Why Not Gibo?

Surely we've heard the arguments a hundred and one times before. People are explicitly saying that they wouldn't vote in favor of Gibo Teodoro because he is an administration candidate (in other words, closely associated with president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo).

But the man stood his ground. And though the surveys have continually put him on the bottom end among Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, and Erap Estrada, the Presidential Forums conducted by various organizations and media networks have introduced unto us a man who have clear visions and a man who knows the details of proper governance.

(famous Filipino author and National Artist F. Sionil Jose has a comprehensive interview of the man)

And so my question is: Why Not Gibo?


We go back to the old argument, that we do not want him because he is associated with Gloria.

Then my follow up question is: Why then, despite the fact that he would want to become the Admin's standard-bearer, do we like Bayani Fernando?


----------

I want to see a Philippines that is peaceful, has strong institutions of governance, has modern infrastructure, has food security, is technologically and educationally advanced, with a people who have the capacity to make rational decisions for themselves, true freedom of thought and of expression, a power in Southeast Asia and perhaps the Asia-Pacific, ecologically rich and diverse, in short a country where our people would want to remain. - Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro

Stormy Halloween

Folks, expect a Stormy Halloween this weekend as typhoon Santi (International Name: Mirinae) threatens to move closer to the Philippines' area of responsibility by Friday night until Saturday morning.

Storm Signal Number 2 has already been raised in Metro Manila and many nearby provinces, so people who are visiting on the Cemeteries are advised to take caution and bring tents, umbrellas, or raincoats.

People who are planning to travel to Central and Northern Luzon are also advised to take their trip early Friday to avoid possible heavy rainfall caused about by the typhoon.

Meanwhile, it has been declared that November 2 (Monday) is a holiday, in commemoration of the All Souls Day.

Keep Safe, Everyone. Have a great weekend!

Holiday Declarations In November

Filipinos will experience two long weekend holidays this coming month of November 2009 as President Gloria declared various holidays in observance of All Saints/Souls Day and the Feast of Sacrifice for the Muslims.

Here are the two long weekend schedules:

October 31- Saturday
November 1- All Saints Day (Special Non-working Holiday)
November 2- All Souls Day (Special Non-working Holiday)


November 27- Eid'l Adha/Feast of Sacrifice by the Muslims (Special Non-working Holiday)
November 28- Eid'l Adha/Feast of Sacrifice by the Muslims (Special Non-working Holiday)
November 29- Sunday
November 30- Bonifacio Day (Regular Holiday)


sources: abs-cbnnews.com , gov.ph website

Erap Leads SWS Latest Presidential Survey

Former President Joseph 'Erap' Estrada is back in the game.

After his ouster from office in 2001 due to allegations of plunder and corruption (see history here), the Filipino people must have forgotten the sins at all, and may have forgiven Erap, as he is now on top of the presidential surveys conducted by the Social Weather Station last June 2009.

Erap Estrada, who gathered about 21% of the approval ratings, is closely followed by Senator Manny Villar (19%), Senator Chiz Escudero (18%), and Vice President Noli De Castro (15%).

However, the Erap Camp must still have to wait for the final decision on whether he is still eligible to run on 2010.

++++++++++

Meanwhile, as Former President Estrada continues to increase his popularity, President Gloria Arroyo finds herself at the center of yet another series of controversies on her alleged dinner overspending in New York alongside her state visit with President Barack Obama in Washington.

OBAMAstruck

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's wish has finally come true. She is now in the US and have actually met US President Barack Obama.



Meanwhile, Senator Lito Lapid has self-confessed that he had personally asked President GMA to take him along for the meeting with President Obama at the White House.


“I hope I’d be lucky enough to be chosen among the five that would be allowed to accompany the President when she meets Obama"


“Kahit makunan lang ng litrato (Even just for a photograph),”







Senator Lapid's wish, however, did not come true, as the President has already named her official delegation which includes Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Speaker Prospero Nograles, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Willy Gaa and staffers Patricia Paez and Mei Ann Austria.

Cha cha cha!

Eksklusibo!

