The opposition needs a leader and should choose a mayor
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
Here are two profound facts (in my opinion, heh heh):
- The opposition needs a leader.
- The Senate is no longer producing qualified presidential candidates.
The opposition needs a leader NOW to begin piecing together a winning coalition from good governance LGU heads and left/liberal groups (refer to tab above “2028 Coalition”). Unfortunately, Leni Robredo showed that putting a campaign together late severely limits success. Hers was also a one dimensional campaign. Success requires multiple dimensions including a layered social media presence that takes time to build. And getting money. Success needs money.
The Senate is composed largely of unqualified populists who have never run a complex organization. Or they are butterflies of no distinguished principles. They fly from one president to the next, loyal to what they can gain, not what the nation can gain.
Mayors run complex, multi-dimensional organizations. It’s a great training ground for presidential competency. The current “good government” initiative among mayors provides a ready-made list of potential presidential candidates. There are at least 100 of them, including Joy Belmonte of Quezon City. What an excellent presidential oroving ground Quezon City is! She is my nominee.
The following article lists the mayors who signed the good governance manifesto late last year: “4 NCR mayors sign good governance manifesto“.
Who do you think should lead the opposition?
- Joy Belmonte. Quezon City?
- Leni Robredo, sure, but she seems not to aspire to a national position and is not ready to lead NOW.
- Vico Sotto? Pasig City, excellent. Is he willing? Can he start now?
- Benjamin Magalong? Baguio. Deep experience, PNP, covid, Asia Steel, mayor.
- Mike Rama, Cebu City? Neutral Visayas, big city credentials.
Or maybe you have someone in mind who is not a mayor. I like Defense Secretary Teodoro for his brains, principles, and experience but don’t see how he can get from that job to a very political job heading up the opposition.
Let’s gather some ideas.
Let us know your thoughts in the discussion section that follows.
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Cover photo from veritasph.net in the article “Mahigit 100 alkalde, lumagda ng pakikiisa sa Mayors for Good Governance manifesto“.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Those are excellent mayors on the list. Running a city is quite different from being a national statesman though. Gibo is, in our view, permanently damaged with his alliances through his political life.
Yes, true about Sec. Teodoro, thanks. Where is a good proving ground for President? A government agency head, if competent. Business CEO. The Legislature is not so good I think. Mayors are experienced at working through agency heads. More multi-dimensional than legislators. The challenge is to find a leader for a left/liberal/good-governance people’s coalition. I’m hard pressed to identify anyone. The good governance mayors are a starting point, for lack of anyone else. Who would you name as a prospect?
Leni is the only credible choice. Have you seriously looked at the other names you mentioned, they are a joke.
Everyone agrees except for Leni Robredo who expresses no interest in leading the opposition. Duterte and Marcos were working years ahead of time to get their names out locally and build a social media presence. The opposition? Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Anyone could do better than nothing. A good anyone is better than nada.
beggin’ your pardon po, but getting their names out there early is not a guarantee of success. bong go got his name early too, nagmumurang kamatis, and yet, he could not file his candidacy to succeed digong. pbbm and sara got on his way.
jejomar binay got in his name early too, but the presidency went to digong in 2016. at the time, digong does not know whether to run, to hide, to sleep, too many to’s until he made a switcheroo with martin dinyo.
the most important is that the opposition has filed their candidacies for local election 2025 and are waiting for official campaign to start. then, we’ll see if they can hack the 3month pintakasi and hectic schedules of the official campaign. 3 months, I hope they last the round and not run out of puff.
There are some things I noticed about recent Presidential campaigns:
1) being VP means you are an automatic potential candidate, but that also means you can expect the demolition jobs against you to start early.
Doesn’t matter who we like here, but it happened to Binay and Robredo and is happening to Inday Sara.
2) Duterte planned his candidacy in advance based on what we now know about Cambridge Analytica. He just played coy, which is an old-school tactic. It did work as the clamor for him to run was already loud, and his momentum hard to stop.
VP Leni waited until there were motorcades for her. I wrote about that. Unfortunately, it seems there was no real plan, unlike the Duterte camp in 2016.
Demolition jobs through any means from old fashioned black propaganda to modern fake news whatever the difference or nuance.
Yes that is the biggest risk of deciding early, even pakipot Digong knew that very well.
Okay okay. You are right, but some things will take time. Building a coalition, getting money, building a social media platform. For sure Leni handicapped herself by starting so late. So not now then, but not late, either.
This is true. What I was reacting to earlier about the risk of demolition jobs if running early can happen at any stage of deciding to run. Thanks for this Joe building a coalition takes time look what happen to their last coalition building. It did not went well.
demolition jobs are certainly not sacred and can be countered at one’s pleasure. I’m a heckler, haha. and loves to demolish demolition jobs. some fact checked, others ridiculed, others still criticize, anything to demean and dent demolition jobs. walang pikunan, ika ni PNoy, once.
people in public offices have thicker skins, ‘ata. pachydermal skin meron sila.
Good KB the anti demolition lady
Thanks for those examples, but reluctance can be sliced into two, the pakipot reluctance or the reflective reluctance.
I think Digong archetype of reluctance of really wanting to run but only want to project that he does not want to. The Leni type of reluctance for me is a sincere reluctance with discernment.
Now we will never know what would have happened if Leni decided early last elections, or to move to the US even just this instance, Joe Biden decided upon not running right from the start.
If she decides to run for president, I hope it would be early enough.
leni did not really have the money to fund a strong campaign and sometimes have to rely on buses to get around. once, umangkas yan ng motorsiklo and gotten a free ride! her budget as vp was meager compared to the humongous budget plus the confidential funds that vp sara got.
the best seasoned campaign managers are costly and leni cannot afford to pay them, she relied mostly on volunteers. no wonder she got routed. despite their best efforts, her volunteers dont have the nous that seasoned campaigners have, and could not measure up.
if leni decides to run for president again, she wont, unless there is clamor for her to do so. and there is strong support from oligarchs and dynastic families willing to help with funding.
prior to 2016 election quiboloy funded most of digong travel expenses, lending his private plane and helicopter for digong to use, quiboloy even paid for digong’s hotel accommodations. digong and quiboloy were very close then almost like brothers. but when digong won the presidency, quiboloy lost influence, bong go ascended and china came in the scene.
True dat.
Of course the demolition job I remembered was piniksuran ng PR etc.
THANKS, JoeAm! YES, we need a Leader to unite an electorate that wants a government of genuine public servants! G. H. Abad
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Thanks Gemino. Principles matter.
Next would be Governor. I think big city or Governor is the best proving ground.
Yes, agree. I don’t know governors well. Garcia of Cebu and Espina of Biliran for sure don’t cut it.
The Queen of Cebu becoming Queen of the Philippines. Now that’s a terrifying thought.
Queen or witch?
Why not both? hah!
Withcheen or Queeich
If a Garcia from Bataan would run, would you support them Gian.
