no love gained by arroyo, neck brace plus wheelchair – 82% of pinoys think she was treated fairly to too lenient by government

we were surprised at the results of the SWS survey poll on the treatment of former president arroyo at the airport when she attempted to flee the country to avoid facing charges.we knew the results will be in favor of the government and in disfavor towards arroyo but we were surprised that it would be this high.

arroyo's near escape experience at the airport. neck brace and wheel chair included

arroyo had all the props that day – face mask, wheelchair and the famous neck brace but she was stopped at the airport on the basis of  DOJ  cheif leila de lima issuing a stop departure order on arroyo, defying  the supreme court decision to impose a TRO on the hold departure order.

it is an amazing number – 69% of filipinos saying arroyo’s treatment was fair. this already astonishgly high number once added to the other number of 13% thinking the government was too lenient arroyo goes up to a total of 82%  thinking arroyo was treated too lenient to just fair.

there is obviously no love gained by arroyo after she stepped down from the presidency.  she has of course been getting very bad numbers when she was president, she is the only president who has gotten back to back quarters of “no trust”, “no performance satisfaction” for many years.  but we thought being out of office would have given time for people to think kinder of  arroyo and most specially the illness that was highly publicized and her “near death” predicament as announced by her lawyers would have gained arroyo some sympathy. that did not work

core to this no love gained situation arroyo is in is the people’s mistrust of arroyo or as the survey says “little trust” on arroyo – an astonishing  73%.  this also surprised at, but like the  other above,   is the degree or its very high “no trust” rating that surprised us.

we guess what everyone else are saying about “trust” is clearly true in arroyo’s case – trust needs to be earned.  the people have always had problems trusting arroyo even during her administration. her trust ratings or “no trust” ratings have always been dismal during her presidency.

come to think of it, aside from stepping down from the presidency, what has arroyo done to earn the trust of the people? nothing , really. faking her illness, the wheelchair and the famous neck brace are really very poor efforts at regaining the trust of the people. the people, despite the high priced st. lukes hospital digs saw through all of it and was unable to earn for her trust.

no love given, no trust earned. that’s a very sad love affair with the filipino people. specially on christmas.

published (PGMA) Prisoner Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s mugshot here

there are conflicting reports on whether these mugshots are authentic or not.  DILG chief robredo says they are not but the latest news, also printed here puts the police saying they are authentic.

we are posting the disclaimers and the pictures here for the readers to decide.

as far as we are concerened, we think the mugshots from mugshots.com and the PDI are real for the simple reason that arroyo obviously posed for the pictures. one needs to pose for the pictures to get the full shot and the 2 profiles of left and right, these cannot be photoshopped.

mugshots.com claims the mugshots were released in the internet and they got got hold of it, posted  the pictures first, then PDI posted the pictures when PDI got them from another source. a PDI article on the mugshots also confirm that they saw the pics from the website first.

with all these disclaimers aside, if these are authentic pictures, that means someone from the court or police leaked the photos. robredo might be saying they are not real because he needs to answer to the court for having someone from the police leak it to the internet.

enjoy the mugshots just the same.

 

 

 

source: http://mugshots.com/Current-Events/Gloria-Arroyo.html

 

posted 3:22 pm, November 22, 2010

Arroyo mugshots genuine, say cop, court execsBy
Miko Morelos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines-The clerk of court of the Pasay Regional Trial Court Branch 112 has authenticated the mug shots of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that appeared on the front page of the INQUIRER and posted on inquirer.net onTuesday.

In a radio interview, clerk of court Joel Pelicano said the photos he viewed via inquirer.net, the national newspaper’s online edition, were “almost the same” as the ones the police submitted to the sala of Branch 112 presiding Judge Jesus Mupas on Monday morning.

He said the only difference was the text below the INQUIRER photos, which contained the case reference number.

Television news reports also quoted Southern Police District officer in charge Senior Supt. Jaime Bucayu as saying the mugshots used in the Inquirer were authentic.

Bucayu however said the source of the leak was unknown.

source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/98461/arroyo-mugshots-genuine-say-cop-court-execs

here is another disclaimer, this one is posted at 3 pm, November 22, 2011.

Arroyo mugshots on Internet authentic – police
(The Philippine Star) Updated November 22, 2011 11:41 AM

MANILA, Philippines – A police official today confirmed that the mugshots of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo circulating on the Internet are authentic.

