Getting to Know Mar

The timing was perfect. Mar Roxas, the senator, was meeting with the country’s topnotch journalists on the Free Information Act in a cafe along Tomas Morato Avenue. Meanwhile, the young vanguards of new media were gathering at Annabel’s waiting for Mar to appear. Having worked for him till the day before the bloggers’ meet, I knew Mar to be a genuine Nerd – he twits, is on Facebook, writes e-mails to constituents, and spends hours of free time on the Net. He sends his staff all kinds of articles found on the Web, as part of their reading assignments. He told Inquirer.net that he does his own Google searches on a particular topic which often sets him off to a wild intellectual adventure in cyberspace.

Finally he came and made the rounds as politicians do – shaking hands, exchanging names, and trying to make guests comfortable. And comfortable, we all were. The questions were quick in coming and his replies were thoughtful. He was clearly just as interested in the individual worlds of the bloggers present – Lester as a Hanoi-based blogger, Jester-in-Exile, Juned, Noemi Dado, Arbet, Ding, Ricky, Manolo, Ellen, Gail and Marc, Sonny, and Marocharim (full list below). Yvonne Chua also dropped in to meet up with Ellen but also ended up listening to the conversations. My nephew, Carlo Ople aka Waukster, organized the event and served as its moderator.

My good friend, Ding Gagelonia, steered the discussion with probing questions about VAT, the President’s reference to the SSS in her SONA, and on changes that we all can believe in (in reference to 2010). Mar explained at length his views about VAT (circumstances are different, oil prices are much higher now than when the 12% VAT on oil was imposed in 2005) as well as his apprehensions about the clear conflict-of-interest that Romy Neri the SSS chair and Romy Neri the Secretary heading the National Social Welfare Program is bound to face. Who will he follow? Millions of SSS members that pay his salary or the President who appointed him to the post and allowed him to keep his rank as Cabinet Secretary?

He also spoke about his anti-incrementalist position. Using a home-owners’ association as a metaphor, Mar said the association may opt to use the collective fund to fix the children’s playground, pay for additional streetlights, put up a clinic, etc – all of which would likely end up as incomplete projects. He prefers an association (read:government) that would use the funds to fix a few specific targets all at one time rather than investing a little bit here, a little bit there and postponing completion to the next year and the year after that. Then he uses another metaphor to underscore his personal philosophy as a leader – he’s the guy that would move 3 things to ten inches rather than someone who would move ten things to three inches each at a time.

I found interesting the question posed by Marck about politicians as celebrities. Mar said that when people wave to him, he feels that the wave is not just a wave but that it comes with an unspoken reminder – to paraphrase – “Please don’t let us down. Do a good job.” He mentioned that he watched The Dark Knight last weekend which spawned what all agreed was the question of the night – who would Mar prefer to talk to, given a chance – Batman, Two-Faced or Joker. His reply: Two-Faced when he was no longer a one-dimensional Harvey Dent, then Joker and last would be Batman. He said he wanted to ask Two-Faced, “Bakit ka nagka-ganyan?” (I surmise that Two-Faced would probably retort: “Eh, ano paki mo?”).

Carlo briefed the bloggers about Mar’s Virtual Rally VS Oil VAT which can be found at www.marroxasblog.com. Yes, Mar the Nerd blogs, too. When it is his post, the entry is so identified as such but to keep the blog going content-wise, he also has guest bloggers (ahem!).

It was a good evening for all. I was personally thrilled to meet my fellow bloggers in the flesh. Oh and Annabel’s still has that buffet magic. Kudos to Donna Garcia for the “I had coffee with Mar” coffee mug giveaways and for all the arrangements.

Many thanks, once again, to those who showed up and got to know Mar the Leader and the Nerd:

Noemi Dado
Lester Cavestany
Jester
Arbet Bernardo
Marck Rimorin
Juned Sunido
Sonnie Santos
Abe Olandres
Paolo Florenda
Ding Gagelonia
Gail Villanueva
Marc Villanueva
Ellen Tordesillas
Manolo Quezon
Ricky Carandang
Carlo Ople (thanks for organizing the event!)