Manolo Quezon For Senator

The title will, of course, directly tell you what I am trying to say to anyone. I should have liked to entitle this as "A Few Good Men", however, I think it is more fitting these days to say directly what you mean to say.

Yes, I am one of those Filipinos who are urging Manolo Quezon III to run for Senator in the coming 2010 elections.


For those who are not in the know, Manolo actually comes from the lineage of the Philippine former president Manuel L. Quezon.

I got to know about Manolo whenever, as a child, our parents would turn on the TV and watch the news. By and by, Manolo Quezon would be a resource person as an analyst on Political and electoral issues.

Today, I am a regular visitor of his blog, The Long View, because that is where I gain exhaustive insights about Politics and Current Issues. But, perhaps one of the things that cut him above the others is how he puts his thoughts and analysis into action.

I am witness as to how he spearheaded a lot of efforts to help the victims of Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. His twitter account provides a blow-by-blow account on how every single Filipino can do his share to help the victims of the calamity.

And so now, without any apprehension, I am calling, together with the others, for Manolo Quezon to run for Senator.

We have a Few Good Men who can spearhead change and improvement in the system.

Manolo Quezon, I daresay, is one of them.

Pulse Asia's Survey on the 2010 Elections

Pulse Asia releases its February 2009 Ulat ng Bayan survey for the 2010 elections.

To summarize, the survey states that if the elections were done on February, the following Presidentiables will make it to the top:

"Kabayan" Noli De Castro (19%)
"Chiz" Senator Francis Escudero (17%)
"Erap" Former President Joseph Estrada (16%)
"Mr. Sipag at Tiyaga" Senator Manny Villar (15%)

For the Senatoriables, the survey's top 5 are:

Jinggoy Estrada
Pia Cayetano
Mar Roxas
Miriam Santiago
Frank Drilon

While those who belong to the top 5 are old-timers in the senate, the survey also include "newcomers" in the list of can-be-senatoriables, including Edu Manzano, Korina Sanchez, Joe De Venecia, and Willie Revillame (yes, you've read it right. Willie is on rank 17-23).

Relative to this survey, I have previously posted a blog to give emphasis on the importance of funds, in other words, money, for the upcoming 2010 elections. As pointed out, since the Presidential Race seems tight and we don't expect a runaway winner, money and machinery will definitely play a big role for the winner.

Columnist Manolo Quezon, in his blog entry, In This Corner, provides a comprehensive analysis on this Pulse Asia February 2009 Survey. Manolo points out that while the Administration candidates are doing badly in the survey, the local allies will still play a big role in the final stretch. Which is true! So the Opposition could not yet stage a sound of victory at this moment. They have got to take care of their local allies.

To conclude, I would like to copy on The Professional Heckler's take on the Pulse Asia Survey:


"Vice President Noli De Castro topped the latest Pulse Asia survey with a 19 percent preference rating. He was followed by Sen. Francis Escudero, 17 percent, Joseph Estrada, 16 percent, Sen. Manuel Villar, 15 percent, Sen. Loren Legarda, 12 percent, Sen. Manuel Roxas II, 7 percent, and Sen. Panfilo Lacson, 6 percent. Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay got 2 percent while MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando got only one percent. The First Gentleman was luckier. He got five percent."


Heckler, you rock!

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:

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"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."
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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.

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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!