I don’t have a single shred of doubt that Vice President Jejomar Binay is by far the most qualified candidate to be the President of the Republic.
I value the fact that early in his professional life, Binay demonstrated concern for his fellow Filipinos. He had the courage to resist Martial Law when it was imposed in 1972, and provided legal services for anti-dictatorship activists, becoming himself a political prisoner. That is a mark of character. Can any of his rivals claim to have even the slightest concern for their fellow Filipinos in their youth? He has several decades of experience in running a major modern city, and has broadened his perspective working as vice president.
Binay’s world is of the poor and the lower-middle class, not only because of his background but also because of his constituents as Makati City mayor. Grace Poe’s world is that of rich actors and actresses, which obviously made her proficient in acting presidential. Manuel Roxas 2nd’s world is of the country’ richest, the privileged elite. Rodrigo Duterte’s real world is confusing, as he boasts he grew up in the streets of Davao’s toughest neighborhood, which he claims is the reason for his foul mouth and even for his rape joke.
I’m sure that you would also think that Binay is a shoo-in for the presidency, if not for a conspiracy in the past three years that demonstrate how unscrupulous and unjust the regime of President Aquino has been.
One of the biggest broadsheets in the country, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, undertook a massive three-year campaign to portray Binay as corrupt. Accusations against him were not just positioned on the front-page. These were the newspaper’s banner stories, and the vice president’s denials and even the utter debunking of his accusations, were buried in the inside pages. In the newspaper’s 44 issues from Oct. 8 to Nov. 20, 2015, PDI had 29 banner stories on the allegations against Binay, all of which were later debunked.
Even as late as March, the PDI persisted in its black propaganda in a banner story that tried to link Binay with the money-remittance company Philrem, which was involved in the laundering of Bangladesh central bank’s money. The story was totally baseless but the Inquirer never ran a retraction. (I have written very detailed accounts of the Inquirer’s coverage that represent the worst of journalism in our time, among them: “Inquirer’s brazen hatchet job vs Binay, a disgrace to journalism” March 17, 2016; “A travesty of journalism,” Oct. 10, 2014; and “Inquirer vs Binay,” Jan. 16, 2015)
I have never seen any media outlet exploited to the hilt to ruthlessly portray a government official as corrupt, except of course in the Inquirer and Aquino’s persecution of Chief Justice Renato Corona for the purpose of removing him from office.
People, of course, do not get their ideas from nowhere, nor even from their peers, in this case, the corrupt tag Binay found difficult to shed would be entirely due to the Inquirer, Aquino-Roxas and Cayetano-Pimentel’s intense black propaganda campaign against him.
The plot
The campaign was part of a plot by President Aquino and his candidate Manuel Roxas, launched in 2012, to paint Binay as corrupt as possible to deny him all chances of winning the presidency. After all, it was Binay to whom Roxas – Aquino and his Yellow Party’s only possible candidate – lost in the 2010 elections for the vice presidential post.
Aquino and Roxas’ plot, though, backfired.
With the dent on Binay’s integrity that came as a result of the Aquino-Roxas-Inquirer plot and the reality that the Yellow Party wouldn’t be given another mandate by the people because of its gargantuan failures, the cabals of other political and economic elite saw an opportunity for them to win in this 2016 edition of the Philippine game of thrones.
Joseph Estrada and his old Chinese-Filipino gang of businessmen, whose manok FPJ lost in the 2004 elections, fielded the actor’s adopted daughter, Grace Poe-Llamanzares, who didn’t really care at all about the Philippines that she and her family had once abandoned the country and become US citizens.
Alan Peter Cayetano and Aquilino Pimentel 3rd were zealous in persecuting Binay in the Blue Ribbon Committee not because they were agents of Aquino, as their other vitriolic colleague, Antonio Trillanes 4th, was. It was because even at that time, they had hatched their plan to field, backed up by Mindanao oligarchs with whom Pimentel was closely associated, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, and saw that their candidate’s real competitor was not Roxas but Binay.
