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The 2010 Presidential Elections

• 2010 Presidentiables and Surveys
• Choosing the Palace Successor: Philippine Presidential Elections 2010
• What The?! Obama of the Philippines? Please.
• 10 Reasons Why I’m Not Voting Noli de Castro for Philippine President in 2010, and Why I Think You Shouldn’t Either
• Philippine Presidential Elections 2010 Amidst Economic Crisis — The Boon and the Bane
• And My Vote for Philippine President Come 2010 Goes To…
• Podcast: Whose Game Is It Anyway? (On the 2010 Elections Survey Results)
• Behind Frosted Glass: Uncovering the “Man” in Manny Villar
• Because Every Filipino Just Needs A Break
• Anyone But Willie Revillame, Please.
• Withdrawal of Support to “Manny Villar for President in 2010″
• Podcast: A MARvelous Day for Liberal Party: Roxas withdraws presidential bid in favor of Aquino
• Panic In Hell’s Kitchen: LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD may not be as smug as they portray re: 2010 elections
• Who Will Win in the 2010 Presidential Elections?
• Jose De Venecia III is running for senator after all
• Getting Paid for Writing Crap (and disclosing it)
• Dear SWS, re: 3rd Quarter survey results released October 14, 2009
• The Problem with Noynoy
• In Response to @Cocoy re: Noynoy
• Dumbing our kids down, damning their future
• Arroyo is resigning from Lakas-Kampi
• It’s Gibo-Edu in 2010 for Lakas-Kampi CMD
• Going for tried, getting tired
• So is the glass half-empty? Or half-full?
• Mutations
• Gibo is on a roll. But is he getting anywhere?
• It’s Manny for Manny
• Here come the Yellow Army
• Manny Villar’s “Naging Mahirap” / “Hindi Bawal Mangarap ang Mahirap” TVC Campaign Lyrics, Videos, Free MP3 download
• Gibo Teodoro’s “Sulong” informercial aka “Posible” lyrics
• That abstract concept called “poverty”
• Who among the presidentiables will be bad for the economy?
• Have a Little Faith
• Nacionalista’s Manny Villar kicks off campaign in Calamba, Laguna
• “Lipad” lyrics and video: Gibo Teodoro’s new TV commercial
• Screw the Surveys
• How’s Your Blogging?
• Gordon Dropped it Like it’s Hot
• Winnie Monsod’s “Why I Will Vote for Noynoy” article is a hoax
• Consider the “Donkey Vote”
• Who’s to blame for Villar’s drop in surveys?
• Just Because
• Proud and Prejudiced
• You are What You Read
• Are you ready for Erap 2.0?
• Latest Issues Plaguing Comelec as of May 4, 2010
• Iglesia ni Cristo Endorses Aquino-Roxas, Mixed Senatorial Lineup
• Securing First 8 Copies of ERs: Safeguard Against Automated “Garci”
• Search This Heart: A Voter’s Prayer
• Breaking News: Gibo Teodoro leads presidentiables survey
• Villar concedes to Aquino #eleksyon2010 #purplethumb

pnoy ako, pnoy tayo org poster (in support of noynoy aquino's presidential bid in 2010)

Preaching to the choir

They say people who blog (bloggers), a tremendous percentage of which are well-educated, well-informed, “well-off” and well-”everything”, are the ones running the “online show” — and this assumption is not without basis. Go ahead and search the net for familiar terms and you’ll most likely see the same blog over and over again. Another case of the “bourgeois” lording over the masa crowd looking for vital information online? Maybe.

An unwitting, unconnected, un-influential, regular Joe searching for “best presidentiable” being diverted by Google to so and so’s PR9¹ blog and being lectured and enjoined to vote for “change” — the good old “good vs. evil”  sort of mentality — putting personalities in a box or grooming a personality to fit in a customized² box.

This is what it has come to — the mad crowd being led by a reluctant savior, where do you suppose this messiah plans to take us? To the promised land? I think not.

Haven’t you noticed how beguiling the chants have become? They have become nothing short of a promise of deliverance. Doesn’t that bother you?

They populate the net with their propaganda. They are quick to put out fires in forums and blogs. They stroke each other’s egos and glance satisfactorily at this kingdom they have built for themselves. They pretend they have something to say. They pretend they have a feasible platform.

Who is listening? Ah yes, the people clad in yellow — them with their iPods, iPhones, iMacs and iDon’tKnow’s. You think these people actually give a damn who wins? You think these people actually have a significant stake at what’s to come? No they don’t — because they are the same people who dictate what’s to come, who gets to eat, who gets to slave-off. They don’t want you to get out of poverty.

