‘Frustration of the people’ is my greatest rival - Mar

MANILA, Philippines - So who poses the most serious threat to the candidacy of Liberal Party presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II?

For Roxas, who is lagging behind in surveys on presidential bets, it’s not a matter of who but what.

“Why would I tell you? Isn’t this about tactics? It should be a secret,” he told dzBB anchor Mike Enriquez on Friday when asked who he thinks is his strongest rival in the 2016 polls.

Roxas eventually answered the question but did not give names. He even took it as an opportunity to deliver his much repeated lines about the supposed gains of the tuwid na daan or straight path.

“Our rival is the frustration of the people because we have a good performance and have helped a lot of people,” Roxas said.

“But some people are still waiting for help. Some are still waiting for the straight path to reach them,” he added.

Roxas admitted that some poor households are not yet covered by the conditional cash transfer or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). The 4Ps provide cash assistance to poor families who send their children to school and avail of government health services.

“If your neighbor is benefitting from 4Ps and you are not yet covered by it and both of you are poor, you will be frustrated,” Roxas said.

“That’s why we will defend, promote and expand the 4Ps,” he added.

Despite being the candidate of the Aquino administration, which has consistently enjoyed high trust and satisfaction ratings, Roxas is still lagging behind his rivals in surveys.

He ranked third in the latest Social Weather Stations survey on presidential candidates behind Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Grace Poe. The administration candidate was picked by 21 percent of the respondents while Binay and Poe were chosen by 31 percent and 24 percent, respectively.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ranked fourth in the survey with 20 percent while Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago had three percent.

Roxas, however, does not appear to be worried about his low survey ratings.

“The elections will not be held today. The elections will be held in May so we should be on top in May,” he said in Filipino.