Senior Superintendent James Bucayu, acting chief of the Southern Police District (SPD), said that their investigator confirmed to him that the mugshots provided to them by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and those posted bywww.mugshots.com are the same.

source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=750833&publicationSubCategoryId=63

DISCLAIMER, posted morning of November 22, 2011:

Robredo: Arroyo mug shots in Inquirer not real
PATERNO ESMAQUEL II, GMA News
11/22/2011 | 10:00 AM

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo on Tuesday said the pictures published on the Philippine Daily Inquirer were not the real mug shots of detained former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“[I] just clarified that they are not [the] real mug shots after verifying with the [Criminal Investigation and Detection Group],” Robredo told GMA News Online when asked to confirm his statement that the photos were fake.

source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/239245/nation/robredo-arroyo-mug-shots-in-inquirer-not-real

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as she appears in a composite of mugshots taken by the police in her hospital room in St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City in connection with her being charged with the nonbailable crime of election…

that neck brace looks wicked. the straps and metal rings look very intimidating. we can only imagine how much discomfort the patient feels on that brace. it’s also amazing the the p-atient manages to look good in this picture.

the above mugshots also appeared at http://www.mugshots.com/

These photographs are believed to be the ORIGINAL and AUTHENTIC most sought-after arrest mugshots of CGMA (Gloria Arroyo).

DISCLAIMER: On November 20th 2011, the two side-view photographs above appeared on the internet on a number of social sites. These photographs are believed to be the authentic official arrest mugshots of CGMA taken in a hospital when CGMA was on a recliner (description below). Please note, no guarantee of authenticity is made therein.

UPDATE NOV. 21st 2011: Frontal mugshot has been added. It was sent to us from a highly reliable source in the Philippines.

SECOND UPDATE NOV 21 2011: After our release of these mugshot photographs, The Philippine Daily Inquirer published the same mugshot photographs, writes full article (link below).

source : http://www.inquirer.net/

arroyo is the second ex philippine president who has a mugshot. the first one was erap estrada who was eventually convicted of the crime of plunder  but was given a presidential pardon ironically by  president arroyo.

PGMA, prisoner gloria macapagal arroyo arrested! view mug shot here!

protestor

 

 

the term PGMA has just taken a new meaning – Prisoner Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

media and the publick must be going nuts right about now waiting for the release of the mugshot of gloria macapagal arroyo. she was arrested yestyerday at the st luke’s hospital and the police have schedule the finger printing and mug shot today. as of this writing, the police are already at the hospital and everyone one is waiting for the mug shot.

Gloria Arroyo now under arrest

Warrant served in her suite at St. Luke’s Medical Center

Seventeen months after stepping down from the presidency, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday was served an arrest warrant for alleged electoral sabotage.

The Pampanga representative, once dubbed the “Iron Lady of Asia,” was in bed at a 16th-floor suite of St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, wearing a hospital gown and a neck brace. The serving of the warrant capped a day of swift and unexpected developments.

Senior Supt. James Bucayu of the Southern Police District (SPD) led a battery of policemen in black berets and blue uniforms in serving the warrant. He said Arroyo was calm and had anticipated their arrival, even offered them a smile, and waived her right to hear a reading of her rights by Senior Supt. Joel Coronel.

The warrant was served at 6:30 p.m., or two hours after it was issued by Judge Jesus Mupas of Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 112 for the nonbailable offense.

The officers were led from Arroyo’s room to the suite’s receiving area, where former fiscal Jose Flaminiano received the warrant and took over the details of the arrest.

“Under the direction of Police Director Alan Purisima, we have served the arrest warrant on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,” Bucayu said in an impromptu press conference held 20 minutes after officially putting the lawmaker, who has a bone ailment, under hospital arrest.

“She was conscious and in a reclining position on her bed when we served the warrant. It was very visible that she was sick. But she smiled at us. Perhaps she had expected us already,” he said. “She expected it; she was not sad. She looked like she just woke up. Not like [at the airport on Tuesday night], when she was nearly crushed. She was just nodding and smiling.”

Due to Arroyo’s frail condition, police will conduct the “booking”—the standard taking of mug shots and fingerprints—Saturday at 9 a.m. in her hospital room, Bucayu said.

