Screw it. Let's just not hold elections.

Despite record confidence in PGMA’s administration and praise for moving heaven and earth to secure the upcoming vote, the commander-in-chief, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, cautioned the public that "I'm worried" over poll automation, adding "maybe it's [elections] just not worth it." Throwing her hands up in a gesture of dismay and absolute dejection, she said "Elections will fail, and there's nothing we can do to avert that outcome."

Little less than 100 days before the May 12 national polls, all systems are grinding to a spectacular halt now that there is no safeguarding one of the most potent manifestations of democracy. "We have spent every bit of political capital, manpower, and pork-barrel funds in our efforts." she said, "I even banned my Dato and Mikey from playing counter strike [to free up government server space]. Nothing has worked. But in retrospect, I’m glad we bent over backwards, because now it’s easier to kiss our own asses goodbye."

The public has seen nothing except the valiant efforts of the administration to secure worldwide confidence. COMELEC even hired IT technicians from Brazil, posing as sexy models who could regularly be found in Tabu Tuesdays, while actually programming code on their cell phones. House representatives also brokered a landmark deal with DND and PNP officials in their home provinces to dismantle their private armies, in an effort to preserve the atmosphere of order and trust.

But the kitchen sink was officially thrown in with the importation of retired computer guru, Bill Gates, former Chairman of Microsoft and founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. "When I first arrived in 2007, I was sure that we could do it. We had so long to prepare. And we were on track all the way until this weekend," a visibly exhausted Bill Gates said. "Now I have this eye twitch because I was staring at the computer screen for hours. I've never worked so hard in my life. But we—I—blew it.”

Gates has been working alongside COMELEC Chairman Melo in guaranteeing the information management systems, as well as clearing installing firewalls in all BIR computers that block facebook applications, particularly, the wildly popular Farmville.

He has even been helped out as Deputy Press Secretary for Mrs Arroyo, since the death of Cerge Remonde last week. "[N]ot that she needed the credibility...everyone trusts her. But she wanted you to know that all is lost. It’s up to God now to reveal who should be mandated to be the President.” Gates said, reading from a prepared script. “And, if God says it will be some sort of ‘minister’ or 'ministress' in some ‘prime’ function, then so be it."

Gates then went off script, speaking from the heart."Think about it," he went on, "since G-Lo [Arroyo’s rap handle] was swept to power extra-constitutionally in 2001, she has been hands-on in fortifying the credibility of ‘one Filipino, one vote.’ She wants her legacy to be that of a transparent leader and one who will graciously step aside when the time comes. Unfortunately, June 30, 2010 might as well be three Sundays ago. It's off."

Gloria went on the record this weekend, touting her record of smooth transitions of power and paying for a correction in her massive "Then and Now" advertising campaign. "In all branches of government," the ad reads, "we have seen improvement in the lives of Filipinos. Except for the COMELEC. It was much better in 2004 when I trusted those who were counting the votes. What a waste of money these new jagoffs was."

In front of Palace reporters, she was more restrained, blunting the tone of the print ads. “You know the evidence; I was so hands-on in 2004; I personally managed the election progress and peacefully and fairly transferred power from myself to my successor and incumbent, also me.
“I could have stopped there, but I didn't." she said, breaking down and sobbing, "I could have left my legacy at the Hello Garci expose of my good management skills, but I really, really wanted show my power in creating trust and to cleanse the image of elections in the country for all eternity."

She referred to her repeated calls to the COMELEC Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to safeguard democracy. When recordings of the phone conversation were leaked to the public, the former president/president-elect accepted the praise that went along with it, but in a surprise turn of events in a 2005 speech, apologized.

"I made an oath," the president said from Malacanang at the time, "to make the ‘04 elections Super-Secure. Unfortunately, ambition got the better of me, and I was only able to bring this 2004 election to the level of Very Secure. Therefore, this victory of mine is as empty as the FPJ influence in Maguindanao. Mea culpa."

Following that speech, the political backlash brought her 100% SWS approval ratings to a record-low 99.99%, and she has never looked back in her quest for fair elections since. She passed an Supreme Executive Order and raised the level of expectations for the automated elections to 'Ludicrously Secure.'

