The present Constitution imposes only three requirements to be elected President of the Philippines:
1. One must be 40 years of age on the day of election;
2. One must be a natural-born Filipino citizen;
3. One must be able to read and write.
I’ve put together a comparative chart of presidents elected to office, so that readers can take a look at past presidential biodatas, for the purpose of evaluating those seeking the presidency in 2010. Lists like these, however, can’t reflect the changing attitudes and preferences of voters as to what they consider essential requirements for the presidency.
For example, there are basically two eras: 1935 to 1969 (the last pre-martial law presidential election) and post-1986 to the present. In the first era, Ramon Magsaysay, the lone non-lawyer prior to 1969, would be in many ways the major exception to the expectation of a long, sustained, record of public service beginning in local, then provincial, and legislative and executive positions. But in many ways he was the harbinger of our modern, post-party machine politics, and so ties in to the post-1986 trend Marcos helped launch by means of institutionalizing mistrust of lawyer-presidents.
Of the twelve presidents elected in national elections, the following observations can be made.
Education: seven were lawyers (all of whom were top ten in the Bar exams); two had degrees in economics; two had doctorates; only one didn’t finish college.
Pre-profession: Aside from their main professions, six had other professions/occupations, including two poets.
Military: Five achieved officer rank in the military.
Judicial: none served in the judiciary.
Legislative: three served as municipal councilors; eight have served in the lower house, with four serving as committee chairmen, and two of them as Speaker of the House; eight have been senators, and three have been Senate President, and two, Senate President Pro Tempore.
Executive: One has served as mayor; five have been provincial governors (including Magsaysay’s serving as Military Governor of Zambales); nine have held presidential or executive appointments in the bureaucracy or civil service; in addition, seven have held cabinet portfolios, with two each holding the National Defense and Foreign Affairs portfolios. Six have been elected Vice-President, four have succeeded to the presidency from that position (three by virtue of the death of the president, one by authority of the Supreme Court).
The real issue in 2010:
High Integrity +High Performance REQUIRED!
Erap thinks all this Noynoy commotion is the work of an elitist conspiracy. Hmmmmmm. If Erap can make it stick, this could become a new campaign strategy.
According to Erap:
“I do not like the conspiracy of this elitist, so-called civil society. And Noynoy is surrounded by these people with whom I can’t get along with.â€
He added that he did not like the idea of “these people†dictating to Filipinos who to vote for as president in next year’s elections.
“I don’t believe that these people have the right to dictate to Filipinos who they like as president,†he told GMA News.
of course you didn’t include here the non-elected like Jose P Laurel who had the singular record to have worked in the 3 branches of government, as senator, supreme court justice, and later wartime president.
one question, manolo, is who turned out to be the greatest or at least one who made lasting change to the nation or new direction to us as a people? or is the presidency one big lotto: too difficult or improbable to attain but once won one fortune to be enjoyed? was it stalin who said, “those who vote decide nothing, those who count the votes(and the financiers)decide everything.” don’t count on the voters for discernment or to look for the imponderables.
Erap is a joke. He’s a troll. And the media will keep feeding the troll because he attracts eyeballs.
“sonny pulgar on Sat, 12th Sep 2009 5:30 pm
who turned out to be the greatest or at least one who made lasting change to the nation or new direction to us as a people?”
May I nominate Carlos P. Garcia for the greatest. Filipino First policy is largely responsible for those often heard, nostalgic reminiscing of the old timers “Philippines was # 2 to Japan in the 1950s”. Sadly, it was reversed by the neo-liberal Macapagal, who shifted our country into the liberalization path. I’ll nominate him for your category of “making lasting change to the nation or new direction to us as a people”.
The Philippines was at number 2 to japan even BEFORE Carlos P. Garcia..in fact 1930s pa 2nd tayo sa Japan
Actually, his ultra-nationalist protectionist policy may have started the decline. Who knows.
“The Philippines was at number 2 to japan even BEFORE Carlos P. Garcia..in fact 1930s pa 2nd tayo sa Japan”
Pre-war Japan was an industrial might that went toe to toe with USA in WW2. Americans swooped us in a year during 1898 Fil-Am War. Yes we were # 2, but a very distant one.
The post war years are the proper point of comparison, when all countries in Asia had to start from scratch from being flattened and destroyed in 1944.
