Is Senator Poe a trapo or just a friend to VP Binay?
What is a trapo, and is Senator Grace Poe one?
Here’s the best explanation of the term that I’ve read:
trapo, n, a traditional politician believed to be corrupt.
Trapo is also a blend word or fusion, combining the first syllables of TRA-ditional PO-litician. In the beginning, Philippine journalists and “street parliamentarians” (that is, activists) used “tradpol” to refer to traditional politicians. At some point, someone must have noticed that “trapo” was a better combination because it’s also the Spanish-derived Tagalog word for rag. (Jose F. Lacaba)
The word is derogatory, but in the sense that it is also the way things work in the Philippines. So it represents a public concession that we, regrettably, accept that politicians take care of themselves first and us if it is convenient.
If a politician is seen as giving or receiving personal favors, that politician is considered to be a trapo. Never mind that the business of politics is not really much different than horse trading or stock trading. Favors go where they will provide the best return, and a politician’s job is to stay in office, first, so that he can do the public’s work second.
In that way, every government official, elected to office, is a trapo.
Grace Poe is a politician. Is she corrupt? And are there forms of corruption other than money passing hands? Is silence about a crime the same as aiding and abetting the crime, if one holds public office?
I was led to this debate by a remark on twitter that explained Poe’s silence on Vice President Binay as being, not the work of a trapo, but just the way a person naturally handles a friendship. One does not publicly criticize a friend.
Well, boy howdy, that raises a fine issue then, does it not?
Let’s go back to high school where we are fairly innocent and developing the values that will guide us for the rest of our lives.
What if you saw a dear friend stealing money from your mother’s cookie jar. You were just peeking around the corner and could either speak up or leave. What would you do? Your mother had been complaining about money being missing for some time now. So you can figure that your friend has done this before and has probably already spent the money he took.
Not only that, but your friend is running for student council president.
Your choices:
- Tell the friend to put the money back and stop it. The case is closed.
- Tell the friend to put the money back and repay what he has taken in the past, or you will report him to your mother.
- Tell your friend to get out of the house right now. End the friendship.
- Tell your friend to get out of the house and announce to all your friends at school that he is a thief. “Don’t vote for him.”
- Do nothing. Turn quietly from the room and let others deal with it.
There are some other choices as well, but we don’t need to belabor the lesson.
We don’t know what conversations Senator Poe and Vice President Binay have had. Presumably it would be very awkward for her, or anyone, to discuss the various Makati corruption charges with the Vice President. I’d guess corruption in Makati is a huge silent gorilla that follows VP Binay around wherever he goes. Everyone knows the beast is in the room but no one looks at it, and no one talks about it.
The situation for Senator Poe is complicated because she is a government office-holder, elected and bound by oath of office. She is required to take care of the nation’s people.
Any of steps 1 through 4 would be, to some extent, upholding the public trust.
Step 5 would not be.
Step 5 is Poe’s position so far. For her own advantage and ease, it appears that she would deny the citizens’ their protections. She would allow a thief to work his game.
Yes, she is a loyal friend to the Binays. That’s great . . .
Perhaps she can buddy up to him and do what no one else has managed to do, find out why a building worth P800 million today was charged to taxpayers for P2.3 billion.
Is she loyal to the people? Or just using them, in the traditional manner?
She says she is “humbled” by her rise popularity as a presidential prospect, and this is an endorsement that she is doing what the people want.
Is it?
History has shown that Filipino voters are not very discerning, so popularity is not really an achievement to brag about. If those were credentials, we could just elect Nancy Binay as president.
Much rarer and precious is the leader who will listen to the call of honor and courage above the fickle opinions of a substantially ignorant public.
There is evidence at hand that President Poe would be subject to the influences of the entitled over the well-being of the people. That her ordering of priorities is Poe first, friends second, and people last.
If the Philippines is to set aside the corrupt and dysfunctional ways of the past, the nation needs leadership of courage and honor.
Frankly, Senator Poe fails to impress this observer.
As I look about the roster of presidential prospects, I only see one likely candidate who demonstrates that he is for the people first, above his own best interest.
Mar Roxas.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
@Joe America
x-
Frankly, Senator Poe fails to impress this observer.
As I look about the roster of presidential prospects, I only see one likely candidate who demonstrates that he is for the people first, above his own best interest.
Mar Roxas.
-x
I wonder if Grace Poe or Mar Roxas – especially the latter – has not seen the CRRP or does not have a copy of it or do not care to have it available online.
JoeAm, whose writings I admire and who I hope I can someday “partner in crime” with, stated the following as basis for his conclusion – “Frankly, Senator Poe fails to impress this observer.”:
1. “Yes, she is a loyal friend to the Binays. That’s great . . .”
2. By her silence on the many allegations vs Binay ” She would allow a thief to work his game.”
3. “There is evidence at hand that President Poe would be subject to the influences of the entitled over the well-being of the people. That her ordering of priorities is Poe first, friends second, and people last.”
As an observer with a very favorable impression of Grace Poe, my take vis a vis the foregoing statements:
1. friend – a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations.
I do not know if the above definition of friend is the appropriate characterization of the current relationship between Grace and Jojo. I do know that the said relationship is not as what is being characterized in this blog.
That Binay was campaign manager for FPJ in 2004 was not born out of friendship, The insiders of that campaign tell a completely contradictory story. Wife Susan Roces and daughter Grace, to this day, speak of exploitation, opportunism, and betrayal. Shrewd Binay’s strategy was to gain direct access to the all important FPJ-Erap’s masa vote without having to spend much for it. In 2013, despite Erap’s 2010 decision to have Binay as running mate, Grace Poe refused the offer to join UNA. The insinuation by critics that she is somehow indebted to Binay is, again, the opposite of the truth. Friend = not Friend?
2. The explanation read by JoeAm from a Twitter post is a flawed one on two counts:
a. that Grace and Jojo are friends
b. that silence at this point signifies alliance and/or support.
3. Enlightenment by way of evidence as to Grace Poe’s alleged trapo priorities will cause me to do a 180 pronto.
For now I rely on the following solid evidences:
a. Grace Poe has stated that she is in politics mainly because of FPJ and that she will abide by the noble principles of his honest, honorable, and humanitarian father.
b. FPJ is no trapo. He is the only major Filipino politician who has refused to accept campaign contribution (specially the big ones) from vested interest. This fact I know from instances where I had personal knowledge of as well as from personal friends whose stories are also not hearsay. Unlike trapos like Binay, FPJ, with no political or otherwise self serving agenda, frequently and regularly and anonymously gives to the poor and to calamity victims.
Thank you for the superb rebuttal, parengtony. I would only note that my observations and concerns are not unique. It is also not helpful that she is close to Senators Escudero and Osmena, two men who define trapo, or is pictured at Escudero’s wedding walking arm in arm with Bobby Ongpin (probably a required photo, as they each gave away the respective marriage partners). What does she stand for, really? Do I read her words or her deeds?
ps, we can partner in crime any time, I’d consider it an honor . . .
parengtony,
Is it true that Binay and Grace are magkumare? Can you explain to me then why Grace chose Binay as one of her children’s godfather? My understanding is a godfather is a sort of surrogate parent and a role model. One chooses a godparent for a child based on that person’s favorable character because one entrusts the godchild to that person in case of death or dire circumstances. It is my understanding that asking a person to be your child’s godparent means that you either already have a personal friendship or you want to forge a closer relationship with that person. Please correct me if I am wrong. I just want to understand where Grace stands as much as the confused masses.
One of my many godfathers, already dead now, WAS my father’s friend at some point.
Then he stabbed my father in the back in UP politics. Silent avoidance was the result.
You don’t go after one another because of the holy bond. But you keep your distance.
Because as you may have noticed, Filipino feuds can be truly awful. Better avoid them.
Trying to measure such things by Western standards does not work. It’s another culture.
I agree with your last statement.
That is actually my Eastern interpretation of the godparent scenario according to the Catholic faith. Where I live now, we draw a will and state the name of the person who we want to be our minor child’s guardian in case of our early demise, usually a close friend or a family member – not a godparent.
Since we are both aliens, 🙂 let us hear what parengtony has to say.
*******
The kumpare system is another cultural defect — the extension of the collective to the detriment of individualism — that I would attribute to Catholicism. It leads to all kinds of patronage — favoritism, cronyism, nepotism.
*****
Defect I would not say. I live in Catholic Bavaria and I find a system that shields the individual from too harsh neoliberalism is something good. People who know each other better help one another. You deal with people you can trust. Things are less robot-like.
One of the richest places in Europe inspite of so-called Spezlwirtschaft – “buddy economy”.
OK massive corruption cases like the Verwandtenaffäre (relative’s affair) where a large part of the state cabinet was found to be giving jobs to relatives in 2013, even the Minister of Justice, or the Amigoaffäre (friend’s affair) in 1993 are side effects of such a system.
Or trying to whistleblow about money laundering can get you put in a mental asylum like Gustl Mollath, he is now released, but nobody not even “crazy” me pursues THAT case.
By point is that collectives are not so bad if they do not go too much to the detriment of accountability and responsibility. Individualism can also mean that people are alone against multinationals and powerful states. Families, clans, tribes exists for a reason.
*******
True, in the collective there is strength and security.
But security against what?
Collectivism is a defect if it engenders an Us-Them attitude. (As you say, the “tayo/kami” patterns of Filipino society.)
Individualism engenders an I-Thou attitude.
*****
Security against the vagaries of outside forces – great powers, economic changes etc. which can destroy communities and make people into selfish betrayers of their own.
Thus Bavaria sided with Napoleon and managed to get itself declared a Kingdom, but was one of the few territorial reforms not reversed by Metternich. Half-French prime minister Montgelas built an efficient administration in the 19th century which is there until today.
Bavaria benefitted from the Third Reich, but managed to ingratiate the Americans by switching into the role of happy fools in Lederhosen, attracting tourism and business. Even the red-light industry benefitted from American GIs – and foreign tourists – postwar.
Tell me about the Us-them attitude over here. I lived in a Bavarian village on the outskirts of Munich from 1996-2001. It took three years until the kiosk owner finally said hello to me. After that, people from the village who saw me in Munich also said hello to me in the city.
But being part of the tayo now, I defend it. It is clear to me that this is a bit pre-modern.
*******
Ahahaha! Three years to warm up and say hello? And you the customer?
*****
P.S. Us vs. Them is not wrong if the tayo are ALL stakeholders in a given community.
It is an open secret that Bavarian police will rather go after Russian criminals and not that much after homegrown criminals as long as these do not rock the boat too much.
People who are not part of the community must adjust to the rules of the community and the community must make sure its own are taken care of before others are taken care of – Cuba for example is now open for business, but not for plunder by US & Mafia like before.
*******
Again, correct. Us-Them is proper when we are speaking in terms of diversity, fair competition and sporting rivalry. I characterize Us-Them relationships as insidious when any form of discrimination enters the picture.
*****
“Three years to warm up and say hello? And you the customer?” I am happy to have left that strange village. I lived in a new part of the village built as a Munich suburb.
But to this day, the original villagers and the new people take their kids to school and then fetch them, going separate ways. Maybe their children will form a new community.
There is one family that runs the place and owns most of the land in that village.
“I characterize Us-Them relationships as insidious when any form of discrimination enters the picture.” Discrimination means selection in its original sense, as in discriminating.
Discriminating against outsiders who can harm the community and its stakeholders is a good thing because it preserves a certain balance. Thus Bavaria is modern but traditional and prosperous. Munich is the German city with the largest percentage of foreigners.
Former Bavarian Interior and later Prime Minister Beckstein once said “we only want foreigners that are useful to us and not the useless. We need point systems like they have in Australia”. He is deeply Catholic but also close to conservative Muslim groups, Turkish migrants are very many in his native Franconia (he did not last long as Prime Minister, not being a REAL Bavarian) and conservative Muslims and Catholics have very similar values, the ones he went against as interior minister were Islamistic radicals.
*******
Discriminating not in having a selective taste but in being prejudiced.
*****
During Nazi times, Bavarians were prejudiced. Now they are selective. Foreigners and migrants that behave and contribute to the GDP are welcome, others are not.
Which I think is a good thing, the peace and order situation in Berlin is much worse. Immigrant ghettos have areas ruled by Arab clans that even attack policemen…
Berlin is to Munich as Manila is to Davao. In Munich, the police and courts are efficient, so no need for a Duterte to execute anybody. They just jail them, or throw them out.
*******
That non-assimilation of Muslims is affecting Berlin? I’ve read about the problem in Holland, France, Switzerland and, of course, Italy. That story the other day of boat people throwing Christians overboard, how horrid. That’s why to me, the pathology of religion is the most devastating cancer of the human mind. Religion is supposed to uplift us, but it does the opposite.
*****
“That non-assimilation of Muslims is affecting Berlin?” It is. Well in parts of West Berlin, you better be cautious if you are a blond Caucasian, the Arab areas are worst, Turkish areas OK. In parts of postcommunist East Berlin, there are white trash skinhead zones.
Lots of excellent Vietnamese restaurants in East Berlin from former communist OFWs that stayed there. If you ever come to Berlin, I recommend http://www.monsieurvuong.de/.
