FAMILY AFFAIR Paolo Roxas, the son of Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas, makes his debut on the campaign trail in Sta. Rosa, Laguna province. President Aquino joins him onstage. JOAN BONDOC
STA. ROSA, Laguna—The 22-year-old son of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas on Thursday went on the stump for the first time since the election campaign began over a month ago.
Paolo Roxas, who shared the stage with President Benigno Aquino III and local LP candidates in Laguna, stood out with his height, good looks and well-toned physique.
Except for stumbling over a few Tagalog words just like his father, the young Roxas appeared confident speaking before some 2,000 people gathered at the Garden Plaza Events Center here.
He alternately referred to his father as “Dad” and “Tatay” in his speech.
Paolo is Roxas’ son from a previous relationship. The presidential candidate is married to newsreader Korina Sanchez.
The Yale University student is expected to be seen more often in campaign sorties with the President.
“Many people are discrediting my father. There is so much black propaganda. But they only want to blot out what my Dad has done. But you know, each time they say a lie about my father, all the more that his integrity and honest service are highlighted,” Paolo said in Filipino.
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Paolo recounted how he once stood with his father before the tombs of President Manuel Roxas, the late Sen. Gerry Roxas, and the late congressman Dinggoy Roxas. He said his father had told him on that occasion that none of these three forebears were ever accused of corruption “and that was something to be proud of because politics is full of temptation.”
The late President Roxas was Mar Roxas’ grandfather, the late senator his father, and Dinggoy, the late Capiz congressman, was his brother.
Inheriting integrity
“Dad said he encountered temptations in politics himself but he resisted them because giving in to them meant letting down his grandfather, his father, his brother, and me,” said Paolo.
“He told me that more than the name Roxas, I will inherit from him his integrity,” the young man added.
Paolo said his father’s words had an impact on him.
“It explained why in his 22 years in public service, not once has he been accused of corruption,” he said.
He said that being the country’s next President is a “serious” matter for his father because “it is the lives and the future of the people at stake.”
“My father’s platform includes three things: freedom from hunger… freedom from fear… and having the freedom to dream,” Paolo said.
Employment, protection
He said that to be freed from hunger, his father promises employment for Filipinos, in addition to the one million jobs generated by the call center industry that Roxas helped established in the country.
Paolo said to free people from fear, his father would ensure that Filipinos would have a government that they can rely on and a government that would protect them.
For people to dream, Paolo said his father would ensure that there would be education and jobs for all to promote equality and give everyone a chance to have a better life.
“In the story of the straight path, Mar Roxas is not the star. It is you and your families because the programs of the straight path is for every Filipino family,” he said. TVJ
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