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

noynoy aquino reverses trend and sets record in performance satisfaction rating

 

Record score for Aquino gov’t

Net rating at ‘very good’ +64 from Arroyo administration’s final ‘bad’ -45

PUBLIC SATISFACTION with the government has hit a new high, bouncing back from depths plumbed during former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s term and erasing a record set during the Estrada administration.

A new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, the results of which were made exclusive to BusinessWorld, had 73% of the respondents saying they were satisfied with the new government’s general performance versus the 9% who said otherwise.

This gave President Benigno S. C. Aquino III’s administration a “very good” net satisfaction rating of +64, beating the previous record of a “good” +36 notched in November 1998 during Joseph E. Estrada’s term.

The result also marked the reversal of a run of negative net scores — culminating in a record low -45 last March, classified by the SWS as “bad” — posted starting December 2007 by the Arroyo government.

The SWS qualified that its surveys of the national administration’s general performance began in 1989, three years into the term of the current president’s mother, Corazon C. Aquino, “and therefore no longer during her honeymoon period.”

Mr. Aquino is just five months into his six-year term.

A Palace spokesman said the results were welcome and gave assurances that the Aquino government remained committed to fulfilling expectations.

http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=22061

noynoy aquino’s abundant political capital yields impressive job satisfaction rating

latest SWS performance job satisfaction rating of the president gave president noynoy aquino an impressive +60% net satisfaction, with only 11% dissatisfied  and a 71% satisfied rating.

this high net satisfaction rating is in line with other previous presidents aquino, ramos and estrada who also got very high net satisfaction rating at the start of their presidency. arroyo was the only president who got a low satisfaction rating at the start of her administration.

it is expected that presidents at the start of their administrations get very high ratings, but what makes aquino’s high start of administration rating  impressive is that this comes just weeks from the bus hostage crisis at luneta that was a complete failure on the part of the government. the hostage rescue showed the police as incompetent, ill-equipped and generally does not know what it was doing during the hostage crisis rescue.

we were expecting the failed bus hostage rescue would affect aquino’s job satisfaction rating but apparently it did not. it appears the people do not see the bus hostage rescue failure as a failure of president aquino.

the opposition has said that this high satisfaction rating may be due to “post election euphoria” . that is a ridiculous notion. the election was in may, this survey was conducted in september, whatever euphoria aquino enjoyed from the election, it has all disappeared by september which is a good four months.

also the negative sentiments generated by the failed bus hostage rescue should have erased whatever euphoria may have been left over from the may elections.

the fact that aquino’s satisfaction rating started on a very high level may indicate that the people are truly satisfied with aquino’s performance or  the people has so much trust in the president that it is willing to ignore his failings, having so much faith that aquino will make good his election promise of good governance.

it appears aquino has accumulated a very high amount of political capital among the people built up during the election that he brought with  him going into his presidency. let us hope that aquino uses this as a  leverage to do good things for the people.

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.

noynoy aquino oath taking – new politics, new governance

the inauguration of the new president, noynoy aquino , his first day in office defines further what the aquino administration is all about. aquino will dispense with the traditional parade and for something new, 100 T volunteers who helped aquino get elected will deliver an “oath to change”.

these are not the only new components of the aquino’s oath taking – a major new component is he will not take his oath from the supreme court chief justice renato corona but instead take his out from upreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales. corona is the poster boy of gloria macapagal arroyo’s midnight appointment binge while morales is the lone sc justice who gave a dissenting opinion on the SC ruling allowing corona to get arroyo’s midnight appointment.

these othe two changes announced today is a refreshing change and a very welcome one. these changes signal a diferent kind of presidency that the country needs – one that i practical and very much in touch with the reality of the philippines, a country that is facing great challenges economically. we are a country that needs to save as much money as we can given the  economic growth challenges we face, the high deficit he will inherit from arroyo and the high debt.

aside from the money saving aspect, it also sends a signal that this presidency is much less about itself but of the people. the parade’s purpose is to pay tribute to aquino, to celebrate the beginning of his presidency but canceling the parade says it is not that at all, it is about the people selecting a new leader.

