Category: noynoy

last-minute blues

there must be another way of handling the comelec registration process.   alam naman natin na may last-minute mentality ang pinoy.   comelec should have expected, and prepared for, the swarm instead of saying, kayo kasi…   lalo na’t merong concessions made to the rich and famous, like satellite ek-eks in kris aquino‘s case, and good old palakasan as in manuel buencamino‘s.   these, while masses of ordinary pinoys without connections had to line up for hours to register, if they were able to at all.    paano ka naman matutuwa sa ganyang palakad.

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i can’t believe people are raving about the noynoy video hindi ka nag-iisa.   what’s so powerful about that torch-lit parade led by noynoy that went nowhere.   i’m like, they love this?   c’mon people, taas-taasan naman ang standards natin.   we already know na hindi siya nag-iisa.   tell us something new, let’s hear him talking platform.   hindi porke anak siya nina Ninoy at Cory ay okay na, siguradong he won’t lie, cheat, or steal.   that’s just too low a bar for a presidential candidate.   i need to hear how he’s going to address the problems of poverty, land reform, environment, education, foreign debt, chacha, atbp.   i will not take him, or anyone, on sheer faith.    i leave that to the pink sisters.

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ayon kay senador nene pimentel tuloy tuloy ang pag-benta ng gma administration ng government assets, tipong ‘midnight sale,’    mostly to raise money pampuno sa napakalaking budget  ng 2009 or puwede ring pangkampanya sa 2010.    whatever, hindi lang pala ang food terminal inc. sa taguig at ang government shares in san miguel corp. at pnoc energy exploration corp. ang ibinebenta.  pati pala the sprawling properties ng national center for mental health at ng welfareville sa mandaluyong, gayon din ng national penitentiary sa muntinlupa city at ng home for the aged sa quezon city, “in complete disregard of their importance in providing vital social government services.”   ano ba yan.   ubos ubos biyaya.   and then what.   pag naubos, nakatunganga.   there must be a smarter way of handling our resources.    let’s demand that presidentiables be honest, yes, but also creative and wise.

the audacity of chiz

nagulat ako kay chiz.   nagulat ako nang sabihin niyang he’s out of the nationalist people’s coalition, that is, out of the shadow of party bosses playing traditional politics.    napa-wow ako sa kanyang declaration of independence, at sa wari ko ba, as i watched him declare himself a free man, free to serve the filipino people as they deserve and not as a political party dictates, i swear his aura changed, gumaan at umangat, at nagkaroon ng ibang kislap ang kanyang mga mata, no kidding!   it must be, like, you know, liberating?

before this, since ondoy, i’ve been saying to anyone who asked kung kanino ba ako na i will campaign and vote for the candidate who will promise to clean up not just the government but also the environment, and one who has the character and the personality to impose and implement a zero waste policy nationwide, which would mean radical changes all around that should shake up the system.   to my disappointment, i’ve heard nothing like this from manny, gibo, noynoy, erap, or chiz.   BUT to the credit of chiz, he was is the only presidentiable who has  concrete proposals re the relocation and rehabilitation of flood victims to alleviate  suffering.   This one in particular was an unexpected surprise:

Sen. Francis Escudero asked landlords to help in rehabilitation efforts by donating land to be developed into relocation sites.

“If they have a hundred hectares, perhaps it will not be too much to ask for them to donate 10 hectares,” he added.

i wondered of course what danding would have had to say to that.    it might even explain the rumored limited funding by npc.   but whatever triggered offchiz’s decision to bolt the party, it doesn’t matter as much as the fact that he bolted.

While Escudero’s resignation surprised many, a lawmaker from the militant Bayan Muna party-list group welcomed the move.

It is “a major political development in the presidential race. His move to bolt the NPC is a welcome move that should develop his capacity to take on many people’s issues in performing his duties to the people,” Rep. Satur Ocampo said.

Ocampo dared other aspirants to also take the stand of Escudero.

Rep. Mong Palatino of Kabataan party-list group said that the senator’s move could usher in “platform-based politics” in the 2010 polls.

this is even bigger and braver than mar roxas sliding down to vp.   suddenly noynoy isn’t such a sure thing.   audacious chiz is looking smelling talking good.   the game continues to change.   noynoy has some catching up to do.

the games begin

was going to blog on alex magno’s game-changer series, express amazement at how cory’s death and noynoy’s audacity seems to have changed his politics, and wonder what his bosses gma and fg have to say.   then i read manuel buencamino’s bading post on gary olivar, and someone asked about gary o’s fellow ex-radical alex magno, bumaliktad na nga ba?   and manuel said no, and he seemed very certain.   so napaisip naman ako.   magno has been saying all the right things since cory died and noynoy declared.   Game-changer 5 is a piece i wish i had written.

