After the release of Ces Drilon, it seems that a frenzy of accusations and recriminations has been unleashed. First, it was made to appear that the kidnappers released Ces out of the goodness of their hearts; then it was for livelihood projects; then it was ‘revealed’ that ransom had actually been paid. Then, Loren Legarda came charging in, all ready to claim credit for the release alongside that Isnaji character. Then, with Loren’s smug face still on the headlines looking about ready to french that seedy mayor for giving her another fifteen minutes in the limelight, Isnaji gets implicated and, in short order, arrested. Loren, meanwhile, seems to have shut up – a little too late: now she has her Lucida endorsements and this embarrassment hanging over her head. If there is any intelligence in this world, then she’s already lost her bid for presidency even before she files her certificate of candidacy.
But at least she can take comfort in the fact that there is very little brains in this world – especially come election time when there are only stomachs – AND the fact that the elections are more than a year away. Knowing the Filipino penchant for moving on (and no, I’m not choking on the irony), she’ll prolly still have a good fighting chance come 2010.
Which brings me to this idea I had: Someone should start a memory blog that does nothing but list everything that every potential presidential candidate has done since 2007 and right up to the filing of candidacies in 2010. That way, no one forgets.
Filed under: 2010 watch, politics, Ces Drilon, Isnaji, kidnapping, Loren Legarda
John Marzan’s blog. is closest to what you’re describing as a memory blog in Philippine politics.
i saw loren’s interview with chiqui roa (whom i respect, standing in for korina). it made me sick how the lady senator described her role, using words like “i RESCUED her as i did arlene de la cruz” as though she was some kind of wonder woman – fearless, invincible, whose very name strikes fear in the hearts of cut-throat bandits. i knew it was propaganda for the gullible, undiscerning “masa”, but the most irritating is the evident presumption that every one who watches the show was a fool.
i like your proposal for a “memory blog”. maybe that will discourage most nincompoops and con-artists from running, thereby sparing the country from the danger of them getting elected.
re memory blog, i nominate loren legarda to be the first for scrutiny re ces drilon’s “rescue”. close second would be mar roxas for cavalierly failing to follow through on his boast to put lozada et al. under polygraph test. of course. everybody knows about panfilo lacson’s cadre of comic “witnesses” and “bombshells” that all fizzled out with a whimper. the rest are also “memorable” for a variety of hapless misadventures.
listing things done since 2007 would prove to be an act of comparing naive media ratings. who knows what senators and other politicians do when not put in the spotlight? after working for a certain cabinet secretary for awhile, i’ve come to learn a definite fact of philippine political life: the more you’re in the national limelight, the less work you do in the office. case in point: chiz escudero. i guess a healthy balance of exposure would be from mar roxas. then again, i’m more likely to favor him than the rest of the trapos. villar seems to be a distant second but is currently embroiled in the latest scandal to hit the country. woe to the country if noli de castro is elected. it’ll be like erap all over again only this time without the infelicitous relationships
john l: welcome to the smoking room! great observations. but why would noli be bad? i don’t know much about him and it’s always puzzled me how he’s being held up as a bogeyman
noli doesn’t know squat about running the country. yet he’s the favorite to win since the masses love him, he’s popular, and hasn’t done anything to aggravate the administration. [aside from the last point] sounds exactly like a former president, i think.