The racket over epal relief good distribution in Bohol has made me wonder if calling out the self-aggrandizement and credit claiming actually promotes instead of demotes the politician or organization committing it.
When the Habagat last year flooded Provident Village in Marikina, I really didn’t bother to read the names printed on the rescue boats, trucks, and tents. Neither did a wife’s kababayan from the province remember the names of the politicians who distributed relief goods at the evacuation center they were in.
In a way, my experience tends to confirm what fellow Marikenyo Senator Koko Pimentel told me in a conversation in 2012 and that is MOST people won’t remember the names of politicians who helped them during disasters. Thus, Pimentel figured, when election season comes around, there’ll be only a few votes coming out from all the money spent by politicians for relief goods.
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Besides, pinoys expect political campaign seasons to be a perverted mash-up between a fiesta and Christmas. Where, instead of the usual banderitas you have campaign posters strung up across streets and instead of parading saints with marching bands we have a string of amiable sociopaths going around in motorcades with god-awful jingles blaring. Instead of Misa De Gallo, you have the Miting De Avance and instead of Aguinaldo (what they call Christmas gifts from godparents), people get Ninoys (500 peso bills).
Question is, what kind of person would expect people to vote for them after reminding them of bad times?
Anyway, calling something EPAL actually makes people notice the EPAL and has a tendency of burning it in their memory — which can actually have the tendency of making more people vote for the EPAL.
One friend on FB, upon being shown the EPAL of his town mayor, was even elated that he had seen his town mayor’s picture being spread widely on the internet. People can be looking at the same thing and even when the message is clear, they’ll always come away with a different perception — which by the way, isn’t so much the nature of “social media” as it is the nature of people and perception.
Even more, controversy gets eyeballs on the internet. It’s an old trick which probably has its roots in showbiz promotions, create a controversy for an artista and you get tongues wagging all over, inevitably promoting the artista as well as whatever movie or show they’ll be in.
Apply that to politicians during the lull between campaign periods and voila! Instant attention for some ambulance with their name on it or some manner of publicly funded construction.
Great racket really.
You gain eyeballs and win points with a lot of young, impressionable rebels without a cause (the 17 to 21 years old that comprise the bulk of social media users)… And you get to either hawk your social media consultancy to politicians who, up until the time they had an EPAL crisis, wouldn’t bother with social media at all.
Anyway, I guess politicians have already seen through the racket and kids on social media (being the kids that they are) have already turned their eyeballs away from the anti-Epal campaign.
In other words, like a joke that already provoked laughter, it can be said that “nabenta na” ang anti-Epal and a new racket has to be made, which now brings us to the recently coined #corporateEPAL of one washed out mestizo de entresuelo tour guide.
Funny, really, that after laying off ranting about SM for a couple of months after supposedly talking with someone from the mall and real estate giant, Mamser Carlos “Mestizo De Entresuelo” Celdran has again started ranting against the company.
Of course, good old Atanacio Salvador had some thing to say about it:
Carlos Celdran is at it again, bullying SM. Ok, we get you… but at least they’re doing something. You, Celdran, on the other hand have done nothing but b***h. You claim to be a consultant of Manila City’s tourism office but the only thing you’ve done is sell tickets of your Manila historical walking tour to schools and teachers and having Manila taxpayers foot the bill. What’s the matter, Carlos? Your flagpole kickback ain’t enough for your Syquia apartment rent and c*****e binges?
That’s really a bit harsh on Mamser Celdran. I mean, give the guy a break, how do you expect someone like Carlos to earn money? And like what Heath Ledger was supposed to have said, “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.”
To be fair to Celdran, he did use his social media accounts to call out to people to donate to victims of the Visayas Quake. I don’t know how much he donated to the victims, but I’ll simply just assume he did because I didn’t see him on FB or Twitter saying he did. Then again, saying he helped the earthquake victims on social media would be epal, right?
But what would be wrong about saying you’re helping out victims of the earthquake, if… in fact… you are helping the victims?
Mamser Celdran’s counter-idea seems a bit deranged… “counter idea: why not give 990.00 Pesos to the Red Cross. Give 10.00 Pesos to SM. Heck, give the whole 1000.00 pesos to Red Cross then go buy your groceries at Landmark.”
