Pinoybuzz: UP Jeepney Operator goes for Bio-Diesel made from used cooking oil

When Typhoon Ondoy submerged most of Metro Manila and so called citizen journalists started thumping their chests while shouting “Where I am from, everybody is a hero!” as they distributed relief goods, some of the people who were warning every one about climate change probably shook their heads.

The message they were spreading, apparently, hadn’t sunk in.

Global warming, climate change, and all the green jargon floating around in cyberspace apparently had flown above the heads of most people and continues to fly unimpeded.

Sure, there are are early adopters who will swear that they’ve made headway in getting their communities to adapt to climate change. But the dozens, hundreds, or few thousands who adopt climate change adaptation measures in the Philippines are probably still not enough to make a significant impact on the level of green house gases and other emissions that continue to drive our planet’s temperature higher.

Right now, climate change adaptation is one of those cool phrases that gets mouthed by some celebrity green advocate.  But what we really need to see is the ordinary Filipino man or woman living the climate change adaptation philosophy.

Within the small group of mountaineers and grassroots green advocates that comprises the Alliance for a Cleaner Earth (ACE), the guiding idea behind some of the projects we support are those that get Filipino communities engaged in practices that will help cut down green house gas emissions while providing them with a steady source of income.

One project that we are supporting is a massive cooking-oil-to-bio-diesel conversion project that has recently just been started up with the help of a UP Diliman Jeepney operator.

Ricky Cuenca, a good friend and compatriot, shares a welcome development in helping ordinary Filipinos to produce their own fuel from the used cooking oil they normally thrown down drains and gutters.

When we started the biodiesel project 17 mos ago, so many roadblocks had to be hurdled. It is now bearing fruit.

The Jollibee group will supply as much used cooking oil as we can pick up from all their corporate stores in the Philippines to start the project for their contribution to the lessening of the Air Pollution problems, environmental and health hazards at a fixed price per liter.

This allows us to compete with the Big 3 and the present pump price of diesel. We plan to lower it a little more so that there is no question on affordability.

The benefits are huge. At 20% blend, we lower CO2 and sulfur emissions by 15 and 30% respectively. If we increase the blend to a higher percentage the more we can lessen these pollutants. There are so many other benefits using Biodiesel but the important thing is we now have a foothold of supply, an ever growing market of Public Transport Groups that consume 4 billion liters of diesel every year in the Philippines.

The UP Coop is just the beginning, we have lined up groups of Jeep and transport Coops in the thousands.

We just want to take our steps one at a time so we do not fall flat on our faces.

Phase 1 UP Jeep Coop – 200 jeeps, 1200-1500 liters a day of Biodiesel. Hope we can get up to full speed by Earth Day Apr 22.

The hope is that when we get up to speed by April 22, the project can now be showcased during the visit of Former Vice President Al Gore to the Philippines on April 30

We will need your help in spreading the word, blogging about it.

Here are a couple videos of the cooking-oil-to-bio-diesel project in UP Diliman.

Here’s a jeepney driver talking about the cooking oil bio-diesel he just loaded in this jeep.

Now, for the most part, Pinoy Buzz has been battling other bloggers over a number of political issues — mainly over the fact that Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar are poor choices for the Presidency.

Recently, I’ve decided to lay off the online war over who is the better candidate and focus on supporting measures that will really make an impact on all of our lives.

After all, we can’t argue over politics under the sea.

Ho-hum… Villar cuts Noynoy’s lead in survey

Is this a horse race or a Presidential election? Are we betting on a cockfight or are we looking for a leader? Are we herded into some popularity contest instead of deciding the course that our country will take in the next six years?

Manny Villar catches up to Noynoy Aquino in SWS survey

These were the thoughts that ran through my mind after reading in Inquirer dot Net’s breaking news that Presidential candidate Manny Villar had narrowed down Noynoy Aquino’s lead in a Social Weather Station survey.

Here’s an excerpt from that report:

Villar cut Aquino’s lead by eight points – from 19 to 11 percentage points, said the survey sought by San Juan representative Ronaldo Zamora, and conducted from December 27 to 28.

Of the 2, 100 respondents asked by the SWS in Filipino as to who on its list would they most likely vote for if elections were held today, 44 percent said they would go for Aquino while 33 percent for Villar.

Fifteen percent of the respondents chose former president Joseph Estrada while five percent for administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro, the survey said.

Television evangelist Eddie Villanueva came next with one percent, Senator Richard Gordon with 0.5 percent, and Senator Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal and independent John Carlos de los Reyes tied with 0.4 percent.