The poet Robert Burns’ immortal words, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, often go awry, and leave us nought but grief and pain,” is so applicable, indeed, to the Aquino-Roxas plot.
Binay’s rise in popularity ratings was, indeed, stopped, because of their intense black propaganda against him, with the Inquirer’s help. But then instead of Roxas, it was Poe who led the surveys, followed by Binay (Roxas’ ratings were at the basement).
When Duterte joined the contest, despite his illness, tapped into the basest instincts of the masses (Kill! Kill the tribe’s enemies!), and let loose people’s anger against the hacendero President and his heir-apparent, Roxas’ candidacy was doomed.
In a more mature society, and with more responsible elites, Poe’s and Duterte’s candidacies would have been immediately struck down, even ridiculed.
How could somebody who repudiated her citizenship in a nation to become a US citizen, think she could be President of that nation she abjured, by simply signing a paper saying she had become a Filipino citizen again? Only if one is a “Poe” – the daughter of the movie hero Panday, who exploits the masses’ confusion over cinema and reality.
Dr. Frankenstein
Duterte, on the other hand, isn’t really a citizen of this Republic, or any civilized nation, as he openly – boasts, really – rejects this nation’s basic values of reverence for human life and adherence to due process.
Roxas is the Dr. Frankenstein that created the Duterte monster.
Duterte’s main, over-arching message is that crime is the country’s biggest problem and he boasts of Davao City as his Exhibit A to show he can eradicate crime. That this message has resonated with many Filipinos is due to the fact that Aquino’s main official in charge of containing crime, his Interior and Local Government Secretary Roxas 2nd, has totally failed in this most important aspect of his job. Instead, Roxas has focused his energies on plotting against Binay, and on ensuring that local governments have the money to support him in today’s elections.
As interior secretary, Roxas actually is chairman of the National Police Commission that oversees the Philippine National Police, the force designed and authorized to fight crime. Roxas has done absolutely nothing in undertaking steps to contain rampant crime in the country, and instead, has been in total denial that the crime situation has worsened. Even one of the worst Presidents we’ve had, Estrada, had enough sense to put priority on fighting crime during his term.
Duterte’s solution, to kill all criminals as they are found, is a small-town mayor’s perspective, due to utter ignorance. It is utterly wrong, and proven empirically.
Countries with the worst crime situations are both the poorest and without institutions that are efficient, corrupt-free, and well paid police force and legal systems, such as Ethiopia, Somalia, and Uganda and other countries in Eastern Africa.
Roxas boasts of his 23 years of experience in government, and of his education. But Roxas already has proven that he has fatal character flaws that he can’t lead this nation.
He could have made a mark – enough for his landslide victory – if he had, instead, focused on making the MRT-3 efficient. He didn’t, and the daily commute to work for millions of commuters in the metropolis has become a hell.
Nobody can really point to any worthwhile achievement to his credit in the last six years, during which he had tremendous influence even on the President.
Roxas’ defining moment was on Jan. 25, 2015, when 44 Special Action Forces of the PNP – which is under his authority – were massacred one-by-one in the span of a day. By his own admission, Roxas knew early in the morning that day, when only three of the SAF had been killed (because of booby-traps surrounding their target Marwan’s hut), that the troops were in big trouble as not only the MILF but other armed Moro bandits had surrounded them.
Roxas was with Aquino and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin the whole day in Zamboanga City. Did Roxas do anything to save his troops, such as telling Aquino to his face: “Mr. President, we have to save our troops and stop this charade of inspection in Zamboanga City”?
By his own admission, Roxas did nothing to save the SAF troops. And people still think he should be President? Roxas has been tested for his leadership, and he has failed, or as that Filipino cliché would put it: “Tinimbang siya ngunit kulang.”
A useful analogy
Look, one way for you to shed your biases and rationally consider who might be the best President for the country is to imagine the task as similar to choosing the contractor (or architect) for a house you are building, or renovating. It is not such a far-fetched analogy, as the President’s responsibility would be not just to fight crime, but also to build a nation and its institutions, infinitely more complex in structure than a physical house.
