Mar Roxas offers to help ‘Mar Roxas’

Former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II. FILE PHOTO

From adversary to beneficiary.

Such was the fate of a Mar Roxas namesake who had initially posed a possible threat to the Liberal Party’s standard-bearer, until he withdrew his presidential bid on Thursday, saying he had only wanted to draw attention to what he described was his son’s wrongful conviction for rape.

READ: Mar Roxas’ withdraws

Manuel Antonio Roxas’ withdrawal prompted former Interior Secretary Manuel Araneta Roxas II to offer him assistance in his son’s case instead.

In a statement, Roxas said he sympathized with his namesake, a retired policeman who filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for President last month using the nickname “Mar Roxas.”

“I am saddened to hear what his family is going through. I am a father myself, and I know how hard it is for a parent when a child is in a difficult situation,” the former senator said.

“I will see what help I can give as an ordinary citizen, including medical help for his son’s condition,” Roxas said.

Mental retardation

In a television interview, Manuel Antonio Roxas’ wife, Erlinda, said their son was convicted in 2000 when he was 20 years old. Now 36, he has the mindset of a 10-year-old, she added.

She added that the LP candidate’s lawyers sought them out about her husband’s candidacy and pledged their help when they found out about their son.

“They said they will look into (his case),” she said.

The LP standard-bearer had earlier petitioned the Commission on Elections to disqualify the 67-year-old Roxas, arguing that the latter’s candidacy would sow confusion among voters in 2016.

But the other “Mar Roxas,” one of 125 presidential candidates deemed to be “nuisance candidates” by the poll body, readily admitted that his only motivation in filing his COC was to bring attention to the case of his son who, he said, has been detained for almost 20 years now on a rape charge.

“From the start I know I would be declared a nuisance candidate. I just want to be heard for the sake of my son,” Roxas said.

Wearing a yellow shirt, the trademark LP color, when he withdrew his COC, Roxas said the color had nothing to do with his politics. The shirt was just something he pulled out of his wardrobe cabinet, he added.

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