Mar on the SSS veto, Korina & Leni

At last Tuesday’s Bulong Pulungan lunch forum at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, I asked Liberal Party presidential bet Mar Roxas how he hoped to replicate his historic win in the 2004 senatorial elections, where he garnered the most number of votes ever (as of the time). Because in the latest surveys, he was behind Vice President Jojo Binay, the man who beat him in the vice presidential elections of 2010.

Mar, eloquent as usual despite a bad cough, said it was easier to top the Senate elections, than win as President.

“The presidency is an expensive vote. It’s your one and only vote for the post. There is only one choice and in the end, I think tayo ang pipiliin (we will be the choice),” he pointed out. Now how to win that one and only vote for president from the man who troops to the precinct to cast his ballot?

“I am the neighbor you know. I’m familiar to you,” said Mar. “You’ve seen my strengths and capabilities. Now there may be new people coming into the neighborhood, may baguhan (new faces), but in the end the people will go for the tested. Doon sa tiyak (the sure bet), maayos (organized), tapat (honest), malinis (clean), desente (decent).”

The lesson he learned from 2010, during which he was the frontrunner but eventually lost to Binay, is “to stay focused and alert.”

Last year, his numbers were single digit (at four percent), and now they’ve multiplied by at least five.

“We’re in a good place,” he believes. “We have a track record in every town.”

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Does he think President Aquino’s veto of the bill increasing the pension of SSS members by P2,000 will affect his candidacy?

“Yes!” he said unequivocably. “Positively.”

“If P-Noy signed the bill into law, the SSS would not survive,” he reasoned. “It would go the way of the pre-need companies that all folded up.” He said P2,000 for two million pensioners means P4 billion or P48 billion a year, which no institution can survive. SSS members in their twenties, according to Mar, will have no retirement to collect in 35 years if the SSS crumbles now. He believes President Aquino was looking at the bigger picture and the greater need of the 31 million members who will be pensioners themselves later.

“The Presidency is all about making decisions,” he stressed. According to Mar, it’s doing what is right, “regardless of vote.”

“I would give up the pogi points and decide exactly as P-Noy did on the SSS issue,” he concluded.

He said the solution to the traffic problem is “on its way” with the forthcoming completion of the NLEX and SLEX connector roads. This will take one third of the vehicles off EDSA. 

“By every statistic, the Philippines is on an upswing,” he claimed.

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(From left) Frank Evaristo, Bob Zozobrado, Joy Fong, Mandy Navasero, Mar Roxas, Jullie Yap Daza, Rina Jimenez-David, Rose Libongco, Deedee Siytangco, Domini Torrevillas, Chay Santiago, the author and Charito Planas.

 

Mar thinks Daang Matuwid is not a political slogan but a “set of values, whether you’re deciding on SSS or the West Philippine Sea.”

He credits Daang Matuwid for taking the Philippines off the respirator as Asia’s Sick Man to its “bright star.”

“And those are not my own words but that of foreign observers,” he pointed out. “In the last couple of years, we’ve had 50 million paid domestic flights. There were 300,000 vehicle purchases in the last five years compared to 60,000 in the past. Our capital outlay has grown from P175 billion to P800 billion in five years without increasing our debts. PhilHealth has disbursed P78 billion to help 6.6 million patients.”

The Philippines, he says, is currently 138 in the world in terms of economic standing. Mar strongly believes it will be #16 in a generation (30 years) if Daang Matuwid forges into the future.

“If we choose right, we have our destiny in our hands.”

Korina & Leni

The Philippines has not had a First Lady who is a presidential spouse in 16 years. President Arroyo had a First Gentleman and President Aquino is a bachelor. If he becomes President, what type of First Lady will his wife Korina Sanchez hope to be?

“Korina will remain in the private sector,” said Mar. She will not return to her profession, which she has given up. She will concentrate on her advocacies for helping people, like her Tsinelas Foundation.”

Asked if he could work with a vice president not from his party, Mar countered, “Leni will win. The people love her. She is sincere, fresh, grounded, not a politician.”

The finish line

Over lunch, during which he had a bowl of chicken binakol and a plate of salad greens, I asked Mar which month before the May elections is the most crucial to a candidate’s victory.

“May,” he said without batting an eyelash. “In January 2010, I was rating over 30 percent and Binay, 18.”

And the rest, as they say, is history.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)