Today, I admired Mar Roxas even more. When I first heard him speak during the Gerry Roxas Foundation 50th anniversary launching, I was already awed by the eloquence of how he delivered his speech. Furthermore I was awed by the sincerity oozing out from the person. I at once knew that he was a man of integrity.
After the event, and after having my photo taken with him – of which he was most kind to oblige to – I resolved to be more attuned to the current state of the country. Thus began my after lunch ritual of going to CRL (Church of the Risen Lord)’s office to have a cup of coffee while perusing the day’s headlines.
I can say that at that time I was updated with all the latest happenings in the country. And I owe that to the awareness created by Mar Roxas when I heard him give that privilege speech. Of course I did not only tuned myself to the country, I also tuned myself to the man. I researched about him and subscribed to his blogs (Twitter wasn’t yet invented that time or it was still relatively new, else I would have joined Twitter because of him).
Yet after he announced officially his intent to run for President in 2010, and when he started his infomercials, not to mention publicize his engagement to Korina, I began doubting his sincerity. Perhaps he was just like the rest – putting up shows for people to watch and know him. After all, he was inconsistent with the image he projects to the country and admittedly, the engagement announcements were tasteless.
At this point, disappointment crept in and I began to see the glare of the negative blogs about him. I stopped altogether caring about the person. Yet I knew deep down that I will still vote for him for President.
Now, he has withdrawn his candidacy. He has chosen country over self. And for that I admire him even more. His critics may argue that he was already losing, that his campaign was going to the drain and to withdraw is simply his attempt to redeem his plunking reputation but I beg to disagree. Yes, given the fact that his campaign was going nowhere and his ratings were dropping, to admit defeat is a manly and very courageous thing to do. Furthermore, to support someone who he believes will win (for whatever reasons, I can only speculate), is something that I believe took lots of guts and courage for him to do.
Considering that he has been very vocal about running for President, considering that he had received a lot of criticisms over his infomercials, considering that even his fiance has been accussed of simply wanting to be First Lady so she will marry Mar, I think it was really brave of the senator to step down and claim defeat.
He has set aside his personal ambition, his personal dream to serve the country in the highest position possible, to consider the country’s welfare. That for me is true public service. That for me is using your brains to see the nation prosper. That for me is sincerity at its best. Sincerity amidst a see of hypocrisy.
How I wish the other politicians will take heed. Don’t they see that the people are already becoming confused with the huge number of candidates we are asked to chose from? Can’t they unite under one banner – the banner of what they are fighting for. Mar recognized that he was on the same boat as Noynoy. If it was Noynoy who had more chances of winning, he was prepared to join Noynoy’s boat and fight the same cause. He wasn’t afraid to look stupid because he went against the norm of politics.
In our political system, it is so easy to break off and create another party if one is not chosen as standard bearer of his respective party even if the causes and reforms are all the same. No wonder, our country has a lot of candidates, under different party names, but basically fighting for the same causes. No wonder Erap is seriously considering running if the Opposition will not come up with one solid candidate. In fairness to Erap, I like how he thinks this time.
We still have time. It is but 8 months away till elections. I wish that the politicians will use that time to decide once and for all who they are serving – themselves or the country.