Dalawang headlines na talaga namang magpapaindak sa iyo to the tune of CHA-CHA-CHA!

Charter Change Only 20 Votes Shy
Ito ang pahayag ni Senador Manny Villar kahapon, March 25, 2009. Sinabi rin niya na ang mga anak ni Gloria na sina Mikey at Datu ang nagsusulong nito sa kongreso.

Arroyo Behind Charter Change
Ito naman ang pahayag ni dating House Speaker Joe De Venecia ngayon para sabihing si Gloria Arroyo ang talagang utak ng Charter Change. Inamin din niya na nilapitan siya ni Mikey para hikayatin siyang sumuporta sa pangangalap ng additional votes para maisulong ang cha-cha kapalit ng pag-restore ng posisyon niya bilang House Speaker.

Cha-cha-cha!

-bow-

News Tidbits 2009

(Medyo) Tahimik ang Pilipinas ngayon. Walang masyadong ingay, maliban sa Right of Reply Bill ni Senator Nene Pimentel (na hindi ko masyadong naiintindihan at hindi ko na rin pinagtiyagaang intindihin) at sa pagkapasa ng Automation Budget para sa 2010 elections (na patuloy pa ring pag-aawayan dahil kabi-kabila ang siguradong magsasabing may dayaang mangyayari. Tingnan natin, kung magagamit na ang automation sa 2010 elections, panigurado na yung matatalong kandidato eh magsasabing "nadaya ako!").

Sikat si Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Aba'y big-time siya! Kung dati-rati eh Pangulo lang ng Pilipinas ang gustong i-impeach, ngayon, naka-file na ang impeachment complaint niya sa Kamara. Ang problema lang, katulad din ng complaints laban kay GMA, may pag-asa ba namang umusad ang kaso? Kilalang kaalyado ng First Couple si Gutierrez, dahil classmate siya ni FG Mike Arroyo sa Ateneo De Manila College of Law. In fact, hindi pa nga napag-aaralan ang kaso eh nagsabi na si Mikey Arroyo na hindi siya tututulan niya ang Impeachment. Pati si DOJ Secretary Raul Gonsalez eh nagpahiwatig na mahirap lumusot ang kaso.

Other than the above news, wala nang masyadong matunog. Magtataka ka na lang, ano na ang nangyari doon sa mga naunang issues, katulad nang Alabang Boys Drug Case, WB Corruption Charges, Euro Generals (sabi sa news, hindi na raw kakasuhan si General Dela Paz kasi ibabalik na daw yung kinuhang pera-pwede pala yun?), Fertilizer Scam, etc.

Para tuloy gusto kong sabihin sa sarili ko: "Hindi ka pa ba nasanay?".

Kung nasusulusyonan lang ang mga nakikitang iregularidad. Kung napaparusahan lang sana ang mga dapat maparusahan. Kung kahit paano sana ay nagkakaroon ng pagbabago at kaunti mang pag-unlad ng bansa. Siguro ay tataas kahit paano ang Trust Rating ng Pangulo. Subalit dahil dito, patuloy na hindi maganda ang resulta ng surveys. Ayon sa pinakahuling tala ng Pulse Asia, halos kalahati ng mga Pinoy ang walang tiwala kay Pangulong Arroyo.

Kung wala na talagang pag-asang magbago ang patakbo ng gobyerno, sana naman ay magkaroon ng pagbabago sa susunod na mga lider ng bansa.

The Gentleman

Wikipedia illustrates "Gentleman" as:

...."gentleman" signifies a man with an income derived from property, a legacy or some other source, and was thus independently wealthy and did not need to work.

Ay ang saya! patok na patok! Mismo!

Anyway, involved na naman daw si FG sa bagong kontrobersiya ng korupsiyon, sabi ni Sen. Ping Lacson.

Eh, what else is new?!!!!

Para yatang dapat eh laging may hobby/collection ang asawa ng mga pangulo natin. Let's look at the parallelisms.

Sikat si Makoy sa korupsiyon, sa mahabang term na pagiging pangulo, sa martial law.

