Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas opted to stay mum about his ratings in recent Social Weather Station (SWS) popularity surveys showing he was lagging behind Sen. Grace Poe as the voters’ choice both for president and vice president in 2016.
Roxas, who was here Friday to inspect infrastructure projects in this city and neighboring town of Camalig, said he would prefer to focus instead on the projects undertaken by the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) for the entire country.
Asked to comment on his recent SWS rating, he said: “I am just a good performer, I can perform whatever role given to me. Let’s move forward and not rewind to the old system that run counter to the administration Daang Matuwid (right path).”
Roxas, the presumptive standard bearer of the administration’s Liberal Party, ranked third in the last SWS survey for presidential candidates.
Roxas spoke instead about the projects involving the construction of water systems that would provide reliable and potable water to households in remote villages in the country.
Roxas cited the town of Camalig in Albay as among the 400 towns across the country that were installed with a clean, potable and reliable water system.
Roxas visited the P8-million Level 3 Water Supply System Salintubig Facility in Barangay Baligang in Camalig, some 20 kilometers from Legazpi City.
Accompanied by Mayor Noel Rosal, Roxas also inspected the P3-million Albay Food Court, an adjacent edifice to the Albay District Public Market that was funded under the Performance C Fund (PCF) of DILG. Roxas ate breakfast with city and village officials at the food court.
He then proceeded to the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) where he formally inaugurated the two-story Legazpi Daycare Center built by the government for P3 million.
The center is equipped with early intervention capacity that would cater to children with disabilities and regular children enrolled at the Daycare center.
Roxas told parents in a dialogue that the government will build 27 more daycare centers in this city. Mar S. Arguelles, Inquirer Southern Luzon