2010 Vice-presidential Candidacy
After he garnered the highest votes in the Philippine election history when he ran as Senator, many people had already made him a potential presidential candidate by 2010. While he has been coy on his plans for 2010, the Mar Roxas for president in 2010 movement has been gathering steam with the Liberal Party revival targeting the youth (considering that the bulk of the voting population is aged below 30 years old). Other signs include the sprouting of Mar Roxas for president spots in cyberspace; and his colleagues endorsing him as the party's standard bearer—Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III declaring him Liberal Party's candidate for 2010, Liberal Party's chair emeritus Jovito Salonga introducing him as "the next president of the Philippine republic" and former Liberal Party Chairman Franklin Drilon saying that Roxas is the party's standard bearer in the 2010 elections.
However, on September 1, 2009 at the historic Club Filipino, in the hopes of being the epitome of his belief of "Bayan muna bago ang sarili" (Country first above Self) he delivered a speech at a press conference saying that: for the 2010 elections, he is shelving his presidential aspiration and is giving way to Senator Benigno Aquino III. His critics, on the other hand, thought it was just his way to a "graceful exit".
On September 21, 2009, Roxas, alongside Aquino, officially announced his candidacy for the vice presidency, as the standard-bearer of the Liberal Party for Vice President, launching the Aquino-Roxas tandem. On November 28, 2009, Aquino and Roxas filed their certificate of candidacy for President and Vice President respectively.
He was defeated by Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) by the narrowest margin in the history of the Fifth Republic. However, Roxas filed an electoral protest to the Supreme Court of the Philippines at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal. On July 12, 2010, the Supreme Court after reviewing Roxas' electoral protest, declared it sufficient in form and substance, and the Presidential Electoral Tribunal will be sending summons to Vice President Jejomar Binay to file a comment within 10 days upon receipt of summons, and Roxas also requested the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to order an independent forensic examination of the 26,000 CompactFlash cards and the source code of the PCOS machines used in the 2010 elections.
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