I subscribe to the idea that the publication of surveys that shout who is in the lead of one survey or another basically serves a propaganda for the leader in that survey.  It says that the leader of the survey is the one who is most likely to win in the electoral contest and this endows the survey leader with the advantage of a winnable image.

For the second most popular, the advantage of publishing a story that says he is catching up on the survey leader casts the electoral contest as a two way fight.  The other candidates in the electoral contests are cast as also-rans, even before the race is actually run on May 2010.

Moreover, I think that this propaganda of winnability in the form of claiming the lead in certain surveys has an effect on people.  It is a form of mental conditioning that puts blinders on the eyes of the voting public, brainwashing them into believing that the only choices they have are those that lead in the surveys.

Together with the fact that the Comelec makes little or no effort at all at leveling the playing field for all contenders in terms of campaign spending and the amount of political ads a candidate can put out — even before the start of the official campaign period, this creates a situation where in the only candidates that will be present in people’s mind are those that land on front pages because of surveys and those who can have their faces in media 24/7.

If Noynoy Aquino and Manuel Villar are the only names most people get exposed to most of the time, then it becomes most likely that people will think that these are the only contenders in the electoral contest.

On Twitter, there was an exchange between @momblogger (Noemi Dado, blogwatch) and pre-eminent blogger @mlq3 (Manuel Quezon III).  In that exchange, @mlq3 said this, apparently, in response to Noemi’s queries on whether surveys influence a voter’s decision:

@momblogger afaik only about 3% of voters decide on candidates on the basis of surveys

@momblogger If you look at ADMU’s Institute of Phil Culture study of D&E sources of influence on voting decision: http://tinyurl.com/yk4tx3y

Following the shortlink posted by @mlq3, I landed on a matrix showing the result of the Institute of Philippine Culture’s study on “Sources of Influence on voting decision.”

@mlq3 points to the result of a study saying that surveys influence only 3 percent of voters

This tends to go against my position that surveys influence people into voting for the leader in that survey.

That is, until you consider that surveys are published in the media and this forms part of the propaganda put out by the candidate, raising even further awareness for the survey leader.

But regardless of whether or not surveys do or do not influence how people vote, what is clear to me is that electing a leader means choosing the person with the best qualifications for a position and that involves examining a candidate’s worthiness based on a criteria.  Of course, the criteria by itself will not do you any good unless you get to know as much as you can about the other candidates.

If you want to go through various criteria for choosing a President or any candidate, you can go over to @momblogger’s blog.

Pinoy Buzz: Supporter says Noynoy coming to Romulo debate

ERRATA: Misunderstood @bluevill, apparently what he meant was that Noynoy will be going to a debate at La Salle Zobel on Saturday and no confirmation has been made about his attendance to the Romulo debate.

Here is a direct message from him on twitter:

bluevill Pls read my tweet to momblogger. Debate Sat. at La Salle Zobel cont…

My sincerest apologies.

I am still trying to confirm if Noynoy has changed his mind about coming to the Romulo debate from the organizers.  So far, Noynoy’s camp hasn’t indicated that their candidate has changed his mind.

Late last night I started twittering that it was rather odd that most Noynoy Aquino supporters were deafeningly silent about the fact that their idol/candidate was not going to the Carlos Romulo Foundation Presidential Policy debate.

I gave this post twitter love with mentions to @blogwatch, @momblogger, @carlosceldran, @motwister, and @mojojojo899 just to get the attention of Noynoy’s supporters.

Eventually, @bluevill twittered that Noynoy Aquino would be at a sortie somewhere in Northern Luzon but nevertheless, would go the to debate.

Here’s the screen cap of that twitter from @bluevill:

http://twitter.com/bluevill, apparently a supporter of Noynoy Aquino, says that his candidate will be coming to the Romulo debate on Jan 14

This is a good thing, if true.

Noynoy Aquino should join the Romulo foundation debate

(I was going to post this as a response to a comment in the previous post on the Carlos Romulo Foundation debate but decided to post it as an entry because it was very long.)

According to the announcement I got from a friend, the organizers of the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation for Peace and Development debate got word that Noynoy Aquino would not be attending the debate scheduled on January 14.

Here’s the portion of that announcement:

Sen. Richard Gordon, Sen. Manuel Villar and former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro will participate in the two-hour forum. Two other candidates – former President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Benigno Aquino III – were invited to join the discussion as early as October last year, but they declined.

Now, we should note that perhaps this is the first time that Manny Villar will be engaging in a debate.  He was thoroughly dissed for begging off from previous debates and perhaps his handlers think that it is hurting his campaign to shy away from debates.

