Liberal Party sure of Roxas victory on May 9

We will be victors on Election Day.

Liberal Party (LP) presidential aspirant Mar Roxas made this bold declaration on Thursday in a show of force of the ruling political party and its allies in a gathering at the historic Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City.

With President Benigno Aquino III, his running mate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and hundreds of lawmakers, governors, mayors and other local officials cheering him on, Roxas delivered a resounding message to his rivals about the mammoth political machinery of the LP-led Daang Matuwid Coalition.

 

READ: Show of force: LP members convene at Club Filipino for Roxas, Robredo

“We will win because we’re not corrupt! We will win because we don’t act like dictators! We will win because we’re Filipinos!” Roxas declared as the crowd inside the packed Corazon Aquino Kalayaan Hall erupted in thunderous cheers.

“We will win because while others are still making promises, we have already started working … We will win because while others want to be the boss, we treat the Filipino people as our bosses,” he added, eliciting another deafening applause.

It was the fourth time that members of the LP and its coalition partners met at Club Filipino since the President formally declared Roxas as his chosen successor in July last year.

Ranking officials of the ruling party doused speculations that the event was a loyalty check among LP members amid reports that some of its members had already jumped ship.

 

Salceda, Ochoa absent

But Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, an LP member who was rumored to be supporting Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, was notably absent.

The LP said 67 out of the 82 incumbent governors showed up at the three-hour gathering. A total of 169 district representatives and 74 city mayors were also in attendance.

Members of Mr. Aquino’s Cabinet were present, save for Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa, who was said to be supporting Sen. Grace Poe’s candidacy.

His voice cracking, Roxas tried to hold back his emotions as he thanked his political allies and supporters who, he said, had been with him even when his ratings in voter preference survey was a measly 4 percent.

Best yet to come

With the May 9 elections less than a month away, the administration presidential aspirant still trails behind three of his opponents.

“We’re here because the story of the triumph of daang matuwid (straight path) is not yet over. I’m telling you, the best is yet to come,” he said as his voice was drowned by the cheers of the audience, composed mainly of governors and mayors.

Roxas’ speech was clearly a dig at his rivals in the race for Malacañang.

Vice President Jejomar Binay has been hounded by a string of corruption allegations, causing a steady dip in his ratings in pre-election surveys.

Duterte, the surprise front-runner in the latest voter preference polls, has owned up to extrajudicial killings to curb criminality as mayor of Davao City.

Poe, the erstwhile survey leader, has been criticized over questions about her citizenship even after the Supreme Court ruled that she is a natural-born Filipino.

An elderly woman, who was seated near the platform where Mr. Aquino and Roxas delivered their speeches, was seen wiping away her tears as she joined the crowd in chanting “Roxas na! Roxas na!”

Morale booster

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., the LP vice chair and Roxas’ campaign manager, said the gathering was a morale booster for “everybody that we are still together” and a reaffirmation of support for Mr. Aquino’s chosen candidates.

“I think the purpose of this gathering is for everybody to meet one another again and to reaffirm that we are all united here behind (Roxas and Robredo),” Belmonte told reporters.

“There are some people who I do not expect to be here but are now [present]. I’m happy about it,” he added.

Despite Roxas’ poor performance in the surveys, the Speaker said there was no need for a major change in the LP’s campaign strategy.

“I don’t know how it is. But as far as I’m concerned, there has to be [an improvement] in the messaging. [Roxas] has to talk about what he would do next and not just praise what has been done,” Belmonte said. “He should discuss what the people should expect.”

In a brief interview after the event, Roxas said he turned emotional after seeing the personalities who had remained at his side since he declared his presidential run.

“You saw their eagerness,” Roxas told the Inquirer, pointing to some of his supporters who had lined up along the stairs of Club Filipino. “You heard what I wanted to tell the people.”

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, the LP president, said there was no need for the party to conduct a loyalty check as the country’s biggest political coalition remained intact.

“We saw each other again to assess the situation in different towns and provinces,” Abaya said.

But he admitted that the meeting was for the coalition to plan the last few weeks of the campaign period.

Machinery

Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad expressed confidence that the coalition’s machinery would be able to deliver the votes for Roxas, Robredo and the rest of its 12-member senatorial slate.

Roxas has successfully presented his governance agenda and showed political allies “what daang matuwid means in his administration,” Abad said.

He said the election is not a survey. “At the end of the day, you may be popular, but if you cannot bring those votes to the precincts and make sure that those votes are counted, that they are canvassed and they are transmitted, [it means nothing],” the budget secretary said.

“And which [party] has, concededly, the machinery to muster all that? It’s the coalition of the daang matuwid.”

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