There is one vital difference though. The system is inbred, clannish, familistic. Like Thomas Mann once noted in a novel, they will prefer a black man who speaks Bavarian to a Prussian. Or a Prussian Pinoy who has adjusted and speaks the dialect like I do.
But they have always been results-oriented. You don’t work, you don’t eat, jobs given to friends or relatives still have to get done. And forthright, nearly rude – no bullshit.
Catholic culture but still Germanic – I would never trade this place for neoliberal USA.
“that silence at this point signifies alliance and/or support” it can be the calm before the storm, it can mean that total conflict is simply being avoided, classic Filipino style.
“FPJ is no trapo” good man no doubt. In a traditional Filipino way.
The Presidential system is well-suited to the USA, where there is such a thing as a sense of “common weal” and responsibility beyond self-interest. Maybe Mar Roxas learned that there. Joe I understand why you like Mar Roxas, his values and your cultural values are much the same. Poe has the values many Filipinos have – it is not about their mother’s cookie jar for most people. Skimming a bit of the top is something many do if nobody you know personally is directly hurt.
Since Filipinos think in terms of “tayo” (us with you) and “kami” (us excluding you) you need to get people to think of the country as a community and that is still lacking. The ingrained attitude of Filipinos to the State was formed in colonial times, the idea of the state being the community of all citizens is not internalized by most people. At the local and regional level an awareness is growing that things have to be dealt with collectively and often more responsible leaders are elected.
American colonial authorities tried to teach Filipinos the American system while ignoring the cultural differences – a typical American failing. The only country where transplanting aspects of the American system really worked was Germany, because the two cultures are very similar.
Now most countries that were colonized have or have had the problem of people seeing the state as a foreign body, not a mother you don’t steal from. But even before that you have a lack of a sense of community. America was not colonized but settled by Englishmen who decided to go their own way after a while, so a sense of unity was there from the beginning. In the Philippines it was always about who could control the state for the benefit of one’s own in-group, nothing more.
Sense of community is something Mar Roxas might be able to inculcate in the Filipino people. They have to see with their own eyes that something else than what they have learned to expect is possible at the national level. The job might be easier this time because some awareness of community is already there locally and regionally. This kind of stuff grows from the bottom up but needs someone to give it direction from the top. Something Fidel Castro has done for his Cuba, communism was just a means to an end for him. Now they have a sense of national community.
Yes, I agree that I have an abundant sense of community that seems missing here, for all the pride that is claimed. It existed during WWII, then there was Marcos. I watch Bam Aquino and Sonny Angara with considerable interest, and wonder when one of them will break to the call of personal gain over nation. So far, they speak relentlessly for good deeds, as far as I can tell. It’s like being wealthy is a pre-requisite to having selfless values, but a privileged wealthy man (Roxas) is not who people want to see in charge. They will evidently accept it if the wealth was acquired “battling the inequities of the system”, like Binay’s. Haha.
Some things I just don’t quite grasp.
It is all rooted in colonialism and its hand-me-downs. Juan Tamad shirked forced labor, that attitude remains even after the masters have gone. Native politicians, the gobernadorcillos and the like, stole from Spanish colonial coffers and gave to their groups.
Rich people are often descended from those who were close to colonial masters, the mestizos, often illegitimate sons of Spanish friars who ran their estates for them, then claimed the land for themselves at some point. That the natives didn’t like them is clear.
The rich and educated are still seen that way today by the masa. Many wealthy try to prove that they are selfless, but many poor people don’t take their word for it. Changing attitudes takes a lot of time. Cuba achieved it, they had a similar history and problems, the video in the article before was just to show that it can work. The medicine of Communism they used was old-school and with many side effects. Bam Aquino and Sonny Angara are doctors that have learned new methods, but with the same goal in mind. Let us see.
Nobody asked but by my personal definition of a trapo says that President Ramon Magsaysay, Ka Pepe Diokno, Rene Saguisag, and Jesse Robredo are non-trapos.
By this definition, Mar Roxas is more of a trapo than Grace Poe. By the same token, between our two young senators, Bam Aquino seems to be much less of a trapo than Sonny Angara.
Roxas because he caters to Aquino? Yes, agree on Aquino vs Angara.
Like I wrote somewhere else, doctoring the symptoms will not cure the real disease. The Philippine disease is lack of sense of community, discipline and inequality of opportunities.
Cuba cured those diseases, having had a very similar history and social structure to the Philippines. Their medicine was a strong one called Communism – with many side effects. Now they are ready for the next step, and I believe they will be a very rich place one day.
Poe is a symptom of Philippine diseases, Binay is a real sore. Hopefully Mar Roxas will do all he can to cure the three diseases the Philippines has in a modern way, he has the competence to do so. In the time of Fidel – or Lenin to go back further, one used cures that were the equivalent of going to the village fair to have your teeth pulled out by pliers. Nowadays dentists have a whole repertoire of cures. The Philippines needs root canal..
First name us not Spelled G-R-A-C-E it is spelled T-R-A
I don’t know enough about Sen Poe to like or dislike. But I like the word “trapo” it is so punnish. It is also a portmanteau like the word “smog” 🙂 Sori, Karl. umaangkas lang ako.
@sonny,
“I don’t know enough about Sen Poe to like or dislike.”
——-
Perhaps you will find this helpful?:
http://j.mp/ja-140207 ja 79 Roxas Lacson Poe
Written by “ja” (Joe America), generated 79 comments
Thanks i7sharp. Joe covered the basics well especially for a neophyte like me. My conclusion: Sen Poe should NOT present herself for presidential candidacy.
Not yet. She is a novice (double meaning intended) in the middle of experienced hustlers.
But the people might push her into going for candidacy, then she has to be very careful.
Angkas lang.From what I have seen, she is new in politics,but a quick study in the game,so quick she became a player.If she runs of prexy she must unleash all that she knows against Binay and I suggest Roxas to stay away from mudslinging, methinks that made him lose the last time.I am still for Roxas.
If Roxas Loses, anybody but Binay.Binay loses and let’s party.
The reporters must do their thing and corner Grace and do the 20 questions,all about Binay.
Grace Poe is a trapo. She bitches about Purisima but keeps silent about Binay.
The criticisms of Grace Poe are of course legitimate… but she’s the only candidate out there with the identity appeal to beat Binay. If she chooses to run, that is. I stil think she’d be better advised to run as Vice President, not on Binay’s ticket. That would mean Binay would win, and she’d be his Vice President, but would still be able to maintain some distance. That would of course not be good for the country, but it would be good for her.
Of course the surveys might convince her to run for President, in which case she would be imperfect… but she wouldn’t be Binay.
I note that today, Binay was on record as saying that the Philippines does not need a new politician as president. He may be trying to discourage Poe from running, or undermining her popularity. In one way, a Binay vs Poe race would be most interesting as Poe would be forced to confront the likely dirty play from Binay. Maybe it would make her a better president.
Looking at it from that angle, that may be the reason she is silent for the moment.
If she attacks Binay now she is likely to get damaged. Even for Trillanes the risk is large.
Besides, for more traditional Filipinos, betraying friends of family is a mortal sin.
Betraying the nation is a minor sin for them. She needs these peoples votes also.
What she will do with Binay if she does become President, we all do not know.
I note that Godfather Binay has no qualms about putting her down. He is the great betrayer, after all. She needs a dose of courage to go with her spite, I think.
Which is why she might be waiting. Besides: many of the crowd I am referring too will see her as a meddler if she goes after Binay now when it isn’t her job to do so. Campaign time is something else.
Could be.
JoeAm, I find it interesting to pursue the scenario you already mentioned — of Poe and Binay both running for the Presidency. How will Poe handle herself in the heat of the campaign. It is given that the great betrayer Binay will conduct a no-holds-barred campaign against Poe — or through his attack boys considering some dirt or invented stories coming from Binay may hurt him, in the context of Philippine culture — Poe being a woman,
In such a case will Poe continue to be silent about Binay’s corruption? This thought of course is something that cannot but be in the minds of both Poe or her political adviser.
If she WILL NOT play dirt against dirt — really not dirt, because properly worded the corruption at Makati etc can always be couched in the most creative, high-level sounding terms, Poe being good at the language both Tagalog and English, but deliver the message of Binay corruption nevertheless — would this mean that Poe may not go for the Presidency THIS TIME AROUND?
By the way, the puzzle that is Poe continues to be a puzzle generating much interest. If I were Poe reading Blogs like this, I will be greatly amused. Also, can we suppose we are providing her or his adviser free food for thought? We may puzzle no more come mid-2015 or thereabouts — only three months away.
My bookie Sal says the probability she or a staffer are reading the blog is 84.6%. Her “people” have read here, and we are pushed directly by readers to other top contenders as well, Roxas, Trillanes, Cayetano. We provide a valuable service to all aspirants, causing them great laughter or insight . . . one or the other. 🙂
I trust Sal, your bookie, since he even gets his probability down to a tenth of a percent. (I have been taught as a physics student the importance of using significant figures in data or calculation.)
When or if she does run for the Presidency, she will have her answers on her silence about Binay’s corruption down pat I suppose, since this is a constant refrain here and at Raissa’s Blog, among other social media her staffer reads.
Yeh, Joe, you are a “service provider.”
We don’t have long to wait — three months, or in that neighborhood.
🙂
Yep. October is drop dead date.
I’m sure Sal will smile and give you a tip of his Vegas sombrero when he awakens from his alcohol induced slumber.
We should always remember that Poe is a snake as well. Snakes can go in any direction.
A snake that works for the good of the country can be a good snake – see “Angie Merkel”:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german
Kohl, then at his height as a statesman, presented Merkel to foreign dignitaries as a curiosity, belittling her by calling her “mein Mädchen”—his girl. She had to be taught how to use a credit card. Cabinet meetings were dominated by Kohl, and though Merkel was always well prepared, she seldom spoke. But inside her ministry Merkel was respected for her efficient absorption of information, and feared for her directness and temper. According to her biographer Evelyn Roll, she acquired the nickname Angie the Snake, and a reputation for accepting little criticism. When, in 1994, Merkel was given the environment portfolio, she quickly fired the ministry’s top civil servant after he suggested that she would need his help running things..
In 1996, during negotiations over a nuclear-waste law, Gerhard Schröder, two years away from becoming Chancellor, called her performance as environment minister “pitiful.” In her interview with Herlinde Koelbl that year, Merkel said, “I will put him in the corner, just like he did with me. I still need time, but one day the time will come for this, and I am already looking forward.” It took nine years for her to make good on the promise..
Feldmeyer suggested that, instead of doing an interview, she publish an opinion piece. Five minutes later, a fax came through, and Feldmeyer read it with astonishment. Merkel, a relatively new figure in the C.D.U., was calling for the Party to break with its longtime leader. “The Party must learn to walk now and dare to engage in future battles with its political opponents without its old warhorse, as Kohl has often enjoyed calling himself,” Merkel wrote. “We who now have responsibility for the Party, and not so much Helmut Kohl, will decide how to approach the new era.” She published the piece without warning the tainted Schäuble, the Party chairman. In a gesture that mixed Protestant righteousness with ruthlessness, Kohl’s Mädchen was cutting herself off from her political father and gambling her career in a naked bid to supplant him. She succeeded. Within a few months, Merkel had been elected Party chairman. Kohl receded into history. “She put the knife in his back—and turned it twice,” Feldmeyer said. That was the moment when many Germans first became aware of Angela Merkel.
Years later, Michael Naumann sat next to Kohl at a dinner, and asked him, “Herr Kohl, what exactly does she want?”
“Power,” Kohl said, tersely. He told another friend that championing young Merkel had been the biggest mistake of his life. “I brought my killer,” Kohl said. “I put the snake on my arm.”…
Obama and Merkel are like “two hit men in the same room. They don’t have to talk—both are quiet, both are killers.”
The good thing about Poe is that she can address two communities in the Philippines very well that are mutually distrustful of one another: the “business” crowd of Mar and the “masa” crowd of Binay. The “house slaves” and the “plantation slaves” of international business so to speak, the distrust between these two types of slaves in the Deep South was once legendary. Bring the two groups together to form a really self-determined nation.
Now if one looks at how Poe handled the Senate report, putting dirt on the President in a plausibly deniable way, it is very possible that she is waiting for an opportunity to do the same with Binay. The female of the species is deadlier than the male, see Angie Merkel.
Possibly the Philippines, being caught in the international power game between the United States and China, may need a snake as President. Someone who can outmaneuver both.
It is the same thing with Binay at the moment. If she had damaged the President too much in the Senate Report, Binay would have grinned, thanked her and let her fall very deep. Same thing if she goes against Binay – LP will grin, thank her and let her take the fall.
Now someone who manages to play politicians that way will be able to play superpowers.
Like Raja Lakandula let Raja Sulayman and the Macabebe attack the Spanish during the Battle of Bangkusay near Tondo in 1571, his nephews were there but only “observing” when the Spaniards won and caught them, so Legazpi had to believe Lakandula…
Filipinos are a Malay people, these are ancient Malay strategies of deception similar to moro-moro and pintakasi. And between Binay who will join with China and Mar who will be TOO pro-US, I would prefer a snake Grace Poe who manages to wiggle between the two.