the other component  of aquino volunteers administering an “oath to change”  completes that picture.  aquino started on his quest for the presidency from a public clamor to run, launched his campaign on a pro-people, people-supported campaign and won the election on the same basis. the oath by the volunteers tells us the people promising to continually support aquino, saying aquino’s power come from the people and that the change that aquino will bring to the country will be complimented  by change from the people themselves.

all of the above is a stark and refreshing change from the previous arroyo administration where it seemed to have been obsessed on doing thins its way regardless of what the people say, want and don’t want. the arroyo administration has been faulted for being blind, deaf and mute on the needs of the people. it was governing the country in its own terms and for its own benefit, not the people.

it is those reasons that most of  the people cannot wait for arroyo to leave office. their disappointment on the arroyo administration has been expressed time and again on surveys after surveys and in the recent election where  aquino’;s candidate, gilbert teodoro never had a chance at winning  the election, remaining fourth in the surveys till election time.

a change in the presidency.. a change in the people. the change the country needs.

No parade for Aquino on June 30 inaugural
By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:16:00 06/20/2010

TO SAVE ON COSTS, PRESIDENT-ELECT BENIGNO “Noynoy” Aquino III will break tradition and do away with the parade at his June 30 inaugural.

“Since the first regular inauguration in 1935, this is probably the only one without the inaugural parade,” historian Manuel Quezon III told the Inquirer Saturday on the phone. “He (Aquino) wants to save money, and because from his point of view, it’s really unnecessary.”

Aquino will take his oath as the Philippines’ 15th President and deliver his speech at high noon on June 30 at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, in keeping with pre-martial law tradition.

So far, three Asian leaders—East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak—have confirmed attendance at the inaugural, a foreign affairs official said.

“But we expect a number of foreign ministers and special envoys to attend,” said the official, who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak for the inaugural committee.

Their attendance “indicates solidarity and friendship” with us, the official said.

Secretary Ricardo Saludo, deputy spokesperson of President Macapagal-Arroyo, agreed, saying: “That’s a vote of confidence.”

Ramos-Horta is a friend of Aquino’s family. He was the only head of state who flew to the country in August 2009 to attend the wake and funeral of Aquino’s mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

Thailand and Malaysia have been “longtime” partners of the Philippines in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, aside from Malaysia’s role as a facilitator in the government’s negotiations with secessionist Moro rebels, officials said.

Innovation: Oath of change

In the past, an inaugural parade preceded the singing of the national anthem, the invocation, the oath-taking and the address of the incoming President.

While Aquino is dropping the parade, his inaugural team has introduced a novelty: The volunteer groups that helped in his campaign would deliver an “oath to change” at the Quirino Grandstand in response to his address.

“That’s an innovation,” said Quezon, the spokesperson for the inaugural, and also Inquirer columnist and host of ANC’s “The Explainer.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100620-276542/No-parade-for-Aquino-on-June-30-inaugural

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

what is killing the manny villar presidential bid – backlash and the move to evil from good

the good and the bad have affected manny villar’s run for the presidency.

the good, his advertising and marketing campaigns that he started ahead  of everyone else, way before the official campaign period have  pushed him from nowhere to catch up and tie noynoy aquino at the polls who entered the campaign as the dominant run away front runner in this election.

villar’s rise to within a shot of winning the presidency was a nurtured one, built around savvy ads, well-planned and well-thought out strategies behind billions of campaign funds.

until the bad hit his campaign and quickly pulled his ratings to a spiralling downward trend to now tied at 2nd or 3rd behind erap estrada, the convicted criminal who is again running for president.

unfortunately, the bad was his own doing. this bad is “backlash”, things that you do intended to hurt your opponent but recoils back and returns to you and hurts you instead. the villar campaign launched a string of these moves which unfortunately were all done towards the last part of the campaign where there might not be enough time to recover from their mistakes.

