Poe to Roxas: Does Aquino trust you?

By: Aries Joseph Hegina - 9 years ago

Senator Grace Poe and Mar Roxas face off during the second presidential debate in UP Cebu. SCREENGRAB FROM TV 5

Senator Grace Poe recalled one of the current administration’s biggest challenges when she asked her question to presidential bet Manuel “Mar” Roxas II during the second round of the second presidential debate in Cebu City on Sunday.

Poe asked Roxas if his supposedly lackluster performance as former head of the Transportation and Interior departments is the reason why he was kept in the dark in the planning and execution of the bungled Mamasapano operation in 2015.

READ: UNA heckles ‘sensitive’ Roxas: He isn’t Aquino’s ‘BFF’

“Sa lahat ng nangyari ay may kakulangan. Ang tanong ko lang po Secretary, hindi kaya ‘yan ang dahilan kung bakit hindi kayo pinagkatiwalaan ng Pangulo na malaman ang operasyon ng Mamasapano?” Poe asked Roxas.

(There were shortcomings in the events that transpired. I just want to ask the Secretary, was that the reason why the President did not inform you about the Mamasapano operation?)

The administration bet answered that Aquino thought that he knew about the operation. He also lashed out against Poe for seemingly not knowing what transpired during the doomed operation when in fact, she was the head of the committee which launched a probe on the incident.

“’Yan po ay bahagi ng report niyo. Itinago sa akin mismo ang operation na ito (That was a part of your report. This operation was concealed from me),” Roxas said.

READ: Roxas on Mamasapano probe: ‘I have nothing to hide’

Poe said that what she was zeroing in when she asked the question to Roxas was that the need for the President to be on the ground on that fateful day in Zamboanga is an indication that President Aquino does not trust Roxas.

“Ang pangulo mismo ay kinailangan pang pumunta ng Zamboanga para masigurong maayos ang operasyon. Kung tunay na nagtitiwala sa mga namumumo sa panahong iyon, bakit kailangan niya pang pumunta doon?” the senator said.

(The president had to go to Zamboanga to make sure the operation was carried out efficiently. If he trusted the people leading that time, why did he have to go there?

“Malaki ang naibigay sa kanya, pero parang bakit kulang pa rin (He has been given a lot, but why have the results been inadequate)?” she added.

Roxas then lashed back, saying that Aquino needed to be on the ground in order to fulfill his responsibility as commander-in-chief.

“Ang pangulo, pumunta. Trabaho ng pangulo ang morale, ang pagsiguro na lahat ng puwersa ng pamahalaan ay nakatutok sa seryosong problema na nagaganap sa Zamboanga,” he said.

(The President went there. It is his job to [boost] morale and to ensure that all the forces of the government are focused on the serious problem which faced Zamboanga.)

Roxas said that if elected president, he will be at the frontline.

“Kapag ako naging pangulo, pupuntahan ko. Yan ang ipinakita ko nung DOTC ako, yan ang ipinakita ko nung DILG ako…Pupuntahan ko at papangatawanan ko at gagawin ko ang aking responsibilidad na gawin ang lahat para sa ating mga kababayan,” he said.

(If I were elected president, I will be on the ground. That was what I showed when I was in the DOTC and the DILG. I will go there and do my responsibility to our countrymen.) IDL