May 13 2013. I want you all to forever remember that date whenever you get the temptation to beat your chest like King Kong over whatever superficiality captures your nationalistic imagination until the end of time. One reason why 2013 may be an improvement over 2012 is a year ago the nation was “captivated” by Jessica Sanchez. This year speaking of lack of discretion and voting we had our midterm elections.
This is not about what I wanted to see. This is about what we did see and possibly why. Allow me to start with the positive. I thank and I pray for all the school teachers and other volunteers who really did it out of civic duty. I could learn from you. Continue to be an example to your children and to your communities. As necessary as your effort was, it is too bad the rest of the process could not capitalize on it. Honest, Clean and Smart. Our elections on that day were none of those things.
Let’s start off with “Honest”. I know for a fact many of our GRP community read us from abroad. Usually from there you don’t get the perspective we get from here. What I mean by perspective is you don’t get as infuriated as us by actually seeing the front page of what passes for a newspaper in this part of the world.
The top portion for the Philippine Star for May 15 had this headline.
Notice the word ‘peaceful’.
Which seems OK enough, then you go to the bottom of the same page and then you see this story.
If 51 dead is considered peaceful, I would hate to see what is considered bloody.
I am sorry but to me this is even much bigger goof than the Inquirer publishing the Fake Noynoy Time cover. It confirms something I always said that nobody seems to ever disagree with me. That life in the Philippines is cheap. We have the proof here. Fifty plus dead in election related matters and it is considered peaceful. Doesn’t this just make you swell with Filipino pride??
I wonder who thought of the initial five day liquor ban? I defy anybody drunk vote any worse than we did May 13 2013. How we elect our leaders and who we elect says so much about us not much else matters. Not American idol, not boxing, not soccer played by people who never lived in the Philippines.
Why is someone Bam never met on his election banner? I thought Cory died four years ago?
It is so fitting that people like Grace Poe and Bam Aquino put dead people in their billboards. The country is too brain dead to know that is so irrelevant and so wrong. I have no idea how much you can offer the living if you keep invoking the dead. In Ms. Poe’s case not even a blood relative. In Bam-Bam’s case someone he has never met. Morbid epal that propelled Noynoy Aquino to victory in 2010 is even more widely used three years later. That is legacy. That is influence. So proud of you Noynoy. There was allegedly a gun ban during the election season. That did nothing to minimize gun based murders in the country. Apparently based on the results , there was a brain ban too. I doubt there will be a TRO on the brain ban.
Recently Mother’s Day concluded. Which is probably a Hallmark concoction. Mothers have an infinite capacity to love. Regardless of how smart or how ignorant their child may be. Christianity teaches us love the sinner hate the sin. I say love the voter hate the ignorance behind the vote. Love the country hate the stupidity. Yes I will call it stupidity and ignorance. To call it brilliance would make me a liar. I am sure Georgina Wilson will not argue with me.
Sample ballots, cash, sample ballots with cash. Was this a clean election? I doubt it. Of the various nefarious extra curricular activities that were so blatant, does anyone out there believe none of it originated from the yellow brick straight path? I had a relative tell me on Monday she wanted “the good guys” to win. Well I guess good guys can have vote buying in their repertoire.
Bam can build a house in the Philippine sun without sweating. Chuck Norris is envious.
Platform is one thing and not even a major thing. From my experience, they are just words on paper. They are just part of a feel good speech meant to stir up a crowd. A pinoy politician’s words are not worth the spit they are spoken on. Bam can have all the academic credentials and all these youth activities. Pulling that Ninoy Aquino makeover comes across as extremely superficial. Let’s see if the guy is consistent. He puts his uncle Ninoy Aquino in his ad, a man who sacrificed his life. Bam on the other hand posts pictures of himself in his obnoxious yellow shirt toiling away at a house without a bead of sweat anywhere. That shouts out phony to me. Art Williams once said “people can see a phony coming a mile away”. Art probably did not know any Filipino voters.
You wonder why I am cynical, I have yet to hear of a politician who said they were for separation of Church and State yet said no to a block vote. Or was even against it in principle. Here is a dirty little secret. Politicians have no principles.