FYI Sulayman was a member of the oldest Malay political dynasty, the Bolkiahs who have ruled Brunei for 7 centuries, and Maynila (nila = indigo, Arabic al nil) was called Kota Seludong by the Malays who had established it. The Spanish razed it and built Intramuros.
Tondo is older, mentioned in the 900 AD Laguna copperplate inscription and as dongdo on Lusungdo (Luzon) in the Ming annals. “Hari ng Tundo” the oldest Filipino royal title…
Sonny and me are presently working on a short Philippine history. Abangan
@IBRS
“Sonny and me are presently working on a short Philippine history.”
——-
Two or three blogs ago, I requested you to see if there any duplicates in the codes I arbitrarily assigned to the 259 barangays of Tondo:
http://j.mp/bgy-tondo
You don’t have to do that now – unless you want to.
I bring up the subject again … in relation to history.
From the link (above) I was able to arrive within a few mouse-clicks to this:
http://www.manila-map.com/article1.html
Excerpt of the end of the very informative article:
x-
Tondo used to mirror the Philippines at its best, noble and most idealistic. Can we still salvage it from its worst? Can we alter the reality and image of ancient Tondo – as we refuse to be victims of cruel fate and strive to alter the destiny of the Philippines – from a paradise lost into a promised land of eternal hope?
-x
Ah, similar thoughts. See my remark, which was made before reading this.
Your commentary makes me shudder. We could use a snake against China, I would observe.
1960s Cuba was to USA and Russia AS
present Philippines is to China and USA. 🙂
The parallels are interesting. Cuba adopted the Russian form of government, and the Philippines adopted the American. Cuba was harshly anti-American and saw American government as hostile toward Cuba’s form of government. The Philippines has not reached that stage yet regarding China. Chinese missiles are aimed at the Philippines (as they were when America was here). I don’t know if America had missiles aimed at Cuba.
The Philippines cannot import American nuclear missiles to aim at China. But she can fill the bays with American boats and fill the air with American planes. I wonder if China would consider that an “edge of war” threat.
I wonder if Hillary Clinton will pound her shoe on the UN desk as did Khrushchev if the ITLOS ruling comes down wrong.
The main parallels are:
– island or islands
– big power just in front of you.
You don’t want to be too dependent on the big power in front of you, especially if it is screwing up your own country. Batista’s Cuba was corrupt, poor and US Mafia-ridden.
So Cuba sook the help of another big power far away, the lesser evil or the better choice. Fidel Castro was a pragmatic nationalist more than he ever was a true Communist. Well if the Americans had let him play baseball in New York, he might have been like Pacquiao.
And more: Cuba and Philippines were both Spanish colonies, went against Spain at more or less the same time (the Filipinos saw their chance when Spain was weakened by the Cuban revolution) and became US territories together with Puerto Rico back in 1898.
Similar social structures, feudal Spanish with some Yankee overlays. Filipinos imitated basketball, Cubans imitated baseball. My answer to a Cuban friend who asked me why:
maybe we are trying hard to be tall.. think we Filipinos are always trying hard.
I’m surprised baseball is not bigger in the Philippines. Quickness and strength. Now Filipinos can jump better than white guys, but they start with a handicap. Maybe it is too hot for baseball, and it takes too much land and equipment. I figure starting a local baseball league for kids would run about P600,000 per year for gear and umps. No land or backstop in that figure.
And Cuba is also tropical, with a very fun-loving culture. But they managed to put things together in such a way that they combine sense of community, discipline and equal opportunities to create a strong nation. Now the Cuban medicine for their ills similar to the Philippines was old school medicine, Communism. Now there are other modern remedies, root canal treatments as opposed to pulling out teeth with rusty pliers on the marketplace.
But the reason why I posted the video in the last blog was not well-explained. It shows the strength and confidence the Cuban nation has now acquired, which I hope the Philippine nation will acquire at some point. With Raul Castro’s handshake to Obama, they will open.
They are poised to become a successful nation to join the other rising nations of Latin America which have in varying degrees of success gotten their act together. Look at the per capita GDP/PPPs of Venezuela and Ecuador among others compared to Philippines.
These are Spanish feudal, Catholic cultures with a lot of superstition and corruption, but they are managing to move up. President Rafael Correa of Ecuador is a nationalist MBA.
And yo vengo de Cuba is cool national pride and tourism promotion in one video, something the Philippines should think about, it is done really well in high quality. Detractors would say it is Castro propaganda with hip-hop but that is too negative.
There is a huge Cuban population in Miami, but the political rift is huge. If that could be healed, tourism and money into Cuba would absolutely soar.
And these people were really slaves, much worse than any sakadas. In the video you have many colors dancing together. Color matters in Latin America – and the Philippines.
Did you know that Manila cigars used to be rolled in a special way, different from Cuban?
Did you know that Rizal when executed, turned to the sun, having read compañero Jose Marti’s poem that said I am good, and as a good man / I will die facing the sun?
Did you know that Aguinaldo in his Hong Kong exile raised a toast to our Cuban brothers in revolution? Did you know that the original red/blue in the Philippine flag were Cuban? But that it is only mentioned in Tagalog Wikipedia, not in English language Wikipedia?
Joe, another short teaser for Sonny/my history project. Just got a mail from Manong.
🙂
Did you know that there is an “Indio” tribe near Acapulco that actually speaks an old form of a Filipino language, descended from Filipinos who were part of the galleon trade?
Did you know that a Filipino once was convicted and executed for sorcery in colonial Peru?
Did you now that Mexico City and Havanna once had sizable Filipino communities? That in Mexico City they held their own Catholic processions, among other things?
Did you know about Alejandro Gómez Maganda, a Mexican of Filipino origin who was governor of Mexico’s Guerrero state from 1951-1954?
AND did you know that in Spanish times, Lloyd’s of London refused to insure any seafaring vessel that had a too large percentage of Filipino seamen?
“There is a huge Cuban population in Miami, but the political rift is huge. If that could be healed, tourism and money into Cuba would absolutely soar.” I truly believe Raul Castro will do it, the Obama handshake is a beginning. Cuba is now ready for the future.
Castro brothers are like my brother and me, similar but different. My father once said that I am dog-matic while my brother is frog-matic = pragmatic. Wigan does like Kermit the Frog.
“I’m surprised baseball is not bigger in the Philippines.” I liked it. Had gloves and a bat. Trained with my Ilocana yaya pitching balls at me in the back garden of our U.P. house.
“Quickness and strength.” Yep. I think there were good teams in the 1920s.
“Now Filipinos can jump better than white guys” there is a Afro-American movie about a whiteboy trying to compete in the ghetto called “White Men can’t jump”. Bit similar in theme to “8 Mile” with Eminem trying to compete in freestyle rap in the Detroit projects.
“but they start with a handicap” yes. But I think it really is about Filipinos trying to prove something all the time, a weakness we have to overcome.
Baseball and Cubans – I think they have more follow-through than Filipinos have.
BTW Cuba is a big place for tourism coming from Europe, people love Havana.
And Spain is looking for more business opportunities, don’t know if WordPress being American will embargo the link (did once for a Russian source) so I quote directly:
HAVANA TIMES — More than 40 Spanish entrepreneurs headed by Spain’s State Secretary for Trade Jaime Garcia Legaz are taking part in a business forum held at Havana’s Hotel Nacional to learn of business and investment opportunities currently being offered by Cuba.
During the forum, Cuban authorities declared that foreign investment had become an essential component – and not merely a complement – of their development plans, and that they sought to offer foreign partners fair treatment for mutual benefit.
The foreign investment law approved by parliament in March of last year, the regulations that make existing legislation more flexible and the recent rapprochement between the United States and Cuba were the favorable developments underscored by the Spanish delegation.
According to Spain’s State Secretary for Trade, the delegation accompanying him includes construction, renewable energy (a sector where Spain is currently an international leader), and hotel and tourism companies…
According to Joaquin Gay de Montella, Vice-Chair of the Spanish Business Organizations Confederation (CEOE), “we have received the new framework of relations between the Cuban and Spanish governments, and between the European Union and the island, with great hopes.”
The business leader announced that, 2014 saw more than a billion euros in bilateral trade, while investments on the island reached the sum of 750 million dollars, more than 30 percent of which are Spanish.
Smart nationalists NEVER put all their eggs in one basket, no exclusive US business anymore like in the time of Batista, but I believe Yanks will also be welcome soon.
I wonder if those 1960 Chevy cars that ply the streets will dissolve from the local scene. Rather like the jeepney is on the way out of the Philippines.
http://www.dw.de/german-firms-explore-investment-in-cuba/a-18053755 – Germany:
Now that Cuba’s economy has made steps to open up to foreign capital, the island’s communist government hopes to lure potential investors with numerous incentives. But doing business in Cuba requires a different approach.
“The Cuban market has many special features,” said Stephan Gruber, one of the directors of Casa Alemania, a German umbrella organization for German companies wanting to do business in Cuba. “The short term does not work in Cuba.”..
This experience includes a stand at the 32nd Havana International Trade Fair (FIHAV 2014), which has just come to a close. Some 2,000 companies from 60 countries took part in the week-long show that covered over 18,000 square meters. Thirty-seven exhibitors traveled from Germany – most of them technology and engineering companies, including heavyweights such as Bosch, MAN and ThyssenKrupp. For the third year in a row, the German pavilion was fully booked.
It’s no secret that Cuba is now in transition. For several years, the country has been undertaking a cautious economic realignment. Under the motto of “updating the socialist model” Raul Castro’s government has lifted restrictions on private sales of cars and real estate, allowed more free-market initiatives and set up a Brazilian-funded special economic zone around the port of Mariel, 45 kilometers west of Havana.
The centerpiece of this new openness is a new law on foreign investment that took effect in June. It allows foreign companies to invest in all sectors of the Cuban economy for the first time.
Raul Castro is doing a Deng Xiaoping, I knew it…
“I wonder if those 1960 Chevy cars that ply the streets will dissolve from the local scene. Rather like the jeepney is on the way out of the Philippines.” They will.
Might be German cars that come though, this is from my Deutsche Welle source above:
“Under the motto of “updating the socialist model” Raul Castro’s government has lifted restrictions on private sales of cars and real estate, allowed more free-market initiatives and set up a Brazilian-funded special economic zone around the port of Mariel”
BTW Mariel used to be the site of a major Cuban prison. Fidel Castro once sent them all over to Miami as fugitives. The Americans had to take the so-called Marielitos.
Damn they are doing it smartly – multilateral business stuff. Viva Raul Castro!
I’ll withhold judgment on that point, as I don’t know the child death rate or incidence of illness or hunger.
I realize now, the video above is Castro “propaganda” after all – in Spanish “propaganda” means ADVERTISING, and it is RAUL Castro advertising. Cuba is turning from a socialist state into an authoritarian social democracy with neoliberal touches to make money.
If you look well, it is not just advertising the nation and its past – starts in a Spanish place, then shows an imitation of the Washington D.C. Capitol in the middle of Havana.
There is even a humorous reference to the Euro sex tourism that Cuba earns much from.
“I’ll withhold judgment on that point, as I don’t know the child death rate” – Ranks 33rd in the UN Population List – the US ranks 34th! 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate
Ouch.
http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/cuba
Cuba is an upper-middle-income country and one of the largest economies in Central America and the Caribbean. It has a population of 11.3 million, 23 per cent of which is rural (World Bank, 2013). Its nominal GDP is US$77.2 billion and its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is US$6,833 (2013, in current prices, ECLAC). However, the analysis of GDP and of GDP per capita in foreign currency must be cautiously undertaken due to the dual exchange rate system that has been in operation in Cuba since 1994.
Cuba ranks relatively high in human development, at 44th out of 187 countries in the 2014 UN Human Development Index. Cuba’s socioeconomic indicators are above average for countries with similar economic growth levels and trends. The country has launched policies and strategies to guarantee food and nutritional security for all, targeting in particular the most vulnerable groups. Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean that has eliminated severe infant malnutrition, and has made major strides in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
There you go. Demolish my mis-impressions carried over from the ’60’s.
AND they were pragmatic enough NEVER to challenge the US on Guantanamo Bay base.
As a pragmatic nationalist, I definitely prefer Santiago de Cuba to Miriam Santiago anytime.
And I would act the same way Cuba acted regarding Guantanamo Bay US base when it comes to Chinese on Panatag Shoal. Realistic nationalists avoid unnecessary provoking.
The same way the Russians reacted when it came to West Berlin back in the 1960s. They could have taken it easily if they wanted to but they avoided an unnecessary escalation.
Or like both superpowers acted during the famous Checkpoint Charlie standoff of 1961.
“There you go. Demolish my mis-impressions carried over from the ’60’s.” No problem. 🙂
The world is truly changing fast. What I like about Cubans is: their initiative, their follow-through and there bold and broad thinking. No bullshit with these people.
Do know a lot of Cubans, they are massively here in Munich, more of them in Berlin from old Communist days, just like the former Vietnamese Communist OFWs (lived in camps) whose children outdo German kids in school, being raised the typical Asian way.
Who would have even IMAGINED Cuban groups rapping in Spanish to a salsa beat in front of the former Capitol imitation in Havana, in a music video that puts MTV to shame?
That is why I imagine a truly great future for the Philippines – but not what Marcos wanted!
