Here’s a portion of Willy Revillame’s monologue:

Ngayon po, nakipagusap po ako sa presidente ng  TV5, Atty Rey Espinosa. Nagusap kami na hanggang ngayon na lang po ako sa Willing Willie. Magpapahinga na muna po ako, hindi po ako magpapaalam. Starting po today ang live namin , bukas ho nakatape na po kami. Lalabas ho yon mapapanood niyo. Starting ho ng Monday hanggang Holy Week, pagiisipan ko ho kung ako po ay babalik pa sa industriyang ito. Bigyan niyo lang po muna ako ngpagkakataon sa sarili ko. Masyado ho akong binintangan ng binintangan ng wala ho akong ginawang masama sa akin. Sa mga tao hong gumawa niyan sa aki, ang isipin niyo yung mga matanda na nasa labas, mga bata, mga mahihirap sa labas. Wag ako. Instrumento lang ako ng mga tao. Wag niyo akong kainggitan dahil hindi ako lumalabas ng ibang lugar. Lagi lang ako nandito sa studio na to sa bahay ko o nakikipagpaligsahan sa inyo. Kung kayo ang magaling, magaling kayo. Basta ang puso ko, nandito sa mga mahihirap.

Willy Revillame goes on leave after advertiser pull-out

Somewhere in the monologue, Willy Revillame threatened to sue all those who bashed him on twitter.

Tsaka yung mga tumitira sa akin sa twitter., kung idedemanda ka ng TV5, idedemanda rin kita. Magdedemandahan tayo. Idedemanda ko lahat ng tumira sa akin sa Twitter, lahat ng personal. Tandaan nyo yan.

The monologue, or rant, came after more advertisers announced that they would be suspending advertising on the program.

There’s some rah-rahing going on because it would seem that the movement to chastise Willy Revillame has succeeded in certain respects.

I don’t know if anybody has started printing a shirt that says “In my country, everyone is a hero” (a reference to the hurrah-for-me-I-am-a-hero-for-tweeting-blogging about Ondoy).  But I do hope no one attempts to “brand” the movement as his or hers and then tries to sell his expertise at creating massive online movements (a reference to Big Bad Bloggers and fake digital PR God-men/shamans).

Then again, if we are to take the point of view that the online campaign sparked by the sexually suggestive dancing of a six year old on Willing Willy has succeeded, I’d like to ask: How exactly did it succeed?

Is it because the letter writing campaign to advertisers and government agencies resulted in the advertising pull out?  Is it because Willy Revillame, in a way, acknowledged that he is vulnerable to an advertising pull-out?  Is it because, also, that advertisers have responded in the way that they have?

I really have no way to gauge if any of the answers we can give to these questions are going to be right or wrong.

But, what I do hope for is that the outrage movement that was sparked by the sexually suggestive dancing of a six year old didn’t come to be just because of a shared hatred for Willy Revillame.

I hope that, finally, those who know better are actually going out of their way and teaching those who don’t know better that it isn’t all right to be treated crudely in exchange for a few thousand pesos… that decency should be a hallmark of all TV shows… that pandering to base and vulgar tastes shouldn’t be the norm for marketing TV shows…

More importantly, that the media industry here in the Philippines should LIFT people up, rather than, as Willy Revillame says, dragging them down.

Two or three weeks ago, I caught the beginnings of what would turnout to be a fairly large online outrage movement over the sexually suggestive dance number of a six year old in the TV Show “Willing Willy”.  Even at this early stage, there were already suggestions to write the advertisers of Willing Willie to express disgust over what would later be alleged as child abuse and lack of media responsibility.

Having been in touch with Mr. Macapagal since last year, I sent him a text message about the incident on Willing Willy and he responded saying that Unielver was already acting on the matter.

Yesterday Mr. Macapagal asked me to come over to Unilever Philippines to sit in a special briefing with members of Para Kay Jan-Jan (Shame on You Willie) Peachy and Froilan. In that special briefing, Mr. Macapagal appraised us of Unilever’s statement on its sponsorship on Live Game Shows.

