“Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for – because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.”
Peter Marshall
There are many who applaud Lito Lapid’s speech during the Corona impeachment trial as a big thumbs up for the common man. I see it as a victory for the jologs. They are like children. They want everything, they want it now and they don’t believe that there is a price attached.
Let me start by saying Lapid fulfilled his role as a Senator/ Judge by basically telling the court fact-finding process to “F” themselves since all that did not register anyway in his evaluation process. Then use his speech to play to the masa then render a verdict anyway. He basically said “I have no idea what went on since I am uneducated but allow me my vote”. The whole process of coming up with a verdict was a lot like Lapid’s academic record. A joke. Do you really believe the masa is better served? Do you consider him taking up space and still delivering an uniformed opinion as an achievement ? I hate to see your definition of epic fail.
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He makes himself out to be like them to the point it compromises the essence of why he is elected in the first place. Everywhere you look the culture glorifies dumb. The fact-finding process is microcosm of what was wrong in the first place. They arrived at a conclusion without a transparent efficient process.
Can we agree that any organization is defined by actions. By observing actions you can usually define what an organization’s true values are instead of what it’s stated values are. I thought about this notion long and hard three years ago when all these people claimed that Efren Penaflorida represented them. In my gut I knew that was hogwash. The people who this society valued were not people who contributed to the cultivation of intellect but to its stagnation. For me that has very real ramifications at the ballot box and of course the politicians that end up representing us. Intelligence is not considered an asset. Being an action star is. Look at the shows that rate here. What mentality do they encourage? We as a country I truly believe are poorer because of the values we have and the values we don’t have. And it’s all there in plain daylight for anyone to see. And some believe it’s fine. Like Lapid’s speech which basically says he has no reason to improve, don’t appeal to my intellect because I don’t wish to develop it and ignorance is bliss . I believe this post represents authentic Filipino values.
In the words of both Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
You can quickly grasp the important difference between the two jf you envision a group of producers cutting their way through the jangle with machetes. They’re the producers, the problem solvers. They’re cutting through the undergrowth, clearing it out.
The managers are behind them, sharpening their machetes, writing policy and procedure manuals, holding muscle developÂment programs, bringing in improved technologies and setting up (working schedules and compensation programs for machete wielders.
The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, “Wrong jungle!”
But how do the busy, efficient producers and managers often respond? “Shut up! We’re making progress.” As individuals, groups, and businesses, we’re often so busy cutting through the undergrowth we don’t even realize we’re in the wrong jungle. And the rapidly changing environment in which we live makes effective leadership more critical than it has ever been—in every aspect of independent and interdependent life.
(Steven Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People page 101)
I am not sure about you but that analogy could probably be comprehended by a student who is in early high school. I am also not sure about you but given the fact that Lapid was elected as a mayor, governor and now senator that there should be some leadership expectations thrust upon him. Why do I get the feeling given Lapid’s Sammy Sosa like no habla ingles routine makes me suspicious that he has never lived that analogy of leadership? He is just flat out saying that he is as unsophisticated as the common man. Yet he presumes to lead them.
What Lapid did by giving the disclaimer that he is as dumb as a box of hammers yet he is still worthy of providing a legitimate vote is akin to someone saying to you “Hi, I worked all day tending the soil, I won’t wash my hands but let me prepare your dinner from scratch.” As Ilda has said earlier this week. Only in the Philippines is this behavior applauded.
The guy is 57 years old. He has been in public service since 1992. In a country where the newspaper of record is in English and the tabloids are in Tagalog he somehow manages to avoid learning even some functional English. In his speech that concludes a six month trial he talks about being limited to high school. Given his age, his stature and his responsibilities his speech and attitude insults:
a) himself saying he should not have to improve, learn or pay attention in decades of public service.
b) his constituents by saying they are dumb and he is with them, don’t improve,
c) his position, by demeaning the demands of the responsibility.
d) his service to the country by not putting forth necessary effort.