I am actually looking forward to hear Villar talk about what he’d do about Maguindanao and how to bring peace to Mindanao.  About a year ago, according to a friend from Zamboanga who heard him give a short interview there, Villar wanted to bomb the heck out of provinces where muslim rebels were the most active.  Perhaps my friend was exaggerating, but the point is, it would be a great opportunity for him to clarify his position on the matter.

Anyway, going back to the comment that I wanted to respond to….

Mr. Evelio B. Obeso wrote:

Hindi pa huli kung sasali si Noynoy. Magpakalalake naman sya.

Kung totoong para sa kabutihan ng sambayanang Pilipino ang pagtakbo nya eh dapat malaman natin ang kanyang posisyon sa mga issues sa debate.  Dito natin malalaman sa forum na (i)to kung mey kakayahan ba sya.

Eh baka sa economic issues di nya kayang magdecision at kung saan sya papanig.

Halimbawa anong pipiliin nya, murang patatas galing China o ang mahal na patatas galing Baguio?

Simpleng tanong lang po eto..Dito natin masusubok kung makabayan nga cya. Please Mr.President-to-be umatend ka na.

Here’s my response:

Dapat talaga laging sumasali ng debate ang lahat ng tatakbo bilang Presidente para madinig natin mismo sa kanila kung ano ba talaga ang plano nila para sa bansa natin.

Bagamat lagi kong binabatikos ko si Noynoy, naniniwala ako na malaki ang chance na manalo siya.  Kaya kung may pag-galang talaga siya sa atin, dapat siputin niya ang debate.

Hindi naman sa panlalait kay Noynoy, pero dun sa ANC Harapan medyo malabo ang mga sagot niya — lalo na dun sa tanong na kung ano ba ang gagawin niya sa first 100 days.

Kung sisipot siya sa debate, baka maipaliwanag niya ng mas mabuti ang mga sinabi niya.

Heto iyong transcript ng sagot niya na siningitan ko ng mga puna ko:

Noynoy Aquino:

1. Halos nagkakapareho ang dapat gawin at kung paano gagawin,

Baka hindi nakinig sa sagot ni Perlas, Gordon, at Villanueva.  Magkakaiba ang sagot nila.

2. ang problema wala pang nagsasabi kung nasaan ang pambayad ng lahat ng ito.

Sabi ni Gordon, kukunin ang pambayad sa hihingiin na debt moratorium.  Pero, mahirap yatang gawin ito at kelangan ipaliwanag pa ni Gordon kung paano magagawa ito.  Kelan lang, sinabi ng Dubai na titigil muna ito sa pagbayad ng mga utang nito at nayanig ang mga malalaking ekonomiya.  Malaking epekto kasi kapag tumigil ang daloy ng pagbabayad sa utang.

Gayun pa man, may punto nga si Noynoy, saan kukunin ang pera? Tignan natin kung masasagot niya.

3. Itong taon na ito, mayruon tayong 300 Billion deficit, next year 270.  Ang gaganda naman ng mga programa pero paano natin popondohan.

Magaling, atleast alam ni Noynoy talaga kung magkano ang magiging kakulangan sa budget ng Pilipinas. Okay, paano ba re-resolbahin ang deficit?

4. Sa amin, sa first 100 days, pareho rin naman kung tutuusin. Job generation, bigyan ng kakayahan ang tatay pakainin, patrabahuin, paaralin, kalusugan, ang kanyang mga anak. Iyong health papasok tayo, yung pangalawa health susunod…

Okay, senator, paano mo gagawin ang job generation eh may deficit nga diba? paano mo popondohan?  Sa health, ganun din?

5. Pero tuloy ang judicial reform.  Hindi ho tayo seseryosohin kung sasabihin natin na lalabanan natin ang graft and corruption.

Ang isang sagot sa judicial reform na hahantong sa mas mabilis na paglilitis ng kaso ng graft and corruption ay ang pagtatalaga ng karagdagang mga prosecutor at huwes.  Dahil nga may deficit senator Noynoy, paano mo popondohan ito?

6. 12 percent ang tax efficiency rate tapos ang nangyayari pa diyan eh walang hindi ginagamit ang poder ng BIR ng customs para mahinto ang smuggling.  Para mahuli ang nag-evade ng taxes na iyan.

Ah, so itataas mo ang tax efficiency rate.

Alam mo ba senator na ang pinakamalaking tax evaders eh ang mga dambuhalang mga negosyo?  Ang katotohanan po senator, ang middle class po ang nagbabayad ng taxes at ang mahihirap ang nakikinabang. Iyang mga mayayaman, gaya po ninyo, sitting pretty na lang habang kina-karyoka ng mga CPA ang mga libro ng kumpanya.

