Remember them Celtics?

My sixth sense tells me that the Boston Celtics can and will win it all this year.

Yes, I do understand that my sixth sense shouldn’t exactly be relied on to make accurate predictions. However, with the way the C’s are playing right now, it would be a big surprise for me  if my sixth sense is proven wrong.

I understand that the Lakers and the Magic are probably the more talented team on paper, but there’s just something special about this Celtics team that makes me believe that they’ll win the title this year.

Is it because they’re finally healthy again? Is it because ‘Sheed is finally stepping up? Is it because the stifling defense that won them the championship back in ’08 is finally showing itself again? Is it because KG’s knee is working methodically again? Is it because of Rajon Rondo is quickly turning into the one of the league’s, if not,  best point guards? Is it because Ray Allen aging better than red wine stored somewhere in Napa Valley, California?

Whatever it is, the Celtics certainly look worthy of a championship this year. Although I admit that a lot of things have to go their way in order to win it all again this year.

But then, the road to the championship remains a very tough one. In order to raise banner number 18 this year, they still have to go past the Magic and win 4 times over the Lakers in June.

***

For the Celtics-Magic series, I think Boston has the advantage in terms of match-ups.

The offense of Orlando starts with Dwight Howard. They usually let him work the post and if a double team comes, the ball is then passed back outside to one of the Magic’s array of deadly three pointers (Lewis, Nelson, Carter). But the thing is, Boston is probably one of the few teams in the NBA that has the personnel to effectively shut down Dwight with one on one defense.

Perkins and Rasheed can match up well against Howard defensively and this creates problems for the Magic because their inside-outside offense is taken out of context. They then have to rely on Nelson and Carter’s penetration for offense.  And with KG patrolling the middle and Rondo getting a hand on those passing lanes, Orlando’s offense is then put on a bind (Magic were held to just 88 points in Game 1).

On the other hand, the Celtics offense is better suited against this Orlando team. Sure, Boston might not be a juggernaut in terms of offensive prowess, but coupled with their tough defense, their offensive capacity is then more than enough to beat the Magic.

KG vs Lewis is a mismatch for the Magic if Lewis isn’t knocking down three pointers on the other side of the floor. Jameer is giving way too much height against Rajon Rondo.  And Ray Allen is too quick for the SGs(Barnes,Pietrus) of Orlando, save for maybe JJ Redick. Sure, you can argue that the Magic defense still has Dwight Howard but Dwight can’t guard all five C’s at the same time. And the Celtics have players that can easily destroy their defenders in a one on one situation (KG, Pierce, Rondo).

Of course, the possibility of the Magic shooting lights out from three point line or Dwight schooling Perkins with thorough post moves remain but until I see the Magic solving their offensive and defensive issues, I’m picking the Celtics to win in 5/6 games.

What Went Wrong For Gibo Teodoro

He’s young, brilliant, idealistic, smart, charismatic, he topped the bar exams, he has a Masters’ degree from Harvard and he’s quite handsome, too. You would expect a person like this to do well in politics, but as presidential aspirant Gilbert Teodoro Jr discovered in the last couple of days, having all of these does not necessarily translate to success in the field of politics.  (Ironic too is the fact that the likely person to win the presidency, NoyNoy Aquino, is not young, not overly brilliant, not charismatic, do not have a Masters or Law degree, and he looks more like a computer geek.)

In the span of 10 months that I observed the rise of Gibo Teodoro as a presidential candidate, I noticed four critical things that might have had a big impact in him losing badly in the presidential race. Yes, I’m no political analyst but I do think, as a citizen with my own set of opinions, that I am entitled to voice out my opinions.

1. His relationship with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

This, I think, should be pretty straightforward. Gibo never really tried to criticize President Arroyo and that, I think, really hurt his image and credibility.

I mean, bad things will happen to your credibility and rating if you insist on sticking it out with the most distrusted and unpopular president our country has ever had. And bad things did happen to Gibo’s rating: most voters were already decided in not voting for him before he even had the chance to campaign because of his connection with the GMA administration.

And yes, I believe that if Gibo had won the presidency, he would not have been a puppet president of Arroyo. I believe that he would have acted on his own. But most voters saw him as an eventual puppet of GMA—even though the probability of this happening is close to impossible. And the thing is, in politics, public perception is everything.

Needless to say, this is probably the most damaging thing for Gibo’s candidacy. That’s why from the day Lakas-Kami-CMD proclaimed him as their candidate, I had no doubt in my mind that he was destined to lose the presidency.