When “anybody but Binay” is elected, I’d suggest a month long Manila bash of street dancing and cock fights, a world record fiesta celebration, free food by all the fast food joints and the Aristocrat Restaurant . . .
Apo Hiking Society singing on one of the bridges of the Pasig river, no one each on each of the three bridges leading to the Central Post Office built in American colonial times, with helicopter zoom shots to the only Art Nouveau building left in Manila just across, to Intramuros, to Chinatown, to Manila Bay, to Malacañan, to Quiapo Church, to Tondo, to Quirino Grandstand, to Guadalupe bridge, the MRT, the LRT and tall Makati buildings! 🙂
🙂
And in the second part of the song:
the three bridges, and each of the three Apo Hiking Society members, turn into Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Singing in Spanish, English, Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilokano, Bikol, Samar/Leyte, Hiligaynon, Ilonggo, Cebuano, Maranao, Maguindanao, Tausug and Chabacano! 🙂
Bayang Magiliw from ABS-CBN shows that WE FILIPINOS CAN make such a production:
In my list of languages to sing in the final Pentecostal scene, I forgot two important languages – these people would call VIPS very impotent persons in their accent:
Hokkien and Cantonese, the language of our overseas Chinese, coming from tribes that left China because they were outcasts there. Who were not even allowed to leave the coasts because the Yuan closed them, and came to trade in Manila as PIRATES.
Total inclusiveness for all groups that comprise the Philippines…
http://www.mister-baseball.com/philippines-preparing-baseball-renaissance/
Baseball renaissance?
I have a creative inspiration:
ADD to your idea of Duterte being Secretary of Defense…
Grace Poe as Secretary of Foreign Affairs…
then we are one step closer to a government dream team.
Duterte as the bad cop, Poe as the “good” cop against China.
It’s too bad we can’t just draw it up that way. Cayetano at DOJ.
When my father found out about my ambition to be a businessman, he shouted me out first – anyone who knows Prof. Zeus Salazar from UP will now what I mean…
A week later he gave me the book “Be My Guest” by Conrad Hilton. It outlines how he was basically under the bridge, down and out two times before he made it the third time.
One important phrase from that book is: YOU HAVE TO DREAM.
And another phrase from that book was – I paraphrase from memory: in whatever venture you undertake, partners are important. But whatever partner you take, remember one thing: DEAL WITH AN HONEST MAN.
Joe, this is why I am here with you on this venture to improve the Philippines, even forgoing billable hours to post: BECAUSE you are an honest man.
Why thanks, Irineo . . . especially for not billing . . . haha
This is strictly pro bono. Not pro bonobo, since I am not one just a Filipino-German, just as I told the hahahaman downstairs that you are not a baboon just an American. 🙂
You gotta do something for your pocket and something for your soul.
She is the center of the election. Must be fun. Osmmena and Escudero in one ear, Binay in another, her humility in one side of her heart, her ambition in the other. I see ambition in her eyes. I would imagine she would attack corruption, but not Binay, if she ran. He’s be demanding a DNA test from her. he he
It would be fun to see Binay convicted to do social work just like old cavaliere Berlusconi:
Have him assigned to clean trash out of the Pasig River. He starts at the bay, works his way up 3 kilometers, then is sent back to start again. “Sisyphus of the River”
I would rather encourage Poe to run for president but not for vice president. Either she or Binay wins but at least there is still the prospect of a better candidate winning the vice presidency. What I dread is having Binay win the presidency and Poe the vice presidency and the country doomed to 12 years of unchecked corruption.
The brighter outcome of having Poe and Binay both running for president is they can cancel each other out thereby giving the candidate of my choice a better chance of continuing the practice of good governance and finally eliminating corruption.
Interesting readout, mcgll. Do you gamble much? I might take you on as my bookie and give Sal the boot.
Please don’t bite my head off because of this, but didn’t Sen. Roxas botch the response efforts to Yolanda thus leading CNN to report it and Korina Sanchez mouthing off? Forgive me if I come off as ignorant here, but work has kind of constructed a wall between me and the rest of the world…
Oh, and if someone can enlighten me on what really happened during that time, it would be much appreciated. Thanks!
It depends on if you read the Tacloban reports, in which case Roxas was a scurrilous lackey doing Aquino’s dirty work, or if you read the Roxas accounts, you get a very different picture. My own view is that Romualdez of Tacloban played dirty by taking the Roxas words out of context and playing the political angle for months, and by never accepting one iota of accountability for the poor preparation. Korina Sanchez let her personal feelings and defensiveness get in the wayy of her news reporting.
If you do a search of the blog for “Roxas” you will come up with some articles I’ve done that basically say Roxas is a good, capable, earnest guy. I also did one on Korina Sanchez.
Two news releases from DI:G at the time:
http://www.dilg.gov.ph/news/Stop-spreading-lies-focus-on-the-job-help-us-help-the-people/NC-2014-745
http://www.dilg.gov.ph/news/Two-Samar-solons-want-Roxas-to-continue-to-lead-rescue-relief-and-rehab-operations-in-Yolanda-hit-areas-in-Central-and-Eastern-Visayas/NC-2014-749
@JA
“If you do a search of the blog for “Roxas” you will come up with some articles I’ve done that basically say Roxas is a good, capable, earnest guy. I also did one on Korina Sanchez.”
——-
What do you think of these two different searches?
(Can you or someone else suggest a better one?)
1 https://joeam.com/?s=%22Mar+Roxas%22
2 https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ajoeam.com+%Mar+Roxas%22
btw, have you tried looking for a copy of the CRRP?
Ooops!
Should be
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ajoeam.com+%22Mar+Roxas%22
I don’t understand the searches. I tried finding a copy of the CRRP and believe it is not available on the internet because of the volume. There is a placeholder in the government’s Gazette but no document.
@Joe America
“I tried finding a copy of the CRRP and believe it is not available on the internet because of the volume. There is a placeholder in the government’s Gazette but no document.”
——-
“no document”
Hmmm, …
“… because of the volume.”
Has someone in PNoy’s administration heard of …
Part 1 of …
Part 2 of … ?
We can hope CRRP is not morphing into … CoRRuPtion.
But given the propensities (in the government) that would not be prudent.
So before it becomes too late why not look again into priorities and options (“Three Options”) we discussed a few blogs ago.
Let us say it is a priority under the category,
1 Governance
What options do we have?
1.
2.
3.
I7Sharp,
When FOI passes next administration put that on our requested documents list.
Can’t find it as well.
http://www.gov.ph/foi/
Senate past third reading gotta give credit to Poe.
Lower house needs a little push.
Ok I7sharp you can request CRRP earlier, I thought FOI is forgotten.
Salamat, Karl.
One of the immediate options we have is to ask Senator Poe,
if only because she is the subject of this blog article and probably reads it,
why CRRP is not yet available for perusal by the … madlang tao.
http://www.neda.gov.ph/?p=1128
Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016 is easily accessible.
(Less than 300 pages long?)
It would instructive to see how close (or far apart) these two coterminous “grand plans” are in their (for want of a better word) character … or approach.
I searched the NEDA site for CRRP just now
http://www.neda.gov.ph/?s=CRRP
and found only one result
http://www.neda.gov.ph/?p=4539
Excerpt:
x-
The reconstruction and rehabilitation of Yolanda-affected areas, as contained in the Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan or CRRP is expected to spur investment and provide livelihood and employment opportunities. The CRRP outlines the National Government’s plans for the recovery of the 171 affected cities and municipalities in 14 provinces and six regions (collectively known as the ‘Yolanda corridor’). Under the CRRP, resettlement projects account for the biggest slice of the proposed budget at P75.67 billion. The Department of Budget and Management has already released P51.98 billion from the national budget for the rehabilitation plan in the Yolanda corridor since November 2013.
-x
Frankly, I don’t know how searches work but this,
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aneda.gov.ph+CRRP
seems to give a few more results,
I would say Roxas is capable but too cautious. Just like Rene De Villa of earlier era, he is also a TEKA TEKA(wait)
that is what is happened in DOTC which he headed earlier and it still going on
what is needed is one in the mold of Patton or even McArthur. Bold or balls? and daring
how about Duterte and Lacson?
im thinking if Lacson has plans to run in 2016, he might have done his homework already regarding Binay and ready to spill them come election time
Very interesting, Lacson as the great revealer on Binay. I don’t like his running because it was his stubborn refusal to withdraw that gave the election to Arroyo. I agree that for Roxas to win, he needs to get profound and get on the attack. Duterte I can’t figure out because his public expressions are so wild, about abandoning congress and killing people. Yet supposedly, he runs his city well. As a trapo . . . I don’t trust what I don’t understand . . . so I don’t trust him.
I get him. So I trust him. A murderer is always more honest than a thief. He either kills you or he doesn’t. In fact Duterte allegedly warns people on his list – sends them a page with a number and all other names blacked out, so you know how much time you have to leave.
He already said he would rely on a strengthened PNP – he would build on Mar’s legacy – to establish order in the Philippines. A strongman and definitely a Mafioso – there are memes on Facebook calling him the Philippine Putin in Russian letters. But one who would take care of his fiefdom which could be the entire Philippines in such a way that its interests would be defended. Davao proves it. And a man who seeks honest citizen’s participation.
So far the only non-trapo is Mar Roxas. I am just hoping Poe will have independency of mind and decisions.
The good news I hear about Mar Roxas is KORINA SANCHEZ IS FIRED !!! Korina said no, it is nothing but gossips. Well, Korina should know better. She came from a Philippine Media that indulges in no-evidence-witness-only news coverage. Despite my not believing that Korina Sanchez is fired, I WOULD RATHER BELIEVE AND PROPAGATE THE LIES AS NEWS THAT KORINA SANCHEZ IS FIRED so she can know how it feels like to be the butt of gossips in the news without evidences just by mere witness accounts.
And I’d like Mar Roxas squirming of Korina Sanchez firing so when Mar Roxas became president he’d regulate the Philippine Media and give the contract to Korean News Agency of DPRK.
Korina Sanchez is not on the air because the news report conflicts with her class study time, a seminar, I believe. So she is on leave of absence. If Mar Roxas runs, the station has informed her that she will have to go on leave, so she is likely to extend her current leave. It may be that she will find being first lady much more rewarding, and you won’t have her to kick around any more. As a journalist. 🙂
Why is Binay hiding Gerry Limlingan?
Exactly. The financial genius who knows all.
Actually Gerry Limlingan is just up and about. They are not looking for him in Makati dive bars. Or, maybe, the investigators are Filipinos. They cannot even know that Bill and Melinda went to Palawan for a week and INQUIRER said they came without fanfare and in incognito. HUH? For Inquirer information, Bill and Melinda do not want to hug the limelight UNLIKE FILIPINOS.
If they cannot find Bill and Melinda, they cannot find Gerry Limlingan. Even University of the Philippines cannot know what was in the Tea Milk. They are ASKING the owner instead not doing forensic chemical investigation of the Tea Milk and autopsy of the body what chemical they have ingested !!!!
I SO LOVE FILIPINOS THAT I WANT TO COMMIT HARAKIRI.
As Trillanes said, maybe he’s hiding six feet under as well as that manang assistant.
Trillanes should quit the Senate to write work of fiction.
It would be called an autobiography.
Restrain yourself, Mariano. Hara kiri is un-Filipino. The proper method is a jug of tuba to tide you over to tomorrow, then you just start another day that looks a lot like today.
My answer to the title-question is, Grace Poe is a friend of Binay and I don’t see anything wrong in that. The trapo part is a misnomer. First, I’ve read a lot of descriptions about what a ‘trapo’ means and they all boiled down to one thing: it’s bad. If you are called a trapo, it only means you are a bad politician. Second, I don’t think just because you happened to be a friend of a trapo you are already a trapo. At least, you should be guilty of trapo ‘acts’ to deserved the derogatory term than be condemned by mere association.
I don’t believe Sen. Poe is a trapo just because of her silence about the happenings in the Binay camp. Silence signifies a lot of things other than being a trapo indicator. It could be her way of not interfering in the investigation process so as not to be accused of publicity hound. It could also a means of distancing herself from the Binays on corruption issues. Others also see it as neutral gesture on her part not to meddle on the ongoing investigation against her friend and respect for the process.
As far as I’m concerned, I’ll only believe the trapo allegation if she starts to defend the Binays against corruption allegation.
Let me be clear, too. I would like the readers to trash this piece as wishful thinking and condemn me for posting it if eventually Grace Poe decides to run as Binay’s vice-president.
That would be the day I’ll have to make a formal apology to everybody. 😇
I’ve bookmarked your comment. 🙂
Everytime I cast my vote, I cast my fate to the wind. In the past elections, I DID NOT VOTE. I DID NOT WANT TO BE A PARTY THAT ELECTED CROOKS. She may not be a crook, but there is air that they breath in the office that turns them into crooks.
If you know something wrong is being done and you do not act against it then you are complicit.
If you are silent because of your personal ties then you put yourself above nation.
Both are transactional politics => Traditional Politics
Hence Grace TraPoe Llamanzares
You’re assuming that Grace Poe was privy to the wrongdoings of Binay which would be unfair, I think. 😳
No I am assuming that she ha the welfare of the Philippines in mind so she would TRY to keep informed.
If she isn’t then she has no passion.
If she is then she is either scared or unmoved.