My bias is one former governor was a high school classmate, but I am not from Bataan.
As to my dad’s hometown mayor- no comment because he is my distant cousin and son of Secretary Aguirre …..you know what i mean.
As to Governor of Quezon, I need further research.
As for my mom, my mother side’s adoptive hometown is Davao so another no comment.
If I chose who I supported yes. The story of how each locator in AFAB was enticed/convinced to locate, how AFAB was created because Economic Zones were managed as a portfolio and thus was less dynamic. I can confidently say that the Garcia of Bataan has shown themselves to be capable, dynamic, and flexible enough.
Thanks so much Gian.
Part of my family is from Bataan, and I’ve seen long enough that Garcia turned the province into something like North Korea with all that propaganda and obsession with their war against tobacco… besides apparent investment in real estate at time rivalling the Villars.
They’re scary in terms of being omnipotent. I never liked how they transformed the Balanga town plaza into a mall and somehow warped the flow of traffic.
Thanks for that ML
Benjie of course
Thanks, Doug. He does have credentials. I have reservations because he held that President Aquino was responsible for Mamasapano. I think he doesn’t understand either being President or being military.
god works in mysterious ways. 2028 is still a long way away and many things can happen. who knows! maybe being mayor of naga city gives leni a deeper insight of what it is to be president.
and with the dutertes constant belittling of pbbm at every chance they got, pbbm may just get the idea that the country is better off left in leni’s capable hands! and support leni all the way to the presidency in 2028. else another duterte presidency will undo the good works pbbm has done, destroy his legacy and dig up makoy from his resting place.
nepo martin romualdez is summat unpopular and may not have the numbers to be president, he being self absorbed, cliquey and well a romualdez, and lacks the muscle coordination of a makoy.
leni and pbbm certainly have differences, but as they have already shaken hands, maybe they can shake hands again, for the philippines.
The kind of pact you mentioned would have some advantages, especially as pbbm has not really governed a lot differently than PNoy in many ways.
More important to stop Inday Sara as she can destroy the country’s future.
That would be something, wouldn’t it? By serving as President, Marcos might discover a great love of country and decide to do something great. I won’t ask my bookie to place odds, as such matters do seem outside of man’s hands.
I’m not sure if being a mayor, though it’s an executive position, would translate to the gravitas needed to lead the whole nation. Congressmen and even senators nowadays seem to be more for the showmanship than be serious about being a leader. Then again unless Leni Robredo joins the fray, and joins soon, there’s slim pickings. Sometimes the only choice is if there’s lemons, one must make lemonade.
I think it seems like slim pickings because we have not seen people really challenged. Vico Sotto would be superb. Ask him if being a mayor for good governance is easy and he’ll recite harrowing experiences. A good governance mayor is automatically qualified on the matter of character. If Duterte can do it, surely they can. Or take Aquino. A completely lackluster senator of no known organizational talent. To some extent, the job make the man. And look at the garbage America puts in charge. I think there is reason to believe there are good candidates if we don’t delete them all for wanting a super-hero.
Here we go, I guess the question is whether a mayor (or a governor, or a senator, or a department secretary) will reach his or her level of incompetence when he or she becomes President. We never know, so we try to check out how much they have been successful due to competence as opposed to just power games. Though someone without some degree of political capability might not be the right choice either, even as superheroes don’t exist. (Unless we go by the Filipino saying bahala na si Batman, leave it to Batman, but he already has said he will avoid the Philippines as he doesn’t want to be blamed if he fails at something. Superman would be considered too clean-cut by many Filipinos, or even suspected as CIA. Iron Man can’t operate in typhoon ridden areas when electricity goes out.)
Another criterion would be interest in being for the nation. Joey Salceda is a trapo nationally but was a great Albay governor, excelling at what every Bikolano leader must do well, coordinate responses to natural disasters. At least, that is what I was told. Duterte did not fulfill the two criteria IMO as he did not rule Davao mainly by competence (and it never was like Singapore as his PR alleged) and he did exclude a lot of people from his idea of the nation. Finally, someone too saintly isn’t good either as one will have many enemies as President.
saintly or not, a president always has many enemies both personal and political. that goes with the territory. that’s why presidents have gamut of personal guards around their person. letters address to presidents are screened, visitors as well. even the food is tested for poison. and the places where presidents live are tightly guarded with cctv cameras around.
saintly or not, an elected president is obliged to step up and hit the floor running: hard not to, when there is high expectation of competency almost from day one. there is a country to put on tract and run its best course, a problem solver to all pressing matters, a multi tiers of people to be governed even though, sometimes the people dont want to be governed. and the job only last for 6yrs, sure it can be done. a demonic president already has his chance of running our country, and he did not do well. maybe a saintly president should be given a chance, and see how we go.
incidentally, that supposedly saintly president already have a proven tract record of working for the people. 6yrs of exemplary public service in fact, doing what must be done despite the enemies nipping at her heels, threatening her and subjecting her to constant innuendos and malfeasance. being saintly is certainly not hindrance to success in public office.
I hope the saintly person is not put off and will stand up to serve the nation once more.
Ha, as I read your assessment, I conclude that Marcos is perfect as President. Influential enough to get things done, but a “bad boy” and thereby immune to the criticisms of the righteous.
Well, in the Philippines, the good have to be at least wily to succeed. Wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Quezon and Magsaysay had those capabilities, for instance.
Any ideas?
Salceda, who was a bank manager before he entered politics, could even do a good job as President IF he decided to care about the country the same way he it seems cared about Bikolanos when he was Albay Governor.
Benjamin Magalong would also have to broaden his horizons to be a potential good President, and Gibo Teodoro might have to learn from whatever past mistakes some accuse him of. Let’s say that some of best saints are those who have been sinners and repented.
Okay, thanks. Joey Salceda served three terms as governor of Albay Province, three terms in the House as Albay’s rep, and will run for governor again this year. He is known for a Zero deaths” initiative in planning for storms, and held powerful committee chairmanships in the House. I think he has negligible national prominence. Magalong is probably more well known, but I agree he is small visioned. Teodoro is hard to get out of the closet. None of the three was prominent in advocating for Robredo I think.
The Philippines’ dynastic core raises up again and again. No national conscience to drive the nation forward and up.
Well, the Philippines is maximum three generations removed from the time when most people in their respective provinces only spoke their language and precious little English or Tagalog and were tied to the land, while the dynasties met in Manila as Congressmen and all.
I have seen how Atty Leni is way more comfortable, nearly a populist but of course, a good one, when speaking in Bikolano language. She did at least help Cagayan when it was flooded, meaning her sense of home goes beyond just regional, as I wrote:
In fact, I noted that she has been in every province in another article. It is only recently due to Cebu Pacific “for every Juan” and similar that people are visiting other islands more. Maybe the present day might still see a fast forward of true sense of nation, with stronger bonds.
