Better Philippines

Apela Sa Mga Kabataang Botante

Nakakatuwang isipin na marami rami na rin ang mga taong namumulat sa katotohanang ang paghingi ng plataporma sa mga kandidato ang isa sa mga simpleng hakbang tungo sa pagbabago ng takbo ng politika dito sa ating bansa.

Nakakatuwang marinig ang ilang mga kabataan na nagtatanong tanong kung ano nga ba ang plataporma ng mga kandidato. Isa na rito ang aking pamangkin na nag-aaral sa isang unibersidad dito sa Metro Manila. Sa kanyang simpleng pamamaraan nagagawa niyang imulat ang isipan ng kanyang mga kaibigan sa bagay na ito. Minsan na rin niyang naikuwento sa akin na marami sa kanyang mga kaibigan ang nagiging aktibo na rin sa pagsusuri tungkol sa mga plataporma. Umaasa ako na mas darami pa ang kanilang bilang habang papalapit ang araw ng halalan.

Nakakalungkot nga lamang malaman na marami pa rin ang bulag o nagbubulag-bulagan sa malaking tulong na magagawa ng aktibong paghingi ng plataporma mula sa mga kandidato. Nakakabahala rin na kabilang sa mga taong ito ang ilang mga hinahangaang personalidad. Gamit ang kanilang impluwensya pilit nilang pinaniniwala ang mga tao na hindi mahalaga ang plataporma. Labis na nakakalungkot na sa kabila ng mga pahayag ng mga taong ito na sila ay para sa pagbabago kitang kita naman na taliwas sa adhikaing ito ang kanilang ginagawa.

Higit na nakakalungkot na bagamat marami na nga ang nakakaintindi sa halaga ng mga plataporma mas marami pa rin ang nagmamatigas na sapat na ang karakter, track record at kung ano ano pang bagay na wala namang direktang kinalaman sa mga usaping tungkol sa hinaharap.

Huwag na lang kaya tayo umasa ng anumang pagbabago. Huwag na siguro dahil mapapagod lang tayo gayong mas marami pa rin ang mga taong kuntentong binobola at inaaliw na lamang kaysa mabigyan ng tunay na impormasyong makakatulong para sa pagpili ng tamang kandidato. Huwag na siguro tayo umasa sa pagbabago dahil mas marami pa rin sa atin ang natutuwang inuuto uto na lamang.

Pero sa kabilang banda bakit nga ba tayo magpapatalo sa mga taong kunwari gusto ng pagbabago pero lumalabas naman na mas pabor silang makitang namamayagpag pa rin ang kasalukuyang sistema.

Pagbabago ba talaga ang hanap natin? Pagbabago saan? Sa mga mukha ng mga mamumuno sa atin? Sa papel ng mga ordinaryong tao sa takbo ng pamamahala sa ating bansa?

Kung ako ang tatanungin, gusto ko ng pagbabago sa papel ng mga ordinaryong tao sa takbo ng halalan at higit sa lahat sa pagtitiyak na tunay na magtatrabaho ang mga ihahalal nating pinuno para sa ikabubuti ng Sambayanang Pilipino.

Para sa akin magagawa lamang natin ito kung alam natin ang mga detalyadong plano ng mga kandidato. Mas masusukat natin ang pagtatrabaho ng ating mga pinuno kung alam na natin kung ano nga ba ang kanilang planong gawin bago pa man sila maupo sa puwesto. Kung magiging totoo rin tayong mapagbantay mas malaki rin siguro ang posibilidad na tutuparin ng mga halal na pinuno ang kanilang mga plano.

Sa mga tunay na nagnanais ng pagbabago, may magagawa tayo. Huwag tayong pumayag na hindi maglabas ng mga detalyadong plano o plataporma ang mga kandidato mula sa pinakamataas na puwesto hanggang sa pinakamababa.

Partikular akong umaapela sa mga bagong botante lalo na doon sa mga kasalukuyang naka-enrol sa kolehiyo. Tumulong kayo sa panawagang ito. Plataporma, Plataporma, Plataporma! Iyan ang mahalaga.

Marami kayong puwedeng gawin. Isa na dito ang pagpapakalat ng mensaheng ito sa mga kapwa ninyo estudyante at sa inyong mga pamilya. Kung makakatulong sa inyo gamitin ninyo ang dokumento na makikita ninyo sa link na ito. Kung may blog kayo sumulat kayo ng artikulo kung saan inihayayag ninyo ang inyong kagustuhang malaman kung ano ba talaga ang planong gawin ng ating mga kandidato sa ating bansa. Kung miyembro kayo ng mga student organization, hikayatin ninyo ang inyong mga kasamahan na gawing adbokasya ang panawagan para sa plataporma.

Hindi lang ako sigurado kung mas mulat na nga ba ang mga kabataan ngayon sa mga isyu. Sa pagkakaalam ko kasi puro gimik, games, Facebook, pagte-text at kung ano ano pang kababawan ang mas umuubos sa kanilang mga oras. Sana mali ako. Ganunpaman, sa kabila ng aking agam-agam aasa pa rin ako na makakatulong ang mga kabataan sa pagsusulong ng pagbabagong tunay at hindi showbiz.