“Depending on her condition, to be determined by government doctors, we will transfer [her] to the custody of the SPD on Monday,” he said, adding that four guards had been stationed outside Arroyo’s suite and another team at the main entrance of the hospital.

read more : http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/96621/gloria-arroyo-now-under-arrest

gloria macapagal arroyo charged with plunder, stole funds from OFW to election campaign

we have heard this before –  Philhealth cards were distributed  hundreds of thousands of people for the purpose of securing an election win for arroyo during her prediential election fight with fernando poe jr.  this issue has been hanging in the air for many years. it is not the only corruption scandal tattooed on the legacy of arroyo, but it is one of the more brazen.

we have also heard it before , the people waiting for charges of plunder to be filed in a philippine court against arroyo.  legtal eagle frank chavez is the man who has finally done what many have been waiting for.

we will not lose sleep over this court case. what we will lose sleep on is on getting updates and the latest on this case.

will the truth set arroyo free or to jail?

Arroyo’s plunder raps based on her notes

‘Charge to OWWA,’ Arroyo ordered; P550M misused

By Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:33:00 04/27/2011

MANILA, Philippines—For allegedly dipping her fingers into a cookie jar reserved for overseas Filipino workers, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo so disgusted at least three Malacañang insiders that they helped put together plunder charges that she is now facing.

Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez Tuesday filed a 23-page complaint claiming that Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, misused more than P550 million from the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) from March 2003 to February 2004.

“This was all very well-orchestrated because in all the recommendations made by the respondents, there was always the handwritten notation made by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ‘OK, charge to OWWA funds.’ But the OWWA funds are funds held in trust by the government and they cannot dip their fingers into the cookie jar that exclusively belongs to the overseas Filipino workers,” Chavez told reporters.

Chavez said three mid-level officials photocopied the documents for him, which was why all these he had submitted as bases for his plunder complaint bear Malacañang bar codes.

Chavez’s sources said they pitied the OFWs whose funds were being misused. He said this was in February 2004 before the presidential elections.

He said the original documents could be ordered produced in court and his sources, some of whom remained in government, need not come out in the open. The justice department can verify the documents’ authenticity through the bar codes.

“They are kind-hearted, highly conscienticized Filipinos who could no longer stomach the quagmire of corruption spewed by Malacañang,” he said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20110427-333167/Arroyos-plunder-raps-based-on-her-notes

1/3 of aquino’s SONA will be absent during speech

sorry folks, but close to one third of aquino’s speech in today’s  SONA will be absent – gloria macapagal arroyo will not be attending the  first SONA speech of president noynoy aquino. arroyo’s political party spokesperson has announced arroyo will be in hong kong to join her husband for a medical check-up.

there are four arroyos in the house of representative and since 1/4 of them will be absent, i wonder if the 3/4 of the arroyos will attend the SONA?

if  3/4 of the arroyos attend, then the 1/4 that has gone to hong kong can be briefed of the contents of the speech of president aquino.

Aquino’s speech to focus solutions to corruption, poverty – Palace
By Christian V. Esguerra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 16:55:00 07/25/2010

MANILA, Philippines – Former President Gloria Arroyo may have her reasons for skipping the first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of her successor, but Malacañang made it clear on Sunday that the speech would not be devoted solely to bashing the past administration.

President Benigno Aquino III’s spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, said only “less than a third” of the SONA would tackle problems inherited from the nine years of Arroyo’s regime, with the rest of the speech to focus on solutions to corruption and poverty.

“For those concerned whether the ills of the past administration will be a major factor, let me state that only less than a third of the speech (will be devoted to them),” Lacierda said in his weekly Palace media briefing aired over Radyo ng Bayan.

“He will spell out the realities that he inherited from the Arroyo administration and then move on to his solutions, move on to the budget, move on to other things which he believes will wipe out corruption and alleviate poverty.”

Arroyo will skip SONA, says party spokesman
By Leila B. Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:06:00 07/24/2010

MANILA, Philippines—The “star” of President Aquino’s first state-of-the-nation address won’t be there to hear all about the alleged anomalies in her administration.

Former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is flying to Hong Kong on Monday to join her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, for a medical checkup on his aortic aneurysm, according to Lakas Kampi spokesperson Raul Lambino.