Leni Robredo is the only non-dynasty political person with a national reputation, other than Mar Roxas ( good dynasty), Sonny Trillanes, and Leila de Lima. All three of the latter are stained in some way. Leni is not. She is also not interested in leading the nation. Truly peculiar circumstance.
Re Davao
Now number 1
…when it comes to bumper to bumper traffic on main thoroughfare.
I like underground cabling city wide initiative.
Well, it seems more cities in the Philippines are taking cables underground now. While I do think that Filipinos should not be too hard on themselves like GRP that rates everything there as big fail, we should not praise something that by itself only would give a passing grade. Like I just mentioned to Joey, RSA making sure that NAIA works well is the expected default, and it is sad that people are happy that he is not just milking it and letting it rot more, I guess.
If there is a way, RSA did plan to have Cavite as the additional runway because it is impossible to design a additional parallel runway in NAIA without having to buy the residential areas nearest the airport in Paranaque and Pasay.
I guess the milk and let it rot comment was already attempted to be addressed above.
True that a job can make a man, but the power of that office can also enable a man to continue binging on his bisyo.
The US may have its troubles right now, but the US system has quite powerful states that hold all the power not enumerated in the US Constitution, which is the majority of the power domestically within the state borders. Bad US federal government would harm badly run red states, but the blue states will be fine. I’ll get another tax cut and I can toss my preparation for paying the estate tax out the window, keeping that money. Red states are like petulant children and they need to figuratively have their hand burned if they keep insisting on touching the hot stove.
I don’t believe there are any perfect candidates or perfect politicians. A single man (or woman) can’t possibly do everything alone despite what uneducated people might think of a leader being their personal servant or friend. What I’d look for is not the man, but who the man surrounds himself with, just like when I judge people’s associates. A good leader knows when to delegate, and chooses competent helpers to delegate to. This is why I think in the areas of national security and education, Marcos Jr. is doing quite well; he chose competent secretaries for those positions. Aquino while he may have been lackluster as a senator recognized his own weaknesses and appointed extremely competent people across the board. This is the type of leader that the Philippines must find.
The interesting thing is that Aquino was not “found” through intellectual exercise, but through populist affection for his mother. The list of good governance mayors is a place to start by the multidimensional structure of their jobs, a character check mark, and a look at successes and failures. The two that rise to the top for me are Magalong and Belmonte. That is my offering, given that Robredo is not inclined to run aggressively. So it falls to you to identify a better choice. It can’t just be a demand to find someone better. It requires names.
I don’t have that right as I’m not a Filipino nor do I live in the Philippines. My POV has always been as a friend of Filipinos, to who I may give my honest advice from time to time if the ear is receptive. I’m not really demanding someone better in particular… I’ve suggested what traits might be helpful in a good leader, and what bad traits I’ve noticed that may be avoided. I suppose the best leaders I’ve met in the Philippines work among the poor, or are busy quietly running family businesses. None want to touch politics with a 10 foot pole, even if a million pesos is offered.
I used to joke that someone of LKY caliber might just have built malls in the Philippines and not touched politics.
Of course, Atty. Leni worked among the poor.
The sad part Irineo, was when I did a deep dive on Filipino billionaires a few months back in the comments and realized Filipino billionaires aren’t really “worth that much” in comparison to rising billionaires in let’s say, Vietnam. The Vietnamese billionaires are crazy busy and remind me of SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, investing into dozens of startups and parleying profits into more companies. Filipino billionaires are content just reselling stuff at their malls.
On Leni Robredo, I might be an outlier, but I’m convinced she is playing the long game to set up a future for the Philippines by building the foundations of forward thinking Philippines, even if she won’t be around to see it. Sadly I think this will take a long time, but I’m glad she’s doing it.
Comparison of Vietnamese and Philippine Billionaires’ Net Worth
As of early 2024, Vietnam has six billionaires with a combined wealth of approximately $13.4 billion. The wealthiest among them is Pham Nhat Vuong, the founder and chairman of Vingroup, with a net worth of $4.1 billion, ranking him 833rd globally. Other notable billionaires include:
Philippine Billionaires
In contrast, the Philippines boasts a larger number of billionaires and significantly higher total wealth. As of 2024, the wealthiest Filipino is Enrique Razon Jr., with a net worth of $13 billion. The combined wealth of the twelve richest Filipinos amounts to about $90.8 billion, reflecting a robust economic presence despite some fluctuations in individual fortunes due to economic conditions[2][4]. Summary Table Country Number of Billionaires Combined Wealth Wealthiest Individual Net Worth of Wealthiest Vietnam 6 $13.4 billion Pham Nhat Vuong $4.1 billion Philippines 12 $90.8 billion Enrique Razon Jr. $13 billion Conclusion
The disparity in net worth between Vietnamese and Philippine billionaires highlights the broader economic landscape in which these individuals operate, with the Philippines having a more substantial concentration of wealth among its top tycoons compared to Vietnam’s emerging billionaire class.
Citations:[1] https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-now-has-five-billionaires-on-forbes-list-post279612.vnp%5B2%5D https://business.inquirer.net/247290/12-richest-pinoys-p2-9-trillion%5B3%5D https://hanoitimes.vn/six-vietnamese-billionaires-have-a-combined-wealth-of-133-billion-forbes-325748.html%5B4%5D https://www.tatlerasia.com/power-purpose/wealth/filipinos-forbes-2024-billionaires-list%5B5%5D https://theinvestor.vn/forbes-rich-list-features-six-vietnamese-billionaires-d13974.html%5B6%5D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_billionaires%5B7%5D https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3260486/vietnams-5-richest-billionaires-2024-net-worths-ranked-vietjet-air-boss-nguyen-thi-phuong-thao%5B8%5D https://www.instagram.com/seasia.stats/p/DE4TNHCT-je/
The numbers as currently stand are true Karl, but what I’m alluding to is the penchant for sitting on one’s laurels. In other countries, such as Indonesia before the rise of Indonesian companies, there’s a sense of “do more with less.” While in the Philippines, Filipino billionaires are mostly rent seekers earning off of the margin on mostly imported goods, which is hardly innovative.
Yep, didn’t Vingroup practically create the Vietnamese car industry?
The Philippines lacks zaibatsu, chaebol, or the likes of Krupp, etc.
Vingroup did, and did it with much less available capital than Filipino billionaires currently hold. Vinfast got its start doing final manufacturing of imported knockdown kits for GM, Opel and BMW cars, similar to what Astra and Gakindo did in Indonesia with Opel, Daihatsu and Suzuki cars. I have been told by people in the industry that Vietnamese industry had sent people to Indonesia, Japan and South Korea to learn manufacturing methods. Apparently Vinfast brought in a lot of Australian engineers too as technical advisors to level up Vietnamese engineers when Holden and Ford Australia closed shop. The monocoque designers were brought in from the prestigious Italian and German coachbuilders to advise, though there is a thriving industrial design industry in Vietnam as well. Of course all of this requires active government support, as also did happen in post-WII Japan and post-Korean War South Korea.
