Why media and social media have failed to contain Jejomar Binay’s prominence

Can’t mention him, can’t NOT mention him: Vice President Jejomar Binay

As a topic, current Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay had become prominent in both media and social media early this month. And now recently it looks like he will slowly make his way back into the spotlight as he has made yet another statement on more pieces of property allegedly owned by him.

As has been spelled out already, it seems that even this early on before the 2016 presidential elections, Binay is already proceeding to mount what looks like an “early campaign”. Since he currently belongs to the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), the Liberal Party (LP), where current president Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino is currently a member, has reason to show concern.

The LP’s best bet so far seems to be Mar Roxas, the very same Mar Roxas who has shown up to this point that he is good at squandering opportunities for him to step up and prove that he is a leader worthy of higher office. The talk of the town is that if Roxas and Binay were to run for president now, Binay would win. That makes the LP very worried.

As such, every effort is being made in order to discredit Binay. The Aquino-friendly media is only too willing to help too.

The trial-by-media tactic, of course, is something Filipinos should be all too familiar with, as is the “Anybody but Binay” tactic being used by what GRP Webmaster benign0 termed as the Premature Opposition.

As it stands now, it seems that Jojo Binay winning the presidency is inevitable. If there’s anything to be said about the extent of the reach of social media “pundits”, is that they overestimate their reach and influence. One only has to remember that in social media, both current senators Grace Poe and Nancy Binay were overwhelmingly disapproved of in the time leading up to the 2013 mid-term elections. Yet they won by a landslide.

The social media “pundits” and “thought leaders” contend that their chosen medium has helped to put down hostile governments and to catch criminals. Yes, of course it has. Unfortunately, those examples show the use of social media in weeding out an element of society that already exists in it. Binay’s case is different in that he has not yet ascended to the presidency. How will social media rise to the challenge of planting a concept in its sphere of influence – and hopefully beyond – that he shouldn’t be the one? Such an Inception-like maneuver, I would think, will take more imagination and effort that what these “pundits” are expending right now.

The social media crowd, and the “thought leaders” in the national “debate” face a seemingly no-win situation: if they continue to talk about Binay and his alleged “corruption”, then the more possibility there is that the discussion will be twisted to be more favorable to him, and people will remember his name. If they stop talking about Binay, the crowds – the “masa” – will simply vote by name recall come 2016, and Binay is a very good name when it comes to recall.

The national “debate” in the Philippines is very easy to hijack and manipulate because such discussion – if you can even call it that here – tends to focus on personalities and events, instead of ideas. It would be very easy to paint Binay as a “victim” of unjust persecution by the so-called “elites” and oligarchs of Filipino society, for example.

What, then, must those who don’t want Jojo Binay to ascend to the presidency do? They obviously must find some sort of counter-measure against Binay’s perceived winnable nature. So far, in terms of a candidate per se, they have no one who can really match Binay. Unless of course, somehow BS Aquino is allowed to run again – that’s not gonna happen under this constitution. They have to somehow find ideas to beat him and his campaign with. They cannot use the traditional ways of campaigning and mudslinging and expect to win.

Whether they can, is of course another story. Focusing on ideas is not something Filipinos are generally known for.

FallenAngel

А вы, друзья, как ни садитесь, все в музыканты не годитесь. – But you, my friends, however you sit, not all as musicians fit.