Far From Neutral Notions - Philippine politics, culture and stuff

Stumbled upon Janette Toral’s Ituloy ang Isulong page about the recent Chiz Escudero chat over at the Yehey rooms. Recent as in I found out about it 2 hours after it ended. Nice. I am kicking myself right now. Repeatedly. With vigor.

A lot of people just normally assume I support the Sorsogon representative, which is funny considering my anti-Erap bias. It’s even more hilarious once you factor in my anti-Marcos bias. My being anti-GMA does not, and will not - ever - equate to me being in the same side with her enemies. His father was a Marcos man, and I still remember Chiz defending Erap. Still, if the upcoming elections have one selling point, it’s that it’s a rare opportunity to send a strong message to GMA. Should the opposition win, it’s as clear a statement as any that the people do not favor her. But should the opposition win, it gives Erap leverage.

Chiz makes a lot of noise, and has talked sense in the few instances I happened upon his radio show. Included in his platform are a few of the things that I’d like to see addressed: education, healthcare and employment, among other things. He says the right things to get the youth vote, and it helps that he shares a passing resemblance to Bamboo. In this day and age of instant connectivity, he held the aforementioned chats, he has a website, and has successfully built himself up as - gasp - one of us.

He also spins a good rhetoric about the rule of law, and that the ouster of Erap was unconstitutional. And fine, it was a railroad. Fine, the walkout during Erap’s impeachment hearing was, in retrospect, dumb. But you know what? Given the circumstances, when he and the other Erap loyalists railroaded that proceeding, I would’ve done the exact same thing. And I still would. When the other guy doesn’t play by the same rules, it can be a very infuriating game.

There’s the Rorschach in me that demands an uncompromising stand: screw sending a message, support the candidates on a case-by-case basis. Inasmuch as I view Chiz with scepticism, I am equally not sold on Alan Peter Cayetano, who strikes me as a glory hound with a stiff upper lip. And certainly I have my reservations regarding John Osmeña, Nikki Coseteng and Mr. Sharon “Noted” Cuneta. There is a side of me that will not forget, because to forget is to set aside past principles for the sake of winning the current battle, and there’s been too much of that. This is the part of me that screams to the oopotunistic opposition and the GMA apologists alike: I will not be one more body oin the foundation of your “utopia”.

On the other hand, I like how MLQ3 puts it: “I have only one vote, but by golly, I intend to protest with it.” And not that it’s such a bad proposition either. As unsavory as some of the characters in the UNO state are, TEAM Unity’s members make me physically ill. Pichay? Jueteng lord Chavit Singson? Mike Defensor (geez what happened to this guy)? Miguel Zubiri? Please. If Zubiri didn’t have such a hot wife I wouldn’t even bother watching him on TV. The administration almost makes it easy to vote straight for the opposition.

Which brings me back to Chiz and the rest of the crew. I said before that a lot of people normally assume I’m for Chiz, and they assume wrongly. But neither am I against him. Yet. The problem with compromise - and that is exactly what supporting all 12 opposition candidates will mean for me - is that it’s like buying stolen goods: there’s no warranty, and you get what you pay for.

Popularity: 6% [?]