Kapag smuggling ang pinag-usapan, naalala niyo ba na isa sa pinaka-malakas na smuggler ng agricultural products iyong kasamahan niyong mala-kuweba ang ilong?  Siyempre, hindi iyan aaminin.

7. Kelangan masigurado ang judiciary, kapag may ginawa kang kasalanan may tiyak kang kaparusahan. Tapos, imbentaryuhin natin ang lahat ng detalye ng lahat ng problema…

Nasabi niyo na po na iyang judiciary ah, baka nagkamali ka ng balasa ng cue cards mo.

Iimbentaryuhin pa lang?  Hindi ba masinsin mong pinag-aralan ang budget ng pamahalaan? Dun pa lang, makikita mo na kung ano talaga ang problema.  Kunsultahin mo sana si Mar Roxas, may sinabi siya tungkol sa “Incrementalism” at patok na patok iyong sinabi niya.

8. Maganda po iyong gagawa tayo ng infrastructure.

Iyong iminumungkahi ngayon sa aming initial budget deliberations, wala hong binabanggit for instance sa Southern Tagalog Region na magkakaruon ng highway.  Alam naman po natin kung gaano kakitid ang papunta dun.. ang produktong binabagsak sa Batangas papunta ng Maynila ay hirap na hirap na pagtra-traverse nung mga karsadang napaka-primitibo.

Imbentaryo specifically kung anong infrastructure.  Hindi ito iyong binibigay na nowhere to nowhere connecting roads, o iyong mga ro-ro ports na gawa na pero wala namang dumadaong.

Okay, sir, maganda at nasabi niyo iyang infrastructure na iyan.  Actually, maraming naka-pilang plano para sa infrastructure po at nakasaad po lahat iyan sa GAA.  Bilang senador po, pwede niyo pong i-request sa DPWH ang listahan ng lahat ng kalye, tulay, at kung ano ano pa.  Kung magagawa niyo ang lahat ng pag-aaral na iyan bago kayo maupo, mabuti kasi six years is a short time lang po. Baka abutin po tayo ng siyam-siyam uli bago niyo matapos ang imbentaryo at tsaka pa lang kayo gagawa ng plano — iba pa iyong pagpapatupad nito.

9. Pero ang dulo po niyan, nung nakuha na natin ang pera, nagpakita tayo ng kasersyosohan sa pagpapatupad ng ating mga batas..

Hah? Pakiulit po?

10. Bibigyan natin ang lahat ng oportunidad ang ating mga negosyo po, mga dayuhan at lokal ay may patag na pinaglalabanan kung saan mangingibabaw iyong pinakamagaling at pinaka-efficient.

Ibig po niyong sabihin eh hindi papabayaan niyong malugi ang mga negosyo na hindi episyente?

Alam po ninyo, ang pinaka-hindi episyente na negosyo ay ung may kinalaman sa agricultural production, tulad ng pagpapalaki ng palaya at tubo.  Ibig po niyo bang sabihin eh hahayaan na nating mamatay ang agrikultura natin kasi mas epsiyente pang mag-angkat na lang ng bigas at asukal?

11.  Sa ganuong paraan ho, sa unang hundred days nga ho, matapos makuha iyong gastos, iyong imbentaryo,nanduon na po ang konkreto at detalyadong plano sa mga motherhood statements na parepareho naming sinasabi ngayong gabi.

So, Mr. Senator, mawalang galang na po, ibig po niyo bang sabihin eh kapag naupo na kayo bilang Presidente eh dun po pa lang niyo pag-aaralan ang dapat gawin para sa bansa natin?

Sa pagkakasabi po ninyo dito, Senator, parang inamin niyo nga na puro motherhood statements po ang nakasaad sa inyong Social Contract.

(Psst! Senator Noy, nadinig ko si Villanueva na bumubulong, sabi niya “Speak for yourself. Ako nga eh, may Executive Order na naiisip. Ikaw wala, belat!)

Manny Villar, Gibo Teodoro, and Dick Gordon to face off in Jan 14 Romulo Foundation debate

Erap Estrada and Noynoy Aquino chicken out!

I like watching debates between Presidential candidates more than reading their campaign propaganda or write ups about their latest activities in newspapers which actually be crafted by public relations professionals and advertising gurus in cooperation with members of the “friendly” press.

You get to see how well the candidates themselves answer questions in real time.  You don’t see them through the wall of hype created by their political ads.

