Just a few months before the end of his term and the upcoming 2016 elections, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday said his chosen successor, Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas, could have done more service in government had he won the 2010 vice presidential race.
Recalling a time when he cannot appoint Roxas to any government position “by the workings of our law,” Aquino said the government was somehow “deprived” of the former’s talents at a certain point.
“In a sense, we were deprived of his talents and one can’t help but imagine what he could have contributed if he had been there from the start,” Aquino said during the Meet Inquirer Multimedia forum at the Philippine Daily Inquirer headquarters in Makati City.
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Aquino said his relationship with Roxas had been well established even before their campaign in 2010.
“I really subscribe to the idea that we had a very good team prior to entering the 2010 elections, from the days in the Senate and even in Congress, that it could have redounded to a lot more benefits if it did happen. Unfortunately, it didn’t,” he said.
Roxas lost to Vice President Jejomar Binay in the May 2010 elections.
But when asked if he could have done things differently to boost Roxas’ vice presidential bid, Aquino said even Roxas himself would not be able to think of anything they would have changed in their campaign.
“If Mar were here today and you ask him: ‘Was there anything else I could have done to also boost up his candidacy?’ I don’t think he can think of anything. None of my supporters or real supporters probably will be able to say na ‘sana ginawa natin ito, sana ginawa natin ‘yan,’” Aquino said.
Roxas gave up his presidential bid to Aquino, whose popularity surge after the death of his mother, democracy icon and former president Corazon Aquino. Yuji Vincent Gonzales/TVJ