Noynoy: Roxas is my alter ego

Seeing these words on Inquirer dot net got me thinking:

• Are you sure Mr. President?  I was thinking Spongebob was your alter ego, but apparently, I'm wrong.
• Can Korina tell the difference?
• Shouldn't Ochoa be leading the transition team?

Is there anything barring Mr. President Aquino from taking the lead in the transition process?  Shouldn't he be directly leading his team in navigating through this rather tricky period?

Will leadership by delegation and proxy be the hallmark of his administration?

If you're wondering what I am talking about, here's an excerpt from the Inquirer story:

“We have the same mind-set, the same vision. In effect, he is representing me in a lot of aspects to be able to get the necessary data,” Aquino said in a press conference at his house in Quezon City. “We are getting ready to govern, so why would I not utilize the talents of Senator Roxas?”

Aquino has tapped Roxas to take the lead in his five-member presidential transition coordination team because of the latter’s expertise in fiscal data, having served as trade secretary in the Estrada and Arroyo administrations.

“We promise to have a handle on every single problem of the country as soon we take over,” Aquino said.

He said he also named former Trade Secretary Cesar Purisima to the team because of the latter’s inside knowledge of the government’s financial picture. (The other members of the team are Executive Secretary-designate Paquito Ochoa Jr., Liberal Party campaign manager Florencio Abad, and his daughter Julia Abad.)

All clear for first nationwide automated polls in RP

Yesterday, the Philippine Supreme Court's decision in favor of allowing the conduct of automated polls nationwide on May 2010 was leaked ahead of the high tribunal's official announcement. But it created nary a stir among those claiming to be champions of democracy and inheritors of one of the country's oldest political parties.

Instead, the Philippine media blasted the airwaves and flooded front pages with the sugar-free rush delivered by Senator Noynoy Aquino's buckling announcement of seeking the Presidency in the coming elections next year.

Today, this major development in Philippine politics would have goneby unnoticed until activist lawyer Harry Roque found it necessary to pick nits over the decision.

Roque, though unknown for winning any of the high profile cases that he has filed, has thought it best to ask the Supreme Court to cite Comelec Chairman Jose Melo in contempt for allegedly leaking the decision on the case he filed against Smartmatic-TIM -- the lone winning bidder for the electronic voting machines that will be used in the May 2010 elections.

In a five-page motion, the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), through lawyer Harry Roque, said Melo committed an improper conduct that tends to directly or indirectly impede, obstruct or degrade the administration of justice.

“If public respondent Melo can flaunt his commission or illegal acts in obtaining confidential proceedings of the Supreme Court, then, how can he be trusted with the sanctity of the electoral process,” petitioners said.

source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

The CCM pointed out the case of retired Supreme Court Justice Ruben Reyes, who was indefinitely suspended by high tribunal for leaking an unpromulgated court decision.

Senator Richard Gordon, who authored RA 9369 and steered the Oversite Committee on Electoral Reforms in order to assure funding for automated polls in 2010, bristled with optimism over the Supreme Court's decision.

In a statement released this afternoon, Gordon said:

The Supreme Court’s decision in favor of the automation of the may 2010 presidential elections is a very welcome development. It will pave the way for clean, honest, credible elections.

The decision effectively removed the legal barrier to the automation of next year’s elections. The ruling would allow the commission on elections to go full throttle in the preparations and implementation of poll automation.

An automated election will be a game changer. It will prevent those with Ph.ds in ‘daya-logy’ (cheating) from perpetrating their evil deeds. Years and years of cheating-ridden elections have already allowed them to acquire ph.ds in election manipulation.

Its speed and the fact that it will be the first nationwide automated elections in the country will ensure that the holders of ph.d in ‘daya-logy’ (cheating) will not have time to prepare for this system.

RA 9369 or the Amended Automated Election Law has enabled the country to hold automated elections in 2010 by taking out the barriers to its implementation.

When Gordon was pushing for this vital piece of legislation, other Senators deliberately delayed its passage by not participating in its interpellation and the sessions stalled a number of times because of a lack of quorum. Among those who stalled the passage of RA 9369 were Senator Mar Roxas, former Senator Cerge Osmena, and a couple of others.

As a result, the law was passed around January 23, 2007 with a mandate that allowed Comelec to immediately implement automated elections. However, the Comelec decided not to implement even the pilot phase of the automated elections -- a decision that this year became the basis for Attorney Harry Roque's petition against Smartmatic-TIM.

As far as discerning between those who pay lip service and those who actually work for a stronger democracy, it might be a good idea to consider what one Presidential candidate has done and what another Presidential candidate is just PROMISING TO DO.

Noynoy or Mar Roxas, for that matter, will not harp on their track record or the lack of it.

ABS-CBN and GMA 7 should stop accepting ad money from Presidentiables

If ABS-CBN and GMA7 really want to help the people make smart choices in the 2010 polls, they should do the following stop accepting TV and Radio ad placements from recognized or even rumored Presidential candidates. In fact, make it a policy not to accept money for airing TV and radio commercials that have political personalities in them.

This will really make their campaigns for Boto Mo, I-Patrol mo or whatever bullshit it is they are advertising REALLY mean

something more than a self-patronizing and self-aggrandizing play at showing everyone that they

"good" companies.

Huwag na tayong magbalat kayo at magkunwari na walang agenda ang mga news media. Halatang-halata naman eh.

Mar Roxas' pamamanhikan on Saturday

Seasite.niu.edu gives this definition of "pamamanhikan" under the section "Ligawan":

After a long courtship, if the couple later decide to get married, there is the Filipino tradition of pamamanhikan (from panik, to go up the stairs of the house), where the

man and his parents visit the woman's family and ask for her parents blessings to marry their daughter. It is also an occasion for the parents of the woman to get to know the parents of the man.

During pamamanhikan, the man and his parents bring some pasalubong (gifts). It is

also at this time that the wedding date is formally set, and the couple become engaged to get married.

Now, the reason why I am telling you about this is because Senator Mar Roxas is said to be planning to do his 'pamamanhikan' this coming Saturday at the home of Korina Sanchez's family.

This comes after a number of political publicity gim

micks which started with him shouting gutter language to signfiy his protest against Charter Change, coming out with a TV commercial in which he rode a pedicab, appearing in a noontime game show to announce his proposal of marriage to TV News host Korina Sanchez, and most recently, his attendance at a session at the Senate wearing a garlic garlands to ward off vampiric creatures in Congress who voted for HR 1109.

One wonders if some drama will unfold days before the supposed 'pamamanhikan'.

Will Judy Araneta Roxas, Mar's mother, threaten to disown him if he continues with his marriage plans? Will Mar then tell his mother that he'll endure being (relatively) poor just to be with the love of his life?

I wonder what Mar will be bringing as a pasalubong? Will it be a garland of bawang and several pieces of buntot page (which are the dried tails of skates or manta rays) that are items traditionally used to ward off aswangs or vampiric creatures.

Call me mushy, but I'll wait for this political sideshow. Who knows, Mar's survey ratings may just get another boost from this emerging pukefest.

Get your buckets ready!

Why not a political ad for values, instead of buwa or padyakitos?

This is going to be short.

Instead of using political TV advertisements to extoll one's efforts to help OFW's or brandish an avowal to fight for the common man's interests, why don't politicians come out with ads that urge or inspire people to adhere to certain values.

What Manny Villar and Mar Roxas are saying in their ads is, basically, that they understand the plight of the masses.  They are saying that are going to do everything they can, after they are elected to fight for the common man's cause.  It's an upmanship between billionaires to show off who can be more masa than the other and ultimately, merely a pretense to mask their real ambition.

When did they start caring for the masses?

For Mar, I think it was sometime when he was first appointed as Trade Secretary by Joseph Estrada.  Before that, he was a Congressman whose own district (if he really cared for it) remains a fourth class municipality.  If he didn't care for his own people, how can he really care for everyone else's plight.

