Election time is just around the corner in the Philippines again with various seats in Congress up for grabs. The stakes are high. Pressure amongst the handful of feudal clans who rule the land to keep the goods within the family is mounting as the whelps of aging lords and ladies of various manors carved out of the former Spanish colony posture and grandstand for a slice of their daddies’ power pies.
One such whelp is Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel The Third (why one would use the name “Aquilino” three times in the family is anyone’s guess). In a spectacular exhibition of brattiness we have come to be so familiar with among the sons-of-politicians that now gleefully run the country like they once drove their daddies’ cars and swiped their mommies’ Visa cards, Koko, I read, stomped out of his party, the “United Nationalist Alliance” (UNA) in what seems to have been a fit of rage over “the coalition’s decision to keep Juan Miguel Zubiri on its 2013 Senate slate”.
“Galing ako sa bahay ni Erap [I came from Erap’s residence], and I said, ‘Sorry Ninong,’ and we talked a little. But the former president did not make any effort to stop me,†Pimentel told reporters on Thursday.
Pimentel said that he could not stomach running with Zubiri because the latter was allegedly the biggest beneficiary of the fraud perpetuated in the 2007 polls.
“Hindi ko talaga masikmura na tumakbo kasama ang kalaban ko. It is my personal decision,†he said.
Pimentel said he would run as an independent senatorial candidate under PDP-Laban.
O sige na anak, meme na meme na…
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All about winning: Senator Koko Pimentel in victory
Former Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, if we recall voluntarily resigned his position as Senator out of delicadeza (it seems) in mid-2011 after he was implicated in allegations of electoral fraud in the 2007 senatorial elections. Those allegations of cheating were, get this, initiated by losing candidate Koko Pimentel.
Pinoy nga naman talaga.
Even more bizarre (as the politics of feudal societies tend to be), Pimentel’s allegations were corroborated by suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan — the prime suspect in one of history’s worst orgy of civilian killings. Fifty seven people were massacred — allegedly under the instructions of Ampatuan — in 2009 (of which 32 were “media workers” as the Philippine Media seems to like to repeatedly point out ad nauseum).
Perhaps therein lies Koko’s pain. The bloodstained character of his cheating complaint notwithstanding, his triumphant taking of his Senate seat was napurnada; i.e., marred by the pogi (brownie) points Zubiri seems to have garnered after he was hailed as one of the extremely rare instances of a Filipino politician resigning out of a sense of honour.
Zubiri insists that he is not guilty of cheating and even said that he did not ask anyone any favors. He also insists that he is as much a victim of the so-called election syndicates:
Zubiri, however, said that he did not ask anyone for any favor regarding the elections. “Ang inyong lingkod ay lalabas ding biktima noong botohang naganap noong 2007 (I am also a victim of the 2007 elections),†he said.
Resigning from their posts is something that many public officials who were embroiled in controversies in other countries have been known to do. In Japan for example, they change Prime Ministers like they change shirts. If it’s dirty and needs washing, they need to go. A public official who is involved in an imbroglio or who does not deliver his duties must resign without even waiting for any calls for him to do so. He does this to save face and it is part of their culture. The people readily accept this practice as normal and will likely not raise an eyebrow over the next one.
* * *
The point I wanted to make, however, has really nothing to do with all that discussion around people and events. Those are discussions best left to small minds and the sons and daughters of aging oligarchs.
What I really wanted to highlight here is the complete absence of anything to do with what these parties, these candidates, and these legislative elections are really all about. The hard questions are, as always, glossed over in favour of the wrong arguments and the irrelevant views of the mal-educated and ill-bred: What national issues are at stake? What is the legislative agenda being evaluated (this, if we recall, being a Senate election)? Where are the platforms of these candidates? Do these platforms even matter? Are these platforms used to keep track of the actual performance of a politician over the course of his term? And what’s up with these “political parties” and “coalitions”? What do they really mean? What principles do they stand for?
All I hear in the aftermath of the above questions is the sound of heads being scratched.
So yeah, you guessed it. The old familiar cry of Get Real Philippines! is back in the forefront of the cream of the elite Filipino minds who wield the only true and rare insight in the morass of online chatter that dominates this intellectually-bankrupt society.
If your politician does not have a platform and, if he does, does not make it the centrepiece of his campaign, then he or she is wasting your time.
Come on, let’s join us!
Claw your way out of the jolog pit and be counted as a true Get Realist and a true Filipino!
Be the voter the Republic of the Philippines truly deserves. Use your brain and think. If Filipinos want to be the proud people they insist they are, then this (and, for that matter, every election) is their chance to prove that they have earned that “pride” and that songs, dances, and adolescent dramas such as those exhibited by these children no longer matter.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
I quite agree with you on some points. But I disagree. How can it be delicadeza for Zubiri when it took him four years to realize that he was NOT elected. Furthermore, there was no need for him to realize because he was not elected in the first place.
