With all those allegations of corruption against him, backed up by the testimony of a former accomplice, the drop in the survey ratings of Vice President Jojo Binay is not significant.
Binay even considers his dive of 5 percentage points in the latest voter-preference survey of Pulse Asia as “good.”
Binay is right: It could have been worse if the number was a double digit, say 10 or 15 percent, but it’s not.
Despite the testimony of former Makati Vice Mayor Nestor Mercado, his alleged bagman, at the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee that Binay enriched himself in office when he was the citys mayor, the majority of the people still prefer him to become president in the latest survey.
Most of the survey respondents probably are ignorant of current issues or they dont care whether a scoundrel takes over the country’s helm.
Unless another man of the masses, like Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, decides to run, this country will go to the dogs in the next six years after the 2016 election.
With Binay as president and Dr. Elenita as first lady, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos look like pikers.
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The masses–the very poor, mostly unlearned Filipinos–elect the country’s leaders.
They vote on the basis of popularity (e.g., the actor Lito Lapid and Bong Revilla to the Senate); and looks that match their own (e.g. the Binays of Makati and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a Nora Aunor look-alike).
They don’t care whether the candidate they vote for is incompetent or corrupt, as long as they can identify with these candidates.
The masses outnumber the intellectuals, the middle class and the very rich by a mile.
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It’s easy for the masses to like Jojo Binay because he looks homely, speaks softly and affects the manner of someone “na hindi makabasag-pinggan (timid or reserved).
He mixes with ordinary folks and tells them he is one of them because he was once a poor boy. And they believe him.
He pretends to be humble, when hes not.
Remember that incident at Dasmariñas Village when his son, Mayor Junjun, ordered the arrest of the subdivision guards for preventing him from using a closed gate, and Vice President Jojo said, “Give the mayor a little respect?”
The masses have apparently forgotten that incident where members of their own kind were oppressed by the Binays.
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A candidate won an election in her town by allegedly passing herself off as a doctor.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided the house of Vice Mayor Patricia Lim-Guran of Bulan town, Sorsogon province based on reports that she was engaged in the illegal practice of medicine.
Guran allegedly diagnosed patients and gave them prescriptions for a fee.
She faces charges of illegal practice of medicine and illegal practice of pharmacy for allegedly selling medicines in her house.
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The acting chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Leonardo Espina, is not too happy about his new position.
Alan Purisima, who has been suspended for six months by the Office of the Ombudsman over an alleged irregular contract with a courier service for the delivery of PNP-issued gun licenses, is Espinas classmate at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
Espina is deputy director for operations of the PNP.
“Who would be happy over another man’s misfortune, especially when he’s your ‘mistah,'” said Espina.
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With Espina at the helm of the PNP, albeit temporarily, rogue cops beware!
The guy dismissed and suspended many cops during his watch as director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).
Espina acted promptly on complaints of abuses committed by Metro Manila policemen.