Out of my mind

Like many others, I am also concerned about the way candidates, specially those running for national posts, are spending money on television ads like there's no tomorrow. However, I find it extremely hypocritical when certain politicians and their lackeys begin criticizing other candidates for spending billions on ads and then announce that they will do the same. Okay, let's be more specific. I think Senator Noynoy Aquino's handlers are being hypocritical when they complain about Senator Manny Villar's TV ads because they (Aquino's camp) are obviously out to produce more ads and give Villar stiff competition as one of the country's top advertisers. It's like the kettle calling the pot black. I am not saying we shouldn't rant about things we believe are wrong. All I am saying is that when we do so, let's make sure we can't be accused of exactly the same thing.

I say this earnestly: I think Mar Roxas has a good shot at being the next President of the Republic of the Philippines. I don't necessarily think that he is the best candidate for the job, but I certainly believe in my heart that a Mar Roxas presidency could not be the worst thing that could befall our country. In short, he is still in my list as possible candidates to support. I have issues about the fact that he has jumpstarted his campaign very early - and let's not make bones about whether it is legal, ethical, or allowed. I think candidates should project themselves as role models and starting a campaign ahead of competition just does not smack of legitimate political behavior. And now, he has come up with a television ad that, quite frankly, seems to have reduced him into a caricature. The ad (Padyakitos) shows the senator driving a pedicab. I don't want to go into whether or not the metaphors used in the ad work. I will even concede that the concept seems inspi...

The senators still have to get started on doing what they are supposed to be doing - which, just in case many among us have forgotten, involve having to legislate laws - and newbie-senator Chiz Escudero has already called for a senate investigation on the government's move to address the impending power crisis. Yup, the first order of the day is an...investigation! A hearing! Chiz suspects that some anomaly is afoot in the government's emergency purchase of coal to be used by the power plants that generate electricity for Luzon. His vigilance is admirable. But it might be better if he actually checks his sources and validates his suspicions first before opening his mouth on public television. My friends at Mirant Power Corporation in Sual (the plant that has been experiencing shortages in coal supply - since last year actually) told me that the situation is so bad frequent brownouts is not just a possibility but a certainty if the situation continues. If the whole of Luzon suff...

One of the regular readers of this blog, someone who goes by the handle "Mommy Jo" left a comment a few weeks ago encouraging me to open a discussion on the candidates running for public office. As you may have noticed, I have made public my picks for senator. I have so far chosen six (in alphabetical order now): Joker Arroyo, Noynoy Aquino, Dr. Martin Bautista, Mike Defensor, Kiko Pangilinan, and Sonia Roco. That's my list so far. I haven't made up my mind on who the other six will be, but I will announce my other choices in the next few weeks. Please bear in mind that the criteria I am using for the selection process is a highly personal one. I don't expect everyone to agree with my choices. It does bother me sometimes that there are people who seem to get offended when my opinions are not aligned with theirs, but I don't lose sleep over it. I guess it is personal for some people and too bad I don't feel I should pander to anyone's wishes. One of the...

This was my column yesterday. My workload has been really heavy in the last few weeks (and I have been sick as well) so I haven't been able to update this blog aside from posting my columns here. There are really interesting comments left in some of the posts and I wish I have time to respond to them. I will, soon. I am actually looking forward to the Holy Week as I see this as an opportunity to catch up on my readings and to update this blog. The next few weeks should be really interesting times as the campaign period for all elective positions, now including those for local government posts, officially begins. The important question, which has been the subject of what is being passed off as intellectual discourse, but which I consider as nothing else but pure speculative drivel, is: Will political machinery at the grassroots level really make a difference in the results of the senatorial elections? There are those who contend that political machinery will not make any difference ...

This is my column today at the op-ed section of the Manila Standard Today . Because it is election season, candidates are expected to indulge in political tirades meant to prop up their political stock. Certain issues such as fitness for office or morals are highly subjective and open to debate and interpretation. But the performance of the economy is not. Sometime last week, the Genuine Opposition came up with a full-page advertisement in some newspapers to make mincemeat of the economic gains being trumpeted by this current administration. In so many words, the opposition said that the country’s much-vaunted economic progress is a mirage and that the administration is making false claims, particularly about its role in the bull run of the stock exchange and in the appreciation of the peso. From the point of view of the Genuine Opposition, the current administration is simply lucky to be sitting in power at a time when all these good things are happening in the economic front. That l...

