Roxas meets Aquino before inauguration
Although Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II did not attend the inauguration rites yesterday at Quirino Grandstand in Manila, he met with runningmate President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III hours before the ceremonies at the Aquino residence in Times Street, Quezon City.
Roxas was wearing a barong when he arrived before 9 a.m., a report of abs-cbnnews said.
Earlier, Roxas said he will attend the victory street party at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City Wednesday night.
The outgoing senator said in news reports he decided not to attend the inauguration ceremonies although he was invited to “prevent any issue to surface when I’m seen smiling or not, clapping or not. I don’t want to be misunderstood.”
Roxas has not conceded to vice presidential race winner, Jejomar Binay, and has pursued an electoral protest, but he has refused to discuss the details. Binay, who garnered 14,645,574 votes, won by a margin of 727,084 over Roxas’s 13,918,490.
Roxas said there is an appropriate time to discuss the issue. “As of now, let’s just focus our full attention to the inauguration,” he said.
After the death of former President Corazon Aquino last year, Roxas abandoned his presidential bid to give way to Aquino, who eventually became the standard bearer of the Liberal Party. He said he has no regrets taking the back seat for Aquino, claiming he is glad that their sacrifices and hardships have paid off.
His message for Aquino: “Listen to your mind, to your soul, and to your parents and you will stir the country into the right direction. The whole country is behind you!”
Aquino has also named Roxas as member of his Transition Coordination Team that coordinated with the outgoing administration for the turnover of power in Malacañang.
The new president had even declared that Roxas was his alter ego in the transition team, saying that they “have the same mind-set, the same vision. In effect, he is representing me in a lot of aspects to be able to get the necessary data.”
