THE allegations that have been thrown at the Liberal Party’s favored son Manuel A. “Mar” Roxas 2nd in the past few weeks are breathtaking in their scale, all the more so because there are glaring indications that they may be entirely justified.

Aquino’s ‘Plan A’ candidate, as he is being sarcastically referred to by many critics, is finding it difficult to escape scrutiny for three serious issues. The first, which we have examined several times since the beginning of this year, is the dubious “bottom-up budgeting” or BUB program, which Roxas has been dangling before local government officials all around the country as a reason they should support his candidacy. The offer sounds so much like a quid pro quo that some entertaining public commentators in the social media have suggested the acronym BUB actually stands for “bribe ur barangay,” and as we pointed out in an earlier editorial last month, it is almost impossible for Roxas and his camp to promise that it will continue under his administration without it sounding like funds-for-votes exchange.

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