The Man Who Would Be President

Just heard the news that Senator Mar Roxas will be the Liberal Party's bet for the presidency year 2010. Dang!

I met Mar Roxas many years ago when he was a neophyte congressman. It was actually a job interview. His fraternity sister who was my colleague at the DOTC arranged with his fraternity brother (you know how it goes) to get me a job interview. I wasn't very comfortable with the arrangement because I wasn't sure if he was really looking for additional staff at that time or he just granted me the interview because of his friends. And at that time I wasn't sure if I wanted to work in Congress again. But I went anyway, so as not to let the persons who recommended me down. Nakakahiya naman sa kanila, they went through all that trouble.

Sen. Roxas was quite gracious and he did seem interested in my qualifications, particularly my being a congressional fellow. He asked me questions relating to policy and legislation, and I think I was able to give him the right answers until...

He asked me about what I thought of the foreign debt situation in the country. Now, back in the 90s, I was a card-carrying member of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, and Mar Roxas, was well, a Wharton-educated economist. So we debated. He was on one side, and I was on the other side. Now, debate is good, but if you and a legislator are to work well together, it helps if you have the same beliefs. Apparently, we didn't. That debate ended with him asking me if I had a credit card, and I said smugly, "No, I don't." By that time I was already wishing I was out of there.

Things turned from bad to worse, when he asked me, "What do you think of Miriam Defensor-Santiago? (Miriam ran and lost the presidency, she insists, due to massive cheating to FVR. At the time she was making alot of noise about the issue.) I answered emphatically, "Miriam is a very intelligent person and she would have made a good president but there comes a time when enough is enough." Oooppppssss...the words haven't fully come out of my mouth when I remembered they were from the same party and he was a staunch supporter of Miriam. Double ooopppsss.

Congressman Roxas became a cabinet secretary, reinvented himself to Mr. Palengke, garnered the highest number of votes that made him Senator and now, he might possibly be the next president of the Philippines.

Dang! I should have said "Yes, I have a credit card" and "Miriam is the greatest!"