The message they were spreading, apparently, hadn’t sunk in.

Global warming, climate change, and all the green jargon floating around in cyberspace apparently had flown above the heads of most people and continues to fly unimpeded.

Sure, there are are early adopters who will swear that they’ve made headway in getting their communities to adapt to climate change. But the dozens, hundreds, or few thousands who adopt climate change adaptation measures in the Philippines are probably still not enough to make a significant impact on the level of green house gases and other emissions that continue to drive our planet’s temperature higher.

Right now, climate change adaptation is one of those cool phrases that gets mouthed by some celebrity green advocate.  But what we really need to see is the ordinary Filipino man or woman living the climate change adaptation philosophy.

Within the small group of mountaineers and grassroots green advocates that comprises the Alliance for a Cleaner Earth (ACE), the guiding idea behind some of the projects we support are those that get Filipino communities engaged in practices that will help cut down green house gas emissions while providing them with a steady source of income.

One project that we are supporting is a massive cooking-oil-to-bio-diesel conversion project that has recently just been started up with the help of a UP Diliman Jeepney operator.

Ricky Cuenca, a good friend and compatriot, shares a welcome development in helping ordinary Filipinos to produce their own fuel from the used cooking oil they normally thrown down drains and gutters.

When we started the biodiesel project 17 mos ago, so many roadblocks had to be hurdled. It is now bearing fruit.

The Jollibee group will supply as much used cooking oil as we can pick up from all their corporate stores in the Philippines to start the project for their contribution to the lessening of the Air Pollution problems, environmental and health hazards at a fixed price per liter.

This allows us to compete with the Big 3 and the present pump price of diesel. We plan to lower it a little more so that there is no question on affordability.

The benefits are huge. At 20% blend, we lower CO2 and sulfur emissions by 15 and 30% respectively. If we increase the blend to a higher percentage the more we can lessen these pollutants. There are so many other benefits using Biodiesel but the important thing is we now have a foothold of supply, an ever growing market of Public Transport Groups that consume 4 billion liters of diesel every year in the Philippines.

The UP Coop is just the beginning, we have lined up groups of Jeep and transport Coops in the thousands.

We just want to take our steps one at a time so we do not fall flat on our faces.

Phase 1 UP Jeep Coop – 200 jeeps, 1200-1500 liters a day of Biodiesel. Hope we can get up to full speed by Earth Day Apr 22.

The hope is that when we get up to speed by April 22, the project can now be showcased during the visit of Former Vice President Al Gore to the Philippines on April 30

We will need your help in spreading the word, blogging about it.

Here are a couple videos of the cooking-oil-to-bio-diesel project in UP Diliman.

Here’s a jeepney driver talking about the cooking oil bio-diesel he just loaded in this jeep.

Now, for the most part, Pinoy Buzz has been battling other bloggers over a number of political issues — mainly over the fact that Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar are poor choices for the Presidency.

Recently, I’ve decided to lay off the online war over who is the better candidate and focus on supporting measures that will really make an impact on all of our lives.

After all, we can’t argue over politics under the sea.

The January 22-26 survey showed that 70% of Filipinos had much trust for Villar, compared to 64% for Aquino.  Eighteen percent of voters said they were undecided about Villar while 23% said the same for Aquino. Both candidates had the same percentage of voters  (12%)  saying that they had little trust for the two candidates.

Aquino and Villar were statistically tied in the last presidential survey conducted by Pulse Asia last January 22 -26. Thirty-seven percent of Filipino voters said they would vote for Aquino in the presidential election while 35% said they chose Villar.

I do not hide the fact that I’m not a fan of election surveys. I strongly believe they are manipulated in one way or the other. However, I’m making an exception with this survey because I like how it takes away from the Aquino camp’s apparent claim that their candidate is the only trustworthy candidate. I wonder how the yellow horde will react to this.

By the way, if I were a believer of SWS and Pulse Asia surveys I’d probably say this is a development for the simple reason that it shows that not all Filipinos are buying Noynoy’s honesty schtick.

