Mar to campaign more for Leni amid Digong’s jet-ski boast

Liberal party presidential and vice presidential candidate Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

DAGUPAN CITY—If presidential front-runner Rodrigo Duterte does not mind dying while jet-skiing to a disputed island, then all the more should Mar Roxas campaign for his running mate.

The administration candidate had this to say in blasting Duterte’s rhetoric of cheer-drawing sound bites, saying the presidency is no joke but a serious matter.

“That’s why I should campaign more for Leni Robredo. Because he said he will go to Spratlys and plant a flag there, if the Chinese shoot him, then he will be dead. Then the Vice President will be President,” Roxas told reporters in a press conference on Sunday night, after the final presidential debate here.

Laying down his solution to disputes over the South China Sea, Duterte said he would take matters into his own hands should China refuse to recognize how the United Nations would rule on the Philippines’ pending arbitration case against the former’s nine-dash line claim.

 ‘Hero’

Wanting to be “a hero,” the sharp-tongued mayor said he would jet ski to the nearest Chinese-controlled island and plant the Philippine flag to lay claim to it, no matter if he dies in the process.

“You see, what is this? Are we in a movie? Is this for a headline? Is this for real? Is that someone who is reliable?,” said Roxas, incredulous over Duterte’s quips at the debate.

Roxas briefly sparred words with Duterte in the debate when he belied the mayor’s claim that his city had been deprived of state health subsidies.

The administration candidate dared Duterte, now leading in preelection polls, to withdraw from the race if he could be proven wrong. Duterte accepted the challenge.

“That’s Duterte’s pattern: He will say lies, then when you confront him with data and facts, he will insult you, curse you, or change the topic,” Roxas said.

“For me, it’s simple: a President should be reliable. The public should be able to count on his words because a President’s relationship with the people is rooted in trust. But when someone is fickle, what kind of President would that be?” he said.

‘Decent’ President

He reiterated the importance of having a decent President.

“This is a serious job. Leading a nation to progress, running a country is a serious matter. You can’t make it work with jokes and by changing statements,” said an emphatic Roxas.

He said people should discern and see who was the neighborhood thug.

“Do we want a toughie like that to be our neighbor? If we don’t want him to be our neighbor, why should we want him to be our President?” he said.

The Liberal Party standard-bearer, who continues to lag in the polls just two weeks before the balloting, still hopes that voters would make the right choice and base their decisions on substance, rather than on catchy punch lines.

 Window-shopping preferences

“I think many of our voters are still window-shopping their preferences. At this point, the fight is not yet over and we see that the race is tight,” he said.

Roxas again made a pitch for his bid, saying that progress seen during the Aquino administration deserves a chance to continue.

“In the end, I see that the people will realize this is not just for entertainment, that this is a serious matter,” he said.

“The last six years will be left to waste if we make the wrong choice. This is not about popularity. This is about who should be our President. To whom do we entrust the future of our children? Do we gamble or do we choose one who is already tested?” Roxas said.