The import controls and import substitution industrialisation policy of the 1950s was an unintended consequence of the parity rights the US imposed on the Philippines as a condition for the release of post-War aid in which the currency was pegged at an unsustainable 2:1.
The Filipino First policy was populist and was supported by the local industrialists who benefited from it. The devaluing of the peso and liberalisation that occurred under Macapagal was inevitable and due in part to pressure from agri-exporters.
With the entrenched business interests that invariably happens under an inward focused industrialisation, the country could not follow the path of the Asian tigers (who promoted and protected export oriented industries).
Only under Martial Law was the first export processing zone opened in Bataan, but it was a schizoid policy with the cronyist nationalisation of several industries.
Under Aquino the tarrification of most import quotas occurred. By then the ship had sailed and many of the strategies the Asian tigers pursued like purposely devaluing their currency and providing export subsidies (industrial policy) became disallowed under the WTO.
Thinking that merely creating free trade would lead to growth, Ramos accelerated the reduction of tariffs and increased fiscal incentives in export zones. This arrested the growth in the tax to GDP ratio which led to the fiscal crisis, which Arroyo sough to fix with the eVAT.
This made her very unpopular and led to many of scams that followed which were aimed at producing electoral success.
Nice study you have here. I definitely agree with the first comment. No matter what positions they held in the past and no matter how high is their education, what matters most is the integrity and performance.
We had a President that has a doctorate degree but look what’s happening to our country now?
Re: Comparative Records.
Most Philippine presidents are career politicians. Only Cory is the exception. And being from Cacique class, she had an incentive to keep the status quo to maintain her family wealth.
Which brings me to Villar. I make the case that a Villar presidency will be like a Thaksin Shinawatra presidency. There are a lot of similarities between the two. Both became billionaires after publicly floating their businesses on the stock market (Thaksin-Telecoms-Advanced Info Services, Villar-Real Estate Development-Camilla and Parmella Homes). Both got into politics after becoming paper billionaires, leveraging their public positions to gain market advantages for their billion dollar corporations.
Both have an incentive to uplift the poor (more middle class means more cellphone consuming and house owning public).
Thaksin was accused of corruption and tax evasion. I predict, if Villar wins, that he’ll suffer the same fate.
“The import controls and import substitution industrialisation policy of the 1950s was an unintended consequence of the parity rights the US imposed on the Philippines as a condition for the release of post-War aid in which the currency was pegged at an unsustainable 2:1.”
Cusp, can you please explain this? Are you saying Americans were in favor of Filipino First policy? Weren’t they opposed to it? I thought that Filipino First was in spite of parity rights, not because of it.
I did not know Cory had a degree in Mathematics.
You forgot to include Emilio Aguinaldo, the president of the Revolutionary Government and president of the First Philippine Republic. He was elected cabeza de barangay of Binakayan, and then elected capitan municipal of Cavite El Viejo. He was a politician and military man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Aguinaldo
Fred, I noted specifically that Aguinaldo and Laurel were excluded because they were not elected president by virtue of a national election.
High Integrity, high performance and high winnability. Who is closest? I don’t like a president who can only do a janitorial job. Any of the other aspirants can make things move. BF and Villar, in particular.
Which President of the U.S. had barely had two years of formal education?
He is featured on Mount Rushmore.
Philippine society is pretty much still stuck in a time warp akin to some countries in medieval times.
Prior to the industrial revolution both China and India had larger economies than the West… They most definitely had larger economies than the Philippines ever since. One of the more serious myths going around is this canard about the Philippines being no.2 in development to Japan in Asia.
Villar is different kind of candidate. His wickedness (self -interest) will help give a new perspective to the old cacique mentality that has permeated Philippine politics. He married into a rich politically connected family and parlayed that union into a big business enterprise.
The man is a shrewd operator. He is the most magulang of all the candidates. He is the right kind of crooked politician this country needs. He was able to restructure and force his foreign creditors to take a huge hit. All with taxpayers subsidy…
Vote for the wickedest candidate that is out there.
The most grievous mistake during Cory’s tenure was the entry of the neo-classical economists who put this country on a track of dollar integration all based on a now failed ideology of EMH…The country will be paying the price for generations.
However for the wicked there are so many opportunities for arbitrage.