I wrote in my defunct blog (which had far fewer readers than joeam.com even now – it was basically Karl, Edgar Lores, and at times Sonny and Joe) about how BMW made it to be one of the top players in cars, from being far behind Mercedes after WW2. They kept improving their stuff until they were at par around the 1990s, concentrating more on motorcycles after WW2. What I also mentioned is that many Bavarians, including the state, bought BMW even as they admired the huge American cars of the GIs, unlike the post-WW2 Filipinos buying “stateside”, but that is another topic. I also mentioned how Sarao in the 1970s had jeepneys on a par with small vans produced in Japan just after WW2, just that the Philippines stopped where it was. Re Vietnamese cars, I still recall the days when Korean cars were seen as substandard and have read of the times when Japanese cars were substandard. As for image, BMW had James Bond driving some of its cabrios in the noughties for a reason – the brand had to be leveled up.
One Filipino did share that blog article on FB and commented something like “that’s the way, go step by step” – it was Prof. Xiao Chua. I thought then, “Does he get it because of his Chinoy background, and why does it seem that few others get it or even care?” Whereas when I wrote an article about Filipino modernity in this blog, my father told Xiao (and he told me) that the way to modernity is to close the Philippines off like Ieyasu Tokugawa closed off Japan. 😮
As Europe and Japan re-industrialized after WWII, it was often the case that the state itself strongly supported native industry by making forward-thinking choices. Europeans who were used to automobiles pre-war were fine with driving motorcycles and mopeds initially. Indeed that era saw some of the most classic motorcycle designs… Government-backed re-industrialization then moved on to democratizing private transport with microcars, most famously BMW’s version of the Italian Iso Isetta or the various Japanese kei cars, complete with providing easier driver’s license requirements for moped or motorcycle-derived cars. Even in Europe and Japan, which had been heavily industrialized before WWII flattened wide swaths of industry, there was a strain of pragmatism both in government and among the people. “Do more with less.” While in the Philippines, there is a prevalent undercurrent of thought even among leaders that expects the Philippines to vault to the top echelons of modernity, while also doing it without effort and given for free… Bypassing building foundations also has consequences down the line when the entire building collapses…
Imperial Japanese occupied Korea also followed a similar pattern as French occupied Vietnam, with industry being built in the north where minerals were plentiful while the south was mainly agrarian. Upon division of the Koreas, North Korea was an industrial mammoth compared to the poor agrarian South Korea. But once South Korea was saved by UN then later US action, the North Korean mammoth slowly could not adjust to the “changing climate” and got frozen in place, while South Korea progressed under both South Korean government direction and American investments. Indeed there was a time where the Philippines received the bulk of American investment in the Pacific outside of Japan and South Vietnam. That was the lost golden age that some Filipinos yearn for, when the Philippines felt “great.” It was just not noted in the Filipino history books that the Pearl of the Orient shone due to American investment.
When I worked in South Korea, I met many South Koreans, especially the WWII and Korean War generation, who effusively praised the US for saving South Korea and providing much needed investment. I had heard more than once in South Korea that their people would not be a mighty economic power it is today without American help. Though the South Koreans had a period of martial law and intense corruption, ultimately the South Korean people woke up and saved what was left of American investment and did not squander it. South Korean electronics and automobile companies had plenty of failures until they gained success, but they did not give up even after failing many times. The result is today during my drive there were Korean cars all around me on the highway, and I’m typing this reply on a LG 4K UltraFine monitor connected to a LG Gram ultrabook. The South Koreans were proud of their hard work and progress, even while their products were somewhat crappy and subpar… while in the Philippines, there are companies that rebrand cheap Chinese phones and tout those shoddy phones as proudly “Made in Philippines!” Humility goes quite a way, and progress is not possible without a healthy dose of it alongside determination…
Oh jeez… did your father forget that Tokugawa copying China closing itself off was the very reason why the more advanced China to eventually have her port cities occupied by the foreign nations that were once belittled as backwards barbarians? Japan avoided colonization exactly because Meiji overthrew the shogunate that had closed off Japan in order to rapidly industrialize the Japanese Empire…
Thanks, I also mentioned the BMW Isetta in my old article, I remember now.
The Filipino mentality is often “en grande” and wants to be “big time.” And very often ends up in the cycle of boom and bust as there is indeed not enough foundation.
Re Tokugawa, my father always believed in his approach, as he already in the 1980s was saying that too much Western influence might turn the Philippines into “another Hawaii.” Closing off would, in what seems to be his view, make the Philippines “whole” again.
Like you, he saw the gap between AB and DE as a major issue, but believes that through teachings like Pantayong Pananaw, the elites can be brought to “pagbabalik-loob sa bayan” meaning getting closer in spirit again to the poor by losing all the “kanluranin” ideas.
Ironically, the Senate is now mostly people very much like DE culturally and with NONE of the Westernized ideas of reform, but have things changed for the better? There is no realistic return to the old archipelago where the power of datus was checked by everything being local.
Those microcars like a modern day Isetta are coming back in vogue in Europe. So cute. So affordable. So practical. I wish those microcars and microtrucks were available in the US. I wish more Filipinos would choose practical motorcycles and microcars/microtrucks rather than aiming for top-tier like a Ranger immediately. A lot of dealerships in the Philippines have quite predatory lending schemes nowadays. Not sure when the law pertaining to lending practices was changed.
I’m now imagining that your father envisioned something like a Filipino Wakanda, hehe. It’s impossible to be closed off in a modern world, even during the time of Magellan’s landing. Besides, what’s so wrong about Hawaii? Fil-Am Hawaiians are an integral part of Hawaiian society, where somehow White, Black, Native Hawaiian, Fil-Ams and Chinese-Americans somehow exist peacefully, respect each culture’s contributions, while maintaining both their own culture and the combined culture.
I wonder if your father would be a bit upset if asked that if it were a possibility that the entire higher educational system in the Philippines is a result of “kanluranin” ideas. If your father and my credentialist father ever met, they would probably get along very well, hah!
Well, my father did seem to imagine a place similar to an Amorsolo painting sometimes, though that picture always was a tad false. But I do get the nostalgia, seeing Metro Manila today.
Well, in Hawaii, the natives are no longer the majority. But I guess even the fear of some nationalists that the Philippines will be full of „Oreos“ aka Filipinos who are „white“ deep inside, hasn’t come true. Just look at the Senate now.
This is why I did remind in some articles that the Quechua of Peru or the Maori of NZ still have former conquerors around them and had to fight for representation. The Philippines, with its MC syndrome, does feel too sorry for itself. Others had it harder or equally hard.
I did ask my father once about UP, which is, after all, patterned after a US State University, founded in 1908. He did say it was already an institution.
Well, the old were shaped by their times and circumstances, just as we are.