2. He was unfortunate enough to have stupid people make his political advertisements.

– If you have seen Gibo’s airplane commercial, you would fully understand the point I’m trying to make.

It’s quite simple, actually. In order to win an election, you have to have the majority of the votes. To do that, you would have to reach out to all of the voters and make them vote for you. You focus on the people who are not yet sold on voting for you.

Imagine in this way: if you’re trying to sell orange juice, you have to exert more effort in selling the juice to those people who are not that interested on buying your juice rather than those people who obviously wants your juice. Gets ba. :l?

Anyway, here’s the problem with Gibo’s advertisements: the masa was not able to relate well with his ads. That’s saying something because most of Gibo’s supporters mostly come from the youth and people from class ABC. So one would expect that instead of focusing on these people (his supporters), he would focus more on the masa to increase the number of people who would vote for him. And the best way to reach out to these people is through mass media. Again, one would expect his ads would be made with the purpose of winning these people over to his camp.

But surprisingly, they come up with this advertisement.

What were his political advisors thinking of when they came up with this advertisement? (!)

I already saw the problem with this advertisement the first time I saw it: the masa won’t be able to relate with this ad. Because really, how can the masa relate to a machine they hardly know anything about? How can they relate to something they never experienced before?

I must admit though that the slogans “Sulong Gibo!” and “Galing at Talino” are both good. But the problem is, the credibility of both slogans were already lost long before the campaign period. “Kung magaling at matalino nga siya, bakit siya nakikisama kay Gloria?”

And I don’t know if you noticed it this, but this ad, for me, has Elitism written all over it. I mean, the Airplane? Gibo being a pilot? If you ask me, his ad team might as well have written the slogan “Gibo: Para sa mayaman” at the end of that ad, seeing how much the ad screams Elitism.

Another problem with this ad is that once you place this ad next to Manny Villar’s brilliant mahirap jingle or NoyNoy’s lame but effective “di ako magnanakaw” ad, you then get the sense that the masa could relate much better with these ads.

3. He rushed things.

– When other candidates had at least 2 years in advance to prepare for the elections (Yes Manny Villar, I’m looking at you.), Gibo only had less than one year to prepare for his campaign.

Also, I don’t know how people forget this, Gibo’s dumping of his old party (NPC) for Lakas Kampi last year was also done in a very hasty manner. Back then, he was kind of forcing Lakas Kampi to field him as their presidential bet over Bayani Fernando (and he was successful in doing so).

This leads me to the question: Why was he in such a rush to go after the presidency anyway? I think it would have been a lot more logical if he ran for Senator in this year’s elections, then as Vice-president in 2016, then maybe as President in 2024.

Did he think that he had the best shot at claiming the presidency this year? Over seasoned and deserving politicians like Dick Gordon, Manny Villar, and Erap Estrada?

I’m sorry, but I honestly think that Gibo was rushing things too much. He should have waited for a better time to run for president. If history has taught us anything, it’s that the presidency is something worth waiting for. And for the case of Gibo, he should have waited for it. You don’t go searching for the presidency, the presidency searches for you.

4.Benigno “NoyNoy” Aquino III.

– Let me ask you this, if NoyNoy Aquino did not run for president and the battle for the presidency came down as a battle between Erap vs Villar vs Gibo, which candidate will the majority of the 15,000,000+ people that voted for Aquino support?

Erap “convicted plunderer” Estrada?

Manny “Pekeng mahirap, C5 at Taga, PSE scam, at marami pang iba” Villar?

Or Gilbert Teodoro?

Most likely, majority of those that voted for Aquino would probably vote for Gibo, Roxas, or Dick Gordon.  (Yes, I know that’s me generalizing. But then, you can’t contradict me because this never happened. Hahaha)

If NoyNoy didn’t run for president, Gibo would probably have gotten more than the 3,600,000 votes that he got in this year’s elections.

****

Even if he lost in this year’s elections, I think the future is still pretty bright for Gilbert Teodoro.

He’ll probably end up somewhere in NoyNoy’s cabinet this year or next year. Also, I think he should run as a Senator in 2013, seeing how brilliant he is as a law maker. Beyond that, who knows? He can opt to run for the position of Vice President or President this 2016.

Most people I know think of me as a Gibo-hater, but in reality, I’m not. I don’t like him either. I’m somewhere in between. I like him for his soft demeanor and his ideas mesh well with mine, but I hate him for never standing up against a woman waaaaaay smaller than him, and for not doing the right thing with the Ampatuans when he was still the DND chief because of political pressure.