Nancy it seems spent more time working on her moves than brushing up on the issues.
On the question posed that I should run for office. I am not sure how one can stomach the making of the sausage? I see what works here and as low as I am I don’t intend to descend to that level. I don’t intend to resemble some famous dead person or hire a choreographer or pay out 35,000,000 for a celebrity endorser. If I won’t do those three things how could I possibly be one of the 12? I don’t have the years of community service some candidates have. Yet the electorate ignored that aspect of many candidates. The more you know, the more you did or the more you can do the less the electorate relates to you.
I don’t understand how Noynoy makes GMA the catchall. Will blame anything on her. Yet the family has had a total of nine years in the presidency and there is nobody convicted, let alone even given due process for the Ninoy murder. For all Noynoy’s fury aimed at GMA, I truly do not see anything resembling that when it comes to who killed his father. Noynoy’s rage and anger like Spinal Tap’s audience seems to be quite selective.
People’s values manifest themselves in the highly rated variety shows and prime time dramas. Sadly the values inherent there spill over into the ballot box or in this techie age the PCOS (President Cory’s Only Son) machine.
Of course it’s more fun in the Philippines. If fun can be seen as an absence of seriousness then it is obvious nobody in the Philippines takes their vote seriously based on the retreads, convicts and rejects elected. One of the reverberating quotes in the campaign was Nancy Binay claiming motorcades is what propelled her to her place atop the surveys. She even recommended to her rival Risa Hontiveros to participate in more motorcades to improve her standing. I suspect there was a certain motorcade in Dallas where Risa Hontiveros wishes Nancy Binay was front and center of. Actually “Back, and to the left… back, and to the left… back, and to the left.”
I already gathered a few points on the negative label that GRP seems to be attached with so I can address them in a future blog. I have to admit I was disappointed with the results of the recent elections. But then again shame on me for having any expectations to begin with when it comes to Pinoys exercising their reasoning in correlation with their right to vote. My bad. I am not young. Yet I sincerely have doubts that even our children or children’s children will ever see a political campaign run in this country with dignity. It’s never about respect or order or values or community. I will let you figure out what it is really about.
I like how some people umbrella statement that Nancy Binay was being cyberbullied. It is only an issue because she was high profile. So it comes with the territory. She got a lot of attention, which made a lot of people question her capability in relation to her track record. It made some people question what makes her think she was worthy based on what there is of her experience. Her motorcade and OJT quotes made her trend even more. That is cyberbullying? Was my first Nancy blog cyberbullying?
Many of us have brought up the similarities between Noynoy 2010 and Nancy Binay 2013. Then on the morning of May 20th Nancy herself further cemented that parallel by invoking the “D” word. There is no truth to the rumor that Nancy Binay said ”My family is a political destiny.” That was never said. Where there is smoke, there is Noynoy. B.S. Aquino three years ago went the “destiny” route, setting the template for Nancy Binay to exploit in 2013.
This is just my personal opinion but the word destiny seems to be the go to panacea for pinoy candidates to the critics who have the gall to question one’s inexperience, competence, motivation and overall leadership. There really is no earthly power that they possess that makes them the best choice for their desired post so why not call on some higher force to validate their claim? In the case of Newbie Noynoy and Neophyte Nancy , it worked.
Do you think Kirk is happy with Filipino voters?
If I may be so bold, it was a mistake for you to accept promotion. Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny; anything else is a waste of material.
Spock to Kirk in Wrath of Khan (1982)
Science fiction is one thing, real life is another. In science fiction Kirk’s destiny is defined by decision making, problem solving and picking up women across the galaxy . In real life Noynoy’s destiny determined by the timing of his mom’s death. In real life Binay’s destiny seems to be shaped by her last name and a twenty year OJT term. Star Trek the original sixties series is way too smart for the Filipino voter. All we understand is family values and family ties. There seems to be very little value assigned to discipline, competency, leadership, intelligence, independence, creativity and intestinal fortitude. Don’t just blame the candidates, that’s a “we” problem. Proud to be Pinoy!!!!!!!
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