I'll be fair with Villar, because as far as Las Pinas is concerned I think he has done some good for low-income families there.  But apart from giving away money, I don't know what else he can claim to have done for Las Pinas -- the city is very much plagued by nightmarish traffic and crime.

Anyway, as I said, it would be better to extol values... Like perhaps, love of country.

Mar and Korina, why can't I be happy for them?

I am so happy I can't stop laughing.

But my Facebook buddy and long time friend Louis the King from Upsilon had a different take. He said that the masa was so kilig by the Mar and Korina engagement announcement, it may just as well swing votes for Senator Roxas and this might win him the Presidency.

And, did you see the 50-ish bachelor cry because, like my candidate, the emotions were running a bit too high.

Hmmm...

In a land where people voted for Erap as President, this is very plausible. Then again, if surveys really count for anything, Mar seems to be lagging behind. Let's see if the wedding drama on noon time TV can work some magic for Mar.

I have nothing against Mar. I worked for him ages ago and I know he is a decent guy. If you want a relatively clean candidate, one who hasn't been accused of corruption, then he is your guy.

As congressman, he successfully got an education law enacted and as Trade Secretary, one of his pet projects was to give away computers under the Japanese funded PCs for Public Schools program.

Cheaper Medicines through parallel importation is a brainchild of his and we now have the Cheaper Medicines law -- where the cheaper medicines actually are, is another matter.

Whatelse did he do?

Well, he hurled choice gutter language at President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for choosing to push for Charter Change.

He's giving away lawyer services for those affected by the sinking of some pre-need plan companies.

He also rode a padyak or pedicab in a TV commercial -- one I really hate.

What more? Honestly, I don't know. That is what bothers me.

You can ask the same thing about Senator Manny Villar, Vice President Noli De Castro, Senator Loren Legarda and even Senator Chiz Escudero.

What more?

I am one with Better Philippines in his call to demand more from our candidates.

My suggestion is this, why don't we look at the 2010 Presidential elections as a job interview.

The job itself is very difficult and crucial. It is to lead the country out of the cess pool it is sinking in.

We need someone who knows what to do and where to go.

We need someone who not only claims to know what to do and where to go, but also has experience in saving people from tough situations.

We need someone who, beyond all of this, already has a long standing record of saving people from tough situations.

Does Mar have the backbone to really crack the whip on corruption? What if some of the people he has to battle are as rich and as powerful as he is or maybe even more powerful?

To get an inkling of Mar's political DNA and therefore find out what kind of leader he'll be, you have to do some research and find out what his grand father, Manuel Roxas I did during the Japanese Occupation.

After Quezon's departure, Roxas went to Mindanao to direct the local resistance.

In 1942 Roxas was captured by Japanese forces and was imprisoned as a prisoner-of-war at Bukidnon, Mindanao.

For fifteen weeks he was interrogated and threatened with death, rescued only by members of the Japanese puppet government under José Laurel's sponsorship.

He was returned to Manila and joined Laurel.

His records under the puppet regime was unclear.

A resistance group's offer in 1943 to extricate him was declined, "he either thought the plan unsafe or was feeling friendlier toward the enemy; it is impossible to tell", said William Manchester.

Dr. Emigidio Cruz, an army major and also Quezon's personal physician, infiltrated Manila and made contact with Roxas in fall of 1943, Roxas made known to Cruz that he had no interest to go to the United States, while at the same time did not report Cruz to Japanese authorities.

The next year another mission was planned to infiltrate another operative to speak to Roxas, but it was tipped off and everyone involved in that plot was beheaded, except for Roxas.

Records were not clear whether Laurel granted amnesty for Roxas, if the Japanese valued Roxas' presence in the puppet regime, or perhaps if Roxas was actually the source of the tip.

In Oct 1943, he helped to write the constitution of Laurel's government and signed the final draft. He later became the head of the Economic Planning Board and the Biba, the powerful branch of government that regulated rice distribution.

When Philippines was liberated by MacArthur's forces, Roxas was originally arrested under the charge of collaborating with the enemy, but MacArthur cleared him. His rank in the US Army was also reinstated.

Many Filipinos forgave his apparent collaboration for that he was rumored to had been a valuable inside agent for resistance fighters and guerrilla groups during Japanese occupation.

He assumed his elected position as the president of the Senate in 1945. In 1946 Roxas ran for presidency under the Nacionalista Party ticket, and defeated Sergio Osmeña; he won the election of 23 Apr and became the first president of the new independent Filipino republic.

Elpidio Quirino was his running mate who became the vice president.

Mar Roxas and Korina Sanchez engagement on Wowowee!

It was a status update on Facebook that tipped me off about Mar Roxas and Korina Sanchez announcing their engagement on Wowowee.

Could it really be love?

I'd hate to think that nothing is sacred any more and that even wedding plans can be used as a political gimmick. Then again, we have Sharon Cuneta and Senator Kiko Pangilinan, Vilma Santos and former Senator Ralph Recto, and Judy-Anne Santos and Senator Jamby Madrigal...

If this were a political gimmick of any sort, it would probably eat the cake -- literally. That is, if and when, the wedding actually pushes through.

Willy Revillame actually asked Mar Roxas when the actual date of the wedding would be and Mar didn't mention a specific date. He went into this winding diatribe about just how really simple they really are and that they're just contented to go through a drive-in (movie) which Mar later corrected to say drive through.

In anycase, I guess, I shouldn't pass judgement on the sincerity of the act displayed so publicly on one of the biggest noon time shows in the Philippines. I mean, after all, engagement announcements are often publicized in newspapers and for a billionaire like Mar, he can probably afford to do it on live television with millions watching. Only the best that money can buy for Mr. Palengke!

Any how! Is it really love?

I ask myself this question whenever I see a foreigner and a Filipina walking together along Mabini. I ask myself this question whenever I see websites or newspaper ads with the words, "Filipina Bride".

Who am I to doubt their motives?

Then again, if you watch Willie Revillame, it seems even he got a little green around the gills and got the bad sort of goosebumps that portend a major date with the porcelain bus.

Anyway, normally, newly engaged couples normally get the ribbing of their lives and here's my opening salvo...

It's not true that Mar Roxas originally wanted to announce his engagement to Korina on the corner of Ayala and Paseo De Roxas in Makati City by shouting, "Putangina! Ikakasal na ako!"

Wedding planners have factored in that the actual wedding, if it happens, will be at least three hours late. That's the time it takes to take a pedicab from Cubao to wherever the church is in Metro Manila.

Instead of the traditional freeing of doves that happens at wedding receptions, Mar and Korina will be freeing a flock of ducks. Senator Manny Villar was much relieved by the news -- then again, he didn't see that the menu included Peking Duck.

On their wedding night, Mar won't be calling his mother Judy Araneta for advice. Neither will Korina.

On their wedding night, Mar won't be calling his mother Judy Araneta for advice. Nope, we won't hear Judy say, "Mar, iho, just put your biggest thing in her hairiest thing." And to which Mar would reply, "Okay, my checkbook is in her armpit, what next?"

On their wedding night, we won't hear Judy say "Iho, just put your biggest thing in her hairiest thing." And to which Mar would reply, "Okay, my balakang is in her armpit, what next?"

On their wedding night, we won't hear Judy say "Por dios por santo iho! Get Boy Abunda out of the room first!"

On their wedding night, we won't hear Judy say "Iho, remember what I said about taking risks?", to which Mar said, "Yes Mama, you said 'a bird in hand is worth two in the bush." and to which Judy would say, "Iho, it doesn't apply to honeymoons."

On their wedding night, we won't hear Judy say "Que horror! Who put Jamby and Pia together in the same table?!! Was it you Korina?"

On their wedding night, we won't hear Judy say "Padyak! Padyak! Padyak!!!!!"