But then again, I am an anti-election survey kind of guy so I’ll stick to my stand that this or any other election survey out there are not to be believed. More importantly, they should not in any way serve as a basis for how we should vote.

In the first place, how can anyone really tell that this or that candidate is trustworthy? Do Noynoyistas and Villaristas have intimate knowledge of the real character of their favored candidates? Are they possessed with extra-sensory powers they are able to see into the hearts and minds of these politicians both of whom refuse to articulate exactly how they will fulfill their respective campaign promises of ridding the government of corruption and putting an end to poverty.

The truth is the respondents of this Pulse Asia survey (if indeed they do exist) just followed their gut feel. Nanghula lang sila. In all likelihood they will do the same come May 10. Good luck with that.

What’s really troubling is that a number of supposedly enlightened personalities are also guilty of the same stupidity. Perhaps, they’re just taking the position that such pandering statements already constitute a platform because saying otherwise would only expose their candidates’ vacuity. One of them even insists that the so-called “social contract” of Senator Noynoy Aquino is a platform.

Contrary to what these pseudo-enlightened people are saying, a platform is supposed to be made up of specific plans. Analyzing the type of political discussions we currently have, it’s easy to conclude that there is hardly any specificity. Our candidates are basically saying the same general statements, a fact highlighted at a recent forum organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

(excerpt from a gmanews.tv report; bold highlight mine)

Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Tuesday cried foul over a perceived bias against him by the moderator of a forum hosted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce Industry (PCCI). “Napaghahalataan yata masyado, manong Tony (It’s becoming too obvious, brother Tony),” Aquino told moderator Tony Lopez after he was bypassed in the sequence of questioning. Aquino was referring to what he felt was Lopez’s preference for his closest rival Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista Party. Lopez, for his part, apologized and quipped: “Ah sorry, kasi bawat tanong pare-pareho lang kayo ng sagot (Oh, I’m sorry, that’s because for each question you all give the same answer).”

This lack of specificity does not help the voter make out exactly who among the candidates has the better solution to a particular problem. The following sentence from an article featured in The Economist should give us an idea why this is  not a good thing.

On campaign platforms, policy is nearly absent, though the country’s problems are clear.

While it is good more people are now aware that the word “platform” exists, it would be better if they actually know what it refers to.

A lot more people could have benefited had those candidates simply pooled their funds together and launched some kind of socio-civic project. They could have built classrooms, low-cost housing etc. It would have been better if they used the money to finance the education of hundreds or maybe even thousands of children. With hundreds of millions of pesos, I’m sure those politicians could have easily figured out some way to really do what they always promise to do but always forget to fulfill, that is to help poor people.

But of course, that’s all too idealistic. By default, a politician’s money always goes first to whatever endeavor there is that would potentially benefit him first and foremost. To the typical Pinoy politician, helping out others is only worthwhile if there’s a clear return of investment.

As I was watching that news report, I couldn’t help but sense some irony especially when the newscaster said something that sounded to me like a subtle criticism of political campaign spending. It just struck me as strange that this TV station would even come out with such a report when in fact it stands to gain big-time from all this. It’s a bit hypocritical, isn’t it?

Of course, there are other reasons why Pinoy-style political campaigns cost so much. One of these is the showbiz mindset. Since most Filipino voters are still stuck at being star-struck, the Pinoy politician naturally treats his campaign as if it was one big showbiz production.

So what do we get? Substance? You wish. Song and dance numbers? Yes, lots of it. Feet washing? Now, that’s new.

This is exactly the sort of thing I hate about Pinoy-style campaigning. It’s all form and no substance. Unfortunately, judging by the public’s response, we will see more of these asinine gimmicks. Hay naku.

Well, it’s all one big expensive joke.  I just hope no one’s laughing because ultimately it’s on all of us.