Anyway, let me just re-post in full the announcement for the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation for Peace and Development debate organized in cooperation with ANC and the Asian Institute of Management.

Presidential Policy Debate Kicks Off

Thursday, January 14 at AIM

The Carlos P. Romulo Foundation for Peace and Development is pleased to announce that the first comprehensive debate on domestic and foreign policy among presidential candidates in the May elections will take place on Thursday, January 14 at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).

Sen. Richard Gordon, Sen. Manuel Villar and former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro will participate in the two-hour forum. Two other candidates – former President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Benigno Aquino III – were invited to join the discussion as early as October last year, but they declined.

Organized by the Romulo Foundation in cooperation with ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) and AIM, the forum will focus on the broad theme of “Philippine Credibility and Competitiveness in the World”, and seek policy responses from the candidates on five main issues:

1.The Maguindanao massacre and the wider challenge of peace in the Philippine South – If elected President, what policies and programs will the candidate pursue to stop the problem of private armies, resolve the conflict in Mindanao and Sulu, and bring stability and development to the region?

2. Philippine foreign relations and international security – What significance does the candidate attach to Philippine relations with the world, what countries and regions are the most important, and should the nation be involved or not in the international struggle against terrorism?

3. Philippine economy and international economic relations – What policies will the candidate adopt to strengthen and grow the national economy, expand foreign trade and investments, and what importance does he attach to key economic organizations such as WTO, IMF, WB and APEC?

4. Migrant workers – What policies will the candidate adopt with respect to Filipino labor migration, the welfare of OFWs, Philippine relations with labor-receiving countries, and international conventions for the protection and rights of migrant workers?

5. Philippine competitiveness in the world – What specific policies and programs will the candidate adopt to reverse the erosion of Philippine international competitiveness in the world and address the problem of corruption?

“The primary purpose of the forum is to elicit from each candidate his specific policy ideas and solutions to major problems and challenges of national life today,” says Ambassador Roberto R. Romulo, Chairman of the CPR Foundation. “In this way, the forum will assist voters in reaching a decision on who to vote for.”

The forum will be moderated by Ricky Carandang of ANC. A question panel composed of Ambassador Rodolfo Severino, head of ASEAN Studies Center, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Philippine Star Editor/Columnist Amy Pamintuan, and CNN correspondent Jaime Floro Cruz will take turns in directing questions to the candidates.

Under the rules approved by the representatives of the candidates and the sponsoring organizations, the panel will question the candidates on the five main issues during the first hour of the forum. Each candidate will be given two minutes to state his position on each issue.

In the second segment, there will be an open forum participated in by both the question panel and the audience. Questions will be directed by them to the candidates individually.

In the final segment, the three candidates will each deliver a three-minute closing statement to sum up their policy positions and make their appeal to Filipino voters.

Organizers of the forum said the event will be attended by the business and diplomatic communities, the media and the general public. At least 20 ambassadors are expected to attend. Because of limited seats, interested parties are enjoined to reserve their seats early. Registration can be made via email: reyes@pfgc.ph or telephone 885-0921

The forum will be broadcast live by ANC on cable TV and ABS Studio 23 on terrestrial TV. “This will enable the Filipino citizenry all over the country to watch the event,” says Ambassador Romulo.

What gun ban?

Comelec Resolution 8714 states that:

“No person shall bear, carry or transport licensed or unregistered firearms or deadly weapons in public except for the regular plantilla of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), other government law enforcement units and private security agencies duly authorized by the PNP and hired security personnel of candidates who were enlisted with Comelec.”

The Comelec is supposed to implement this from January 10 to June 9, 2010.  During this period, private individuals are prohibited from carrying firearms and each candidate will only be allowed two security personnel.

However, the Comelec’s record for enforcing a total gun ban seems to be not at all good.

During the 2007 elections, about 128 election-related killings and over 200 other incidents of violence resulting in the death of 10 people were reported to have happened from the official start of the  campaign period to election day.

It has been said that the Maguindanao Massacre is an indication of how political warlords will deal with serious competition at the polls now that it is virtually impossible to manipulate the automated election system.  There are those who say that instead of tinkering with the polls, political warlords will just either intimidate people into voting for them or prevent people opposed to their reign from voting.

Over on Inquirer dot net, a report says that a body guard of Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu shot and killed two people.  Here’s an excerpt from that report:

An alleged bodyguard of Buluan, Maguindanao, Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu has been arrested and faces charges for the fatal shooting on Monday of two law enforcers at the Subic Bay Freeport, officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said Tuesday

Mohamedin Panegas Ali, 39, allegedly shot and killed Ceferino Abadia, an employee at the SBMA Law Enforcement Department (LED), and Delfin Orines, a retired policeman who was visiting the LED building.

