gilbert teodoro’s tv ad – promises made, promises broken

we like to contribute our bit to this blog on political tv ads. we are no ad expert, but we will react to the ad as viewer of ads on tv. this ad got us interested as there is a lot of talk on noynoy aquino’s new tv ad “hindi ka nag-iisa”,  so we thought getting into gilbert teodoro’s tv ad is an  appropriate time to do so now.

teodoro’s tv ad was written about in this blog by wawam last may 11 (read it here, click: gilbert who? introduces himself in tv ad). it is interesting that in his post then, he said this:

we are of course t-h-a-n-k-f-u-l that teodoro told us what we need to do for emergencies. while the ad told us these things, we will probably remember the correct spelling of his name. the only problem of course is that emergencies do not happen that often. but since we see the ad very often on tv, he is hoping we will remember his name very often.

wawam was correct in saying emergencies do not happen often. he said that in may, four months after at the end september, ondoy and pepeng happened and we like to look at this ad from that perspective.

gilbert teodoro is the chair of NDCC, the National Disaster Coordinating Committee. the NDCC is the main government agency tasked to prepare the country in case of emergencies just like the ondoy/pepeng floods.

NDCC mandate, NDCC website is source:  
It is through the NDCC member-agencies that disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation and response carry out its corresponding tasks and responsibilities under the NDCC system.

http://ndcc.gov.ph/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26

the tv ad opens with the basic premise of the ad – 

farmer: “Sir, may parating na bagyo. Pano na ang pananim namin?”
teodoro: “Huwag kayong mag-alala. Tutulungan ko kayo.”
toedoro to CAM: “Bahagi ng buhay ay ang mga kalamidad. Hindi natin ito mapipigilan kaya dapt maghanda.”

 after that sequence, the tv ad spells out his last name with each letter representing what the people will do to prepare for emergencies.

we think this ad is full of irony and yes to a certain degree prophetic. four months after he aired these ads, the premise of the ad, a “bagyo”, in fact two of them happened.

but that is where this ad stops in succeeding to be real  – while the premise of the ads were perfect for what happened during ondoy/pepeng, the government action and certainly the NDCC led by teodoro did not at all deliver in what was spelled in  T-E-O-D-O-R-O.

local governments were unprepared, did not know what to do and the national government was not there and didn’t seem to know what it was supposed to do, not even when they knew what the letters  T-E-O-D-O-R-O stood for. there is a unanimous conclusion by everyone the government was too late and gave too little during the typhoon disasters.

in other words teodoro in real life broke the promises he made in this tv ad. to a certain extent, the tv ad did fulfill the mandate set for NDCC as stated in their website but in practice, teodoro failed. makes us think that perhaps the ad was truly the creation of a very creative writer who plucked the words out of his imagination but forgot to tell teodoro he is supposed to do everything in those letters so that when an actual flood comes, we will all be saved.

we have heard of politicians breaking the promises they make during the campaign period, but this one is just all too real for all of us. wawam was correct – we learned to spell    T-E-O-D-O-R-O and now after ondoy/pepeng, we learned new meanings for those letters : L-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-I-P  F-A-I-L-U-R-E.

noynoy aquino’s “hindi ka nag-iisa” tv spot – historic ad for a historic presidentiable?

this ad has made philippine advertising history – it has the most number of tv celebrity endorsers  featured in one single tv ad. that says a lot about this ad. celebrity endorsers in tv ads is one of the most potent in the country and widely used by mass consumer products from fast food chains, detergents to sanitary napkins and just about anything else you see on tv. if mass consumer products use celebrity endorsers in their ads, why shouldn’t politicians? and in fact they did in the last elections so much so that a number of them got elected only because of the endorsers featured in their ads.   

the list of celebrities in noynoy’s tv ad is very extensive and we have to admit  very impressive. the set of celebrities in the ads appeal to very much the full spectrum of voters, across all demographics and psychographics with special focus on the masses and the young adult.

the ad is actually a song with a familiar message for at least among the older set. “hindi ka nag-iisa” is a line used in the 80’s first by ninoy aquino during his presidential run, then by cory aquino.

a recurring theme in the ad is the message of people coming out to support noynoy’s candidacy which is  one of the more relevant messages in the ad as it is probably one of the more real feelings of many voters.

the music is well done with great production values and sang with passion and excellent voicing by regine velasquez. some of the images however are too staged and bordering on the boring and contrive. on the over-all though the ad is well produced.

