Political Lambaste...

.:Manny Pacquiao: Reality Check!:.

Manny Pacquiao is running for mayor.

What the eff is going on here?!?

Seriously, what voices got into Manny's head for him to think for one moment that he was going to make a great mayor?

I've said this before and I'll say this again... if you're going to make a head count of Pacquiao's fans, feel free to count me out. Let him be the great boxer that he is, but I won't place him in the pantheon of great athletes who fight for our country whom I admire and respect.

What makes a Manny Pacquiao different from a Paeng Nepomuceno or an Efren “Bata” Reyes? I think one word sums it up more than anything else: ostentatiousness.

Manny Pacquiao makes oodles of money for his boxing career. That's his right. That's his prerogative. However, as far as I'm concerned, he's already claimed his “reward” for being a great boxer. He's fought for himself, for his family, but to extend that to the country is stretching it a bit too much. It's the ostentatiousness that really grates on my nerves, because while he's having a mansion built, there are so many people just outside his doorstep who are starving, and dying, even then.

I'm not going to be unreasonable and say Manny Pacquiao should be a messiah to the Filipino people, but that's exactly my point. Manny's hype machine has marketed him precisely as a neo-messiah meant to elevate the Filipino's stature by example. He has allowed himself to be hyped as a messiah, and that's the bluff I'm calling him out on. He can't do everything, so what business does he have leading people on to believe that he can?

Now, he's running for mayor. And exactly what does he intend to do as a mayor? What is his platform? Where does he intend to go with this? I don't doubt his ability to win, but I sincerely question his ability to lead. He is the epitome of a figurehead. He will inspire people, but inspiration is not enough to go by. He needs to be capable of addressing the issues the people who will end up under him would be bringing to his plate.

I wish he wouldn't run, but it looks like he's all set to do it. He's going to throw heaps upon heaps of money into a campaign that could instead have gone to charity or to more productive means of helping the country, if that's his intention. Is he going to end up just letting the people around him go over his head? Then that proves he's nothing more than a figurehead.

I'm tired of unqualified celebrities running for public office. From the inutile Robert Jaworski to the divisive Joseph Estrada to the myriad other celebrities who have no business being in public office, I'm just really dismayed over this neverending trend that fame is the only qualification necessary to have a successful political career in this country, forget everything else.

Just a few months ago, you pretty much said that you'd rather “serve” your country by boxing because politics isn't for you. Where are those words now? Am I going to lump you now into this category of people who lie through their teeth, including exquisite examples like Miriam Defensor-Santiago (“For the sake of my son who has passed on, I am leaving politics.”), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (“I am not running for president!”), and Imelda Marcos (“Nobody was hurt during Martial Law.”)? I was never a fan of you, and now, I feel a strong repulsion to the two-faced, facetious manner this political career you insist on having has evolved into.

Ano ba talaga ang gusto mo? Maglingkod sa bayan? Diba, sabi mo, sa boksing, sapat na ang inspirasyon na ginagawa mo para sa iyong mga kababayan? Nasaan na ang mga pinagsasabi mo?

Do I need to enumerate what makes him unqualified? He wasn't even a high school graduate. He has a busy schedule because he is a professional boxer who has to stay in shape and train a lot. He has never had any political experience, and he's going to launch into one at the prime of his boxing career. His idea of helping people out is the same idea Willie Revillame employs in Wowowee: throwing money in their direction. He has no platform. He's going to let his friends with political design be the one to form his entire campaign for him. He doesn't know how to double-check anyone in his inner circle.

Do I need to go on at length with this? He's a figurehead, plain and simple. Sadly, he's beginning to believe his own hype. He's beginning to have a messianic complex, thinking that he can enter politics and do a load of good. I don't care if his intentions are true and honest. The road to Hades is paved with good intentions.

I know I'm going to hear the tired and old “crab mentality” argument on this. I know I'm going to have people tell me na ang kapal ng mukha ko kasi sarili ko na ngang kababayang hinahangaan ng mga Pilipino, sinisiraan ko pa. To that, I have two words: so what?