Police said Ali fired his .45-cal. pistol during a struggle with some policemen and hit Abadia and Orines who were standing in the hallway. The two died before reaching a hospital.

Pinoybuzz returning to www.pinoybiz.blogspot.com

I’ve only recently begun rebuilding my original blog, www.pinoybiz.blogspot.com and it looks like it will entail a lot of work.

The process of redirecting my traffic to Asian Correspondent (AC) messed up a lot of things.  Back when AC recruited me to be one of their bloggers, I don’t think I fully understood the implications of having my blog’s traffic redirected.  Now that I know a bit more about the implications of a traffic redirect, I would probably advise fellow bloggers against it and tell them to insist on being given a new blog to work with.

After all, a personal blog is something that you create out of passion for what you think is right and good.  It is one person reaching out to the rest of the world to say, “This is what I think, this is what I feel, this is what I stand for, this is what I am going to do.”

I think that Noynoy Aquino is going to be the worst President this country will ever have and because he is such a weak leader, he will be ousted before his time is up.  I feel awful because a lot of my countrymen are buying into the  empty hype that is propping up Noynoy Aquino’s candidacy.  I stand for the idea that we can make our country better by simply being more critical about the choices we make.  What I am going to do is to continue blogging in the hopes that enough people will start responding to the realities that are staring them in the face.

Some bloggers enjoy being referred and treated as journalists of one sort or another.  Some claim to follow certain ethical standards, being cause oriented, and make a big fuss over “credibility”.

As for me, I am really just a guy with a blog who writes about his thoughts and experiences.

There have been a number of times when I received comments branding me as an unethical journalist and I just laugh it off.  Maybe what the commenter wanted to convey to others is that I should not be believed and that’s all right.  You don’t have to believe what I write in my blog and you don’t have to agree with me either.

All that I care about is that I make some sense. Although I do make an effort to be accurate about the stuff I write about, I sometimes make errors in judgment and this is something that happens to most bloggers — even the more prominent ones who actually claim to be journalists.

I usually give this advise to those who comment that they have been disappointed that I was not conforming to journalistic standards:

If you want news, go to a news website.  If you want the opinions of professional columnists, go to the opinion pages of news websites.

At this point, let me clarify that I respect the decision of AC’s editorial board to let me go and I think it was a well thought out decision, considering that I am not a journalist and as a blogger, I tend to go in directions which do not conform to certain journalistic standards.

AC  wants to displace the Far Eastern Economic Review and it is a rather lofty goal.  I used to read the FEER a lot a number of years ago and although I really didn’t understand most of what I read, I had the impression that whatever story that FEER printed caused a lot of ripples.

Considering that I am just a blogger and considering that AC wants to become a serious online magazine, I think that going separate ways is a good decision.  I can continue writing what I want to write in the way that I want to write it and AC can go on to become a great online magazine.

Noynoy’s Pod People

“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next!”

– Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Whenever something is weighing heavily on my mind, I come across things (books, articles, pictures, people, phrases overheard in hallways, etcetera) that somewhat eerily frames what I am going through.

Early this evening, as I was going through my collection of VCDs and DVDs, I came across a copy of an old movie sent to me by a friend years ago and that movie happens to be the original, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.

They're here! They're coming to get you!

For those of you who haven’t seen it, the Wikipedia provides this synopsis:

Set in the fictional town of Santa Mira, California (actually shot in Sierra Madre), the plot centers on Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy), a local doctor, who finds a rash of patients accusing their loved ones of being impostors. Another patient is a former sweetheart of his; recent divorcée Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter), who tells him that her cousin, Wilma, has this same strange fear about Uncle Ira.

Assured at first by the town psychiatrist, Dr. Dan Kaufman (Larry Gates), that the cases are nothing but “epidemic mass hysteria,” Bennell soon discovers, with the help of his friend Jack Belicec (King Donovan), that the townspeople are in fact being replaced by perfect physical duplicates, simulations grown from plantlike pods. The Pod People are indistinguishable from normal people, except for their utter lack of emotion. The Pod People work together to secretly spread more pods — which grew from “seeds drifting through space for years” — in order to replace the entire human race.

The film climaxes with Bennell and Driscoll attempting to escape the pod people, intending to warn the rest of humanity. They hide; Driscoll falls asleep and is subverted. With the Pod People close behind, a seemingly crazed Bennell runs onto the highway frantically screaming about the alien force which has overrun Santa Mira to the passing motorists and (in a moment that is considered a breaking of the Fourth Wall) looks into the camera and yells, “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next!”

