Mar Roxas: Beyond His Pedigree

Out of the lack of political arguments against Liberal Party standard bearer and presidential candidate Mar Roxas, numerous personal attacks against his background surfaces for the purpose of mudslinging and tarnishing his otherwise impeccable background. Among the many, the most notable one is that he is from the higher echelons of the society, with this background, majority are still skeptical on his capacities to serve the underprivileged.  As they use to say, how can he be able to address the sentiments and the needs of the masses if he himself have not experienced a mediocre, middle class life?

                  Yes, he is the grandson of the Liberal Party founder and a former president of the republic, he is the son of a senator, his mother comes from the bourgeoisie classes of the Aranetas and he is married to a top broadcast journalist in the county. But despite all these pedigree, his public service records from being a congressman, secretary, to being a senator refutes the otherwise weak arguments and questionability against his credence.

                  As a matter of fact, I find that the true essence of good public service is the fact that a politician, rather a public servant, born and raised from a bourgeoisie social class was able to foresee and address the sentiments of the people below his social circle. This means, a great deal of compassion and empathy flows through the veins of this presidential aspirant. For him to be able to cater to the people who can more or less give him nothing in exchange for the laws and programs that he wrote fought for and implemented for their progress and development. He needed no loud forms of veneration and showed no sign of atrocious braggadocio. He embodies the true form a public servant needs to be.

                  As a PhD candidate, I value education above all forms of policies and programs. I believe that the change we wanted to see, the progress we direly prayed for starts and ends in being properly educated. I do not narrowly mean getting a degree or certificate. I meant being educated, skilled and well equipped talent-wise to be able to become a productive citizen of the country. The misconception these days is you need to have a college degree to be able to land a stable well paying job. The misconception these days is that the elite can only afford education; hence it is becoming a rare commodity. But this has been changed by the country’s best hope for presidency, Mar Roxas. He knew the importance of education, therefore he acted upon it.

                  Among the many laws and programs that Roxas stood for is the Republic Act 7880 or the Fair and Equitable Access to Education Act or shortly known as the Roxas Law. As the principal author, Roxas is well noted for this during his stint in the House. Signed in 1995, this law was made to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of education budget among all the provinces in the Philippines. This gave assurance to his advocacy of bringing equitable access to education, the education that is free from regional biases and considerations from political patronages.     

                  As an advocate for fair education, what are this law’s achievements so far? First, around 180,000 classrooms were built during the first five years of the Aquino administration. In fact, this figure is more than the combined number of classrooms built since 1986. Second, in terms of technological advancement made available for students, a total of 30,000 computers were distributed to about two thousand public high schools all over the country. This achievement is his tangible commitment to good education through the Personal Computers for Public Schools  (PCPS) Program. This translates to over half a million high school students provided with the necessary information technology skills needed for easier job placements.

                  Of course, in the future, there are tweaks and ratifications needed by the law to be able to address the growing and changing needs of our education sector. But the main point here is that Mar Roxas’ capability to go beyond his personal background and upbringing enables him to become the best presidential candidate as he can identify and immediately work on the needs and demands of the people regardless of backgrounds.

                  In short, these coming presidential elections who do you think is the best leader who can lead our country? The candidate riddled with sickness? The one whose viciousness and vulgarities are infamous both locally and internationally? The one who together with his family is involved in numerous cases of graft and corruption? The one whose only accomplishment is their adoptive father’s surname? Or the one with impeccable executive and legislative experience who has solid record for public service. The answer is obvious.