I think it’s delicadeza (although I actually despise that usually-disingenuous assertion) up to the point where the person under suspicion is actually proven by due process to have committed whatever wrong he’s accused of. You don’t know he wasn’t elected, you presume he wasn’t. And maybe he wasn’t (for what it’s worth, I also suspect he wasn’t), but your feelings or anyone else’s are not proof. When more than an atomic-scale minority of people in this culture actually wrap their heads around that simple rule, you might all start getting somewhere.
Joey G. are you sure Zubiri cheated? Was it ever proven? The charges of cheating are all alleged. You and the hordes of yellows do not know the meaning of allege. Please see the dictionary.
Pimentel is very vocal in saying he had been cheated by Zubiri, but one must a also wonder why Pimentel press cheating charges against Zubiri if he thinks that Zubiri really cheated? Guess it’s going to be SOP for politicians to just accuse someone of something and due process be damned.
Due process be dammed?WHAT? Zubiri resigned to avoid a charge of cheating and then being banned from running againOR did you forget/not know?WOW.
I agree that people should use their heads when voting and make sure(there really is no way to do it BUT!)the elected official does what he says he is going to do once elected.BUT…
The condesencion with which the blog was written is truly un-called for.Afterall,what is ill-bred?Bloodstained complaint?Pimmentel had nothing to do with the murders and Amputuan is not the only guy who KNOWS the election was rigged.A person would name a child Aquilino three times in as many generations out of respect for his precedent family member.Making fun of a persons given name is not what makes for a persuasive argument by a self-proclaimed “cream of the elite filipino minds …with the rare insight who wield the one true insight…among the morass of the intellectually bankrupt’…,it just isn’t.Sounds more like a part of it actually.
If Zubiri didnt join Arroyos coalition, then this issue wont happen. We know that the former president cheated in every election, just take for example FPJs zero votes in Maguindanao. Imagine how dirty that was! Thats why Filipinos around the globe hate her. Zubiri must regret his decision to join the corrupt.
Another TSISMIS comment, presented by Kris Aquino! And yes, Fishball/Kris is corrupt because he’s a total hypocrite!
Requesting for deletion of his stupid comment because he has no idea about what corruption is and has no idea how politics work here. So Fishball is corrupt. It’s very true. 😀
Hey, next time you’ll reply to me, just say these truthful words: ‘I’M TOO IMMATURE AND I AM PROUD! WOOOHOOO!’ 😛
If I am to define what lack of delicadeza is, it would be Kris Aquino a few years ago parading her STD around like some trophy of war.
Nobody more devastated than me when Joey and Kris split up. Two lovely people meant to be together forever. Role models this country needs.
As kids would say, EDIBENSYA!
BenignO:
–“Pimentel said that he could not stomach running with Zubiri because the latter was allegedly the biggest beneficiary of the fraud perpetuated in the 2007 polls.â€
But how could Zuribi be the “biggest beneficiary†when the votes garnered by ALL the 12 Team Unity (TU) candidates for Senator–and not just Zubiri’s–during the 2007 polls in the province of MAGUINDANA0 were manipulated to such an extent that the votes each of them garnered were practically the SAME (within the range of 194-195,000 votes)–
http://pcij.org/blog/2007/07/03/why-you-should-doubt-the-maguindanao-election-results
So, if ALL 12 Team Unity candidates benefited, why single out Zubiri? Is it because Zubiri–who is also from Mindanao–a threat to Koko? Or is it because Zubiri is more “Tom Cruise†than Koko?
I think “platform” is a PARTY concern and the individual party candidate merely parrots what the party proclaims to be their “platform.”
I have to repost this brilliant comment about someone who’s so consumed by hatred and “paka-importante:”
Paka-importante: “I want that guy removed.â€
Boss: “Why?â€
“Because I suspect he cheated me.â€
“So you want someone removed or punished because of mere suspicion?â€
“YES! Suspicion is enough!â€
Da Pinoy, kaya ka laging talo. Ang gusto mong klase ng hustiya ay buktot.
Classic shoot first ask questions later.
So the political zarzuela begins…it should be PAYBACK time. These politician sold our interests , and served the whim of Noynoy Aquino. they impeached Justice Corona and destroyed the Judiciary. You can see their arrogance…they still have the nerve of running, and promising they will serve us. Because, Pimentel is from a political dynasty. He thinks, he deserve as successor to the political throne. Kick this idiot Pimentel on his rear end…he deserves it..
Yan ba talaga ang kayang gawin ni Koko Pimentel, whine publicly about the alleged fraud? It was alleged, nothing else were proven afterall. Honestly, the sight of Koko makes me wonder if voting is really worth it. They’ve been there I mean, we’ve seen A LOT of them and…that’s it.