“The former president and now congresswoman GMA will be accompanying her husband on his appointment with Drs. Kwok Ching Kwong and Lau Chu Pak for a consultation on the reduction of the recurrence of his aortic aneurysm,” Lambino said in a phone interview.

“She won’t be able to make it [to the SONA],” he added.

why will gilbert teodoro lose this election?

a lot has been written in this blog on why gilbert teodoro will lose this election. across the time frame of the campaign period factors that will make teodoro lose the election has been identified in this blog.

this will provide the key points:

• arroyo’s kiss of death on teodoro we think is the biggest factor for teodoro’s loss. everyone knew and that included teodoro himself , his political party lakas-kampi-cmd and arroyo herself knew that. we saw arroyo’s kiss of death in action during the last senatorial election where most of the admin senatorial candidates lost and almost all the opposition candidates won. the sentiments and scenario that was operating then is still present in this election and in fact even more intense than before – based on polls, the people failed arroyo on her performance as president,  trust rating have been negative and people see arroyo as most corrupt next to ferdinand marcos. romulo neri called arroyo “evil”, the people agrees with that sentiment. they all knew arroyo is a problem so much so that arroyo has distanced herself from teodoro, hardly saying anything about teodoro, did not campaign for him and did not even have a picture taken with teodoro.
• teodoro is an unknown. before his proclamation as standard bearer of the admin party, people hardly knew teodoro. he was a congressman in his hometown for some time but he had no national constituency to speak of. all he had was two years of chief of the defense portfolio which was not at all enough for him to gain national prominence or even some  name identification.
• although he had spent a lot of money on his ads, at some point second highest spender, that did not help him as we think his ads were ill-conceived, was fatally flawed on the ad strategy and the execution faulty.  teodoro spent most of his advertising money on his “resume tv ads” which was too basic and had no power to persuade.
• we think the teodoro campaign knew teodoro had no national standing that is why they launched those ads. that was fine but they stayed on it too long. all the ads did was create brand awareness while they should have moved to a more persuasive and meaty ads.
• teodoro’s “ego trip” tv ads, telling the voters he has “galing at talino” were not at all persuasive to the voters. people wanted to know what he will do for the country, not his resume, harvard education and being pilot included. these things simply did not ring a bell among the voters.
• the executions of his ads were also flawed as they appeared to be too elitist while  most of the voters come from the poor. would the poor who comprise most of the voters be able to relate to teodoro for being a pilot? will they be able to appreciate he knows how to fly a plane? we did not think so.  the teodoro campaign was thinking and doing these ads for themselves, not for the voters. we suspect the ads were feel good ads but feel good for themselves and not the voters or target audience.
• the teodoro campaign and that includes teodoro himself were perpetually in denial in this campaign from start to finish. we think they knew things were not going right in their campaign even from the very start but they did not seem to want to accept the problems and even much less did not want to do something about it. all they did was they kept telling themselves everything was doing well, nothing was wrong and nothing can go wrong even though they knew what was actually happening was the exact opposite. sadly, we think this is the exact same attitude and problem of the arroyo and her administration for themselves and specially in the way they governed the country.
• teodoro even failed in showing his “galing at talino” during the onody and pepeng floods and the maguindanao massacre. the ondoy and pepeng floods was a dream come true for any presidential candidate. teodoro was handed in a large silver platter the opportunity to perform and demonstrate to the people he had what it takes to be president. he among everyone else had the best opportunity to make something out of it – he was the admin, a cabinet secretary and the DND to which he was chief was actually in charge of disaster coordination’s. he failed in hos duties, his mandate and as a candidate. had he performed well during the floods, he would have won the election by a landslide.
• teodoro’s campaign never really took off.  the campaign had failings from the very beginning and almost in every step of the way as the it progressed. we will remember teodoro’s  campaign on the basis of the failings of the campaign that occurred from time to time rather than success points.   
• lakas-kampi-cmd, teodoro’s political party is a failed political party.  we do not think lakas-kampi-cmd was any help to teodoro. we are not even sure if the party wanted to help him at all.  we think the rumor that the party lost interest on teodoro was not a rumor but the truth.

looking at teodoro’s results and what he had done during the campaign and if you were an alien looking in, you would have not guessed that teodoro belonged to the dominant political party in the country.

