Well, ok, so lots of people are up in arms about the candidacy of Nancy Binay who, as the consensus amongst the chattering classes goes, has been deemed lacking in the needed chops to fill a Philippine senator’s seat. I wonder though how many of these armchair “activists” voted for current President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III back in 2010.
Back in 2010, then candidate BS Aquino ran on nothing more than a pedigree platform, and whatever semblance of a prospective platform he put forth drew heavily from the well of credibility of his mommy and daddy…
“I am determined to continue the fight started by my father and my mother to see that democracy takes root and is strengthened in our country. This cannot happen in a government that serves the interest of the powerful few. We must strengthen the institutions of government so that they truly serve the interests of our people.â€
The Philippines being renowned for its unique talent for progressiing in reverse sees the regressive evolution of pedigreeism in politics (now known by the activist buzzword “political dynasty”) from the relative subtlety of Noynoy’s 2010 con to the blatancy of Nancy Binay’s bid for office today which Inquirer.net columnist describes in his recent article…
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Nancy would not have been in any senatorial ticket had not her father been one of the three pillars of [the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) party]. VP [Jejomar] Binay put her in the ticket despite her lack of qualifications, and the two others, Erap and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, could not protest because both of them have sons in the UNA ticket—JV and Jackie Enrile, respectively.
But at least JV and Jackie came from the House of Representatives. Nancy came from nowhere. She has not even served as kapitan or kagawad in any barangay in Makati, her family’s turf.
When asked what were Nancy’s qualifications to be a senator, VP Binay arrogantly answered: “She is my daughter.†Huh! Just like that, as though it’s a case of God the Father sending his Son to save the world.
Armed with only that terse Medieval-era endorsement, it is hardly surprising that Nancy Binay sidesteps any attempt to corner her into a discussion on national issues of consequence. “Let’s win the Senate race first,” she says in response to challenges from Team PNoy sellout Risa Hontiveros who is struggling to make the “Magic 12” in any one of those “surveys” on voter sentiment. Of course it is in the best interest of any vacuous politician to steer clear of any sort of event that could burst their public perception bubble. It’s an old trick used by none other than BS Aquino himself. Ellen Tordesillas in a January 2010 blog post herself observed how then candidate BS Aquino also employed a minimalist media exposure strategy to ensure that his own vacuousness was not laid bare on national television…
Liberal Party presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy†Aquino III, who is leading in all election surveys, has declined the invitation to participate in [a foreign policy forum for presidential candidates organised by the Carlos P Romulo Foundation, the Asian Institute of Management, and the ABS-CBN News Channel]. Surprisingly, Nacionalista Party presidential bet Manny Villar, who used to have a phobia with presidential fora, has agreed to attend.
This is not the first time that Aquino would be snubbing a foreign-policy related forum. He was also a no-show in the forum on Millenium Development Goals co-sponsored by the MDG Campaign and the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in October 2009.
Aquino’s avoidance of the Jan. 14 event gives credence to talks that since he was not impressive in the past few presidential fora he has participated in, his handlers have decided to limit his exposure to such activity to protect his lead.
Indeed, history has shown that we ignore the obvious signs of the vacuousness of our politicians at our peril. Armed with this bit of hindsight, it is easy to see now why Philippine foreign affairs is in shambles today. BS Aquino had already exhibited his phobia of the topic of foreign policy even during his campaign for the presidency! But we digress…
With politcians’ favourite strategy of debate avoidance to mask their lack of substance, the Philippine voter becomes the country’s own worst enemy — forming a vast army of ignorance that will be marching to the polls to once again determine the fate of the nation in May.
The fact that many of the same folk who voted for BS Aquino back in 2010 fail to grasp the irony in the shock and “indignation” they now express over the affront to the “intelligent vote” that is senatorial candidate Nancy Binay points to the more fundamental dysfunction of Philippine society; that a widespread lack of a clear grounding on coherent principles that transends social class and political affiliation leads to laughable inconsistency in action over long timeframes. And speaking of long timeframes, another interesting national experiment to further measure the extent of the Philippine electorate’s vacuousness looms in the horizon — the future presidency of presidential sister and current Media Queen Kris Aquino. Will the Yellow Mob who waxed epic lyric of the heroism and mystical pedigree of the Aquino-Cojuangco feudal clan throw the same nonsensical support behind the Third Aquino Presidency?
As always…
Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
[Photo courtesy NowPlanet.tv.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
If aquino appeals to white gays ( supposedly), then is nancy binay hoping for the black lesbian vote.
They certainly add up to dumb and dumber – which is which is debatable.
Must go. Another blackout in mindanao.( thanks p-noy for ruining the local economy). No good nancy campaigning here. Now you see her, now you don’t.
