To praise or trash the VP?

As a member of the working Press, I am not spared the usual amount of SMS or text messages allegedly promoting or praising this or that politician. This is quite normal for members of the media particularly Key Opinion Leaders. In particular I have regularly received the normal dose of SMS about the reported activities or proclamations of Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay.

In fact, I surmise that many of those who have regularly received the same text messages have simply taken them in stride, and as par for the course for a man reputedly the best bet of becoming the next President of the Philippines. As many would say: In the Philippines it is advance promotion if not early electioneering.

In fairness to the Binay camp or his ardent supporters, their SMS are only sent out when there are matters of national concern. So when I received a series of SMS that were “out of character” concerning the Vice President, I could not help but wonder if someone was out to trash VP Binay.

To begin with, it seemed to be so unlike Binay or his supporters to be sending out a series of SMS/ text messages beginning with 2 on Good Friday and 1 on Black Saturday. To make matters worse, not only was the timing strange and bad, the SMS themselves were heretic if not blasphemous.

The first text received at 12:07:57 am April 6-2012 from +639179650840= “Let’s pray 4 unity this Holy week. VP Binay will unite all factions vs the vindictive Yellow Army! Google Manila Times + Binay senate slate”.

Talk about malice, only the spawn of hell would text at 7 .57 seconds past midnight just as Good Friday starts! The texter uses a news article to make his SMS look credible, stirs up fear and hatred by raising the ghost of past politicians and a mythical Yellow Army!

The second SMS came in at 9:09:05 am April 6, 2012 from +639176009147= “ Jesus, Joseph & Mary may be gone, but salvation lies in our beloved JEJOMAR. Go VP Binay. Pls pass...

This was timed and designed to come out on Good Friday and intended to make the reader get all holy and righteous against VP Binay and his supporters by making it appear that Binay’s supporters treat him like Jesus the Christ or the nation’s Savior.

The third SMS came in at 5:26:18 pm, April 6, 2012 from +639167492057= “Paalala mula sa tanggapan ni VP Binay: Magpaka Boy Scout ngayong Holy Week - Huwag aanga-anga sa daan para hindi manakawan.

The last 2 SMS of that day were written in a manner and language that was very unlike all other text messages that were sent out by Binay supporters in the past year. Except for the traditional Christmas message, reference to religious personages or the use of street terms have never been part of the “Binay SMS vocabulary”.

As of Black Saturday, I received the last SMS at 10:19 am from +639167492057= “We pray that GMA’s Strong Republic will be realized under Binay’s Strong Leadership. Time to unite. Patawarin ang nagsisisi! Binay sa 2016!

Now who in right mind would make such political declarations that are equivalent to a kiss of death on Black Saturday? clearly someone intent on doing damage to the Binay camp if not against the Vice President himself. Under normal circumstances, I would not bother to make a comment on the mud slinging, but there is nothing normal about a person or a group who purposely does so during one of the Holiest times for Filipinos.

Such action is indicative of how low and Godless these people are and that they are people we should be concerned about because they are capable of extremist behavior. These are the type of people who adhere to Machiavellian philosophy that “The end justifies the means”. What frightens me about this lot is the fact that they are not as desperate as they are evil if not greedy for power. People like them can easily hurt Filipinos just as willing as they are to destroy Binay.

People who dishonor sacred traditions and days of religious significance for political interests should be exposed and the man who sows discord should be given their just rewards.

I have long ago learned that the Presidency does not always go to the one who works the most or wants it the most. As I have written in a previous column, people may vote for Presidents but it is GOD who appoints Presidents to fulfill GOD’s purpose. As we read from the Book of Proverbs: Man proposes, GOD disposes. The choice is GOD’s alone.

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Should we just accept it as a fact of life in the Philippines when politicians “suddenly” come out of nowhere to endorse a product when we know that is it intended to increase recognition or recall and has nothing to do with the qualities of a given product?

With the Holy Week officially over, we can expect more and more politicians to suddenly endorse or promote products ranging from alcohol, nutritionals, even facials all for the sake of increasing public recognition and name recall. The Comelec as always will say there is no law against this, but I would dare if not challenge the Advertising regulators or the AD-Board to scrutinize these advertisements with the same strictness that they subject regular commercials to. Just for once or for the first time I also dare the people at the Department of Trade and Industry to screen or comment on such activities because the public are not all aware of the truth behind this politically motivated endorsements or commercials!

If that does not work, perhaps it is high time for Filipinos and Netizens to launch a campaign against products and companies who allow themselves to be used as political tools solely for the interest of politicians. Let politicians foot the bill for their self-promotion and endorse themselves not products we buy!

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