We certainly wouldn't want to hear, "Korina, I want you to meet Mr. Hoy! Hoy! Hoy!"

Mar Roxas the Padyakito Vs. Manny Villar the Itik Man

I am not looking forward to it but the recent Padyakito TV commercial of Senator Mar Roxas may portend other TV commercials that similarly pander to the sentiments of the lowly masses.

It will be a circus of sorts, probably with one billionaire Presidential candidate engaging in a trumpsmanship of sort. They'll probably try to portray themselves as more masa than the other.

And if it is a circus of sorts, will we see Senator Manny Villar eat a live duck? Entertaining? Yes. Helpful? Not at all.

What will these Presidential candidates think of next? Who will eat PAGPAG (food thrown in garbage bins, recycled, sold, and eaten by the poorest of the poor)?

Who will shout invectives at President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo just to show that they are really against her? (Ooops, Mar already beat everyone to that.)

Who will play as the Muslim sympathizer, just to show that they are for peace in Mindanao?

Come on, people.

We deserve better treatment from our politicians. The only way they will treat us better is if we demand that they treat us better and if we hold them to their word.

So, the next time you see Villar or Roxas on TV, switch channels!

Vote for a VET

Just today, I read that the administration is supporting Gilbert Teodoro as its Presidential bet for 2010.

Surveys have Noli De Castro in the lead followed by others like Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero and Erap.

It seems powerful and moneyed forces are trying to make up our minds for us.

Perhaps, apart from values, our choice of who we will vote for as President reflects how we see our country and the situation we are in.

When we vote, we are not voting just for ourselves, we are voting for someone who will do what is right for the common good. We are in dire straits.

In two or three years, we will begin to feel the real effect of the global financial crisis.

Corruption is everywhere. Crime is being perpetrated in broad daylight. Both the corrupt and the criminal are unafraid of law enforcers and judges. They know they can get away with it and this makes them bolder, more brazen.

Disasters. We get hit by 20 typhoons, at the very least, every year. Yet every year, we see nothing being done to stop the cycle of disaster and poverty. The same people who got hit by a typhoons last year are the same people who will get hit by typhoons this year. Those whose possessions got swept away by floods will the same ones whose possession will get swept away by floods this year. Fire? Where else but in the Philippines does the declaration of a Fire Month result in more fires than in any other time of the year.

Our people are either unemployed or trying to make ends meet with a job they are overqualified for. But that's nothing new and what is new is the ends to which desperation brings our countrymen. Afghanistan. Iraq. Name a place where there is a very high risk of getting killed, you'll find Filipinos working there.

Our education system is in shambles and it has been that way since time immemorial.

And those who are tired of this ought not to get sick as well. If you're poor, just waiting for treatment and medicines will bring you closer to the grave.

So, who do you vote for as President given these circumstances?

Young guns like Chiz Escudero and Gilbert Teodoro?

TV personalities like Noli De Castro and Loren Legarda? How about Manny Villar?

How about Mar Roxas or former President Joseph Estrada?

Or are you going to think and look for someone who has actual experience in lifing people out of desparate situations?

Do you think you need someone who has a track record for following through every commitment he has made?

Do you think we need someone with a clear vision for what ought to be done for this country at a time of crisis?

His name is Dick Gordon.

He turned Olongapo from Sin City to Model City.

He turned Subic from wasteland into a haven for tourism and investment.

He turned Philippine tourism from a lackluster department to the brightest beacon in the economy, with 2 million foreign tourists coming to the Philippines in 2003 from a low of just 900,000 in 2000.

As Senator, he authored, pushed for the enactment, and implementation of RA 9369 or the amended AUTOMATION LAW. This is the reason why we will have automated elections in 2010, no more hello garci. He now heads the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

In his committee report on the P732 Million Fertilizer Fund Scam he implicated President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, recommended plunder charges against Bolante and others, and filed 7 bills to plug up loop holes in the laws exploited by the group he referred to as a pack of wolves.

If you want the country to get through these dire straits, look for someone who knows how to navigate treacherous waters and who knows where to go.

In 2010, don't look for a good candidate. Look for a good leader. That's Dick Gordon.

Making change happen since 1971.

Better jobs in the Philippines through tourism very soon

In the 2010 Presidential elections, we can expect candidates to come up with all sorts of motherhood vision statements as well as platforms and plans.  Or put it in another way, they'll tell everybody about their general and specific election promises.  

One stupid arguement I got into was whether a motherhood vision statement was worse than a platform and plan, whether a general promise was worse than a specific promise.  I don't know if there was a debate, but both general and specific promises are worthless if they remain promises and can be seeds for uprisings of all sorts if they're broken.

However, there is one point I salvaged from the morass of almost pointless arguements and it is this, specific promises can be accounted for and general promises are most likely fulfilled by tricking it out with all sorts of semantics.

I think what is really worth discussing is not whether a motherhood vision statement is better or worse than a platform and a plan, but how to figure out which candidate can be believed.

Obama mouthed motherhood vision statements, one was "Hope" (not his brand of cigarettes) and "Change" (not barya or a bunch of coins).  But he also spoke about a lot of specific directions that his administration, if voted into office, would take like cutting the outsourcing of jobs in the US, coming up with a bail out plan for the US financial system, getting the US out of Iraq, and others.

Most Presidential candidates in the Philippines will most likely have general and specific promises on what they will do.  I will make a prediction about what those general and specific promises will be like.  They will center around claims of having solutions to the perennial problems of the Philippines.  They will center around so-called gut issues or issues that have to do with the provision of basic necessities.  Why?  Because these are the concerns of more than 80 percent of the voters in the Philippines because most of them are poor or think of themselves as poor.

These problems or issues are:

1. Poverty and the problems arising from poverty.

2. Education.

3. Unemployment and increasing under employment.

4. Agriculture or the country's capacity to produce its own food at an affordable cost.

5. Crime.

In addition to these problems and issues are higher level issues, if you can call it that:

1. Climate change.  Which is the spiffier term for enviromental preservation or conservation.

2. Corruption.

3. Disaster prevention and mitigation.  This is now being connected to climate change.

4. Charter change and other modes of political reform.

5. Population control or population management.  Can you tell the difference?

I don't know how many will vote for a Presidential candidate on the sole basis of better crafted general or specific promises.  

Ideally, if this were true, I'd probably hear our neighborhood's designated street sweeper (and he doesn't have a blog but drinks Bilog -- slang for gin) tell me that he is rooting for a candidate because of his or her stand on a move to legislate a minimum wage increase.  This would be a big step for somebody who just asks everybody for money whether he sweeps their street or not.  He'll probably vote for anyone who buys him his next drink, that is, if he is actually a registered voter and wakes up on election day to cast his vote.

Besides, it ain't a competition on who can come up with the best thesis for solving everything that ails the Philippines.  Not that it shouldn't be.

I still think that Filipinos choose who they will vote for as President based on likeability.

If the 'Hello Garci' tapes didn't surface, perhaps we would have reason to say that this isn't true.  Because then, there would be no doubt that more people voted for someone they didn't like as a person and less people voted for a beloved action star whom everybody in the Philippines grew up watching in movies.

And this is the problem that Mar Roxas, Manuel Villar, Loren Legarda and yes, Dick Gordon will all have to overcome.  Ordinary people wouldn't find them as likeable as, say, Piolo Pascual, Manny Pacquiao, or my favorite actor, Tom Hanks.

If you had been listening to Mar Roxas in the Senate's hearing on the Legacy financial scam, you would have probably heard him say, "Tignan niyo ang mga mukhang ito, ang mga mukhang inargabiyado ninyo.  Kaya, ito ang sasabihin ko sa inyo, hindi ko kayo titigilan."  All words delivered to the effect that he was championing the cause of people who had been taken advantage of.

Who wouldn't like a guy like that?  Besides, even when I was still working FOR him, I really found him to be very likeable.  He's a great guy, really goes out of his way to see how you're doing and will even swap jokes with you.