But now as we move forward, I’ll try my best to remove whatever prejudice I might have with Gilbert Teodoro. I’ll judge him for the things that he’ll do as we move forward as a country rather than the things that he did before. Who knows? If he does the right things if he returns to public service, I might find it in me to whole-heartedly support his future political plans.

But that’s me getting way ahead of myself. For now, I’ll happily rub the fact that Gibo lost in this year’s elections to my die-hard Gibo friends– it’s more satisfying that way. 🙂

PS: Umaasenso na blog ko ah. Nagawa ko na lagyan ng picture saka Videos. :))

Challenges

Winning the presidency was the easy part, here comes the hard part for NoyNoy Aquino: running the country for the next six years.

Don’t get me wrong, winning the elections was not an easy task for NoyNoy. Remember that last February, Manny Villar was breathing down his neck in survey ratings. But thanks to the various issues that hit Villar in the last couple of months (The PSE thing, his fake poverty, his outlandish spending on campaign ads, etc…), Noy was then able to create a big gap between him and the other presidential aspirants. Anyhow, it’s kind of hard not to have public support if you’re the only son of Ninoy and Cory, isn’t it?

Compared to running the country for the next six years, consider winning the elections an easier task for NoyNoy Aquino.

***

The various problems that our country faces in the following years are numerous and complex in nature: the government’s budget deficit, our corrupt system, expected water and power shortage, terrorism in Mindanao, our poor education and healthcare system, poverty and hunger, and a whole lot more.

Fixing these problems would be challenging, to say the least.  How NoyNoy deals with these problems is still a mystery. But I think that he’ll do just fine. If history has taught us anything, it’s that good things are made possible by good intentions.

***

I think of 2010-2016 as a period of healing for our country. Among the presidential candidates, NoyNoy Aquino(for me) is the best man to fix the kinks that we have in our government. In fixing our corrupt system of government, one needs values such as simplicity, humility, integrity, and honesty. NoyNoy, I believe, has all of these—giving him the capacity to fix our current system of corrupt governance. He has six years to do so, which is a pretty reasonable time to accomplish this task.

In doing this, it has to start with him being not corrupt. Leadership by example. I also read in the papers that he plans to eliminate corruption by making sure that punishment will be swift and hard for those people stealing from the government and by increasing the wages of government officials. It makes perfect sense to me and all that’s left is for the execution of the plan.

If he is successful in doing so, our country would then be in a more realistic position to progress as a nation in 2016. Then we can vote for a candidate who has a vision and the competence to push our country forward towards the realms of economic progress.

***

The most important thing that separates NoyNoy from the other presidential candidates? He has so much more to lose if he screws up as president, and he has so much more to gain by being a good president.

If he screws up, history will partially remember his parents (after all that they have done for our country), as the people who made the screw up of NoyNoy Aquino possible.

However, if he does his best and makes a positive impact on our society, history will probably remember the Aquino family as the best family of public officials our country has ever had.

Who I’ll Vote for Tomorrow

We all know how important tomorrow will be. Tomorrow, we will be choosing our next set of public officials who will be serving us for the next 3-6 years.  I hope that the importance of voting will not be lost among us–that we go out of our way to vote for the candidates whom we think are capable of leading us in the next couple of years.

I made a list of the politicians that I’ll be voting for tomorrow. I made this list because frankly, I don’t want to spend too much time in the voting precinct tomorrow. Also, it would make the task of voting tomorrow a whole lot easier.

Here’s the list of politicians I’ll be voting for tomorrow:

President: NoyNoy Aquino. (Liberal Party)

Vice-President: Mar Roxas (Liberal Party)

Senators:

1. Neric Acosta (Liberal Party)
2. Dr Martin Bautista (Liberal Party)
3. Miriam Defenso-Santiago (People’s Reform Party)
4. Yasmin Lao (Liberal Party)
5. Danny Lim (Independent)
6. Ana Hontiveros-Baraquel (Liberal Party)
7. Sonia Roco (Liberal Party)
8. Adel Tamano (Nacionalista Party)

Governor (Pampanga): Among Ed Panlilio (Liberal Party)

Vice Governor: Marco Lazatin (Liberal Party)

Mayor(San Fernando City): Oca Rodriguez (Liberal Party)

Vice Mayor, Congressman, Councilors: NA

Party List: Akbayan or ang Ladlad

The first time I scanned this list, I was actually surprised that I picked a lot of people coming from the Liberal Party. Just to make it clear: I don’t believe in voting “straight” for a particular party; it just happened that all of the politicians that I like come from one party.

