OF BOMBINGS AND POLITICAL PLATFORMS.

The recent bombings in Mindanao are quite alarming. Five killed in Cotabato City, and six killed and forty injured at two separate blasts in Jolo and Iligan City.

Are these bombings, in any way, related? Officials will easily shake their heads and deny any possibility that these incidents were related.

The chaos in Mindanao has been a longstanding headache for our government. Sometimes, it feels good to just sit back without having to think about such issues to solve on your own.

How about the government officials? How many times a day do they wince over such matters?

The gravity of this issue should push presidentiables and vice-presidentiables to include this at the top of their political platforms. But of course, it shouldn’t only be included and paraded around to get the candidates voted into office.

PACQUIAO’S FORCE

Boxing champ Manny Pacquiao is dead set on running for a congressional seat in the upcoming elections. His decision already caused controversy and a lot of raised eyebrows. Some say this will easily make a travesty of the 2010 Elections.

Yes, he is the hero of his boxing matches, but what can he really contribute to the dog-eat-dog world of politics? He doesn’t have any political background so to speak. He only has his boxing skills, popularity (a lot of this) and money (a lot of this too) under his belt. I suddenly have this picture of the Taiwanese Political Racket in my mind. Should that happen when Honorable Pacquiao is seated in congress, would he have given his opponent the right hook?

But, whatever Pacquiao’s intention for running is, I still think it should be treated with respect. After all, he is a generous, patriotic and a God-fearing man. Just as long as he can back up his words with a good platform that he will actually act on. May the force be with you, Manny.

BF: THE BUTT OF JOKES.

Don’t you dare touch my posters.

“They shouldn’t do that,” Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando said of the DPWH’s threat to remove the posters. “Unlike other billboards, they don’t pose danger to lives and property.”

But apparently, Mr. Bayani, these posters pose danger to you. The posters, along with the pink urinals with matching fences along EDSA, ill-colored waiting sheds and footbridges have been the butt of jokes by incriminating citizens.

Being the object of ridicule, BF is told to solve a number of issues first before catapulting into presidency. From significant issues such as the traffic in EDSA, to comedic ones such as bad grammar on his signage – WALANG TAWIRAN NAKAMAMATAY, sounds like WALANG TAWIRANG NAKAMAMATAY.

And then, what’s up with this one?

Humorous Filipinos with nothing better to do. I shake my head in dismay. Bayani, how about rescuing yourself first?

SAY CHIZ.

We have been hearing great things about Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero in the past years. His popularity began to grow when he was elected as representative of the 1st District of Sorsogon, and has been steadily growing since then. He was elected in the Philippine Senate in 2007 with the second highest number of votes.

His interest in vying for the 2010 Presidential race has brought upon excitement to his supporters, threat to his opponents and curiosity for the rest of the population.

I recently read this article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer Blog. It is a rare treat to read something like this about the famous good guy, Chiz Escudero.

It is but normal to be placed under the spotlight even more when you have your eyes fixed on the grand prize. The Presidential seat it is for Senator Chiz. This article should be a wake up call for him.

As Senator Chiz says, “We have serious problems and we need serious people to solve them.” Time to get more serious, what do you say, Chiz?

The Challenge for Chiz
By Harvey S. Keh

I was in Naga City over the weekend to witness the inauguration of the Naga City Governance Institute, which is an initiative by the local government of Naga City to promote best practices in local governance all over the Bicol Region.

As we all know, Naga City under the leadership of Mayor Jesse Robredo for the past 18 years has been transformed from a 3rd class city in the 1980s to the queen city of the Bicol Region today.

As a testament to his outstanding leadership, Robredo was one of the first Filipinos to receive the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service which is acknowledged as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize. Among those who came for the inauguration were Bert Hoffman of the World Bank, Bill Luz of Ayala Foundation and Prof. Leonor Briones of the UP-National College of Public Administration and Governance.

During the talk of Prof. Briones regarding the challenges that the Bicol region continues to face in terms of uplifting the quality of life of its constituents, I was struck by her presentation of the high poverty rate that the Bicol region has.

According to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), the poverty incidence in the region is at an alarming 51.1% based on its latest statistics which was gathered in 2006.

This means that more than half of the region continues to live below the poverty line or they do not earn enough to satisfy their basic requirements for food, shelter, education and healthcare.

I checked further and saw that the poverty incidence of Sorsogon as a province grew from 43.5% in 2003 to an astounding 55.3% in 2006! In 2003, the NSCB estimated that there were 300,652 poor individuals in Sorsogon but in 2006, this has already grown to 395,434!

I raised this issue since we all know for a fact that Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero who hails from Sorsogon and used to be its Congressman for several years is currently eyeing a run at the Presidency.