Well the thing is that Filipinos are the majority, and the oppressors are often those who Filipinos had voted into office themselves. One has to wonder how someone will finally get ahead if all that person does is sit there and self-pities. Even “one foot in front” without being quite fully sure of the eventual direction would be better than being still. When someone or something is moving, there is momentum, and of course if the direction is wrong then the course may be corrected. I’m not a very envious type, but if I see someone better than me, I start thinking “I should try to see if I can do what they can too,” because after all, they’re also a human like me. Progress in flash might be possible with exceptional luck, but I’m not a very good gambler so I’d sooner lose all my money at the casino table than win anything substantial. Climbing a ladder step by step might seem slower and not as exciting, but why risk sure-footed mini-wins to leaps of faith? After all, humans do not have wings and neither can humans fly. But we can fall, and fall fast and hard if the jump is miscalculated.
Well, Filipino nationalism usually teaches that the oppressors were foreign or, if not foreign, foreign at heart or in thinking. It is implied that a true Filipino, whatever that means, can never be an oppressor.
So if another group of leaders fails, it must be that they were not Filipino enough, and the search must continue for the miraculous leader who will finally liberate the people..
Of course the oppressors don’t see themselves as oppressors. That would break their fantasy that they stand above others due to “knowing better.” There are numerous examples of idealists in history who eventually became so convinced in their own self-constructed myth that anything can be justified in order to achieve that idealist goal. The idealists usually end up becoming the strongest reactionaries to the slightest challenge to their mythos, even if that challenge is simply reality. It ends up being convenient that someone among their number who had failed in implementing the group’s own plan is painted as an “other” and an enemy.
True Razon even drove those imports by running the most busies ports in the region and beyond.
Innovation you say? not only Irineo can post classics here, but here is a classic by Irineo.
https://joeam.com/2020/10/19/getting-to-innovation-in-the-philippines/
https://joeam.com/2020/11/04/getting-the-philippines-to-what-it-can-be/
Thanks. Of course, Joey (and others) have added a lot to our big picture since four years ago, when we were forced tambays due to the pandemic and writing was our inuman session 😉
And my writing has gotten a lot tighter after it got more organized thanks to Edgar Lores patiently looked for the main points in the rambling articles in my old blog as well as many a rambling comment here.
In your humbleness you had forgotten that you also co-authored one of those classics. Thanks Karl for sharing!
Welcome Joey.
If you back read, you will see that Irineo writes long comments and fast.
Irineo and I have a similar thought process. We are both wordy and full of prose, haha. I do try to clean up comments though if I’m on a computer or iPad with keyboard attached, but it’s harder if I’m making a short comment on Jetpack — which ends up being long anyway! The written medium allows for depth. In person I’ve been described as a bit quiet and a listener. Though I’m listening here as well, especially to your sarcasm that makes me laugh often 😉
Thanks for reminding me about sarcasm. That is a bad behavior, if it is a bad habit, I must refrain. Irineo already called me out for seemingly harmless but harmful comments and he called me G-a…. for that.
I am still learning gmrc and it is never too late.
No, you should not stop. Dry sarcasm is a sign of intelligence, and I find your sarcasm really hilarious once I need to think for a moment to understand. Of course due to Filipino social mores, sarcasm often needs to be deployed. It’s one of the Filipino cultural aspects that’s most endearing to me.
OK I will try to manage it, A few minutes ago, I got told by my wife that I was too sensitive, so maybe additional empathy on my part is in order.
Well men must obey our wives, though you can try giving your wife a suplado stare if you do not fear the slipper 🤣 As for me I appreciate your sarcasm so you can continue if you wish. We can all use more empathy towards others anytime.
The Philippines is a laid-back place, and for sure, its business culture is not enterpreneurial, so someone like RSA gets praise for doing what should be normal and making NAIA work better, as the default is just milk and do little.
Have you ever had a chance to read a quick bio of Masayoshi Son? The man’s life story and business gambles are truly astonishing. In the early 2000s, Masayoshi Son had nearly went bankrupt, yet found a way to parley failures back into success. The mentality of incubating new businesses and ideas, without fear of failure due to diversifying so much is something that Filipino tycoons can maybe learn from.
I’m starting to see a slow trickle Vietnamese BEVs on the street in the US. Then financing scheme offered for Vinfast cars reminds me of what the South Koreans did, and what the Japanese did before that, to crack the American market. The design is gorgeous too, though reviews say the software side is lacking at the moment. Software can be fixed of course. I saw that Vinfast is trying to enter the Philippines market as well. Not bad for a company that started off as an instant pancit company during the East Bloc days (it’s still the most popular instant noodles in Eastern Europe). Vinfast is sort of a crappy brand name though, and they could hire some better PR. The Philippines used to have a bunch of jeepney and knockdown kit manufacturers. I think only Sarao and MD Juan are left?
This I do not understand.
The default to milk and not do anything is what MRTC did to the MRT3, as described in the following classic by Chemrock. That is the “ideal” deal to lease something, get money, and the government does all the maintenance.
Plus the culture of no preventive maintenance.
Yes the MRT’s and other big ticket project’s problem were the maintenance contractor problems. For the risk of over-simplification, I will say that is just the tip of the iceberg.
We see callouts from air bnb hosts about clients leaving their rooms in a mess making it difficult for the two hour turnover till the next customer to happen because the cleaners need to do extra work because the clients lack discipline.
Call outs some times it works for a while, until the next call out, some reactions would be why did out call me out that is shaming and harassment.
Now with the data privacy act, the screenshot culture to call out or sometimes ridicule can be a cybercrime now.
Yikes I am digressing and circling from my preventive maintenance point. Ok back to milk and honey, I mean milk and do nothing.
That would not be fair for the contractor having instead to just to maintain, they need to report many parts for procurement and even if they are experts in PM , the practice of inhouse tech-mech of cannibalization of spare parts from another unit, leaves that other unit become beyond economic repair in need of replacement.
If benign loves to say, it is simple really, he told me Iike to make things complicated, but my point is everything is beyond meets the eye.
Free speech is a global right. Edgar Lores did a write-up about it. And I had my own commentary about foreigners being banned from political commentary here. The ban seems sure to keep the nation from growing. But what disturbs me is that your position seems to allow you full latitude to criticize how the Philippines does things with no commensurate investment in fixing the problems. So the negatives pound relentlessly along, all meant as constructive, while the solutions are not your “right”.
I think we have a moral imperative to solve problems, not just point them out.
I’m a bit surprised and a bit saddened my comments were taken this way Joe. I strive to be constructive especially if I am to venture advice, and I try to keep my opinions grounded in my first-person observations. If I cannot give good advice, especially if it comes in the form of hard truths, I tend to refrain from opining.
Oh, it’s our different goals at work. I’ve spent 20 years identifying the problems and find myself writing and reading in circles. The only way out of the washing machine is to open the door.