The whole hearing seemed to be climaxing to the designed effect of showing Mar as a champion of the poor.  That was, after of course, one of the people he had hauled into the hearing missed her line and instead of saying that she had made claims to the Securities and Exchange Commission, had blurted out that she filed claims with the Comelec.  Was it all scripted or what?  That really ruined the whole thing for me.

It was a good thing Mar didn't say, "Putang Ina ka Celso!"  as he did when he said "Putangina! Ano ba naman ito!?" at a rally against charter change in the Makati Business District. 

Manny Villar has a similar gimmick and it is most often seen in the TV commercial of him holding a duck.  Loren Legarda recently had a commercial pitching for 'Pagbabago' and for a few seconds, I thought it was another pitch for Lucida.

Dick Gordon, however, is pursuing likeability too but his approach is kind of traditional in a sense.  He kinda thinks that if he does his job well and does something that will do people good, people will like him.  He also kinda thinks that fulfilling promises and doing what you say is a likeable trait.

When he ran for the Senate in 2004, he promised to improve the country's tourism industry and just recently, the Senate and the House of Representatives approved the final version of the Tourism Act of 2008 -- a law which he authored. 

Here's an article in Manila Times which explains some of the aspects of the Tourism Act.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Govt, private sector, Senate boost tourism 

By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Correspondent 

WITH tourism taking center stage in the Arroyo Administration, Sen. Richard Gordon said he expects the government to use this untapped sector to prop up Philippine economy amid the global financial crisis.

Gordon said tourism as the biggest industry in the world could be the principal growth engine to pull up the country’s economy.

Gordon said such is now possible with the expected signing of the Tourism Act next week, which he sponsored in the Senate.

He said: “This measure will definitely boost domestic tourism as it will provide the necessary infrastructures to invigorate local productivity. An increased productivity means more jobs for the people and more revenues for the government.”

Gordon said the Tourism Act would provide changes for putting in place the necessary regulations and infrastructure, which will make tourism more competitive in the international market.

As it happened, the World Economic Forum has downgraded the Philippines’ global ranking on competitiveness in travel and tourism to 86th in 2008 from 81st in the previous year. In its Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008, World Economic Forum reported that the country scored 3.73 points among 133 countries in the world.

But Robert Lim Joseph, chairman emeritus of National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas), said the country could bounce back, adding that the global economic crunch has opened an opportunity to boost domestic tourism. He cited the price war for the lowest fare among local air carriers and the discounts offered by hotels that make travel very affordable to ordinary Filipinos.

Moreover, Mrs. Arroyo in Boracay recently stated that the Philippine tourism industry would withstand the global economic crisis as evidenced by tourist arrivals in the country’s key destinations in the first month of 2009.

At a tour of Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort & Spa before a Cabinet meeting on tourism development in the region, the President said the government would continue to spend more on tourism improvement.

Gordon, on the other hand, said the Tourism Act, once signed, provides for the creation of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and Tourism Economic Zones. It grants investor’s perks such as a six-year tax holiday, extendable as needed, and a 5-percent tax on gross income.

However, he said the new law would promote community tourism in lieu of domestic tourism, where residents preserve, protect and promote tourism spots in their localities and are friendly and helpful to tourists and travelers.

Echoing the ideas of Naitas such as the multi-school gathering of tourism students in Letran, Gordon said now is the time to develop the culture of tourism.

He said it did not have to be costly and grand as it involves keeping the streets safe and clean for all, not just tourists. An example, he said, would be picking up litters in the streets.

As the Tourism Act aims to generate ideas from the bottom to the national level, the senator said it would empower local communities to participate in a tourism master plan.

On the private sector side, Joseph said the government could give tax rebates to citizens who patronize local tourism and to tour and travel establishment that cooperate with the government in this program.

At the same time, the government can help by building new and improving old roads and bridges in various localities.

Joseph said local tourism at the village level would create jobs and mitigate the massive unemployment that is expected to result from the economic crisis.

He said this way, Philippine tourism and travel sectors will not only survive but will be in stronger position to exploit the rebound in global travel once the recession is over.

For shame, will it be Philippine politics as usual in 2010?

Perhaps, the only other thing that can save us at this point from Philippine politics as usual in 2010 is if the news media abandons its penchant for horse race chronologies and encourage more debate among the Presidential candidates about the difficult problems confronting our nation today.

Granted that the greatest problem we have or have had for as long as anyone can remember is poverty.

Let's ask Manny Villar how many people he has lifted out of poverty. Sure, we all love seeing him holding an obviously drugged duck as much as we loved seeing Mar Roxas holding bangus by the tail with his thumb and forefinger. But what of it? Is there any truth to his advertising? Does he really know the duck raiser he is seen with? Was the duck raiser given a talent fee?

Moreover, let's ask Villar, how many OFWs has he really helped out. Is it more than five? Ten? Twenty?

Let's ask why Mar Roxas raised a howl over cap and not other pre-need firms. Sure he is offering lawyers NOW, but what did he do then? Did he help out sans publicity?

How about Noli De Castro. What about him? Well, it's one thing to take credit for something you didn't do and another to use other people's money to brag about it.

Pag-IBIG Fund and the billions of pesos it has all belong to the people who contribute to it. Doesn't it sicken you to have this former TV broadcaster going around and claiming or insinuating to claim that he has made Pag-IBIG Fund perform better? Hello! That's largely the work of one Miro Quimbo, the President and CEO of Pag-IBIG Fund.

The other thing that perhaps will save us from Philippine politics as usual in 2010 has already commenced and it is the AUTOMATION of the 2010 POLLS.

This is more than just a claim of helping people in need. This not an advertisement. This is REAL CHANGE brought to you by the same man who brought you Olongapo City and Subic.

How many people has he helped?

In Olongapo alone, count the entire population from the time that he became mayor to the present.

In Subic? Their names are engraved in stone, all 8,000 volunteers who stood up to 'Preserve, Protect, and Prosper'. You can add another 80,000 for all those who got jobs when Gordon successfully made Subic into a major tourism and investment hub NOT JUST in the Philippines but in the WHOLE OF ASIA.

Tourism? By the end of his term as tourism secretary, he successfully brought in 2,000,000 tourists a year in 2003. Every foreign tourist coming to the Philippines supports the job of at least 10 Filipinos. Do the math.

As Philippine National Red Cross Chairman? He started out as a Red Cross volunteer when he was 17 and we have no way of listing down all the people he has helped. But just recently, he was able to build 15,000 homes in a span of three years for victims of several typhoons. Name a disaster and he has surely played some part in helping victims out.

Remember typhoon Frank? He was all over Iloilo and other other provinces, delivering high capacity water sanitation equipment, medicine, food, doctors, nurses, and a whole lot of other stuff people will need to survive.

If you want a list of all the disasters he has helped people out of, I can furnish you a list and its quite long. Just post you e-mail address in the comment section.

The question you really have to ask is this: Does this country need a great Presidential Candidate or a Great Leader?

If you want a Great candidate, any of the moneyed and popular aspirants will do.

If you want a Great Leader, there is only DICK GORDON.

Want out of ennui? Vote for Dick Gordon. Vote for Transformational Politics.

Ennui is a word meaning general lack of interest or boredom, or depression.
-- wikipedia

I am just soooo tired of everything.

I want to scream "Stop the WORLD! I want to get off!"

Yesterday, I updated my status on Facebook after hearing Mar Roxas give a number of reasons why the First Gentleman's presence in the Senate Hearing on the World Bank Scandal was not required.

I said that I wanted the First Gentleman there precisely to see if he'll get a heart attack.

It sounds cruel and inhuman, for sure.

Think of the repercussions if the First Gentleman sticks his tongue out and keels over dead on the floor of one of Senate's session halls.