***

For Mar Roxas, I think that it’s pretty safe to say that he’s the best candidate for vice president out there. It’s not even a debatable issue. I know that choosing leaders in a democratic government might be one of the most subjective things out there, but I believe this case is an exception.

I mean, can any of the other candidates out there match the character and competence of Roxas? I don’t think so.

I mean, just look at his two closest rivals in the race for the vice-presidency:

Loren Legarda–The epitome of political opportunism (or as we Filipinos call, balimbing) in Philippine politics.

Binay–probably the most corrupt and most overrated mayor Makati has ever seen.

Edu Manzano– Really? Even now, I still can’t believe that Edu is the running mate of Gibo Teodoro.

Bayani Fernando- I’d like to think that Bayani can compare to Mar but whenever I think about it, Mar is just too far ahead of Bayani to be compared to him.

Sure, I respect everything that Bayani has done as  mayor of Marikina and as MMDA chairman, but Mar’s performance as DTI secretary and as a Senator far exceeds the achievements of Bayani in Marikina and as Chairman of the MMDA.

For me, Mar Roxas is one of the politicians that we have right now that I truly admire. He has never been tainted with issued of corruption in his more than 15 years of public service, and his years spent in public service has been marked with excellent and clean performance.

Make no mistake about it: Mar Roxas is the the best candidate for vice-president.

(Sidebar: Also, if NoyNoy Aquino is to win as president, he needs Mar Roxas as his vice-president. Noy needs him.)

***

For the Senators, I believe I am one of those unusual people who won’t vote for a single actor-turned-politician, son-of-a-former-Senator, and whistle-blowers-who-squealed-because-their-kickback-was-too-small-turned-candidate-for-Senator.

I chose those Senator-iables who are not lawyers by profession like Acosta, Bautista, Lim, Lao, and Roco. Because most lawyer-turned-politicians that we have now do nothing more than find loopholes in the law rather than uphold the law itself.

Tamano and Hontiveros-Baraquel are my favorite picks here. I love how Tamano fought with his own party mate (Gilbert Remulla, who is Manny Villar’s designated attack dog) for the black propoganda that they unleashed during the last weeks of the election. And for Hontiveros, I like her for being very statesman-like.

And oh yeah, (this is probably the first and only time I’ll swear in my blog) Fuck De Venecia and Jun Lozada. You guys make me sick.

***

I don’t think I have to explain my vote for Among Ed but for Lazatin, I think I have to. Honestly, I don’t know much about this Marco Lazatin–I’m only voting for him to get rid of Yeng Guiao.

In my own words, “epal” si Yeng Guiao. The way that he blocked countless Panlilio lead initiatives to change Pampanga without reason other than vested interest disgusted me then and still disgusts me up until now. So please, if you’re Kapampangan and you’re reading this, don’t vote for Yeng Guiao; instead, vote for Marco Lazatin.

I see no good reason for Oca Rodriguez to relinquish his post as mayor, so I’m voting for him. Never mind the reports of Oca being a leftist.

***

The party list in our country (there’s no other way to put it), is a joke. Most of the parties running are not running with their mind focused on the marginalized sector that they are representing. Instead, most of them are drooling with the thought of being handed P70,000,ooo in PDAF (Pork Barrel).

That’s why I’m choosing either Ang Ladlad or Akbayan as my party list. Because both of them are not after the money, but rather, they both are fighting for a real cause that I find relevant in our time today.

***

So there. I’m hope you bear whatever grammatical mistakes I have made in this post. I kind of rushed this in order for me to finish it before May 10.

If you’re voting tomorrow, please do vote wisely. Remember that the leaders that we choose in tomorrow’s elections will be in power until 2016 (!).

May 10, 2010

Come May 10,  I’ll be going to my voting precinct to vote for the first time in my life.

I don’t expect my  voting experience to be pleasant. From what I heard from people who have voted before, I’m kind of expecting the process to be tedious and chaotic.  But no matter how long the lines are, how hot and humid the day might be, how many things go wrong,  I promise to endure all of these things to make my vote count.  Because I know that the end result of enduring all of these things would very well be worth it.

Anyway, when they finally give me my voting ballot, I’ll look for the box (or is it a circle?) next to candidate number two in the list of presidential candidates and I’ll shade it carefully.

