post your Goodbye Message To Gloria and your Hello Message To Noynoy

we are counting just days before gloria macapagal arroyo leaves office and noynoy aquino takes over. here is a place where you can tell gloria what you feel and think as she leaves the presidency and as noynoy takes office.

click  here: http://goodbyegloriahellonoynoy.wordpress.com/

tv ad endorsers & celebs – who has the kiss of death and kiss of victory?

this is a country where most tv ads  use celebrities in their ads. the advertising industry has used celebrities as the winning formula in their ads. if that is true for mass consumer products like sanitary napkins to vitamins, why not for presidentiables? after all presidentiables are really not very different from mass consumer  products.

who among the celebrities have the kiss of death on presidentiables and how has the kiss of victory among them?

pulse asia survey: aquino and villar big time on trust, teodoro suffers, same as estrada

perhaps to have manny villar and noynoy aquino’s trust ratings to be high and dominant is not surprising, they are after all the front runners in the 2010 election. we do not think one can be a front runner in the presidentiables poll if your trust ratings are low. there is no surprise in villar and aquino’s ratings.

what is surprising is when you look down at the other presidentiables.

erap estrada’s trust ratings are as low as gilbert teodoro’s and estrada’s trust ratings are as high as teodoro’s.

• estrada trust rating at  33% vs teodoro’s distrust rating at 32%
• estrada’s distrust rating at 37% vs teodoro’s distrust rating at 31% (there is significant difference here)

we are surprised by it as we did not think estrada and teodoro would be seen by the respondents as anything similar to each other. erap estrada may have a string of  nationally elected position like the presidency to his name but he is a convicted criminal, the crime of plunder whose liberty was made possible only through a presidential pardon by president arroyo. Teodoro may not have had a nationally elected position to his name and may not be as well known as estrada, he is very much a clean politician versus estrada. we thought they were black and white in character and credentials, getting the same kind of ratings on trust and distrust is very surprising.

now we wonder that perhaps teodoro’s low trust and high distrust rating that is practically the same as the convicted criminal estrada may be due to his close association with president arroyo. arroyo’s trust and distrust ratings are also disastrously embarrassing with a measly 11% trust and a huge 68% of distrust. we did not expect that arroyo’s kiss of death on teodoro will go this far.

comparing the frontrunner’s trust and distrust ratings to those of estrada and specially teodoro is another matter of strong interest for us.

aquino and villar’s trust ratings are double in size compared to teodoro’s and estrada while the front runner’s distrust ratings are almost only 1/3 of teodoro’s and estrada’s. this may indicate the front runners are way ahead in this election and the laggard’s group has a lot of catching up to do.

is arroyo’s “kiss of death” killing gilbert teodoro’s campaign to death?

not that we did not know it, the latest SWS survey shows arroyo has the “kiss of death” with a large 79% of the voters saying they will not vote for the candidate that arroyo will endorse.

we knew of arroyo’s “kiss of death” during the last senatorial election where almost all  admin candidates  lost the election while almost all the opposition candidates won the senate seats. money and advertising did not matter – pichay, an admin candidate who spent the most money in ads lost the election while trillanes, an opposition candidate who led a coup against arroyo, was in jail during the election, had no money to spend won.

this is the first time we have research data that confirms arroyo’s “kiss of death”. the survey results is a monumental slap in the face of president arroyo and one hell of a worry for the teodoro campaign.

arroyo to the teodoro campaign is like a poison pill that is already halfway into the throat of the campaign – it’s too deep inside to remove it naturally. the teodoro campaign is too much into arroyo that parts of teodoro’s persona has morphed into arroyo.

they tried to separate it but they were all too tactical and really no more than a vain cosmetic attempt to separate arroyo from tedoro – arroyo transferred the chair to teodoro for the party, no photos appear in the papers with both of them together and arroyo did not raise teodoro’s hand during his proclamation which is tradition in philippine politics as must as a ham is during noche buena.

(read mote posts on arroyo’s “kiss of death” here: https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/?s=kiss+of+death)

voter’s sentiments are so strong on not voting the candidate that arroyo will endorse that the it has the highest rating of  43% on “surely not vote on” among all the celebrities included in the survey.

the catholic church and kris aquino are the top endorsers. we wonder why the voters have changed their views on the catholic church as we had seen in previous years similar research where it showed people generally do not fillow what the church says on political candidates.

we are surprised at kris aquino’s endorsement prowess, besting pacquaio and revillame. pacquiao’s endorsement not having much weight is also surprising. he is a living national sports hero and we thought he had more sway than what the survey is showing. people love him for his boxing but not for his preferences for politicians?

on the high rating of the catholic church  – we wonder if the results of this survey has something to do with teodoro’s recent 180 degree turn on removing his support for RH Bill 5043? teodoro at the start of the campaign has said he supports the RH BIll. just recently, all of a sudden he says he no longer supports it. this about turn is obviously meant to get the favor of the catholic bishops who vehemently are against the RH Bill.

the news article mentioned that teodoro was removing his support for the RH Bill just days before the church will release its guidelines for the 2010 election. we wonder if teodoro got advance information on this survey and thus quickly did his about face?