Like I mentioned before, my only connection to the Philippines are the friends I’ve made there and my interest in helping the marginalized I can reach. I have no family or ancestry in the Philippines to tether me aside from the care I feel for the people I’ve met. My line of thinking is to create lasting solutions, not to just address symptoms with band-aids that can be ripped off. Which is why I’ve concluded long ago that if the cycle is to be broken, it can’t be done by doing the same ol’ same ol’. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is the very definition of madness. Personally, I think the inability for most Filipinos to acknowledge the hard things, most damnably in government of all levels, contributes to the cycle the Philippines continually finds herself in.
The problem is how to get to the lasting solutions. You believe it has to emerge from the masses, but we agree the masses have no inclination or conceptual framework to make things happen. So we can spend eternity describing their inability to do this or that. But nothing changes. So who is crazy, Filipinos for being inert or us at for failing to inspire them by writing relentlessly about their shortcomings?
I written from time to time of how even Filipino “negatives” can be turned into positives. To me it’s a matter of how to redirect that energy, as I did when I was an active practitioner of martial arts redirecting incoming blows and reversing an attack to become my advantage. Whether Filipinos had been kept down by colonialism or datus before that, that’s long gone by now and Filipinos who have had a spark lit in them realize quite quickly in my experience what they must do. But for someone to change they must first be confronted by the truth, then shown how they can make better use of their efforts. Some won’t “get it,” some will. Can’t save everyone, can’t especially save those who don’t want to be saved, so I’d rather save who I can, and hope I had planted a seed that once they became a towering tree, they can plant a seed into others around them. I’m just one person, and not even a Filipino, so perhaps those Filipinos who I’ve helped directly are but a handful. But it’s nice to receive greetings from them, some 20 years on by now, and seeing how much my little help was able to have them realize the inner strength they always had. Well maybe in the end I probably didn’t have much of an effect on the grand scheme of things. I’m just one person after all.
When Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo ran as RoRo in 2016, Atty Leni said that Mar Roxas’ approach was top-down and hers was bottom-up. In fact, she has gone back to bottom-up again with Angat Buhay.
Maybe that explains the difference between your approach and that of Joe, as this blog is at times read by some of the movers and the shakers – and those who want to be. The mustard seeds Joe wants to plant are among AB. We can reach ABC in this blog at best.
I would posit:
1.) Consider that the AB’s basically live in “the other Philippines,” and …
2.) While some forward-thinking AB’s want to expand that other Philippines to the masses, they keep failing because …
3.) The masses don’t yet understand the proposed benefits thus don’t give their support and …
4.) The progressive AB’s don’t understand the what moves the masses as those AB’s are taking a First World approach, thus the cycle of non-understanding continues and blocks progress.
There needs to be a “translator” of sorts standing in-between as an interface. A diplomat between “both” Philippines.
I wonder what benefit it would be to plant a mustard seed in the AB’s as due to their principalia or business ancestries, they are already towering trees, yet they did not on their own spread their seed elsewhere, even nearby at the foot of the tree. Are the trees of the AB infertile? Or is it a case of most AB’s theoretically wanting a better Philippines for all, but the effort of “the lift” is too heavy, not enough people want to work together to lift in unison? When theory becomes fact, would the AB’s be fine with releasing a bit of their current share of wealth and power? How would those AB’s feel about encroaching developments next to their precious gated subdivisions, even if those new developments are occupied by rising C’s? If I’m informed at all from what I saw around the world, it is many young and idealistic affluent people tend to drop their idealism as soon as there is even the barest amount of pressure on their daily lives, and become some of the strongest reactionaries…
I remain convinced that the only choice is for progressive-minded (small “p”) leaders who either take their time to understand the masses, like Leni Robredo, or who had risen from the masses themselves like an everyman or shall we say “everypinoy,” like Isko Moreno before he became an opportunistic disappointment. At least the “translator” or the “diplomat” may be more effective if they rose to the middle class, where they understand both sides.
Here’s a thought: If Leni Robredo can’t be convinced to run again at this moment, did it occur to any open-minded leaders in the opposition to meet with Leni and gather her thoughts on who she would recommend to carry the torch forward? I’m sure that after decades of being her late husband Jesse Robredo’s strongest supporter and a progressive force in her own right, she might have some ideas.
VP Leni, during her campaign, had lots of volunteers campaigning for her, but very few were at her level of understanding the masses, which is one reason why her candidacy did not succeed.
There were professionals helping her, I know of one with top background, retired guy helping pro bono but with modern socmed tools at his disposal.
But that man was probably too top A to get what VP Leni is about.
As for ABs losing privilege, of course, most are scared to lose it. The Philippine mindset is still mostly one of scarcity, not opportunities. That is also I think why Filipino oligarchs, for the most part, will not take enterpreneurial risks like Vietnamese tycoons.
But still, this blog will not reach the DE, so maybe sincere reform-minded AB are a target audience. Though it is hard to make them understand what they are facing. Dealing with Filipinos originally from CD backgrounds here in Germany was a culture shock for me at first.
Worst case, only VP Leni’s approach of making people the offer to walk in tsinelas with her, be with the DE people, get a true feel of the lay of the land, may be what creates truly effective reformists. When I think of Rizal’s novels and his life, that has his progression too:
1) Ibarra the Westernizer? No good, let him disappear.
2) Simoun the prototype of Far Left or Far Right agitators? Let him drink his own poison.
3) Rizal, the hands-on man in Dapitan exile, was doing prototype Angat Buhay, albeit alone.
BTW, Jonathan Sy could write here as someone who helped in VP Leni’s pandemic response.
There are a few others who started off as woke Starbucks Pinks but had some epiphanies going on house to house campaigning in 2022, I have forgotten their names, though.
I think that the advisor for socmed engagement algorithms is a plus, but any future opposition should consider bringing in perhaps younger socmed powerusers who understand intuitively how to generate viral cycles or at least have a finger on the pulse of the nation. There are a lot of Filipinos who are quite opinionated though, and think that their opinion constitutes the totality of facts which prevents them from considering new inputs in a changing world. But when people of disparate groups can talk to each other, a more common understanding can be found.
The scarcity mindset is really a mindset of conservatism. Like the US, the Philippines is actually a land (and sea) of plenty. An abundance mindset is expansionary and more inclusive as less people need to feel the need to protect a perception of lacking. The problem is the plenty of the Philippines such as natural resources and human resources are badly mismanaged and badly used. There’s a joke among some Fil-Ams that no matter what non-Filipino a Filipina marries, eventually the children will be pinoy somehow. Maybe that’s what happened to Chinoys, as other Hokkiens across SEA are often business leaders and quite innovative.