with noynoy already the run-away dominant leader in the most recent polls (60%), will this strengthen his position more and expand his voter base?

please read –> noynoy aquino to lose the election due to advertising blunders

join the poll, “who do you like best among the presidentiables?”. click here to vote and see the results: http://wp.me/pnw03-cr

join a poll, “3 presidentiables you will not vote and do not want to win the 2010 election“. click here to vote and see the results: http://wp.me/paTrm-12E

this ad works because it captures what a lot of people, ordinary folks have found themselves in – an other uninvolved voter who is now actively supporting a political candidate, noynoy aquino. 

that is basically what happened during the wake and burial of cory aquino – young and old came out to the streets to pay their respects for cory, even those who previously were not at all in mass actions like those.

the lyrics of the song says it all:

Nang bawa’t mamamayan
pagmamahal natin sa bayan
‘wag na nating itago, ‘di tayo susuko

the ad shows a long list of celebrities who have not been  previously seen coming together for any cause. more importantly, these are celebrities who we did not expect and certainly did not even imagine would come out to appear for a tv ad for the election of a president.

seeing them and all of them in one ad struck a chord in our hearts as many of us felt the same way – for the first time we are coming out of our shell to support a presidential candidate.

~wawam~

 

The stars (in order of appearance) are: Regine Velasquez, James Yap, Kerby Raymundo, Willie Miller, KG Canaleta (PBA player), Cyrus Baguio, Sharon Cuneta, Boy Abunda, Anne Curtis, Bianca Gonzales, Mariel Rodriguez, Erik Santos, Bea Alonzo, Dingdong Dantes, Ai-Ai delas Alas, Ogie Alcasid, Marian Rivera, Kris Aquino and Noynoy himself, together with Enrico Villanueva, LA Tenorio, and Larry Fonacier and Paulo Bugia (Ateneo players now with PBA) for the last shot.

“HINDI KA NAG IISA”
Composed by: Ogie Alcasid
Sung by: Regine Velasquez

Sasamahan ka namin
Kahit paligid ay madilim
Iilawan ang daan tungo sa magandang kinabukasan.
Ika’y mamuno,kami ay susunod
pagkakaisa’y ating itaguyod
ang Pilipinas ay naghihintay
handa kaming kumilos,handang umalalay.

the irony in PDI’s page 1 – the gentle giant chiz escudero’s presidential bid and a gentle giant of the sea both dead in the water

we think there is great irony, poetic even, in today’s page one of PDI (philippine daily inquirer).

headline, above says “Chiz junks NPC, Danding” talking about yesterday’s “shocking” announcement of him leaving the political party that has put him as senator, that we think effectively has put his presidential bid as dead in the water. 

we had previously written on chiz escudero with our own headlines:  will chiz escudero be orphaned? is his presidential bid dead in the water? (click to read) and more recently –  questions on chiz escudero answered. he is orphaned, leaves his political party NPC. is his presidential run dead in the water? (click to read)

just above the PDI headline is a very imposing picture of what PDI describes as a “gentle giant”, the whale shark found dead at manila bay. this gentle giant of course died in the water and was just washed away to the shores of manila.

we thought the news headline and our view that chiz escudero’s presidential bid as being dead in the water gives us the irony of a huge picture of a dead gentle giant. chiz escudero is the only presidentiable who we think has very gentle ways, most specially in the eloquence of his tagalog. he speaks in monotone and the cadence of his speech is a very gently wave of good tagalog. (contrast him to the fiery mar roxas of “putaang ina” fame!) escudero also has very much giant ideas on good governance and on what is right and what is wrong. these are the exactly the things we admire about him.

the headline in words  of a gentle presidentiable giant below the picture of a dead gentle giant from the sea – both dead in the water, one the sea creature, the other the presidential bid.

 

bayani fernando – still a presidentiable

our hope of reducing the number of pictures of presidentiables was dashed by this news article – MMDA chair bayani fernando is still running for president.

we wondered about him. he was suddenly silent, and that is unusual right after the executive committee of the LKAS-KAMPI-CMD party chose teodoro instead of him.

here is another presidentiable who will run for president but has no political party.

 

Bayani Fernando still running for president
Unsure if staying at Lakas-Kampi-CMD

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:13:00 10/28/2009

MANILA, Philippines — After lying low for several weeks, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando on Wednesday reaffirmed his intention to run for president in 2010.

