Roxas is his own man?

With just 85 days or so left in the term of outgoing President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III, his administration seems headed to a weepy end, staggering from one man-made disaster to another.

At least three people reportedly died and scores of protesters and policemen were injured following a violent dispersal of militant farmers and fisher folk on the major highway in Kidapawan last Friday. The next day, at least 82 flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)-Terminal 3 were cancelled and more than 14,000 passengers were stranded. All because of a five-hour power outage as electricity could not be restored due to poorly maintained generator sets.

These are just two of the problems that President Aquino would hand over to whoever succeeds him into office at noon of June 30. In the meantime, P-Noy is kept busy leading the campaign for his “anointed” presidential candidate, Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer ex-Secretary Mar Roxas II.

Unfortunately, the latest Aquino administration setbacks on its few remaining days in power tend to further cut deep into the chances of Roxas in the coming May 9 presidential elections. On the other hand, Roxas, who has been lagging in pre-polls surveys, has barely 34 days left to make it to the top of the heap in the presidential race.

With other controversies hounding the Aquino administration’s “matuwid na daan” that he carries as his own platform of government, Roxas bears the brunt of two government agencies – which he both once headed – being in the middle of these latest disastrous events for his candidacy.

Roxas first served as secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to which NAIA is one of the attached agencies, and subsequently headed the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) which supervises the Philippine National Police (PNP).

In the case of the Kidapawan incident, it is a combination of natural and man-made disasters. Last March 30, around 3,000 farmers and Lumads staged a sit-in protest rally and blocked the Davao-Cotabato Highway to dramatize their plight on the adverse effects of El Niño weather phenomenon, or long dry spell.

The protesters demanded that the provincial government give one sack of rice to each of the families affected by El Niño as reportedly promised to them. The protesters also demanded release of calamity funds intended to help ease the ill effects of the prolonged drought that wreaked damage to rice and other food crops. The province has been under a state of calamity since January this year.

After three days of blocking traffic at the highway, the local police moved in to disperse the demonstrators. But militants who joined the sit-in rally reportedly instigated the counter-attacks against law enforcers.

Militants and human rights groups scored the PNP for allegedly using high-powered firearms in the dispersal of protesters. For its part, the PNP charged more than 80 protesters and “John Does” for the attack and mauling of three policemen who were hospitalized and still in critical condition for their head and other body injuries.

The Kidapawan incident became a rich source of publicity fodder for the rivals of Roxas, along with other politicians running in next month’s national and local elections. These politicians are now crying justice for the Kidapawan farmers and fisher folk and placed Roxas on the defensive.

While he echoed the calls condemning the violence-marred dispersal, Roxas naturally defended government action. Based on reports given him by the PNP and LP stalwart North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Mendoza, certain politicians were behind the misinformation about rice distribution and communist insurgents as culprits of the retaliatory attacks against the policemen.

Mendoza, who is seeking re-election, accused her rivals backed by ex-Gov. Manny Piñol as behind the politically motivated incident. She pointed to Piñol who is the chief supporter of presidential candidate, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

With the Kidapawan incident still unresolved, power failure hit NAIA-3 and placed the entire terminal in total darkness for more than five hours last Saturday night. At least four international flights were delayed and the rest of domestic flights for that night were all cancelled. This is not to mention the economic losses of airlines and passengers as well from the sheer stupidity of people supposed to be managing safe travel in our premier airport.

One of the thousands of passengers caught in the dark at NAIA-3 even had a harrowing experience. A former government employee posted in her Facebook account that her suitcase was opened up and bottles of expensive perfume were pilfered at the height of chaos and darkness.

For a change, Roxas gave stronger statement yesterday calling for heads to roll over this latest NAIA-3 brouhaha. Speaking with reporters after his campaign rally in Olongapo, Roxas sought for a thorough and impartial investigation to determine exactly what happened, including the accountability of concerned officials.

Roxas on NAIA-3 power failure: “We must find out what really happened so that those responsible will be fired, punished and reprimanded.” Tell that to P-Noy, please.

Saying politics should not come into play in sanctioning officials, is Roxas now telling us incumbent DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya – who is also LP secretary general – must answer for this latest NAIA incident? Roxas also reiterated his proposal to make the Clark International Airport as our country’s premier international gateway.

It is still not too late for Roxas to show he is his own man.

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Mea culpa. In my column last Monday, I erroneously described “Batman” as one of Marvel superhero characters. Batman fans called my attention that their caped anti-crime crusader superhero, like Superman, belongs to DC Comics. No pun intended to the controversial Yolanda comics featuring Roxas as some kind of superhero.

Incidentally, my son took me to a movie date to watch “Batman versus Superman: Dawn of Justice.”