it’s not only manny villar, who has been called a coward for refusing to answer questions re the c-5 extensions that allegedly benefitted his real estate empire in the millions, billions. i don’t even think that snubbing the senate is as much a matter of cowardice as of some kinda guilt, or why won’t he take questions in the proper forum? “is manny villar blameless? is the pope protestant?”
by cowards all i mean all five leading presidential candidates noynoy villar erap gibo and gordon, for not having the audacity, the daring, to think big and brave and to talk the radical changes that are implied in the promise of good governance.
this is not just a failure of the candidates though but a failure too of the electorate for not demanding more of these guys, which in turn is a failure of the media for inadequately informing and inspiring themselves, and the people, to ask demand clamor shout-out for changes beyond an end to corruption. particularly changes in a system that was designed, in the first place, to benefit the few elite and NOT the manymanymanymanymany poor, as we should all see by now if only we hadn’t become too lazy to read and think and be critical, and if only we would stop trusting in these candidates’ motherhood statements na kunyari they have the best interests of the poor at heart, because they don’t; rather they’re quite willing to play along with the same forces, inside and outside, that gloria arroyo (not to speak of past administrations, including erap, all the way back to the commonwealth) has been playing along with, to the detriment and degradation of our land and our economy, our people and our sovereignty.
they are cowards all, these leaders who don’t have the courage to stand up to the catholic church on the RH bill and sex education, never mind that 7 out of 10 filipinos want need deserve it. cowards all who won’t stand up to the U.S. of A. on the chauvinist imperialist VFA and the IMF-WB-imposed “development plans” that over the decades have rendered the country nowhere near “developed”, rather turned us into the basket case of the ASEAN, basket-case meaning no legs of our own to stand on, no arms to work and feed ourselves with, how humiliating, how depressing.
they are cowards all. afraid, not of going to hell if they defy the church’s stand on RH and sex education, just afraid of losing votes that the church allegedly commands. cowards all. afraid of espousing any kind of deep-seated change not because it’s undoable but out of fear and disinclination to defy and displease uncle sam, paano na ang campaign contributions, aray, paano na ang “special” fil-am relations, lol, how colonial the mentality pa rin.
it bears repeating what the journalist tony abaya of manilastandardtoday wrote back in august 2009 in response to rumors that noynoy might run: that what the country needs is a forward-looking president, a truly revolutionary president, someone with the attributes and visions of lee kwan yew, mahathir mohamad and gen. park chung hee:
… it is someone who has the qualities of these three foreign leaders that the Philippines badly needs in order to overcome decades of consistently poor governance, restore our badly battered self esteem, and draw for us a credible vision of what we want our country to be.
We need someone like Lee Kwan Yew who was/is personally incorruptible and at the same time was/is so conversant with economics and international relations that he could speak ex-tempore and defend his policies before an assembly of multinational CEOs and diplomats and made/make solid sense, whether they agreed/agree with him or not.
In addition we need the strong sense of nationalism of Mahathir Mohamad who in the 1980s drew a vision – Malaysia Vision 2020, that sought and seeks to transform Malaysia into a fully industrialized country by the year 2020 – that he was able to convince the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious people of Malaysia to embrace as worthy of their national loyalty, beyond the narrow appeals of their tribes and ethnic groups. No mean feat, considering the catastrophic demise of equally multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious federal Yugoslavia in the 1990s that cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Mahathir’s nationalism also expressed itself in his readiness to fearlessly fire back at other countries, other world leaders, as well as international agencies whenever he felt they were trampling on the national self-interests of Malaysia.
We also need the single-minded determination of Gen. Park Chung Hee to transform his impoverished, resource-poor and inconsequential Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979 (when he was assassinated) into a fully industrialized country that is now one of the ten biggest economies in the world.
… this is what the Philippines needs, a leader who can start and lead a revolution, a peaceful one, as much as possible; a violent one, if necessary.
anything less is just not good enough. hindi na lang ako boboto.
oh and what’s this BS about villar NOT belonging to the elite just because he started out poor, unlike noynoy and gibo? c’mon, rene azurin, you can do better than that. by any reckoning, villar and the tsinoy taipans who all started out poor are very much a part of today’s elite, the irresponsible filipino elite, that wittingly or unwittingly collaborates with foreign powers, keeping the masses poor and marginalized.
sad but true.. unfortunately for us Filipinos, we vote for the one we least like.. I hope to see the day we make a change..