Below is the full text of Unilever’s Statement:

8th April 2011

Press Release: Unilever’s Sponsorship on Live Game Shows

This is to make public a set of actions taken by Unilever Philippines after an incident in a popular TV show a few weeks ago.  The incident features a 6 year old boy doing a dance number as part of a reality game show.

We recognized that this incident has drawn mixed reactions from different sectors in the society.

In Unilever Philippines’ view, it was a serious incident and as a result, we actred by immediately engaging the network authorities, expressing our serious concern and demanded assurance that similar incidents would not happen again.

TV 5, the network, has apologized to us and committed to a series of “self-regulation” measures including the appointment of an internal ombudsman to supervise stricter program guidelines and impose a moratorium on the presence of kids in their live reality shows until a complete investigation is finished.  This seems to have been validated by MTRCB as per article published in Philippine Daily Inquirer on April 6, 2011, Page F3.

We see all these actiosn as positive steps, but we also look forward with great interest to the prospect of MTRCB strengthening regulations on content across all live game shows and making clear the potential sanctions for erring programs.

In support of the above, Unilever Philippines has decided:

1) To temporarily suspend effective Monday, April 11, 2011, our participation in all reality-based live game shows across all networks.  This measure will be in place until we observe stricter and objective self-regulatory guidelines across networks and proper enforcement by the relevant government agencies of existing content regulations.

2. We actively seek for PANA’s (Philippine Association of National Advertisers) involvement and leadership to help the networks develop a strict and consistent self-regulatory framework. We expect this to be in place no later than on month.

3. In all these, Unilever Philippines’ actions are oriented to:

a. protect the rights of contestants (especially women and children),

b. provide responsible content for TV viewers, and

c. ensure a safe communication environment for sponsors and brands.

With these actions, we expect something good will come out of this incident.

Unilever Philippines will continue to positively influence the media landscape and work on strengthening our long-standing successful partnership with all TV networks.

Chito Macapagal

VP for Corporate Affairs

Support Zonta Club of Makati Ayala and The Visayan Forum THE RUN AGAINST TRAFFICKING Race Sunday, 13 MARCH 2011 1K, 3K, 5K, 10K McKinley Hill, Taguig City Assembly 5:00 AM Gun Start 5:50AM Registration Sites: R.O.X and Chris Sports For more info call: Ida Ayesa 0916-418-7257

Over the past year, I’ve seen all sorts of races being run for all sorts of causes and while I generally brush off these events as gimmickry or as a poor substitute to direct action.

I am not a big fan of big showy, celebrity driven calls for mass actions that get blasted on TV, Radio, and Print.  It’s the Holden Caulfield in me that gets me snarking about such ‘events’.

However my almost automatic prejudgment of  ’events for a cause’ was challenged last week after meeting Vicki Abaraham, President of Zonta Club of Makati Ayala.

A mutual friend introduced me to Vicki  at a coffee shop at Rockwell and that’s when she started telling me about “The Run Against Trafficking” race being organized by the Zonta Club of Makati Ayala and Visayan Foundation Forum.

One of the things she told me that kinda struck me is this, “It seems a lot of people don’t give a second thought about saving whales or saving rain forests, but few people are raising a fuss about saving people.”

Right now, thousands of Filipinos are caught in a bad jam in Libya and the government is straining to find ways of evacuating them from the terrible mess.

The thing is, in other parts of the world, there are Filipinos that are suffering as unwilling workers in the sex trade, abused domestic and factory workers, or unsuspecting pawns in the drug trade.

Before I could blurt out that most of the Filipinos who leave the country under dubious circumstances probably deserve what they are getting, Vicki told me of the story of a three year old Filipina child who was recovered from Africa where she was made into a sex slave.

A three year old child!  I mean, how could a three year old kid even know under what circumstances she was being taken out of the country?!!