What is the difference in the evidence presented on purisima vs the level of evidence presented on binay?
Well said, giancarlo (clapping).
Yes, I’m right, you are assuming something you have no evidence of against Sen. Poe. You could be right but you have to have something other than assumption to make your allegation credible. Without it, you are simply singling out Sen. Poe. 😳
“you have to have something other than assumption” – there is also St. Theresa and St. Scholastica, so ano pang gusto mo?
St. Theresa and St. Scholastica? Pinoy, I’m letting you have conversation with your self and I’m not going to disturb you anytime soon. Continue enjoying the discussion. 🙂
Where am I conversing with myself IN THIS THREAD?
Hehe unlike most hardheaded Pinoys, I am a truly fast learner. Mistakes for me are lessons learned, past is past – no vindictiveness…
He meant speedy comments and replying to yourself.maybe. i reply to myself too, though not as much.peace bro,just keep it rolling,keep it burning. We will just keep on scrolling.
Just don’t forget to drink “moderately” even ray james is noticing, he is not 100% wrong on that one. The new alcoholic drink ad warning now is to drink “responsively”.
Nice one Yogi.
“He meant speedy comments and replying to yourself.” I do it less now, see this blog.
“Just don’t forget to drink “moderately” even ray james is noticing, he is not 100% wrong on that one.” The only thing I get drunk on now is Cuban salsa videos of happy people.
And with a Mensa level IQ, craziness is always a bit close at hand. Thoughts that fly at great speed are sometimes disorganized, especially with things I am passionate about. That is why I stick to the IT profession, because computers are so damn boringly logical.
What is the difference in the evidence presented on purisima vs the level of evidence presented on binay? – giancarloangulo
========
I’m sorry but our system don’t work that way. Purisima’s case is different from Binay. You have to treat them separately and differently simply because they are two distinct cases. 😦
Grace Poe is the chairman of the committee on public order to which Purisima’s issues were assigned. She took her responsibility seriously and gave her best effort. The people would have been very disappointed if she had done otherwise.
*******
Yes, true, but is she compartmentalizing?
*****
Then she is not very well-read, did not watch any of the Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearings (which she could have attended), and is negligent.
I’m sure, like the other senators, she is aware of the goings on with the Binays but to say of her “…..you do not act against it then you are complicit.” is a whole new matter.
Being informed is different from being complicit. We cannot even accused her of protecting or defending the Binays. And we cannot do that simply because we don’t have anything on her. 🙂
The culture of impunity is based entirely on those rationalizations, I think. Her job is to be informed and to serve the citizens of the Philippines. If she chooses to be inert, that is a decision we can witness and judge. It is information we can use to help us decide on whom to back.
In fairness, I think Sen. Poe is well-informed and I have no doubt she is serving the citizens of this country. The Binay case is lodged properly in the Blue Ribbon Committee and its being heard there. I don’t know why Sen. Poe is being targeted and linked to the Binays. I would be glad if someone here will advance information showing Sen. Poe’s linked in the affairs of the Binays.
I understand the criticality with the lady senator. She’s right there jockeying for position at the top. Very popular. She heads the Committee that investigated the Mamasapano debacle the report of which was not good news to the partisan crowd. I get it. What I don’t get is the innuendos, the disparaging attribution of wrongful acts that was so brazenly baseless.
Again, let me be clear, I’m not from Sen. Poe’s camp that’s trying to fend off criticisms against her. It could be true for all I care but in the absence of clear and concrete basis, I have to raise and voice out my doubts.🌛
Binay was campaign manager for Grace Poe’s father during his presidential run. He is the godfather of her child. She did not run as an LP candidate presumably not to betray Binay’s UNA. Several other senators have spoken up and advised Binay to attend the Senate hearings. She was harsh with a small fish, Purisima . . . visibly angry. Her silence on Binay is just so loud as to naturally question where her allegiances lie. My “attack” is aimed at encouraging her to do more to make clear that a Binay presidency is not what the Philippines needs.
She . . . just . . . cannot . . . do . . . it.
We can’t even get to the matter of a possible pardon for the son of her father’s best friend, Mayor Estrada.
I would add that she has been granted the honor of being the angel candidate and senator by the people, high of values, clear of logic. With that power, she can make or break the Philippines as a nation embarked on a forthright, straight path. Because she wears that reputation, her failure to speak up for the well-being of the nation is magnified.
And if she or her supporters find this piece harsh, Id say she is not ready to run for President.
Still, nothing tangible that will make the allegation credible. If Binay was the campaign manager of FPJ and a godfather of her child, does that prove she is guilty of all the allegations slammed on this board? No.
Binay has deeper relationship with Cory Aquino, the mother of the incumbent President, than with FPJ. Does that mean Cory is more guilty than Grace Poe for having Binay as a crony? No. And we all know what relationship Binay has with the President. We all know what their favorite color is. So, why are we not attacking and imagining things on PNoy vis-a-vis Binay. Double standard?
Purisima does not prove the failings of Grace Poe. If ever, he proved his own fault and weakness by his own act and admission. No one like Purisima, who is so close to the President that he utilized his service even though he was under suspension, can be called a “small fish”. Actually, he is the biggest fish to fry in the Mamasapano debacle for dragging the President down by causing the death of the 44 SAF-PNP. Not Grace Poe.
Guilt by association is the easiest theory one can fabricate but the hardest to prove because it rests on nothing. 👣
Right, all good arguments. I sill await evidence that Senator Poe favors the people over her friends.
“The culture of impunity is based entirely on those rationalizations, I think.” One caveat there. The inverse of a culture of impunity is one of crusading self-righteousness.
The right human balance is somewhere in between I would say.
Very good. Agree.
*******
Which is a culture of responsibility and accountability.
*****
“If you know something wrong is being done and you do not act against it then you are complicit.”
How do you know Grace Poe has not ‘acted against it’?
“If you are silent because of your personal ties then you put yourself above nation.”
You make your conclusion that Sen. Poe is a trapo based on this unfounded statement?
Let me start off by saying that I’m not sold on Grace Poe. I don’t know enough about her or what she stands for to make an educated decision about her. At this point, she only gets my vote if it came down to a two-person race between her and Binay.
I, too, wish she would take any of the first four choices. However, I’m not sure your scenario is completely fair to her. Personally seeing your dear friend steal money from your mother’s cookie jar is different from hearing other people say they saw him stealing. I don’t know how much she knows about Binay’s dark dealings. So maybe her stand is, “Okay, because of what you did for my father, I won’t join the BRC against you. But I’m not defending you either. You’re on your own.”
The thing is, sure, if she already knew she was running for President, then she will have to take on the Binay issue. But up until now, she’s just another legislator, and apart from Trillanes, Cayetano, Pimentel and a few LPs in the House, I haven’t heard other legislators take a stand against Binay either.
Lilit, you make a lot of sense. One can argue that her position is like that of Mar Roxas, principled and just doing her work. In that context, the attacks on Purisima were appropriate because it was her subcommittee at work. The only thing that is strange is how almost ruthless the Mamasapano report is on President Aquino. The report became political because there is no legislation her committee can do to direct the President to make different decisions. I think that was poorly handled, and maybe that is just a facet of her “greenness”. I appreciate the perspective.
Was her report political? There were so many people shouting about the incident, I just tuned out. And “The Walking Dead” was showing at the time. Maybe she did cave to popular pressure. But maybe she has time to toughen up, specially now that Binay has started to throw some attention her way. I hope, though, that people who currently think she’s squeaky clean and all won’t get disappointed when she inevitably picks up some bad habits. It’s still politics, after all. There will be horse-trading. And as the saying goes, you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. (Which, I feel, is what happened with Pnoy as well. Also, I’m trying to think of another animal metaphor I can throw into the mix.)
Still, like I said, if it’s a two-person race, I’ll pick the neophyte over the veterantado.
P.S. Things are about to get more interesting, though. Your favorite “tabloid” reported today that Mar Roxas told LP he intends to run.
Hahaha, my favorite tabloid has either turned a new leaf and become less tabloid the past few weeks, or we need another catastrophe to stir up their headline writer’s blood.
The “Walking Dead” was undoubtedly a better choice than that 100+ pages of negativity and politics.
“If you feast with buzzards, you dine on the dead.”
Ahahahaha. Love your slick, dry wit . . .
I think I’ve inadvertently stumbled onto Duterte’s campaign slogan.
Walking Dead , hahahahahahaha
“Shaun of the Dead” Love the baseball bat scene . . .
Got to research IMDB for Shaun.read about him.
Your link/photo came up gibberish . . .
Sorry bout that.
Speaking of their headlines, don’t know if you caught this one from some weeks back: “MILF won’t give up men”.
To which I say: “And vice versa”.
Anyone have read about MilkTea Deaths? Well, if anyone bothers to read the Inquirer you’d be LOLing on the floor. Not one from U.P. can know what the dead have ingested. They cannot also know what chemical from the autopsy. It must be a new found chemical.
Do you know what they did in their INVESTIGATION? DON’T LAUGH YET, “THEY ASKED THE OWNER WHAT CHEMICAL HE PLACED IN THEIR DRINK!!!”. It is like Trillanes askinig Tiu for the Title of BinayLand.
Auuuuuurrrrgfh !!!!! I pulled my hair bald already. SO, FOLKS, BE FRIENDS WITH ALL FILIPINOS BECAUSE THE FILIPINO YOU KNOW MIGHT BE THE WITNESS AGAINST YOU. NO NEED FOR EVIDENCE.
The news further said that DOH and FDA will investigate! Huh? The Coroner’s office can do the autopsy and determine the chemical. If they can determine the chemical. If they cannot, they need to do a Marwan. Send the cadaver to my country and let our non-U.P. graduate big boys do the autopsy. Our Coroner can know what chemical they have ingested.
But the Senate would rather have the owner of the TeaMilk stand before the House and grilled. No evidence necessary. Just witness account.
🙂
Poe is looking out for Poe. That is what a traPoe does.
Thanks for checking in, frine cristina.
Yesterday, I read an eye opening article about the Filipino trait called “pakitang tao.” It is about Filipinos having a public and private “face.” That is, trying to show off and impress people around them in public but doing whatever they want in private which is often a contradiction of the public behavior.
Senator Poe is a Filipino. Is it wrong to presume that she is a practitioner of “pakitang tao?” Does that make her a trapo?
Many Filipinos also have a clean kitchen to show guests and a dirty kitchen where the actual cooking is done. Germanic peoples like the Americans also are in terms of values do not distinguish THAT much between public and private faces. Don’t know how much Joe swears and cusses in his kitchen at home though. 🙂 Malay peoples often play the game of wayang kulit (classic Indonesian puppet show) Edgar Lores wrote about. Rizal writes at the end of one of his Noli chapters, where students return from an outing on the countryside: Put on your masks again my friends, you are once more among your brothers.
Now the Germanic peoples call the Malay peoples hypocritic or deceitful, Malay peoples may see Germanic people as rude or foolish for being so open – know both sides.
Pakitang tao, plastikan, doble kara are words for what the British called Malay treachery. Filipinos being partly more Westernized, partly less judge things in different ways, considering the still fully Malay Moros treacherous and Americans damn rude. The different degress of (non-)Westernization are a source of internal and external confusion among Filipinos. Mar = more Westernized, Binay less, Grace Poe somewhere in between.
I use bad language on the basketball court, which from time to time has caused me no small shade of embarrassment. In the kitchen, I whistle, because I am highly skilled at washing dishes and take pride in my work.
If ever get so mad at you that I decide to take YOU to court, it will be the basketball court. Not the Supreme Court, I like it fair and square. But we will make a contest of using bad language, not basketball which I would most surely lose.
Senator Poe is a Filipino. Is it wrong to presume that she is a practitioner of “pakitang tao?” Does that make her a trapo?
=========
No, it’s not wrong because everybody practice ‘Pakitang tao’ be they Filipinos or not. And ‘Pakitang tao’ is not exclusive to politicians that make them trapo. We all do it. We are all ‘guilty’ of it. It’s called social niceties.
I agree re social niceties but I still maintain that she is a trad pol as in trapeze artist.
I agree to disagree that everybody practice social niceties and guilty of it. It is called keeping it real.
I am very aware of what is called “company behavior” in the West. IMHO, it is practiced to the extreme in the East.
To be a diplomat and a social climber you need niceties.
Superb point. I argue that Filipinos who criticize President for being loyal must want a non-Filipino president, because they are holding him to a different standard than is the norm. So instead of labeling Poe a trapo, we simply call her a traditional Filipino, or “trafil”.
President Aquino was and is loyal to Purisima, and is therefore a trafil as well.
Basic stuff does not really change in cultures. Germanic cultures including Anglo-Saxons remain basically Germanic, Malay cultures remain Malay, Latin cultures remain Latin.
Ok Filipino culture is a Malay culture with a strong Latin touch and a superficial touch of Germanic = American culture. 300 years of Spain and 50-90 years of US influence depending on whom you ask. LP and Aquino have more of the American flavor in them.
Therefore their values are more forthright, but scratch a little under the surface and you find first the Spaniard then the Malay. LP and Aquino, you have to scratch more to find the Spaniard and just a little to find the Malay. Poe, you have to scratch less for the Latin.
