Mar Roxas visited the University of San Jose–Recoletos (USJR), a private university in Cebu last November 12, 2015. He discussed his impending plans for the Philippines, as expected from a presidential candidate. However, Mar Roxas apparently joked by pronouncing “step by step” as “isteep bay isteep,” trying to do a Visayan accent impression. This was taken as a “bad joke” by his audience — a university with outstanding English speakers.
Kristian Caumeran corrected, “Sir, the Visayan term for “step by step” is “ginagmay’ng lakang.” He added, “But since you came from a superior dialect, we’ll just let this pass.”
Ms. Jessa deemed Roxas as, “such an arrogant person.” She also said that Mar Roxas was the first ever politician who made fun of the way they speak in English.
Do you think Mar Roxas’ joke was out of line? What do you think about this issue?
