Roxas: PH ‘real winner’ in election

Manila, PHILIPPINES – Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas congratulated the nation who, he believes, is the real winner in the recent midterm elections.

“First of all, I congratulate the nation. It is very clear that the nation was the clear winner in the recent elections,” he said in a brief press conference on Tuesday, May 14.

Roxas, Liberal Party (LP) president-on-leave, commented that the 2013 elections was quieter, orderly and truthful compared to the 2007 and 2010 elections.

He ran for vice president alongside then Senator Noynoy Aquino in 2010 but lost to Jejomar Binay of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) by a small margin.

Roxas also commended the Comelec for its quick processing of the election results and reported that there were only around 400 PCOS malfunctions out of the 77,000 distributed all over the country.

Despite the malfunctions, Roxas said the Comelec had a quick response to address each incident.

Happy with 9-3

With the current tally, Roxas revealed he is happy with the current 9 LP bets included in the “Magic 12”, but quickly said he would have been happier if it was 12-0.

Roxas added that he is saddened by the 3 other Liberal senatorial bets who are currently trailing in the results.

“I am sadded for our three candidates who we believe are very qualified but only fell short in the end,” Roxas said.

He also said he is happy for Grace Poe, who is currently leading in the partial and unoffical results of the senatorial elections.

“I always had faith in Grace both as a candidate and as a vote-getter,” Roxas said while adding that Grace Poe’s father, Fernando Poe jr. (FPJ) played a huge factor in Grace’s winning.

Roxas reminded Poe that it is “a great responsibility” to be a topnotcher and advised Poe to “just stay within yourself, keep your head” and “just do your work.”

Aside from Poe, Roxas also congratulated Leni Robredo, the widow of late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, who is currently edging by a sizable amount as representative of the 3rd district of Camarines Sur. Leni Robredo ran against Nelly Villafuerte of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Roxas also acknowledged Hilario “JunJun” Davide III, son of former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., who is currently leading the race for Cebu governor against National Unity Party’s Pablo John Garcia.

“Thats a very very welcome development. It just shows that the Cebuanos chose change,” he said.

When asked about his plans for 2016, Roxas just laughed and avoided the question. He instead reported about the decline in election related incidents around the country in the 2013 elections from 229 in 2007, and 176 in 2010 to just 81 so far this year. – Rappler.com