Finally, Bennell is picked up by the police and questioned in a clinic. The policemen in charge do not believe his account-until they receive news of an accident in which a truck carrying strange giant beanpods is upended.

The police are quick to alert the authorities; the message has been received, but the actual end of the story is left open.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a classic tale of paranoia that in part plays on the fear of waking up to find out that everybody you know has been transformed into alien beings.

An hour or two ago, this movie seemed jump right to the fore of my consciousness as a very apt description of what is happening to the Philippine cyberspace as the May 2010 elections draws near.

During the last few weeks of 2009, it seems more and more people are logging on to the internet to campaign for one candidate or another.  Among the most active  and numerous (thanks to multiple nicks/handles) are those who claim to be supporters of Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, and Gibo Teodoro.

I am not at all sure if other Presidential candidates such as JC de los Reyes of Ang Kapatiran, Nicanor Perlas, or even Dick Gordon of Bagumbayan have nearly as many people in their retinue whose only job is to spread their candidate’s message on the internet.

For sure, Gordon has supporters on the internet — all of them are volunteers.  Perlas, according to a blogger going by the nick Shiela, says that “Nicanor Perlas has a lot of active blogging supporters/volunteers who write passionately and from the heart. In fact the whole team of Nick is composed of, tandadannnnnn…. VOLUNTEERS!”.  I haven’t come across supporters of JC de los Reyes but I am sure he has people working for him too as volunteers.

Anyway, among campaigners on the internet, I’d say that Noynoy’s followers in cyberspace seem to be the most active because as soon as you write a post about Noynoy Aquino, they come swarming to your blog.   If you post a comment  about Noynoy on a website, they’ll post a comment as well.  If you twitter anything about Noynoy Aquino, they all twitter back.  If you post a status message or a comment on Facebook, you can be sure that they’ll make their presence felt one way or the other.

I think the general instruction for Noynoy’s supporters on the internet is flood the internet with pr0-Noynoy messages, slogans, pictures, chants, rants, and what have you.

Now, what is truly impressive about Noynoy’s army of followers is that there are big names on the internet who spread his message too.  They have blogs which have a huge volume of high quality traffic, multiple Facebook accounts that are all filled to capacity and pages that have fans in the tens of thousands or more,  and they have twitter/plurk/tumbler acounts that have tens of thousands of followers.

Some of these internet bigshots openly profess their support for Noynoy. But there are others who actually make an effort not to hide the fact that they pro-Noynoy, even when it is already obvious.

Now all of these people campaigning for Noynoy Aquino on the internet basically mouth the same lines as if they’re all following a common script.

Here are some of the archetypal lines that follows after they’ve said, “Noynoy is the best choice for President…”

- because he is the most popular Presidential candidate according to all surveys and his popularity unites all Filipinos.

- because he is sincere and honest, possesses integrity, and is transparent in all his dealings.

- because he is the exact opposite of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

- because he is the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino, heroism is in his blood

- because he is the lesser evil

- because he is the only option

- because he is the most winnable

- JUST BECAUSE! Ah basta! Siya na nga! Yun na yun at wala na kayong magagawa.

If you encounter such thoughts on the internet just once or twice, you’d probably forget about it.  But if you constantly get exposed to these assertions it begins to get to you.

Now, how your mind reacts to this depends on how committed you are to critical analysis and how dedicated you are to the idea that people should earn positions based on the proven merit of one’s work.  It seems that the less impressionable you are, the stronger your rejection of these assertions will be and that can lead you to counter these assertions.

However, the reality is that most of our countrymen are impressionable and are prone to jump on bandwagons without asking where it is heading.

Noynoy’s handlers are actually exploiting a huge array of  very powerful and emotional ways to draw people to draw people to Noynoy’s bandwagon

You had the death of Cory Aquino producing the ‘awa para sa ulila’ effect.  Proof of the potency of the  “awa effect”,  some say, is the case of  Pia Cayetano who ran for the senate in 2004 just after her father, Senator Rene Cayetano, died of a lingering disease.

You have Kris Aquino and a number of entertainment celebrities producing the “artista effect”.  There is actually no need to point out that in almost every major political campaign rally or gathering, the presence of one or two artistas are crucial to drawing a crowd.  Kris Aquino happens to be one of the biggest celebrities in the Philippines today and usually, politicians associate themselves with artistas in order to draw the masa to them — what association can be stronger than being siblings?