But that is not the most damning evidence of Noynoy’s misplaced pride. With the latest surveys showing a reduction in his popularity rating, the senator now finds himself facing the reality that people’s perceptions can change. However, being the proud son-of-Ninoy-and-Cory that he is, the senator simply dismisses that even though it is a likely explanation for his ratings drop. Noynoy attributes it instead to his closest rival’s supposed advantages.

(excerpt from inquirer.net report) “I am not surprised with this turn of events,” said Aquino, reading a prepared statement at a press conference Wednesday. “First, our opponents have had a long head start in this campaign. And while I diligently perform my functions as a legislator, the others are practically campaigning fulltime, neglecting their mandate with those, who entrusted them with their votes,” he said. Aquino also criticized Villar’s “unprecedented and sustained ad spending in all forms of media and the unrelenting and increasingly below-the-belt and baseless black propaganda” against him.

In fairness to Noynoy, the moneyed Villar did start his campaign earlier. There’s also no denying that the former senate president is armed with a seemingly unlimited supply of advertising funds. However, it also cannot be denied that as an excuse this is as flimsy as it can get.

Villar did start campaigning earlier because, unlike Noynoy, Villar knew what he wanted and had the guts to take action. Of course, Noynoy and his supporters could say that he never craved power and was even reluctant to run for president. That’s just good old media spin. The truth is Aquino was never reluctant. Show me a reluctant opportunist and I’d believe that.

The problem with Noynoy is he now believes his own press releases. His overestimation of his qualities has blinded him to the reality that he is not impressive at all and people are beginning to take note of that. Attributing the fluctuations in his survey ratings to the imagined maneuvering of other candidates simply shows an apparent inability to consider his own shortcomings.

True to form, Noynoy even goes as far as dragging the Arroyo administration in his blame game.

(excerpt from gmanews.tv report) The Arroyo administration and the camp of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. are forming an “unholy alliance” for the May 10 elections, Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III insinuated Wednesday. Aquino made the statement after Pulse Asia released its latest survey results showing a further drop in Aquino’s ratings while Villar continues to inch closer to him despite the controversy hounding him in connection with the C5 road extension project.

I sure hope the good senator or any of his handlers would be mature enough to accept that perhaps the threat to the Aquino campaign is internal not external. And, if I may suggest, presenting a genuine platform might help Noynoy regain lost ground and destroy the perception that he doesn’t have a clue how he will lead this nation. I’m not counting on it though.

I hope I’m wrong but it seems Noynoy’s only interest is his “winnability.”

(quote lifted from gmanews.tv report) “What should not escape all of us is that I still lead the surveys—from the time I declared my candidacy to this day.

“Eh kasi nakakainis eh… Eh…insultuhan ng insultuhan tungkol sa bagay pampulitika at kokonti na lang panahon namin…”

“Lahat na kami mag-resign kung ganyan rin lang palang mag-away away kami at wala naman na kaming silbi sa taongbayan… eh bakit pa kami mag-di-display ng aming bad manners and bad conduct.”

(Roughly translated)

“It’s frustrating. All we do is trade insults over politics considering we are running out of time…”

“We should just resign if all we’re going to do is fight with each other and we no longer have any use to the public. Why should we display our bad manners and bad conduct.”

Santiago made this statement after walking out of yesterday’s Senate session wherein she lambasted her colleagues for their conduct the day before.

If you’re the sort of citizen who demands quality service from your leaders you’re probably dismayed as well with what went on during last Monday’s discussion on the committee report on Senator Manny Villar’s case. I think it was like watching spoiled children fighting.

I don’t have much to say about Villar’s case except that I find it highly questionable that the former senate president would refuse to exercise his right to face his accusers.

Anyway, going back to Santiago’s statement which inspired this post, I can’t say I disagree with her idea that if the Senate will just focus on politics and childish bickering it would be best for all the senators to just resign. Maybe it’s time we start considering the possibility of abolishing the Senate.

A commenter identified as Dr. Jose Rizal II left this insightful observation on Manolo Quezon III’s blogpost titled “Leaders and Managers.”