Why would they? Who will serve them coffee? Who will buy their yellow shirts? Not them, of course — anything less than a Lacoste is beneath them.

Who’s the underdog now?

I go to the mall to buy shirts and all I see is yellow. Penshoppe has gone yellow. Bench is getting yellow. All the “masa” shirts are going yellow! What used to be “in remembrance of ninoy” has become “a fight for right, a walk towards the light”, and I say wtf?

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m all for remembering Ninoy³. I’m all for remembering Cory. Heck, I’m all for the return of Che Guevarra-ish clothing phenomenon. But to use these merchandise that sell for around 400-500 pesos each for a “subtle” political campaign is just too much. Imagine how the young generation’s fascination for the hero that is Ninoy is now being used to fuel someone’s campaign.

They claim that putting blood tinge in yellow ribbons to remember the Hacienda Luisita massacre “desecrates” the yellow ribbon. Come again please? Did you just say desecrate? Has the yellow ribbon suddenly become a holy symbol? Golly, I didn’t get the memo from the Vatican.

They say they are the underdog, coming in late for the campaign, having a weaker political machinery⁴, having insufficient funds⁵ etc etc. And yet, they have resorted to some strange form of emotional blackmail⁶, they are now becoming the party to beat⁷, and business tycoons great and small are flocking to LP and providing funding⁸.

These fanatics can go ahead and bask in the glory of their presumptive success. I won’t even argue whether it is deserved or not, whether it is destined or not — not even whether it is fair or not. I just hope they stop soliciting sympathy where it is not needed.

Come to think of it. These poor “other” candidates would need to spend a fortune buying shirts, printing quirky campaign slogans on those shirts, give it for free and even prod people to actually wear them. While these yellowish people would flaunt their gears, ever so proudly after spending hundreds of pesos for a shirt whose iconic symbol has been reduced to a mere market hype. These people will be walking political billboards. And the candidate don’t even have to spend a cent.

The symbol is still there. It is still yellow. But the message has been lost. Thanks to the marriage of fashion and politics.

Tell me, who’s the underdog now?

Today’s electoral problem is not that same old, same old issue of money ruling the ballot.

Today’s electoral problem is the same old, same old issue of this country’s delusion of an endless movie-like battle of extreme contrasts — of black and white — of good and evil — or at least, that’s what they all want us to believe.

And that’s precisely why we never go forward — because we’re stuck in this archaic “knights versus witches” thinking. After so many hundred years, we still see ourselves as this damsel in distress waiting for our knight in shining armor — we think we are this sleeping beauty waiting for our prince charming. What’s common between the two? Both just lie there waiting.

Easy preys

Inaction is not equal to apathy as most of the self-proclaimed apathetics want us to believe.

Inaction is equal to sloth. Laziness. The classic “Juan Tamad” lying for hours on end under that guava tree,  waiting for the fruit to fall into his lazy, open mouth.

I will say⁹ what others in this vast cyberspace never write for fear of being hit by the same boomerang one throws. You say talk is cheap? I say blog is cheap. But there’s something cheaper than that — it’s trolling someone’s political blog and leaving cheap propaganda trying to pass off as comments.

Beware of the unbiased.

Whoever told you that unbiased writing is done in pursuit of the truth is just trying to be “proper”. Truth is out there alright, but you don’t go looking for it with blindfolded eyes, otherwise you’d run into a cliff and die. No, you don’t do that.

You search for truth with eyes open — with preconceived notions — and yes, with bias. Only then will you know where there’s a cliff. Only then will you find yourself one day, face to face with that overrated truth you so romantically seek.

Disclaimer: I am not anti-Noynoy. I am anti-hype.

Suggested Further Reading:

• That abstract concept called “poverty”
• The Problem with Noynoy
• Search This Heart: A Voter’s Prayer
• Gordon Dropped it Like it’s Hot
• Of Joc-Joc Bolante, Tango and Choices

1. this is an exaggeration, obviously [↩]
2. like good guys wear yellow, bad guys wear orange or green [↩]
3. in all fairness to Noynoy, I am almost sure they themselves didn’t dream that the “I Am Ninoy” campaign was destined to set the stage for Cory’s near-martyrdom status and Noynoy’s eventual decision to run for president in 2010. Maybe there is some greater plan at work here, who knows. [↩]
4. as opposed to the ruling party Lakas-Kampi CMD [↩]
5. as opposed to real estate billionaire Manny Villar [↩]
6. who can compete with the legacy of a dead democracy icon everyone loves [↩]
7. more and more politicians are leaving their parties for LP [↩]
8. even free PR [↩]
9. and yes, write [↩]