“It’s a go. I’m decided and will not back down,” Fernando said in a statement.

However, Fernando kept mum on how he will run and under what party, saying that, “It is only after the MMDA finishes its cleanup and restoration activities for typhoon Ondoy that I can have time for politics.”

the 2 hail mary pass options for chiz escudero

we like chiz escudero. we particularly like to hear him speak. he is the most eloquent of all the presidentiables specially in pilipino. you just have to bear and grin the monotone delivery and statue like poker face. but once you get past that this man makes a lot of sense. he also has his principles and priorities in the right place.

we are saddened that the NPC has abandoned chiz or that chiz abandoned the NPC. we think, as we have previously asked in this blog, chiz escudero’s run for the president is dead in the water with the most recent developments.

dead as it may be, we like to give him two options for a hail mary pass. one is a miracle, the other redemption.

first the miracle. this hail mary pass involves replacing erap estrada as the standard bearer of estrada’s political party and machinery. the miracle involved here is that erap needs to be convinced that he should withdraw his candidacy in favor of escudero.

lets face it erap’s run for the presidency has a very high legal barrier to cross. it will not come easy for erap. it’s a great thing if he gets it, but what if erap fails? should erap allow himself the possibility of the humiliation of a legal defeat on his presidential run?

agreeing to step down in favor of escudero gives erap the statesman status, the wise elder and the guru for escudero. he can be kingmaker, a role that he will enjoy the same way as marlon brando enjoyed it at The Godfather.

the way it stands now, it looks like it will take a miracle, erap sounds very determined and committed to his quest. but with escuderos gift for tagalog words, he just might be able to convince erap to give him the miracle.

now, the redemption. this one is simpler and this one is very smart. he will be taking 1 step backward to be able to take 2 steps forwards after 6 years.

escudero can redeem himself by running for VP under villar. surely escudero is a much better choice than drama queen loren legarda for villar.

this hail mary pass is very similar to our proposal for perlas and villannueva. we had proposed in this blog for perlas and villanueva to abandon their presidential bids and run for senators instead.

we had proposed that as to us it is obvious both men will not be voted president at the moment. if they lose the presidency, the country loses two bright. idealistic and principled men. they have a much better chance of winning as senators than as president. getting themselves into the senate will enable the country to make use of their talents and skills. the same thing applies for escudero. 

we hope escudero will think hard about our twin proposals for his hail mary pass.

questions on chiz escudero answered. he is orphaned, leaves his political party NPC. is his presidential run dead in the water?

the press meeting that is presently on going at club filipino is just about to end with now the question and answer portion.

we had  2  questions in our october 25 post in this blog  (click to read) —  will chiz escudero be orphaned? is his presidential bid dead in the water?.

the first question has been answered – he is now orphaned. on the second question, yes we think escudero’s run for the presidency is dead in the water.

the gist of it is that chiz escudero announced he is leaving the NPC, the political party that he is with since he start in politics and is now an independent.

he said this in very eloquent prose, talked about what is wrong or right about governance  but inspite all of that,  we are not sure if he is running for president or not. he has not said one way or the other if he will run for president or not. the only thing that is sure is that he has left the NPC. we need to wait some more. again!

without a political party for the machinery and without funds, not even eloquence in speaking in tagalog will solve those. without those, any political campaign is dead in the water.

this whole episode also i think in some ways marks escudero’s reputation. escudero has taken us on a wild ride on his presidential candidacy with an unpleasant after taste. this is particularly difficult for his supporters, most specially those in the internet world. among all the presidentiabbles escudero has used the internet most intensively and it is very much well oiled.  after all these months, twits, facebook, chat and email it has come to this. it must be tough to take for many of  his internet supporters.

this also opens up  a few more questions –

• what will happen to loren legarda? she announced she is a VP candidate but no announcement under what party and with whom as her presidential partner
• legarda may just go with villar who has announced he already has a VP
• will NPC have a presidential candidate? or will it coalesce with others?
• does this open up the possibility of escudero running for VP?
• what about a miracle — erap is disqualified or he withdraws and chiz takes over as presidential candidate?

mar roxas weds korina sanchez – wedding made in political heaven

mar roxas is human and married korina sanchez today. he is quite a romantic during the wedding by words  and action.

the wedding is one made in political heaven. it is excellent timing. while we think the timing was meant for his previously announced presidential run, history took over and this is one is just for his vice-presidential run. we will just wait for the first baby for the presidential run after aquino wins the presidency and roxas the vice-presidency.

as a people, we love weddings. i think its second to new born babies.  we think this is a good icing on the cake after roxas’ re-making and recovery during the noynoy aquino will i run for president drama.

we wish the newly weds a life of happiness.   

