow a workable ship to be needlessly weighed down by useless
tonnage instead of throwing them overboard, saving the ship and making it
perform better in the process. He could
have done it a long time ago and made a better impression of his leadership and
decisiveness but, unfortunately, Mar would rather go down with the ship than
cross personal ties. And so now here he
is, the pitiful receptacle for all the boos and brickbats of his friends’ misdeeds.
Another critical flaw that Mar cannot overcome is that he is
Mar Roxas, part hacendero Roxas, part
business mogul Araneta. He studied in
the best schools, worked for the best institutions, before finding his way to
plum positions in the government.
Through it all, he has built a reputation as an effective suit with an
array of X and O solutions he learned in the boardroom. Nothing wrong with that except that Roxas has
not learned the art of connecting with the masa who view suits as either their
employer, their snooty neighbour or
unreachable townmate, and sometimes their
oppressor.
His handlers know this all too well hence the desperate
moves to package him as an action star/fine gentleman character that won’t
hesitate to do the dirty work – all these while a bloke with a camera happens
to be conveniently by to preserve the selfless act for posterity (Insert your favourite meme
here of Mar directing traffic, carrying a heavy sack of produce, almost killing
himself riding a motorcycle on dirt, eating simple food with bare hands, and the
list goes on).
Alas, connecting on a personal level is difficult to
artificially manufacture. It’s like your
stiff teacher cracking a joke and you forcing yourself to laugh at it just
because it would be awkward for both of you if you did not. Pilit eh. And this is no more evident in the viral
video of Mar trying to spark a fist bump into an exploding firecracker with an
obviously bewildered tyke. If Mar was wired with the masses, he would have
realized that fist bumps, let alone an exploding one, are only familiar to
those with regular access to the internet or cable TV where they can see hip
shows featuring hip characters like Baymax, or ball games with players who show pleasure or
approval with each other that way.
Oh, poor Mar. You’re a good man who became a joke because
you are who you are.
Why am I not voting for Mar?
As far as qualifications go, I admit he paid his dues. And his hands are clean. Pakibaba
po ang kilay. Kung lumalangoy man siya
sa pera ay dahil pinanganak siya sa pera. Yung bahay ng pamilya niya ay nandun
sa Araneta Center na nagkataon din namang kanila ding pag-aari.
He will make a “good time” president, like his predecessor
and friend PNoy, which means he will also inherit his noisy detractors
and adding some of his own. But inevitably,
there will be bad times -- another Yolanda, another earthquake, another Mamasapano, another
catastrophe where people would look for strength in their leader. And Mar the good time president will go back to his natural self, digging
for Xs and Os and thinking that everything can be thought over using
conventions and structures, instead of showing himself to be a leader that
empathizes, assures and inspires.
Sorry,
Mar is not that president.
As exemplified by his handling of the Romualdez meeting at the most crucial time of the Yolanda tragedy in Leyte, the highly structured Mar will demand to be right more than he
would want to be decisive. It’s like
someone telling him, “Sir, we need to go over the mountain ASAP so we can
rescue survivors.” And he would calmly
reply, “Wait, did you say mountain? We need to confirm if it really is a mountain. Call Mr
So and So and have it measured. If it’s
less than 2,000 feet then it is just a hill.
Until we have that straightened out, we will not scale the mountain, or
the hill.”
But a Mar Roxas presidency is not fatal.
Filipinos have shown time and again, sympathetic president or not, that
it will rise above the water, ruins or ashes and fight some more. But it will be more divisive and hurtful than ever. And that is not the way to build, unite a
nation already in a terrible state of disunity.
A Mar Roxas presidency will be Part II of Aquino’s. Only, it would have more hecklers and detractors. God knows how much we need less of that and more of showing support and empathy for one another. Roxas is not cut out for that.
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