Roxas insists he sought to steer clear of clan politics in Tacloban

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas offered to take a lie detector test to prove he did not bring up clan politics with Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez in the aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda, and said Romualdez's teary accusations could be a result of "post-traumatic stress disorder" stemming from having witnessed deaths and destruction on a large scale.

"Ang importante dito ang katotohanan," said an irate Roxas on Tuesday.  



On Monday, a teary-eyed Romualdez had said in post-disaster assessment at the Senate that Roxas supposedly asked him in a meeting to cede control of the city to the DILG. The secretary also brought up clan politics during a discussion, instead of immediately sending aid to the city.

“Secretary Roxas said we should legalize everything... You have to remember: we have to be very careful because you are a Romualdez and the president is an Aquino,” Romualdez quoted Roxas.

This did not sit well with Roxas, who clarified that he merely mentioned the Romualdez-Aquino tensions to avoid politicizing the disaster in the first place and appeared incredulous that his caution was interpreted to do the opposite.

“Ang ibig sabihin dun, kami ang national government. Dapat maingat kasi Romualdez siya. Baka mapulitika ito. Iniiwasan natin ang politika kaya nga [nagtataka] ako na bakit niya pinupulitika ngayon ito. Nag-ingat nga e,” Roxas said in an earlier "Unang Balita" report.

Romualdez is the nephew of Imelda Marcos, widow of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. President Benigno Aquino III's father, Ninoy Aquino, was assassinated on his return from exile in 1983 during the Marcos presidency.

Misconstrued, misunderstood

During the press conference, Roxas read from a transcript of his November 14 meeting with Romualdez that showed he merely pointed out the Romualdez-Aquino divide to avoid politicizing a possible take-over of the DILG in Tacloban.

"Ito ang quote: 'You have to understand, we are talking very straight here, you are a Romualdez and the President is an Aquino, and we are being very careful in just taking over because we do not want anything to be misconstrued, misunderstood,'" Roxas read from the transcript.

Roxas also took a swipe at Romualdez, "Siguro tatanungin ko siya, nagpa-stress debriefing ka na ba? Baka tumino at luminaw ang paningin mo."

"Nagsisimpatya ako sa kanya at baka may post-traumatic stress disorder siya, nagkakabaliktad ang kanyang memory, timeline, at kung anu-ano pa," the secretary added.

Meanwhile, an edited video of the said meeting was posted online by a certain Josemari Gonzalez. It is unclear whether the person who posted the video is Romualdez's father-in-law, former actor, politician, and audio expert Jose Mari Gonzalez.



A longer version, meanwhile, was also posted online by a certain Cito Beltran. It could not be immediately ascertained if Beltran is the son of the late journalist Louie Beltran.   



This is not the first time differences between Romualdez and Roxas over relief efforts in Tacloban have gone public.

Romualdez earlier said Roxas had asked him to write to President Aquino informing him of his inability to function as mayor in the aftermath of Yolanda. Romualdez said his lawyers discouraged him from writing the letter as it could be seen as a form of resignation.

Romualdez added that Roxas supposedly told him that the DILG should take over in Tacloban due to the ineffectiveness of the local government.

“Mukhang pulitika na talaga 'to eh. Ayoko isipin 'yun eh, pero bakit ako lang? Bakit kami lang?” Romualdez had said.

Roxas denied the attempted DILG takeover, pointing out that the letter he asked from Romualdez was about imposing a curfew in Tacloban due to incidents of looting.

The secretary went on to warn those “spreading lies” to “better be careful” as the DILG has a mandate to act for a local government official rendered “ineffective” by a disaster.

“We bent over backwards to be sensitive and courteous and this is the response we get,” Roxas retorted. “Grabe talaga ang intrigahan.” — Marc Jayson Cayabyab/DVM/HS, GMA News