Binay you don’t even have to scratch to find the Malay, he is a Malay in every way, unfortunately the bad variation of it. It’s clear Joe that you like those whom you can relate to more. And many Philippine confusions can be traced to varying mixes of cultures…
HOT OFF THE PRESS: Mar Roxas is running !!! Running for President !!!! Mar Roxas will announce his running mate !!!!!
Let me get the evidence about your pronouncements before I get excited. I do not subscribe to witness accounts and affidavits. 🙂
Ouch!!! You got me there.
🙂 It is clear that the noise level about Mar Roxas is picking up. Key LP people are making that noise.
@ JoeAm (really, off-topic)
Francis Cardinal George, OMI, passed on to eternity 10:45 am Chicago time. Like you, Joe, the cardinal had a special affection for Filipinos. He was the classmate and friend of Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, OMI at the Catholic University of America.
Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.
Ah, kind thoughts, sonny. May he live on in his teachings, and through those he touched.
This sentiments are spot on, Joe. Brought up in necrological statements of the current archbishop of Chicago, Bishop Blase Cupich.
In the Philippines just because Grace is silent on Binay it means she’s in Binay Camp.
Just because Grace is next to Binay she favors Binay.
This is the Philippine Way.
When San Miguel of ZTE fame was seen at Wak-Wak receiving envelope at the greens it means San Miguel received bribe.
This is the Filipino Way.
That is why Carpio subpoena the wedding Photographer of the daughter of Napoles because whoever were in the picture they are guilty including ring bearer and flower girls. And, oh, do not forget the priest received an envelope from the groom (it was in payment of the special ceremony)
This is the Filipino Way.
The 23-year-old son of MilkTea Cafe is inquisitioned what he placed in the drink instead of asking the coroner what was in the bodies.
Yes, of course, they have to ask the 23-year-old son because the autopsyier cannot know what chemical. They cannot also run to U.P.-Dilliman because their professors cannot know like they cannot know if it was Marwan’s dirty finger.
That is why folks, the Filipinos would rather bring in witnesses and have them write affidavits. Because they have very little brain.i Sorry to say that. Please do not jump on me. Bring your energy to the Philippine Media and to the world instead to please to the world to study Philippine Law why they are addicted to witnesses and affidavits.
I am very good in judging people’s faces. Grace face is not a face of a crook. Just because she is not judging Binay she is corrupt. No! No! No! No! She is not Korina Sanchez that face the camera and bring out the unsubstantiated gossips.
Grace Poe knows the Law. She knows that Trillanes witnesses do not have evidences. So she reserve her right not to talk about like NYPD policemen do not tell the big boys of American Media what the weapon of the crime was, the time of death, and how the victim died UNLIKE IN THE PHILIPPINES.
MAR ROXAS and GRACE POE will walk gracefully down the aisle to Malacanang in happy successful bliss to bring the country a success story officiated by Tagle, of course, because Philippines is still a theocracy.
Yes, of course, Mar and Grace will have 90-day honeymoon like everybody else. They will be working night and day in the privacy of Malacanang. Korina Sanchez will certainly be jealous.
About guilty by photo. Benigno Simeon Aquino III is GUILTY !!! BECAUSE HE IS SEEN WITH NAPOLES IN SELFIES. That is how crazy the Filipinos are. That is why I remain private. I never have my picture taken with my son or my wife else they’d be guilty by association and blood.
WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES, JOE !!!!!
Happy to be here, MRP, thanks. The bruises on my forehead generally recover in a week or so.
That is why China never invaded Philippines. They’d rather build Panganiban island like they built Lantau Island because the Filiipinos are huge headache. If you do not believe me, go ask U.S. President McKinley.
Works for me. Except that I think Mar is in love with his wife, so that part doesn’t fly. The rest does.
L E T U S H A V E a commercial break for some positive Filipino pride:
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/90166-alfredo-mahar-lagmay-up-disaster-scientist-wins-european-geosciences-union-award
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Europe’s premier geosciences union awarded its Plinius Medal to one of the Philippine’s leading disaster experts on Wednesday, April 15, in Vienna, Austria.
Dr Alfredo Mahar Lagmay has been cited for his “outstanding interdisciplinary natural-hazard research and natural-disaster engagement in the Philippines, particularly with respect to volcanic hazards, earthquakes, typhoons, landslides and floods,” the European Geosciences Union (EGU) said.
He heads the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH), a project that combines science and technology for disaster risk reduction and management. (READ: Project NOAH: Advocating a culture of safety)
Congratulations to Dr. Lagmay. The Philippines has come a long way in its disaster planning. God-made disasters that is. It needs to put Dr. Lagman into government planning, to deal with manmade disasters like Binay.
I know Mahar.
And I know he knows his limits.
A subject very close to me. Every presidential tenure should have his mark on this so-vital legacy. Should go way way beyond pettiness and partisanship. Calling all civil engineers to outdo themselves.
As I look about the roster of presidential prospects, I only see one likely candidate who demonstrates that he is for the people first, above his own best interest.
Mar Roxas.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
you’re a buffoon. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
“As I look about the roster of presidential prospects” What rooster? This is not cockfighting.
“you’re a buffoon.” Joe is not a baboon. He is American. And what are you a goat?
Because if you are a goat and run for President, your slogan is Vote the Goat.
And if you become a corrupt President Goat, you will be:
Goat for Sale
Ireneo, please do not feed the name caller. If you notice, all he really wrote are numerous HA and the name calling bit. Why? Limited vocabulary and low self esteem.
That is exactly why he will not even be able to respond to my Battle of the Brainless stuff.
And besides, if you want to sell a goat, you must feed it first. And sell it along EDSA North like the squatters used to do back in the days when there were no malls there yet.
Those stalls are slowly giving way to the QC CBD by Ayala. 🙂
My brother found out researching for his doctorate on German business in the Philippines that the Zobel de Ayalas always have had a paternalistic German approach to business.
Meaning make money but in a way that it benefits the community and enables those who are talented and industrious, so that the community as a whole prospers and you have more affluent customers. Ayala sponsoring science/techology at U.P. fits this picture.
LOL
I appreciate your argument, acidicboy. It illustrates a peculiar quality of bitterness and inability to talk straight.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
The same number of hahas without the offensive remark of @acidicboy. I hope he can come back with an argument next time. 🙂
Well, your hahas made me laugh. His made me slap my forehead.
Antacids are the answer for hyperaciity and less cups of coffee.
There is also Basica for deacidation, available at nearly every German pharmacy.
Karl, Joe and me will sell it to you, my profit is 10%, Karls is 15%, Joe’s 5%. Deal?
this senator is living the wrong values that present filipinos possess in their character as present day filipinos. a never say care, never dare for the country but befits their own interest or agenda. Selfish character that only promotes each ones wants and desires
Yes, I wonder if it is a concept is just beyond the grasp, that of sacrifice for the nation. It seems so simple, and yet so few seem to do it.
Maybe everything had been said? What I think is let us wait for the elections day, let us vote wisely, let us wait for the results and let us congratulate whoever wins. That is the only way to be productive for now. Let’s get busy thinking, evaluating, zeroing-in with our next leaders. Maybe our opinions can help one and the other to decide but most of all, me, you, us, we, them are the best persons to make our dear Phiippines better! Have a nice day.
Have a good day yourself, onick. Thanks for the positive view, the way we OUGHT to look at democracy, for all its scrapes and bumpings.
can anyone give their opinion regarding an LP – NP coalition? between roxas, trillanes and cayetano, a lot of good can be done in my humble opinion. they do have an undeclared alliance right now (villar’s legal problems seems to have completely gone under the radar). getting key endorsements from poe and duterte will seal the deal, but i doubt that is possible.
having belmonte as senate president wouldn’t hurt either.
That’s an interesting scenario. We have not even contemplated the senate, who is out and who might be in. I’ve only considered Robredo as a shoo-in candidate. I wonder how Binay would work with the senate, or vice versa.
Imagine Binay/somebody, Roxas/Trillanes, Poe/Escudero and Lacson. I think NP is politically inert because of a strange cast of characters doing their own thing.
The elephant in the room of the NP are the Marcoses. Given the family-style nature of Philippine politics, they are like embarassing relatives you can’t just throw out.
But they keep the party from renewing itself, from finding its new direction.
That’s true, plus Manny Villar seems to have lost his political fire. What is a political party without passion at the top? In NP’s case, it is a collection of characters with no place else to go.
And Poe’s problem is that she is alone. No one to watch her back if and when she lunges forward to go after Binay. LP will let her get scarred and have her for lunch afterwards.
She needs allies, her own party. Then she would not have to be a snake that often.
She could have all the backing she needs in by joining the LP party, running as VP, and president in 2022. That would mean she indeed is of the straight path. NP or UNA or other parties don’t have that reputation. Nor does she as an independent of the Trapo Party. She would lend her popularity to Roxas and would boost the Philippines on the continuing road to progress and prosperity. Her back would be covered for a long, long time.
LP may be for the “straight path”, but not for the common people if you ask me, only for the business world. Grace Poe is for the entire Philippines, she cannot identify either with the corrupt UNA or the NP which has no clear direction and the Marcoses in it.
She has to play some games to survive alone, and I think she is doing it without getting too dirty. Come time I hope she is able to start her own modern Filipino party.
If the NP-LP coalition for the senatorial mid term elections turned out okay with a Marcos in the ticket, I can see the ticket working.
Good point.
Leader, manager, follower, who is she?
A leader walks in front of the troops, knows the destination. What is her “vision”, what are her “Values”, did she ever speak out and more important demonstrated vision and values. Purisima? Mamasapano?
A manager achieve well defined goals, as in “get elected”, everything becomes subordinate to that goal. The silence in Binay’s case might indicate that she is thinking tactically on how to achieve her goals of higher office (influence) in a “managerial” way.
A follower follows someone’s instructions. Is she following advisors, still developing her own mind?
The Philippines need a “leader” as president. For me fighting corruption is still at the very core of progress for the Philippines. Corruption is still perceived as undermining all three government branches.
Right now, I think she is a manager and a follower, but could be a leader if she decided to cut her umbilical cord to nasty and self-dealing friends.
Again the family nature of Philippine politics. These nasty people are like criminal uncles you can’t throw out of your living room because they are family after all.
Someone who dares do that is the one who can become the outcast.
*******
1. Family nature? I would characterize it as incestuous.
2. Should one not throw the nasty uncles out of the living room?
2.1. If one does not, culture will never change.
2.2. If one does — as the President did in the Mamasapano incident — one indeed does become an outcast.
2.3. JoeAm’s question is valid: Can Grace, like the President, rise above culture?
2.4. My opinion? One should always dare and rise above culture. Don’t use culture as an excuse, a palusot. Don’t let culture drag you down. Draw culture up… even if the personal price is high. By drawing culture up, you raise the norms of the society, and everyone will become the better for it.
*****
Thanks for the insight. It is hard to be principled in the Philippines. There are too many political IED’s along the principled path. Ask President Aquino about that.
I have been in that nasty place as well a few times. As for culture, it is the sum total of experiences and adaptation passed on over generations. In the Philippines, not giving up the bad eggs among your own was something valid in colonial times. Sometimes people became “bad eggs” because of the impossible situation. It was also something good in Marcos days that people did NOT rat on their own. Until now I do not know how much of a role the military people in my family played in making the regime somehow look away when we had to leave the country. Across official boundaries people helped one another but pretended not to have contact, or did not press things they should have officially pressed.
Prevented the regime from becoming like East Germany, where people ratted on another. Filipino compassion so to speak. Looking at Grace Poe, I can understand her dillema. Good girl, daughter of the only good bandit in an entire gang, she grew up with them. Learned things her kind was not able to learn before. Wary of those already privileged, because she knows that they will fight those coming up from below with all possibilities. Know this from my own family history, my father comes from the same kind of milieu and you may think that the people in the glass towers deal straight but behind the scenes they will skillfully elbow any outsider. You become a snake evading these blows, or go down.
Yes, I can appreciate the bind she is in, being a part of the social class that includes powerful people who subscribe to the mafia code, not to betray the family. There is huge respect granted and received within the family. I envision a person who is snake-like, that is powerful and dangerous, to have considerable self esteem and confidence, and a measure of independence. Right now, the vision I have of Senator Poe is that of snake-puppet, whose strings are being drawn by those close to her. Escudero and Osmena perhaps more than Binay. My lack of confidence in her, which others express as well, is something she could clear up so easily . . . by showing that she is woman enough to stand up for the Philippines. Alone. With nothing but her character and conscience as her guide. Maybe she will do that during the campaign cycle. Unfortunately, this blog goes silent on politics when campaigning starts. So I have to do my opinion mongering early.
The Mafia originated in Sicily, which was colonized by so many foreign powers in its history, as a way of making sure their folks get their share and not just foreigners.
Cosa Nostra means our cause, a perverted form of revolution. Just like the Corsican separatist movement which degenerated into a Mafia very quickly, into the racist rivals of Arab clan Mafias in Southern France.
Good historical pick, PiE. 🙂
“Roxas confided to the Ambassador
that he was not sure how he personally would tackle that problem (campaign image), given that his Wharton MBA and ten years on Wall Street as an investment banker did not “exactly call to the common man.” ”
Roxas meeting with US Ambassador
Roxas may be a basically decent chap, but he is weak, and the equivalent of a mid level corporate manager. A gopher to ferret out detail but not grasp strategy. And also like Aquino lacks empathy and an ability to connect with the electorate. Korina sanchez is another point on the debit side.