I have already written three blogs on the Nancy Binay/ Grace Poe types. Just want to add one more thought. Benign0’s blog puts it better than I ever could that when it comes to running for public office, intelligence and the ability to articulate one’s intelligence concerning the matter at hand is a liability in the eyes of the pinoy voter. Noynoy proves that what you lack in intelligence and awareness of the issues you can make up for by hiring online trolls that resort to multiple identities and that echo the rhetoric of Malacanang’s mouthpieces like Lacierda and Valte.
Compared with Nancy,Pinoy has the better qualifications with regard to public service.He has been a senator of the republic and a congressman prior to that post.However, judging politicians by their experience or non-experienced in public service is to me unfair.Nowhere in our constitution which says that you have to be an intelligent and an experienced public servant before you can run in an election.We deserve the kind of people that governs us these days.We are in a democracy system of governance.The majority rules.We may have our respective opinions on any matter, but as long as the majority decides then that’s it.For me, media, government,educational system,the church and big business interests have contributed one way or another to the deterioration of our people’s mindset.Instead of educating them to think critically and become smarter people,we teach them instead to love showbiz personalities and flood the airwaves with inane things and silly talks thus prolonging the ignorance of our people.
“Compared with Nancy,Pinoy has the better qualifications with regard to public service.He has been a senator of the republic and a congressman prior to that post.”
As a Senator he did nothing and accomplished nothing…zero, nada. Nancy Binay, also zero. 0=0.
“Nowhere in our constitution which says that you have to be an intelligent and an experienced public servant before you can run in an election.”
That is why we have idiots and a$$holes elected into government posts.
“We are in a democracy system of governance.The majority rules”
Pnoy got only 42% of the votes. That is not a majority win.
Then why he became the president in the first place? Of all the aspirants he got the majority votes.
Did the number of votes relative to the field correspond to his competency to lead and govern relative to the field? To answer your question gersky: the electorate possess minimal discretion.
He became president because of the inability of the Pinoy majority to think beyond popularity politics.
Simple answer: because of EMO politics. Ya know, Noynoy decided to run after his mother Cory died. He didn’t win because of his credentials or anything; he won because of his LAST NAME.
That’s why the Philippine sucks when it comes to democracy: it was treated like a spectator sport, so does the government. Only a gullible fool would believe that ATHLETES, APELYIDOS, and ARTISTAS would make things better.
@ gersky
for somebody who likes to follow “majority rules”, you obviously don’t get it. Majority means, more than half, obviously, 42% is less than half. And it’s your democracy’s fault we have clowns running for the highest post in the country. The two-party system during the “evil dictator’s” time…that would definitely give you a majority vote, that is why it is so effective in filtering out jack-asses.
Assuming there was no cheating in 2010, elections are there so those who will rule be based on the will of the people. Even if the people are moronic.
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” –Winston Churchill. Holds true in the Philippines perhaps?
Why the President won?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OM6AD8rbIwM/S7wojsF-X7I/AAAAAAAAAX8/7s-cXemkuHw/s1600/oha.jpg
Onesimus, that pic is so old yet so true. So old as in 2010. By any objective measure Noynoy is a joke. Except here. In this country.
What is the relevance of comparing nancy binay to ? pinoy, and if you have no standards/critical selection criteria then presumably you would be happy with a football team of lito lapids in the senate.
Presumably you have no executive or decision making responsibilities in your ‘career’.
@gersky arellano
And to think of it I did not even vote for pinoy. I am just stating a fact here.Sometimes there’s a truth to the saying, the fools are chosen to shamed the wise.Sounds familiar? Decision making? o common. Every day that’s my expertise.
Now you lost me.
No.
But it sounds like religious gibberish.
More appropriate is:
“The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places, and troll the internet”
Now go and make an executive decision on where to dump your sh!t next. And not in the street please.
Ps the president is called p-noy, not pinoy. Has malacanan outsourced trolling to the US, or just cannot get anyone of even basic intellect now.
And so its p-noy and not pinoy. So the quoted adage has hit its target.lol
???
you must really start to understand words.
then we can move on to sentences
and in a few years you may reach the average i.q of 86.
sorry to dash your hopes of harvard or oxford.
life is unfair
unfair indeed.but why pissed off? you want me to quote again the adage? lol
no
just make a meaningful contribution to reflect the skills you possess, otherwise you will simply look like an empty vessel making noise for the sake of it.
sorry you cannot compete on any level, especially facts and logic.
i will not embarrass you any further
game over.
