Philippine Presidential Election 2010

Rooting for Noynoy

“Can Noynoy do it? Believe it. Yes he can” –Conrado De Quiros

Up until today I was somehow undecided whether I will vote for Noynoy or not. I knew Mar Roxas endorsed him, and I believe in Mar’s decisions and principles, yet I was somehow skeptical of Noynoy. I agreed with the critics notions that he is still unprepared and incapable of the presidency and he is merely riding on to his parent’s fame and the recent surge of the Cory magic. I agreed with the critics that he lacks experience as evidenced by his mediocre performance as congressman and as senator. I agreed with critics that shrewd advisers will take advantage of him and he may end up another Erap – dependent on his advisers’ greedy and self-serving advices. I agreed with them, now I disagree.

After reading several, I admit not quite a lot, people’s opinions on Noynoy’s bid for presidency; I must say that I have already decided which side I’m on. Before I was on the gray side, but I knew there’s only black and white in this race we’re in. There are only 2 sides of the coin – there’s nothing in between. Times are different now, I can feel that and as responsible voters and citizens of the country longing for change, we need to make a clear-cut stand on the matters and issues at hand. I have decided to take my stand.

I will vote for Noynoy and support him in the upcoming presidential race. I agree with a lot of points in De Quiros’ recent article about Noynoy, Yes, he can. Indeed what our country needs is not a leader that will act like a CEO of a company – serving only the needs of the stockbrokers and not of its employees; having a lot of skills and impressive accomplishments but questionable in integrity and moral standing. What our country needs is someone we can be confident of to rally behind to – a president we can support instead of rebut; a president we would be comfortable to trust with our resources and not fear that he or she would take it to his or her personal advantage. I agree that what the country needs is someone who can clean up the mess that has been accumulated over the past years – the mess that has made us apathetic and disillusioned about the country that we now live in. I agree that the elections this coming 2010 is not a regular and peaceful one. First there is the new automated system which I believe will raise a lot of complications since I don’t think it has been prepared adequately. Second, unlike other Presidential election periods, this election does not entirely guarantee a peaceful transition – not with talks of GMA wanting cha-cha and possibly not relinquishing her power in a docile and quiet manner. And with Erap seeking a re-election, what can we really expect?

Continue reading “Rooting for Noynoy”

politics 101

With the upcoming 2010 elections, some questions sprang to mind. This is after all my first Presidential elections, my first time to vote in the national elections. And since I care deeply about how the country ultimately turns out, I want to make my vote count.

And so I ask, who should I vote for?

There are several who have already cited their unwavering intent for the post and who have in fact made some attempt at infomercials. Still I remain undecided as to who to vote for. Even the one I said I will support – Mar Roxas – still doesn’t seem right. To me, he appears to still be lacking something.

Then again, a nagging question comes to mind. With all these presidential hopefuls, the country’s vote will no doubt be divided amongst all of them. What if some presidential hopeful, who I believe is really wrong for the position, suddenly garnered majority of the votes? Then the runner-up is also someone who I am not convinced of but is a more probable president than the currently winning candidate, will I then pull out my vote from the person who I believe can lead the country but appears hopeless to win to support the lesser evil runner up? Should I then practice strategic voting?

Politics. A much better topic for the mind to engage on than the hapless questions of love and what should be not. 😀

Erap for President

What? Again? Not this time around!

This was my reaction when I learned that Erap is seriously considering running for presidency in the 2010 elections. He even has the nerve to refer to the study made by several political experts that he wouldn’t be breaching any constitutional law by running for presidency in the year 2010.

His arguments for him being qualified to run are in fact valid since according to Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III the constitutional provision against reelection of a president applies only to a sitting or incumbent president – and since Erap is neither, then he has all the green signals to run in 2010. After all, he hasn’t finished his last presidency term and he seems to have unfinished plans for the country, right?

Yet this would only materialize if the opposition wouldn’t unite under one candidate. Erap stresses over the fact that the votes of the Filipino people would be divided over the various presidential hopefuls of the opposition. They are no other than Ping Lacson, Manny Villar, Mar Roxas, Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero and Jejomar Binay. He is worried that the same 2004 scenario, wherein FPJ and Lacson, two oppositional candidates who fought over the presidential slot were both “cheated” of their respective votes. He maintains that cheating against the opposition would be easy if they will field a lot of presidentiable candidates in the upcoming elections.

Well, we still have July or August to find out for certain if Erap will indeed run for presidency.

***Source: The Philippine Star News Page4 May 24, 2009***

Erap’s headache over the numerous presidential aspirants of the oppositon brings to mind my opinions and views on the party system of the Philippines. The election scene of the country is obviously party-oriented and not reform oriented. I am no greaat fan of the US but I must admit that I admire their approach to democracy and elections – that is in the sense that they only have 2 parties – Democratic and Republican, the major difference being in the reforms and beliefs of the said parties. And when a voter votes, he or she considers not the politician per se but the party he is in and the reform or advocacy of that party he is part of.

In the Philippines, there is no control as to the number of parties participating in the elections. Every election year, we hear of parties being made with some fading into oblivion in the next election year. This has happened so many times that we have ceased to really concern ourselves with the party and instead managed to look at the candidate himself thus making our election process personality-based instead of reform-based. If we closely looked at the nature of these political parties, we would see that most of them have basically similar reforms albeit worded differently.

So why then are there numerous presidentiables who would simply establish their own parties if their previous party had the unfortunate slip in decision to make them the presidential bet? Does it not make us think that they are now merely running for their own personal gain and not for the reforms that they claim to be their motivations for serving the public?

I know that our country is unique and I do not have any intention of it being patterned entirely upon US election scenarios, much as I admire those scenarios. It’s just that I hope our public servants would stop and think for a while and would really be sincere in what they want to accomplish for the country. I believe it would serve the voters more if we would be able to wisely decide who to vote for, not on the merits of the candidates personality, but on the merits of the reform his party advocates.

Another thing, it is easier to vote or select when one only has two options than when one is given a multitude of choices, right?