Roxas and Sanchez exchange ‘I do’s
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 14:38:00 10/27/2009 

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 3) Senator Manuel Roxas II and ABS-CBN anchor Korina Sanchez finally walked down the aisle and exchange “I do’s” Tuesday at the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City.

Sanchez, 45, beaming in a white Filipiniana terno, walked toward the altar with her brothers Milano and Mickey Sanchez as the world-renowned Philippine Madrigal Singers sang “Ave Maria.”

Clad in barong tagalog, Roxas was accompanied by his mother, Judy.

“I take you as God’s special gift. I love you as you are,” said Roxas, 52, as he exchanged vows with Sanchez.

For her part, Sanchez said Roxas was the “fulfillment” of her heart’s desire, describing him as an ally and a friend.

“Ikaw ang katuparan ng lahat ng aking hinhintay at minimithi ng aking puso na makakasama, karamay, kaibigan at kakampi,” Sanchez said. “Dumaan man ang unos, ang mga pagsubok, ang sakit at kabiguan, ako ay mananatiling dikit sa iyong piling.”

Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, who together with more than 10 Catholic bishops and priests officiated the two-hour concelebrated mass, officially pronounced them husband and wife shortly before 6 p.m.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20091027-232536/Roxas-and-Sanchez-exchange-I-dos

chiz escudero to annnounce 2010 political plans august 27, without drama queen loren legarda

escudero, based on this news article is scheduled to announce hos 2010 political plans tomorrow at 10 am. finally!

we hope he will announce he is running for president. with the way escudero has been acting, we really can’t tell for sure. he first made a big deal about his birthday, then ondoy as the reason for not doing it then.

we do not have inside information, but based on the news article below, it looks like the postponement in the announcement was caused by two things – uncertainty on what his party the NPC, founder by danding cojuangco, will do and drama queen loren legarda’s wishy-washy indecision on what to do with her own plans.

after reading this article, we think we were pretty close to the truth of the possibility of escudero being orphaned – not having a political party. now, it looks like he might not have a VP partner too.

this article now talks of other VP partners other than legarda . its a strange list – jejomar binay, grace po and ace durano. with that kind of a list, we think he has no one.

we will know by tomorrow. we wish chiz escudero well.

ps: with the way things are and the drama between drama queen legarda and escudero, it looks like the villar-legarda tandem is the thing that will happen.

Escudero to announce candidacy even without Legarda 
By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:51:00 10/27/2009

MANILA, Philippines—After several delays, Sen. Francis Escudero is to finally announce his intention to run for President under the Nationalist People’s Coalition on Wednesday but his would-be running-mate and party colleague, Sen. Loren Legarda, was “not expected” to attend, members of his campaign team said.

The campaign team sent out a media advisory Tuesday saying that Escudero will make a “very important political announcement” at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Club Filipino in San Juan instead of a previously scheduled 6 p.m. event at the Bahay ng Alumni at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

Typhoon Ondoy and the Need for New Politics

Written by: Nicanor “Nick” Perlas

On December 6, 2006, almost three years ago, I wrote this editorial in TruthForce!, www.truthforce. info.  I entitled it “Super-Typhoons and Philippine Democracy”. I will share it again in whole to emphasize two points. First, already back then, almost three years ago, the scientific evidence was clear that humanity has entered the age of drastic climate change and extreme weather events. Super typhoons will increasingly wreak havoc on the planet including the Philippines. Second, government had a chance to act and prepare for Ondoy, especially after the massive P18 billion-destruction brought about by Typhoon Frank in June 2008.

But, no, government chose to continue the path of traditional politics, focusing on retaining power and stealing the national budget at the tune of a minimum of P300 billion a year. It is clear. The time for a new and very different kind of politics has come, a new politics savvy enough to prepare for the upcoming disasters of super typhoons and other extreme weather events. Our future as a people will depend on it.

