Duterte says Mar Roxas should have been a traffic aide; Roxas' camp says it's service

Former Interior Secretary and senatorial candidate Manuel "Mar" Roxas should have worked as a traffic aide instead, President Rodrigo Duterte said.

The President made the comment during a speech during the distribution of Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) in Sagay, Negros Occidental.

Recalling the time when he was campaigning for the 2016 presidential elections, Duterte said: "You know that when I ran, I didn’t have money. I didn’t even have a TV advertisement during the presidential debates. During the intermission, there were advertisements."

"Roxas was managing traffic. Oy Roxas, if that is the only thing that you are capable of doing, you should have worked as a traffic aide instead," he added.

Duterte was referring to an old video of Roxas — who was also running for president at the time — that showed him managing the traffic in Commonwealth Avenue caused by former President Gloria Arroyo's last State of the Nation Address in 2009.

Roxas' campaign manager, Caloocan City Representative Edgar Erice, on Saturday said Roxas would do anything to serve the country and its citizens, even "direct traffic when no one is there to do so."

Erice also pointed out that Roxas had persevered to bring the call center industry to the country, and had opposed pharmaceutical companies by enacting the Cheaper Medicines Law. — Jessica Bartolome/MDM/KG, GMA News