I  watched with great interest and sympathy the anointment ceremony yesterday at the Club Filipino, where President Benigno BS Aquino 3rd formally endorsed local government secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II as the Liberal Party standard bearer in the presidential election next year.

This was must viewing for me, for I have been planning to write a column on Mar’s tortuous quest for the presidency as part of my series of columns on the politics of 2016.