… Despite all the tinges of retro here, what has commenced is a highly experimental political initiative. The goals are larger than Noynoyfor President. Larger than the presidency itself.

This is no longer about “opposition” versus “administration” — although that continues to be a bogey in the minds of some. It is about new versus old — although that might be difficult for some to even begin imagining.

This political initiative draws its power from voluntarism at the grassroots. That voluntarism can only spring from clear principles about what leadership ought to be and at what standards we ought to hold the wielders of power.

It is about reestablishing governance on a new ethical basis, reinventing government so that it becomes an enabler rather than a hindrance to getting things done. It is about rediscovering a new cadre of leaders who will catalyze the energies of the nation rather than stunt them. It is about neutralizing the old cabal of powerbrokers by calling up people’s power in its most sophisticated, less populist form.

There will, no doubt, be a large dose of emotionalism in this effort. That is indispensable. People will have to be shaken enough to abandon politics as usual and be freed from the traditional habits of Filipino politics. All the disgust and all the anger that have accumulated need to be re-channeled no longer at settling old scores but at building a new scoreboard for governance.

In a matter of weeks, the doors of our electoral politics have been thrown wide open. The new forces must now march in. This is what this experiment is all about.

Until a few weeks ago, the politicians of the old mold and the powerbrokers of the old trenches controlled the dynamic of democratic selection. They hired the best minds from the industry that successfully sells shampoo and toothpaste and deodorants to our consumers in order to sell contrived constructs of political personalities to a dumbed down electorate.

For this experiment to succeed, we will have to raise the quality of the electorate, force them to think about abstract options more than just people in the flesh — or worse, money in the bag. This, win or lose, will be a major step forward in itself.

This is more than just enabling one candidate to win the count over the others — although that, too, is important. This is not a battle fought to be lost. But in order to win, it must succeed in its larger goal of bringing in new forces and new ideas into the electoral field.

The Edsa Revolution was exactly like this. It asked the people to contemplate what seemed impossible because it had become almost an alien concept: be free, be decisive in our numbers, build a government accountable to the people….

indeed.   hope springs eternal.   the game has changed.   suddenly ping lacson has found the courage to denounce erap in no uncertain terms.   tanong ni erap, bakit ngayon lang?   eh kasi, i suppose, ngayon lang naging timely for ping, to defend himself in the dacer case, and to further the cause of unity behind noynoy, why not.   the game has changed.

tanong ko lang kay ping, bakit to-be-continued, bakit hindi pa niya tinapos kanina?   anong strategy ‘yan, in aid of under-the-table behind-closed-doors wheeling-and-dealing, to what end?   or maybe it’s just to prolong his stint on center stage.   whatever.   if as a result erap decides not to run, good for him, good for ping, good for us.

also looking forward, of course, to jinggoy estrada’s privilege speech in defense of his father.   magkukuwento din daw siya tungkol kay ping.   sige sige, let’s hear it all.   matira ang walang bahid.   matira ang malinis.

as for senate president juan ponce enrile’s report that there is no yellow fever in the countryside, not in the north, not in the south.   hmmm.   well.   maybe he’ll be the last to know, just like in EDSA ’86.

mar roxas, way to go!

why was i surprised when mar called a press conference to make his important announcement?   certainly not because i wasn’t expecting him to give way if noynoy decided to run.   i guess what i wasn’t expecting was that mar would make the first move, now na!   and that noynoy would quickly follow, bukas na!   aba, biglang nagmamadali, bakit kaya.

not that it’s a bad idea, kung tatakbo din lang.   i won’t bore you with the heavenly signs (as above, so below), but any astrologer would tell you that it is infinitely better to start anything new this week rather than in the next three weeks.   so mar’s timing, wittingly or un-, is perfect, actually, and the decisiveness, as president of the liberalparty, is quite impressive.   kapanipaniwala na inuuna niya ang partido, sige na nga, ang bayan, kaysa sarili.   not bad atall.   he’s suddenly smelling real good.

i still think noynoy would do better if he finished his senate term first and then prepared to run in 2016 but yeah who knows, rising to the challenge now while the clamor is high could be right too, politically and historically.   at least it makes the campaign for 2010 interesting, even exciting.   no doubt we will be reminded of cory’s people-powered campaign in 1986 — no money, no media.    no doubt noynoy’s people will do even better, given access to media and the example of obama’s 2008 campaign.

but first let’s hope that other opposition presidentiables take the cue from mar and drop out too in favor of noynoy.   actually the only one i can’t see giving up, giving way, is manny villar of the nacionalista party.   so maybe at best it’s going to be a three-way race.   noynoy vs. villar vs. gma’s candidate.   puwede na rin.

unless of course villar and gma start running scared and decide to join forces.   that would be fun, and awesome.