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COOKING UP A STORM — The Wrong Way

While the Palace’s talking heads are showing us obviously “forced” smiles, convincing us (or possibly themselves, actually) that everything is under control re: the 2010 elections, I picture their “cooks” frantically rushing from pot to pot, simmering here, frying there, hurriedly “cooking up” a story they hope all of us will “buy” and “eat”.

You can see it in Ermita’s  eyes. You can surmise it in Nograles’s facial expressions. And you can hear it in Claudio’s “seemingly” assuring voice. There is trouble in paradise. There is panic in Hell’s Kitchen.

Too bad for this so-called merger that’s no more than a lengthening of party name. Obviously, this merger is not as strong as they want us all to believe. Regardless if COMELEC regards LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD as the major and strongest party in the country, the fact remains that they cannot produce the so-called “numbers” they consistently brag about.

Too bad that they looked-up to  Vice President Noli de Castro as their “saving grace” only to realize too late that the blazing campaign train has left them.

Too bad that (for once) they seemed to be entirely unprepared and without a “Plan B” for this unforeseen events of late — the so-called “Noynoy Tsunami” that is sweeping across the country that has threatened even the best contender so far (in terms of survey ratings — Manny Villar).

Too bad that the people within their party seem to be driven more by personal ambitions and vested interests instead of an authentic desire to make the merger work to their (the entire party in general’s) benefit. So like mad dogs, they fight amongst themselves to push for the nomination of their “manoks”.

Too bad that recent events has muddled and sullied what  looked like a fluid merger to begin with.

You know what they say, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!” or better yet, do not even try to go anywhere near it in the first place. Could this be what VP Noli de Castro had been thinking all this time?

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SNAP BACK TO REALITY

All this talk about “political machinery” and “confidence rate” is slowly revealing itself as no more than a vain attempt at justifying the possibility of an admin win. Who are they kidding? Even if “operators” (legal or otherwise) are in place from Aparri to Jolo, it doesn’t take a political analyst of the highest caliber to deduce that the chances of an admin win will significantly diminish if anyone but Noli de Castro becomes the party’s standard bearer. I can even be so audacious as to say that if any other LAKAS-KAMPI-CMD becomes the party standard bearer, it will be extremely difficult to cheat, errr win.

The apparent is now becoming obvious. Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro may well be declared as the ruling party’s standard bearer. Reports say, that exciting day is tomorrow.

Gilbert Teodoro, while he may have accomplishments to show, an untainted image and a remarkable brain to boot (I’m assuming, of course), is being fed false hopes by newly-found party mates that he can actually become President in 2010.

This is not America! Wake up, sleepyheads!

The coming presidential elections in 2010, however optimistic we may be of its outcome, will be more or less the same as it has been years before it. All the smart people have been prophesying about “change”, “reform” — all those poetic elections bs.

And then there’s the sudden and numerous calls for “platform” politics. Wow, really now? Seven months before the elections? They must be in limbo. Or maybe they are talking about an entirely different country altogether.

If it were up to me, laying-out platforms and debates should have started at least a year ago for it to actually bear weight because that would mean we can somehow analyze it well if not be able to put it to  a relative measure of test.

I am not playing devil’s advocate here nor am I playing cynic or trying-hard to start a flame-bait — I am simply being realistic.

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IS THERE HOPE IN THE 2010 PHILIPPINE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS?

The coming 2010 elections will not take us to political utopia. If we wanted change, we should have prepared for it. But of course you know that already, don’t you, smart reader? You don’t just demand it from people by appealing to their emotions on such short notice.

For a GENUINE revolution to take place (and as in everything), “practice makes perfect”. We are what we repeatedly do (read: repeatedly). Remember the 21-day Habit Theory? It takes 21 days to create a new habit.  This theory ascribes to the fact that the human mind takes almost exactly 21 days to adjust to a major life change, universally.

We have 7 months left before the Philippine presidential elections in 2010, so technically, it should be doable. But to guarantee that it is possible to make 40 million or so voters to vote in sync is a gargantuan task.

Worth a try? Hey, why not?

But I say (with brimming hope devoid of sarcasm),  good luck with that!