teodoro lost this election from day 1.  

~~~~ mindscape landmark ~~~~
carlo arvisu

Villarroyo – the most powerful word of the 2010 election

the 2010 election will be remembered for many things some good and some bad. there will also be losers and a winner. but one word will stand out, it can be the word for the 2010 election – Villarroyo.

it is a very creative term, two names moulded into one, giving it a precise meaning to a complex concept – that villar is arroyo’s secret candidate in the 2010 election.

it did not matter that the declared candidate of arroyo is gilbert teodoro, the idea was putting a seed of doubt in the minds of voters about who the candidate is of the evil one.

arroyo has been seen as the exclusive owner of  the kiss of death for those seeking public office. she showed she had that during the last senatorial elections where almost all of  the administration candidates lost in that election while  almost all of the opposition senatorial candidates won senatorial seats.

the administration during that time was boasting of its good economic record. the malacanang press bureau was releasing a lot of economic data boasting it was under the arroyo administration that had good economic results.

the numbers were  good but real life was not for most of the people – jobs were scarce, unemployment high and hunger were also high. since that was just a senatorial election, the people took its anger towards the administration candidates by voting those who were going against them who were mostly opposition senatorial candidates. that election was a protest vote against arroyo, a referndum on her perfromance as president.

arroyo’s kiss of death is as potent then as it is now with gilbert teodoro, the newest recipient of arroyo’s kis of death. his ratings continue to suffer in the polls with just 7% in the latest reading, getting only as high 9% on previous tallies. his ratings hardly moved from the time he entered the competition.

teodoro was largely an unknown candidate to voters having no previous elected national position and just two years of a cabinet post in the arroyo administration, the defense portfolio which by its very nature is a low key cabinet position.

he came into the election as an unknown and unmarked. arroyo’s kiss of death was the only mark that was on him and that did not help at all. the teodoro campaign was obsessed with playing it down, the two of them never photographed together and the traditional raising of hands to proclaim a candidacy not done when teodoro was proclaimed standard bearer of arroyo’s political party, lakas-kampi-cmd.

the villarroyo name may not have have the same kind of power asarroyo’s kiss of death on teodoro had, but we think it certainly played a crucial role in this election. we think it had the power of concretizing the idea of the negative in just ten letters.

developments in the campaign also helped give the term villarroyo some potent life. at the time this was coined and released into the public’s mind, the headlines talked about the disintegration of the administration party, lakas-kampi-cmd, with many of its members and even its key officers abandoning the party to join the LP and the NP.

there were also reports that mike arroyo, gloria’s beloved partner was in talks with manny villar and had dropped support on teodoro. teodoro’s own party helped to put very dry wood into the smouldering  fire with it’s members, some key officers and even those working for the teodoro and manzano campaigns complaining about lack of funds to no support coming from lakas-kampi-cmd to their campaign efforts.

they did not have to tell us that as we witnessed that by ourselves. during that time, we hardly saw any tv ads for teodoro and manzano. (in fact todate, manzano has had no tv ad for himself or with him with his presidential candidate).

taking all of it together, it forms into a composite of many different things that actually fit and made sense. we saw that villar was continuing to put on air heavy advertising at that time and that true to critics, he really never went against arroyo as much for example mar roxas or even noynoy aquino.

our simple minds, picking up simple things did form a great, sensible and powerful word – villarroyo.

if you think about it – the whole story seems like a complex plot from a political drama movie. it looked like a script was written for it and got unfolded right in front of our eyes.

or is it destiny speaking here? there is no way any human could have conspired to make the last two letters of villar as the first two letters of arroyo’s last name.

villarroyo –  a perfect fit of two names, the most powerful word in the 2010 election. it will be the one word that was able to bring down billions of pesos in advertising and marketing expense and a presidential candidate who almost made it.

~~mindscape landmark~~
carlo arvisu

corruption is the number 1 issue in the 2010 philippine election

the ghost that haunts gilbert teodoro’s campaign

the manny villar formula : C5 scandal + VLL PSE scandal = Villarroyo

C5 scandal + VLL PSE scandal = Villarroyo

did we just witness manny villar’s losing formula? villar’s poll ratings started to take a dive at the height of the C-5 controversy at the senate when he avoided confronting his colleagues at the senate to avoid talking about it ang being questioned on it. it was a simple formula – talk to the press but do not attend senate hearings.