The fact very few jump on that just proves the country’s predisposition to ignorance. That it’s normal and expected. Standards are low. Hence the point of the Efren Penaflorida link. People here love, appreciate and support dumb. That’s what I see living in this country so that is what I said and Lapid crystallized that concept.
I believe in thinking and I believe in originality. I hope that any of you who have taken the time to read me in the past and might continue to be curious about what I say in the future will be rewarded with some evidence of thought and originality in my work. I am no legal expert. But I can give some perspective what it’s like to be a juror in a legal case.
Back in the Spring of 1994 I was given notice to attend a cattle call for jurors. If I recall the task of the court that day was to stock five separate cases with their own juries consisting of 12 people per case. The task of prosecution and defense at that point was to agree just by physical appearance and presence who would be “fit” for their jury. If your name was called the opposing lawyers would both have to approve you to be in their jury. I could only assume their criteria would be if just by the look if the person would be willing to go with their reasoning. In the event you are not approved , you would go back in the common pool to be eligible for the remaining cases. It’s been eighteen years but I do not recall any cross questioning as part of the selection process.
It was maybe a week or two before your real case began. The case I was on involved a man who was charged with five counts of domestic assault. As much as I resented being chosen it soon dawned on me I was given this responsibility based on the legal system of my community to “judge” if this complete stranger was guilty or innocent. I seem to recall that this case cost me about 5 days of my life in the outside world. Including one night spent in a hotel since we were sequestered. Since this was a low profile case we were only really isolated once the deliberation began. What that means is that we could not even talk to family, all communication to families and friends were hand written then given to the bailiff for them to call.
I tell you this story because the stakes where I was part of a judicial team were much lower than what this country witnessed the first half of 2012 in the form of the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice. So at least I can tell you what it is like to wrestle with a decision and to hash it out with 11 other people all looking at the same evidence and testimony. The case was being funded by tax dollars from my community and it was my duty that we saw that case through given the system we had. I had no personal agenda nor was I operating from any mandate from above. There was the evidence and the testimony presented by the two lawyers then ultimately the jury had to hash it out. And the whole trial does not resume until the jury decides on all the charges. Each charge can result in either guilty, not guilty or can hang. As it turns out we produced all three. Guilty on three charges , not guilty on one and a hung jury on the last charge. On the hung jury the tally was 11-1 guilty. One of my associates refused to budge on that one charge. A man probably went to jail because of our decisions and no one but the twelve jurors knew what we went through to get to our conclusions. I know we hashed it out, took notes and scrutinized everything that was given to us. Ultimately even though we came up with a decision on all five counts, we were not obligated to come up with a justification.
Unfortunately Lito Lapid had to justify his verdict. He pleaded ignorance and used the masses as a human shield. Like saying “if you label me ignorant what are you saying about the people I represent? ” Only in the Philippines can one stand on a soapbox and declare himself uninformed to make a decision but makes it anyway and he is lauded for days. Lapid has had no formal schooling since Richard Nixon was in the White House. Apparently he has made little effort to improve on his learning and communicating skills in the interim. But he is in a position to determine a verdict that kept the nation occupied for half a year. You think given his admitted lack of academic development that he had a clear vision to know where to stand? The only thing he seemed to stand for was his right not to cognitively improve himself in forty years. Our future is in good hands. Apparently in good brains too. They have hardly been used.
Putting a very sharp needle into the balloon known as Pinoy Pride since 2012.
Bah. Always about the poor masses.
Those who have less in life should have more daw.
What about the dying middle class?
Don’t take your stupid soap operas seriously.
I hope your evening improves. Thanks for reading .
thanks blogger.. i like your idea..tama ka..ignorance comes in two definition…
1. circumstantial for somehow to other education is on a chance
2. choice..for he only think education happens only during young age and in academe and think it is too late for him to learn..
in Lapids case, it his choice…
such a disgrace attitude..