Sikat si GMA sa korupsiyon, sa more than one term na pagiging pangulo, at naakusahan na nag a ala-martial law.

Asawa ni Makoy si First Lady Imelda na sikat sa pangongolekta ng sapatos.

Asawa ni GMA si First Gentleman Mike na sikat sa pangongolekta ng mga corruption charges.

(Interesado ka ba sa mga charges against FG? Here's the link on gma's special report)

Catch Me If You Can

Now Showing

Chance of a Lifetime

President Arroyo made a sudden side trip from Bahrain to Washington last Feb 5, 2009, to attend the United States National Prayer Breakfast (and possibly to get the chance to finally, finally, finally meet US President Barack Obama).

But the chance never happened.

Neal Cruz, in his Inquirer column, describes Arroyo's move to seemingly chase Obama as Pathetic.


Must have been better if Arroyo attends a local prayer meeting together with Cory, Erap, Ramos, Villanueva, Velarde, Rosales, De Venecia, Roxas, Lozada, Lacson, Mike Arroyo, Tindero, Jocjoc, Villar, etc.

Wouldn't that be a sight?

(But of course, not to mention, to disallow Sec Dureza to lead the prayer).



To conclude, Neal Cruz states,

"Don’t pretend to be what you are not. Accept what you are but try to be better."


Amen.

The Return

There must be really nothing permanent in this world.

Especially in the world of Philippine Politics.

Take the case of the "Presidente ng Masa"- Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada.

For those few of us who may not know who Erap is, here is Wikipedia's account:

++++++++++

Joseph Ejercito Estrada

13th President of the Philippines
3rd President of the 5th Republic
In office: June 30, 1998 – January 20, 2001
Born: April 19, 1937 (1937-04-19) (age 71)Tondo, Manila
Political party: Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP)
Spouse: Luisa Pimentel
Occupation: Actor
Religion: Roman Catholic Christianity

José Marcelo Ejército (born on April 19, 1937), better known as Joseph Ejercito Estrada, or Erap, is a film actor in the Philippines and was the 13th President of the Philippines from June 30, 1998 to January 20, 2001. He was peacefully overthrown by the Second People Power Revolution after his aborted impeachment trial in the Senate, where eleven Philippine senators refused to examine the second envelope of the Jose Velarde bank account that would supposedly prove acts of political corruption. On April 4, 2001, the trial of Estrada began as Ombudsman Aniano Desierto filed before the Sandiganbayan, a Philippine anti-graft court, a PHP 4-billion plunder suit and a minor perjury charge for falsely declaring his assets and illegally using the Jose Velarde alias. On September 12, 2007, he became the first Philippine President to be convicted of a crime after the Sandiganbayan found him guilty of plunder, which is punishable by reclusion perpetua. He was detained in his Tanay, Rizal resthouse but then pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on October 25, 2007.

++++++++++

Erap must have been one of the most colorful personality in Philippine History. I can just imagine how he became prince to pig and now, seemingly, to prince again in the face of the whole philippine populate.

After arising to become the Philippine President, winning via a V large margin over opponent Joe De Venecia, Erap was accused of Plunder and was overthrown by what we now know as EDSA DOS.

From 2001 to September 2007, his case was heard in Sandiganbayan, until finally he was convicted by the court of Plunder. Finally.

But not yet.

A month after his conviction, he was pardoned by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in what to me as one of the saddest part of the Philippine Judiciary history.

Now, as Gloria Arroyo's filipino trust ratings (amidst the continuous controversies hounding her) surging even below zero, Erap is back on track as the people's favorite political personality.

There are news that Erap threatens to run again for the Presidential Post in 2010 if ever the Opposition people do not unite together. And this time, the rumors are, he is eyeing on Loren Legarda to be his running mate for VP (Loren, by the way, was one of the Senators who is against Erap during the 2000 Senate Impeachment Trial).

In other stories, former President Cory Aquino, apologized to Estrada on her participation of Erap's ouster (EDSA DOS) in 2001.

At the star-studded launch Monday of former Speaker Jose de Venecia’s book that gave accounts of scandals that had hounded President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Aquino asked Estrada for forgiveness for joining the Edsa II uprising that ousted him.