One contractor, the most fluent in Filipino and English among those applying has totally no experience at all, and really fresh from the US, but is comely-looking, looks sincere, and promises a good job. That is Poe-Llamanzares
Another contractor boasts of a good house he has built in his own province. But strangely he tells you nothing but that he would eradicate all the mice and termites in the house, and make sure it is burglarproof, which he says are the most important things for a house. That is Duterte.
Another contractor boasts of the many houses he has built. You check it out and find out he did a lousy job in all these. Strangely, though, he keeps bad-mouthing another contractor, and claims that the contractor overpriced the house he built. That is Roxas.
The last contractor boasts of a house you can very easily inspect, and ask the owner if he is satisfied, who will say he is. That is Binay.
tiglao.manilatimes@gmail.com
Anyway Mr.Tiglao the game is over for Presidency.let us unite in supporting the coming leadership of Rodrigo Duterte, we will accept the reality that DU30 is the choice of the Filipino people.and everybody has an opinion.
Some people cannot handle the truth; it hurts!
Vox populi, vox Dei.
The voice of the people is the voice of God. The masses have spoken and their voices cry out that they are tired of the old and rich 1 percent and the intellects who see only the tips of their pens no farther from the tips of their noses. The vast majority of this country languish in poverty and unemployment who remain uneducated, while you rich continue to live in your palatial clouds guarded by your continued denial of what is happening in front of you.
This is democracy at its finest. The poor masses will choose who they see will can and will make a difference. No amount of editorial opinions by opinionated intellects and post mortem analysis by the clueless upper class will change that. Be ready for a revolution.
Vox populi, vox Dei.
suggest you change your nom de guerre.
from google:
the earliest known reference to equating the “voice of the people” with the voice of God (“Vox populi, vox Dei)—was uttered in a disapproving way—this is attributed to Saxon scholar and teacher Alcuin of York (735-804), then Master of the Palace School at Aachen. In a letter to the Emperor Charlemagne in 800, he wrote, “And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always close to insanity.”
your chosen alias indicates you are an unthinking, easily misled person.
duterte and BBM marcos is very good combination…..Shut your mouth
Dutertes camp outsmarted all of them.
All of you are wrong! None of the are qualified at all and that is the hard facts! Do you think these are the best and the brightest among our population and if you say yes well pls check your rational side. The problem is all the time political parties are offering us food with poison all of them: Marcos, Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo, Aquino (again) then we don’t know yet because election is ongoing. This is all the result of your altruism resulting to collectivism and the abandonment of reason leading to a robotic people. Altruism in exchange of reason that is your morality so don’t be surprise always a rotten candidates.
Lame analogy. There is not much left to say that can save Jojo Binay’s free fall.
Binay: Have guts, there’s gain in pain, produce Limlingan and Baloloy, where there’s smoke, there’s fire! What big business do you have, Makati City?
The Filipino voters will no longer look for qualification such as education, integrity, morality, and all the good decent things that a president should possesses. People are desperate and really want a change, and whether we like it or not, Duterte will be elected as the next President, assuming the playing field is level – NO vote buying involved. This is the reality and no matter how we want this not to happen, it can and it will happen soon, so brace yourselves.
I still believe that Miriam Santiago is the most fit to become President and Marcos as Vice-President. Mr. Tiglao’s opinion came too late. He really believes that Binay is the most qualified among the 5 aspirants, then, why only now? This is a last ditch effort. The readers like me have already cast the vote. And of course, I gave it to Miriam and Marcos. Also, don’t count Miriam out. Just like, the youth, who are in favor of Miriam, I also convinced my family to vote for Santiago-Marcos. I have 4 siblings and all married. My parents are very healthy and all are registered voters. They all gave their vote today to Santiago-Marcos. I have good friends, FB friends, batchmates, colleagues, I have convinced them all. So are the youth today. Sorry but we will fight for Santiago-Marcos.
Duterte is the product of this BSAquino /LP government manipulation.
What they did to the character assassination of Binay is now backfiring on this administration
Same thing with allowing Poe to run and disrespect to the Comelec decision with the intervention of the SC ,backfired too .
