Skip to main content

i told you so, part 2

i said it last year and i will repeat it now. erap is running again for president. last night, in one of his tuhog-tuhog tours in bulacan, he said that civil society and the businessmen have admitted it was a mistake to oust him in 2001. and then he added, in a low voice with dark undertones: "Nagkamali pala kayo, ba't di n'yo ako ibalik?"

And then the turn around: his previous statement was that he would just unify the opposition. After that, he said he might run if could not unify the opposition. Since no opposition has been united in this country since 2,000 years ago, last night his statement was he might run IF the people ask him to do so. I told you so.

I am sure the 30 percent of voters who belong to this constituency would ask for it. If we have 40 m voters and 30 percent belong to him, then that is an astounding 12 million votes. Already. But that might be split several ways, if more of our presidentiables would just open their eyes and see that, really, the massive voting population belongs to the DE cagetory, and therefore, they are the ones that should be reached -- by handshake, by TV image, by radio voice, by film, by komiks, by word of mouth.

And just now, at the Foreign Correspondents' Association of the Philipping meeting, Erap said that the senatorial slate in 2010 would be a powerhouse, naming Adel Tamano, Roilo Golez and TJ Guingona as candidates.

Only Adel would win in this trinity. Roilo is not known outside Paranaque, and TJ will suffer the fate of Koko. When he begins touring the country, instead of the aging Teofisto they would see the younger TJ and ask: "What happened?"

The political pot is boiling.

Comments

Unknown said…
Hi sir. I am Muhammad Maguad, a student of the Uiversity of the Philippines Diliman. I have many friends in Babaylan, a UP organization advocating for the rights of LGBT. Incidentally, I am also a constituent of Rep. TG Guingona.

You wrote on this blog post that:

"Only Adel would win in this trinity. Roilo is not known outside Paranaque, and TJ will suffer the fate of Koko. When he begins touring the country, instead of the aging Teofisto they would see the younger TJ and ask: "What happened?""

May I clarify what did you mean by "TJ will suffer the fate of Koko" and the question '"What happened."'

What was the fate of Koko? Why would people ask "What happened"?

Thanks.

Muhammad Maguad
Ipil Residence Hall
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City
Monday, April 21, 2008
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Poems by Danton Remoto

In the Graveyard Danton Remoto The walls round the graveyard Are ancient and cracked. The moss is too thick they look dark. The paint on my grandfather’s tomb Has the color of bone. Two yellow candles we lighted, Then we uttered our prayers. On my left, somebody’s skull Stares back at me: a black Nothingness in the eyes. The graveyard smells of dust Finer than the pore of one’s skin— Dust mixed with milk gone sour. We are about to depart When a black cat darts Across our path, quickly, With a rat still quivering In its mouth. * Immigration Border Crossing (From Sadao, Thailand to Bukit Changloon, Malaysia) Danton Remoto On their faces that betray No emotion You can read the unspoken Questions: Are you really A Filipino? Why is your skin Not the color of padi ? Your eyes, Why are they slanted Like the ones Who eat babi ? And your palms, Why are there no callouses Layered like th...
Post a Comment
Read more

A mansion of many languages

BY DANTON REMOTO, abs-sbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 10/16/2008 1:00 AM REMOTE CONTROL In 1977, my mentor, the National Artist for Literature and Theater Rolando S. Tinio, said: “It is too simple-minded to suppose that enthusiasm for Filipino as lingua franca and national language of the country necessarily involves the elimination of English usage or training for it in schools. Proficiency in English provides us with all the advantages that champions of English say it does – access to the vast fund of culture expressed in it, mobility in various spheres of the international scene, especially those dominated by the English-speaking Americans, participation in a quality of modern life of which some features may be assimilated by us with great advantage. Linguistic nationalism does not imply cultural chauvinism. Nobody wants to go back to the mountains. The essential Filipino is not the center of an onion one gets at by peeling off layer after layer of vegetable skin. One’s experience with onio...
1 comment
Read more

Taboan: Philippine Writers' Festival 2009

By John Iremil E. Teodoro, Contributor The Daily Tribune 02/26/2009 A happy and historical gathering of wordsmiths with phallocentric and Manila-centric overtones *** This is from my friend, the excellent poet and critic John Iremil Teodoro, who writes from the magical island of Panay. I wish I have his energy, his passion and his time to write. Writing needs necessary leisure. But this budding, bading politician has shifted his directions. On this day alone, I have to attend not one, not two, but three political meetings. And there goes that new poem out of the window. Sigh. *** According to Ricardo de Ungria, a poet of the first magnitude and the director of Taboan: The Philippine International Writers Festival 2009, “the original idea was for a simple get together of writers from all over the country who have been recipients, directly or indirectly, of grants and awards from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). What happened last Feb. 11 to 13 was far from being ...
2 comments
Read more