(read more here, click: gilbert teodoro does a 180 degree turn, turns anti-RH Bill 5043)

gilbert teodoro’s “we do not haves” – is the writing on the wall?

the writing on the wall started to appear very early for gilbert teodoro. his selection as standard bearer by the executive committee of his party LAKAS-KAMPI-CMMD was not greeted by applause and excitement by the general public. people almost fell asleep when they read the selection in the papers. they did give a collective reaction, they asked – “gilbert who?”, but that was just about it. that was not yet the writing on the wall, it was just a small footnote.

day after the announcement was made, the first few words of the writing appeared, no longer a footnote. aside from teodoro being  chosen, the news came with the selection of ronaldo puno as his VP running mate. the first writing that appeared one day after the announcement was – “we do not want puno as VP running mate of teodoro”. ouch.

this writing on the wall, the first one, became bigger as days and weeks went by. the party members wanted anyone except puno. governor vilma santos was the first name to be placed on that wall. then other names came up fast and quick – loren legarda, chiz escudero aand gwen garcia of cebu. but as quick as those names were written on the wall, the same people they wanted quickly wrote on the same wall – no, they do not want to be the VP running mate of teodoro.

at around that time, another set of writing started to appear – “do we really want gilbert teodoro as presidential candidate”?.

the biggest writing on the wall appeared in october when the SWS released its 3QTR presidentiables survey where teodoro was at the bottom while noynoy aquino was the dominant front runner at a phenomenal 60%. the fear and insecurity expressed earlier that teodoro was the wrong choice and destined to lose the election  became the predominant writing on the wall.

this cascaded down to the issue of finding a VP running mate for teodoro. the party members and their officers had changed the criteria for choosing one, to now they need to find a VP running mate who is popular enough to shore up the candidacy of teodoro. it is no longer to find a running mate with just good qualifications, it became specific someone who will help teodoro who they now recognize and verbalize as very weak and trending for a loss in the election.

ronaldo puno added a big exclamation point in this wall – he resigned from the ruling party all together  and said he no longer wants to be in politics. puno was a most enthusiastic VP wannabe in the their party, so all this came as a big surprise.

new names were written down, some with and some without star quality – loren legarda was still part of it, edu manzano, ace durano, bong revilla. then one by one, they wrote their reply on the wall – legarda will probably be with villar. ace durano said he was not interested and will probably run for senate. manzano will join the LP to be with noynoy aquino. ouch!

the lakas-kampi-CMD is scheduled to have a convention on november 19 and as of this writing they still do not have anyone who has actually agreed to be teodoro’s VP running mate.

aside from the VP running mates running away from teodoro, many of his partymates are running away from the party to join villar’s NP or aquino’s LP. the defections appear to be huge and this will certainly add to the mood and tone of their convention on november 19.

on the 19th, the LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD members might as well read these on the wall : “We do not have a viable presidential candidate, he is at the bottom of the polls. We do not have a VP yet. We do not have a  political party at all. We do not have a chance to win.”

With all of these “we do not haves”, we suspect the LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD convention will not be a happy and perky one.

—-

breaking news, click to read:

• Zubiri also rejects VP offer
• Revilla turns down Lakas VP offer

Memo To: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – the obobs parade on the presidential jet that got away

Memo To: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,

i hope mrs. president you will not mind us taking a different format on this memo. we are changing the format to be able to put across the point we wish to make — your staff once again made you step on shit and yes, the obobs parade goes on.

we are quoting here the headline news that PDI carried today.

Under fire for expensive dinners in New York and Washington, D.C., President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has decided to forgo plans to purchase a new presidential jet to the tune of P1.2 billion.

“I’m formally announcing that the President has ordered the cancellation of the purchase of a presidential jet,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said at his weekly media forum aired on the government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

Malacañang abandoned the planned purchase only two days after it announced that the Office of the President had set aside P1.2 billion for a “factory-new,” twin-engine, pressurized aircraft for Ms Arroyo’s travels .

 The Office of the President’s bids and awards committee came out with a newspaper advertisement containing such specifications.