We can count on all of our Senators to say that the First Gentleman was a good man and all the usual crap that gets said when somebody dies.

Then again, would it be so different if he keeled over on some Golf Course?

Same thing I guess.

The reason why I am suffering ennui is that for the past eight years, I've been on the receiving end of bad news about our President and the First Gentleman.

I think the real PR strategy here is to make it seem that corruption is the norm. The strategy is to inundate the people with so many stories about how corrupt the First Couple are so that everyone will go numb. Then the real rape will begin, if it hasn't commenced already.

Just how much money has already been stolen from the nation's coffers? No one knows.

Aren't you sick of this shit?

This is exactly what happens when you pick a President because of factors other than being qualified for the job. The three years before Gloria ran for President and the three years that Estrada spent as President should have been enough to convince people that neither Gloria nor Erap's Proxy deserved the votes they were getting or stealing.

This is exactly what happens when the media portrays a Presidential race as either a horse race or a boxing match. This is what happens when the purveyors of information, spew stories about popularity and wealth as basic determiners of who will win in 2010. This is what happens when people like John Nery says that the 2010 elections are all set!

I for one have already registered and I picked my candidate early.

He's not a front runner in Presidential surveys. He is not a billionaire. He doesn't have a party, well not yet.

But do you know what he's got?

He has a forty year track record proving that he can lead people from dire situations and bring them to deliverance. The first time he did that was in the 1980s, in Olongapo.

To prove that his accomplishment wasn't a fluke, he did it again with the Subic Naval Base -- a facility that was a wasteland when he got to manage it and this was a time when the entire Central Luzon region was struggling with the aftermath of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.

And then, for a third time, he proved himself on a national scale with tourism. Before him, tourism was called a minor cabinet position and he proved that there was no such thing as a minor cabinet position.

When he became Secretary of Tourism, it didn't have a promotions budget and the country was besieged on all sides with negative publicity, tourists avoided the Philippines like a plague infested village. He worked his ass off, reversed the declining number of tourist arrivals, and at the end of his term as Tourism Secretary, he managed to get 2,000,000 tourists to come to the Philippines.

That is why you have your Boracay, your Panglao, your Donsol, your Cebu, your Intramuros, your Vigan, your Laguna, and other tourist destinations that make YOU PROUD TO BE A FILIPINO!

If you want CHANGE, this man is THE MAN.

REAL CHANGE ISN'T MERELY SOMETHING DIFFERENT, IT'S SOMETHING THAT IS COMPLETELY NEW.

Olongapo was a first. So was Subic. So was Wow Philippines.

And it isn't something that is MERELY NEW, CHANGE should represent a major departure towards something BETTER than whatever we had in the past.

That's why he pushed for and succeeded in getting the Comelec to FINALLY go through with Automated Elections in 2010.

That's why he pushed for and succeeded in getting the Tourism Law passed so that our economy will have another engine for economic growth -- better than OFW remittances and billion dollar investments that hardly create enough jobs.

Tourism is a future industry that will make it possible for our OFWs to find jobs in their HOME LAND, so at the end of a long day showing the foreigners how GREAT our land is and how GREAT we are as a people, he can come home to his wife and children!

That's why I say, vote for Dick Gordon.

In my book, all the other candidates are the same. Moneyed and popular, with nothing else to show or prove that they deserve to be the President of the Republic of the Philippines.

Flash Gordon!

Flash Gordon!

Are we there yet?
By Bong Austero

It’s been quite some time since I last heard Senator Richard Gordon deliver a formal speech. Like most everyone else, I’ve only been catching snippets of the Atenista senator in television coverage of some Senate hearings, which unfortunately, often shows the senator in various stages of agitation and exasperation. Needless to say the images are often unflattering because quite frankly, very few people look good—or for that matter, dignified- when they are about to commit the equivalent of verbal homicide.

If it is any consolation, at least Senator Gordon has not been caught throwing a monstrous tantrum, flailing around like a spoiled child, and striking blindly at anyone within reach. Or, okay, at least not yet.

I have forgotten just how eloquent and engaging he is or can be as a public speaker. Or how infinitely more intelligent—at least sensible—he is compared to the other people who walk the corridors of power in this country, including his colleagues in the Senate who swagger around with their giant egos but often mouth gibberish. Or for that matter, just how inspiring it is to listen to a public figure who actually knows how to work a crowd, not through some cheap song-and-dance routines and through dubious smoke-and-mirror tricks, but through sheer logic, sincerity, and passion.

I had the privilege of being at a gathering of human resource professionals last week, which featured Senator Gordon as keynote speaker. The Richard Gordon that I witnessed last week had a wider girth and was, well, older, compared to the man that was the toast of the town almost two decades ago when he transformed Subic Bay into a showcase of what the Filipino can do once he sets his mind to it. But everything else was the same —the passion, the oratorical prowess, and most of all, the overwhelming faith and affection for this country and for its people.

A number of questions were running through my mind during the first 20 minutes of his speech, which, by the way was delivered extemporaneously. Why isn’t this guy out there as a possible frontrunner in the 2010 presidential elections? Why can’t we have more politicians like him—people who actually believe in this country and its people and look like it too? And even more telling, how come competent people like him with the vision, the burning passion, the competencies, won’t probably get elected into the highest seat of the land?

Let’s face it. There are very few politicians in this country that can hold a candle to the man in terms of manifested passion, overall intelligence, eloquence or oratorical skills. I mean, just how many politicians can deliver a finely textured rendition of Lord Alfred Tennyson, at a moment’s notice and completely from memory? Not that being able to recite The Charge of the Light Brigade or Ulysses automatically qualifies anyone as superior, but it sure is a good indicator.

And certainly, fewer still are strategic thinkers who can formulate a compelling vision of a desirable future. It’s sad, really, really sad that many of our leaders cannot see beyond the present. As someone once said, action without a clear vision is just passing time.

There is absolutely no doubt about it: Gordon is infinitely more qualified to run for the highest post in the land compared to other monkeys that threaten to turn the 2010 presidential elections into a circus.

Why then is Richard Gordon not being considered seriously as Presidential timber? The answer dawned on me during the last twenty minutes of his address last week and it was a disheartening realization as it is a reflection of the state of the maturity of our voting population.

Gordon is not out there as a frontrunner in the presidential derby because he doesn’t seem to have the billions required to finance an expensive presidential campaign; or if he does, he knows only too well that he would have to recover the “investment” one way or the other, most likely through shady deals, if and when he gets elected into office.

He is not a front-runner because he is a stickler for discipline and the rule of law, unlike other politicians who have no compunctions about campaigning early and already spending hundreds of millions in television ads a good year and a half before the actual elections.

In a brazen display of self-importance, Bayani Fernando has decorated our major thoroughfares with giant tarpaulins of his grim visage, in the process assaulting millions of Filipinos everyday. Wherever he goes, he has a brigade of pink-shirted men and women distributing campaign materials.

Senators Manny Villar and Mar Roxas have been campaigning hard since last year. They have upped the ante by producing slick television advertisements that extol themselves as the panacea for our country’s many ills.

While it can be argued that Villar and Roxas are wealthy individuals who are supposedly—although this is met with well-deserved skepticism—spending their own money, they are clearly violating electoral laws by launching their campaigns very early on. Pray tell, what kind of message are Villar and Roxas sending? That they are above the law?

Gordon is not a front-runner because we are a people who don’t like leaders who tell us sobering truths. We prefer leaders that entertain, make politically-incorrect and sexist jokes, make promises that cannot be implemented anyway, and in general, make band-aid solutions to major problems that require surgery and chemotherapy. We certainly don’t like candidates who tell us unequivocally that we are all part of the solution, that our problems are best solved if we all practice good citizenship and do our bit in making this country work. Thanks but no thanks but we’d rather have candidates who fancy themselves as in possession of superhuman powers that they can solve our problems all by their lonesome selves.