Down even to selling women and organs. The BSP is trapped in a debt prison and has only one policy framework… Protect the value of the peso.
That makes interest rate leveraged arbitrage for the short term the vehicle for making money…Most people do not know that they are getting deeper into debt…
This is probably the only country where the government itself is deliberately trying very hard to destroy the state.
SoP, because of the parity rights, the peso was pegged artificially at 2:1. This encouraged imports and discouraged exports. Although the US provided foreign currency through aid, by 1949, the country experienced its first balance of payments crisis. This led to the imposition of import controls in the form of quotas.
Many US firms took advantage of the parity rights, or partnered with local landed elites and set up import substitutiing industries during the 1950s. It is true that GDP grew by double digits during this decade, but as chronicled by Hutchcroft, the import quotas became subject to abuse and rent-seeking. It is these interest groups that formed the support base of the Filipino First policy. So much so, that even after liberalisation in the 60s, a persistent trade deficit continued.
In one of F. Sionil Jose’s Rosales novels, he depicts the collusion between a nationalist senator with an American businessman in promoting this populist FF policy. It made both political and financial sense for him to so. Import substititution was the prevailing paradigm at the time, much like the Washington Consensus that followed it. In my opinion, overconfidence in economic models can produce impractical policy. Under Ramos, we took the WC model to the hilt, dropping our tariffs even ahead of the specified targets for a developing nation allowed under WTO without thinking about its impact on our export sector.
One problem we have in our industrial sector is the lack of depth. Hutchcroft compared import sub in Brazil and the Phils. Brazil’s industries were deep and broad. It seems ours was superficial and shallow. Under export oriented policy, our semi conductor industry is similarly focused on low value add. The country cannot seem to broaden and diversify. I wonder, is this our destiny or the result of weak incentives/poor institutions, as in weak property rights which discourage investments(?).
What about Laurel and Aguinaldo?
Laurel’s career is significant because he served in all three branches of government. And he’s one of the few presidents who formulated a pseudo-political philosophy
I see, so you only included elected presidents.
JAG sounds more and more like Gecko “Greed is good!” I really hope you’re just being ironic or by God with that mentality and values you’re bound to loose your job, your business, and probably land in jail eventually.
There’s such a thing as Code of Conduct, small time /big time crooks don’t believe in it but the sustainable companies thrive in it. Peddle your crooked business in Afghanistan or Africa – the Philippines is on its way up thanks to people who still believe in “win-win” and “profitting with honor.”
Enough with the “used car salesman” mentality! We’re have enough charlatans in business already!
One problem we have in our industrial sector is the lack of depth. Hutchcroft compared import sub in Brazil and the Phils. Brazil’s industries were deep and broad. It seems ours was superficial and shallow. Under export oriented policy, our semi conductor industry is similarly focused on low value add. The country cannot seem to broaden and diversify. I wonder, is this our destiny or the result of weak incentives/poor institutions, as in weak property rights which discourage investments(?).
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This is not our destiny, its just a result of shrewd business practices, favoring self interest and immediate gratification over long term sustainability. A result of “wickedness.”
…and somebody is asking for more of the same…
JAG,
You strike me as the exact person and mentality that several CEOs here and abroad are condeming and trying to thresh out from their organizations. Yours is the age-old mentality of taking advantage, wheeling and dealing, one time big time business practice, it fools people several times but not all the time and its not the new way of doing business at all, its back in the day where gray areas, secrecy, and deceit were “in” thing, have you ever heard of “transparency?”
Enrol in AIM, and learn, I hope its not too late for you…
Yes, for the purpose of information for an election, the relevant base of comparison are nationally-elected presidents. also, aguinaldo and laurel are outside the continuous constitutional/evolutionary line, so to speak.
Villar is different kind of candidate. His wickedness (self -interest) will help give a new perspective to the old cacique mentality that has permeated Philippine politics. He married into a rich politically connected family and parlayed that union into a big business enterprise.
The man is a shrewd operator. He is the most magulang of all the candidates. He is the right kind of crooked politician this country needs. He was able to restructure and force his foreign creditors to take a huge hit. All with taxpayers subsidy…
Vote for the wickedest candidate that is out there.
