After the hullabaloo that was Mar Roxas’ campaign video, it seems surprising that he still has the audacity to continue the campaigning. Oh well, he probably has reasons for doing so. It might have something to do with his wife wanting to become first lady, a way for the LP to stay in power or he may, in some twisted sense, genuinely believe that him becoming president may have some benefits for the country as a whole. Whatever the case may be though, it’s more than apparent that the Filipino people are clearly displeased with him, his antics and especially his endorser, President Aquino himself.
Unfortunately, Mr. Roxas continues his campaign for the presidency as we speak, often rationalizing his mishaps to the common people. Ladies and gentlemen, I know this is going to sound pretentious and more than a little arrogant on my part but I really think that Mar Roxas should simply stop campaigning now, not just because of his more than apparent incompetence but also as a form of respect for the common people and himself. Once, I simply found his attempts at campaigning amusing and was good for the occasional laugh. Now however, it has become both insulting to the common people and disturbing once proper insight is applied.
Here are my three points on the matter:
He Has President Aquino’s Endorsement
Truth be told, President Aquino has lost a lot of supporters in the six years he has been in power. I can attest to this as I was one of these people. However, when I finally came to my senses, I realized just what a failure he was both as a president and a man. You can tell this easily from his mishandling of issues like the Luneta Massacre, the lack of any kind of help for the Yolanda survivors, the massacre of the SAF 44 and, of course, the killing of the Lumads. What’s worse is that he has utterly refused to even mention said incidents, let alone apologize for them. Always, he has either blamed everything on someone else (such as former Presidents Arroyo and Marcos) or simply not mention them at all and insulting their memory.
And now we have Mar Roxas, a man who, by his own admission, claims to continue President Aquino’s “Tuwid na Daan” (Straight Path) and continue what President Aquino began. However, given what I’ve already mentioned, I’m sure there are those of you who know where the “Straight Path” actually leads to. Early this year, President Aquino took pains to choose a candidate to endorse for the up and coming election and Mar Roxas seems to be his choice as, according to him, Mar seems to be the person who best understands his dream and can continue the legacy he had left behind.
But now, let’s ask the question that the local media seems to be taking pains not to ask: What legacy? In all the six years he’s been in power, has President Aquino actually improved anything for the common people? If anything, all he’s ever done is create senseless myths like:
- “Filipinos don’t travel abroad because they have to but because they want to.”
- “Solar and wind power will not work if there is no sun or wind, respectively.”
- “BBL will finally bring peace to Mindanao.”
- “He has surpassed the people’s expectations.”
- “He is an APEChottie!”
Now, senseless myths might actually work for a course like creative writing, but it is most certainly not appropriate for the position of a world leader. Mar Roxas promises to continue what President Aquino began which, in short, simply amounts to false promises and hollow bravado. If Mar Roxas had simply gone without President Aquino’s endorsement and rolled with his own plans, perhaps he’d have have a better chance of actually winning.
He’s Insulting The Common People
With everything I’ve said so far, the only actual effort Mr. Roxas has made in his bid for presidency is create PR stunt after PR stunt in the hopes of gaining people’s sympathy. Unfortunately, this has only angered countless people as evidenced by the overwhelming negative reaction to his latest campaign video.
Indeed, as far as one can tell, everything he’s ever really done while in a position of power is trying to get “pogi points” through scripted and contrived scenes. Some of his most famous stunts include driving a pedicab, carrying a sack of rice (which he could barely carry, from the look of it) and there was that time when he rode on an MRT to show his sense of camaraderie (though he was actually in the section reserved for women, children and disabled people FTW) for the common people. All this despite that he has done very little for the survivors of Yolanda, has spat on the victims of various massacres such as the ones in Mamasapano and the Lumads and then there’s the fact that if anything has changed with the situation for the MRT and its passengers, it’s the fact that it’s gotten even more hellish.
In his numerous campaign ads and videos, Mar Roxas seems to be insulting the intelligence of the people he’s trying to gain the sympathy of. It’s as if he’s saying: “Vote for me even though I’ve royally messed up the country and spat in the faces of victims of violence. Vote for me because celebrities seem to like me, see? Vote for me so you can earn brownie points with your favorite celebrities and not because I can make the country better.”
He Has No Real Identity
No seriously.
Look, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and reveal some personal details about myself. Truth be told, I too was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I was a spoiled brat in an upper-middle-class household that didn’t know any better at the time. I wanted to please everybody and I was quick to blame other people for my problems.
But as fate or, if you’re particularly religious like me, God decided to make me see the error of my ways. A series of tragedies broke me and, with the help of a good counselor, I came to my senses. This was about a good many years before I joined GRP and started using the name “Thaddeus Grimwald”, mind you.
Now, back to Mr. Roxas…
See, the problem is, Mar Roxas acts less like a grown man (like Rodrigo Duterte for instance) or even a grown woman (such as Miriam Santiago would be a good example) and more like a teen struggling to please his classmates and teachers. To be honest, I wasn’t at all that different from him during my years of struggle so, to a certain degree, I can almost understand him with his constant PR efforts that scream “fake” and “showboat”. Unfortunately for Mr. Roxas, just because I understand doesn’t mean I actually approve of him.
From what I can see is he’s still lost and confused about himself. While I am loathe to include people’s personal lives, I still find it more than a little strange that he and Ms. Korina Sanchez have yet to have a child of their own, even an adopted one. Indeed, if they were to adopt a Yolanda orphan, I might actually be somewhat impressed. However, that seems to be quite far from the case.
Until now, Mar is still struggling to get other people to like him likely because he has never really made any real efforts to make himself “likeable”. At the end of the day, he only manages to present a very artificial image of himself as he still probably hasn’t discovered himself and what he really wants to do with his life.
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So now, let me ask you, would you even actually vote for a guy like Mar Roxas, a boy who is no different from his predecessor President Aquino?
All things considered though, Mar couldn’t really care less about what’s been written here. Being the spoiled brat that he is, he’ll probably throw a tantrum (one I’d like to see in fact) just to get what he wants. Already we can see just how utterly desperate he’s becoming by hiring celebrities to campaign for him who are quite obviously leery of him and the rest of the LP.
P.S.: I will take back everything I said if Mar Roxas does the following…
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