I am not saying of course that Gordon is the best man for the job, but he certainly deserves consideration. All I am saying is that in an ideal democracy, he should be a front-runner out there. Unfortunately, we’re stuck in this rut where landing on top of surveys is seen as blanket substitute for qualification, where money is considered the ultimate advantage, where populist strategies win over the principled, etc.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer Blinks on 'Red Cross under fire' Editorial

This is a personal reaction to a rejoinder to an editorial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled "Red Cross under fire".

Corazon Alma De Leon, secretary general of the Philippine National Red Cross has already issued a rejoinder to the Inquirer editorial (posted 23:57:00 01/26/2009) with particular reference to its last paragraph:

“If this is so, this will have an effect on domestic humanitarian workers, particularly as the emerging presidential candidacy of the current Red Cross chair, Richard Gordon, might provide a pretext for such syndicates to think Red Cross workers are actually campaign workers — and so subject to the ‘usual’ election-related violence and intimidation.”

De leon asserted that:

First, Red Cross staff and volunteers are not Gordon’s campaign workers. And those who were kidnapped are ICRC members, not PNRC’s; they are not the least bit interested in the political developments in this country. In fact, as humanitarian workers, they are not allowed to engage in any political activity.

Second, the insinuation that Gordon is using the PNRC or the ICRC for his political ends may severely undermine our operations and fund-raising efforts and prevent us from addressing the humanitarian concerns of numerous communities and victims of war, disease and abuse. Since its establishment in 1947, the PNRC has been relying on donations for our humanitarian activities.

Third, Gordon has been a Red Crosser for 40 years. Since he became chair of the Red Cross, he has raised hundreds of millions of pesos to help alleviate human suffering in this country. Not a single centavo was ever used to promote Gordon’s political ambitions.

Under Gordon’s watch, the PNRC has become a donor society (having given relief assistance to Burma, Indonesia, China and Louisiana, USA) and the leading international humanitarian organization in the country, in terms of quality services provided and the number of people served. And Gordon has made the PNRC modern and efficient. He was awarded the 2001 Silver Humanitarian Award for his outstanding volunteer efforts in alleviating human suffering and the 1991 Aurora Aragon Quezon Peace Award, Philippine National Red Cross (Highest National Award). His accomplishments speak for themselves. They are not political gimmicks.

The Inquirer had what it thinks is the final say stating that:

The editorial merely pointed out that with Gordon being talked about as a possible presidential candidate, terrorists may use this “buzz” as an alibi to justify “an evolving tactic of assaulting even humanitarian workers.” It did not mean to insinuate that Gordon is in fact using Red Cross people for political ends. We regret that Ms De Leon and others in the PNRC came away with this interpretation. — Editor, Philippine Daily Inquirer

In my view, I think the Inquirer may have conveniently reached into the realm of the hypothetical without any basis in fact.

It appears to assert what is clearly an insinuation that Gordon as Red Cross Chairman and Gordon as emerging Presidential candidate equals assaults on humanitarian workers.

The thing is, if this can be said of Gordon as an EMERGING Presidential Candidate, proof of this line of thought would be found if Mar Roxas' Botika ng Bayan or Markets were attacked. Or perhaps if Manny Villar's Villar Cup Billards competition were attacked.

Does the Philippines have a leader like US President Barack Obama?

I've got two answers right now: No and maybe.

My answer is NO, because all the comparisons made between President Obama and any politician running for the Philippine Presidency is going to end up as a joke.

On one hand, I've heard enough jokes about Jojo Binay being a Philippine analogue to Obama. The idea is so revolting it's enough to make me snort squid ink and dance the Macarena in a bikini in the middle of EDSA at high noon.

On the other hand, can any of SWS Presidential Survey frontrunners lay a claim to being the bringer of hope and change? Of course they can! Silly! They can claim anything under the sun but will it do us any good to believe them?

My answer to 'Does the Philippines have a leader like Obama?' is also MAYBE, because there are still choices outside of the current crop of Presidential survey frontrunners.

I don't think money and popularity should be considered when making a choice for President. The only thing you have to think about is if the person presenting himself or herself as a Presidential candidate can do the job.

You can look at the Philippine Constitution and it lists the basic qualifications for a President. The qualifications aren't that hard to measure up to, because apparently all you have to do is to be born a Filipino and reach a certain age. This is both good and bad because it means anybody can be a President and that anybody can be an individual with exceptional qualities or it can be just the worst choice anybody can make.

In anycase, what a President actually does or what a President ought to do depends largely on the situation that the country is in.

It's not hard to figure out what kind of situation our country is in right now because we've been in the same situation for decades and most of our problems stem from this situation.

The situation is easily described with four words: The Philippines is poor.

The job, therefore, of the President (at least in my opinion) is to lead the country out of poverty.

Have any of the so-called frontrunners in Presidential surveys proven that they can lead people out of poverty?

How many people has Senator Manny Villar helped out of poverty? How about Noli De Castro? Loren? Lacson? Bayani Fernando? Mar Roxas?

Obama in the Philippines

I missed the live TV coverage of President Barack Obama's Inauguration last night.

After waiting around two hours for it (switching between CNN, Fox, and BBC), I found myself fighting vainly against what would become the irresistible pull of sleep.

I snored through the first black US President's inaugural address and now have to content myself with just reading the text of his speech.

It is a great speech and from the snippets being replayed on TV news, I can gather a sense of how truly thrilling his delivery was.

The question now on my mind is what this historic US Presidency will mean for the Philippines.

Being great at mimicking or aping whatever fad there is in the US, I am sure our own politicians will present us with their INNER OBAMA and certainly, they will find a way to make the masa lap it up or at least, make it seem that they are lapping it up.

Will the Philippine Presidential Elections in 2010 be like a talent show where the winner will be the candidate who can come up with the best imitation of Obama?

It was a joke then and still is now, but Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay referred to himself as the first Black Filipino Presidential candidate. He refered to himself as Jejoma and the joke got a few laughs before people got tired of it.

Other politicians who are eyeing the Philippine Presidency are trying to project an Obama-like image, with some blatantly claiming to represent change. From the top of my head I can cite at least Loren Legarda and her pagbabago TV Ad, Mar Roxas and his Oras na campaign (Our time has come), and perhaps even Chiz Escudero.

Survey frontrunners Vice President Noli de Castro and Senator Manny Villar haven't associated themselves or their looming candidacies with the message of change. De Castro is or was largely seen in TV ads hawking Pag-IBIG Fund (though it was unnecessary to spend tens of millions of pesos sourced from contributions of members on a tri-media campaign just to have his face all over the country). Villar crows about helping OFWs (about a few dozen out of the 8 million Filipinos that have sought employment abroad).

Bayani Fernando, the pink loving MMDA Chairman, was last seen on TV hanging on the barong sleeves of Former President Fidel Ramos. As to what this signifies is something that I have yet to decifer.

Former President Joseph Estrada is still peddling the idea of running again for the Presidency and it seems that this is gaining some traction in the surveys.

Given the way things are, I doubt if we will have a President like Obama with the way a great number of our people think about how the political game ought to be played.

Politics in the Philippines, for the most part, is not based on values or ideals but opportunism -- which some times is brazen and sometimes is well camouflaged as a sincere bid to help people out.

If there was someone among our politicians who is truly like Obama, I doubt if people will vote for him.

Filipinos in the Philippines love having it easy and having their way (even if it is the wrong way) about things. Filipinos here will vote for a politician depending on what they can get from the politician whether it's a few hundred pesos for voting for them or a job after they are elected or a fat government contract.

(More later, I have to give my kid a bath)

Supreme Court Chief Justice Puno as Philippine President?

Thank God he nixed it.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno turned down an offer to be a Presidential Candidate in 2010 and said that he would be content to be the catalyst for the creation of a "moral force" movement to help solve the country's problems rather than seek the presidency in next year’s elections.