The 4th G of Traditional Politics

I’m happy to know that education advocate Efren Penaflorida has kept his promise that he will not endorse any candidate. Although he attended yesterday’s tribute concert organized by some pro-Aquino groups, reports say that Efren generally kept a low profile and basically reiterated his assurance that he will remain apolitical. Thank you Efren for doing the right thing.

In my previous post wherein I urged Efren not to endorse any candidate, a couple of readers left comments that I found quite amusing. Apparently some people feel it would be a big loss for the CNN Hero if he didn’t endorse a candidate. Here’s an excerpt from one of the comments (bold highlight is mine).

Efren then is in a bind now. Kawawa naman. Pati pag-endorse ng kandidato, inuupakan na.

Kawawa naman?!? How so?

Anyway, I hope other celebrities would follow Efren’s lead and refrain from endorsing ANY candidate. I emphasized the word “any” because the same reader who posted the comment above also had this to say to me.

I bet if he endorsed your preferred candidates, hindi kayo magre-react ng ganito.

I hope he or she gets it now that what I wrote  wasn’t an appeal against endorsing a specific candidate but an appeal against endorsing ANY candidate.

Now some people may argue that this is a free country and it is well within the celebrities’ rights to endorse or publicly campaign for the candidates. I agree 100%. I’m not questioning their right to do as they please. As I clearly stated before I am just making an appeal. If they heed my appeal then that would be great. If they don’t then that’s okay too. However, if they do proceed with endorsing someone my hope is that they’ll choose wisely.

Celebrity endorsers should remember the quote “With great power comes great responsibility.” Indeed, since they can influence a lot of people celebrities should at least make sure that their endorsement will not lead others to choose the wrong person. Maawa naman sana sila sa bayan.

Of course, I still prefer that they not endorse anyone at all. The way I see it celebrity endorsements are not at all helpful in raising the bar for Filipino voters. They just distract people from the crucial task of seriously evaluating the candidates.

Another reader left me this comment.

I hope in our democracy, we allow any one including celebrities to endorse and campaign for their candidates…

I really can’t say I share his hope. If it were up to me I’d even ban the practice. Seriously.

I’m guessing you’re familiar with the 3 Gs of traditional politics. These are Guns, Goons and Gold. I’d like to expand that list by including Glitter, which is essentially the only thing celebrity endorsements add to the whole electoral process.

You want change? Change the system. Reject traditional politics and everything that perpetuates it.

An Appeal To Efren Peñaflorida

First of all I’d like to commend you for the good work you’ve been doing for poor children. For that alone, you truly are a person worthy of emulation. May you continue to pursue your advocacy and may you truly inspire other people to do more for the community.

I won’t be holding my breath for that though.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed that many people have taken to trivializing the whole concept of heroism and patriotism. What’s worse is they’ve turned it into a fashion statement, a trend, a passing fancy. I can only hope that those who professed to have been inspired by your “heroism” will back up their words with real actions.

Clearly, all this heroism bandwagon does is trivialize the whole concept and take away from the value of real heroic deeds and remarkable works such as your very own education advocacy. I’m certain though that you do not live for the recognition so this will hardly matter to you. My impression is you do what you do because you sincerely want to help others.

Now it has come to my attention that some politicians are trying to ride on your popularity. Obviously they want to get your endorsement.One of them is Senator Noynoy Aquino, whose camp even announced online that you had lunch with his family over the weekend. One of Noynoy’s supporters couldn’t contain herself/himself and wrote a comment not unlike this one: “Wow, 2 heroes together. Go Noy!” Imagine that they even managed to use that piece of information to add “value” to Noynoy’s campaign.

I must admit when I heard about that lunch I doubted your ability to resist their advances. All that were erased though after I heard you say on a local newscast that you do not wish to be involved in politics and that your group of volunteers will remain apolitical.

But what’s this I heard today? Word is you will be gracing a public gathering for a certain politician sometime next week. One prominent personality even sent out the misleading message that the event would be a tribute to you. Of course we all know this is just spin centered around you. Imagine that.

I am appealing to you to boycott that event. Please don’t allow yourself to be used by a candidate who instead of providing the voting public with substance has resorted to mesmerizing the people with fairy tales, motherhood statements, and all other dramatic devices.

You should realize by now that you’re no longer just an ordinary person. With your popularity you now have the power to influence others. In a country where many people would still rather just take the word of a famous person than use their own good judgment, that power can prove very potent. I urge you to use this power properly. Better yet, don’t use it at all to help any politician.

I hope you’re a man of your word. Don’t be a hero. Just do the right thing.

Be Informed

This will  be very short.

There’s a heated debate going on over at the blog of Manolo Quezon III. It involves an anti-Noynoy commentor who goes by the name of Nick MacYavelley and at least 2 Noynoy supporters. I’m also involved but only peripherally. I don’t want to spoil the fun MacYavelley and this Hustisya character are having.

While I wouldn’t say that this is a fine example of gentlemanly discourse I think this should be seen by as many people as possible because of the wealth of information being shared. This MacYavelley character has just started discussing why we need to change the constitution.

Click here.

Also, you might want to read up on poll automation after all that’s the system we’re going to use in the May 2010 Elections. If you happen to have doubts or objections to this system better raise them now than later.

You might want to visit this site.