The biggest clincher really, Manolo, is that the Philippine Senate, being nationally-elected, DOES NOT REPRESENT ANY CONSTITUENCIES, unlike the US Senate whose constituencies are the various States. Because of this, the Senators do not really answer to anyone. Unlike in the USA where Senators answer to the States each of them represent, and constantly receive a barrage of letters from people in their respective states pleading different causes and issues, the Philippine Senate has Senators who, practically speaking, answer to no one.

It is no wonder, thus, that the Philippine Senate doesn’t really have much to do so that some of their members – one of whom is Noynoy – don’t really do any real legislation work, even if by definition, being a Senator means being a lawmaker.

Instead, such Senatorial slackers look for other “more interesting” things to do such as “questioning what the President does” (referred to by Filipinos as “fiscalizing” – a word which does not exist in the English language) and worse, are constantly in the look out for SCANDALS that have more to do with the lives of showbiz celebrities than with the National Interest. Scandals like the Senate Inquiry on the Brunei Beauties long ago as well as the recent Hayden Kho Sex Video Scandal come to mind.

You can read the full comment here.  And, here’s the video of Senator Santiago saying her quotable quote.

The process for the renewal of business permits is as follows:

1. Compilation of business and other documents (old mayor’s permit, declaration of sales, tax documents, official receipts of payments etc.)

2. Presentation of documents for evaluation and assessment

3. Payment of official fees (city tax, garbage fee, sanitary fee etc.)

4. Claiming of Business Permit

The process stated above is the simplified and generalized version. Each local government unit follows its own system. From what I’ve been hearing from some of my businessmen friends, most LGUs here in Metro Manila have already optimized their systems for the benefit of business owners. Unfortunately a few still have dismal systems. I asked a friend of mine whose firm provides business renewal services to give me an assessment of the various LGUs. He gave me a ranking from the most to the least business-friendly. Here it is:

1. Makati
2. San Juan
3. Pasig
4. Manila
5. Muntinlupa
6. Paranaque
7. Marikina
8. Mandaluyong
9. Quezon City

I can’t really say I was surprised with the ranking he gave to Quezon City. For the past several years, I have been hearing my friend complain about how the system in Quezon City Hall has gone from bad to worse. He has two words to describe it: Red Tape.

But that’s not the worst. His biggest gripe concerns the evaluation of past income from which the amount of city tax and other business fees is computed. My friend says QC’s evaluators routinely impose their own estimates without due consideration to the veracity of the documents submitted by business owners. He cites the case of one of his clients who opened a barber shop just last month (December). He explains that since it was just a new business the barbershop naturally did not make much money yet. It just grossed P2,850 as of December he says.

Now, here’s the big shocker. The evaluator who checked the barbershop’s papers rejected the declared amount and imposed an income declaration of P200,000 from which the total amount of city tax will be derived.

My friend says this has been going on at QC City Hall for the past few years now. He says things even took a turn for the worse. Now, the imposition of arbitrary amounts is no longer dependent solely on whimsy. QC Hall’s evaluators are now actually following some kind of standard. Just go to city hall and you’ll find a memo about this posted somewhere.

The issue here is not so much that QC Hall’s evaluators refuse to accept the fact that not all businesses make money and that some actually do not make anything at all as in the case of businesses that were registered but whose operations did not actually push through. My friend explains that it’s more about the fact that the amounts imposed by the evaluators are excessive — abusive even.

Now I’m wondering how Quezon City Hall manages to curb graft and corruption within itself while such a practice is in place. Only a fool would think that no haggling and no “offers” to assist in the circumvention of this city tax scheme are ever made between the evaluators/assessors/collectors and the city’s business owners.

Perhaps, Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte should look into this — if he doesn’t already know about it.

