The Bang-Bang versus The WangWang

These past two weeks, I have it up to my eyeballs about news of wang-wangs confiscated, who was late and who was not, who stopped for the red traffic light and who did not. And it was Noynoy who started it all.

In a bid to clearly differentiate himself from the previous unpopular administration, he sought to endear himself to the public by connecting with them on a more realistic level, traffic pet peeves.
Who hasn't experienced being pushed aside by those self-proclaimed VIPs who put in wang-wangs in their car to provide the public a sense of importance and urgency whenever they pass by?

But, my goodness, the novelty of this news has worn off for me! With only two weeks into the Aquino administration and already with 5 activists and a journalist killed, this is not a good sign. Not a good sign at all.

"In the past two weeks, five activists have already been killed. Fernando Baldomero, 61, a municipal councilor in Lezo, Aklan and Bayan Muna provincial chairperson, was shot dead in front of his son July 5. Pascual Guevarra, 78, was killed by a lone gunman inside his house in Bgy. San Isidro, Laur, Nueva Ecija. His grandson was also wounded. Three days after, on July 9, public school teachers in Masbate, Mark Francisco, 27 and Edgar Fernandez, 44, were gunned down in separate incidents.

After the elections, the killings never stopped. On May 19, Jim Galez, a member of Bayan Muna in Panabo City in Davao was shot dead. On June 2, union leader Edward Panganiban was killed on his way to work in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. On June 14, Karapatan member Benjamin Bayles was also killed in Himaymalayan City, Negros Occidental. On June 22, human rights lawyer Ernesto Salunat was slain." (From Bulatlat)

And what has Noynoy said about this, a simple and, quite honestly, a naive statement that the AFP should observe human rights while investigating these matters. Hah!

Oplan Bantay Laya II, the very same operations condemned by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston in his report on the human rights situation in the Philippines, has not been scrapped by this newly installed "pro-people" administration. OBL II has been one of the deadliest campaigns against perceived enemies of the state as it DOES NOT distinguish between an armed combatant and a non-combatant, which will explain why most victims have been unarmed activists.

Noynoy's sincerity to put an end to these extrajudicial killings have further been doubted when Etta Rosales announced that she is waiting for official word from the Malacanang to give her the CHR post. Acckk! Notwithstanding the gall of Etta to announce this herself, as if making insinuations that Noynoy has been remiss in his "promise", the very thought that Noynoy made this proposal to her makes me cringe.

For a very thorough discussion on this, please visit my this blog.


And so now, please, please join me in shaking some sense into the administration and news reporters as well to stop making such a mountain out of a molehill of wang-wangs when more pressing things, like extrajudicial killings, have to be addressed.

And also, no Etta in CHR please.

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Yellow Fever

A week after the first “fully automated” election in the country, there is a great chance that Noynoy would be the President. But why am I not at peace at that? Raul

Pangalangan, in his May 14 column in the Inquirer, reminded me why. He cited seven reasons why we should be cautious instead of catharthic. Pangalangan concentrated on the technical side of things which involve a “vindicated” COMELEC and Smartmatic-TIM. However, my reasons go beyond that.

I am an EDSA DOS baby. An activist whose political consiousness was awakened by Erap’s not-so subtle travesty of the presidency. Clearly, I would not want a deposed president, convicted of plunder charges, pardoned by a fake president to return to power. It just doesn’t make sense.

But Noynoy’s presidency would make littler sense, because clearly, the man is run by many advisers. Ergo, his presidency will be the presidency of his advisers. Which, by the way, he could not even unite.

The Noy-Mar tandem has been effectively counter-acted, as of the lastest poll counts, by the Noy-Bi tandem. Notice the difference? These two groups are united for Noynoy, but have a different choice for his vice-president. Personal (personal is also political) gains at stake must be behind this discrepancy. Why, even the angelic-faced Mikee C. Jaworski is involved in this devious plan.

But one thing is sure. Noynoy’s presidency will not be a presidency for the people and of the people. For how can a big landlord supported by big businesses embody an electorate composed mainly of farmers and the urban poor.

His integrity has already been put into question when he allegedly lobby for the Subic-Clark Express to pass through Hacienda Luisita, thus the Subic-Clark-TARLAC Express (SCTEX). They, Noynoy and his clan, gained millions of pesos from taxpayers money used to construct this passage.

