It has been a slow and steady climb back to respectability for Atty. Vic Rodriguez.
Thrown overboard after a vicious demolition job by what he refers to as the Johnny-come-lately-s of the Marcos administration, Rodriguez has been given the opportunity to slowly rewrite the fiction of that painful stretch of his life.
One such tale that left a black mark was the accusation that he desperately tried to hold onto power after he was eased out as Executive Secretary.
“Kanya ipapakita ko sayo Lakay at ito’y first time ko ipapakita ‘to kahit kanino ang aking appointment at Administrative Order No. 1,” he told broadcast icon Deo Macalma when he was interviewed over DzRH.
The interview was part of the station’s “Bakit Ikaw?” series for this year’s senatorial candidates.
Rodriguez had long been waiting for the opportunity to straighten the facts regarding the stories floating around that the appointment did not exist but was peddled around because he didn’t want to leave Malacañang
He came prepared to DzRH so when he was asked about that episode, he simply pulled out a copy of the document that his critics alleged did not exist.
During a prior interview with Karen Davila on ABS-CBN, Rodriguez was also able to correct the yarn that he appointed a brother-in-law to head the Philippine Ports Authority.
“He is not my brother-in-law,” he categorically declared, finishing it up lightheartedly by saying his wife might be led to suspect that he is married to another woman.
The public disclosure of the document on DzRH was decisive and erased whatever doubts remained on the supposed non-existent appointment that was actually given to him.
That made it two down in his favor.
Rodriguez knows he has not seen the last of the derogatory stories churned out by PR outfits contracted for the job. Considering his @rising stock in the upcoming senatorial derby is giving powerful figures in Malacañang more sleepless nights.
Rodriguez the candidate, however, has been buoyed with the encouragement from people who have categorically declared support for him and the rest of the Duterte candidates.
When he entered a packed lobby of a hotel in Iloilo City Thursday morning, he was greeted with smiles even by strangers who knew him only by name. Of course, there were the now customary groupies that showed there was little that remained of the stigma that haunted him after the bitter fallout with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Marcos.
At the gathering of his campaign volunteers in Barotac Viejo, Rodriguez had to delay his departure because the photo ops was taking longer than usual.
When his group stopped for lunch along the way, the owner introduced himself and engaged Rodriguez in a spirited banter. He also approved with gusto the request to put up a tarpaulin streamer and even offered his place as an HQ.
At a gathering of barangay officials from Mindanao, Rodriguez got more applause than other politicians who spoke ahead of him. The fog of negativity that surrounded his Malacañang stint is indeed slowly lifting.
Little by little, Rodriguez has checked out whatever unfinished business remained during a campaign that is looking brighter than ever. While the focus is undoubtedly on his senatorial bid, the incisive interviews have given him the platform to clean up what is left of the mess created to justify his exit.
His erstwhile tormentors who are starting to feel the heat won’t give up easily. By this time, they must grudgingly admit by the way he has weaved out of the rocks thrown at him that Rodriguez is mocking the odds.
It has been a slow and steady climb back to respectability, but Rodriguez might just get there before he even knows it.
#AttyVicRodriguez
#56SaSenado
#NoMoreBudol
