(January 23-31)

Defeated vice presidential candidate Mar Roxas’ appointment as President Benigno Aquino III’s chief trouble-shooter is almost sure as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. It seems Aquino has no other way except to make him “Little President”. Even at present, Roxas is already his personal senior adviser.

We do not know what is in Roxas that makes Aquino so glued to him that he cannot say no to him.  Is it a way to endorse him for president in the 2016 elections?  Or he is just paying a debt of gratitude to Roxas who slid to the vice presidency in order to give way to Aquino for the presidency?

If it is to pay a debt of gratitude, then it is a bad decision. A president should not decide on the basis of sentimentalism or emotion. If it is made out of fear for Roxas, then Aquino has no business in the presidency. A president should decide without fear or favor.

Roxas was already rejected by the people, when he lost in the vice presidential race. Why force him to the people?

Trouble-shooting is a dangerous job prescription. As such, he is tasked to solve problems proactively; he is supposed to find and eliminates problems, something like a superman. Does he have those qualities? We doubt very much!

We are afraid that Roxas’ huge power would make him outsmart anyone in the cabinet and can even overrule the President especially in important decisions. In such a case, he is not a trouble-shooter but a trouble-maker.

If any group views this impending appointment with seriousness, it is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Roxas is not only anti-Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) but is perceived as an inveterate anti-Moro and anti-Islam. We do know why he has that incorrigible antipathy for Moros and Islam.

This point in time, it is very hard to construct another bridge with the MILF. Roxas had done a great damage and surely a repair is not forthcoming. Better for Aquino to rethink his appointment in deference to the GRP-MILF peace negotiation.