How to sell a candidate

I waited for the late night news and found myself watching several political advertisements. Every few minutes, I would see Dolphy endorsing Senator Manny Villar and former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro flying an airplane. I also saw Mayor Jojo Binay lamenting how his mother could have been saved had his family been richer. Senator Richard Gordon’s solemn ads show him being at disasters assisting people. 

After the Commission on Elections ruled that Erap Estrada was qualified to run, a slew of ads saying so appeared. I haven’t seen much Noynoy Aquino advertisements but I do remember the one where people are carrying torches. Brother Eddie Villanueva has a catchy one with happy people singing in the grass but I have not seen that ad recently.

These ads don't come free and I’m wondering just how much the candidates have spent for them. From the frequency and ubiquity of the ads, it would be easy to conclude that Villar has spent the most amount of money. Villar’s advertisements have saturated not just television but also the Internet and his face appears in the advertisements when I check my Facebook account. I keep hearing his campaign jingle wherever I go and it plays incessantly in my head. His spokesperson, Gilbert Remulla, was interviewed about Villar’s campaign expenses. Remulla was evasive about the amount, claiming that Villar was given “preferential rates.”

Most of the ads say that they were paid for by “friends” of the candidate and I’m curious as to who these friends are. I wish that the rules on campaign donations were stricter and that there would be more transparency on donors and how much and to whom they donated funds. Not too long ago, Mikey Arroyo raised everyone’s eyebrows when he claimed that his controversial house in the United States was paid for using campaign donations. 

Ads for consumer products are supposed to conform to the ethics of the advertising industry. Claims about these products can’t be made unless they have basis. There is obviously no such requirement with regards political ads. 

I’m amused by Villar’s claim of planting one million trees and providing thousands of jobs. The TV ad has a small note that this information is certified by the Chief Information Officer of Vista Land, a real estate company that he and/or his family owns. He claims to be “maka-Diyos” and flashes a picture of himself kneeling before the pope. When I first saw the ad, I remembered convicted rapist Mayor Antonio Sanchez surrounding himself with images of the Virgin Mary and holding a rosary while he proclaimed himself innocent of rape and murder.

To show that they have something in common with majority of the Philippine population wallowing in poverty, Villar and Binay make much of their poor childhoods. Rags to riches stories make good “Maalaala Mo Kaya” episodes or even a long, drawn-out teleserye. However, knowing what it is like to be poor does not mean that one will have the interest of the poor at heart the rest of one’s life. 

Most claims about a candidate’s past accomplishments can be verified in various records. I just don’t know if voters will have the desire to go beyond the spin and look into them. For instance, Gilbert Teodoro claims to have job experience as a Congressman. This “experience” includes leading an impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. after the Supreme Court ruled that the coco levy funds prima facie belonged to the government and not to companies controlled by his uncle, Danding Cojuangco.

Claims about a candidate’s desire to help the country are easy to make but difficult to verify. In myths and fairy tales, heroes undergo trials and these trials reveal their character. Writers of political advertisements have tried to do the same and tell stories depicting candidates as heroes. Our job is to discern which elements are true and which are figments of the writers’ imaginations. Picking the right candidate will not guarantee that we will live happily ever after but it could help us get out of the hole we’re in now.