The arrogance of Roxas asking Poe to back down for sake of Unity is the most Hollow Insincere call as well as BSAquino frantic move.
I remember Duterte was willing to endorse Binay if he did not run.
But with all the Chaos this government has created and their Greediness for Power .
Duterte move and rise maybe the Redemption needed from all the harm that has been done to our divided society !
Hope for the Best ! Binay can still be hopeful , if the silent majority that was with him in the beginning of his elections campaign when he had about 38% approval, will flip and realize last minute to return to their original support for him .
Only a Conscience Vote will make him win!
Indeed he is still the Better Candidate !
Was Binay the cleanest mayor Makati ever had? Binay was poor before he became mayor, but today he is richer than Mayor Yabut who was already rich when he became Makati mayor. Please explain how Binay got rich. He reminds me more of GMA’s father, Diosdado “the poor boy from Lubao” who acquired his Forbes Park mansion when he was president. Hindi man lang naghintay na matapos ang term niya para disimulado man lang maski papano. To politicians like Binay and Diosdado Macapagal, appearances don’t matter, as long as they are clever enough to use the “rule of law” to fend off whistleblowers and critics, never mind if those whistle blowers used to be their most trusted right hand men.
Qualification wise i think also it is binay but the greed for position as evidence by his siblings running in diferent position makes me feel not voting for him and that is one qualities of greediness, disregarding the corruption issues hounding him. My vote is for the immaculate white.
Betin ang decision ng supreme court. may conribute for the final decision. Grace is no longer a natural born filipino citizen. shr lost this birth birth when she swore under oath (to God) ” ako si grace poe llamanzares, ITONATAKWIL KO ang bayan sinilangan (state potentate)…suportahin ang constitution at mga batas ng estados unidos..etc”
Shame on you tiglao expecting a cabinet post if binay wins
Qualification does not mean he will win. PNoy acknowledged that Duterte will win when he panicked and called for a unity ticket among all other presidential candidates to gang up on Duterte. In the end game, PNoy proved to be the most effective campaigner for Duterte!
The contractor analogy is excellent, but obviously slanted in favor of binay. It should have gone like this: the fourth contractor built something nice for the owner, but unfortunately the owner realized that it had been overpriced more than twice than industry standards. “Two billion for a mere parking lot?” he boomed. “I should have gone to the contractor who had no frills, and promised me a house without termites and mice.” He said. At the end of the day, your own words betray you sir. Any sane person would want structural integrity and a pest-free house First and Foremost. And using your analogy, that contractor is Duterte.
nice comment…sir.
The only mistake made by VP Binay is his personal interest in running the City of Makati by not allowing Mr Mercado to assume the Mayor’s Office.
May 9, 2016 National Elections Predictions!
Homobono Adaza’s column in Manila Times dwelling on his predictions as to who is qualified and finally will carry the Presidential banner on the May 9,2016 national elections is validly well-analyzed and written. I subscribed to Adaza’s
observations as valid and well-thought of.
My own take on the matter follows:
Mar Roxas, though lacking the mass charisma and appeal only to the elite, is the only qualified among the five (5) presidential contestants, being educationally well-equipped, experienced, unblemished in character and public service. Not the least is his illustrious Roxas-Araneta family pedigree as untarnished dedicated public officials. Although he appears to be clinging to the coat-tails of Pnoy and parroting the worn-out and irritating slogan of Pnoy’s “tuwid na daan or straight path” which is pulling him down, Mar Roxas will stand-up as an independent-minded and hands-on President that will enable him to achieve substantial upliftment of the welfare of poor socio-economic segment of Philippine society.
BINAY could have been a logical successor to the Presidency BUT carries a heavy tainted baggage as corrupt and a family dynasty full of greed for power and wealth, putting him as disqualified for lack of clean reputation being perceived as morally and simply corrupt!
