TUCP throws weight behind Mar Roxas

Administration standard-bearer Mar Roxas gestures during a Cabinet meeting in this file photo when he was still interior and local government secretary. INQUIRER FILES

Administration presidential aspirant Mar Roxas has scored a critical victory in the run-up to the May general elections.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), regarded as the country’s largest alliance of moderate labor unions, has thrown its support for the candidacy of Roxas, who has yet to get to the top spot in the survey of voters’ choice despite the solid backing of President Aquino.

Citing his previous stints in various government agencies, the influential labor group credited the standard-bearer of the Liberal Party (LP) for his “sincere resolve to do things the right way and for the greater good.”

“Mar Roxas is truly the man who can lead the country to even greater heights and assure workers and their families of a brighter future,” the TUCP said in a manifesto issued Friday.

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It also expressed confidence that a Roxas presidency would be able to promote the “effective participation of workers and their organizations in (the) affairs of the state.”

As if parrying the verbal attacks from another presidential contender, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the TUCP said Roxas was the “most serious, most competent and unsullied” among those seeking to replace Mr. Aquino.

“Mar Roxas possesses proven competency, unsullied reputation and unwavering commitment required of a President, as manifested by his proven track record in government,” the labor group said.

“Roxas has a long and outstanding track record as public servant… He was never implicated in any anomaly involving public funds,” it added.

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Duterte, Roxas’ friend-turned-tormentor, had criticized the former interior secretary for being the “most incompetent Filipino” to ever aspire for President, a claim that Roxas simply ignored.

According to the TUCP, its 47 affiliate trade unions would push for Roxas’ candidacy even in “shop floors, farms and fishing areas to help install him as the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines.”

The group claims that more than half of the country’s 2.2 million workers belonging to organized labor organizations are members of its affiliate unions, or some three percent of the 38.7 million workers nationwide.

Roxas welcomed the TUCP’s support as he vowed to “uplift the welfare of our workers and laborers.”

“I am humbled by the support of the TUCP,” Roxas said in a statement. “Your support will serve as an inspiration for me to work harder and advance further the gains we have made under the daang matuwid (straight path) during the past five years.”