You can’t put a good Mar down, says Aquino

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

NAGA CITY, Camarines Sur—“You can’t put a good Mar down.”

Pushing aggressively for his anointed one at a Friday night campaign rally here, President Benigno Aquino III said that of all the candidates for President, only Mar Roxas has the characteristics and track record to be a capable leader of the country.

He said voters should elect someone who has the “capability, experience, conscience, honesty in words and deed, humility, and concern and love for others.”

Roxas has created many job opportunities such as in the information technology and business process outsourcing industry where employment could reach almost 1.3 million and investments would bring in at least $25 billion this year, the President said.

READ: Roxas in meet and greet with Cebu City BPO workers

“He also knows how to find solutions to any challenge that a President would face. All this Mar does without any complaint, without any drama, without doing any self-promotion. And despite a torrent of potshots from his political opponents, he continues to work. It’s true: You can’t put a good Mar down,” Mr. Aquino said.

Thousands of supporters wearing the signature Aquino yellow adopted by the Liberal Party-led administration slate turned up at Plaza Quezon here for the campaign rally. The crowd started shrieking when they saw on the wide screen onstage that the President had arrived.

Mr. Aquino has vowed to campaign hard for Roxas, vice presidential candidate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and the entire Liberal Party-led administration senatorial slate to “preserve” the gains of his administration.

Though he never said so, it seemed that the President’s strong pitch for Roxas was his way of neutralizing the allegations that Sen. Grace Poe was his “secret candidate” for President, a rumor fueled by Poe’s presence at his birthday party on Feb. 8.

READ: Aquino invited Grace Poe to his birthday party

The President is expected to hit the campaign trail at least twice a week, seen as necessary because Roxas has yet to gain the lead in the presidential voter preference surveys even as he has made a steady climb from his single-digit ratings last year.

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