It’s almost April ladies and gentlemen and it seems like that this year’s election is going to be an exciting one. This is especially true for our presidential candidates who just recently had quite a spectacular debate on TV. It was very interesting to see three of the candidates jostle against one another through intellect and wit. Okay, well yeah, Vice President Binay kind of cheated as he had access through his notes but, according to some of the execs on the show did tell him that bringing a political version of “cheat codes” (POWER OVERWHELMING! I just had to say that!) to the debate.
Then we have Mar Roxas who seems so desperate for the position that it’s no longer even funny. Okay, back when he first started, maybe it wasn’t so bad, but today his efforts seem so pathetic that one can only pity him. One has to wonder what pushes him to continue humiliating himself by desperately trying to reach out to the Filipino people with nothing but blatant lies. Could his wife be putting him up for this? Is he doing this to secure wealth and power for himself? Or perhaps, in some twisted and insane way, he really believes that he can be of service to the Filipino people by continuing the Liberal Party’s corrupt and unethical reign over the Philippines.
Whatever the case, he fails to see that his desperation to become president only makes him look more and more like a fool in the eyes of the common people. Sure, he might have been quite amusing once with his photo ops doing various mundane things that he’s clearly not cut out for but now, well, it’s a different story. Now he just looks like a bachelor desperate for a partner at a prom. He seems less like a dignified statesman and solid presidential candidate and instead behaves like a clingy stalker desperate for some attention.
Of course, were it not for his three worst actions listed below, perhaps things might seem less hopeless for the pitiful DILG secretary…
His Acceptance Of President Aquino’s Approval
Okay, I know that hardline supporters of the Aquino family are going to disagree with this but just about everyone else in the Philippines is well aware of President Aquino’s utter and total incompetence as a leader. We saw it in the way he has time and time again neglected his duties as an actual president and has only shown nothing but false statistics to make it appear that he did achieve “something”. When caught or called out however, he has only resorted to blaming his predecessors and refused to take any kind of responsibility for any issues even though as president, he is supposedly the Philippines’ final and most important authority.
When Mar Roxas accepted President Aquino’s approval, he pretty much created his own greatest obstacle to the presidency. Couldn’t he see that majority of the people have had enough of President Aquino and now hate him for everything he’s worth? I guess not with the way he champions the idea of continuing President Aquino’s “Daang Matuwid” (Straight Path) which the people of the Philippines have come to regard as the cause of all their current woes.
It would’ve perhaps been more beneficial to Mr. Roxas if he had just politely declined President Aquino’s approval and allowed Vice President Jejomar Binay to have it instead. That way, he could shift all the hate towards Mr. Binay who has already earned quite a bit of flak for cases of corruption and kept his name and reputation free of any unwanted associations. Of course, considering the fact that President Aquino has a large number of allies in the media, one could assume he accepted it for the sake of popularity. Unfortunately, hardly anyone trusts the media allies of the Aquino family anymore either.
The “Fast Forward” Video
I and a lot of other writers have written quite a bit about Mar Roxas’ promotional campaign video. However, it needs mentioning again considering the latest turn of events.
For those who don’t remember, the “Fast Forward” video showed various celebrities mostly from ABS-CBN in a Utopian setting that claims to be what will become of the Philippines if President Aquino’s “Daang Matuwid” were to continue under Mar Roxas. Unfortunately, this rubbed the people the wrong way as it presented an exclusive society of famous and wealthy individuals, a lot of whom aren’t even full Filipino citizens. Worse yet, this made many who saw the video wonder if Mr. Roxas had instead used the funds intended for the victims of Yolanda to make the rather extravagant video to boost his image.
In Youtube alone, the “Fast Forward” garnered as many as 20,000 dislikes as people made it clear that they were not amused by Mr. Roxas’ promotional video.
The “Gitna Ng Unos” Comic
Ah, the final nail in the coffin for Mar Roxas potential presidency…
“Gitna ng Unos” (In the Middle of a Storm) was supposed to be a propaganda comic meant to depict Mar Roxas as a kind of hero to the Filipino people. The comic goes on depict him as a heroic figure who spearheaded disaster preparations in Tacloban before Typhoon Yolanda arrived and decimated everything. Worse, the comic insists that he was a self-sacrificing leader even though it’s quite clear from many eyewitnesses and people who know the man personally that he is very self-centered and isn’t attentive towards his constituents.
For many, Mr. Roxas propaganda comic is the last straw. Not only is he puffing up his own image through lies, he is blatantly insulting the victims of the Yolanda tragedy as it was very clear that he did very little to help the people of Tacloban. Indeed, it was partly his incompetence and arrogance that caused the damage and death toll to rise to such a staggering height. Had he requisitioned more resources and taken the threat of Yolanda more seriously, perhaps more people would’ve survived and less damaged would’ve been incurred upon Tacloban.
So no, a paltry comic isn’t going to change Mar Roxas already disgusting image and has only served to worsen it before his growing number of detractors…
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