“I am one of those who plead guilty for the 2001 (uprising). Lahat naman tayo nagkakamali. Patawarin mo na lang ako (All of us make mistakes. Forgive me),” Aquino said in her brief but well-received remarks at the Podium mall in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

So there, it seems, as Erap is now back on track on the political map, many may say that he is actually vindicated from the 2000/2001 Impeachment Accusations.

If we shall review the past eight years that had happened, we can find a lot of "Wind of Change" scenarios:

* Gloria Arroyo who was hailed by the people in Edsa Dos in 2001 is now the most hated personality in the Philippines.

* Tito Guingona became GMA's VP in 2001 for his significant contribution in ousting Erap and installing GMA as President. Tito is now one of the main oppositions fighting against GMA.

* Then House Speaker Manny Villar presided the endorsement of the Impeachment complaint against Erap to the Senate. In 2007, Villar ran again under Erap's Political Party. Now he is closely seen together with Erap in various political gatherings.

* JDV lost to Erap during the 1998 Presidential Elections. In 2008, JDV finally broke away with his ties with GMA and even authored a book exposing the various irregularities of the GMA government.

*The lipat bakods: Revilla, Oreta, Angara, and Sotto were with Erap during 2000. Now they are with GMA. Roxas, Guingona, De Venecia were with GMA during 2000. Now they are with the opposition.

* Loren who was against Estrada in 2000 ran for Senate reelection in 2007 under Estrada's Political Party (and may now become her running mate in 2010?)

* Erap becomes president-then convicted of impeachment-then pardoned-and may get back the top post (again?)

And, indeed, there is nothing permanent in this world.

Especially in the world of Philippine Politics.

Noon At Ngayon

Let me take you back to the Good Ol' Days:

Ganito Sila Noon:

Pero katulad nga ng laging nangyayari, ika nga eh, walang permanente sa mundo, lalo na sa mundo nang pulitika.

Ganito na sila ngayon:

De Venecia: ‘Arroyo bribes total P100M'

Congressman Joe De Venecia (Former House Speaker and Former GMA Ally), accused President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of spending as much as P100 million in bribes in October 2007 to buy herself “legal protection” from moves to impeach her for at least a year.

Further more, concerning the NBN-ZTE Broadband deal, he recalled how the President invited him and his wife to a golf game which turned out to be a meeting with ZTE officials and former Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos in Shengzhen, China.

“Pray tell me, what is the President of the Philippines doing there? What is the husband of the President doing in the ZTE headquarters, a company that is bidding for a massive project in the Philippines? Pray tell me why the Comelec chair is there?”

-Joe De Venecia

Joe de V lying, says Mike A on ZTE rap

First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo Sunday called former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. “a liar” for claiming in a forthcoming book that he had suggested a formula that led to the awarding of the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project to China’s ZTE Corp.

“I never suggested anything, that JDV is a liar and you can tell him that to his face.”

-FG Mike Arroyo

But perhaps, the best conclusion for this fiasco came out of our notable senator Miriam Defensor Santiago during the Senate Hearing in 2007:

“Now, I want to place on record as a senator with the principal duty of passing good laws, to promote the national interest even long after I'm gone from the Senate, I resent being made part into this squabble. Pinag-aawayan niyo lang ang kickback ninyo. Inaaksaya nyo ang panahon ng Senado"

-Miriam

Need I elaborate more?

Mukhang Guilty

(Naalala ko dati, umentra din sa showbiz si Mikey. Ewan lang kung bakit hindi na nag-progress ang career nya. Anyway.....)


Inquirer.net's Nancy Carvajal reports a simple and casual encounter with the Arroyos in an interview at the St. Luke's Medical Center where FG Mike Arroyo has had an overnight stay for some treatments due to diarrhea.

FG, who is being interviewed on his reactions on JDV's statements about the business meetings in China concerning the ZTE deal, then said, "Enough with Politics".