Thank you. That is my point. Aspire and improve and inspire. Lapid’s message is that learning is trivial. You have a good evening Gino.
i agree with Efren Penaflorida. People here love, appreciate and support dumb.how i wish their are more people here in this country who read blogs like this, it’s an eye opener and makes you aware on what was really going on in our society. Kabataan ang pag asa ng bayan pero panu kung ang karamihan ng ating kabataan ay nakasentro sa PBB teens, sa dota at koreanovela at imbis n ang ating mga nakakatanda ang maging role model sila pa ang nahuhumaling sa panunuod ng will time big time… result: a jejemon youth and ignorant filipinos.
Salamat Vladz , media can’t be at fault 100% . Media give people what they want. People’s values are all on display , halata naman.
Ed, during the past few days we encountered many commentators who mistook us as discriminating against the common tao. It’s ridiculous, really; I don’t understand why Pinoys need to polarize in terms of masa and elite, and all that stuff. At the core, Pinoys don’t like being told that they need to improve; it’s as if they came into this world perfect and pwede-na-yan. Look at our country now; pwede na yan ibaon sa lupa.
I tend to tread lightly on the issue of whether the Pinoy is either predisposed to be stupid, or whether it congenital, or whether it is a product of the environment. One thing is for sure, though; the advancement of some people in our society is perceived to be dependent on the ignorance and stupidity of many others (the oligarchy).
You tread lightly. I just work with what’s there. You can’t argue their values. They can argue that I call those tangible values stupid .
Can you believe, a guy who is dimwitted as Lapid, can be elected as: Mayor, Governor, Senator? Only in the Philippines. A Senator Judge, who cannot understand the Trial Process, voted anyway with his conscience, as he claimed. At least, he is a little bit honest, than the rest who voted to impeach. Does Lapid has any conscience? His wife is now accused of money laundering in the U.S. Caught on smuggling U.S. dollars. Where did he get the money? How did he acquire the house in Nevada, U.S.A.?
That’s exactly my point. Here is a guy who has not evolved mentally and is proud of it yet voters respond to him,
not just in the philippines. many examples. italian politics comes to mind immediately. google is your friend
I hope Lito Lapid will be last of his kind, i’m begging you, pinoys. Always, aim high for excellence, please.
I think Alma Moreno is planning to run for a Senate seat…
Crissy, be afraid. Be very afraid.
Thanks Crissy. O r maybe they should figure out what excellence means.
Another Lito Lapid bashing article? I mean, every corner I look on this blog it’s all Lito Lapid and his stupidity and ignorance. C’mon man, give the man a break.
What did he do to deserve such kind of degrading and debasing treatment? And what’s worse was the focus of criticisms is not about the essence or the technical or philosophical aspect of his decision to convict Corona but of what his person is. I think that’s most foul.
I’m not defending Lapid I’m just expressing my horrible feelings in finding out that out of 20 senators/judges that convicted Corona the hammer fell on him because he is not intelligent enough and his detractors think that, because he’s not educated and cultured, like his colleagues, his decision is bereft of value compared with other judges.
What hubris. What hypocrisy is that?
i like you sanjo.. i dont know but you really do sound defending lito lapid to death.
Trish, thanks for liking me but sometimes your words for me hurts that I wish you hate me instead. Thank you again for saying that. I hope you really mean it.
I may sound I’m defending Lapid but I really don’t as in really defending him. I do so because I have not choice. The guy has been getting it here from left to right, up and down and for what? For being uneducated and unintelligent.
I ‘defend’ him because somebody has to respond not on his behalf but on behalf of reason and evenhandedness. When I see one-sidedness I often go in, if I have reasons, to show the other angle of the issue regardless of whether I’m outnumbered or not.
you see he gets what he earns. he chose to be a public figure and opens himself for critics to criticize.
trish
It’s okay to criticize a public official especially if he has done wrong. But to criticize him because of who he is or of his shortcomings is just plain wrong. It’s purely nitpicking.
Great point, sanjo!
Just wondering, if Lito Lapid voted for acquital, would have he received the same bashing from GRPers? Hey, GRPers, GET REAL!