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, speaking for once on national-security issues that didn't have masa appeal, also weighed in. "Though the masses won't notice the effects, it is sad that the president will not sleep soundly tonight, knowing that her citizens' constitutionally guaranteed right to counted votes is now in doubt," he said. “I’m a lawyer, I know how to win. I was the oppressive architect of Martial Law, probably the most reviled of all of Marcos’ cronies,” he chuckled like lolo talking about slavery and prima nocte, “and I still won. But this automation…this is impossible. It's like the load that disappeared from my cell. What is that? And sometimes, when I call my nephew, I hear a song playing? Why? Disappearing load yata 'yon eh. Ano na ba ang presyo ng kuryente?"

Of course, the most seriously affected by this development are the thousands of candidates who are campaigning in earnest across the country. In a rare show of solidarity, all 21,000 of them issued a joint statement, read by constitutional framer Fr Joaquin Bernas, SJ.

“As Filipinos, we know what it means to try our hardest, and cooperate to achieve the most impossible goals. But in an event as important as this, failure is not an option. Therefore, let’s spare ourselves the inevitable heartbreak and just stay home on May 12. If you happen to vote, be sure to voice your complaints if your candidate doesn’t win. That probably means that you were cheated, the machines were compromised, or blackouts struck at the most inconvenient time for the election period. And,” he added, “there is still the possibility that the ghost of Fernando Poe Jr. is haunting our servers.”

Goodness

Gilbert Teodoro was asked in the recent DLSU debates what the extent of his gratitude was towards the thief-in-chief, to which he replied, “Utang na loob means paying goodness with goodness."

And I say unto you sir, if the people of the Philippines show enough goodness to elect you president, their goodness should be first on your list of debts to repay. Unless you are a complete tuta, your loyalty is to the Philippine people. When you were DND Secretary, as you are running for President, and even when you fade from the public's attention like the hazy Manila sky at sundown, your loyalty is to 92 million Filipinos, not to GMA.

“If you are given goodness, you pay back with goodness." Your words, sir. Don't ever forget.

Straight Shooter? More Like Quick Draw Believer

“Shooting Straight” is a column written by Valeriano Avila in The Freeman, a newspaper out of Cebu. “Shooting Straight” also appears in The Philippine Star under the name Bobit S Avila.

In his Freeman article (Dec 1, 2009) Mr Avila asks in his headline, “About that Facebook survey: Is it credible?” He is referring to the mock election being run by the Facebook App Election2010 that has run three rounds of polls with a fourth underway.

(For those unfamiliar with the term App, it’s short for Application Software that is nested in a computer program to assist the user in a task, in this case, creating instant voting in the Facebook program. Facebook, Inc. did not develop the Election2010 App. In fact, almost all of the Apps on Facebook are created by third parties—developers from outside Facebook; a concept that seems to elude Mr Avila, with comments like “Facebook came up with a third survey” when he should be crediting the developers of the Election2010 App.)

The results of the online poll seem to have a big impression on Mr Avila ever since he listened to almost-presidential candidate Chiz Escudero more than two months ago. Based on US President Obama’s success, Senator Escudero reportedly said, Facebook and Twitter results were more believable than SWS or Pulse Asia polls. But then-Senator Obama didn’t just read the results of one online poll. And this is the only target of Mr Avila’s focus; a Facebook poll at that. The internet deserves better representation, especially since online success relies on 1) a broad, integrated presence online with a single-minded message, and 2) converting passive internet users into active brand champions on- and offline, and not just on a single set of mock election results.

Despite the New Media Marketing 101 course outline, Mr Avila gives the mock elections by Election2010 his full, sophomoric endorsement on its veracity and impartiality.

There was a survey that was totally fair because it wasn’t done by the politicians or their PR agencies, nor was money spent to collate this information. The latest Facebook mock survey covering the period Nov.23-29. Gilbert Teodoro bagged 58% of the votes, Noynoy Aquino bagged 31.76%, Manny Villar got 7.10%, while former Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada got 1.1%. The first two Facebook mock surveys showed Noynoy was leading the race.