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So Villar is the epitome of “darkness” and “evil” wow! he’ll even be worst than Gloria! Look at how he vacillates from anti Erap to pro Erap, opposition(?) to ally(?) – if he ever stands for something, its himself (and his money)…will he be willing to share? maybe trickle down his blessings to the poor? then its okay…?
That’s one thing I noticed with Villar and de Castro, they go with the tide, it seems that they don’t have their own opinion -kung saan mabuti ang simoy ng hangin, doon sila, more so with de Castro, he doesn’t even have an official political party.
We are doomed.
Villar, a rags to riches person, would have been good.
Sadly, he is an influence peddler and a profiteer. This makes him a bad choice for president.
And he can’t even stand up for himself, Villar needs the Pomada boys Adel and Gilbert to do the talking for him. (He’s not like Obama whose willing to stand the heckles from the gallery to explain his point.) Moreover, the Pomade Boys Adel and Gilbert are from dynastic politicians (not of the good Kennedy type dynasty) suggesting, that perhaps, Villar has nothing new to offer.
No to Villar! (Tragically, Villar is awash with money and he might indeed win)
We are doomed.
Villar, a rags to riches person, would have been good.
Sadly, he is an influence peddler and a profiteer. This makes him a bad choice for president.
And he can’t even stand up for himself, Villar needs the Pomada boys Adel and Gilbert to do the talking for him. (He’s not like Obama who’s willing to stand the heckles from the gallery to explain his point.) Moreover, the Pomade Boys Adel and Gilbert are from dynastic politicians (not of the good Kennedy type dynasty) suggesting, that perhaps, Villar has nothing new to offer.
No to Villar! (Tragically, Villar is awash with money and he might indeed win)
In this modern media driven era, it is the presidential candidate with the most credible, authentic public persona and most compelling narrative that strikes a chord in the hearts of voters that wins.
Qualifications and track records are fine, but these only go so far. Voters vote with their hearts and their minds, and more often, I think it is the heart that prevails.
So let’s see, among the present crop, Villar seems to have a sympathetic rags to riches tale. Noli’s story is the same, but seems to have been polluted by his seeming lackey status under the Arroyo regime.
Chiz has yet to weave a compelling tale. The same goes for Teodoro. Erap’s storyline of poor vs rich still seems to sell.
Mar had his Mr Palengke meets Mrs Palengke plot, which made him viable.
Which brings us to Noynoy whose story did not seem compelling until the passing of his mother. His ordinary mild manner meets extraordinary challenge in the wake of his parents’ travails and martyrdom now seems to have captivated the public’s psyche. We shall see if it continues to election day.
I see, that Villar is what J_ag has been referring to when he said we needed “the right kind of wicked”. I’m wondering how that would resonate with the voters.
J_ag, do you envision Villar to be the top oligarch who will keep all the other oligarch’s in line? Villar Inc = Philippines Inc? Isn’t there already a waiting list for that position? Wouldn’t he have to take a number behind Danding?
“. . . who turned out to be the greatest (President) or at least one who made lasting change to the nation or new direction to us as a people?”
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Quezon and Marcos were in power long enough to make lasting changes to the nation. The rest were one-term Presidents, not long enough to make a big difference.
Because he served during most of the commonwealth period, wherein most of the foundations for independence from the U.S.A. were laid down, Quezon probably had the most lasting positive effect on us as a nation. However, absent a positive or negative qualification of “lasting change” or “new direction”, Marcos would, to my mind, win this hands down. He so bastardized all that once was thought of as sacrosanct, that our democracy and our society has irreparably been damaged.
I find it insulting that this JA_G person would ask me and ramrod, “the youth”, to ask money from Villar, campaign for him, “make it a business”.
Excuse me but that’s just beneath me. I got better things to do with my time.
Not all people in our country have this “wicked” pataygutom mentality. Some of us like rules and decency.
In a world that has now moved into a new higher level of the industrial revolution – the digital revolution, how can societies steeped in first wave primitive family based agricultural economic development cope with todays more advanced algorithm based economies.
Modern industrial societies are run around algorithm (software) based capital in every single sector of modern economies.
That has led humanity to Gods own algorithm. Genetics
Look at the whole brouhaha concerning the digitizing of the electoral process in the Philippines. Algorithms will do the counting.
The old industrial division of labor has been replaced by algorithm based industrial economies.
Algorithms blast men into space and even run machineries on other planets.