See, the problem lies in that he’s proving it’s OK for someone who has only up to a high school education(thereby not really having the proper qualifications to be a senator) to be a senator.
Really aaaaa? Lapid proved it’s okay for a high school grad to become a senator in an impeachment trial? I think you are creating stories yourself to implicate Lapid on something that do not exist. Bad.
Philip II – I say, that’s a good question. But I’m doubtful if the Lapid-bashers will respond to that.
what do you think would his reason be if ever he should vote for not guilty? he did vote for guilty right? thats reality nt some fantasy your dreaming about lapid voting not guilty, Philip II .. GET REAL
You do realize that Lito Lapid is just the symptom and not cause. He is symbolic of the Pinoy culture . That dichotomy of one hand Proud To Be Pinoy !!! And on the other hand too cool to learn anything . That culture is there with or without him. Vote or no vote . It’s just an opportune time for a reality check. You gotta stand for something or you’re gonna fall for anything, Lapid just stood on his ignorance and he is standing tall.
Hey trollfag. GET REAL. I just want to remind you that if someone tries to educate Filipinos, they will take it as an insult to their intelligence. Tell me, are you anti-intellectual?
I believe in previous articles/comments of the GRPers, they would have preferred that he abstained instead of providing a verdict as he himself admitted and showed over the course of the impeachment trial. So, I doubt there was a call for him to acquit the deposed CJ.
because he is not intelligent enough and his detractors think that, because he’s not educated and cultured, like his colleagues.
YOU SAID IT YOURSELF WHY HE WAS TREATED THAT WAY.. NEVER MIND BEING SENATOR, I CAN BE AS DUMB AS I CAN BE.
well ignorance of the law is so wrong that he gets all the attention.
Ignorance of a whole many things Trish. And he wears it like a badge of honor,
yes and he want others to step out and be proud like him
Reminds me of Cersei Lannister when Robert Baratheon slapped her. “I shall wear this like a badge of honor.”
Been hankering to tell Lito Lapid to “Wear it in silence or I’ll honor you again.”
If you get a chance to watch Bogart’s Maltese Falcon , Peter Lorre gets slapped by the female lead and Spade (Bogart) says you are gonna get slapped and like it.
Lito Lapid and the 20 senators remind me of the character Commodus in the film Gladiator. The political circus mentality of the senate dictators are based on conscience, reason and the rule of law? No it is not so. It is based more on political expediency and opportunism. Like their puppet master they would like to appear as superior when it is just all about political blame games. More political entertainment games is guaranteed in the 2013 senatorial elections. Violentia guaranteed!
I observed that the new layout of this Gloria blog looks the same as Raissarobles com. Maybe to mislead visitors??
To what point would they mislead the visitors?
Raissa Robles is more misleading. Would you believe to a tsismosa? Maybe you do. 😛
Kris , the same way you mislead men that you have virtue , taste and class?
Kris, the same way Kuya Noy mislead the nation that he is a competent leader with a token amount of brain cells? Kuya Noy too busy with Call of Duty to fiight his own battles?
Kris, the same way Raissa passes her random speculation as news?
The new Twitter mobile looks nearly identitcal to facebook mobile. Maybe they (twitter) want to mislead too, eh?
yes great observation like fishball 🙂
and oh, gmail grandprix (iphone layout) looks like m.facebook.com too. Woohoo.
again.. great observation. you have to thank fishball for teaching you how to observe.
Maybe the same way that you’re misleading married men into having sex with you, Kris?
To put in in another view Lito Lapid is basically saying that he has absolutely no idea on how to build house much less draw a blueprint of said house yet he will still build it because everyone wants him to do it. We enshrine the values of ignorance and stupidity, yet we complain that we can’t go forward as a nation.
To add to your accurate analogy. He only knows as much about building houses as his customers yet he presumes he can add value simply because of this similarity of mutual cluelessness.
Birds of a feather flock together I suppose.