All in all, no chance.
Lying about having an MBA is also revealing, and despicable. Something in common with Marcos. Anyone in philippines actually passed exams abroad!
And his ‘wall street experience’ is not quite what he likes to suggest, but i will let that pass, but ibviousky never employ him. Part of the ‘Linkedin Liar’ mentality
Do you have a source link for the “lying about having an MBA” statement? Thanks.
‘Anyone in philippines actually passed exams abroad!’ My father:
Prof. Dr. Zeus Mariano Roberto Saenz de Salazar, born on April 29, 1934 in Tiwi, Albay. Only valedictorian of one of the UP graduating classes in the 1950s.
Finished his Doctorate at the University of Paris Sorbonne with a straight A.
Friend of Ninoy, forced by Marcos to be his ghostwriter for the historical book Tadhana. One of the advisers of the excellent Filipino historical teleserye Amaya.
Founder and leader of the intellectual movement pantayong pananaw.
His three children all have true degrees abroad from Germany and from England. My brother Dr. Wigan Salazar is CEO of MS&L Germany, part of Publicis Groupe (Marcel Levy).
Sorry mate, this is true Filipino pride speaking here, I respect you but don’t write that.
May I also mention Felipe Mabilangan, retired Ambassador, DFA, true graduate of a prestigious English school I don’t remember which one exactly.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/332375/lifestyle/literature/winners-of-the-32nd-national-book-awards-announced – And my mother, Dr. Marlies Johanna Brigitte Salazar geborene Spiecker:
Winners of the 32nd National Book Awards announced -October 24, 2013 6:23pm
The National Book Development Board and the Manila Critics Circle announced the winners of the 32nd National Book Awards for books published in 2012 earlier Thursday,
Elfren S. Cruz Prize for Best Book in the Social Sciences
Perspectives on Philippine Languages: Five Centuries of European Scholarship, by Marlies S. Salazar, Ateneo de Manila University Press
Hehe the Philippine bank made some problems because her name on the prize check was written Philippine style, Marlies S. Salazar, the name on her passport like up above. 🙂
Well the book is her edited doctorate she truly finished at the University of the Philippines.
Available on Amazon or you can buy it at Ateneo if you want.
A German who finished in the Philippines. 🙂
“Part of the ‘Linkedin Liar’ mentality”. Sir, here is my LinkedIn profile:
https://de.linkedin.com/in/irineo
Irineo B. R. Salazar
Expert for Incoming Invoice Solutions within SAP® since 1998
Solution Architect specialized in Incoming Invoice Processing Solutions within SAP® since 1998.
Experienced in entire project lifecycle, strong knowledge of business process, deep technical skills.
Involved in projects ranging from local SMEs up to international rollouts and Shared Service Centers.
Heavy implementation experience in incoming invoice processing, ranging from product and package implementation, custom-made project implementation up to customer- or project-specific add-ons.
Experience with a variety of products and packages, including SAP® Invoice Management.
Legal Information (Impressum): Irineo Salazar, Tumblingerstraße 50, D-80337 München.
Telefon +49-3212-1288998 Mail: mail(bei)(Vorname).eu Web: http://irineo.eu
This is who I am, and what I have done, and where I am. Proud Filipino greetings! 🙂
Hehe I love this – ray james gave me the opportunity to be epal in a modern, honest way. 🙂
Pie
it is not all about you!
And comments are not aimed at your family specifically! But thanks for the family profile! I must bore you with how the upper class live one day. you are on your way to becoming a middle class family, by western standards. Congratulations, nevertheless still some way to go for you to understand the etiquette, otherwise you would not expound so effusively on perceived achievements. A bit nouveau riche, self-absorbed, and hardly extraordinary.
I noticed that the site is rapidly becoming your personal site/outlet for family therapy/issues.
Anyway, back to the subject in hand, lack of class, and intellect, is forgivable, but cheating isn’t. That is a 1st world value, at least at Rugby and Oxford. Do you play golf or cricket – not many filipinos do – no cheating allowed – self-governance.
It is why they say leaders are made on the playing fields of Eton, and Rugby, or Sandhurst.
“And comments are not aimed at your family specifically!” Well you made a generic statement and I answered the Filipino way, Filipino pride and family pride.
“A bit nouveau riche, self-absorbed, and hardly extraordinary.” Self-made man, true… Especially the family of my father, from possible Negritos to ME in just 5 generations.
“I must bore you with how the upper class live one day.” We know some of them. Besides, my mother comes from the German upper class. Hope she does NOT see my stuff here. 🙂
“you are on your way to becoming a middle class family, by western standards.” We are.
“I noticed that the site is rapidly becoming your personal site/outlet for family therapy/issues.” Possibly for my father’s redemption, the Marcos thing still hangs over him. For mine – I was branded a traitor for leaving – and for my own people, who lack confidence.
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“Do you play golf or cricket – not many filipinos do – no cheating allowed”
The two British games I do play are billard (most Filipinos do) and steel darts.
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“leaders are made on the playing fields of Eton, and Rugby, or Sandhurst.”
http://www.filipinoreporter.us/home/filipino-american/1244-haley-70-a-top-aide-to-clinton.html
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Maria Luisa Mabilangan Haley, the director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and longtime aide to former President Bill Clinton, died Tuesday (Sept. 13) from a brain aneurysm she suffered at work on Sept. 9.
She was 70.
Haley died at 8:45 p.m. at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, according to hospital spokeswoman Jerri Jackson.
She was the sister of former Philippine ambassador to the United Nations Felipe Mabilangan Jr.
Their father, Felipe Mabilangan Sr. of Sto. Tomas, Batangas, was also a former ambassador to the U.N. and other countries.
Ambassador Felipe Mabilangan went to a top English school. A mild-mannered man.
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My father was able to study in Manila because he was the houseboy of their father, from a truly old rich Filipino family, native aristocracy, Philippine Ambassador to Paris in the 1950s.
But the two boys became friends and also studied together at the Sorbonne in Paris.
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Mabilangan is an ancient Tagalog warrior name meaning ONE TO BE COUNTED ON.
These are our ancient nobles, modest and unassuming, but just as noble as yours.
My mission here is to give our race back their pride, to make them feel whole again.
Joe
Yes, my research assistant, and she is always right.
Am sure the subject will crop up again.
Lies have that habit.
I’m sorry, I requested some kind of documentation that Roxas lied about his degree, as did Marcos. It is a serious charge, and ought not be made without basis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar_Roxas#Early_life_and_career – I don’t need any research assistant to find this in Wikipedia:
“Roxas attended Ateneo de Manila University for grade school and high school, then attended the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a degree in economics in 1979.
After graduation, he worked for seven years as an investment banker in New York, and became an assistant vice president of the New York-based Allen & Company. Following the 1985 announcement by President Ferdinand Marcos of a snap election, he took a leave of absence to join the presidential campaign of Corazon Aquino.”
Ray James still has to document that Mar Roxas lied about having an MBA, I do not see any trace of Mar saying he is that anywhere.
As a banker Joe you can say how high a responsibility an assistant VP is.. Sorry I got a bit pissed of by ray james, but I think he took us for a ride here. 🙂
http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/84900-oxford-university-wharton-school
“Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II obtained his Economics degree from Wharton in 1979. Marcos-era technocrat and former Philippine prime minister Cesar Virata is also a Wharton alumnus, earning his MBA in Industrial Management in 1953.”
Now it is highly unlikely that they all edited their web pages as a reaction to this blog in the past few hours. Looks like ray james just played a sly bullshit game with us alll. 🙂
AVP is a very junior officer. Banks give out titles freely because customers want to deal with someone who is official. Investment banks may be different, but at commercial banks, AVP is the next step up after customer service representative.
This blog is called Society of Honor for a reason. As MRP often expounds, witness accounts are not evidence. I second Joe for asking you to provide concrete evidence to back your allegation.
*******
1. For me, there are two basic questions:
1.1. What would happen if Grace did speak out against Binay?
1.2. What needs to happen for Binay to be seen as a NOT VIABLE candidate?
2. Is the first question the answer to the second question?
2.1. I believe Grace might have left it too late. She is seen as the only candidate that can beat Binay, and her criticism would be easily dismissed as “politically motivated.”
3. If Grace did speak out, would that stop Binay in his tracks?
3.1. No, I don’t think so for the reason given above. But she might triumph over him — a replay of the sainted housewife (Cory) over the corrupt leader (Marcos).
3.2. The possible showstoppers for Binay are:
o An act of God
o An impeachment (although Trillanes says this might be an easy way out for Binay)
o A confession from Tiu that he is a dummy
o The surfacing at the Senate hearings of Limlangan and Baloloy with full revelatory details of Binay’s shenanigans
o A disqualification ruling from Comelec on the grounds of giving “money or other material consideration to influence, induce or corrupt the voters or public officials performing electoral functions”
o The awakening of Binay that he is not fit to lead the country
o The awakening of the voters by a Marian apparition holding a crossed-out “B” sign
3.2.1. It would be interesting for Sal to give the odds on each showstopper.
*****
The possible showstoppers for Binay are:
o An act of God – 17.6%
o An impeachment (although Trillanes says this might be an easy way out for Binay) – 1.9%
o A confession from Tiu that he is a dummy – 6.8%
o The surfacing at the Senate hearings of Limlangan and Baloloy with full revelatory details of Binay’s shenanigans – 3.7%
o A disqualification ruling from Comelec on the grounds of giving “money or other material consideration to influence, induce or corrupt the voters or public officials performing electoral functions” – 8.8%
o The awakening of Binay that he is not fit to lead the country – 0.1%
o The awakening of the voters by a Marian apparition holding a crossed-out “B” sign – 17.6%
He was sober when he ran them.
*******
Ahahaha!
1. The supernatural miracles — the first and the last — have the highest probability ratings (17.6%).
2. The Comelec miracle has the second highest rating (8.8%)
3. The self-awakening miracle has the lowest (0.1%). Totally agree.
*****
he he
Showstopper: SC favors Ombudsman Chit who, after gathering overwhelming evidences, quickly files plunder case against Binay et al.
*******
Thanks. Thought of that but am not sure if the VP falls under the jurisdiction of the Ombudman.
1. The “Ombudsman Act of 1989” provides:
“Section 21. Officials Subject to Disciplinary Authority; Exceptions. — The Office of the Ombudsman shall have disciplinary authority over all elective and appointive officials of the Government and its subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies, including Members of the Cabinet, local government, government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries, except over officials who may be removed only by impeachment or over Members of Congress, and the Judiciary.”
2. However, I recall the Ombudsman testifying against Corona and being active (?) in the detention of the three senators. Or was that all of the DOJ’s work?
2.1. The Ombudsman can suspend Junjun but not Jejomar?
2.2. Jejomar is a member of the Cabinet but that is incidental. His primary role is Vice President and he may only be removed by impeachment.
*****
edgar lores, Joe America:
Bookie Sal has this world-famous mind and device for calculating odds. I like Sal, but one thing that everyone can agree — whether one’s bookie is as good as Sal or not — is that the odds of “the self-awakening miracle” is the lowest (0.1% according to Sal). I think Sal is being generous; the odds is infinitesimally small, as mathematician Joe America can confirm using his differential calculus. Hahaha.
🙂
*******
Ahaha! I agree. Have to use something like Planck units?
*****
Or Scoville units maybe?
Joe
absolutely.
Do you know whether he has an MBA, or not.
i am sure lying about such a thing would be a deal-breaker for you, as well as me.
If you want your word to be taken seriously, then identify yourself, post your Linked-In profile please like I have done. I have learned from my Prussian mother, whose family is just one step below aristocracy, whose mother was Nina von Stauffenbergs neighbor, who went to school with the children of the Prussian officers of the honorable July 1944 coup, Moltke and Bruns were the family names of two of her classmates, to open my visor like a true medieval knight. I hereby challenge you to do the same on this field of honor, Sir Ray!
A British colonialist once said: our superiority is mainly a matter of bluff
I am calling yours now. As an honorable man, I give you the benefit of the doubt…
You are playing the mouse, and playing me for the cat. I only know what his official Senate biography says: “MAR graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1974 and the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1979.”
I am sure that there is a way to gain positive verification of this. My English brother-in-law studied at Chicago-Illinois, he and my sister have contacts all over US, UK and Germany.
My sister is Director of the Fashion Space Gallery at the London College of Fashion.
All we have is your assistants word that Roxas even claimed to have an MBA. He took economics at Wharton. When did he claim to have an MBA?
Ang hamon ko kay Ray James, katumbas ng hamon ko kay Binay sa nakaraang thread.
Iyong kay Binay, bastos talaga. Iyong hamon ko kay Ray James, maginoong hamon. Dahil halo ako ng dugong maginoo at bastos. Alam kong bagayin ang dating ko. Tulad ni Poe.
Na isang kambal-ahas na katulad ni Amaya. Sa bagay, kambal ahas din ako, ipinanganak ako sa ika-23 ng Mayo 1965 sa Berlin noong nag-aaral pa si Tatay. Snake at Gemini. 🙂
You have time to give an answer. We have contacts up to the British Aristocracy and can find you if we want. We will even accept your apology if you falsely accused Mar Roxas.