Drucker and Toffler have written of the coming changes.
The financial markets run algorithms. Modern jets run on them. The Air France jet went down in a storm due to the failure of the algorithms in a severe electrical storm.
“I did not know Cory had a degree in Mathematics.†cvj
why, you think you know everything?
Since when has being wicked being evil… Warren Buffet has turned to scavenger investing picking up on the wreckage out there in the equity markets. Millions of people have lost their jobs. It is a wicked system but it is the best one going …
The entire idea of competitive free markets is about moral hazards. Since when has it become evil to pursue ones own self interest.
Villar is the first of the self made carpet baggers to run for President. He is an entrepreneur. A real estate developer. Danding is a old fashioned cacique who still produces gin and beer.
For the Philippines real estate is the only game in town. Villar is our version of the old fashioned robber baron. The other example is Jose Concepcion Jr. Another devil in angels clothing. But they have all evolved to financial capitalism. They are now more investment bankers/private equity firms. They have simply turned over their businesses to project managers.
The utopian vision of Adam Smith was simply that a utopian vision. He knew that the wealth of countries was on directing political power to freeing the productive forces to practice their self interest.. That wickedness would lead to creating wealth.
Look at all states and who are at the top of the political economy. The rich wicked ones. The power to command labor is through wealth. Governments are not capable of it. The division of labor today is more complex.
When FDR castigated the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods he did not remove them or replace them. He simply put rules to referee their exchanges.
The colonial powers did not explore to pass on the good word or for charity. They came to take what belonged to someone else.
The first Indian uprising in the Americas came about as a result of the British refusing to trade their fire-sticks and iron pots for animal skins with the Indians. The prices for the skins were affected by the higher productivity.
But in today liberalized global world the game is now finance based.
Algorithms rule …
How do you explain that to the voter? How do you explain that to the voter that is simply going to mark the ballots with pencil shadings for algorithms to count?
The next big question is how to bridge that huge technological divide?
By getting together and singing “What the world needs now is love?
Look at the oil companies who can use whatever benchmark they want for oil prices the higher the better to protect the interest of their stockholders and bankers. That is wicked but correct…
grd, where did that come from? did i scratch your car or something?
J_ag, what do you mean by ‘since when was wicked being evil’? I don’t think you can have it both ways, bragging that your candidate is ‘wicked’ but denying that he is ‘evil’. You can try though. See if “Villar: Wicked but not Evil” will resonate with the voters as it does with you.
Methinks that J_AG has a bulge on his cheek. He’s punkin’ around.
“The Cusp on Sun, 13th Sep 2009 8:47 am
It is true that GDP grew by double digits during this decade, but as chronicled by Hutchcroft, the import quotas became subject to abuse and rent-seeking.”
Can you provide me with Hutchcroft’s first name and the title of the book?
I’ve read Alejandro Lichauco’s Nationalist Economics a long time ago. If I remember correctly, he said the pegging of the peso the dollar did indeed limit those who had access to dollars. Some of the dollar allocations was had by rent seeking. But Alejandro’s prognosis was that it was generally good as dollars were used by industrialist to buy machinery and capital. Decontrol did indeed ease balance of payments position, but killed the fledgling industries.
I should revisit that book.
J_AG, I don’t think that Villar represents nor is welcomed by the business community, simply because he represents only one sector, namely the property banking sector. He would have very little in common with the those in the semiconductor or business process sectors.
And I think even his own industry peers would view him with suspicion, since as the prima facie record has shown (and unfortunately, he has not participated in the process of clearing this up), he tends to favour his own business interests to the detriment of other players.
It is unfortunately not Adam Smith’s model of perfect competition that this brand of governance would represent, but the continuation of the same old booty capitalism that has restricted competition (which is why the depth and breadth of our economy is so shallow). It will not be based on the profit motive, as you suppose, but on the pursuit of monopolistic rents.
SoP, here is the link to Paul D Hutchcroft’s analysis
http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/kasarinlan/article/viewFile/1040/1051
It is not disputed that ISI policy worked to some extent, although it came with some costs in the form of corruption and rent-seeking. Eventually, the so called infant industries never grew up. India in the 90s belatedly reversed their decades old ISI policy and has seen its economy grow rapidly ever since.