this is founded on what we think is a very unfortunate strategic choice that the campaign has chosen on how to handle negative developments to the villar campaign.

the first indication of this unfortunate strategic choice was on the C-5 corruption scandal. villar chose the strategy of not confronting the issue at the stage where it began. villar chose not to attend the senate hearings and instead on his own and separate from the senate hearings went on a media campaign answering questions on the controversy that were lodged at him at the senate floor in other venues and press briefings outside of  the senate floor.

they must have thought that what is more important is  public perception in general over what is happening at the senate floor. villar is running for president, answering the questions raised at the senate are best re-shaped and handled as the messages go out to the public.

there are two problems with that strategy. first, not tackling the issue at the senate itself will mean allowing it to continue to progress at the senate floor  and reach it’s conclusion on it’s own unhampered. second, and this is the  fatal one – while they are doing their counter attacks and defence at the public opinion stage, it does not necessarily mean they are being erased in the minds of the public. they may be able to answer all the points raised in the senate but all of these are deposited in the consciousness of the public as data points. they can be deposited in their minds as neutral points as they are able to answer them but they are nevertheless there and latent.

what came next was the Villarroyo charge that mar roxas first said in a press conference. the C-5 corruption scandal plus Villarroyo we think was the beginning of the end of the villar presidential bid.

villarroyo is more than a play in names, it is we think one of the most powerful words used in the 2010 election. the word crystallized in the minds of the voters their greatest fear and greatest dislike not only in this election but in the country in general  – arroyo. (read here: Villarroyo – the most powerful word of the 2010 election)

at the start, this election has been called an election of  “good vs. evil”.  we think the villar campaign forgot that as it is really an election of “good vs evil”  until now.

the name “arroyo” has become to mean to the people everything that is wrong, bad, immoral and not right about the country and where it is going. romulo neri, one of arroyo’s eco guru was right when he said  “arroyo is evil”.

one of the most enduring  definition of “evil” is corruption. a large percentage of the people think arroyo is corrupt or has been involved in corruption. surveys also say  arroyo as seen by the people is one of the most corrupt president of the country, next to ferdinand marcos.

when mar roxas introduced villarroyo to the public mind,  something simply clicked in the minds of voters – villar is just like arroyo, evil itself.

the handling and approach taken by villar  of the C-5 corruption scandal reminded us villar may not only be the candidate that arroyo supports but he can be as corrupt as arroyo is. the charge on villar on the  C-5 controversy was that he used his position and power for personal gain, something the people have always suspected of doing all the time.

more than that, villar was not facing the issue at the senate. he did everything and anything to find an excuse not to face his accusers at the senate.

that is also an arroyo tactic. she did that during the NBN-ZTE scandal where she prevented neri from testifying at the senate on the matter by hiding under the skirt of immunity from testifying. more than that event, arroyo had used the numbers she owned in congress to prevent the congressional hearings on the impeachment cases lodged on hr for some  years.

with the villarroyo name solid in the minds of voters, villar’s ratings started to  decline.

unfortunately, the villar campaign seemed to have taken another blunder in their strategic choices from that point on. the campaign decided to get into a black propaganda binge against its opponents and their prime target was noynoy aquino who is the front runner in this election.

noynoy aquino as the target of their black propaganda is a sensible choice. he is the front runner and it makes sense to do so.  we do not completely discredit the value of black propaganda in elections because it has some use and value but it is totally wrong to do black propaganda that is not founded on the truth and one that is traceable back to the originator of the black propaganda.

the double psyche reports which were quickly proven as false and fabricated are prime examples of black propaganda gone bad and giving a backlash to the originator.

both  were traced to members of the nationalista party as originators. the two sources of the first bogus psyche report according to abs-cbn were from members of the nationalista party and the second most recent one is guido  delgado, former National Power Corporation president and villar supporter.

why in the world  delgado called  a press conference on a psyche he was not sure was real is something we cannot comprehend.  delgado called the press conference to release it to the media and asked them to verify its authenticity. it does not take rocket science to figure out that if his psyche report was proven to be bogus, it will for sure backfire on  the villar campaign, not to mention blotch his name as the idiot who released the bogus psyche report.

