Roxas: Reject ‘trapos’

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – More than a month before President Benigno Aquino III is set to endorse his presidential candidate for 2016, the presumptive bet of the ruling coalition continued to visit various provinces and talk about his key campaign messages.

In his visit to this city Wednesday, June 10, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II met with civil society leaders where he took the occasion to link traditional politics to corruption. 

“In the old ways, the ‘trapos’ have abused the system to gain advantage over the other, and corrupted the sytem,” Roxas said after receiving a report on key governance issues from the Koalisyon ng Mamayan Para sa Reporma (KOMPRE), a broad alliance of CSOs closely identified with him.

“Don’t choose the one that takes away your land, your rights or whatever, or those who act tough who will neglect you or those who used their connections to abuse the system to grab power,” Roxas added.

“All these programs and projects of the government, all these efforts of the government have only one purpose: that it destiny is in your hand, that you will be the one to write your history, that is the meaning of daan na matuwid,” Roxas said.

Roxas cited the government’s pet project, the Bangsamoro basic law, which is facing rough sailing in both houses of Congress.

“It cannot be status quo. The BBL is a result of long effort of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiation,” Roxas said. “I am not saying that it is perfect, but right now it is the best, and if there is a better law for it, then we must choose the better, but we cannot just say, ‘we don’t want the BBL’,” Roxas said.

Prior to his visit, Roxas was in neighboring Malaybalay, Bukidnon, where he led ceremonies in the the distribution of police patrol vehicles in the province. 

Despite a high-profile position in government, Roxas continues to lag behind in surveys on 2016 preferences. At least 3 politicians are ahead of him: Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Grace Poe, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

But the LP leadership insisted it has no other choice but Roxas as its standard-bearer. (READ: LP the party to beat in 2016)

President Aquino met with Poe for the second time, but he did not categorically offer her anything related to 2016.

The country’s two biggest polling agencies are once again conducting their surveys in the first half of June.  – with reports from Bobby Lagsa/Rappler.com