Yesterday, Senator Panfilo Lacson was on DZMM saying that he would gladly step aside and abandon any Presidential ambition he had if Puno would run for the Presidency in 2010.

Puno, thanked Lacson for his endorsement but said:

"I don't want to be pretentious. I will be happy if I will just be a catalyst of this movement. I am willing to be one of the foot soldiers. But perhaps it may not be appropriate to take leadership while I am in the government acting as Chief Justice."

Fine, except for his use of the word 'pretentious' instead of the more correct 'presumptious'.

Nevertheless, what he said may be indicative of the Supreme Court Chief Justice's view of what will be best for the national interest. Perhaps he knows that it takes more than morality to lead a country as morality can always be questioned. Also, if you want strict morality in government, you'd be in the same basket as Islamic fundamentalist states -- think Afghanistan before the US invasion.

Perhaps, also, he saw through the political gimmick pawned and pumped through the media by Senator Lacson. After all, it was Lacson who donned the image of Mr. Clean when he ran against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after refusing to relinquish his Presidential bid in favor of supporting actor Fernando Poe Jr. The ploy (if it is a ploy) would have been aimed at making people remember what Lacson stands for -- anti-corruption, an end to criminality, etcetera.

This comes at the beginning of the year before the 2010 elections when Presidential Candidates (declared and undeclared) are now all trying to place themselves in the minds of people.

If the SWS survey results on choices for Presidential Candidates are to be believed, Lacson is fifth (with 14 percent drafting him as they choice for President) from pole position which is currently owned by Vice President Noli De Castro. Coming in second and third were Senators Loren Legarda and Manny Villar with 28 percent and 27 percent, respectively, followed by Senators Francis Escudero (19 percent), former President Joseph Estrada (11 percent), and Sen. Mar Roxas (10 percent).

Going back to Puno and the idea of a moral Presidency, Cory Aquino was the moral choice in governance, but the years that followed her rise to power proved that mere morality will not cure all that ails our government. It takes so much more.

We've had moral choices offered to us too in the 2004 elections. When Lacson ran in 2004, there were other moral choices including Raul Roco and Eddie Villanueva. The immoral choice was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the popular choice was Fernando Poe Jr., and the insane choice was Eddie Gil.

But were these choices really choices? Did they represent real options and real directions for governance?

I am not saying that morality has no place in politics, the romantic ideal of a benevolent and powerful leader still appeals to me. However, morality ALONE does not make for effective political leadership.

If you asked me, I'd rather go for a candidate with a track record for being a builder of new beginnings rather than one with an image of a destroyer or preserver of a status quo. I'd go for a candidate with a clear plan, a vision, for the country's future.

That's Dick Gordon.

Sure, he isn't in the surveys and the Pedestrian Observer may chide me -- as he or she already has for comparing Gordon with Obama.

Was it a story in the Bible or a often quoted phrase that says he who can be trusted with a portion, can be trusted with the whole.

Gordon began his political career as a Constitutional Convention delegate in 1971, the youngest ever to be elected. He had no political backing (which should have come from his mother, Amelia Gordon) and no funds, but he won and became the youngest delegate.

He didn't run for his own sake. He was actually part of the generation that led the First Quarter Storm and in the Con-Con, he opposed a term extension for then President Ferdinand Marcos. This was apart from introducing the idea of the Philippines sharing control over the US Naval base in Subic, which in those times was considered visionary.

He became Mayor of Olongapo and everybody knows about how his small town became a model for city governance. If New York City had Rudolf Giulliani, the Philippines had Richard 'Dick' Gordon in the very real sense of transforming a filthy and crime infested town into a model city that had color code jeepneys, effective neighborhood anti-crime patrols, a garbage collection and segregation system that was the first in the country, a good samaritan program where all the rich citizens of Olongapo generously gave to the needy, and other city programs that were emulated all over the country.

He became Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman. When he was put in charge of Subic, it was a wasteland with almost nothing in it. After a couple of years of hard work with no guarantees, he turned the former Naval base into what then President Ramos called a new engine for growth and a magnet for investment in industry and tourism.

He became Tourism Secretary with no promotion budget and all sorts of negative news about the Philippines. Instead of saying 'Kawawa naman tayo', he shouted 'Wow Philippines' in almost every major tourism marketing event there was and brought in a whopping 2 million tourists a year by the end of 2003-- straight up from less than 1 million a year in 2001.

Right now, he is a Senator who is known for a couple of important things --

He is the father of Automated Elections in 2010. He virtually dragged his colleagues at the Senate to amend the existing Automated Elections law to make it work and dragged a couple more people in the Comelec to make sure we will no longer have Hello Garci in 2010. He is working to make sure that every body's vote will be counted in the coming elections.

He is also the author of the Text for Change bill, a proposed law that will get 10 to 50 centavos out of every peso earned by Smart, Globe, and Sun and pour these funds into public education. At the current P 2 Billion text messages a day, this will generate as much as P70 Billion in funds that will be added to the budget for public education. This means an end to classroom and teacher shortages, better books, science and computer laboratories in all public schools, higher teacher salaries, free food all year round for students, free medical and dental services, and to top it all off, scholarships for 100,000 college students -- 10,000 of which will be sent abroad to study in Ivy League Universities.

Pinoy Biz is now Pinoy Buzz

Laurence a. k. a. Words for Moolah, Angry Manileno, and Pinoy Media Insider drove home a very good point about my blog's title.

My blog, as it is now, doesn't having anything to do about business in the strict sense of the term and this may be misleading people, thwarting return visits.

Several things confirm this.

Both my bravenet and webstats motigo counters indicate that less than 25 percent of my visitors return to my blog.

The reports from Google Analytics were better at explaining this because it indicated that a fair amount of visitors bounced or clicked away when I posted the articles about blogging for money. The visitors that did stay and read a couple of pages were the ones that had to do with current news (the Pangandaman-Dela Paz Valley Golf Club Brawl).

So, considering my friend's opinion and looking at the data, I've decided to change my blog's title while keeping the URL for the meantime.

The content, as it has been for the past couple of days, will be about my own quirky views about Philippine politics and the media that covers it.

Blogging for Greenbacks (Part 6): Finding content that drives up traffic

I have stumbled upon a way to get free traffic to my blog that bothers the conscience of my good, old friend who writes Words for Moolah. It is effective but, if you have the same kind of scruples as Words for Moolah, then you should probably not try it at all.

It's not like I posted naked pictures of Charice Pempengco or Manny Pacquiao or Miley Cyrus.

His beef with this approach is this:

my good friend paul has been encouraging me to link up with blogs that feature posts concerning hot current events. one such issue he recommended that i ride (sakyan) is the one about that much talked about fight that cemented the philippine's reputation for producing world class boxers, the de la paz-pangandaman brawl.

...riding on hot issues by posting on relevant blogs is one way of harnessing the power of networking. but there's a problem...

i don't want to appear like i'm criticizing how other bloggers drive up traffic to their sites because i'm not. i'm simply saying that this approach is a little too cheesy for my taste.

don't get me wrong i love cheese. in fact, i can recommend cheese as a topping for any viand except maybe for "paksiw." but, i digress.

the simple fact is i'm just not yet comfortable with the idea of commenting on another person's blog if my dominant motivation for doing so is to boost traffic to my own site.

A good number of people posted entries regarding Bambi Dela Paz Blog and commented on that blog. The number of omments on her entry on December 26 titled The world has gone crazy reached 1,301 as of January 9, 2009 4:20 PM and the number of comments will continue piling on.

I don't know how many people reposted Bambi's entry in their own blogs but certainly, a lot of people I know through Facebook read the notes posted on it. Former ABS-CBN TV reporter Weng Orejana even posted an appeal on Mar Roxas' Facebook wall asking for him to do something about it.

