NAGA CITY---Almost mobbed by some 400 urban poor residents during an anniversary celebration of the urban poor federation in this city Friday last week, Sen. Mar Roxas walked through the crowd like a celebrity as he clasped hands with his adoring fans.

        Followed by television crews and reporters, Roxas was led by Mayor Jesse Robredo to his constituency with a body language virtually endorsing the Liberal Party president to the 2010 presidential race, while blue-colored glossy paper fans with the picture of the doe-eyed opposition senator were being distributed to the crowd.

        Later, after the speeches and the open forum on the issues confronting the urban poor in Bicol, women of all ages flocked around the celebrity senator requesting his autograph on the fans doled out. The fan bore a catchy phrase on the flipside that reads “Tuloy ang laban para sa abot-kayang gamot” with the attention-grabbing phrase “Oras na” printed in white at the bottom where the Liberal Party logo could also be found.

        Keeping his cool as the women hassled for his signature, Roxas requested them to put down their fans so that he could just pick one at a time until he finished signing all, missing none.

        Earlier, inside the chapel of the religious congregation of the Missionary of the Poor, Roxas guardedly parried leading questions about his presidential ambition during ambushed interviews by reporters.

        When a reporter insisted on the same question, Roxas responded off-tangent that “he will continue helping his countrymen over the crisis they are going through.”

        Rephrasing the question, another reporter asked Roxas if the warm reception shown by the city’s urban poor residents inspired him to pursue his presidential bid. He responded by saying that he was “inspired to work harder to help the beautiful women, men and children who jostled just to see him.”

        Indeed there were Roxas believers among the crowd that included Angela Llagas, 36, who said that the senator embodies a new look in governance but added that she was not sure if the young senator could win the presidential race.

        Virginia Tupaz, 50, said she would campaign for Roxas because she said she knew personally their family in Capiz where she stayed for eight years and joined the Capiz Women’s Inc. that she said was organized by the senator’s brother Congressman Dinggoy Roxas, whom she also found to be very warm and friendly.

        But Dodo Davila, 45, said that it was too early yet to pick a candidate and that he still has to see the winnability of Roxas in the presidential race.

        In the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations, Roxas ranked sixth (13 percent) among those whom respondents would choose to succeed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after the 2010 election. The top three choices, according to the survey, were Noli de Castro (31 percent), Sen. Loren Legarda (26 percent), and Senate President Manny Villar (25 percent).