The late Senator Raul S. Roco was good, so good in fact that many wanted him to be President of this country. He was brilliant and had many ideas.
But his younger brother Cho Roco may have resembled his brother in his physical features but is way, way below the senator’s ability. While Senator Roco had authored landmark legislations, Cho Roco has nothing to show. While Senator Roco had bright ideas,
Cho Roco has practically nothing to present before the constituents. Cho Roco says he wants a decent representation of the Second District, whatever he means, but he had been there for three years from 2001 to 2004 and there was sadly no appreciable performance on his part. Congress watchers said they saw Cho Roco just sitting there. To some pupils or students, the favorite subject is recess. Cho Roco’s favorite was coffee break.
More unfortunately, while Cho Roco fl aunts his so-called “decent” representation, he began last year with the wrong foot forward. He kept following millionaire ex- convict Mark Jimenez wherever he went, up in fact to the Visayas, in an evident effort to tickle the chord of compassion of the wealthy but controversial character.
Some mediamen even thought Cho Roco had become a receptionist in Mark Jimenez’ residence. He stooped too low, too embarrassingly low, in the obvious hope that in one burst of generosity Mark Jimenez would give him all the money he needed. Was that being decent?
When Mark Jimenez came after the devastating typhoons last year to give some relief goods to victims Cho Roco took the opportunity to distribute the goods, but he was not heard saying that the relief goods came from Mark Jimenez.
No doubt, if Senator Raul Roco were alive he would have run into tantrums and reprimanded his younger brother for his very demeaning actuations. The Senator would not have gone that far only to be able to run in an election. If there were contributors to his campaign fund, he just waited for them to come voluntarily. That is the kind of decency that the Senator might have wanted Cho to emulate.
But alas, with widely disparate sense of values and their judgment and intelligence poles apart, what can the electorate in the Second District of Camarines Sur expect from Cho Roco?
That is why many of those who saw posters of Cho Roco with the picture of the Senator lurking in the background are endlessly disturbed that the deceased elder brother would turn in his grave.
Now, the question that is being asked is: how much really was Cho Roco able to wangle from Mark Jimenez? Is he spending the money or just keeping it knowing that he does not have a ghost of a chance with incumbent Congressman Villafuerte way ahead and headed to an overwhelming mandate?
Cho Roco had been mayor of Naga City aside from being congressman and he knows the pulse of the people. He knows he is losing miserably and lamentably and he has no shoulder to cry on. Mayor Jesse Robredo wanted a certain Joel Cadiz but Cho Roco believed it was his right to be clobbered once again.
Nobody thinks he would be overly stupid to keep on spending. But that way he would once again be not decent.
All contributions to his campaign fund he must either use or return to the contributor – to be decent. But will he or will he not?
So Cho Roco is in a quicksand.
