Roxas, like Robredo, fits ‘same mold of integrity’–House leader

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II

MANILA, Philippines — Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas fits the “same mold of integrity” that the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo embodied, a leader at the House of Representatives said Friday.

Majority leader Neptali Gonzales II was reacting to articles which said that Roxas would take over the Department of Interior and Local Government, saying he felt that the Liberal Party president, being the “most trusted ally of the President [Benigno Aquino III]… can be his effective bridge to local officials.”

Robredo was killed in a plane crash last August 18 off Masbate. His untimely demise was deemed a great loss to the nation and to the LP where the late DILG chief was a member. Gonzales has said that the position left by Robredo should go to a member of the LP.

“If we are looking for somebody who has the same mold of integrity that Sec. Robredo had, Mar Roxas would be it,” he said.

Asked whether he felt Cavite Representative Joseph Emilio Abaya was the right person to replace Roxas as head of the Department of Transportation and Communications, the majority leader said that both LP stalwarts shared the right “character, integrity and administrative capability to handle their respective jobs.”

“Rep. Abaya is likewise an excellent addition to PNoy’s [Aquino] official family.”