I hate to put something this obvious in such a pedestrian manner, but (at the risk of missing the point): not all unschooled people are ignorant and vice versa. If Lito Lapid applied himself to studying the Corona case inside and out, his vote and his opinions on the case might’ve been actually valuable (or if he couldn’t, he should’ve abstained when push came to shove). There is no need to attack those with less-than-satisfactory or non-existent academic records — just those who opine without knowing, which can be found among both the high and the lowly.
It is very true that not all unschooled people are ignorant. But in the words of today’s street philosopher Lourd de Veyra, in an age overflowing with information, it is a terrible sin to remain ignorant, which is something that my unschooled but very well-learned grandfather would have said. And Lito Lapid is sinning like a sex-starved drunkard given free rein in a harem.
Amen, Hugh. Amen.
Yes Suibon, he did not stand for something so he fell for the last thing he heard. It sounded good if you go by his explanation.
I was a big fan of Lito Lapid when I was, oh, 6 years old. Unlike him however, I eventually learned that it is stupidly impossible to split a bullet with a machete and still hit 2 fleeing men. Dammit, I got smarter, read books, opened my ears to different other languages, and now I look up to Jacky Chan as a role model, because he at least says to kids: “Go to school, don’t end up like me.”
But Lito Lapid: “Look at me, I’m stupid but I’m successful thanks to people who are as stupid as me, lulz.” And yes, people who voted for him are immensely stupid.
And he makes no aspirations to improve or serve as an example. That’s why I made the list of insults. Lapid insults himself, position, followers and country. No vision.
after reading up on him on the senate website, Lito Lapid actually has a more substantial write up than most other senators.
i’m not completely aware of his other bills, but the one that stands out in my head is his bill for giving tax credits to lawyers for rendering legal assistance to underpriveleged people. i think thats pretty neat.
another observation i have is that his bio is in the form of a write up, while some others (for example, drilon & revilla) are in the form of resumes. if he was indeed an under achiever, it would be difficult for any author to fill up that much space with drivel. 🙂
it’s also easy to see if something is being hyped up, but reading his bio, i found it satisfying. he’s supposed to be the 5th most prolific out of all of them. googling him yields similar results. the stories on his work habits are quite consistent, in other words.
i’ll be honest and say that i was pretty riled up too when he made his speech at the trial.
but i have to say now that there’s a lot i don’t know about him. while i got really upset at the image he was projecting, i almost missed out on reading what he had actually accomplished.
i think he’s a lot smarter than what most of us give him credit for. he has relatability with common folk, yet is actually quite wealthy himself.
that being said, i have more confidence in him than any senator whose write up is in resume form. 😀
I will admit that he is rather hardworking, considering the amount of work he did as senator.
It’s just that that speech of his made it sound like it’s OK to be an idiot in a field that requires intelligence and objective reasoning.
you got it, i was indignant for that same reason you mentioned. 🙂
If he is that intelligent as you then his intelligence dictated that he should not antagonize the King in Yellow right or wrong.
yeah, possibly. i’m not in his shoes. he has an electorate to appease, and his job to keep. i have to say he plays his game well. 🙂
Right or wrong only a strong willed person dares to go against the tide. He is not strong.
@Lord Chimera- exactly why I chose the quotation that begain this piece. “ Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for – because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.â€
Peter Marshall
Ilda is correct, when you write you also learn. I did not know where this saying came from or the context. The link is there after the quote.
Naku ng marinig namin yung naging verdict niya sa IC nabuwisit kami sa kanya, kahit mga Engineers namin dito kahit na mga kabalen niya sinabihan siyang BOBO at TANGA…bakit kailangan niyang ipagmalaki ng HS graduate lang siya! kabuwisit…kami nga dito nagtitiis magwork sa ibang bansa at during our day-off nag aaral kami para madagdagaan yung skills namin! Siya pa eh ang dami niyang oras and resources para maimprove yung abilties to good management and good leadership hindi niya magawa? … nakakainsulto itong si LAPID para maging representante ng Masa…
note: although we already knew his guilty vote to ask favor/help from malacañang about his wife (Curse those action in our Senate they put shame on our Country)
but the “elite” we have elected into office they usually use their knowledge to steal from government as they become corrupted with their power. i have personal experience with this, we are an it contractor type company and we are asked for kickbacks constantly. so its not just the stupid politicians that menace us. the intellectuals are dangerous too hehehe how sad
So just because you had bad memories with one of the “elite” means every single “elite” person does the same thing? It’s sad that you lump all (I mean every single one of) the intellectuals as corrupt.