I say this because political advertisements being aired and published now are all basically saying the same things. There’s really not much difference among them. In my observation, here are some of the most glaring similarities insofar as TV ads are concerned:

1. the ads communicate the message that their candidate is a saviour of some sort
2. visual elements are mostly the same — candidates mingling with ordinary people, distraught people, poor people, etc.
3. the ads highlight at least one all-encompassing promise
4. the ads end with a cheesy slogan
5. the ads are backed by a catchy song

Advertising experts may say that with the limited allotted time — usually from 30 seconds to 1 minute — there’s hardly any room to include more substantial information therefore they just make do with using the elements enumerated above. I suspct there’s more to it than just that. I think the candidates and/or their campaign managers are just afraid to take risks and would rather just stick to tried and tested methods.

The website www.media-awareness.ca provides us with a more comprehensive list of political advertising techniques. Here it is lifted from their website:

1.  Patriotism: The ad stresses the candidate’s love of and service to his/her country.

2. Gender: The ad presents the candidate as appropriately “manly” (or feminine) to make viewers trust him/her.

3. Family: The ad uses images of ideal families to give you a positive image of the candidate.

4. Excitement: The ad tries to create a sense of energy and excitement around the candidate.

5. Star Power: A celebrity is telling you that they support the candidate.

6. Bandwagon: The ad tries to create the impression that everybody already supports the candidate.

7. Put Downs: The ad insults the candidate’s opponent.

8. Facts and Figures: The ad uses facts and statistics to support the candidate’s policies.

9. Just Folks: The ad portrays the candidate as a “regular guy” (or girl).

10. Heart Strings: The ad tells a story that makes you feel good.

11. Sounds Good: The ad uses music (with or without lyrics) to be memorable, entertaining and exciting.

12. Cartoons and Animals: The ad makes its point with cartoon characters or (usually symbolic) animals.

13. Weasel Words: The ad includes promises that sound good but lack details.

14. Integrity: The ad tries to convince you that the candidate is honest and trustworthy.

15. Fear: The ad tries to frighten you into voting for the candidate (or at least not voting for his/her opponent).

(to see the list on their website go to this link)

Entry 12, cartoons and animals, is interesting. I’m sure you can make the connection yourself, but if you ask me I’d say the word reptilian comes to mind — and chicken too. I’m actually more interested in entry number 8, facts and figures. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t think this is a standard feature in local political ads, is it? Anyway, this leads me to the main point I’ve been making all this time: Our political candidates are all just pandering and none of them are audacious enough to add more substance to their political advertisements.

This is quite unfortunate considering that more and more people are now demanding real and useful information. I’m of course talking about detailed plans. The way I see it there is an untapped opportunity here for any candidate to set himself or herself apart from the rest. This opportunity is especially perfect for candidates who are trailing behind perception-wise. Since they’re in the lowest rungs anyway they should be willing to take more risks with how they communicate their message. Instead of the usual pandering stuff they can come out with truly informative ads.

Runnning time a limitation? No problem. Just follow the format used for those one-minuter radio or TV reports. An example would be an ad featuring just the candidate talking about one specific issue and providing some specifics on exactly how he/she plans to address it.

Senator Noynoy Aquino’s “Hindi Ako Mag-Nanakaw” ad shows us that one can already say a lot of things in a one-minuter ad. Unfortunately, substance-wise it does not make the grade. Fortunately, this is easy to fix. Simply removing all the pandering stuff and keeping the focus on just one particular issue would easily do the trick.

Candidates, especially those who are lagging behind, should seriously consider this approach. In terms of cost, information-filled ads like the one I’m suggesting will obviously cost much less. The budget deprived can even create one just using a webcam and uploading the end-product on the internet. If the message is really good, the ad may even go viral.

Submitted on 2010/01/15 at 7:47pm

Dear Friends,

Election time is here again. Many of you will shrug this off as another of those futile exercise that we as a dysfunctional nation go through.

Let me tell you, THIS TIME IT IS DIFFERENT. IF we make it so. Why?

1. This is the FIRST TIME THAT IT IS AUTOMATED: COMPLETE WITH FINGERPRINTS (BIOMETRICS). Naysayers talk of loopholes. But one thing is sure: Cheating will certainly be cut down (no ghost voters, no carbon papers, etc…)now. I say, first time. The next time around,some smart-pinoys will know how to go around it. Then cheating begins to accelerate again. WE HAVE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS FIRST AUTOMATED ELECTION.