I could also never forget the 2004 (or was it 2005?) Hacienda Luisita Massacre. He has downplayed this event and even hinted that “outside elements” were to blame why the bloody dispersal happened. He simply could not understand then and now why their own farmhands would revolt againts them. “Isn’t P9 a day enough for them?” he probably thought. And when he promised to distribute Hacienda Luisita’s land to the farmers after he is elected president is a lot of bull. That is a plain electoral promise uttered only to diffuse the heat and gain “pogi” points. Add to this the fact that the Cojuanco head of the corporation has denied ANY intent to distribute the hacienda any time soon, in a recent interview with an intenational publication. How’s that for honesty?

Noynoy does not represent the genuine change the people are looking for. Rather he is proof that the bourgeiosie is still taking the reins in this country. All this is making me rather feverish.

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Can anyone tell mo who the Liberal Party’s campaign manager is, and in particular, who is in charge of its ads?

I don’t watch tv too often, it distracts me from any work I’m doing. Instead, I keep the radio on and tuned in to am stations, so I can both keep work and keep tabs on the goings-on about the world around me.
I have heard Noynoy and Mar’s recent radio ads. Noynoy, as usual, is appealing to the nation’s nostalgia and referred back the listeners to his parent’s era. And in the face of recent criticisms of his affliations and stand on their family’s controversial hacienda, the Hacienda Luisita, Noynoy’s current radio ad claims that “kami rin ay inapi.” Mar, on the other hand, still strives to maintain his Mr. Palengke image.
What immediately strikes me about these particular candidates ads is the overdramatization.
Noynoy’s ads concentrate too much on his legacy as the son of two icons of democracy, Ninoy and Cory. He keeps on mentioning his parents as a way of selling himself that sometimes I think that he thinks or his campaign manager thinks that that is the only way he could get the Presidency. Not by his anti-corruption platform, nor by his good versus evil theme, but rather, by sheer legacy and lineage.
In his one ad I caught on DZRH this morning, he opens with a statement that they too were “inapi.” Then he proceeds to recount his parents fate, yet again, in the hands of a dictator. While this is a nice attempt to touch base with the people, the masses that experienced the Marcosian might, it smacks of impertinence in the face of the current Hacienda Luisita situation. Hacienda Luisita is one thorn that Noynoy cannot and should not ignore. His mom, though popularly considered an icon of democracy, was not able to demcratize their own vast hacienda. And people are having a deja vu when another Aquino promised to resolve this issue.
Noynoy is appealing to the nation’s emotion. And if I remember correctly from my highschool class in English, an argument that is made as an appeal to the emotion is one flimsy argument. For it is only resulted to if a debater can no longer support his argument with the hard facts and historical data.
Now about Mar. I heard his ad where it seems he is being mobbed by people thanking him for not abandoning them. Although I think it consistent with all his other ads before, the Mr. Palengke series and his padyak stint, it didn’t endear him to me much more than his over publicized wedding with Korina Sanchez did. For in both instances, the ads and the wedding, it grates on my sensibility and rings an alarm bell in my interpersonal skills department. Would you agree with me if I tell you that I think the ads and the wedding are too orchestrated to be genuine?
I am not saying that Mar and Korina do not really love each other, I am in no position to do that as I am not privy to their affairs. What I’m saying is that like Mar’s ads, there was too much hype and emotions, OA (overacting) if in the colloquial.
Ok, let me focus on his ads. There is too much talk and interaction which one can see is “written and directed by” someone else. Like a movie, his ads are carefully reenacted emotions. And sadly, these emotions do not translate well to me as genuine. Why not use actual footages of his palengke sorties if they are aiming for the spontaneity of adoration for Mar? Do people in the palengke not react as the people on his ads do when they see him, which is why they cannot use it as a campaign material?
Now, Manny Villars strategist, which is himself, is a genius. His choice for a campaign jingle writer alone has to be applauded. They are original, yet catchy. Neric Acosta even commented once that Lumad children in far-flung provinces are singing Villar’s campaign jingle without anyone prodding them to. Why, even I catch myself singing to it when it plays on the radio!
I have to say that it that at some level, Villar’s ads also play on nostalgia and emotions. He went back to his “humble beginnings” of a leaking house in Tondo and a “dagat ng basura” as a playground. He also appealed to the people’s dream, of a nation perenially in crisis, to one day live the life they can only dare dreaming of. However, unlike Noynoy and Mar, Villar intelligently avoided having to personally sell himself by letting children sing his story for him. Thus, Villar has avoided having to act in front of a camera when he is no actor really. Also, historical data can support his claim, as he did start out humbly, if not poor-poor like he claims to be, but humble enough to be pass as a regular Juan, then proceeded to build his empire.
If I were to vote now based on how I perceive these candidates to be from their radio ads, no doubt I will vote for Manny Villar. Who will you vote for?

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