Mikey, who was standing to the right of his father, bent over, suddenly grabbed Nancy Carvajal's (Inquirer reporter) right arm and with eyes glaring yelled: “Tama na, tama na! (Enough, enough!)”

Dato, who was standing to the left of his father, signaled to his older brother to stop. The First Gentleman appeared unaware of what Mikey was doing, continuing to answer questions by other reporters about his illness.

>>>>> So to speak, FG Mike Arroyo accused former speaker (and former GMA ally) Joe De Venecia of lying.

So sino sa kanila ang mukhang guilty?

A. De Venecia
B. the Arroyos
C. All of the Above

I Say A Little Prayer

The moment I wake up
Before I put on my makeup
I say a little prayer for you
While combing my hair, now,
And wondering what dress to wear, now,
I say a little prayer for you.....




Let's take a little comedy out of our favorite topic politics.



During an opening prayer at the Cabinet meeting held at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room in Malacañang, Press Secretary Jesus G. Dureza asked that the President be given the strength to lead until 2010 or even beyond.

"Bless the President so we will have forbearance, good health, the tolerance to lead this nation up to 2010, and perhaps, who knows, even beyond "









Photographers then simultaneously took photos of the President who appeared uneasy as the prayer ended.



Visibly embarrassed, Mrs. Arroyo, who was in good mood when she entered the room, immediately blurted out "Oh my God!" and covered her face with her hands.



Putting on a smile, the President told the media covering the meeting not to publish or air the prayer, an order that drew laughs and murmurs from those in the room.


"That prayer was off the record... So why don’t we [Cabinet] get everybody seated. Please tama na, tama na [enough, enough]," she said.


After the media were asked to leave the meeting area, the Press Secretary reportedly asked TV cameramen not to release the video files containing the opening prayer

In a press conference after the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Dureza clarified he referred to the President’s capability of serving the nation "in her personal and private capacity."

He added the prayer was spontaneous as he left the text he had prepared.

"I’d like to do a light prayer... I’m sure the Lord also has a lot of sense of humor and my prayer was in that context. I said something about the hope that the President would have the tolerance to serve the nation even beyond 2010," he said.

"What was grounded off was my statement that she will perform beyond 2010 in her personal and private capacity. Everybody thought it was a slip on my part but it was intentional in a sense it was a light prayer... but some people did not get it right maybe they did not have that much sense of humor."

He denied that the President is interested in a term extension.

When asked if he was reprimanded by Mrs. Arroyo, Mr. Dureza said:

"No, I was not... She had a good laugh after."

source: GMANews.TV



Forever, forever, you'll stay in my heart
and I will love you
Forever, forever we never will part
Oh, how I'll love you
Together, together, that's how it must be
To live without you
Would only be heartbreak for me.

(na-missed ko tuloy bigla si Secretary Bunye)

Who goes first?

The filing anew of an impeachment complaint last Monday, October 13, 2008 against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo didn't come as a surprise for me at all.

To me, this is the inevitable.

What I am particularly curious about is: will the Opposition find its way to beat coys or nuisances this time around.


In 2005 and 2006, a known Marcos Loyalist, Attorney Oliver Lozano, successively beat Ms Arroyo’s opponents to the draw by filing of impeachment cases against her ahead of any of the Oppositions who have prepared complaints against Arroyo.

The matter of who files first is deemed important because under House rules, lawmakers may entertain only one impeachment complaint against a president within a year.

However, as we all know, none of those impeachment cases filed by Lozano against Ms Arroyo prospered. Many believe that the move from Lozano actually were "brilliant moves" by the administration in order that a somehow weak complaint would be filed and not prosper. And indeed, the plan worked.

In 2007, a new name appeared in the picture. A certain Lawyer, Roel Pulido filed a rather weak-as-Lozano's complaint ahead of the Opposition again. The "sham complaint", opposition leader Roilo Golez said, was meant to frustrate an honest-to-goodness impeachment complaint. Again, as expected, this too, did not prosper.

This 2008, The complainants tried but failed to file the 97-page impeachment complaint late Saturday (October 11, 2008) at the House of Representatives because its secretary general, Marilyn Yap, who receives such complaints, had gone on a foreign trip.