we assume that being a supporter, he intends to help manny villar get elected. but because of what he did, he actually hurt the villar campaign rather than help it. he did not  hurt noynoy aquino in any way, in fact aquino comes out here as victim of an injustice but he did solidify the villar campaign’s image as the doer of evil.

the bogus psyche reports, two of them, both traceable to manny villar’s political party goes back to rest on trust or in this case the withdrawal of trust on a candidate. the C-5  corruption controversy may have not been proven as true in the minds of voters, but it did put a question mark of trust in the minds of voters.

the addition of villarroyo to that for sure put in a bigger question mark of trust if not an outright suspicion of corruption on villar in the minds of voters. trust is something the filipino people have completely removed from arroyo, the country’s president.  surveys show us that arroyo’s trust ratings have always been on the negative from quarter to quarter since the poll have been started. next to corruption and performance rating, trust is one of the most major negatives of arroyo.

with the bogus psyche reports  traceable to villar (one idiot even came out in the open), trust was also removed by the people. trust was what arroyo lost in the hello garci scandal. at the start of the scandal, she kept denying all of it. but when things got pretty intense and the outcry just ready to explode, she eventually admitted she did  have the “hello, garci” talk. that alone got all of us to remove trust on arroyo. it did not matter that arroyo apologized on national tv for her hello garci sin, trust once removed is gone forever.

and that is probably one of the lessons that villar will learn from this whole episode. when the people removed its trust on him, everything and anything that he did afterwards the people will always be suspicious of. it does not help that he not only did things that made us question trusting villar, he did things that told us not to trust him.  having bogus psyche reports told us that in a most eloquent manner.

at some point, most specially in the last few weeks of the campaign, the villar campaign we think has lessened to a large degree if not completely stopped generating goodwill among the voters.  instead of goodwill, the villar campaign with it’s efforts at black propaganda generated mistrust and suspicion both from their own doing and as a result of the backlash of what they have been doing.

the juan ponce enrile and erap estrada expose on the VLL-PSE scandal is one example of  how backlash has hurt the villar campaign.

estrada embarked on the expose at this late stage of the campaign as they probably agreed with our assessment that of all the presidentiables, villar’s supporters are the most susceptible to being pirated.

read previous posts:

• erap estrada attacks Vulnerable Villar for the election win
• manny villar shows vulnerability – villar’s voter base an open path to victory for laggards
• manny villar pulled down by C-5 corruption, next to be pulled down by mother of all corruption – the arroyos

enrile on the other hand did it as a backlash from their previous fights in the senate on the C-5 corruption scandal. together with jamby madrigal, enrile was one of the key figures in the C-5 probe in the senate.  we suppose enrile just could not let it go that villar got away with it at the senate. he just felt he needed to get to villar one last time and this time it will also help estrada, his party mate.

the fact is all the negative campaign thrown at noynoy aquino has not worked at all and there is a long list of these things from almost all sorts of topics and angles.  it is a laundry list from the personal to public, from the intimate, the mundane up to the serious.  but with all of that, none has actually stuck  nor has it hurt aquino.

this should have been realized by the villar campaign a long time ago. aside from not learning this lesson, the villar campaign, and perhaps this is the biggest blunder of them all,  has forgotten that what got manny villar to rise to tieing aquino at front runner status in the polls was positive campaigning, not negative campaigning.

manny villar rose to tie aquino in the polls behind a large dose of good advertising, good strategies and good events and all of them were positive.  all these efforts put villar in a good light and all of them ignored and did  not even mention his opponents. changing that strategy to what it is now, close to the ending of the campaign, to negative campaigning and black propaganda is hurting the chances of manny villar to win the presidency.

in a “good vs evil” election, villar unfortunately moved to the side of evil from his previous side of good.

~~~mindscape landmark~~~
carlo arvisu

corruption is the number 1 issue in the 2010 philippine election