the slide continued when mar roxas in a press conference coined the word Villarroyo. although the point of the name villarroyo was not exactly the same as the C-5, it’s point being villar is the secret candidate of gloria macapagal arroyo, it reminded people just the same about corruption which was C-5 was all about at its core.

arroyo is seen by many as   the mother of all corruption in this country, she scored highest after marcos on corruption in surveys. having villarroyo as a name reminded people about the same kind of corruption that people associated with arroyo and did not like.

it is the same fear that people have in not voting for teodoro. teodoro is seen by voters as too close to arroyo so much that just the association gives teodoro the same kind of corruption image. the VLL PSE scandal is about the same thing.

villar does not deny he talked to the PSE (philippine stock exchange) officials about the locked-up shares of VLL after the IPO. he said he talked to them only to get news from them on the status of the listing of VLL at the stock market. so it was just a business call or a follow-up call.

he however forgot that he is the senate president and no ordinary person and even a no ordinary CEO of a philippine corporation. in fact, why would he do such a business call when he is supposed to be no longer connected with the private company VLL? elected officials are prohibited by law to hold corporate positions in private companies when they get elected. this by itself shows impropriety.

villar in his statement also says there was no violation of PSE rules as the locked-up shares he held as they were not released, it was disapproved by the PSE. that means he did ask the permission PSE to release the locked-up shares. it means villar has asked the PSE to violate it’s own rules. that is another impropriety.

saying the government did not lose money in the whole thing and it actually gained in taxes is not the point nor does it change the fact that he committed improprieties in the whole affair.

neither is anything diminished nor made right in throwing the trash at erap estrada who also had his own misdealings with the stock market before when he was president. the charge on estrada then was price fixing on BW Resources shares, a scandal that almost led to the implosion of the philippine sotck market.  we do not condone what Estrada did but the proper conclusion here is that villar is just like estrada who both used their power to gain at the philippine stock market.

the C5 scandal and the VLL PSE scandal shows a clear similarity – villar seem to be in the habit of using his power and stature as public official to influence government and other related agencies for his personal gain, specifically for the businesses he and/or his family owns.

the name villarroyo rings a bell.

gloria macapagal arroyo is gilbert teodoro’s deadliest opponent

gloria macapagal arroyo's performance rating reaches a new historic low

dramatic drops across all areas and across all demographics

these are very distressing numbers not only for president arroyo but also for gilbert teodoro, the standard bearer of arroyo’s political party lakas-kampi-cmd.

in the past weeks, the talk of arroyo abandoning teodoro in favor of  manny villar or villarroyo is material for headlines and the front pages of newspapers and tv newscasts.  the other headline and front page content is the disintegration of lakas-kampi-cmd with key officers abandoning the party, candidates complaining and members moving out of the party to join the NP or the LP.

to fix the first one, arroyo sent out to the press her word ordering her  troops, her party mates to support teodoro, not only to vote for him but to campaign for him.  this was the first time after a very long time that arroyo ever spoke of  teodoro in this manner.  arroyo has never come out actually stating her support for teodoro.  even during the proclamation of teodoro as the standard bearer of  lakas-kampi, arroyo did not raise the hands of teodoro as is the tradition in philippine politics. she did not even give a speech during the event.

that was the last time we saw arroyo and teodoro in the same room. she even resigned as party chair and gave it to teodoro. all these were meant to distance herself from teodoro acting on the realization that arroyo’s endorsement is a kiss of death on teodoro’s chances of winning the election.

for some reason, arroyo and lakas-kampi broke away from that strategy when arroyo gave marching orders for her party mates to campaign for teodoro. that had the effect of reminding people that arroyo supports teodoro in this campaign.

with these performance ratings of arroyo hitting a new historical low, this outing of arroyo in support of teodoro is a very grave and fatal tactical error. teodoro was just whole heatedly endorsed by the most unpopular national leader of the country. her words, because of her unpopularity will not be good for teodoro, it will harm him even more.

teodoro is already being pushed down in the polls because of the association of teodoro with arroyo. arroyo coming out more directly about it id like pouring alcohol over a open wound.

with arroyo as party mate, teodoro does not need opponents in this election. in fact we think had arroyo endorsed or expressed her support for tedoro’s rivals, she would have a better chance of helping teodoro get elected as president in may 2010.

the miracle that teodoro’s campaign wants us to believe will happen