- Straight Shooter (The Freeman), via www.philstar.com Updated December 01, 2009

While the Election2010 mock poll could in fact be “totally fair”—conducted without bias or rigging it—the methodology is up in the air. This is where SWS and Pulse Asia surveys are a great, reliable resource; each survey result has details on sample size, age, and methodology for getting the information, not to mention complete transparency with regard to commissioner, or exclusivity or first rights to publish.

The Election2010 poll has none of these. Nobody went out to find respondents. The respondents may have found it by search, accident, or by referral. Because of this uncertainty, the trending in Gibo’s favor is not clear. Was it due to comments by any candidate? Did the Gibo machinery mobilize supporters to find that App and vote? Is there a margin of error, in the case of mistaken identity or accidental answering?

None of these possible causes are more or less improbable than the other, if at all. Neither are they unethical or underhanded since its credibility is far from established. But without Mr Avila’s discerning its methodology, and to then proclaim it to be “totally fair” is naïve and irresponsible as a journalist.

What’s more, Mr Avila published a similar article, this time in the Philippine Star, “A look at the surveys done by Facebook.” It is difficult to see that he is referencing the same poll, as in the Philippine Star article, the poll period has changed from Nov. 23-29 to Nov. 20-30. The poll results also changed, and so did his tone, saying instead that the “mock surveys of Facebook have become a counter balancer to the pollsters surveying voters in this country.”

Not only is he lacking with background facts, but the facts that he does have are not as straight as his column name suggests.

Apparently, Facebook came up with a third mock survey for Nov. 20-30th and lo and behold, Lakas-Kampi Presidential bet, Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, Jr. bagged a significant 58.69% lead over Noynoy who bagged 31.90%. This was followed by Sen. Manny Villar at 5.80%, Erap at 1.45%. Now should we believe in the Facebook survey? Perhaps those batting for Noynoy would no longer believe it as he has slid down from the top.

- Straight Shooter (The Philippine Star) via www.philstar.com Updated December 02, 2009

Clearly, his goal is single-minded agreement with Chiz’s two month-old Quixotism, “Facebook or Twitter is a better sampling than our present crop of pollsters.”

So if Facebook or Twitter is indeed a better sampling mechanism, it is important to look at similar indicators evident on these social networking sites. As of December 1, 2009, Noynoy’s Official Facebook “Politician Page” has 110,679 supporters as compared to Gibo’s 8,950 fans. Chiz’s Facebook Politician Page has almost the same number as Manny Villar’s page at just around 39,000.

On Twitter, the short messaging service online, Noynoy has 22,045 followers while Gibo has 5,105. At the same time, according to internet analytics, Noynoy is collecting more followers at a 2:1 ratio when compared to new followers of Gibo.

Even Senator Mar Roxas, Liberal Party candidate for vice-president, has more followers than Gibo, with 23,366.

In summary, Mr Avila is creating great, albeit negative press for Gibo’s success on this “Facebook survey” as he repeatedly calls it. And while the Arroyo-backed candidate is improving his online presence, the bigger picture, backed by solid and self-evident statistics, shows Noynoy with a commanding lead in terms of fans, supporters, and followers in this multi-dimensional field called social media or new media. And in spite of Noynoy’s early lead among Facebook and Twitter users, there is no indication that his snowballing popularity will slow, as week-on-week incremental numbers show.

On the surface, Mr Avila postures with healthy, journalistic skepticism in both of his articles. However, the straight shooting “skeptic” gets converted to “believer” in a quick draw, and that is the product of a lack of investigation, lack of hunger for facts, and lack of critical analysis.

Right away, Madam Congresswoman

The Weight of the World

One of my favorite ad campaigns of all time is the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty dot com. The website features real girls with real issues about their self-esteem. It claims that 92% of females surveyed have something to hypothetically change in their appearance, and 35% of the time, it’s their weight.

