Mar Roxas still mum on running for 2016 elections

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MANILA – The question on whether or not Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas is going to run on the2016 Presidential race still remains unsettled.

“It’s not for me to say,” said Roxas. “Some say it is destiny. To others, it’s a gift from the people.

But I’m ready to face whatever the future holds in store.”

Though Roxas’ decision is still unclear, he said that he will continue President Aquino’s Tuwid na Daan program if ever he gets elected in the future.

“If I can do this, I can face my ancestors. I can face Pnoy, I can face the people, and truly claim that I was true to all of them,” he said.

Roxas believes in the programs of the current administration because it makes all officials accountable for every fund entrusted to them.

He added that such accountability and transparency is important to maintain honesty in governance.

Roxas, meanwhile, defended himself against criticisms saying he was slow in responding to the needs of the victims of Typhoon Yolanda, the super-typhoon which destructed the country last year and killed more than 6,000 lives.

“In Yolanda, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and I were in Tacloban the day before the typhoon struck,” he pointed out.

“How much faster can you be?”

“Nonetheless, the national government was conducting relief operations 48 hours after,” he said. “It’s just that there were millions of families affected in Samar and Leyte, in nearby Bohol and all the way to Palawan. We just could not reach all of them all at once,” he added.