2. We are now in a precarious situation: World financial crisis, Ondoy, Pepeng, Mt. Mayon, especially the pervasive apathy etc… We are slowly trudging to our doom. If we do not elect a good president this time, we will spiral down this pit. But, if we elect a good president, there is a big chance that we can rise up very quickly too. That is, if the next president will know how to position our country in the current world crisis.

3. There are more alternative media: more social networks,SMS/GMS and information is much much more accessible than before.

4. We have better choices (of candidates) now. Believe me! We do have a GOOD CHOICE!

MY APPEAL TO THE EDUCATED FILIPINOS WHO HAVE MORE ACCESS TO INFORMATION IS THIS: We must vote for the MOST QUALIFIED CANDIDATE TO LEAD us. AND we must CONVINCE all people within our circle of influence to vote for our choice! We, the educated people of our land should pave the way for our next president. Not the artista’s, singers, paid-media persons and other personalities. PLEASE! WE DO THIS CORNY THING EVEN JUST THIS ONCE.

HOW?
1. Be objective! Examine the candidates well. WITHOUT biases you know, surveys, benefits that you’ll gain when he’s president (for your business or careers–Pls., esp. not this! kaya naghihika-us tayo eh.), party-affiliations, strategic voting, etc… Here are some links that might start you out:

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES:
by GMA (audio)
http://www.gmanews.tv/video/53577/kilalanin-forum-09-jan-2010
by ANC (video)
http://www.pinoychannel.tv/watch/v-185258?title=HARAPAN%2012/02/09%20PART%201/12
by Carlos Romulo Foundation presidential policy debate on Jan 14. (will send the links of recorded video if i can find one)

Che-Che Lazaro did a comprehensive interview of the candidates in alphabetical order. (You may also search for the interviews of candidates in the search box of probetv):

Sen. Benigno Aquino
http://www.probetv.com/index.php?option=com_probetv&view=video&layout=program&id=0&Itemid=8&vi=1417

Sen. Richard Gordon
http://www.probetv.com/index.php?option=com_probetv&view=video&layout=program&vi=1541&Itemid=8

Sec. Gilbert Teodoro
http://www.probetv.com/index.php?option=com_probetv&view=video&layout=program&vi=1344&Itemid=8

Sen. Manuel Villar
http://www.probetv.com/index.php?option=com_probetv&view=video&layout=program&vi=1311&Itemid=8

2. Do a background check on your chosen candidate: Google search, I think will do. Check allegations, counter allegations etc… (Allotted time: please do this fast! by next month: February: you should be sure of your candidate)

3. Once you are sure of your candidate, convince your household members, drivers, yaya, extended families, friends, etc… I think, our words are more credible and I hope we be relentless in convincing die-hards who are already stuck with an unsuitable candidate.

4. Go out and Vote this May (If you can). And if possible volunteer as a pollwatcher. Calling esp. the IT/computer geeks: please study the automated election well. If you see any prob., you can text/FB/e-mail etc… so we be aware what to watch out for.

5. Please pass this e-mail to all Pinoys out there.

Thank you very much.
May we rise to be a great nation once again.
God bless the Philippines!
Mabuhay!

Thanks Sony. This is much appreciated.

And for those who want to really savor the lines, here they are lovingly transcribed by yours truly.

Minamahal kong kababayan,

Tadhana ang nagbuklod sa atin dahil naghihingalo na ang ating bayan, Nais kong pumasok sa isang kasunduan sa inyo. Lalaban tayo para sa wastong edukasyon ng bawat batang Pilipino. Lalaban tayo para sa abot-kayang serbisyong pangkalusugan. Lalabanan natin ang kahirapan. Lalabanan natin ang mga kawatan. Lalabanan natin ang sino mang wawasak sa kalikasan. Lalabanan natin ang sino mang manggugulo sa ating kapayapaan at katahimikan.

Ang laban natin ay laban ng bayan.

