What was the Inquirer editor thinking? A post by writer Boying Pimentel (on Twitter as @boyingpimentel) published on the Inquirer, via its US bureau, encouraged Filipinos to Vote against Duterte in Time poll to prevent more killings. A link to the article was also posted on Pimentel’s Facebook page.
Evident in the title of his article is the underlying logic Pimentel applies to his call, that one can “save a life in the Philippines” just by going “online and vote against Rodrigo Duterte in the Time Magazine poll for the 100 Most Influential People.” Pimentel asserts, “Anyone but Rodrigo Duterte”, and;
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Here’s why: A victory for Duterte in a poll by a prestigious international media organization would mean a tremendous PR boost for a leader who inspired a terrifying bloodbath in the Philippines, a killing spree that has claimed the lives of more than 6,000 Filipinos.
The astounding heights of logical nonsense in this piece is only matched — and outdone — by the fact that it was published on a major Filipino news site; none other than the eminent Inquirer.net.
Pimentel rightly calls out that “this process [of providing an online poll] can easily be manipulated”. Indeed, Filipinos are renowned for their penchant for using such facilities to “spam-vote” their personal interests into insta-fame using their sheer numerical presence on the Net.
Pimentel inadvertently furthers this sort of thinking — that the salvation of the Philippines lies in foreign intervention; either by a foreign government, or a foreign media outlet like TIME. This monumental war for territory on an online poll such as that made available by TIME Magazine coming from both sides of the political fence so describes the sad desperation of the lot in Philippine society. That the TIME poll is seen to be such a valuable trophy speaks much about the intellectual, social, and political bankruptcy of the Philippines.
What escapes Filipino is that any international “award” or artefact of recognition that is “won” by spam-voting does not, in any way, contribute to the value of the hapless honouree. The honour bestowed is not real — and will be hollow at best. If Duterte wins the Most Influential “award” by his supporters’ spam-vote, he will be a winner only in their eyes. And if he loses because of his critics’ spam-vote (presumably heeding Pimentel’s call) he will only be a loser in their eyes.
No Filipino wins either way. Only TIME Magazine will be laughing all the way to the bank with its ad revenues — another windfall raked by a multinational off the backs of Filipino cheap labour.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Para sa kagaya ko na “Durtertard” kapag nanalo si Duterte, parang sinampal na rin namin sa mukha ang mainstream media . Sa mga anti-Duterte na mga Dilawan, isang malaking dagok ito sa kanilang kampanya ng paninira at pagtangkang patalsikin ang Pangulo at bawiin ang kapangyarihan.
What a nonsense and shallow analysis.
Do you honestly believe that it would make a difference if DU30 win or not ? No one seems to mind and outraged that cops were given pardon for killing the Mayor of Albuera. Don’t you think that there are Criminal forces in the Government trying to manipulate the truth ? People, think before its too late.
Failipinos in the Failippines are given to the cult of personality; when things go badly we look to some messiah to save us. If by chance Failipinos think they have found one, it will not be long before they destroy him.
“Time Magazine”, a U.S. based weekly magazine is not a prestigious international magazine. Journalism is already dead in America, because of Fake News. Journalism has long been dead in the Philippines, because of Fake News, and the stupid thinking, of people like Boyet Pimentel of the Inquirer.net
Foreign intervention, to put another person in place of Pres. Duterte, will never solve the problems of the Philippines. Calling for foreign entities/countries, to intervene in the internal affairs, of our country is Treason. Pimentel should be tried and hanged !
Voting on “Times Magazine”, for the 100 most influential people does not solve anything. Whether, the vote is won honestly , or by HOCUS PCOS, with some data manipulation of people behind the shadows. It does not matter…
Who cares, if Pres. Duterte is voted the Times Magazine 100 most influential people…the YellowTards will only be writhing in envy.
Boyet Pimentel will have a “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)”. The Dutertards will have a grand celebration. And, Pres. Dutertre , himself , will feel : he is a “ten feet tall man” !
The issues confronting the country, will be there. Illegal Shabu Drug Dealers will continue, to shoot each other, for marketing territories. People hooked on Shabu, will continue to use Shabu…
The question of who was responsible for the “Mamapasano massacre” will still be a deep enigma…the missing Typhoon Yolanda Fund stolen by Mar Roxas , is yet to be found. The DAP, PDAF, Pork Barrel money, etc…stolen by Aquino and Abad, still will be a big question…
The gold reserve of the Philippines, that was placed as loot by : Aquino, Mar Roxas, Porky Drillon, Leila de Lima, and their cahoots, will still be in Thailand. And so forth..and so on…
This is for sure…our lives will go on …
The Sun will rise on the East ! Crooks will continue in their crooked ways…No change whatsoever !
how many years will it take to investigate dap-pdaf, how many years will it take to investigate mamasapano, how many years it will take to investigate pardons? …and so on. do we still have to investigate all these? it’s already been answered to the people in the constitution.
“The answer, my Friend, is blowing in the wind…the answer is blowing in the wind” !, as the song goes…
The Maguindanao massacre, that murdered many journalists is not yet resolved…how many years will it take ? Hacienda Luisita massacre, Mendiola masdsacre, etc…all these cases gathering dusts, or forgotten…
if i am the president, all i can say is, ‘you violated the constitution, arrest them’. pilipinos are already tired of so much blah blah blah, we need to see real change in progress. the camp crame custodial center is not a jail, it is to protect state witnesses their lives against criminals. what’s in the constitution should not be interpolated. if it is inconsistent to the law, it should be automatically repeal. there’s so many meaning in one word, so stick to what’s in the constitution.
@salagintong bukid: The Cory Constitution you want Filipinos to stick to is the very root of the problem if this country. A Constitution with a Bill of Rights that it is practically impossible (as assessed by MDS in the Corona Impeachment Trial) to convict an Acccused who has the means to pay an smart technical lawyer as Estelito Mendoza or Sigrid Fortun.
It is the Constitution drafted by Cory picked 50 constitutional commissioners to change the 1971 Constitution drafted by duly elected ConCon delegates with a unicameral parliamentary form of government to usher in the legal and constitutional looting of government resources by favoring a new oligarchy with a 60-40 ownership provision that ushered in an unbridled free enterprise economy of liberalization, privatization and deregulation weakening the strong State and looting its resources for the greed of private enterprise and corporations in the banking and utilities industry.
i know it’s a yellow constitution to protect them and prosecute their oppositions. now you see they’re the enemy now of their own constitution. let them pay their crimes first under their constitution then switch to federalism after cleansing. now the question is, can you prosecute them under federalism if the government abolished the 87 constitution?