John Nery on Mar Roxas

In his article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled "The ‘bully’ in Mar Roxas", John Nery said:

"... Sen. Mar Roxas was also cited, for his obvious facility with numbers and concepts.

I must confess, though, to a certain tentativeness about Roxas’ performance. Yes, he certainly seems to have done his homework. Of all the senators present (the blue ribbon committee alone has 17 members), he alone seems to have the consistent benefit of that old Ramos mantra, “complete staff work.” (How complete? Here’s an alternative gauge: Just about an hour after he tangled with Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso on the government’s estimate of the savings it would generate from the ZTE deal, his news release, complete with his quotes, was already in my email inbox -- and in dozens of other journalists’ inboxes too. The time stamp was 6:59 p.m.)

With his investment banking background, Roxas also knows enough to debate, not only economic policy, but the theoretical framework or philosophical assumption informing a given policy. Witness the altercation with Neri on whether financials should be included in the project evaluation. When was the last time a senator brought Modigliani (the economist Franco, Google tells us, not the artist Amedeo) into a legislative discussion?"

Sen. Roxas was the only one who had the guts to ask Asec. Formoso than any other senator in that chamber. Here's my post on those who accuse Sen. Roxas as 'bastos' and grandstanding in the Senate probe on the ZTE deal. I hope those accusing him would think twice on what they say.