On Monday, De Venecia and Suplico and their supporters arrived at 6:00 a.m. at the north gate of the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City and immediately signed on the log book to show proof that they were the first to make the filing.

The complainants and media personnel stayed at the guard post for several minutes before they were allowed to proceed to the south wing of the Batasang Pambansa building where the House secretary general holds office.

On Friday, Speaker Prospero Nograles hinted that the filing of the impeachment complaint could also be made through registered mail.

Inquirer.net writer Leila Salaverria accounts for this interesting race of "Who goes first" in the
filing of the 2008 Impeachment Case against GMA:

++++++++++
Waking up earlier than usual, a group led by businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III filed its impeachment case against Ms Arroyo at the Office of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives at 7:40 a.m.

Lozano wasn’t around yet.

But a copy of Lozano’s own complaint also landed at the House media office. It had a covering letter which bore the stamp of a Quezon City post office indicating the complaint was mailed to the chamber at 8:20 a.m.

A check at 2:30 p.m. Monday showed that the complaint mailed by Lozano and fellow lawyers Elly Pamatong and Evangeline Lozano had not reached the secretary general’s office.

Asked why he chose to mail the complaint instead of going to the House to file it himself—as what the De Venecia group did—Lozano told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone in Filipino: “I wanted to avoid heckling (kantyawan). I don’t want anything like that.”
++++++++++

The battle for "Who goes first" is now over. As lawyer Harry Roque, one of the complainants, implied, "“This impeachment complaint in the House is the real deal unlike the first three. House members have no choice but to accept it or reject it based on merits rather than technicalities as they did in the past years.”

The House secretary general has up to 10 session days to submit the impeachment complaint to Nograles who, in turn, has up to 10 session days to decide whether to forward the complaint to the House committee on justice.

The committee on justice has up to 60 session days to decide whether the complaint was sufficient in form and substance before it could pass it for plenary vote.

What will happen next, we don't know.

Commoner's View on GMA's SONA

I have not been given the liberty to watch the live coverage of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's State of the Nation Address last 28 July 2008. This is her 8th, and the second to the last SONA. (The last will be on 2009, after that, the 2010 elections).

As is very much expected, bulk of the speech pointed to the Economic crisis on Oil Price hike and the removal(non-removal) of the Value Added Tax.

The beginning part of the speech dwells on her government doing lots of UNPOPULAR decisions. As quoted,

"Because tough choices were made, the global crisis did not catch us helpless and unprepared. Through foresight, grit and political will, we built a shield around our country that has slowed down and somewhat softened the worst effects of the global crisis. We have the money to care for our people and pay for food when there are shortages; for fuel despite price spikes.
The result has been, on the one hand, ito ang nakasalba sa bayan; and, on the other, more unpopularity for myself in the opinion polls. Yet, even unfriendly polls show self-rated poverty down to its 20-year low in 2007.

Probably, this should be her introduction to the lengthy discussion on why the VAT should not be removed into the Philippine Tax system, even though a lot of Politicians and the masses are trying to convince the lawmakers to remove it.

But, as commoners who could not (and maybe are not willing to) understand all of those lenghty speech given by the President, only those things that easily matter, were the ones given the attention.

However unpopular the VAT issue may be for GMA, it seems that she made a scheming move to be popular to the masses by working out into the lowering of text messages fees from 1php to 0.50php.

As Manolo Quezon ellaborates in his article:

++++++++++
"And perhaps as an exercise in demonstrating how unpopularity can still result in popular applause, there was this, most-noticed and sole genuine crowd-pleaser in her speech:

Texting is a way of life. I asked the telecoms to cut the cost of messages between networks. They responded. It is now down to 50 centavos.

