Better Philippines

Online Campaign For Better Voters’ Education

There seems to be a consensus within the political blogging community that the top three factors to consider when choosing the candidate to vote for are:

• character
• ability to get things done
• platform

Of the three, character and the  ability to get things done clearly refer to a candidate’s track record. Information on this should be easily obtained especially if the candidate has been around for some time.

Platform, on the other hand, refers to the candidates’ plans. Information on this may not be as readily available since most politicians nowadays don’t even bother to come up with a well-thought out plan of action much less present one to the voting public.

Obviously they think they can get by without it. The sad reality is that they’re probably right. Not a few questionable characters have won elections on the strength of nothing more than just massive media exposure, platitudes and all sorts of cheap gimmicks.

This should no longer be the case. As voters we need to demand more from our candidates. We should demand that they give us their platform or plans for a better Philippines.

If you’re a Filipino (or even a foreigner with a special interest in the Philippines) and you have a blog, a website, forum or any other form of online presence, you can contribute to the growing clamor for a platform-based election campaign. Support “Platform, Plez” an online campaign to get all perceived candidates to start formulating and presenting their platforms.

For the time being, you can give your support by simply posting the following gif file on your blog or website.

There is a ‘non-clickable’ and a ‘clickable’ version. Just copy and paste any of the following source codes on your website. Make sure to set your ‘edit mode’ to HTML when you do this.

1. ‘Non-Clickable’ version

<img src=”http://getrealphilippines.com/images/platform_plez.gif“>

2. ‘Clickable’ version

<a href=”http://getrealphilippines.com/platformplez/“><img src=”http://getrealphilippines.com/images/platform_plez.gif” border=0></a>

The clickable version links to www.getrealphilippines.com, a website that features an ongoing tabulation of the known positions on various issues of the perceived 2010 presidential candidates . It also has an active forum where concerned citizens get to exchange ideas on how we can all help to build a better Philippines.

I sincerely hope you’d consider supporting this campaign.

Self-serving Talk

I just heard President Gloria Arroyo deliver what should be her last State of the Nation Address and I can’t help but be amazed at her ability to alienate. I found it quite difficult relating to her claims of ‘achievements.’ Ok, that wouldn’t be fair. PGMA could probably be credited for some things but still I just can’t get myself to accept her version of reality.

I’m particularly troubled by her insistence on using supposed gains in the area of infrastructure as a measure of her supposed success in governance. As I heard her cite this and that completed project, my mind drifted and soon I was imagining a barangay captain enumerating to his constituents the projects he pursued, which, of course, are all part and parcel of his being an official to begin with. Parang nanunumbat baga.

I guess I was hoping against hope that she’d  come out with something bigger than that perhaps something along the lines of putting a stop to government graft and corruption.  But, as it turned out, the closest she got to saying anything about it in her speech today was when she remarked that those accusing her of using her position for personal profit should first look at their own lifestyles. Clearly, that’s just self-serving talk.

As far as I’m concerned graft and corruption is still this country’s biggest problem. With that solved I’m sure the government will be able to exponentially increase its gains in addressing poverty, improving employment, boosting the economy etcetera etcetera.

Oh well. For now, that’s just wishful thinking.

MMDA Crap

Every year the Metro Manila Development Authority comes out with claims that it has reduced floodings in Metro Manila by this or that percentage. Well, guess what MMDA? I think you’re full of crap.

Yesterday’s heavy rains caused major flooding in many parts of Manila. I got stuck in traffic for two hours on Nagtahan bridge because the stretch from Governor Forbes up to A.H. Lacson was submerged in knee-deep flood. And, this was at around 10:00 pm, a good three or four hours after the heavy downpour had ended.

But, ok, I can be a little more understanding here. The flooding was not entirely your fault. You’ve been doing your job but the garbage just keeps piling up to inevitably clog the city’s sewers and waterways. That’s benefit of the doubt for you.

However, I cannot forgive you for your failure to send out your personnel to assist the hundreds of motorists who got stuck in that area. This you failed to do in spite of the fact that your Traffic Engineering Center was just a stone’s throw away. Correct me please if I am wrong but isn’t that facility of yours located somewhere there along Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard? I believe it’s just a few meters away from — drumroll please — Nagtahan Bridge!

If only your highly esteemed traffic enforcers had been doing their jobs they could have positioned themselves just before the Nagtahan Bridge to warn motorists that the road ahead was impassable. Had someone been there to give us that useful piece of information we would have been able to avoid all that hassle.

