Of course Senator Mar Roxas will now “have to” be Senator Benigno Aquino III’s vice presidential running mate, or what was Mar’s R300 million (for starters) sacrifice for?

And if people outside the Liberal Party are hoping that Senator Aquino – can we agree to drop his nickname first of all, if only because it’s so unpresidential-sounding? – is not going to accept Mar’s sacrifice, they’re dead wrong. An unimpeachable source is dead certain that the promised statement by Senator Aquino on Sept. 9, end of the 40-day mourning period for President Cory Aquino, will not be a surprise. Yes, Mr. Aquino will accept the challenge to be his party’s standard bearer. Yes, the family are one, winning over the lone dissenter, sister Viel. Yes, they have no choice but to give in to the clamor, bend under the pressure.

Yes, he will unite the LP. But will he unite the opposition and its sundry candidates? Even with sister Kris behind him, beside him, pushing or pulling him, can he win over Erap, Manny, Chiz and charm them into forgetting their dreams of Malacañang?

The field may be slightly narrower now, especially with Senator Loren Legarda poised to announce that she’s leaving the race to run for VP instead, but the Aquino factor won’t be enough to clear the air.

It’s not as if the first-termer senator is going to win the election by acclamation, even if an Aquino-Roxas tandem sounds like a formidable combination. (Notice how one of them drove his SUV away with the other as his lone passenger, after declaring his decision last Tuesday?)

The two gentlemen are similar in so many ways. Manuel II and Benigno III are both bachelors, they went to the same school. They lost their fathers late in their teens or early in their twens, they are sons of strong mothers. Their families own huge tracts of land. Their fathers were senators, stalwarts of the LP. They’re both senators of the land, one more high-profile and aggressive than the other.

Will those similarities stand in the way or smooth the way? In politics, you never know. There’s one discernible pattern, however, and it’s true not only in this country. The death of a popular political leader at the right time spells Destiny for the heir or spouse.