When I first saw the poster of six scantily-clad women, I realized that something didn’t fit. The women on the poster weren’t the typical Victoria’s Secret models that I’m accustomed to one day dating. For starters, some of them were black. But the next thing that I noticed was that they were bigger. As an equal opportunist for beautiful, confident women of all colors and sizes, this was a huge turn on. And to this day, I talk about it as if it changed my life. Because it did. (My advertising life, at least.)

Today, there’s a thriving industry selling plus-sized fashion. But for that year, 2006, that these women weren’t wearing dark colors or vertical stripes, or anything at all but white bras and panties, it was, figuratively, tits. These were real women with real curves. And they were sexy.

That campaign went on to sweep the world with billboards proclaiming wrinkles as wonderful, freckles to be flawless, and a youtube video that has gotten millions of hits from men and women of all shapes and sizes, including aspiring art directors who needed a quick photoshop tutorial.

It was, and still is a caring, heartfelt marketing effort by Dove, a brand that is—surprisingly—still in the business of selling dirt-removing soap, moisturizing cream, and exfoliant. Their mantra of ‘be yourself and love yourself’ apparently has limits on how yourself you can actually be.

Thus, I was thrilled when I started watching the reality TV show The Biggest Loser. As a humanitarian that abstains from eating humans, I found the intense workouts and the punishing regimens by the contestants to be so inspiring, even my eyeballs were sweating by the season finale. I wasn’t crying. No, I save my tears for real emergencies. Like saving a nail from getting hit by a hammer.

Finally, someone took the Dove campaign to the next level. Finally, there was a place for dangerously obese men and women on television, aside from Queens, NY; a plus-sized niche on prime time that was raking in the low-cal, high-fiber ad dollars.

The Dove campaign was great, despite controversial leaks that the six women in their underwear did indeed get some airbrushing of their own. However, I think that The Biggest Loser really takes the cake as to what entertainment and advertising should be. This show goes above and beyond the typical marketing strategy of putting "good-looking" people on air, because I’ve seen the contestants in the finale at their thinnest and fittest, and they’re not drop-dead gorgeous. But they are beautiful, as I think all women are, and should acknowledge in themselves. On another TV breakthrough, the producers didn’t introduce a teenage vampire mid-season, and there is no laugh track. True, there is the element of alliances and voting off of dieters, a disregard of success or failure in the simple objective of the game. But while as in life, it doesn’t follow that we should like the best, the smartest, or the richest we are surrounded with, we can and should always help the ones we do like to succeed as much as we can.

The Biggest Loser is so revolutionary in the way it goes beyond the two benchmarks of success in the freakfest we call cable entertainment; product placement and Nielsen ratings. Last I saw, it was just Jell-O and 24-Hour Fitness that was prominently displayed. This show is all about rejecting reality; by the contestants, and the norms of beauty in a society. They reject being at risk of weight-related illnesses, skipping parties and doctor’s appointments (stuff you learn from the Dove website) and supplant it with the brilliance of a TV show producer’s vision, and hundreds of thousands of US dollars. It is oozing with high-minded, transformative qualities that the Dove company couldn’t possibly turn into moisturizing gravy, even if they were run by the Nazi fourth Reich.

With the biggest contest on Earth coming to Asia, I can’t wait for the fervor of health and wealth to sweep the continent. But most importantly, I can’t wait for the conversations to start in households, amongst couples, and in the minds of youngsters who are at risk of living a life of obesity. There is no taboo in being overweight, only in bringing it up. The elephant in the room is not the pants that need four hands to zip it up. It’s in our inability to call a spade a spade.

Dove did a marvelous thing by calling a spade a real, beautiful spade. But nothing compares to seeing a bunch of hopeful, honest, fat people at an audition shouting out, “I’m The Biggest Loser!”

Hues With Me?

Foreword: Bayani Fernando aka BF has used pink to paint footbridges, bus corrals, and public urinals for high visibility. As urban legend has it, he uses pink and blue because they are his and his wife's favorite colors.

The Inquirer today printed a short editorial, calling for the rethink of pink. It seems after six-odd years of Bayani Fernando’s use of the color and one “left-leaning,” "pinko" request in congress for an formal inquiry into the matter, the Inquirer now thinks that the MMDA should reverse itself and cease and desist the use of pink.