It's strike two. Danton Remoto has just been declared a nuisance candidate by the Comelec. He's my top pick for senator (see sidebar). Danton represents Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people. Their group, Ang Ladlad, is seeking party list accreditation. The Comelec has denied them accreditation claiming that the party cannot show proof of "national membership." It seems the Comelec needs proof that LGBTs also exist in each of the provinces and cities and towns and barangays in the Philippines. Talk about denial. Victor Wood has not been declared a nuisance candidate. The singer from the 70s who figured in many embarrassing television shows in recent years due to incoherence or variants of strange behaviors like mimicking Kris Aquino on public television while being interview by her, is fit for senator but Danton who is professor at the Ateneo, multi-awarded poet, author and editor of many books, is not. What can I say, the COMELEC is not only a bu...

This is my column today at the op-ed section of the Manila Standard Today . Yesterday was the 21st anniversary of Edsa 1. I was fresh out of college during those fateful events of February 1986 when Filipinos linked arms and stood up together in a proud moment of national unity. In those few glorious days, we showed the world the real stuff that Filipinos were made of. For a few years after 1986, Edsa 1 was a beacon that guided us in charting our path toward building a better nation. I remember volunteering for many causes including conducting training programs to professionalize government institutions. I was, like many, only too willing to do all these things for free. For a few years, it seemed there was nothing we could not do. The spirit resurfaced briefly in Edsa 2 when people took to the streets once again to denounce another corrupt president. Eventually, though, that beacon dimmed. Or perhaps we simply lost sight of it. Whatever the reason, we have not since been able to re-cl...

This is my column today at the op-ed section of the Manila Standard Today . I still have to meet someone, anyone, who has something nice to say about it. Everyone I know only bears repulsion to the idea. The vitriol being spewed by pundits in both the mainstream media as well as in blogosphere has reached unprecedented levels. And yet, amazingly enough, our leaders are still bent on drafting celebrities, has-been politicians, or relatives of incumbent politicians as candidates for the May elections. It is annoying, exasperating, and insulting. My initial reaction to our leaders’ obstinacy was to heave a sigh of resignation and to mutter “wala, lokohan na talaga ito” [there’s nothing we can do, we’re simply being taken for fools]. But on second thought, why should we allow our leaders to screw us? Just because our leaders are already deaf and numb to the revulsion that we are feeling doesn’t mean we simply capitulate. We just have to keep on hammering away until the electorate gets the ...

This is my column today, January 29, 2007 at the op-ed section of the Manila Standard Today . I have no love lost for the Estradas and Ejercitos of this world. Truth to tell, I consider them a bigger menace to this country than say, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Go ahead, label me as a pro-Arroyo if that makes you feel you are a better Filipino. Unlike others, though, I don’t think that being rabidly anti-Estrada automatically translates into being pro-Arroyo. But at least there are moments with this current President when people can actually still bask in some deflected glimmer of pride of being a Filipino, such as when one reads about her performance at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland. That does not erase many grievous mistakes, but it does account for something. In contrast, what have the Estradas done for this country aside from trying to project themselves as the symbol of the suffering Filipino masses and as their last mythical hope for redemption? Nevertheless, the sig...

This is my column today at the op-ed section of the Manila Standard Today . IF we are to go by the almost insane media attention being devoted to the ongoing political version of the game musical chairs among our senator-wannabes, one would think that the only elective posts at stake in the May 2007 elections are those for senators. That’s all we’ve been reading and hearing about in the last few weeks. I don’t blame media, though, particularly those that have thrived on blowing up political scandals and intrigues into national crises. The relative calm on the political front in the last few weeks has yielded very slim pickings for screaming front-page material. Why, some even tried, although unsuccessfully, to put a spin to the alleged booing that the President supposedly got at a weekend concert, which did not really happen after all. On the other hand, the mad scramble to finalize the Senate slates of both the opposition and the administration has been one replete with all the juicy ...