Peter Burnett, son of Admiral Burnett, was my father’s classmate at the Sorbonne, later he worked for the EU, a truly mild-mannered English gentleman. My father had two girlfriends he could have married back in the days: Lady Darwina Spencer, Lady Di’s aunt I think, and my mother. He chose to marry the commoner he loved. You for all I know could be a pretentious swindler spouting Belgravia cockney, which John Le Carre hated so much.
You can cower many Filipinos who have lost confidence, but not people of my caliber.
blagger is the English word, I learned from my dear sister Ligaya.
Swindler is American.
You claim to earn 2000 Euro a day consulting in the Philippines, tax-free.
Who are you working for, Sir Ray? Not for Erap, because my father would know.
And we can call upon Erap and HIS contacts to find you. So show yourself ASAP ray.
http://www.abogadomo.com/law-professor/law-professor-archives/libel-laws-of-the-philippines – And we shall do everything legally Sir Ray:
“Words calculated to induce suspicion are sometimes more effective to destroy reputation than false charges directly made. Ironical and metaphorical language is a favored vehicle for slander. A charge is sufficient if the words are calculated to induce the hearers to suppose and understand that the person or persons against whom they were uttered were guilty of certain offenses, or are sufficient to impeach their honesty, virtue, or reputation, or to hold the person or persons up to public ridicule. . . . ” [Lacsa v. Intermediate Appellate Court, 161 SCRA 427 (1988) citing U.S. v. O’Connell, 37 Phil. 767 (1918)]
An allegation is considered defamatory if it ascribes to a person the commission of a crime, the possession of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status or circumstances which tends to dishonor or discredit or put him in contempt, or which tends to blacken the memory of one who is dead.
There is publication if the material is communicated to a third person. It is not required that the person defamed has read or heard about the libelous remark. What is material is that a third person has read or heard the libelous statement, for “a man’s reputation is the estimate in which others hold him in, not the good opinion which he has of himself.” [Alonzo v. Court of Appeals, 241 SCRA 51 (1995)]
Joe can give me your e-mail address and I as an IT man and former hacker (everything I did before is now under elapsed statute of limitations back in the 1980s, no treason no murder there so I do not fear writing this) can track you down, I have my ways and means.
And like our Indian translator at the Philippine Embassy once said so famously to someone accusing him of threatening him: This is not a threat Sir, it is a measure we reserve the right to take if appropriate. True British style from the Commonwealth.
I don’t exactly know when and where did Mar Roxas claim that he earned an MBA…..
My residents always tell me that I will be hand picked by Pope Francis to succeed him as the next Pope. And I will fight for my residents because they are always right…..
He doesn’t have an MBA, has has a degree in economics at Wharton, 1979 – google it.
Ray James claims that Mar Roxas is lying about having an MBA. It is wrong to do that.
Pope Bauwow . . . hahaha
I also heard that the pie is related to the sultan of brunei; what a pedigree !!!
I am never a pedigree dog, they don’t survive on the street you know. I am mixed and proud of it.
Oh, come on; no eres un mongrel, verdad ?
I am mixed, not a mongrel. Big difference.
If Roxas has anything to hide, don’t you think the Binay camp would have exposed them by now? The Binays keep on desperately attacking Roxas at every opportunity they could stumble upon. They even resort to inventing stories like the Oplan Nognog, and magvify small issues like the motorcycle skid. A fake educational background is not so difficult to unearth.
Makes me think. If Roxas is really a weak contender as the surveys intend to project, why do the Binays keep on hitting at him. Surely a weakling does not deserve any attention, IMHO.
Back on TOPIC. Chief of Wildlife has eaten Double Royal with Cheese and is smoking peace pipe.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/90082-sws-binay-poe-tie-duterte
More than a third of the country’s voters would like either Binay (36%) or Poe (31%) to succeed President Benigno Aquino III, based on the SWS survey exclusively published in Business World on Thursday, April 16.
It’s a statistical tie, considering the survey’s ± 3-point error margin and its limited 1,200 respondents. They were asked from March 20-23 who they believe would be the “best leaders to succeed” Aquino. Respondents were allowed to name up to 3 names top of mind.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte showed a 10-point surge from his 5% in December. Data made available did not show, however, how many of the respondents picked him as their first choice. But an earlier March Pulse Asia survey also captured Duterte’s rise.
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Our consensus is ANYONE but Binay. Poe is OK. She can be a good snake in dealing with China.
If Poe continues to tie with Binay or even exceeds him, it is the patriotic duty of all other Presidentiables NOT to run anymore (and help Poe) because they might accidentally help Binay.
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Poe is appealing to both masa and non-masa. She could unite the former “plantation slaves” and “house slaves” of former colonial masters who still do not like each other – to become on nation. Then we could go the way of Cuba, infant mortality less than US, upper middle class, confident.
Let me share my own experience regarding surveys.
Back in1998, in Bataan, I was given a survey questionaire to fill out. I don’t remember the exact question, but the survey was about the vice presidential race where there were 5 serious contenders including Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. But only 2 candidates were included in the list – Arroyo and Edgardo Angara Sr. My family’s bet, a popular candidate with unquestionable integrity, Oscar Orbos, was not included in the choices list. When I i asked the person distributing the questionnaires why so, the answer was “HE WILL NOT WIN ANYWAY”. That survey was obviously favoring Gloria Arroyo.
Surveys do not really represent the will of the people. They just condition the minds of the electorate.
The question with surveys and statistics is always the methodology and the accuracy.
How good is your sample of the population and how accurate are your questions.
For example when Gerhard Schröder was elected in 1998, no survey predicted it.
Later studies found out that the sampling methods used no longer reflected reality.
The social divisions and mindsets had changed so much that they had to be revised.
Joe’s conservative brother???
I hope all is well in the family. 🙂
Gathered from:
Imprimis
Frank Capra’s America and Ours
March 2015 | Volume 44, Number 3
John Marini
University of Nevada, Reno
I think Sen. Grace Poe has already reached the pinnacle of her political career that everybody now looks at her to find out her action and thinking in relation to issues and events in the country. She has become so popular that people get to ‘interpret’ her according to their biases.
Right now, the Binays and their people can only wish that Sen. Poe maintains her silence and remain neutral on the issue of corruption against them. Her silence, for them, means she’s not riding on the issue to further increase her survey numbers at their expense. And that’s nice with the Binays.
The drawback on her silence, though, was people who do not like her and hate the Binays will try to link her with the former and make a case to make her less appealing to voters in case she decides to run. That’s what they thought. They think that by going against her she will be less effective not realizing the fact that they could be right but still it doesn’t have any effect on Jojo Binay. They erroneously thought they’re shooting two birds on one stone. You attack and put down Grace Poe, you only strengthen Binay for her followers will be forced to link with the beleaguered vice-pres. Not very nice.
If she breaks her silence, two things, either she agrees with the Binay haters in the Blue Ribbon Committee or express her neutrality (to be neutral, in politics, is sometimes to be not on the side of the attackers).
If she condemn the Binays, her popularity will hit the roof and will paved the road to the presidency. I’m sure the likes of Mar Roxas don’t want that to happen unless he has his foot on Poe’s door regarding her consent to be his vice-pres.
If she talks about respect for the process and about the presumption of innocence, etc., her popularity will not suffer, it might even help a little, but a mixture of people, some pro-Roxas, pro-PNoy, and the anti-Binays will really be disappointed. But most of the pro-Binays will be delighted.
It’s really a damned if she do and damned if she don’t kind of thing for her. ☀
“Welcome to the big leagues, Senator, where people thrive on being damned because they get to make decisions that are important to the nation, and themselves. The heroes put the nation first and the trapos put themselves first. May you choose thoughtfully.” JoeAm to the good Senator Poe
I am a big fan of this site but I ask Joe to write a detailed article of Grace Poe and her accomplishments and weaknesses for me to knew her better because I was from the grassroots or masa level and she was indeed very popular and winnable to the biggest voting sector in the Philippines.
If you type “Grace Poe” in the search box, you will find numerous articles I’ve written on Grace Poe. Go back to the “older articles” and you will notice that a shift in my views has occurred because I find her silence about Binay, and the recent political findings of the Mamasapano hearing, to be disturbing. The consistency in all my views is the point that she should be measured on her deeds, not on rumor.
Her notable deeds are: (1) fine stewardship and protection of children in her short stint as Chairwoman of the Movie and Television Review Board, (2) quick completion of the Senate FOI bill draft, now awaiting House action, (3) Chairwoman of the Senate committee that investigated Purisima, and (4) Chairwoman of the Senate committee investigating Mamasapano.
Her last two chairwoman episodes lead me to believe that she lacks what I would call democratic diplomacy, or a graceful and grateful respect for the responsibilities of others within government. Both the Purisima and Mamasapano hearings became a hunt for culprits and did little to identify constructive lessons that would heal the nation and lead it to strength. She – along with crooks and political opponents and leftists – did great damage to the Office of the Presidency. I am also wary about her friendships and the possible influence of those of the protected class on her own decisions. Escudero, Osmena. Maybe Binay. There is no question that she looks like an angel and speaks well. I am not convinced she is transparent, however. Even though she advocates that in the FOI dialogue.
But she is American educated too and her Western sense might help her on how she will lead this nation. I guess its her time now, politics is all about timing like Barack Obama and being a neophyte politician is not a hurdle to become a better President
Yes, she does make a lot of sense in what she says. I also agree that the office makes the man or woman, and it may come to pass that she would be a superb President. The role of the blogging community is also to help make the man or woman who is open to reflecting on things. The best I can hope for is that she is willing to listen and learn from people who may not have easy access to her ear.
I can see the organic view on the office and Ms Poe. I wonder, though, if conceding her the benefit of the doubt will prove detrimental to the good of the country and the office due to any unrecoverable “misstep/s” she shall commit as president. Former President Cory had the huge capital of a total mandate from a then wounded nation. The senator might need the equivalent for her good and ours.
On good days, I see Senator Poe as a rational, stabilizing force, on bad I see yet another gameplayer favoring her friends, saying one thing to the public and quite another behind the scenes. I suspect the nation is strong enough to deal with her, but not the Binays.
“I suspect the nation is strong enough to deal with her, but not the Binays.”
Then, at this point of pre-elections, BOTH the gains of PNoy’s “hexennium” (his 6-yr scorecard) and the history of misdeeds by the Binays must be held up in a very public short-term collective memory and analyses by the guys in white hats to be used, on demand, come campaign time. This is an obvious point but must be stated expressly and subliminal-like as the need arises, IMO. I hope this becomes part of the juggernaut that is this blog!
Hi, Joe! Just passing by. Nice blog you got here. Dropping by later.
Hello Tongue Twisted.
Thanks T-t. Look forward to the visit.
Yo, Karl! Nice to find you here together with a few familiar names. I see one whose troll posts haven’t changed much. Typical of expatriate Pinoys who see nothing positive, nothing good at all in his land of birth.
Joe, on topic, I see Grace Poe as one who probably regrets ever associating with guys like Binay, Sotto, maybe even Erap. The intramurals in FPJ’s party, the KNP, was felt as the campaign entered the homestretch. Binay wanted to downgrade Sotto as a “mere campaign manager” like the rest of them, Angara, Binay, and whoever represented Erap’s PMP at the time. Sotto, on the other hand advised FPJ to distance himself from the PMP, and PDP-Laban because he will be suspected as the future savior of the jailed Erap once he wins. Further, the millions in excess donations to the campaign funds can’t be accounted for after the polls making it difficult for FPJ to finance an election protest with the same bunch of opportunists in his camp pushing him to do so. That probably broke his spirit, not to forget, a few blood vessels in his brain at the Christmas party where he shared the table with Binay. (Gives credence to the Lacson theory that he was killed that night?)
If Grace Poe was indeed so close to these characters we accuse her to be, then why would she file her candidacy as an independent, dump UNA, and join the LP campaign sorties? Her only excuse was UNA didn’t even offer her a slot in the ticket while she accepted her boss’ offer immediately. She eventually personally appeared in LP sorties exclusively, forcing UNA to drop her from their slate.
Two years ago I predicted that Poe will be the only potent antidote to the Binay poison in Ellen’s blog. Recent events are proving me right.
I appreciate the insights into the Poe political power plays. I don’t think Poe is necessarily close to Binay, but she is to Escudero and Osmena. She is just behaving oddly, to me, for a woman whose claim to fame is candor and honesty. She tells Pimentel that she will be at a Subcommittee hearing at its next meeting, and then does not show up. Why? Someone beg her off or did she lose her courage? Her personal dislike of Purisima is palpable, almost hatred. He’s worked a career for the Philippines and borrowed a car. She writes a Mamasapano report that is amazing for its omissions and overabundant harping on presidential responsibility . . . after the President has said he is responsible. There are no positive lessons at all in the report. No healing.
I don’t discount her popularity, and if she is the only person who can defeat Binay, put me in her camp. But today, for all I know, I trust Roxas, but not Poe. She has to prove she is not a puppet and can think deep, and not just for popularity.
nagpapalit na ng anyo. Parang hunyango, nakakapagpalit ng balat.
Thanks a lot. I reposted some of your article for Poe and Binary readers.