Which actually gets me to wondering why other politicians didn't speak against the Pangandamans -- well except Senator Aquilino Pimentel. Are they afraid of political retribution in the 2010 polls? Lanao Del Norte, after all, is vote rich -- even the dead and newly born vote there. If I am mistaken about this, please correct me.

In any case, before I digress further, the point is that of the 1,301 people who commented on Bambi's entree there were a number who left their blog's URL in the comment and ostensibly even asked others to go to their blog.

Besides the bad karma one reaps from capitalizing on the misfortune of others, one other thing that Words for Moolah may really be ranting against is the unsophistacation and lack of subtlety of some commenters when it comes to blog spamming. Because, in essence, that is what it really is.

Sure, leaving your URL or link in high traffic blogs will get people to visit your blog. But what happens when somebody your link and finds that your blog has absolutely nothing to relevant to whatever it is they are interested in?

No shit Sherlocke! They will navigate away from your blog and probably not visit it again.

Having talked about the wrong thing to do, let me tell you about the right thing to do when trying to get traffic from hot items on the blogosphere or in the news.

One good source of web traffic, as I have said, is the news and another is the blogosphere. Put those two together and you've got a good place to search for ideas for blog entries that will generate traffic.

Here is how I figure it, if something is on the news, it indicates that a lot of people should be interested in it. More to the point, referring to news items automatically gives you current, popular words and names in particular combinations that people are looking for.

You have to bear in mind that when people log on to Google or Yahoo Search, they won't type the name of your blog. Duh! By using current and popular searched for words, you will increase your chances of getting someone to stumble upon your blog.

Figure out number of people log on to search engines, then figure out how many people are typing those search words, and figure on just one percent of one percent, then you'll probably arrive at pretty enormous number which indicates potential traffic. Between that number and the number of hits you actually get is another matter all together which will depend on a number of factors, including your ranking in search results.

Search words are different from keywords as it is used in SEO.

What I do to figure out what news item would be a good source of traffic is to look at several news sites. I look at what online newspapers are posting are posting in their headlines or top stories and after that, I look at what is in their breaking news.

I am an avid visitor of at least four news websites and they are (in no particular order) the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, GMA News dot TV, and ABS-CBN News.

The next thing I look at are other blogs, particularly those that are written by Filipino journalists, columnists, or people of equal celebrity or authority.

After looking at what's hot on the news and what is hot on the blogosphere, the choice of topics should be apparent.

The formula for this is simple enough:

Look at what's high up in the news. Not all headlines will drive traffic to your blog. The best bets are usually running stories and ones that involve some drama.

Post an entry reacting to it. In posting reactions to news, it would help to make short but concise reference to the news article first.

Also, it is good practice to include a link back to a source article (a page which has the news report). After that, you can blog away about it to your heart's content.

However, apart from sharing your personal opinion on the matter, it would be better if you can offer information or ideas that a lot of people may find valuable if not interesting.

The best thing that you can write about is how this particular news affects you. It can turn you into a chronicler of sorts of how big develops such as, say, the Global recession is affecting jobs in your home town. Honest, factual, and personal accounts that are well written are very valuable.

Despite being criticized for being a lopsided account (and this is understandable), Bambi's blog entry on the Valley Golf Brawl got a lot of attention precisely because it seemed to be an honest personal account of a tragedy involving a fight with a big name in government.

But, of course, intentionally picking a fight with cabinet members and their children would be an extreme, absurd, and wreckless way of promoting your blog.

Post comments on higher traffic blogs. When you do this, it helps to be subtle about leading people back to your blog. There is nothing more irritating than a blogger who is virtually screaming 'Looky! Looky! Me got blog!'.

The comment sections of some blogs allow you to put in your URL and others don't. Some only allow you to log in with your blogger profile ID, Gmail account, or Open ID.

People who find your comment interesting will naturally want to read more about you and in the process, find your blog. The best thing that can happen is if the owner of the blog visits your blog and decides to link his or her blog to your blog. It is as good as an endorsement as any that your blog matters, at least to them.

Also, when you do post a comment, try to be polite and courteous. Sharing your views doesn't necessarily involve shooting the views of other people down.

The best approach to commenting is to do so with the sincere intention of being helpful.

Do you have information that others don't have or may have overlooked? Do you have insight that may help others figure out what to do? Share that.

(Next up, the 2008 Year-End Google Zeitgeist and how it can help target your blog)

A crazy Presidential ambition

IF SHE DOESN’T MAKE ICJ:
Sen Santiago running for president to ‘terrorize’ foes
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:50:00 06/27/2008

NEW YORK CITY -- If she is not elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she might run for president “just to put terror in the heart of my enemies.”

But if she does get a seat in ICJ, Santiago said she would resign as senator.

“I would have to resign [as senator] because the term [of an ICJ judge] will begin by about the first week of January and I would miss about one year of my term. So if that happens, I hope that the electorate will forgive me,” Santiago told reporters here at a reception for her candidacy on Thursday.

“If I don’t make it, then I’ll probably run for president of the Philippines. That is just to put terror in the heart of my enemies,” she said.

This reason for running for public office ranks next to Chavit Singson's "I am running for the Senate so that Jinggoy Estrada will have a sparring partner!" or something to that effect.

Brave and loud words which later got muffled by his resounding defeat in the 2007 polls.

When Miriam Defensor Santiago ran for President in 1992, I was one of the many college students that rallied behind her. We believed that she could succeed where the Aquino Administration had failed and that was in the continuing fight against corruption in government. She ran and lost, she screamed that she had been cheated by President Ramos and we believed
her.

The college kids that supported her candidacy moved on, the overriding concern on our minds at that time was getting a job -- which meant minimum wage, even for college graduates. Two or three years later, during President Fidel Ramos' term, I became an Associate Producer and Scriptwriter for Radio Television Malacanang (RTVM) which is an agency under the Office of the Press Secretary. I still saw her on TV and read about her in the newspapers, usually spitting bile at Ramos. It was the constant exposure to this that somehow made me forget the reasons why I voted for her in 1992.

Sixteen years later, during turnover ceremonies for medical equipment in UP PGH, I head her speak again and it reminded me of at least one reason why I voted for her.

She railed against the TV Ads being run by would-be Presidential contenders. While most media organizations focused on the part of her speech where she called the Senator endorses 'ugly', my mind fixed on her challenge to would be presidential candidates to just hold an auction for the country's presidency. This was an obvious jibe at Senate President Manny Villar and possibly Senator Mar Roxas -- billionaires, one on his own account and the other, owing it to his family's fortune.

It's the thought that the Presidential candidate with the most resources will win the Presidency that really gets to me. Will the 2010 elections proved that Manny (as in Villar) and Manny (as in Roxas) can buy everything?

If the 2010 elections were about interviewing job applicants for the highest office in the land, shouldn't we at least look at their records and the policies they are pursuing to get an indication of how they would fare as Presidents of the country -- as the highest, most powerful leader of this country?

So far, in my view, Villar and Roxas are of the same feather. Politically, they have swung wildly from being anti-Gloria to pro-Gloria to anti-Gloria several times over.

As House Speaker, Villar banged the gavel on President Joseph Estrada to impeach him and nearly ten years later, he was seen in Bataan with Estrada after the latter's conviction for plunder by the Sandiganbayan.

Roxas came into the limelight, not as congressman of Capiz, but as DTI Secretary of Joseph Estrada. When the Estrada fell from power, he came back as DTI Secretary of Gloria Arroyo and in 2004, ran in Gloria's line up of Senators. Then, years later, declared he was now with the opposition and was running for President. He'll probably point to the Hello Garci incident as a turning point for deciding to be an opposition candidate.

In fact, almost all presidential contenders in the 2010 race will be either opposition or independent with the exception perhaps of Bayani Fernando (as Vice President Noli De Castro, having won the Presidency as an independent candidate, will probably not yield easily to be part of a party of which he is not its leader).

But what do these Presidential candidates have to offer the people?