Great if people go for it! But, chances are… I don’t think people will.
Thing is, I think Mamser Celdran’s thumbs weren’t connected to his brain when he posted this on Facebook and he couldn’t do the math.
What it looks like to me is that SM is going to give is 1 percent of its daily sales from its department store and perhaps grocery operations all over the country. Now, I don’t have an idea how much that would amount to on a daily basis, because I’d need the annual sales figures and divide that by 365 to get that.
But even then, perhaps it’s safe to assume that 1 percent of SM’s daily sales would amount to millions a day and that’s certainly a lot more help than just posting status messages on Facebook.
If at all, Mamser Carlos is acting like Maribojoc, Bohol town Mayor Leoncio Evasco Jr. who turned away the Red Cross’ help after the members of the humanitarian organization refused to handover its relief supplies to him.
In Bohol’s time of great need, I think people should reign in their baseless feelings of self-importance and arrogance.
photo from GMAnewstv
Writer.
I read the title of the article and I thought this was a college thesis…
Here in Malaybalay the local ambulance running around has the name Gov. Jose Maria Zubiri plastered all over it. In the post office is a table with a sign saying, “donated by honorable vice-mayor Inaki Zubiri. Inaki is now mayor and I can guarandamntee you he did not take the money from his personal bank account to buy those tables. Nor did his uncle use his own money to buy that ambulance. When I “donate” something it is something I own or have bought with my own personal money, not tax money.
do·nate
[doh-neyt, doh-neyt] Show IPA verb, do·nat·ed, do·nat·ing.
verb (used with object)
1.
to present as a gift, grant, or contribution; make a donation of, as to a fund or cause: to donate used clothes to the Salvation Army.
verb (used without object)
2.
to make a gift, grant, or contribution of something; give; contribute: They donate to the Red Cross every year.
@ Jerry, yes, and I have seen those very same vehicles/tables(Manuel’s are all over CDO) and want to puke… and I am not even a citizen, lol! IDK which one of the family members ‘won'(cough cough cough) the election in ’08(?) ‘beating’ Pimmentel for a national HOR or Senate congressional seat(Manuel?) and had to resign (so he could run in the next election) due to ‘election result irregularities’, but Pimmentel won the election and took his seat less than a year before a new election was to be held. the resigning member of congress, did he run again? and if so, did he win? the people of Bukidnon do not respect them, no. They are afraid of them. why? IDK the family are outnumbered and are known to be what all other pols are.
You seem to be obsessed with Carlos and his sexuality? You sure you aren’t in love with him? Why all the articles, Paul?
Evelyn, i’ve only bothered to write about Carlos a handful of times, that doesn’t really count as an obsession. I couldn’t careless about him except when he boorishly and arrogantly calls on people not to support additional aid for the people of Bohol.
I really don’t care about his sexuality. He could have sex with missile guiding pigeons for all I care.
Oh but, here you are obviously defending your idol, how sweet of you and I do hope he notices your brave attempt to show your hots for him.
Oh! Where have j read thjs before? Ah! Yes, from the troop of morons and their leader.
You just don’t get it. Celdran and the rest of the netizens are angry at the capitalist riding on the relief operations sentiment to boost sales. SM makes people think they’re helping by giving 1 stupid percent to relief operations when they could just give 10 or even 50 Pesos straight to the Red Cross. Now if you don’t consider SM’s actions pathetic, I don’t know what does.
No, you just don’t get it. SM is a private entity and doesn’t have to give anything to anyone. that is the way of the world. he with the most money wins.SM is full of shit? OK, yes, but if they want to donate something and brag about it, it is their right to do so.
I really don’t care if they brag about it or if some other mall tries to do one better than SM. Either way, the victims of the earthquake will benefit from it and I am fine with that.
Also, since you are can’t do your research: SMPH’s 2012’s revenue was Php223b according to their annual report, or 18.5b per month. A week is 4.625b. 10% of that is 462.5million pesos.
Nevertheless, the capitalist hijacking of calamity, whether to artificially increase prices or promote their malls, is not appropriate.
Actually, the figure would be off by a long way. I was referring to just the sales of ita department stores and groceries. I actually looked up SM’s annual report and it said about 80 percent of its mall revenues came from lease/rentals but said nothing of its gross sale revenues.
