Ping should give way

I am sure Ping Lacson would be a nice Philippine president. He's tough. And appears to have that single-minded, purposeful attitude. Among all the candidates, he offers doable, sensible, practical solutions. He even has a timetable to effect his programs. GMA cannot claim to be our best, last hope. She doesn't seem to realize that she got us into this. But poor Ping! He cannot win. Not yet at this time, anyway. He still has too much baggage dragging him down. His ratings indicate that his base has not increased over the past months.

Why Ping still clings to the hope that he'll pole-vault over Roco, GMA, and FPJ to win in May reflects again his single-minded, purposeful attitude. But will somebody knock some sense into the guy. He can use that spirit come 2010. Meanwhile, all efforts should be directed to unseating GMA. Perhaps Ping can be a very good DILG secretary in an FPJ presidency. That should be a good vehicle for his own presidency later.

In his dogged effort to win, Ping is torpedoing FPJ's campaign. He has stopped his attacks against Jose Pidal and instead renewed his war against FPJ's group. GMA should be smiling these days, maybe she and Ping know something that we don't.

Are the Ayalas better than the Lopezes?

This morning people from Manila Water (the Ayala-controlled water service company) came to my door offering free septic tank excavation. Sayang, I just had ours done last month by Malabanan to the tune of PhP5,000. This must be what's Bayani Fernando's been saying last year, that the water utility companies will do it for free as what the old NAWASA should have been doing. But I didn't believe BF on that until this morning.

This reinforced my thought the the Ayalas are better at business than the Lopezes. Or at least they provide better service. The Ayala utility companies that come to mind do well and provide good service. They have Globe telecoms and the Manila Water, both of which I am a fortunate client. I hear that both BayanTel and Maynilad have unsatisfactory service. And both incur heavy losses, too, along with Meralco. Maybe ABS-CBN earns, but many say that Channel 7 has better programming. The Lopezes should not be in the public utility business. In many instances they resort to the government to fix their quandary. And whoever wins the presidency this year, they will have a truly Lopez-controlled president by 2010 in either Loren or Kabayan. Kawawa na talaga tayo.

Why I am not voting for GMA part III.

I've been away for a while to help Vito review for his finals. Like I said in a previous post, FPJ should explain what he meant by his debt restructuring posturings. GMA pounced on this, but her plans are not any better. Which brings me to my earlier message - that we should not allow GMA to stay beyond May. We must remember that GMA did us in. She had the chance to turn things around but instead she brought us Jose Pidal, worsening conditions, and uneven governance. So, whom am I voting for? My premise is that Filipinos should elect anybody else but her. And the more candidates against her, the lesser the opposition's chances. That is why I am voting for the opposition candidate with the best chance of winning. FPJ is not necessarily the best candidate, but he has the best chance of beating GMA. So I am for FPJ.

Why we should not vote for GMA, part II

What she's been doing? GMA appointed to the Comelec 2 unknown/dubious characters. She put her law firm/lawyers to important offices. She reenacted the 2003 budget so she can freely use funds for the elections. She uses public officials (Manapat, Corpus, etc. come to mind) for political demolition and the government machinery for her campaign. The FPJ party may be composed Marcos-Erap cronies, but GMA is also wooing Marcos-Erap-Danding buddies. She's married to Jose Pidal and consorts with Nani Perez.

It's time to look for her replacement

GMA promises 6 more years of the 3 years that she already imposed upon us. Kaya pa ba ng Pilipinas yon? It's time to look for her replacement. Let's look at the other candidates one by one.

With GMA supposedly gaining on his early lead, FPJ now turns to some populist campaign lines like anti-globalization and debt restructuring. Maybe his handlers realize that they can't solely rely on his popularity, and that they must bare a semblance of a platform. But what's this? With his new campaign tack, FPJ will further distance himself with the lending powers and their campaign contributions. But this is really the right track for us. The debt burden is almost 3/4 of the budget. To get the international lending institutions' support, FPJ must impress upon them that he is not at all repudiating the onerous loans GMA incurred (1/4 of our total debt is because of GMA). He should ask for a relief (1-2 years) until we are better off.

to be continued.