Coincidentally, this whole thing happened just as a small group of pro-active thinking bloggers are engaged in a debate over the importance of having a platform with another blogger who happens to be a supporter of MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando. This BF supporter is against Platform, Plez an ongoing effort to get politicial candidates to come out with their respective platforms. Why he’s against it no one can really say for certain. Anyway, this BF supporter was challenged to provide information about Fernando’s stand on various issues of concern. However, for some reason, he just won’t do it. Oh well it’s his loss.

But, i’m digressing. I’m ranting here to send the word out that the MMDA is either padding its figures on flood reduction or is simply lying through its teeth. Last night’s flooding in Governor Forbes up to A.H. Lacson and other parts of Manila was very clear proof that the agency still has a long way to go before it can make any claim of success in the area of flood reduction.

I also want to highlight the fact that the MMDA FAILED to send out its people to assist all of us who got stranded there on Nagtahan Bridge last night. Makes me want to ask the obvious question. What are taxpayers paying you for anyway?

An Educated Approach To Screening Out Crap

There’s a mini-revolution taking place over at the group blog FilipinoVoices. A number of bloggers and commenters there are engaged in an effort to change the way Filipinos evaluate political candidates.

Much credit goes to the blogger known as BenignO who came up with the catchphrase “Platform, plez!” which will serve as a reminder to all candidates to stop inundating the electorate with motherhood statements, empty promises and all other types of crap. As suggested, bloggers who choose to write about the candidates and their failure to provide any specific platform should just append the phrase to their posts.

Another blogger BongV came out with a similarly commendable follow up. In his post titled “Benchmarking the Presidentials” he attempts to provide a simple way of evaluating the so-called presidentiables. Using tables, BongV gives us an overview of key issues and where some of these presidentiables stand. The data provided by BongV is far from comprehensive and complete but, as I noted, it’s better than nothing and it’s a good start. I’m hoping he will come up with donwloadable pdf versions of his tables. All voters should have their copies.

Related to this, PinoyBuzz pointed out to me that maybe some candidates are deliberately making their political ads as revolting as possible to attract the masa crowd. I agree with his view. It has become quite obvious that many politicians and their media handlers are guided by the public relations notion that “bad publicity is still publicity.” (Come to think of it Former President Joseph Estrada did get himself elected thanks in part to his Eraptions, which as I recall was the brainchild of publicist Reli German.)

Well, I think it’s about time we wisen up to this cheap gimmickry. I had previously recommended villifying any and all silly political ads. I realize now that doing that will just give these stupid political ads more mileage.

In Smoke.ph, blogger Rom wrote a post in which she basically calls on political bloggers to put a stop to all the shallow punditry.

She writes:

And pundits – both on-line and in the mainstream – continuously feed the egos of these wannabees by devoting column-inches and blog posts to their merest utterances. But more than just feeding egos, this predilection to writing up every little off-the-cuff remark, every bluster, and every knee-jerk reaction of these aspirants for the presidency (not presidentiables, mind you, because in the strictest sense of even that made-up word, they are not presidentiable) adds the patina of legitimacy to what would otherwise be dismissed as plain and simple chicanery.

And…

The pundits are no help. When was the last time you read an article that tried to delve deeply into what a Roxas presidency would do for the country? Or an Escudero presidency? All you can read nowadays trivialize the presidency into nothing more than a prize to be won, hence the proliferation of attempts at pseudo-thinktankish analyses of who will most likely win. All that does is engender the belief that it is better to pick the winningest candidate than to support the one that will do the best job.

I’m hoping these ‘calls’ for a more educated screening and selection of political candidates will gain steam.

Candidates take note.

Platform, plez!

Don’t Call It Amnesty

Pinoy Buzz has posted a beautiful piece on his thoughts about the situation in Sulu. He juxtaposed this with Senator Richard Gordon’s proposed amnesty for the Abu Sayyaf Group, which, as we all know, was already rejected by Malacanang.

I am of the opinion that Gordon’s proposal had some merit and that it should have been given more time to be explored. Malacanang shouldn’t have dismissed it just like that.

As I said in my comment to Pinoy Buzz’s post, the Abu Sayyaf problem has clearly become a political problem as well. The idea of giving amnesty to a group that has gained notoriety for atoricities such as kidnappings and beheadings is not as palatable as, let’s say, granting pardon to a former president convicted of plunder. Joseph Estrada had and still has a strong following. The Abu Sayyaf is largely despised. This could be the reason why Malacanang took the safer route and just rejected the proposal. Perhaps it did so just to avoid the hail of criticisms detractors of the Arroyo administration are all too willing to dish out at the first sign of opportunity.

I just hope this little setback won’t stop Senator Gordon from coming up with radical, out-of-the-box ideas to address this country’s most pressing problems.

