Mar ready, but are voters ready for him?

In the strongest indication that he is, indeed, running for president, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas announced last week that he is ready to face President Aquino’s declaration that he is the top choice to continue with the government’s anti-corruption campaign.

Reacting to the President’s statement in his somewhat tortured Tagalog, “Handa akong harapin ang tugon ng Pangulo na ipagpatuloy itong daang matuwid na ito,” Roxas said as he thanked Aquino for his trust and confidence.

“I am ready to accept this and continue the ‘straight path’ so that we can continue the good things we have started,” Roxas said in a chance interview at the town of Doña Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan province.

He was referring to the current administration’s program to weed out malfeasance in the government, the campaign platform upon which Aquino was elected president in 2010.

The apparent vote of confidence from the President appears to have emboldened Roxas. Soon after the news that he was “at the top of the list” among the administration’s presidential contenders, reports leaked out that he had spoken with Sen. Grace Poe about a possible team-up.

There’s only one thing wrong with this picture: Roxas is doing poorly at the polls, while Poe, who has overtaken him, has emerged as the stronger candidate, even threatening to overtake frontrunner Vice President Jojo Binay.

In the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations, Poe garnered 31 percent, placing second to Binay’s 36 percent. Roxas and Davao City Mayor Rudy Duterte were tied at third place with 15 percent.

No doubt, Mar is ready to continue with what the President has already started. He has the depth of vision, the political maturity and the experience; but the problem is voters cannot identify with him. Therein lies the rub.

As we have previously written in this column, Roxas has been given all the opportunity to shine and to connect with the Filipino electorate, but apparently to no avail. Political observers, nay, even the ordinary man on the street, believe that Roxas in all likelihood will lose to Binay.

So is the Palace employing the classic political strategy of paying lip service to pacify the restive members of the ruling Liberal Party? Will it change its mind when the onslaught of data from polling surveys delivers the overwhelming message that there is no way that Roxas can win?

As it is, Roxas is not helping things with his prickly behavior. Are the reported rifts within the Liberal Party making its presumptive presidential candidate lose his cool? Just last week, Roxas’s response turned sour when asked by some members of the local media if his provincial visits already signified the start of his campaign for the 2016 presidential elections.

When asked if his appearances were part of his political campaign, a visibly irked Roxas said: “Kayo sa media, nilalagyan niyo ng kulay o bahid pulitika ito, ‘di ba taga-dito kayo sa Samar? Isa sa pinakamahirap na rehiyon sa ating buong bansa? ‘Di ba taon-taon sinasalanta ito ng bagyo?”

An obviously irritated Mar also lashed out at the media and asked them not to taint with political color his efforts going around provinces to distribute patrol cars to police stations in different regions.

The thing is, nobody believes that Mar is not running. Even he himself has practically admitted to that. When somebody goes around the provinces several months before the filing of certificates of candidacy and distributing goodies, whether they be patrol cars or relief goods or housing titles, the visits would be perceived as campaigning.

This kind of prickly behavior from a member one of the of the country’s most elite families is the kind of political blunder that Mar should avoid. In the end, it will still be a numbers game on whoever Aquino shall anoint as his successor. Getting his survey numbers up will prove to be Mar’s biggest problem.