Also, i think it’s a bit exagerrated to say SM hijacked the relief operations. The disaster is so huge that i don’t think one organization can claim credit for helping all those affected.
Okay here is my take on it. Sure we can see SM is using this calamity to make a profit, I won’t deny that.
But here is my question to you or to Mr. Celdran:
1. Would you prefer no additional help get’s to calamities victims?
Come on man those people need all the help they could get, does it really matter if the donors (SM) get something out of helping.
2. If the earthquake happened in Manila, or wherever you live, and you lost everything, will you turn down their help?
Please think about it carefully.
OA lang yang reaction to SM’s donation pledge, i’m sure Ayala malls and Robinson malls have their own versions — hindi lang siguro na advertise. But all in all, like i said, people will have different reactions to SM’s ad. Some may get turned off and not shop at all at SM. Or, perhaps, they’ll feel better about shopping there.
Either way, people will continue to buy from SM and up until the ens of the month, that will raise millions for the people of Bohol stricken by the quake.
Why are Celdran and others criticizing specific entity’s relief projects? Who cares who does it? As long as the relief goods goes to those needing them, that should be fine, right? Is there a law saying some entities are not allowed to provide relief operations? Sheesh. Plug-in pa for Landmark. How paid-hacky can you get.
Politicians are such a thick faced people. They use the tragedy of other proplr to get votes.
Apparently, it’s not at all effective. Otherwise, the turn out of votes would have been different in 2010.
There are a lot of articles on him that you have written but he doesn’t seem to mind you at all. I don’t think you are getting his attention. Maybe there can be another way to make him take notice of you?
Sige nga, tell me how many articles I’ve written?
Believe me, I have seen Carlos the Supreme One call out Paul many times by name and I don’t even subscribe to any of Carlos social media. Carlos in an extremely pikon state declared the GRP website dead. Of course being a man of unwavering principle he deleted that post. Granted not before we captured it and made a blog post of it. Look it up here in GRP Feb 6 2013. I authored it.
If you assume, Evelyn, that the intent of these articles is to get Celdran’s attention, then obviously you miss the point by a mile. GRP writers simply express their views regardless of how big the audience for them will be.
Obviously it got the attention of a Celdran fan like you, so what does that say about you? Actually, it doesn’t really matter.
It doesn’t take much to provoke Circus Charlie anyway. He has shown himself in the past to be extremely hypersensitive to criticism. If he wants no criticism then go tell him to get the hell out of the spotlight he likes putting himself so much in.
if the Mayor actually did turn the Red-Cross away because they would not turn over their goods to him, HE SHOULD BE THROWN OUT OF OFFICE!
WTF is he? he thinks he is going to tell an international relief agency what to do?
as for Celdran? he looks like an idiot in that hat. BUT to be fair: How does anyone know that he goes on ‘Coke’ binges? EH? the penalties for drug use in the RP are sooo prohibitive that anyone with social standing to use an illegal drug is pretty dumb. did the Congressman who got busted in HK go to jail? if so, is he still there?
Hello Paul,
Been reading this blog for quite some time now but this is the first time that I decided to comment on an article. Honestly, I enjoy reading the writings and discussions here and they make me think, though not participate. This time, something just bugged me so much that I couldn’t help but comment.
The thing is, while your piece has raised good points, your use of the derogatory term ‘mamser’ has totally taken me out of it.
It seems that I may have missed your point, but that’s exactly it: the use of such language already undermined the message you wanted to convey. I could also say the same for some of the other articles here (or actually a lot of them: example on top of my head is calling Noynoy ‘BS’, even though I still think he’s a shitty president anyway). This particular article just strikes a cord since I’m a young lesbian woman and find it very distasteful of you to use such insults just to highlight things/people you disagree with.
I mean, can’t we just criticize a person for what he believes in and stands for instead of who he is/how he looks/what his sexuality is? ‘Mamser’ is just juvenile; at worst, homophobic. His sexuality has nothing to do with whatever opinion he has that you find stupid.
(Looking at the comments, it seems that there’s an on-going argument between you and Celdran… but well, my point still stands. Wouldn’t it be classier if you just threw shots at each other without all the petty name-calling?)
Apologies since I’ve nothing of substance to add to the discussion, I guess I just want to address other things more.