Read a newspaper article about your presidential candidates today George. Sounds a bit like the USA at the moment only more so. What's your pick for that race?
Glad you asked that
If you ask me, I reckon Duterte will poll the most votes, but will he be the next president? Since when have votes mattered in the Philippines? If he does actually manage to translate votes into power, we're in for a fun ride here.
And just to make sure I survive the first purges...
you just can't be too careful!
I just so happen to have written this yesterday for my "proper" Letter from Manila, as a little last minute update after campaigning had closed and looking at the candidates latest standings.
Roy SeñeresYou may not be familiar with this candidate and for good reason. He’s dead, and therefore lying, literally, sixth in the polls.
Announcing his intention to run for president in late 2014, on February 5 this year, he pronounced his withdrawal from the race due to feeling a bit poorly. Three days later, he snuffed it.
Believe it or not, his name is still on the ballot paper.
Now wouldn’t that be a turn up for the books?
Miriam SantiagoMiriam has probably been the most consistent of all the candidates in that at no point has she risen above last place in the polls, since Roy died anyway, and this fact has obviously irked her a little.
In her final speech yesterday, she turned on the pollsters, questioning the credibility of the two commissioned surveys, claiming irregularity in their methods, particularly the exclusion of her name in some of the appraisal questionnaires.
Hmm, she may have a point, I suppose not having your name there could skew the results a tad.
She also said that, "These commercial surveys are mind conditioning tools. The goal is to discourage contributors, effectively depriving me of campaign funds." and we have to agree that it seems to have worked a treat.
Anyway, all is perhaps not lost for Ms Santiago. Whilst I was having a cold one at Adriatico yesterday, I conducted a little impromptu survey of my own, with some surprising results. As my old friend Dr Eduardo stepped from his BMW, I asked him who would be the new President come Tuesday, and his reply? “I shall be voting for Miriam.” As I didn’t ask anyone else, she therefore came out in the top spot, and I hope she can take some solace from that.
Jejomar BinayAs we’ve mentioned before, Jejomar is the candidate of dramatic change, not least in his personal electoral circumstances.
Entering the presidential race as clear leader, to some tune, by dint of unceasing hard work on behalf of his rivals, who will unfairly insist on raising matters of massive corruption, and this, coupled with his unconvincing responses of, “I never” and, “I didn’t” has seen him tumble to fourth position.
However, in his final rally yesterday, it emerges that supporters of ‘Jojo’ are banking on the power of prayer and text messages to ensure the presidential candidate's victory. But even with that sure-fire election winning strategy, it still looks like he’ll be back to depending on his wife’s flower shop (in the absence of any large contracts to milk) for beer money come the 10th!
Grace PoeThe Supreme Court, having finally decided that Ms Poe is indeed a Filipina, has allowed her candidacy to stand, and a very wise decision that is too. We need a candidate of the centre ground, and that’s where Grace has remained throughout the campaign, slap bang in the middle of the polls. Hardly either moving up, or down.
At her final appearance in Quiapo yesterday, she apparently said absolutely nothing of note.
We like her, she's just so
nice, so bless her, and keep up the good work Grace!
Manuel Roxas It is a constant source of bafflement to your correspondent just how the hell ‘Mar’ has got to second place. By quoting Batman?
Sure, he’s massively wealthy and comes from a family of political giants but the man seems to be a mental pygmy, not to mention a proven incompetent. He campaigns on nothing more than doing what PNoy has been doing for the last six years, which is ¾ of sweet FA.
“The best is yet to come” he opined yesterday in his Jam Tomorrow speech, going on to point out that electing him president would mean supporting another six years of ‘honest’ and ‘clean’ government, much like what the Aquino administration has started.
Which is, when you look at it, kinda the same thing as I said.
Rodrigo DuterteWhat can we say? The frontrunner is truly a breath of fresh, if slightly unhinged, air in this campaign.
His detractors have tried the old corruption smear tactics and PNoy has reminded the nation how Hitler came to power, although we’ve had no reports of a Philippine Kristallnacht, as yet, but ‘Duterte Harry’ has risen above such seedy manoeuvres. To date, as no one has pointed out that electing a homicidal maniac as your president is generally considered a bad thing in international circles, onwards he marches.
He has vowed to end crime within six months of his presidency by ordering security forces to kill tens of thousands of suspected criminals, then pardon himself if he were to be found guilty of mass murder. In addition, he also warned that as president he will shut down Congress and establish a revolutionary government if lawmakers do not endorse his policies.
See, nothing like Hitler at all!
On top of that, in the race for vice-president, our old mate Bong Bong Marcos is right up there. Although not a chosen running mate, if he wins, he should get along fine with Duterte though. A probable dictator as president, with the son of a dictator as his assistant?
They’ll have loads to talk about.
Only in the Philippines!
