Voters warned vs ‘ampaw’ presidential candidates

MANILA, Philippines - Beware of “ampaw” presidential candidates in 2016.

President Aquino stressed competence must be demonstrated and the next president should not be full of “air,” or hollow as a rice puff.

Aquino said this in a forum with students from Hope Christian High School yesterday when asked about the three qualities that his successor must possess.

“Isn’t it that ‘ampaw’ (rice puff) is tasty but inside it’s all air. How do you describe it without being insulting? Is there a point in what they’re saying? Are the things coming out of his mouth truth or just good to hear? When you watch their speech or their campaign, is there substance in what they are saying or are they just dancing, singing and playing cute? Do their words match their actions?” he said.

Aquino said he does not like people who would flip-flop on their positions “180 degrees” and still claim to be experts.

He said people could not possibly follow someone who does not know where he is going.

“Substance is very important to me, being true. If you cannot trust the one who will lead us, how will you follow him?” Aquino said.

Other important values are selflessness and humility, he said, noting that the next president must be clear on whether he was working for others or for himself.

“So all of that, (and) for me you can add the faith dimension. Maybe I will be nervous if (the candidate says) you go with me ‘I will do this, I will do that’… (when there is) overconfidence, I am being fooled. There should also be humility,” Aquino said.

“I don’t think I have to really teach you what to look for. I am sure, you can discern what is true. Maybe in essence, who really has the essence and who is hollow? With the ‘ampaw’ maybe we will be entertained for a bit but after 10 minutes we will be starving because there is no meat,” he said.

Aquino said people nowadays can access a lot of information especially on the Internet and all they had to do was separate garbage from the useful data.

He said a leader must do what he had promised and “that has to be demonstrated consistently before he can start or (before) you should start imparting your trust in him or her.”