The Inquirer Editors' rationale?

“Pink is a color commonly associated with femininity. Thus, a baby girl wears pink, a boy, blue. Soft pinks are associated with romance and the blush of a young woman’s cheeks.”

It blathers on about ribbons, breast cancer, and the pink triangle as a marker for GLBTs. In closing, the editorial argues against the color, “not only mar[ring] the city’s landscape but also violat[ing] local and international regulations on signs and signals. We agree. If compliance and discipline is the objective, why not use a more assertive color like blue?”

Color, and its power of persuasion, dear editors, is in the eye of the beholder. I fail to see the direct connection between civic and legal compliance by Filipinos and local or international color schemes. Let me edit myself: I fail to see Filipinos complying with Bawal Umihi Dito (No Pissing Here), the Ten Commandments, and less divine regulations, laws, presidential decrees, rules on decency, morality, and mea culpa, brevity.

But you, dear male editors, may be color blind, making your black and white assessment so easy to make. I, for one, am bemused but thrilled by BF’s work and his colorful attitude. I have heard many stories about the Chair’s behavior and off-color remarks during meetings, and the impression that I get is that Bayani Fernando has a vision, unlike other so-called public servants. His vision is, as you put it, “compliance and discipline” and its execution is steeled in the same. The medium is the message, as they say in communications.

Political will, to all you primary-color minded morons, comes in all hues and saturations. And while red means stop and green means go (except when Makati Mayor "Joblackma" Binay has the lights blink yellow to—in a twist of logic—chromatically remind you who is in charge) there seems to be no precedent for the color pink. Chalk it up to an “Onli in da Pillipins” thing. Paint it any way you like, but judge on merit, and not on unrelated, sexist classification, or the grey non-issue of fences, or the festering (but, apparently relaxing) green of political envy. Bayani Fernanado has done more for Metro Manila than all the black, brown, and white mayors, congressmen, and barangay chairs in his jurisdiction, combined.

One man finally has the audacity to take a stand, both on a color and on a blushing topic like Filipinos’ lack of discipline when no one is watching, and all you can think about is homosexuals and nursery rhymes? Way to think, pink.

(Now, should he run for president? That's another story altogether.)

Related article:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20090105-181537/MMDA-chief-tickled-pink-by-fence-critics

Why is Ka Noli so silent?

Another journalist has been gunned down in my country, this time a radio announcer from Samar. This brings to eight the count of dead journalists in this year, and 60 since Mrs Arroyo assumed power.

We, as Filipino citizens, have a responsibility to hear, see, and feel this as a grave threat against our basic freedoms.

Please, please, PLEASE email Ka Noli de Castro, our "Working Vice-President," and plead with him to speak out against these killings.

Go to Open Letter to VP de Castro and copy, edit, and send it to the feedback section of the Office of the Vice President.

Spread the word about those who speak for thousands.

Protect those who seek out information and alert the world.

Stand up for those who have god-given courage, skill, and temerity to bring you your news.

Our journalists may not always cover the things that we are most interested in. We may disagree with their views or even ridicule them for the way that they dispense them. But we cannot, as a free nation, tolerate their harassment or violent treatment, nor can we abide the inaction by local and national government in bringing the killers and the masterminds even within earshot of justice.

Take action. Email Ka Noli de Castro, and ask him to speak out against these killings and for him to take action, too.

Go to Open Letter to VP de Castro and copy it, edit it, and send it to our "Working Vice-President." (http://www.ovp.gov.ph)

You can also scroll down my notes here on FB to find the same letter. This is a simple act that can affect us all. God knows, killing journalists is already changing our nation into the second most dangerous place for journalists, only after Iraq.

For the record, please leave a comment here so that people can see that we don't turn deaf ears and blind eyes to these crimes. Feel free to post this on your FB page or wherever.

As a writer, I thank you. - Carlos

RTR 08 - WEB POSTER

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RTR 08 - WEB POSTER

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Solb na ang transpo