Mar unfazed by Iglesia choice

NAGA CITY, Camarines Sur, Philippines – Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II is unfazed by the endorsement of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), even as he vowed to continue the fight for decent governance.

Despite failing to get the support of the religious group, Roxas thanked the INC for giving him the opportunity to present his platform.

“We thank the INC for considering us and for studying our platform. While the INC did not choose us, we thank them for allowing us to tell our supporters that we will continue our fight,” Roxas said in an interview in Legazpi City yesterday.

“Now more than ever, it shows the fight between Duterte-Marcos and Roxas Robredo,” he added.

The INC, which is said to be capable of delivering two million votes, has also endorsed the candidacy of vice presidential bet Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Roxas and his runningmate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo met with INC leaders at least twice. The first meeting was held on March 30 while the second one happened last April 19. Roxas likened Duterte to Marcos’ father, the late strongman and former president Ferdinand Marcos.

“In 1965, when President Marcos assumed as president, the Philippines was second in Asia in terms of development and wealth. In 1985, the Philippines went bankrupt,” Roxas said.

“These are the same traits that Mayor Duterte is showing. He has an iron fist. He resorts to violence and insults. He thinks he alone is right. He thinks he alone can think, that he alone can decide for the country,” he added.

Roxas also criticized Duterte for his alleged hidden wealth and his supposed plan to abolish Congress, the Commission on Audit and the Ombudsman. “That means we will return to martial law,” the LP standard bearer said.

“To those who have not yet decided, Leni and I invite you all to look at our track record and our character, which is the only thing you can hold on to in making a decision,” Roxas said.

“Our characters are our guarantee to you – who we are, what we’ll do when we’re elected – that determines whether or not you can trust us,” he said.

“Join us. We’ve gone far but we’ll progress more if we’re together and make sure that the one who’ll win is clean, honest, transparent,” Roxas said in his message.

“You can trust us not to lie, not to be arrogant and bullies, not to steal from you,” he said.

Hocus-pocus

He also dismissed as “hocus pocus” Duterte’s move to reveal the contents of his bank accounts supposedly to dispel allegations that he has hidden wealth.

Roxas questioned why Duterte did not show the peso accounts as well as the accounts’ history.

“It was just a hocus pocus. He showed the bank books in dollars. If it was that easy to show the bankbooks, why did he not show the peso accounts? What is the history of these peso accounts? How much was deposited to or withdrawn from them?” he said.

Roxas noted that Duterte had admitted that he has “less than P200 million” in his bank accounts.

“Will he shirk from this again? That is the record of Mayor Duterte. He will say something and then evade it once faced with data,” the presidential candidate said. 

“He flip flops. He cannot be trusted. His mouth tells lies,” he added.

Earlier, vice presidential candidate Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV accused Duterte of failing to declare billions of assets in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. Trillanes said Duterte’s undeclared wealth included more than P211 million deposited in a bank account in the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Julia Vargas branch.

In an attempt to belie the senator’s allegations, Duterte showed on Wednesday 11 passbooks of his peso and dollar accounts at the BPI branch.

Duterte’s bank certification of deposit, a joint account with his daughter Sara, showed a balance of P17,816.93 in his savings account as of March 31, 2014, but did not detail the transaction history of the account.  – With Paolo Romero, Cet Dematera