Why do we cling onto so blindly onto any scraps of “nationalistic pride” we can find by pinning our hopes on someone else? Why can't we take pride in ourselves, and not in some other who's making a slight dent in the international scene?

I called it before: Batista would be a source of national pride because he's a WWE Champion, never mind the fact that being champion is something the bookers and writers determine, or that Batista is a crappy wrestler in the ring. We take pride in a Jasmine Trias who did nothing but milk us for endorsement deals and never once spoke out proudly on American Idol about her Filipino lineage. Is that how desperate the Filipino people is for a source of national pride?

And besides, what the Hades did Manny Pacquaio do that makes him such an untouchable sacred cow who's taboo to speak out against?

Is he some kind of holy man who held a dying leper in his arms as he prayed for the leper's soul? No? Then he's no Mother Teresa.

Is he a gentle leader who leads his nation in a peaceful revolt? No? Then he's no Mahatma Ghandi.

Is he a charismatic figure who came from the masses and showed them he was one of them by refusing to wear Americanas and wear barongs instead? No? Then he's no Ramon Magsaysay.

Did he write books and work on a means of a peaceful reformation of the Philippines, only to be tried in a kangaroo court then shot in Luneta? No? Then he's no Jose Rizal.

Did he die on the cross for us? No? Then he's no Jesus Christ.

You know even Mother Teresa, Ghandi, Magsaysay, Rizal, and Christ Himself have been spoken about in a negative light. Why should Manny be any different?

Do we gloss over a man's faults by virtue of his merits? Does he get a free pass because he's a famous boxer? I think not. Otherwise, we'd all be perfectly fine with having R. Kelly babysit for our little girls because he's such a great musician.

I have only one piece of advice for Manny... get a reality check. Hindi ikaw ang tagapagligtas ng bansa. Huwag mo na hayaang umasa pa ang mga tao sa iyo dahil kailangan nilang matutong maniwala sa sarili nila.

.:Tito, Tessie, Richard... Is This Politics Or A Circus?!?:.

Tito Sotto, Tessie Oreta, and Richard Gomez could very well be running under the administration.

My, my, my. How their memories run short.

In this country of partisan and contrarian politics where the opposition will clash with the administration for no other reason than to clash with them, we now have three formerly stalwart opposition members make it clear that they are open to running with the administration if the opposition wouldn't be kind enough to let them run under their banner.

Goes to show how flimsy party lines are so long as crossing it can serve you well. Goes to show how completely pointless the system is when they align with anyone when it's convenient to do so.

Tito Sotto and Tessie Oreta were two of the infamous “No” senators who prevented the opening of the envelope in the Senate. Tito Sotto, specifically, was backing FPJ in the presidential elections of 2004, and did not hesitate to insinuate or outright accuse GMA of cheating during those elections when his candidate lost. Tessie Oreta dances well. I am ashamed to admit I'm related to her, but yes, I am.

Richard Gomez outright called GMA a “false president”. He has, in my opinion, a rather strong political ideology, and would be one of the few celebrity politicians with teeth because he has a more apparent agenda than his celebrity contemporaries. Yet like every other politician out there, he is capable of crossing party lines when it serves his purpose.

Quite honestly, I really wish they went back to a two-party sytem with very delineated and outlined platforms. In that way, personalities become less of a factor because people would be more aware of the political ideology clash that results from the two parties' radically different points of view. In a multi-party system, ideologies are expendable, and personalities are paramount. I really am not a big fan of this system, because just because a personality is popular, does not mean I know what he or she is fighting for.

I am, for the most part, very amused and saddened at the same time over these three people. I didn't like them in the first place, and now, I can't even respect them, because clearly, for as long as it means they can stay in power, they would forsake their alignment and just hang out with the administration to serve their own agenda.

Don't you just love Philippine politics?

Haplos mo ay kanlungan ng nangangailangan. Salamat sa dampi ng iyong pagmamahal! (/sarcasm)