Mar concedes intrigues will continue to hound him

MANILA, Philippines - Former Sen. Manuel Roxas II concedes that intrigues will continue to trail him because of his closeness to President Aquino.

But he says there is really nothing much that can be thrown against him since he is just being of help to the President. “Except for the intrigues, nothing much can really be written about me. I have no anomalies,” Roxas said.

He claims to be a “water boy,” but Palace insiders see him more as one of the PFF – “Presidential Friends Forever” – or one of P-Noy’s “powerpuff boys,” after the American animated television series “Powerpuff Girls” about three kindergarten-aged girls who have superpowers.

Roxas said he is ready to stay away from the President but only if Aquino himself would ask him to. Presently he is ready to assist Aquino in whatever capacity.

The former senator said he and Aquino had gone through a lot, having known each other since they were young. Their fathers, former senators Gerardo Roxas and Benigno Aquino Jr., were leaders of the Liberal Party.

The younger Aquino and Roxas ran under the LP last May but Roxas lost to then Makati City mayor and now Vice President Jejomar Binay. Aquino is now chairman of LP while Roxas remains party president.

During the campaign, there were talks that some groups backing Aquino actually campaigned for an Aquino-Binay tandem rather than Aquino-Roxas. While some observers were expecting the ties between Aquino and Roxas to be severed, the bond between the two remained.

In fact, Binay was quoted as saying he could not get into the LP team anymore when Aquino was forming his Cabinet. Binay eventually agreed to be Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chair after being offered several posts by Aquino.

Roxas said Aquino had not told him yet what exactly would be his Cabinet position once the one-year ban on appointing losing candidates in the last elections was lifted.

“I’m not really sure, we have not discussed it,” Roxas said.

Roxas currently serves as “enior adviser and will become “chief troubleshooter” as the President described it.

There are other “powerpff boys” who are very low profile, such as businessmen Eric Gutierrez, Raul Ng and Manny Dimaculangan.

Like Aquino’s best friend Romy Mercado, Gutierrez and Ng, who actively helped the President during the campaign, said they would prefer to be on the sidelines and not get any position.

Dimaculangan was appointed member of the board of directors and chief finance officer of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office.

The “presidential barkada (gang)” do not court attention because they generally remain in the background.

During the campaign, one reporter was about to ask Gutierrez not to ride in the coaster for the media during an out-of-town sortie because it was full and not for supporters. But the media person realized that he was the owner of the vehicle when the coaster’s driver called Gutierrez “boss.” Gutierrez had lent the vehicle for use during the campaign for Aquino and Roxas during the last elections.