Poe is only too ambitious and in haste to become President though she has no governance experience and must not be allowed to run as being NOT a natural-born Filipino citizen and materially had lied on all her public statements on her citizenship status. Grace Poe deceives the people by claiming she will continue the service and advocacy of the poor’s economic plight by FPJ when there was nothing FPJ has done for the poor except only in his movies. Poe merely relies and felt riding high on her adoptive parents celebrity status to claim the highest post in the land.
Duterte is not qualified to be President for lack of moral values, immoral character and will wield the power and law of the jungle and adhere to his shamefull street-gutter speeches. Duterte’s reverse psychology of acting the opposite of a decent and smooth-soft-spoken leader by cussing, cursing and using expletives and acting as machismo, courageous crime-busting mayor of Davao, was able to attract and deceived desperate and hopeless citizenry looking for an aggressive leadership that can effect faster economic and social change like the master propagandist of Hitler, named Goebbels.
Duterte will likely turned the PNP into “vigilantes” and the AFP into “bounty hunters”. The country will be like the Wild Wild West of the USA and the “killing fields” of the Khmer Rhuge of Cambodia. With Duterte as President, the Philippines will be a pariah and in international isolation politically and economically like North Korea, and Duterte as a loose canon will be like Kim Injong.
Miriam Santiago, who is a self-promoter of her own qualification, as a judge and intelligent public servant, though not a legal luminary in her own right, is aging fast and losing her grip on reality due to her admitted illness of stage 4 cancer, will not be able to,cope up with awesome responsibilities of the office of the President. It is a waste of votes if she gets elected for she is physically incapable to carry the duties of the office. And God forbids Bongbong Marcos is not elected with her.
Any of these four at the helm of government will wreak havoc and disaster to the social, political and economic well-being of the nation!
It is also my hopeful forecasts that Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo will be elected President and VP, respectively, for the good of the country.
Let your hope remain a dream because until now your eyes are still covered with Yellow Blinders. Maybe now you know why Duterte became so famous, it’s because of the people’s desperation of this Yellow Regime who did nothing to our Nation except peddling lies on their achievements. After this regime is thrown away to the dustbin of history, you will be amazed by the amount of corruptions against them that will be unearthed and maybe the mere mentioning of their names will make you vomit as you took their word and followed them religiously hook, line and sinker.
By the way, maybe you are wondering why this is the only election that Pulse Asia or SWS did not come out with Exit Poll? its because Duterte and Bongbong will be the runaway winner for President and VP respectively and this two survey companies withheld this Exit Poll as it will make matter worst to their benefactors in the Yellow Regime. There is no way your Roxas and Robredo will win except on Massive Cheating, and this alternative will served as fuel to intensify the flame of hatred and GOD FORBIDS the consequences is UNIMAGINABLE!!!
Your analogy and analyses would no longer applicable and too late to tell the people. Today the majority of angry and disgusted Filipinos will choose the new president of the republic. Duterte will be the winner. Therefore, shut-up ka na lang.
Funny, because while you suggest we should inspect the houses that the contractors built and throw shade at Duterte for promising that it would be burglarproof and that’s all he really promises. He actually has built Davao City to what it is now and upon inspection… it has the best healthcare and is the safest in the entire country.
I strongly agree with Mr. Tiglao that VP Binay is the most qualified among the Presidentiables. Lahat yan e naglilinis linisan, pero me mga bulok dn naman na nakatago..
solid binay hope he will win
we ll written mr tiglao..
in the heat of this campaign period where families were divided over whom to vote .. i maintained my stand that of all the lofty promises of these candidates ” sino sa tingin mo ang kayang ipatupad yang mga pangakong yan ..” these are basically motherhood statements that often sway & mesmerize crowds of thousands.
however mr tiglao there’s a whale of a difference on how big business the super rich (religous organizations included) and the lower middle and the poor vote.. the former votes for, basically, self preservation and maintaining the status quo while the former hopes and pray for genuine reform and improvement.
kung pinalabas lang ni Binay si Limlingan at Baloloy, nabawasan sana ang pagdududa ng tao. But it’s too late now. Baka si Duterte as president ang magpalabas sa dalawa para magpatunay kung guilty nga si Binay.