Given that he has served as Congressman of Sorsogon and now Senator, it is sad that his province hasn’t had much progress and in fact has continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate.

One has to wonder if Senator Escudero has the capability to effectively run the country and curb our growing poverty if in fact he can’t help alleviate poverty in his own province.

Given that he was a Congressman whose primary duty is to represent his constituency and enact laws for the country, don’t you think it was also his duty to ensure that the national government agencies provided adequate services to his constituents in Sorsogon? Where did he place his country-wide development fund (CDF)? Sorsogon is not a big province thus, if his CDF was used properly I’m sure that many of his constituents would be enjoying a better quality of life now.

As the saying goes, charity begins at home, the challenge for Chiz is to go beyond lip service and to start to take action to ensure a better quality of life for the people of Sorsogon before he even thinks about running for President. I’m not a big fan of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but I hope that the next time Chiz begins to attack the shortcomings of our present government, it may be good for him to first look at his own backyard and work proactively towards creating genuine positive human development in the life of his constituents.

Posted June 23, 2009
http://blogs.inquirer.net/philippineelections/2009/06/23/the-challenge-for-chiz/

THE V IN RVP.

The V in RVP can easily stand for “victory”, what with his past triumphs not once, not twice, but thrice as a presidential campaign manager. The success of Fidel Ramos in 1992, Joseph Estrada in 1998 and Gloria Arroyo in 2004 are Sec. Ronaldo V. Puno’s notable victories through the years.

He is largely known for his political organization skills, among his many other remarkable accomplishments in the field of business, media and public relations, diplomacy and public administration.

Does this, then, secure his place as a Vice President in the upcoming 2010 Elections? Thinking that he aided those three big wins in the presidential race, is it possible that he cannot win this race for himself?

The truth is, Sec. Puno himself cannot assure his success just yet. He is able, yes, but he remains humble and unassuming. He believes he still has a long way to go, but he will undoubtedly work his hardest to earn his victory.

“I have always been known as a campaign manager rather than a candidate. But with the experience and loyalty I showed everyone that I served, I will be able to help the next president lead this country beyond 2010 into continued prosperity.” Puno said, during the Lakas-Kampi-CMD caucus.

Who knows, the VP in RVP will soon be “Vice President”. Stay tuned.

ELECTION IS IN THE AIR.

Yes, it’s not just the A-H1N1 virus you’re getting a whiff of; you’re in for so much more! So hold your breaths, this can get pretty stinky.

Election time is chaos time. It’s the time where nasty issues resurface, and is plastered all over the news. One candidate declares war against the other, and neither would accept defeat easily. The unfortunate citizens won’t hear the end of it, unless they decide to watch something else on TV, or make better use of the newspapers rather than actually reading them.

Election time is traffic time. Constructions spring up like mushrooms, thanks to the incumbent officials pulling off last minute projects to show the people that they are “doing something”. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we are working hard to serve you better – Hon. Insert His Name Here.

Election time is vandalism time. Ever read, “Post no Bill” on walls? Well, you won’t be seeing any of that this time, because every wall will be covered with bills anyway. And you’ll memorize every pose, every smile, and every slogan on the posters because they are all over, and it’s just too much.

Election time is dishonesty time. This is the season of the “Filipino Morale Downtime”. Everybody has a price. Isn’t that just sad?

With all these pitiful things election brings, why else do we do it? It can’t be that bad, could it?

Election gives us a chance for change. It does not stop at all the unfortunate things. It cannot end here. We must look forward to the great things election can lead us to. For the betterment of the society, a hope for the future! Yes, it is possible. With the change of leaders, we have a chance for a fresh start, and that is something to look forward to.

Election is in the air. The question is – which way is the wind blowing?

FRESH START.

You may have heard of the line “talk is cheap” and right now, you are accusing me of bad grammar with my site title. Sorry to burst your thought balloon but you read that right. Because in here – TALK IS CHIEF (chief here means ‘most important’ or ‘valuable’) and I am your chief.

Let this entry serve as my welcome message to you, dear reader. This is a site where you can read about:

Informative Articles (on the days when I feel highly intellectual)
Useful (and/or not so useful) Criticisms (on the days when I feel critical)
Valuable Opinions (on the days when I feel opinionated)
Irate Rantings (on the days when I may have been mauled by dogs – real or in human form)
Cynical Thoughts (on the days when I cannot be bothered with anything, also known as “my downtime”)
Nonsense Stories (on all the other days when I just feel BLAH)

I apologize in advance if you get to read entries from the last category more often. I promise my best efforts to write about no-nonsense things, even in my most senseless state.