There are intellectuals who do wish for the benefit of others, you know. It’s just that everyone seems to think like you and consider even the proper intellectuals corrupt and act like they’re out to screw the people over.
jaks,
Sorry to butt in sa usapan nyo ni aaaaa.
Um, I think you shouldn’t mix the issue of competence with “cleanliness.”
As a suggestion, you can think of corruption as a tiebreaker between politicians. I think it is safer to rate candidates/politicians in terms of job competency first then on corruption.
In a way, mas mahirap naman yung di na mga marunong sa trabaho, nangungurakot pa. Naknangtokwang buhay naman na yan.
“Sorry to butt in sa usapan nyo ni aaaaa.”
It’s cool.
“Um, I think you shouldn’t mix the issue of competence with “cleanliness.—
I guess there’s this, too. Sure, corruption is a bad thing, but people like to treat corruption as if it negates every semblance of competency.
Well, if a “leak” is too obvious or garapal for some people, perceived corruption will negate competency as a competitive advantage of a candidate/politician.
Isn’t there is always a trade-off? How much are we willing to pay “extra” for governance? I hate to suggest this, but is there a level of acceptable corruption in any organization or country?
@brainitus-
How about this? We can never use the excuse _______ (individual) is not going to steal therefore he/ she is good.
It is not as simple as a one variable equation. Perceived honesty is more valuable than perceived or actual competency? Even if the individual does not steal himself or herself but the inseperable entorage they bring in does? It’s the same or worse if the individual is a thief themselves. And now you still have stealing plus a moron at the helm.
To brianitus:
“Isn’t there is always a trade-off? How much are we willing to pay “extra†for governance? I hate to suggest this, but is there a level of acceptable corruption in any organization or country?”
Honestly, you have me there. Right now, trying to set a level of acceptable corruption would be very difficult, if not, impossible. I say this because while corruption shouldn’t be a major problem, it has become so rampant in the Philippines that it has elevated into the country’s major problem. I feel as if at this point, attempting to regulate corruption would essentially be seen by the people as condoning corruption.
I guess it’s why people are flocking to people who promise that they will eliminate corruption, despite how impossible that is to do, or to those who proclaim to be “for the people”, perhaps because the people have started to believe that anyone who is smart is also corrupt and that they are desperate for a “hero” of sorts who can get them out of this crazy mess.
Which makes them so easy to win over with empty promises.
@Gogs:
Actually, that was my point in one of the threads. People tend to decide using perceived honesty over perceived competency. Using competency as the base for decision, one can at least find resources to measure a candidate (like education, past performance…)
Oh, there’s one case that stumps/ trumps my idea — Erap. Convicted na yan, muntik pa manalo? I’m not sure if his case is more on “Pinoys supporting an underdog.” When he left the Palace, his ratings were down. Somehow, he was able to portray himself as a “victim” that some (a lot) voters gravitated to.
“Oh, there’s one case that stumps/ trumps my idea — Erap. Convicted na yan, muntik pa manalo? I’m not sure if his case is more on “Pinoys supporting an underdog.†When he left the Palace, his ratings were down. Somehow, he was able to portray himself as a “victim†that some (a lot) voters gravitated to.”
Not sure if I should think that the masa thought Erap deserved a second chance after all that or that they totally forgot that Erap was guilty of a serious crime and thus deserved to be impeached.