I have been wanting to reissue this piece for sometime. But there was no time amidst all the rescue operations, travels, events, and other related work. So here’s the December 2006 editorial which correctly predicted the coming of more super typhoons and why only true democracy can prepare us for the massive challenges that awaits the Philippines and the world in the age of drastic climate change.

vote in the poll – the 3 presidentiables you will NOT VOTE and MUST NOT WIN the 2010 presidential election

we have set up the other side of presidentiables polls – the presidentiables you will NOT vote and the presidentiables who MUST NOT win the 2010 presidential election.

participate in the poll, click here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/poll-the-presidentiables-we-must-not-vote-and-those-who-must-not-win-the-election/

we have either made up our minds or we are in the process of deciding which presidentiable we will vote in the 2010 elections.

on the other side of our brain, though, is a list of presidentiables who we know we will not vote, no matter what happens. in fact we have a list that we are convinced MUST NOT WIN the 2010 election. these are presidentiables that give us nightmares every time we think of the possibility they will win in the 2010 election. some describe the feeling that if a certain presidentiable wins, it will be time to move to a foreign country to migrate.

let us know who these presidentiables are who you think MUST NOT WIN THE 2010  ELECTION. you are allowed to vote 3 presidentiables. the program will not be allowed to cast your votes more than once.

ondoy/pepeng disaster aftermath lesson learned – the need for reproductive health (RH) 5043

The fact that population growth was already faster than the GDP growth meant that per capital growth had already been declining, Pernia said. This placed the Philippines worse off than countries who had fallen into recession, but whose population growth was slower than the decline in their GDPs.

read in full here: http://wawam.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/one-more-reason-to-support-the-reproductive-health-rh-bill-5043-environmental-woes-blamed-on-huge-philippine-population/

SWS September Vice-Presidential Poll – mar roxas dominates, the aquino-roxas tandem formidable, puts one more nail on teodoro’s candidacy

mar roxas getting a 40% in the 3rd qtr VP poll puts him at a dominant leadership position just like his partner noynoy aquino. this puts their tandem at a very steep leadership position.

it also shows roxas has recovered and rebuilt his image coming from the “putang-ina” incident. what redeemed him was his words and behavior when noynoy spent a few weeks figuring out if he will run for president or not. roxas withdrawing his own bid for the presidency and the way he did it was excellent statesmanship.

this VP results not only puts the aquino-roxas tandem clearly the team to beat, it also puts the ruling/admin party, LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD in a very precarious and difficult position.

gilbert teodoro as of this writing do not yet have a VP choice. when he was chosen as standard bearer by the executive committee in early december, the party also chose ronaldo puno, DILG head as the VP. one day aftet the announcement, party members and officers started to express their apprehension on puno’s selection.

governor vilma santos was floated by members and officers of the party as the better choice over puno. that talk went on for a while until vilma santos herself said she was not interested.

as it was clear that the members and officers of the ruling/admin party were not happy with the choice of puno, puno himself and other officers of the party said the VP choice was not a done deal.

a few more weeks went on and the discontent and doubts persisted. then the SWS presidentiable survey results were released where it showed noynoy aquino got a spectacular 60% and gilbert teodoro got a measly 4%, at the very bottom of the pile.

ondoy and pepeng happened and the government, including the NDCC which teodoro heads were roundly criticized for their slow and inadequate response to the disaster. the NDCC is the government agency assigned to prepare the country and LGUS for disasters. the way the LGUs and national government reacted made it obvious the NDCC, headed by teodoro failed in its mandate.

that must have spooked the ruling/admin party even more. louder talks and speculation surpfaced on the panic that the ruling/admin party was into in finding a suitable VP partner for teodoro. not onnly are they supposed to find a VP for teodoro, they are supposed to find a very strong one who can help teodoro prop up his sagging fortunes.

talks on partnering with santos resurfaced and added to that loren legarda. just a few days ago, legarda has turned down teodoro. that leaves teodoro and his political party with santos who doe not want it and no one else to turn to.

the dominance of roxas in this survey adds to the weakness of the ruling/admin party’s ticket for 2010.   

Survey Background

The Third Quarter of 2009 Social Weather Survey was conducted from September 18-21, 2009 using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila and Mindanao, and 600 each in Balance of Luzon and the Visayas (sampling error margins of ±2.3% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila and Mindanao, and ±4% for Balance Luzon and the Visayas).

The area estimates were weighted by National Statistics Office medium-population projections for 2009 to obtain the national estimates.