Please Don't Run

Whether I like it or not, it seems I cannot avoid not talking about the political happenings in the last couple of months. People who know me know that I have strong opinions and strong feelings about the subject, and that is exactly why I rarely air it. Politics and religions are the two topics which, I feel, tear people apart because each one operates on a belief system.

Anyway, like I said it looks like I can’t avoid having a second go at all this political goings-on these days. Otherwise, I’d burst!

YELLOW RIBBONS
The yellow ribbons started to sprout months back, when Tita Cory’s health condition was verging on critical. At the time, it seemed alright to me. The people is rallying behind an icon. Yes, she is an icon, whatever else she may have done, she pulled us all together at a critical point of our history. Like it or not, she stood for a change in government at a time when the country desperately needed one.

We all know, or at least we ought to know, that she didn’t do it single-handedly. But she became a symbol, a personification of the desire or people to live more freely.

When Tita Cory died, Manila turned yellow. (I can’t speak for the rest of the country. I have stopped reading the papers and watching the news a while back
because I always end up feeling infuriated.) That’s also just fine with me. I still attribute this part to mourning. (By the way, though it's very late already, I would just like to acknowledge the kind of sacrifice the honor guards and those who were waiting at the cemetery performed, braving the inclement weather without showing just how difficult it is to be still for hours and hours!)

But now that she’s been buried, the yellow ribbon is now being used to remind us we have to do better by our country. The sentiment is admirable. Truly. Except I wonder, really wonder how many knows what it stands for. How many are in it for real? How many are in it for show? How many are in it because so many people are doing it, without really understanding the meaning behind the gesture?

And this is why, when I’m on the road, which is often these days, I have to swallow a dose of irritation. If you are going to get into it, then you should be willing to live up to what it stands for. Can you abide by the law, the rules and regulations that govern the country you proclaim to love, to do better by? Because that it what the yellow ribbon is al about: the love of country demonstrated by the man, who started the use of the ribbon, and his wife, who inherited his cause.

How can you dare to bear that yellow ribbon when you can’t even follow the simplest rule of the road, or even just observe basic road courtesy? How many times did you turn left from the third lane? How many times did you beat the red light today?

Or if that’s too complicated for you, let’s go more basic. Have you done anyone a disservice today? An un-returned change? A lie? Talking behind someone’s back?

EXPENSIVE DINNERS AND TRIPS
So many people have said so many things. So many have contributed details. I will not add to that anymore except to say, “How could you?!”

2010 ELECTIONS
Now here’s another study of how Pinoys love a good show. The election is still way off but we’ve already been seeing so many shows.

There’s the Mar-Korina engagement and wedding. There’s Erap running again. There are the many TVCs coming out talking about this person and that person accomplishing this and that. Can you recall when it first started? I can’t anymore. All I know is that over one year before the scheduled elections, these materials have already started airing. Had it been up to me, they would all be charged with electioneering?
In my work capacity, I have witnessed firsthand a “presidentiable” doing his not-so-subtle campaign. As an impartial observer, and a life-long student of marketing, I must admit that the communication strategy is impressive.

This particular “presidentiable”, based on the materials he’s coming up with, has a two-pronged communications plan. Early this year, (or was it late last year?) a TV material featuring him talking about how he has helped OFWs started airing. Brilliant move. This sector is almost a common thread that binds us all. Who among us does not have a relative or a friend working outside of the country? How can you stay indifferent of or disinterested in him?

Then middle of this year, he started holding bloggers events. It’s where he meets with four to six bloggers and discusses anything they throw at him. It’s a chance for the bloggers to get up close and personal with him. Another brilliant move. Bloggers always look for something interesting to write about. And he gets a chance to explain his opinions, his intentions his plan.

The bloggers, the more successful ones, the ones they invite in these bloggers events, have followers numbering in the tens, hundreds and even thousands. Maybe even millions. And they function for him as some sort of like a messenger. Imagine the magnitude his message can reach with just six as a time. Not to mention that he comes across as an approachable, concerned, and intelligent real person.

Will I vote for him? I can’t tell. He may have sound judgment, he seems to have good intentions. But the fact that it’s obviously a strategy to win him the office, and his doing it way too early is a big factor for me.

If he’s willing to break the rules that are supposed to even the playing field, I wonder what other rules is he willing to break to further his cause, his ambition, his desires. If he is really intending to take this country to a better place, I may be willing to overlook his methods. (No, I don’t have the yellow ribbon. I’m not a hypocrite. Most of the time.) But what if it’s not? How can you tell? Do you really know what his intentions are?

HAVE MERCY
The past week, besides the death of one of the chief people of Iglesia Ni Cristo, the other piece of news hogging the headlines is the call for Noynoy to run for president. STOP IT ALREADY, PEOPLE! HE’S NOT READY!

A dead relative does not a leader make. Or have you forgotten Pia and Allan Peter Cayetano?