@aaaaa:
In the current setting, I feel that “acceptable level corruption” would be something that doesn’t hog the headlines.
I feel that people can live with a little “lagay” that goes with the bureaucracy, something that doesn’t insult the senses of the Pinoy. I think people just get pissed off about big ticket shit-hitting-the-fan news about corruption.
Is it possible that people tend to put graduations on levels of perceived corruption?
Take this as an example (forgive me for stretching it :
1. Corona got fired for non-declaration of the dollar accounts in his SALN. He was and is perceived to be corrupt primarily due to association with former PGMA.
2. House Speaker Belmonte enacts a special order to look at its members’ and employee SALNs. Any inconsistencies will be reported to the filer for correction. In effect, this is a SALN amnesty, right? (I’m surprised that no one raised a hoot about this one.) Is Congress widely perceived as a good guy because of its current strong alliance with the incumbent “perceived as clean” president?
Brianitus:
I guess you have a point there. The thing about corruption is the news tries to make it a really big deal when it comes to vilifying people like Arroyo and Corona. The idea that the “acceptable level of corruption” being something that doesn’t make the headlines in the next day’s paper bothers me a bit, though. It’s like saying “It’s fine unless I get caught.” Still, so long as there are positive results, I guess that can be acceptable.
I will also agree that even the people have gone too far in deeming someone as corrupt. Like you said, Corona was considered corrupt simply because he had ties with Arroyo. It’s that sort of thing that makes me fear the worst about the people; that they label people as corrupt so easily without looking at the facts, and that easy labeling is practically giving the higher power an excuse to remove that person, saying it’s “for the people”.
is this why grp gives arroyo the kid gloves treatment compared to pnoy? because corruption is preferable to incompetence?
“Corruption is preferable to incompetence”? Asking that question is making the presumption that the incompetent subject is incorrupt, which is not the case. Corruption is a constant in this country, or at least it has been as long as I’ve been here. All things being equal, GMA was frickin’ Abraham Lincoln compared to Mr. Barely Qualified to Run a Cash Register at Jollibee.
@jaks:
The framework should be competence versus incompetence; incorruptibility vs corruptibility. Somehow, the “masa” seemed to have mixed that up — if I follow the line of thinking thrown by some comment posters in recent days. Are you in the same school of thought, that the learned and educated takes advantage of the “masa”?
imho, The thing with competency is this: there’s no public trial to prove a person’s incompetence. Competence is gauged by actual results and past performance. It’s there in public record for everyone to see. So, if you happen to see comments alluding to a certain person’s ineptitude in handling a job, blame his/her past activities captured on public record. Corruption on the other hand, well…you have to prove that in court. As far as I can tell, GRP isn’t a court of law. This is the same mechanism that allows a comment (somewhere here in this article) to imply that a Lito Lapid is better a legislator than the current president.
As I suggested in a previous comment, I feel that measurements of corruption should be on top as a filter — AFTER you’ve gauged competence.
brianitus
miriam was right after all.
She is right naman eh. Medyo naging abrasive lang ang dating for some.
Too much focus on the messenger rather than the message, imho.
and too much hipocrisy on their part.
on the bigger point that pinoys celebrate ineptitude or subordinacy i do not subscribe to this as i see plenty of striving for excellence with my neighbors. the election of erap and pnoy is not proof of this i think.
So what you are saying is since your neighbors are striving for excellence then:
1) all Filipinos strive for excellence or the vast majority
2) In 1998 Erap was the right president and in 2010 BS Aquino is the correct president based on the work ethic of your neighbors. If Villar won in 2010 then that work ethic you see will vanish.
@brainitus
If you said it one way and I said the same thing at a different time. I would like to think it just means the truth is the truth. I think it was FallenAngel who said that pinoys can’t handle the truth.
Yeah. The only truth people can handle readily is when Pacquiao wins.
There was a boxer in the 80s called Carl The Truth Williams I think. Maybe Pinoys couldn’t handle him.
LOL.
I’ll Google him. I’m poor in boxing history.