I really think Gordon’s proposal should have been explored more. In my understanding, the senator merely presented an alternative to the present course of action, which as recent history will show us hasn’t been effective at all in stopping the Abu Sayyaf. If it wasn’t unceremoniously shot down maybe some adjustments to the original idea could have been made.

Just to be clear, I am not for the granting of amnesty to all the members of the Abu Sayyaf. In my opinion only the least guilty among the bandit group’s members should qualify for amnesty. I am, however, for the option of eradicating the Abu Sayyaf menace through peaceful means. If only the government didn’t get too fixated with the word ‘amnesty’ and just used Gordon’s proposal as a springboard for more brainstorming on this issue.

I guess it would just be a waste of time to dwell on this after all the government has already decided to stick to a military solution. Quite interestingly though, this government is not even sure what to call its military solution. All-out war? No, that conjures images of ultra-violence. All-out  law enforcement? That’s more like it.

Same banana different name. Just don’t say amnesty.

More Motherhood Statements

When the ABS-CBN News Channel aired the 1st ANC Leadership forum I made a commitment to watch it even on replay. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to know what our politicians have planned for us should they get elected in 2010.

It left me a little disappointed.

Then came the 2nd ANC Forum. I thought I might as well listen to what the other aspirants had to say. Still, I had to force myself to watch.

Again I was disappointed.

Just a few moments ago I caught a glimpse of yet another forum on TV. Held at the historic PLaza Miranda, the forum dubbed “Ang Mamamayang Pilipino Alisto” had a few of the same faces who graced the two previous ANC fora. They were Senators Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas and Francis Escudero; Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio and Former President Joseph Estrada. I thought why not give them another chance. They might have something new to say.

I was wrong.

One of the participants said something about  the youth. What he said was all fluff. So, thanks to him I’ve decided that this forum will be the last one for me.

I… AM… SORRY. Hindi ako uto-uto.

My frustration aside, I think I shouldn’t be too hard on these panderers. Maybe it’s not entirely their fault that they can’t say anything other than motherhood statements. I realize that there is also a problem with the kind of questions asked of them. Consider the following:

How will you fight corruption?

How will you put a stop to the drug menace?

How will you improve the traffic situation in Metro Manila?

Three different questions but all of these can be answered with the same generic answer:

I will ensure the law is enforced.

This is not to say that this is the only answer to these questions. There are many other variations. I’m merely pointing out that a motherhood question will more often than not elicit a motherhood statement, especially if the person asked is a politician.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that we need to come up with really difficult questions preferably formed around very specific situations. The more specific the better. Raise the quality of our questions and hopefully we’ll get better answers.

Or, we could just have these politicians sit on chairs rigged to shoot non-lethal surges of electricity through their butts everytime they respond with bullsh_t.

New PNR Trains; 4,000 Buses To Be Retired

Here are two transportation-related stories worth mentioning. First is the inauguration of the Philippine National Railways’ new trains totalling nine. The PNR says these will initially operate along the railway stretch from Caloocan to Sucat twice daily at 7 am and 5 pm. Second is the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s announcement that it is planning to retire 4,000 buses in Metro Manila.

I think these developments bode well for public transportation and traffic management at least in Metro Manila. The first shows that the modernization of the PNR’s railway system is moving. The PNR is reportedly expecting nine more trains.

I’m particularly interested in the LTFRB’s plan. Retiring 4,000 buses — hopefully the dilapidated and colorum ones — will definitely help ease the flow of traffic in Metro Manila especially along EDSA.

Unfortunately, there’s a negative side to this. Bus operators say this will leave thousands of people without jobs. Each bus has at least two personnel — the driver and fare collector. At 4,000 buses, that’s 8,000 people who will stand to lose their source of income. I’m sure the government will later say that projects to help those who will be affected are in the pipeline.  I just hope whatever action the government takes will not be the usual short-term fix.

Just this morning, I heard a radio commentary about this LTFRB plan. The radio announcer pointed out that the LTFRB grants bus franchises to operators with at least 100 buses. He added that the LTFRB also requires bus operators to have garages for their buses.

The announcer said many bus operators do not have garages.  He also pointed out that some operators do not even really own the required number of buses. They just rent out their franchises to other groups to complete the required number.

I am not aware if the LTFRB rules expressly state that renting out bus franchises is not allowed. If it is then the erring operators should be penalized accordingly. However, if it is not then the rules should be amended immediately.

Anyway, while listening to the commentary I couldn’t help but think that this franchise-for-rent scheme is ingenious. Whoever came up with the scheme sure know how to spot and take advantage of an opportunity. The way I see it, if the rules do not expressly say that that is not allowed then it is not the concerned company that should be faulted but the agency or the person who drafted the rules.