That really got me riled up and what is even more shocking are the statistics: “at least 400,000 women and at least 100,000 children victims of exploitation”

Anyway, all things considered, what Vicki told me was enough to get me to sign up for “The Zonta Rat Race” and help in building up awareness as well as encourage more action against the $32 Billion illegal trade.

Organic municipal waste converted into organic fertilizer

One common problem that all cities and towns in the Philippines has is how to dispose of the waste its people generate.  While there seems to be no end to the amount of garbage generated by cities and towns, there are only a very few places where people will welcome the endless stream of city and town waste.  New landfills around Metro Manila are filling up and once filled up, there will be a need to look for new areas to turn into landfills.

Information from the National Solid Waste Management Commission indicates that the entire Philippines generates some 35,000 tons of waste every day, and some 8,400 tons come from Metro Manila.

Of the yearly national waste generation of 12,775,000 tons, some 40 to 70 per cent are collected and thrown in 1,205 waste disposal facilities.  Around 55 of the waste facilities are “sanitary” landfills and 1,172 are open or controlled dumpsites long outlawed by Republic Act 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Finding new places to dump city and municipal waste is getting much more difficult and most probably, costlier too.

Quezon City, the largest city in Metro Manila, is now beset with the problem of looking for a new dumpsite.  Recently elected Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, according to some journalists, is currently being criticized for a looming garbage disposal problem after RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act made the operation of the Payatas Dumpsite in Quezon City.

In the face of a mounting garbage problem and the need to comply with RA 9003 lest the Quezon City government face sanction, a blame game has erupted between the Quezon City government, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Put simply, the Quezon City government basically points out that its duty under the law is to dispose of its garbage but the duty of providing garbage dumpsites belongs to the MMDA and the DENR.

According to Philippine Star columnist Mary Anne Ll. Reyes, the Supreme Court rendered a decision where it “underscored that the MMDA is the entity primarily responsible for the implementation of Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act and that the MMDA ‘has the duty to put up and maintain adequate sanitary landfills.’”

Further more, according to Reyes, “Non-government organizations keeping watch on Payatas allegedly have photos to prove that the dumpsite remains in operation despite the announcement of the December 31, 2010 closure. They also allege that the new landfill promised by the QC government is a facility being built over the old pile of garbage in the existing dumpsite.”

In all likelihood, the MMDA might not have found an RA9003 compliant dumpsite that could accommodate Quezon City or if it did find one for Quezon City, perhaps its cost as well as capacity might have been a problem.

Quezon City and its looming garbage problem, however, is not hopeless.  Perhaps, if ever it does mount into a crisis, it might just force its local government and residents to find suitable solutions.

One such solution being espoused by Unilever Philippines is a “Zero Waste” program for every barangay.

Chito Macapagal, Unilever Philippines’ Corporate Affairs or Corporate Planning General Manager, had given me and other members of the Alliance for a Cleaner Earth a briefing on its corporate social responsibility projects.  Among those projects is the “Zero Waste” program where in communities are basically taught how to reduce the waste they generate through segregation, reuse and recycling.  The goal of the program is to enable communities to be so efficient in reducing the waste they generate that, eventually, they don’t throw away anything.

The impact of such a program being done in all 43,000 barangays around the country could be spectacular.  But getting all or even just a third of Filipino communities to reduce the waste they create to zero seems still quite far from actually happening.

Smaller companies such as the Agricultural Inoculants Corporation (AIC), a company engaged in providing rapid composting agents, has stepped up with its own solution in the form of a low-cost program that can be adopted by city and municipal governments.

Citing the fact that 50 to 60 percent of all household waste from urban centers are bio-degradable or organic in nature, the AIC created a basic business model for making organic waste conversion into a potentially lucrative venture.

It has offered this model for low-cost organic fertilizer production for free and the study can be re-scaled or adapted to suit various scenarios and scales.