The ViXeN’s LaiR
Forget for a few minutes the RH Bill and look again at the individual candidates as to their position on abortion, condoms, and IUD’s. Perlas is the radical — “yes” to abortion in first weeks of pregnancy (and “yes” to condoms, IUD’s, pill, sex-education). Teodoro is closer to metro-Manila thinking. “No” to abortion but yes to giving Filipinos wanting to space their children the same medical devices used by GMA and the other residents of La Vista, Forbes Park, Alabang who use condoms, IUD’s, the pill to space their children and reduce unplanned pregnancies. Teodoro also says “yes” to providing more science-education on sperm-cells/egg-cells/condoms and other devices to 16-year-olds and other badly illiterate about sex and reproduction. Erap? He probably believes in having abortion done in hospitals (so they are better-supervised) but won’t say it because of politics.Noynoy? He has hewn closer to CBCP with Noynoy repeating the mantra “parent responsibility” and avoiding mention of condoms, IUD’s, pill.
@ up n grad ;) from dr. alberto romualdez’s jan 27 malaya column: Repro health concerns & elections:
“…an assessment of the presidentiables on the issue of reproductive health based on their past records or statements as well as pronouncements and actions since filing their certifications of candidacy.
“The perceived views of their running mates, close associates, and staunch supporters are also considered important.
“Ratings, on a scale of +4 to -4 are as follows: + 4, actively promotive; +3, strongly supportive; +2 moderately supportive; +1 mildly supportive; 0, neutral; -1, slightly resistant; -2, moderately resistant; -3 strongly resistant; -4 actively opposed.
“For purposes of this assessment, only the major candidates (defined as the top four in the latest poll surveys) were considered in detail. The order in which the candidates are assessed is also based on their poll survey rankings as of this writing.
“Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino appeared to be a +4 immediately after he filed his candidacy when he was criticized by a ranking Catholic bishop for his support of the Reproductive Health Bill during the floor debates in the Senate. This has since eroded towards neutral when his supportive statements mellowed during the last two months. His running mate Senator “Mar” Roxas has been studiously neutral all along and even appeared on TV during a meeting with Catholic bishops in which the RH Bill was denounced just before the Senate floor debates.
“In addition, known Opus Dei operatives and other conservative Catholics who fanatically oppose even the mere mention of reproductive health as a governance issue are among his staunchest supporters.
“Recently, even progressive allies of “Noynoy” within the Catholic Church have refrained from pressing him on the issue. Based on these considerations, he now rates a score of +1 for his less than moderate support of progressive positions on RH.
“Early on, Senator Manuel “Manny” Villar took pains to appear neutral. Even as his wife was an early supporter of the RH bill in the House of Representatives, he himself appeared on national TV with then rival Mar Roxas and members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Recently, it has been found that Senator Villar had filed a bill that enhances the criminalization of abortion by increasing penalties of health providers who perform or assist in induced abortion. Similarly, his running mate, Senator Loren Legarda, has introduced a bill, purportedly to protect pregnant women from dangerous cosmetic surgical interventions, but containing the extremist unscientific language favored by Catholic fundamentalists to denounce RH. Because of these fawning efforts to attract fundamentalist support by showing subservience to the Catholic hierarchy, Senator Villar now rates a -3.
“President Joseph “Erap” Estrada rated a +4 during his incumbency as he and his cabinet (which included a Christian Brother) actively promoted a strong reproductive health and family planning program. While he has not publicly renounced his personal position on the issue, President Estrada recently allied himself with identified personalities known for their close-minded opposition to reproductive health – namely, “Lito” Atienza the Manila mayor who persecuted family planning advocates in slum communities and former Senator “Kit” Tatad, Opus Dei agent who persistently argued against any progressive legislation on reproductive health.
“Considering the current company he keeps, Erap’s rating is now downgraded to a +2.
“Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro and his congresswoman spouse were both supporters of family planning prior to the Secretary’s announced candidacy. They have both since withdrawn support of RH legislation and have publicly adopted the Malacañang line that has effectively devastated the national government’s attempt to reach the Millennium Development Goals of reducing maternal mortality and child deaths. His subservience to Malacañang is now firmly established and for this, Gibo gets a rating of -3.
“It thus appears that all four of the major presidentiables have gone down in their RH ratings during the period from their filing of candidacies to the present.
“The anti-RH guidelines for elections, released by the CBCP in early December, may have had a chilling effect on the candidates’ positions. If such a trend persists through the campaign period, RH supporters will have difficulties in making their choices.
“One alternative is to vote for one of the “Dark Horses”. Of these, both Brother Eddie Villanueva and Senator Richard Gordon appear to have the most progressive positions. The former has a slight edge with a +3 with Gordon slipping to +2 because of his running mate’s vacillation while allied to Malacañang.”
http://www.malaya.com.ph/01272010/edromuald.html
one explanation for the softening of the RHbill position is the realization that no one can get elected based on it. if you differentiate urself by advocating it, some very vocal people wont like it, and the rest of the people wont vote 4 u in for it coz its not as important to them.
@UP n Grad: Perlas is “against” abortion but not to contraception
http://philippinecommentary.blogspot.com/2009/12/presidential-candidates-on-reproductive.html
Forgot to mention:
@UP n Grad
Nick Perlas supports contraception “before conception”. I suppose that excludes pills.