1. mrs. president – don’t your staff talk to each other? is there no approval process in place? are your staff not trained to think at all?

it looked like to me the head of the Office Of The President’s bids and awards committee who released the print ad for the purchase of the jet does not think at all. it’s either that or this person has not been reading the newspapers or watching tv for the last 5 to 7 days.

the P1 Million dinner in NY have been headlines for each of the last few days. there is a raging issue, in fact scandal around and it runs smack into the planned purchase of a presidential jet.

i find it quite elementary and its no brain surgery that you might want to put on hold the release of the ad for the purchase a billion peso jet for your use. the person might not have the power to decide on his own but it’s commonsensical that he should re-clear the release of the ad.

Remonde said the President “doesn’t want people to say that she was putting her needs ahead, although come to think of it, it’s her successor who would benefit from it.”

2. geez, it is once again the words of this cerge remomde dude. first, he could have phrased that statement better. with the wording of the statement, remonde  actually gave the press and the people the very bullets they can  shoot at you. 

did he have to say ” doesn’t want people to say that she was putting her needs ahead“??? adding that thought into the statement  forces people to consider the idea when it could have been possible they did not think of it that way.

come to think of it, the fact that the purchase of a jet  was decided on and an ad was actually released for it actually says you are putting your needs ahead of the people. cancelling the order it does not erase it.

he could have just said something like “given the budget considerations and other matters, the president has decided to cancel the purchase of the jet”. end of press briefing.

communication 101 says – don’t give your audience the knives they will stab your heart with.

3. what is the point of this – “although come to think of it, it’s her successor who would benefit from it“. what did he intend to achieve in adding that?

are we supposed to feel sorry for your successor? does it make you a better president?

or is it  a lame-ass attempt to make you look magnanimous to your successor in some twisted logic?

with that statement does remonde expect the people to beg you to continue the purchase of a new jet for the sake of your successor?

to be honest, it is really difficult to figure out what he intends to achieve in adding that thought into the statement.

“This is the second time that the President has ordered [the purchase’s] cancellation even if this [buying a new aircraft] has long been recommended by the Presidential Airlift Wing several times,” Remonde said.

4. saying that it is the second time that you cancelled such an order also says this is the second time that you approved to make such an order.

this is a major purchase of your office given the price of more than a billion pesos. people who work under you will not process something to a point of making an order unless you have approved it. that is just the way things are done in an organization.

again, the fact that an ad was released says you gave it approval. it just does not make sense that they will release an ad if it did not have your approval first.

mrs. president, i don’t know about you, but this remonde dude gave the people knives to stab you with, confirmed you put your interest over others and narrated you make bad decisions.

once again, mrs. president the obobs parade is here.

yours truly.

~wawam~

Memo To: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – the P1Million Dinner and the obobs parade goes on

Dear Ms. Arroyo,

I went to the le cirque website to ogle at the restuarant that you and your party went to when you were in new york. I have to say I was very impressed. (http://www.lecirque.com/index2.htm)

I would have enjoyed the website ogling if not these flashbacks keep popping in my head. These are the most idiot tic things your press office has been doing on this matter.

Is it a certain Cerge Remonde who heads this office? He is serial screw-up, forgive the French, and this one on the Le Cirque dinner is the latest on the string of screw ups of Remonde.

• he has no control on information being released. he is at the mercy of the internet, journalists and the public. and all of these people seem to be way ahead of remonde every step of the way. any PR practitioner knows that in controversies like these, the best defense to apply is to be ahead of everyone. release the information ahead of everyone to control the direction of the messages.
• saying there were 100 people in attendance during the dinner was dumb. that number was floated as a way to rationalize the huge tab, making the average cost per person lower  thus thinking more people will accept the expense.  a 100 person guest list makes it an average of US$200.00 only (?!).
• there is a problem there – 100 people in attendance is ludicrous. that number is no longer “dinner” it is already a banquet. i do not think you can set up a banquet of that size in a restaurant like le cirque that fast. also, the le cirque website says they can seat only 93 pax.
• and then mr. remonde steps on his own foot when days after he says it was a “simple dinner” and to support the adjective “simple”, says you only had 2 tables
• ding! ding! ding! now the 100 guest list is shot to pieces. there is no way to fit 50 people in one table! i do not think le cirque or any restaurant can have a table big enough to fit 50 people in it.
• based on the picture posted in this blog on the main dining area of le cirque, the most number of seating at le cirque is 8 pax per table. that means at most, your party was at 18 people. that also means with a tab of US$20T, on average a whopping US$1,250  per person was spent. at today’s exchange rate, that is equivalent to P60,000 an amount that is more than an average person’s annual salary.
• at the very start, remonde justified the expense by saying no government money was spent and that a certain congressman romouldez took on the tab. the idea here was to shift blame to another person, a fall guy was nominated. having someone take up the bill “insulates” you.
• ding! ding! ding! days after the office of congressman romouldez issues a denial. the office said it was not romouldez who took up the bill but a certain Daniel an architect who lives in NY and is the brother of congressman romouldez.
• that just made you step on shit, mrs. president. (pardon the french) remonde had the right intention, but couldn’t he have planned the lie  better? one of the things taught in PR school is that if you need to lie, make sure the lie sticks. in other words – COORDINATE with the person you are elevating into a scapegoat idiot. obviously remonde did not clear with romouldez that he will be made the scapegoat in all of these.