I CONTINUE TO PRAY THAT PEOPLE WILL VOTE FOR SENATOR GRACE POE THE UNTAINTED CANDIDATE ON MONDAY .PLEASE VOTE FOR HER .SHE IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO IS NOT CORRUPT, SHE IS VERY COMPETENT , HINDI MANHID, HINDI MURDERER , HINDI MAYABANG ,WALANG TAGONG YAMAN AT MAY GOBYERNONG MAY PUSO.
Hope God will do miracle and give us a president who will take the Philippines to the next level ..PROSPERITY TO ALL FILIPINOS. As human being I made mistakes but my gut feeling is that Senator GRACE Poe is the one will lead us to peaceful and prosperous Philippines.
GO,GO,GO SENATOR GRACE POE WE WILL SHADE THE CIRCLE ON THE LEFT CLOSE TO YOUR NAME ON MONDAY .YOU WILL WIN ON MONDAY .IT IS YOUR DESTINY .
The best candidate out there ,no other than Senator Grace Poe .Why ? She is honest ,untainted ,sincere , resilient ,consistent with strong principles in life.She is the only candidate that do not use black propaganda or using personal attacks against her rivals. That’s the reason I’m going to vote for her. Mabuhay Grace Poe .May our GOD ALMIGHTY WILL CONTINUE TO HELP TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY ON MONDAY .
my comment is awaiting moderation daw..
I agree Binay is the most qualified but because of Aquino-Roxas-PDI-Yellow ribbon, we will again be deprived of the most qualified among the choices we’re given. Reminds me of 2010 when media focused on Gibo’s association with PGMA and not on Gibo’s qualification…we got the worst president in PNoy instead.
Too bad for Bise. D30 is winner, Carmen Pedrosa writes that USA has already counted the votes ————– D30 beats Grace by over 7 million votes, Grace million more votes than Bise…. Carmen Pedrosa reports binilang na ng Amerika ang boto at nuong binilang ng Amerika ang boto, si D30 ang panalo. Eh-di-wow!!!!
Did Roxas do anything to save his troops, such as telling Aquino to his face: “Mr. President, we have to save our troops (SAF) and stop this CHARADE of inspection in Zamboanga City”?
lol.
the next president and officials should not get into personal vendetta against former president. to attain unity this should be the case and focus more on economy, infrastructures and foreign policy. some candidates are now threatening that they will jail Pnoy for the DAP. I think some of the DAP were spent into the AFP modernization and upgrades including the PNP. and these are well spent money and not pocketed. going to personal vendetta to the winners is self destructing and will lead the country to more violence, disunity, never ending insurgencies and waste of resources. they should immediately once in office fix the major problems including mass transportation and development throughout the archipelago to close the gap between the rich and poor.
Tama po Mr. T. de Leon ang suggestion ninyo. Talagang isusulong po ang pagpapalago ng ekonomiya at isasaayos ang social cancer na kay tagal ng momanhid sa masa. Ngunit ang mga dapat managot sa batas ay dapat usigin at parusahan upang ‘di na tularan. Ang COA at BIR ay bigyan ng sapat na kapangyarihan na busisiin ang talaan ng cavan ng bayan upang malaman ng hahaliling pamunuan upang mabatid kung saan nilustay ang limpak-limpak na kwarta ng bansa.
You should tell that to Aquino’s victims starting with CJ Corona. DAP was created mainly to bribe the lawmakers to impeach him. Let’s not lose sight of that.
I have never heard of any Chinese-Filipinos supporting traPOE. All I heard was that she is not qualified because she’s not natural-born.
Noong 2004 pa yun sila Erap and the Fil-Chi businessman bet ang candidacy ni FPJ at hindi si Grace Poe.
Win or lose I will still vote for Binay.
We are in the same boat ate!!!!!!
good choice. for me it is either du30 or binay. it is a toss up as far as i am concerned. the 2 candidates of benito boy sisi are full of crap and hot air. maganda sa papel, lalo na si boy pickup, pero ampaw sa tunay na buhay