Which was as much a shot across the bow at big business, as it was a sop to gain propaganda points from the public. As of this writing, talk is already going around that this is a “limited time only” thing, perhaps along the same lines as the President having used moral suasion to demand that the oil companies roll back oil prices in the weeks leading to her speech. And while the oil companies grudgingly complied -but stated, with ill-disguised bad humor, that this might be one of the last times the President could do that to them- and while the telecoms companies will have to react to the President planting the idea of cheaper SMS messages in the public’s mind, this is of no consequence to her. The propaganda points have been made, she can worry about businessmen later."
++++++++++

Now, this must be a popular move, considering that the Philippines is worldly known as one of the top Texting Nations (we used to be the texting capital).

GMA News, meanwhile, states that, "Domestic mobile phone companies have slashed their texting fees by half to P0.50 from P1 until October. The rate cut takes effect Monday (July 28). It is approved for implementation by the NTC for three months. And it is up to them (Smart, Globe, Sun Cellular) if they will ask for an extension of the promo".

There, we have to take note of the fact that this is a "Special Promo only" until October.

The move might have given the President a popular gain from the masses, but, there is always the issue of this, being a politically motivated scheme in time for the President's State of the Nation Address.

++++++++++
note: I have asked at least 10 people to verify if this 0.50/text promo is already going on, however, all have answered in negative. So I still have to hear a person who will say, yes, it does!

The Making of A President

I chanced upon seeing this very old email forwarded in 2004. Unfortunately though, I could not trace the original source. Anyway, during that time, the country was focused with the 2004 National Elections- with GMA, FPJ, and Ping as the main protagonists.

++++++++++

THE CANDIDATE

There's an old movie called "The Candidate", starring Robert Redford and Peter Boyle. It was made in 1972. And it is about Bob McKay (played by Robert Redford), a young and idealistic lawyer who is coaxed by a scheming Democratic Party campaign manager (played by Peter Boyle) into running for the US Senate in the state of California.

The movie is less about McKay's motivations; rather it focuses more around how a nobody is molded by the campaign manager, admen, press agents, and media czars into a formidable candidate.

There are some parallelisms between the movie and what's going on with the 2004 Philippine presidential elections. What's interesting is how a person with no political past is molded, packaged, and delivered to the electorate. In 2004, the Philippines might just witness the making of the first media President.

The movie is a good case study for advertising majors and brand managers alike. You focus on the raw and winning characteristics of the product (McKay) and shape these characteristics into advertising sound bites and moving images. And once the mouse trap has been created, the world just beats its path to your door (politicians jumping on the McKay band wagon).

That's the power of media, fortunately and unfortunately. The elements of our first media president is at play here: First is a candidate (Fernando Poe Jr.,) who has the charm, name recognition, sincerity, looks, and no political history; a candidate who can actually play the part. And then you add the campaign manager (Senator Tito Sotto ) whose background is in the media (TV, radio, and movies). You have a financier (Danding C, who cannot win an election but wants to be the king maker, decision maker and the power behind the throne). Finally you have an omnipresent media that constantly feeds data and images into the psyche of our society.

When this movie was shown back in the 70's, the one scene that one will remember the most was the final scene, the final line. After all the manipulations, the speeches, the issues, and the political alliances have been established, McKay in fact wins the elections.

In the final scene where he realizes that he had finally won, McKay pulls aside his campaign manager for a brief private meeting and asks, "What do we do now?" Even Dolphy said something like that, when he was asked to run for an elective post. "Eh kung manalo ako, ano ang gagawin ko?".

There's no moral lesson in the movie. It is purely a commentary of what the political landscape was all about. Thirty years after the movie was first shown, those insights still ring true. My only hope is that the final scene never plays itself out in real life.

"Charm can take you to the Presidency; leadership will keep you there."

Anonymous
++++++++++

Now it's 2008, and four years later, a lot had happened in the Philippine Political scenario.

Of course, all of us know that GMA won a slim margin over Da King, with the question forever in the minds of the Filipino as to what really transcribed concerning the Hello Garci scandal.

Da King FPJ eventually died years later. And the call for the President's resignation has never ceased as of today.

Should FPJ have won the presidency, what would have happened?
Has those people who helped GMA to the top position regret anything?
What would have been the scenario today if there was a change in the course of history?

And now, with less than two more years to 2010, the nation is again faced with the task of choosing his President.