we are reacting to these statements made by the teodoro campaign officials about the chances that that teodoro can still win this election.

source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100331-261738/Dont-count-Teodoro-out-yet-says-Palace

Don’t count Teodoro out yet, says Palace
By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:03:00 03/31/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Though he remains a poor fourth in the surveys, administration standard-bearer Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro should not be counted out of the presidential race, Malacañang said Tuesday.

“There’s no reason for anyone to throw in the towel,” Gary Olivar, deputy presidential spokesperson, told reporters. “People, when they start campaigning, they should be serious about it.”

it is the late stages of the campaign and for teodoro to continue to get only single digits ratings in the poll does say it is time to throw in the towel.

changes in voter attitudes do not happen fast – it takes time for the messages to reach the voters and it takes time for the voters to act on them.

even on that one, there is no assurance that the voters will react  favourably to your message. the other candidates are doing their own efforts which probably already has reached the intended voters.

for those in the laggards group like teodoro, the task is not just to get his message to reach voters, but more than that, it is to convert them to his side.

conversion is one of the most difficult tasks in marketing. conversion is much harder than persuasion.

Olivar advised the public to wait for the results of the next survey, which he said would cover the March 26 kick-off of the local campaign and factor in the political machinery of the administration coalition.

“We have the word of administration party spokespersons and leaders that we will start to see the effects of their grassroots strength after the local campaign started on March 26,” he said.

this is a very tall promise.

the only way teodoro will turn the tide in his favor is he has done something massive, something different and something really smart in the last few weeks since that last poll was taken. we did not see teodoro doing anything earth shaking during the time.

the local “political machinery” is a myth the ruling party keeps saying whenever they are losing in the polls. to them it is really no more than a made up silver bullet.

political machinery did not deliver and in fact was non-existent in the last senatorial election where almost all the opposition candidates won seats and almost all the admin candidates lost.

the reason for the loss? gloria macapagal arroyo. and that reason continue to be present now and in particular with teodoro who has been given the kiss of death.

Party secretary general Francis Manglapus said the surveys would not reflect the true sentiments of voters until 10 days before the end of the campaign period, when the electorate had made a firm choice.

“This thing is far from over,” he said by phone.

Manglapus, who said he doubted the “science” behind surveys, agreed that the surveys had failed to take into account such factors as “command vote” and “regional strength.”

surveys capture voter sentiments at the moment of the survey. have several survey points and you can connect them to form a trend. the trend for teodoro is not a good thing.

“command vote” and “regional strenght” are cute new words to say “political machinery” which as we have said previously is a myth.

it is strange that the impact of political machinery is being portrayed here like a switch or a faucet where it’s effects are felt only when it is switched on.

these local officials who are supposed to form the political machinery has always been in their locality from the very beginning. why has their impact not been picked up by the polls? it appears they have not been doing anything and will only start on the official start of the local campaign.

if the impact of the local machinery is not being felt now, it will not be felt 2 months from now during the election.

“We just started to send out our message last Friday,” he said, referring to the start of the local campaign. “We’re just starting to crank the machinery.”

if this is true, then this party is in trouble for it’s mismanagement and poor strategizing in this election. they knew from the very beginning that teodoro was an underdog in this election. knowing that, the smart manager should have started this much earlier.

Manglapus, however, conceded that the delayed move to air advertisements on television and radio contributed to Teodoro’s poor ratings. He disclosed that the party would step up the airing of these ads and the road shows.

the problem with teodoro’s adveritsing is not just being late in airing them. first of all, we disagree – they were not late at all. they were aired at  about the same time as the other front runner aquino.

the problem with teodoro’s ads is that they were bad commercials and that they do not have enough money to air them. ad people will tell you, however, that even if teodoro had the same amount of money villar ad, it will not help at all since the ads are weak.

“The election is 40 days away, and the local campaign has just started. Now the real movement and growth of our campaign by leaps and bounds will be seen,” he said.

this is fine IF teodoro do not have competition. teodoro’s campaign is not in a vaccum. he competes with other presidentiables. so it will not happen.

the teodoro campaign needs a large dose of reality.