You’re too emotional. You want to show the world that you are that wise. But your comments belied what your head is really made of. Stick to the facts at hand. Try to scrutinize the issues discussed and from what contexts or perspective I’ve been angling my comments on. Don’t rush your views and made some generalized conclusions on things you yourself is only thinking of. At the end of the day only a “fool” like me can unmasked your pretensions of being a wise ass.
I think you go into the ‘too emotional’ category. You didn’t vote for Noynoy but you can’t accept the fact that the people who voted for the sham are also too emotional.
Also, it seems you’re trying to be intelligent by defending the Aquino name. And that’s it.
Hey Knight in the not so shining armor?!Why not read first my comments before jumping on the bandwagon huh?! Another wise ass in the making…
@gersky arellano: See that? You’re totally getting emotional. Not jumping on the bandwagon but saying that PNoy has better credentials than Nancy raises some good points, but you can’t deny the fact that Noynoy is indeed an incompetent nutjob. Like I said, he just won because of his last name and Nancy Binay will do the same. Our democracy is a total joke because it was treated like a spectator sport.
I hope in the near future we SCRAP the stupidity that is the 1987 Constitution and favor a form of governance that ACTUALLY favors efficient leaders. Besides Noynoy and former president Estrada, there was Gordon and Gibo who actually had something Pinoys could wish they can buy; a concrete vision. Nothing is going to change if we still run a system where familial last names matter and celebrities/athletes who get popular and pitch money to the poor to make things better.
Tagalugin mo na lang…sakit sa tenga…errr. …mata.
So what is your argument, again?
the article purports that the philippines electorate will again be marching to the polls to determine the fate of the nation in May.REALLY? is that so?
How can anyone even venture a ponderous guess that the election will have anything to do with the fate of the nation? Y-Y-Y-YIKES!!! The fate of the nation is signed and sealed and already delivered.
Take a good look at the picture at the top of the article, take a good ,close look….OK?
The fate of the nation is a SAD tale, only to be told over and over and over AGAIN. the people who REALLY run the country are having a hearty chuckle at the people who are wasting their time voting (“Hey, I REALLY need that P300.”.). Why, u kno what? I can hear them now:”The idiots really think we are going to let the likes of this woman decide anything? Holy Shit, they REALLY don’t get it, do they?”.
and so it goes……
I just heard that margaret thatcher died.
She invokes strong emotions pro and con, but a world figure who commanded respect internationally, and changed not just the uk, but europe and beyond. a towering figure of remarkable ability.
As a young consultant with arthur andersen i was appointed to the cabinet office during her term – working on the UK IT strategy, under kenneth baker – the first time a cabinet minister had been given such a portfolio. Foresight in itself in 1980.
My meetings with her were only few, but always memorable.
Formidable, brilliant, and possibly sometimes too dogmatic, but always well briefed, insightful and she would ask the hard & correct questions, even on subjects not considered her natural strength, and certainly someone who did not suffer fools or take prisoners, but expected, and invariably got high standards, results, and loyalty.
An incredible politician, leader, and economist. someone with an incredible work ethic, integrity, and one of the sharpest minds i have met.
Here it is nancy binay, lito lapid, and the reality show of the aquino’s!. Such is the chasm between the 1st and 3rd world, global players and nintendo players.
R.I.P – i am grateful for my tutelage, and the springboard it gave my career.
I am glad that Ms. thatcher may have been a boost to your career.
Because she has just passed away I shall pass on the comments I’d make if it were not such a time.
Almost everyone deserves to rest peacefully, I find Lady Thatcher to be no exception.
I was still a kid when thatcher was pictured (graphically) as wonder woman. A good leader, iron fist, just what the Philippines need. Sadly, zombies abound drunk on the yellow propaganda and the supposedly “freedom” achieved during the original EDSA.
Vote for political dynasties…soon, their sons and daughters will run…then, their maids and servants…If their cats and dogs can run…they will make them run…
Meanwhile, in other news:
http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/12657-5000-witnesses-to-certify-p13-m-kaya-natin-vote-buy
5000 witnesses, at least they don’t have to rely on mysterious small ladies or liars just to prove this.
Its gonna be very hard for the yellows to explain this one once this escalates into a bonafide scandal.
They won’t be able to play the blame game once this gets out of hand.
I guess the real campaign for this year would be Gapang Pilipinas 2013 and beyond.
I would not be surprised at all if the winners in the upcoming election would be people like her.
i think the difference between the 2 is, Noynoy decided for himself that he wants to run, whereas Nancy publicly admitted that it was his father’s decision for her to run. another thing, noynoy has been congressman of tarlac and senator and also have experience working in the private sector which nancy lacked.
i really hate what these politicians are doing to us. i think it’s time for us to avenge ourselves.
Nice pic. Similar to the president indeed