I believe in the power of conversation. I don’t think anyone enjoys having leaders deciding what the masses should have or should do if the solutions in the minds of those leaders are based on a supposition of a reality that doesn’t exist, even if those leaders are reform-minded. I’ve listened to stories told by AB’s of the supposed dangers of the various old shantytowns, while I’ve also listened to DE’s cautioning me with wide eyes that I should not venture into Tausug or Muslim areas. These people had never really interacted with others outside of their own groups, and created an alternate reality within their own minds. Need to bring people back to a common reality if there’s a desire to move forward. This was my sole criticism of Aquino’s administration despite my admiration for most of the rest. The extremely competent administrators under Aquino did a lot of good work, but ultimately that work didn’t translate into a way that most Filipinos could understand so Aquino received very little credit for otherwise populist programs because both sides were “speaking a different language” in a sense.
Speaking different languages . . . This was a point of conversation at my lunch with President Aquino a few days before he left office. He essentially said they were talking concepts and weren’t being heard. He agrees with you that they made a mistake.
My son is definitely Filipino, displaying all the characteristics we’ve documented here, even to the point of thinking he is white. 🤣😂🤣
It may have been a mistake in communication style, as any reasonable person would assume that good works would be noticed. Poor and low information people want a bit of showmanship to make things exciting first, and then they will notice good works later. So it’s imperative that a future good leader can be a bit dramatic as well. A “translator” helps as the translator can share with low information citizens exactly what’s going on. That’s part of an effective PR campaign.
Did your son make up his mind on which college he should go to? Going to Berkeley or similar won’t be a bad idea. Though he might miss his mama’s pork ribs…
He has seven on his prospect list right now, three in Australia, two in Canada, one in the Philippines, and Berkeley.
since I failed to submit my comments including Vico Sotto in addition to Magalong and Belmonte. I can say there will always be a next time for Vico Sotto.
Baguio and Quezon City are difficult to run like clockwork if you exhibit good governance and make it work then the two are excellent choices.
Joe mentioned the red flags about my earlier choices of Villar and Binay for senate what is important if they have more green flags. (stop and go) same applies to Belmonte and Magalong .
If the aforementioned he lambasted Pnoy as the final accountable person for the SAF44 is the red flags amongst red flags then I think I would say all are correctable errors in judgement, because blaming people is a default.
Ah, wise words Karl. Vico Sotto on the list, accept the Binays for the quality product they produce, and recognize that Magalong is, well, Filipino. Thanks for your inputs!
Always a pleasure.
If Digong can become president a more deserving can.
Andrew Lim wrote a blog about using Digong tactics. IBRS please verify if correct and please post the article. Thanks.
A lot of DE’s and new C’s thought Digong was deserving, though my feeling on DE’s now is that the imbecile daughter is tarnishing some of that Duterte shine. More DE’s are starting to question and wonder about the Dutertes.
It would be interesting to see one day if ever Digong’s funding and backers are revealed. There has to be more than just Quiboloy.
There are….maybe it would be easier to trace the funders of Quiboloy. He is just a front. His church has a funding source other than its members
In the future if the plunder cases moves, maybe the sandiganbayan website might share it to the public or at least the media.
Speaking of plunder cases. One senatorial returnee was ordered to return the money he did not steel as to how this will be demystified one day, I do not know. If he wins the elections by just reminding us that he made the law for non expiring PSA certificates happen. By reminding people how thy made their lives easier, they have more chances of winning.
It is hard to pass a law, it takes decades, and if it happens on your watch then that is an achievement. But do people like Ramon Revilla deserve to be back in the senate, the voters will judge.
If Trump can be voted back into office does not mean his conviction is already erased once he step down from office?
This is a question I have asked for a long time, and no one had an answer, but maybe Joey has. WHY does it take so long to pass laws in the Philippines? Possibly, the lawmaking process is overly complicated, like much stuff there.
I mean, there is the first reading, the second reading, and then it is gospel, I mean third reading. It goes into the Senate, and if there is a conflict, bicam. That isn’t too different from a lot of countries, so why does it take so long?
Then, lots of laws become laws, but there is no IRR, so you have a law on paper, but it is not implemented. You might as well put it into a flowerpot as fertilizer.
I’m no constitutional lawyer but here’s the basics as I understand it: The Philippines has a unitary system vs the US having a federal system. A federal system, especially the US form, has many veto players at various levels that can slow or block passage of laws. For this reason it’s very difficult for the US to pass sweeping “big” federal laws unless the President’s party controls a supermajority in the bicameral Congress and the US Supreme Court acquiesces to the laws passed. There are also additional veto players at the state and local levels, where states and localities can challenge laws even if already passed, with devolved power playing a role in moderating federal power.
In contrast the Philippines’ unitary system alongside partylist politics often sees the bicameral Congress being controlled by the President’s party, and the Supreme Court of the Philippines being quite weak in its interpretative action. In theory when a partylist sweeps into both Presidential and Congressional power, the head of the partylist who is usually the Philippines President should have wide leeway to enact whatever laws he/she pushes for. There are no sub-national units like semi-autonomous states or localities that can challenge Manila’s power. Bangsamoro is a unique case and not really autonomous in terms of making laws. The Philippines has just a fraction of the veto players the US has, mainly in the President’s veto power, supermajority of Congress to override veto power, or the Supreme Court’s ability to declare laws unconstitutional. So it may be that the inability for the Philippines to pass sweeping laws has more to do with infighting and unwillingness to take responsibility if the law fails. Most politicians there seem to be preserving their political capital for self-promotion, rather than expend political capital on a legislative agenda. Smallness in thinking is also a form of safe thinking.
On Trump: He’s a convicted criminal, a felon 34 times over. Once he’s out of office he’d still be a criminal. Apparently the US founders never thought of a case where a criminal would have the audacity to run for President of the US, and thus while a criminal is automatically disqualified from VP and below, the US Founders thought that shame alone would prevent bad people from daring to run for office. Well, I guess people, even criminals, used to have a larger sense of shame back in the days of the US founding.
Thanks Joey I got confused a bit by your usage of party list.
Here is my observation
Aside from presidential priorities there are the individual congressmen and senator priorities.
It takes time to follow up with your respective committee chair because that committee chair is also following up something from another committee chair.
So it is not just a matter of the number of readings, it hard to reach first base then it becomes a whose on first game.
Ah what I meant from party list is that it seems to me that most incoming Philippine presidents usually have a compliant Congress as well with members from their partylist or coalition.
Indeed the committee process of how a bill becomes a law of the Philippines is quite similar to the American system it was partially based on.
Of course senators and congressmen will always have their own priorities as well — they need to get reelected after all. Mostly this seems to be expressed as pork barrel or trying to get credit for accomplishments.
I think a lot of inaction by politicians anywhere can be explained by them not waiting to hold responsibility if they can’t get positive credit somehow. The Philippines system of government still has a lot less veto parties and veto points than the famously veto point heavy American system. Filipino politicians like politicians elsewhere could use a bit of political courage to start acting.
Filipino politicians usually have stopped acting by the time they enter politics.
Juana Pilipinas said there are a lot of bad actors in Philippine politics.