Sa ngalan ng aking mga magulang at sa gabay ng diyos, gagawin ko ang lahat ng aking makakaya na pagsilbihan ang mahal nating Inang Bayan. Bilang tunay na sagot sa kahirapan at tunay na daan sa kaunlaran, ang inyong lingkod Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino the Third, isang mamamayang Pilipino, nangangako sa Diyos at sa Bayan — Hindi ako mag-nanakaw.

Powerful stuff, really.

I have to congratulate the planning and production team behind this ad. You’ve just proven to everyone that it is possible to create a campaign ad that does not involve any dancing or singing and makes use of no overly dramatic images depicting squalor, despair and hope. Additional points as well for not including shots of mindless people carrying torches. Special mention goes to the scriptwriter. You sure can write compelling copy. I sincerely admire you for skillfully filling up a tight running time of one-minute with very powerful words. And, of course, Senator Aquino. You deserve much praise for your unusually impressive delivery and presence here. All in all, you all did a great job and I think this ad deserves an award for brilliant simplicity.

With that said, let’s now put on our serious-voter’s hat.

I think this ad is unprecedented. Here we have a politician coming out with an unequivocal promise that he will not steal. Noynoy may not be the first to come out with such a pronouncement in a TV ad but I’m pretty certain he is the first one to say it in such a simple and direct-to-the-point manner.

Hindi ako mag-nanakaw.

Truly powerful. Unfortunately, there’s a problem and it is this.

Noynoy, Hindi Ka Nag-Iisa.

Yes, indeed, that’s the problem, dear Senator. You really are not alone in laying claim to this anti-corruption branding. The fact is all politicians claim they are against corruption. Even Jun Lozada and Jose de Venecia III. Oh, I forgot, you think you stand out in this aspect because of your Sincerity, Honesty, Integrity and Transparency. Sorry to burst your bubble but that’s all in your head.

Hindi Ka Talaga Nag-Iisa. Pramis.

Speaking of promises. The good senator made really good use of the very limited running time by mouthing off a number of promises all said within the context of that nebulous Aquino concept of Laban.

Again, with our thinking-voter’s hat still on, let’s see if there is any value here. Hmmm. Hmmm.

Sorry, there is none. Want proof? Check out this utakngtilapia.com exclusive interview.

Huh? Laban? Asan? Asan ang laban?

For the truly hopelessly yellow, the message here is that Noynoy’s Laban is clear only to himself. Or maybe not. Sure he may have a general grasp of what Filipinos need but that’s nothing if he can’t even inform us how exactly he will pursue and achieve his promises. Let’s refer back to his campaign ad script.

Lalaban tayo para sa wastong edukasyon ng bawat batang Pilipino = How exactly?

Lalaban tayo para sa abot-kayang serbisyong pangkalusugan = How exactly?

Lalabanan natin ang kahirapan = How exactly?

Lalabanan natin ang mga kawatan = How exactly?

Lalabanan natin ang sino mang wawasak sa kalikasan = How exactly?

Lalabanan natin ang sino mang manggugulo sa ating kapayapaan at katahimikan = How exactly?

So you see dear reader, not even this potentially award-winning ad can erase the sad fact that to this day Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has failed to properly communicate to us the substance of his candidacy. You’ve probably heard about his failure to attend the forum organized by the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation. I don’t know but it seems to me this is becoming a habit for Noynoy. Not good.

By the way, I realize that Noynoy may actually be telling us the truth when he said, “Hindi ako mag-nanakaw.” Who knows maybe he does have the will to actually keep himself clean while in office. The question is what about the people around him? Does he have the ability or guts to stand up to sycophants, influence peddlers and their mothers?

We’ll look into that later. In the meantime, here’s something for those who need to rid themselves of the hypnotic effect of Noynoy’s latest campaign ad.

(note: Writing about the (mis)adventures of Noynoy is getting tiresome. Unfortunately, someone has to do it since Noynoy’s handlers and supporters are not inclined to push their idol to do better.)