mrs. president, i get this nasty feeling as the days progress, you will be led by mr. remonde to step on more shit. (forgive the french) so far, mr. remonde has failed in stopping the carnage and PR nightmare. what more, he has led you to bigger ones with more words he says.

you might also want to tell mr. remonde that telling the press, like a brat “this is the last time we will talk about this” won’t work. saying things like that to the press won’t scare them into not writing about it. he should know that the press actually does not need mr. remonde’s words to write about it. the press can get information elsewhere on their own. in fact on today’s papers, the topic is still there, on front page even. these words of mr. remonde don’t scare anyone nor does it stop anything.

although, mrs. president i hope you realize that while the press does not need mr. remonde’s words to write  about the scandal, it is mr. remonde’s words that got you into stepping into more shit.

this is NOT the first time mr. remonde has done this to you. (here is one more:  https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/the-lessons-arroyos-breast-implants-taught-us-cerge-remonde-looks-at-arroyos-breasts/)

this is the same cerge remonde who looks at your boobs and compares them to those of sexy stars that got you into one hell of a mess on your breast implants. if you want your life and the rest of your presidency take a more sane and less embarrassing trek to the finish, get rid of remonde. get rid of the obobs.

yours truly,

~wawam~

Mr. Obama – please read this letter re: Obama-Arroyo Meeting

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

July 29, 2009

HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Washington District of Columbia
United States of America

Dear Mr. President,

We shared the wonderful jubilation of the American people during your historic election triumph. When you assumed office early this year, we rejoiced at the audacious hope that you inspired, and on your promise of change for the common good.

We joined all freedom loving people of the world who exulted when you declraed that “those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent…are on the wrong side of history.”

The Filipino People share the same morals, ideals and aspirations that define the envied way of life of the American people. Filipinos yearn for the same kind of leaders that the American people yearn for themselves; leaders who are imbued with the right values, lead principled lives, and govern with the highest ethical standards. The ideals of justice, democracy and the upliftment of human rights animate the Filipino people’s dreams of a better world in much the same way that these ideals animate the dreams of the American people.

Upon your invitation, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will have the chance to meet with you on July 30, 2009. In your meeting with Ms. Arroyo, it may serve you well to be mindful of Ms. Arroyo’s legacy of corruption, extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, bribery, election cheating, among others. We do not wish to belabor you with the details of these high crimes which have surely been documented and reported by the U.S. State Department to your office.

The Filipino People also yearn for change from the effrontery of hopelessness and the curse of decadence that Ms. Arroyo represents. In your meeting with Mrs. Arroyo, we feel confident that you will make clear to her that a Government that does not comply with Principles of Democracy and respect for Human Rights cannot have the approval and support of your administration. We implore you Mr. President to inspire hope and be an instrument of change for the common good of the long suffering Filipino People.

Signed,

Teofisto Guingona Jr., former Senate Presidents Jovito Salonga and Franklin Drilon, former SC justice Camilo D. Quiason, former senators Wigberto Tanada, Sergio Osmena III, Vicente Paterno Jr., Agapito “Butch” Aquino, and former secretaries Josefina T. Lichauco, former solicitor-general Frank Chavez, Corazon Soliman, Juan Santos, Jejomar Binay, and Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Sr. Mary John Mananzan, Atty. Harry Roque and Jun Lozada.

————

please post in your own blogs

SWS 2nd QTR 2009 Survey – PGMA’s net satisfaction rating stays low at -31

not mch has changed from previous survey – arroyo’s net satisfaction rating continue to be low from previous survey.