The problem is we followed the ISI doctrine blindly, when we should have followed the heterodox example of our Asian neighbors. They used the same protective measures but for sectors with an export potential. They benefited from one way free trade with the West (which was accomodating to them because of concerns over a Communist domino effect in the region), while at the same time restricting foreign entry into their own domestic markets.
This double standard that was so effective no longer works in the post-Cold War era. Due to the GFC, even China, the last bastion of this heterodox approach is seeking to wean itself off from export dependency and is propping itself up through domestic demand stimulation.
“For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to everyone that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still. For only they can lead us out of the tunnel of economic necessity into daylight.” John Maynard Keynes…
Sweden has just instituted negative interest rates. Banks will be charged a fee with keeping deposits with other banks. Savings which is a “virtue” will be discouraged… Fact not Fiction… The U.K. may follow.
“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”
John Maynard Keynes
“When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall be able to rid ourselves of many of the pseudo-moral principles which have hag-ridden us for two hundred years, by which we have exalted some of the most distasteful of human qualities into the position of the highest virtues” John Maynard Keynes
The robber barons of the U.S. firmly believed in monopoly profits. The government itself assisted the consolidation of U.S. industry.
The entire planet is already controlled by monopoly surplus capital and you are still worrying about monopolies?
Less than a dozen families in the Philippines control the allocation of 90% of the financial resources of the country…
J_AG, there are markets where natural monopolies can arise. The problem is we do not give the keys of the chicken kennel to the fox!
The reason why the US economy is in the poor shape it is in, is because banks became too big to fail. So much for moral hazard. As Simon Johnson a former chief economist at the IMF wrote (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice), the incestuous relationship between Wall Street and Washington mimicked the problem of captured regulation and booty capitalism so prevalent in developing countries.
ellen tordisillas breaks a bellwether, the latest SWS survey for the period Sept 5 and 6 2009 right after Mar’s withdrawal (to Koring’s chagrin):
NOYNOY TSUNAMI
“If the contest were minus Escudero, Aquino would get 55 per cent; Villar, 17 per cent; Estrada, 15 per cent, and De Castro, 8 per cent. Two percent said, “None†and one percent said “Don’t know.â€
If it were a three-cornered fight, Aquino would get 63 per cent; Villar 21 per cent; and De Castro 9 per cent. Two per cent volunteered the name of Estrada. Thre percent said “None†and undecided, one per cent.
As to running mate to Aquino, the team up with Roxas got the highest vote with 51 per cent; Aquino-Escudero with 49 per cent; Aquino- (Loren) Legarda with 46 per cent; Aquino- (Francis) Pangilinan with 43 per cent and Aquino- (Jinggoy) Estrada with 33 per cent.
The survey was conducted among 1,200 respondents in the Luzon regions which consists of 40 per cent of the country’s voting population. Margin of error of plus and minus three per cent.”
In what must be the most astonishing survey ever conducted in the post-Marcos era, SWS has just released what will probably be the talk of the town tomorrow.
ABS-CBN reports as follows:
“The survey was taken between Sept. 5 and 6 and was commissioned by a number of private individuals, including some members of the business community.
It was not a national survey but it covers Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Region 3 and Region 4A, an area that covers an estimated 40 percent of registered voters.
10 percent of the respondents belonged to the A, B and C classes, or the wealthy and middle class, while 90 percent belong to the D and E classes, or the poor.
Despite having declared his candidacy after the survey, a whopping 50 percent of respondents said they would vote for Aquino, followed by 14 percent who said they would vote for Sen. Manuel “Manny†Villar.
Statistically tied with Villar for second place is former president Joseph Estrada with 13 percent. Senator Francis “Chiz†Escudero had 12 percent and vice president Noli de Castro came in last with 7 percent.
Liberal Party leaders expected Aquino to benefit from public sympathy over the death of his mother, former President Corazon Aquino, but were surprised by how high his numbers are.
With 8 months to go before the election and his relatively late entry into the race Aquino is still putting his campaign together, but already he seems to have has become the front runner.
However, in an election season that is becoming full of surprises, the challenge is to keep those sky high numbers for falling back to earth.”
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Nobody has seen such numbers for a single candidate for a long, long time. It’s almost incredible. It’ll be controversial, that’s to say the least. But they are there. I guess Mahar Mangahas will defend those numbers. He’s no stranger to controversy.