So yes, I’ll be voting NoyNoy Aquino for president this May 10.

****

To be honest, I’ve only made up my mind to vote for Noy this month. Before that, I was torn between Gordon and Aquino.

Gordon might very well be the most capable and competent presidential candidate (with NoyNoy probably languishing at the bottom of the competency scale. :l). I respect everything that he has done in Olongapo, Subic, Department of Tourism, Philippine Red Cross, and in the Senate. I really do.

But on the other hand, NoyNoy’s platform of fighting corruption really appealed to me. More importantly, he gave me hope that there might still be a chance to fix our current state of government.

So technically, it was a choice between the competence of Dick Gordon and the promise of change of NoyNoy Aquino. For me, both are equally important. But seeing as I could only vote for one president, I was faced with the dilemma of choosing only one of them even though I liked both of them.

Challenging as it may seem, this dilemma didn’t last that long.  Funny as it seems, my decision on who to choose between the two of them came from the actions of a completely different person:  Justice Secretary Alberto Agra.

Agra’s acquittal of Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan disgusted me to no end. It made me realize that I’m sick of the Arroyo government; that I’m tired of this system of injustice; angry at the lack of accountability of our government officials; tired of officials stealing our money; most of all, I’m sick and tired of those shameless public officials who takes advantage of public office for their own benefit.

Tama na, Sobra na.

That was  when I finally decided that I would be voting for NoyNoy Aquino.

(And by the way, Gordon’s endless bitch-fitting about surveys and his tasteless remarks against the other presidential candidates helped make this decision a whole lot easier.  )

Because the way I see it, NoyNoy Aquino is the  antithesis to the present Arroyo administration.

***

I don’t see NoyNoy Aquino as the perfect president. Nobody ever is. But what sets him apart from the other presidential candidates that we have right now (for me)  is that he’s the only one who has a sense for the importance of values.

Other candidates have made it a point to advertise themselves as competent (Gibo, Gordon) or one with the poor (Erap and Villar) while Noy has advertised himself as someone who has a sense for values (not corrupt, simple and will fight for what is right).  For me, that’s a great thing.

You see, I’ve been quite puzzled at those people who think that we should only pick a president based on his resume/achievements. And yes, I admit these are needed in picking out our next president. But something that is equally as important as competence but often forgotten in picking out a leader is the sense of values that a  candidate has.

Our society hasn’t been saved, not even improved, by its leaders’ acquired skills/competencies, geniuses or mastery of politics/economics/industry and so on. At the end of the day, when faced to make a choice, it is the leader’s moral moorings that will lead him to choose between his P1 billion (at least) cut and the food on the table (or fertilizer in the ricefields or computer in the classroom) of a downtrodden family. It is his instilled sense of values that will make him do the right thing. Discernment is easy when one has a moral compass.

From “It’s the Values, stupid”

Lifestyle section, Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 2 2010

This is precisely the thing I’ve been thinking about for a long time now.

I believe that NoyNoy Aquino has the values to make the right decisions as president.

Hate on everything about Noy’s lack of competence, but at least respect his simplicity, his pedigree, and lack of corruption while in Congress and Senate.

***

This, is also one of the reasons why I’m not a big fan dislike Gilbert Teodoro.  He’s advertised as “Galing at Talino” but I’ve never known why. Yes, he’s full of good and bright ideas, but what good are these ideas if they’re never applied in real life?

Also, I’ve never been under the impression that Gibo has good moral values. Why? For one, I’ve never really gotten over him turning a blind eye on the Ampatauans while DND chief (therefore technically allowing the Maguindanao massacre to happen).

Another is that he has too much ambition. Most people my age would not remember this (because most people my age don’t read the papers…) but Gibo actually bolted his old party (NPC) for Lakas-Kampi so that he would be nominated as a presidential candidate. And when he Lakas-Kampi was holding its convention to pick a presidential candidate, I remember Gibo threatening to leave Lakas-Kampi if he’s not elected as the party’s presidential candidate and that he would do so because he has the “support” of some big businessmen anyway.

So tell me, is too much ambition and ignorance on bad things a sign of good moral standing?

And while I’m at it, can someone please tell me how “Galing at Talino” translates to Gibo? Does a Masters degree from Harvard immediately translate to “Galing at Talino”?

*****

So yes, I’ll be voting for NoyNoy Aquino this May 10. I’ll proudly do so, mind you.

I don’t expect him to be a perfect president if he wins. But rather, I’m hoping that he becomes the perfect president for our problems today.