AIC President Gene Gregorio points out that if properly implemented, any organic waste to organic fertilizer production with a business model could result in:

- a 50 to 60 percent reduction at municipal levelof organic waste being thrown into landfills

- production of an ample supply of organic fertilizer which can be used to supplement or substitute chemical fertilizers, thereby decreasing the farmer’s cost of production and widening his profit margin.  This could even possibly keep food prices from fluctuating with the rise in cost of petro-chemical derived fertilizers as well as aid in further decreasing dependence on non-renewable resources.

- additional revenue for city and municipal government or additional off season earnings for farmers who undertake organic fertilizer production as either a revenue generating or income generating project.

AIC’s organic waste to organic fertilizer production was actually designed for small-scale or even micro-entrepreneurs.  With training and an initial supply of rapid composting agents worth P50,000, the small-scale entrepreneur could produce 3,000 bags of ready to use organic fertilizer at a cost of just P87.40 per bag and retail it at P250.00 per bag.  Within an eight month period, the successful small scale entrepreneur could realize a gross earning of P750,000 or possible high net profit of some P487,800.

One important question that crops up with any business model is whether there is any market for the product or, to put it bluntly, whether there is actually anyone who will buy the organic fertilizer.

The answer isn’t a simple yes or no, according to Gregorio.

The AIC President points out that with the enactment of the Organic Farming Act of 2010 and the publication of the Department of Agriculture’s Implementing Rules and Regulations for the Organic Farming Act, there is a bright prospect for the propagation of organic farming practices.  Such practices include the use of organic fertilizer made from composted material and other organic wastes.

AIC’s organic fertilizer production method has been approved by the Dept. of Agriculture’s Bureau of Agricultural Research 4 years ago and complies with the standards set by the Organic Farming Act.  Moreover, when compared to other methods of composting — such as ordinary composting or vermiculture composting — AIC’s method was found by the BAR to be faster (21 days production time) and of a more consistent quality when it comes to its nutrient composition.

Gregorio says that with the DA plunking down 2 percent of its budget or almost a billion pesos to support the growth of organic farming, there seems to be enough basis to believe that there will be a sizeable demand for organic fertilizer — a key input in making organic farms productive and feasible.

Discounting what could be a still latent demand for organic fertilizer, Gregorio pointed out that organic fertilizer is just as effective and even cheaper than chemical fertilizers.

Chemical fertilizers such as Urea, Triple 14, and others can cost farmers P1,200 to P1,800 per bag.  Organic fertilizers, if produced on-site in farms, could cost the farmer just P87.40 per bag to produce.

With such a proposition, it could seem that organic fertilizer production would be a great solution to a number of things including rising food prices, meager farm incomes, and the burgeoning garbage crisis of urban centers in the country.

However, just recently, I was told that municipalities around the country were being given free chemical fertilizers by the Department of Agriculture.  Most likely, such a free fertilizer program would most likely be supported by the suppliers and manufacturers of fertilizers.

Of course, Mayors and Vice Mayors of every municipality would be quick to support such a program that endowed them with free fertilizers to give to their constituents.  The supply of free fertilizer from the national government is limited, but for Mayors with a term of just 3 years, the prospect of immediate and ready political capital for the next elections in 2013 will seem much more desirable.

On one hand, we have organic farming practices that could deliver multiple solutions and on the other, big chemical fertilizer businesses aiming to ensure that Philippine agriculture will remain dependent on their products.

Faced with this uneven competition and with the still incipient organic farming program, AIC says that all it can really do is to continue informing and educating people about the possible solutions offered by organic farming.

“The solution to healthier food, less organic waste, climate change adaptation, and providing our farmers with additional income is here and it’s ready for the taking. We think that by just continuing in a drive to communicate with people about the benefits of what we are doing, we can make small shifts in the way people think and that shift could lead to just enough change that could make a difference.” said Gregorio.

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.

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.

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.

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!)

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.

“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.