And certainly, not the least of these is the fact that Noynoy Aquino is the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino.  I can personally attest to the fact that having a revered or admired parent is a big plus when you’re campaigning for an elective position.

Now, with all these and more at their disposal, it is no wonder that more and more people are jumping like crazy on the Noynoy bandwagon.  The conversion from awareness to devotion is almost instantaneous.

Just this afternoon, I actually heard my child’s yaya blurt out that she’s voting for Noynoy Aquino after seeing a merchandising plug for one of  Kris Aquino’s shows.

It was scary.  Really scary.

In fact, I am now entertaining the idea that if Noynoy Aquino’s media handlers ratchet up his campaign just a notch further, we will soon find more people being instantaneously converted just like what happened in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Then again, it can actually come in stages.

First you get exposed to a barrage of Noynoy Aquino commercials and you begin to start singing ala Regine Velasquez in the shower while insisting on carrying a bamboo torch.

Then at work where you do most of your Facebooking you get invited to join one of Noynoy’s Fan pages and without thinking about it, you join the page.

At the mall after punching out, you see a black Collezione shirt with the Philippine map on it and you buy it along with a pair of eye glasses.

Then you go to a barber shop, insist on having your hair cut very short and having the top of your head shaved like a monk.

Good advice from Gordon: 10 Principles of Success

You can always tell good advice from bad advice just by looking at the life of the one who is giving it.

Recently, MONEYSENSE MAGAZINE came out with an issue featuring Presidential candidate Richard “Dick” Gordon and in that edition, Lynda C. Corpuz wrote a sidebar piece on Gordon’s 10 principles of success.

I am reposting it here because I think it is worth considering.

Asked how ordinary Filipinos can improve their lot in life, Sen. Dick Gordon, who has enjoyed a fruitful and accomplished life, shares his key principles for career and financial success:

1. Be ambitious. Umaasa tayo lagi sa tulong. Kahit anong hirap mo, you have to be ambitious. Being ambitious is not negative.

2. Have the right work ethic. Bawal ang tamad. Lalong bawal ang tanga. Manage by objective. Instead of a quick fix or instant gratification, practice delayed gratification. We should go for meritocracy. Hindi palakasan. Palakasan pa rin dito.

3. Learn a skill. Poverty is an absence of choice. That’s why you have to continue learning. You have to learn a skill. I never tell people “good luck.” I always tell them “good skill.” Be creative. Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa. God gave you skills. God will not help you if you don’t help yourself.

4. Work, save, invest, and prosper. You have to work. Address your needs but always save. Get into a business. Get life insurance or a personal accident insurance kung `yun lang ang kaya mo. We need a provident fund especially for our OFWs. We have 11 million Filipinos abroad. You put them and our people here in a provident fund, we can prosper ourselves. Combine GSIS and SSS funds and come up with a provident fund, just like what Singapore did. People have to learn to save something.

5. Help. Find extra time to help. Volunteer with the Red Cross. Kapag alam mong ginawa mo, bibiyaan ka. Helping others is a reward in itself.

6. Lead by example. The Philippines would improve if it elects a leader who can inspire, able to communicate by word and deed, provides a vision, extracts values, and displays integrity. Demand from your leaders. Ask for their qualifications. Look for their record.

7. Be independent. I had to fight big guys but I couldn’t tell my dad. He encouraged me to learn judo to protect myself. You have to learn to survive. You have to learn to stand your ground. Those guys who tried to bully me, I stood up to them.

8. Learn from your mistakes. I learn from my mistakes. I learn from other people’s mistakes. There’s only one thing I can never learn: to be overly materialistic. I don’t pay the media to cover me. I don’t pay for my press releases. If my being straightforward is a mistake, that’s a mistake I’ll keep on repeating.

9. Be assertive. We’re like makahiyas. We shouldn’t be. We shouldn’t be an adapting culture. We’re resilient but we don’t assert ourselves. We’re a happy people. That’s good psychology. We laugh at ourselves. We’re an accommodating culture. We shouldn’t be. We should live by the national anthem, by our oath.

10. Make fear your friend. During the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, I told myself we’re not going to allow ourselves to die here. I prayed, “If you’re going to take me, take me. Please though, don’t make me look bad as I lead.” You must make fear your friend.

Who is leading in Philippine Presidential online polls?

Right now on the web, there are a lot of online polls where you can cast your vote for one Philippine Presidential candidate or another.  Each online poll has a claim of being more better than the other but there is no way of really knowing what criteria to apply to figure out which is really better.

Continue reading ‘Who is leading in Philippine Presidential online polls?’