Take note, those who adhere to an elitist conspiracy, that the survey was commissioned by “private individuals, including some members of the business community” (Makati Business Club?). But for what it’s worth, these numbers will surely resonate.
Robber barons, monopolists, the dozen or so families who control the allocation of 90% of Philippine financial resources at work here? Who knows? But Juan de la Cruz seems to be very much buying into the whole thing. The gods are speaking to the people.
It’s all about the narrative, my friends.
The passing of his mother, the commemoration of his father’s martyrdom, the sacrifice of Mar, no PR person could have carved a more perfect arc for the self-effacing Noynoy.
Without him spending a single centavo on ads or in building a machinery, to be on top of the heap at this point means that a bandwagon effect will become inevitable in the coming months.
They say that politics is addition, but I hope with such a huge margin in the onset, Noynoy becomes a bit selective with whom he chooses to coalesce. Since he has chosen to run on a platform of good governance, if he cuts deals now with vested interest groups, it will damage his credibility and diminish his ability to govern uprightly once he is installed in office.
Time for Villar, Estrada, Escudero, and de Castro to coalesce. Who will give way and who will take the top spot?
noli de castro is such a jackass and he does not want to be endorsed by the stupid arroyo government. and yet he did not do anything to rectify the mistakes of the arroyo government. he is truly a lame duck vice president with no conviction and principles. he is now a big mess. better to eat some noodles at matulog sa pancitan and finish your course on jackass 101.
“They say that politics is addition, but I hope with such a huge margin in the onset, Noynoy becomes a bit selective with whom he chooses to coalesce. Since he has chosen to run on a platform of good governance, if he cuts deals now with vested interest groups, it will damage his credibility and diminish his ability to govern uprightly once he is installed in office.”
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This will truly test Noynoy and his organization. While being so far ahead of the pack may be a strategist’s dream, it is an ideologue’s nightmare.
The bandwagon effect will only become more intense in the days and weeks to come. The “smart” money will move in. The wise guys will position themselves. These are very smart, very wily cookies. They know how to ingratiate themselves. They know how to say the right things, make the right moves. To describe these people as “magulang” is an understatement.
How to tell the chaff from the grain will be a monumental task. A few rotten apples can ruin a whole cart. We won’t be talking of a few rotten apples very soon. We’ll be talking of a deluge of rotten apples making a beeline what presently looks like the winner.
Having said that, after looking at those survey figures, it’s no wonder Mar Roxas did his “statesmanlike” act. His organization probably did their own surveys. Reality could not but set in after seeing those numbers. Eh, talagang nakatutok sila sa pader. No sense banging one’s head against the wall. Better to try for the next best thing – No. 2!
Markets where natural monopolies arise!!!! Since when has the financial markets become a natural monopoly?
The fox owns the chicken kennel. It has always been that way.
Who owns the running dogs in the Palace, Congress and Judiciary…? The chickens?
Participatory democracy means many sectors lesser animals compete for political power. Not mainly the foxes……
Democracy is only for those that participate. Those that are simply armchair revolutionaries do not count…
I will continue to work for the most wicked one in the coming elections. After all he is competing with the house money…
Remember the foxes make the rules and implement the rules by not enforcing them…
Foxes rule…
These are truly interesting times…
CVJ says that being wicked is evil…
However the very predicate of the rational argument of a free market mechanism is simply that selfishness (wicked is it not) is rational amongst all humans and therefore must be allowed freedom.
Please note that it is for societies that have already evolved to an exchange economy premised on the natural exchange of surplus..
But in the real world the problem stems on who controls and allocates the surplus. Ninoy Aquino’s family has been living on the blood toil and tears of the tenant peasant farmers for generations. Why not? Was it moral? No? Was it legal? Yes. Was it wicked? Yes Was it evil? You betcha!!!!!
So now this son of caciques is running as the archangel Michael to slay the devil?
Weighing on the wickedness of both Villar and Noynoy. Lamang pa si Noynoy… Unless there is a clear redemptive act on the part of Noynoy he remains to be a devil… Will he clearly reverse what his Mom did? She bastardized the most important law on distributive justice in the country for personal rational self interest. Noynoy even used the same argument that slave owners used to postulate. They (serfs) can’t handle freedom…
Was that wicked or not?