I think this should serve as an eyeopener to anyone who is involved in making rules, regulations and laws. To them I say: Accept the fact that people will exploit loopholes. Anticipate this and make sure the rules, regulations and laws that you craft are not too easy to circumvent. That is part of your job. If you cannot do that then you do not have any business handling such a task.

Kung bobo ka hanap ka na lang ibang trabaho.

Are The Elite Screwing Us All Up?

There’s a bit of a debate going on in one of the group blogs I’ve been following. One camp seems to espouse the idea that much of our country’s present problems can be blamed on the abuses and excesses of the elite while the other stands by the belief that these problems are nothing more than the result of a flawed Filipino culture and character. I’m not really sure if that’s the crux of their debate but that is obviously one of the underlying themes.

Personally, I believe both sides have valid points. On one hand, I would agree that certain things about our culture and character tend to limit our potential for greatness. Some of us like to think that we lack imagination. Sure, we can be imaginative enough to turn old, discarded US military vehicles into jeepneys complete with shiny horse ornaments and other bling bling but we don’t seem to have the ability to realize that its design is already in need of a major adjustment if not a complete revision. I think this also has something to do with our “pwede na yan” attitude. In any case, it’s not hard to imagine how having such an attitude can lead to many problems, big and small.

On the other hand, I can also see how our elite — who, in my understanding, are those belonging to the old rich and landed families — can adversely influence how things go in this country of ours. It’s no secret many so-called public servants belong to this class and they seek and cling to power not because of a desire to serve but to protect or worse to expand their interests.

This particular notion about this country’s elite is explored or rather exposed in a report written by Greg Rushford in the July-August edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review. It’s supposedly an investigative report about the alleged feud between the Macapagal-Arroyo and Lopez families and how this decades old clan war has become a hindrance to the country’s development. From what I’ve read in a report released yesterday by Inquirer. net Rushford’s article makes for very interesting reading.

I find it particularly interesting how our elite got to be so wealthy. Obviously the source of their wealth is land. But that hardly explains it. What I want to know is how these families were able to acquire all their real estate. Was it by force, political maneuverings or by some twist of fate?

If you want a teaser of Rushford’s article go to Inquirer.net.

Read And Weep

Manuel L. Quezon III sent out a twit about a 108-page document, which details how the 2004 Elections were allegedly manipulated.

MLQ3 says the research for this presentation was done by volunteers from the defunct FPJ for president campaign.

Admittedly, I don’t have the energy or enthusiasm to read this rather long document but I think I should if only to get myself into indignant mode. I find it easier to write when I’m pissed with something.

Anyway, here’s where you can find the document.

Twit Twit. Who’s There? Politiko. Waaahhh!!!

I had just finished uploading the post below wherein I expressed my desire to take a break from this blog when I discovered that a number of politicians are now following me on Twitter. I’m just not sure if these Twitter accounts are really manned by the politicians themselves or by their supporters or, God forbid, their paid hacks. In any case, I must admit I’m a little bit incensed by their presence.

This is nothing personal. I just don’t like politicians in general. I especially hate paid hacks. Wait let me qualify that. I don’t really have anything against paid hacks in general. That’s how they make a living and I can respect that. I too have been in that position before. What I have an issue with are rabid paid hacks who have the habit of pretending as though they seriously believe what their politicians are doing.

Kung trabaho lang, trabaho lang. Wag nang magkunwari pa.

Don’t be a pseudo-patriot/revolutionary.

Anyway, I found an interesting article over at gmanews.tv about politicians and their online presence. It’s a funny piece by Lynn Lopez. Here’s an excerpt:

Other politicians have also been making use of other sites as well. Loren Legarda supplements her official site with her Multiply, where people take the opportunity to praise her and invite her to events, and Roilo Golez— just call him Congress’s Youtube sensation, because he’s as Youtube sensational as any congressman could hope to get.

His channel, Go Go Golez, is updated almost every day and has over 500 videos, which mainly show him at work, whether he’s at a congressional hearing, attending a Facebook EB (eyeball, for those not in the know) against Con-Ass, making the rounds of his district, visiting neighborhood wakes, and even just walking in the rain. Sure, he has only 11 subscribers, but you have to admire his persistence.

For the rest of the article go to this link.

Going back to my discovery, I sent out a message to warn those politicians following my account. Here’s my warning to them:

betterpilipins to those concerned: i don’t think highly of politicians especially those who do not truly serve. so, follow at your own risk.

Anyway, I don’t have anything more to say about this except that I seriously hope politicians who follow other people’s Twitter accounts are not overly sensitive.