2nd QTR 2009

source: http://www.sws.org.ph/

obama-arroyo lovefest meeting – is that joy or sadness?

or is it just paranoia? or mistrust?

a meeting between a president of any country, most specially a small third world country like  the philippines and barack obama, the new rock star of politics and the president of the most powerful nation is surely news and and a big thing.

i said “news” and a “big thing”, didn’t say yet if it is good or bad.  at that point is where the questions of paranoia and mistrust come into play.

the first question we have in our mind is this- what for is arroyo meeting with obama? what are the benefits for the country?

arroyo, well actually the country will spend money on this trip. and basing it on past foreign trips of arroyo, she will probably spend a lot, very much, with a extremely high cost on this trip. arroyo has the habit of bringing with her the whole barangay and everyone at the next barangay for her foreign trips.

this most likely being arroyo’s last trip to the US as president and meeting obama for the first time after a couple of girly-crush attempts previously, no stones will be unturned to make sure arroyo gets over the top coverage for this trip.

and that leads us to the biggest reason for the title of this post — what for is this meeting between arroyo and obama when arroyo’s term as president will end in about 12 month’s time?

whatever decisions or agreements arroyo and obama will make on this meeting, not much can be done or implemented in the philippines since arroyo has just a few months left in her term. i am not saying arroyo is a lame duck president, but one year left in her term is equivalent to a few minutes in national governance.

the press releases sent out by malacanang is that arroyo wanted to thank obama for the passage of the veterans bill in the US congress. if that is all the reason that arroyo is going to the US to meet with obama, aren’t there more efficient ways to say thank you to obama?

arroyo will most likely spend US$300M++ in this trip with the two barangays in tow. can she not send her thank yous to obama through a telephone call? or maybe a cellphone text? one text message to the US will only cost P15.00. well ok, she will need to write a very long text, so maybe P60.00 at most for text equivalent to sending 4 text messages? does it have to be $300M++? 

maybe there is some joy, not sure yet but maybe there is some  in arroyo meeting with obama. one thing sure though, there is sadness because of the high cost of this trip.

now to the first two sentences in this post.

arroyo meeting with obama fueled by paranoia is this – is arroyo meeting with obama to talk about her obsessive desire to be president of this country for life? well, ok at least term extension. or supremo prime minister after cha-cha that will result to prime minister for life?

we know that for good or for bad the US is an important ally of the philippines. marcos’ downfall was hastened when the US refused to support marcos. the US even allowed marcos to stay in hawaii. allowed imelda even!  many things we like or dislike the US needs to give a nod to it if not to agree with.

the mistrust part is obvious. it seems to be written in every word of this post. arroyo is one leader of this country who we cannot seem to learn to trust. we love to mistrust arroyo. we know that her words are  not necessarily  true to what they actually mean in the dictionary.

this is a president who likes to give the image of a very religious woman with a strong faith and belief in God. and yet this is the same president who said she talked to God and God told her not to run for president. and this she announce to the country – I talked to God and I have decided not to run for president in the next election.

then bam! a few weeks later, she announces she will run for president, forgetting about what God told her. how can a very religious woman forget what she and God talked about.

i guess we will not know what the real intent and the real agenda is until after the actual meeting with obama, maybe weeks, months or even years after.

is there sadness or joy?

Senator Loren Legarda’s statement on PGMA “invited meeting” with Obama

On Philstar.com, Senator Loren Legarda was quoted “It is about time that Mrs. Arroyo and Obama should meet to discuss pressing issues. It has been in coming. They should walk their talk and rethink developments. U.S should help in every way possible to countries vulnerable to climate change impacts”.

Among senators who also commented are Francis Pangilinan, Aquino Pimentel, Manual Roxas II, Alan Peter Cayetano.

President Gloria Arroyo is scheduled to meet with President Obama in Washington on July 30.

Resources: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=486349&publicationSubCategoryId=63

Dibdibin natin ang usapan – does arroyo have breast implants or did she have breast augmentation?

it is a serious question and the answer to which seem to have been lost – did arroyo have breast implants or did she have breast agumentation? in my mind there is a difference – having breast implants may be for medical reasons while breast augmentation is for kalandian vanity.

now, hold on – it might be hard for all of us to accept that a woman such as gloria macapagal arroyo may want bigger breasts or for vanity. i think i speak for most of us when we can’t imagine arroyo getting them so that she can proudly wear bigger bras and deeper necklines. in most of the pictures that we have seen her in, all we see is her face, the neck down is properly covered.

i don’t know about you, but these were my reactions when i read the news that president arroyo had breast implants:

• breast implants  for gloria who?
• what breast implants? where? are you sure?
• hmm…. getting some horizontal extensions to compensate for vertical shortcomings
• is mike arroyo happy?
• is that why there is a bounce in her stride?
• who was the lucky doctor who made them?
• my eyes!!!!!!
• i shall never look at a GMA picture the same way i used to

AP photo. double click photo to view source

click the picture for source and read post