Good actors like Joel Torre or famously Dolphy don’t enter politics.
Here you go. That is what I meant with don’t be too saintly.
Or at least be San Miguel, the warrior saint that the Catholic samurai refugees from Tokugawa in Manila (like Blessed Don Justo Takayama) chose as their patron dahil warrior IIRC. There is also a place for potential martyrs like the nuns on EDSA, or the Catholic Maranao lady who also was among those who kneeled, the mother of Gang Badoy Capati as Gang once shared. But in pitiless days like the present ones, the strategy might have to be more offensive.
There is no mention of Trillanes, who as far as I know being the most Napoleonic of opposition politicians, however some find him vacillating, is aiming to torpedo and sink Caloocan’s decadent overlord that is Malapitan.
I think the incumbents were the main examples. Trillanes is a future mayor.
magdilang anghel sana ako.
I have him off my list for his comments on Twitter saying Risa Hontiveros would be a better president than Leni Robredo. So tribal, so unnecessary. I’d consider him if he signed the good governance manifesto if and when he wins the mayorship. But if you or others make a case for him, he could pop up on a list of prospects.
Unfortunately his statements can’t fall under the “it’s just my opinion” bucket.
Don’t know how else to say it.
Joey said above, he is just one person, Sen Tri maybe one individual but he is an advocate of many.
His main reasons are the Hontiveros is more than just a symbol means and she can fight.
Does not mean Leni can not fight? Maybe it is a wakeup call, or something like that.
I believe Atty Leni simply decided to fight in another arena. Let us not forget what Duterte did to Leila de Lima, who openly fought him.
One thing I also noted is that at least one of Atty Leni’s daughters was abroad during her term as VP. Now I know that the Philippines is not as vicious as in teleseryes or in the 1950s, but she probably was securing some bases. Trillanes had Magdalo people helping him when there was this attempt to void his amnesty. They even found out he was being followed IIRC. Now that would fit into a future movie, ideally to be released in 2027, with the likes of Richard Gutierrez from Iron Heart playing major roles. I think of him because in Incognito, he plays a Navy officer who was dishonorably discharged for mutiny. The logos of the mutineers are remiscent of the Magdalo logo BTW. His general father getting very angry at him for breaking his oath to serve the President sounds somehow realistic. But yeah, we are in reality and not in a teleserye..
I think my friend Sonny Trillanes is irked, as I am, that Leni won’t be aggressive in leading while out of office. He appreciates Senator Hontiveros’s attack dog methods. He was rattling pinks’ cages.
Well put!
it’s not that leni cannot fight, it’s just that she knows her place is out of the public arena now. unlike risa hontiveros who is sitting senator, leni is private citizen and keeping out of politics, hindi nakisawsaw. if trillanes thinks risa will make a better president than leni, he ought to remember that leni made it to vice presidency, a step below the presidency. a job leni did well despite the combined hostilities of digong’s admin.
if risa is highly visible now and admirably showing her mettle, it’s the nature of her job as senator, chairing the committee she headed. at the moment risa is caught in the anti teenage pregnancy bill that is addressing anything sexual, and barely the teenage pregnancy that is the main purpose of the bill. ahem, five years old playing with their members have not yet reached puberty and cannot get pregnant; the bill should not be about them. if they must play with their members, they ought to be told not to play with it in public as there are things best not done in public. a parental guidance is needed in that regard, not a full blown senate committee.
anti teenage pregnancy bill should specifically address teenage pregnancy, and not all the other comprehensive sexual stuff that may make educators feel they have done their almighty jobs worthy of the nation’s plaudits and the consultancy fees they have received, but does nothing to curve the raging hormones of teenagers, much less, lower the rate of teenage pregnancies.
+ + +
okay, so back to trillanes and his admiration for risa. I hope trillanes will not blow a gasket if risa endorses leni in her bid to be mayor of naga city.
I do not think he will blow a gasket,
nice to know, he will not be losing hair over it!
Seems that masturbation stuff is not true, based on the video below:
Hontiveros knows how to fight stuff out in the national village the Philippines is, if you hear of a Marites or Marisol even in the other palengke you face them, maybe even pull their hair.
If you “don’t dignify” stuff like Atty Leni and others often did, the “villagers” will think that what “everyone is saying” is true, better even be loud about it as you are in the palengke.
risa’s new version got rid of the phrase guided by international standard in terms of implementing comprehensive sexuality education of old version.
many think that the international standard referred to comes from UNESCO papers that said children introduced to their sexuality studies should be encouraged to explore their own bodies.
susmaryosep! many things can happen when children explore their own bodies! ask any early childhood educators versed in early childhood developmental theories, piaget and anderson among them. it may look like masturbation but young children (under 5yrs) out of curiosity do examine their own bodies and sometimes play with them. still, nothing to do with teen age pregnancy.
ayan, itinuro ko. kahit hindi ako part of the working bee.
just glad risa sort that out.
Thanks. I do recall how the National Village made it look as if Leni’s plan to improve seaman’s training to build Blue Industries was made to look as if she said something like “bobo ang seamen” and she did speak up to correct it. Except she indeed was too nice for the present-day tone of the bayan/Village. Presently I am more like Pilosopo Tasyo in the village Rizal described in Noli, somewhat detached and if people take me for crazy like the old professor at UP who did some sort of Tai Chi In the morning, so much the better. I still get to hear when it is loud.
RE: Doing more with less.
This would not stop importing.
Swiss chocolates having 99 percent imported cocoa beans is just an example.
FYI, a video with Gibo Teodoro, titled “Philippines, America’s Ally and Strategic Archipelago.”
Good that he’s doing these. I think the working relationship is very tight. I hope Trump doesn’t change it.
This is what the new US Secretary of State Rubio said just three days ago (video):
One thing that is good about the USA is that it is RELATIVELY steady with its commitments, both external and internal. The Philippines changes so much depending on Presidents. For instance, Trump’s decree to remove birthright citizenship was put on hold by the Supreme Court due to the 14th Amendment. Duterte was able to declare Martial Law in Mindanao without House approval and against the Constitution and wasn’t stopped. The Philippines could turn its back on the USA under a President Inday Sara and still keep all miliary hardware given it, maybe ship some of it to China for reverse engineering. Knock on wood it doesn’t happen.
That’s good. I think their big policy changes will be Ukraine (out) and Israel (anti-Palestine). And Greenland, Mexico, Canada (bizarre). China little change. Russis, see Ukraine.
Russia-Ukraine will be more complex than expected, I think, but let’s see.
I am happy that Micha isn’t here to gloat about how bad things will be. Well, my cardio is better now, not enough to run from fighting but enough to get around.
Found this:
BTW, VP Leni had mostly smaller contributions while Marcos Jr. had huge ones.
COMELEC is totally broken. Imagine wanting to hide SALNs rather than make them available. Talk about not grasping concepts.