My friend in social media, Cerwin Eviota, who does public relations work for Cebu City came out with an interesting post yesterday that I think, also pesters many voters who up to now have not yet made up their minds whom to vote for president.
According to Cerwin, he wasted his vote in the last presidential elections because his choice turned out to be “a dismal failure sugarcoated only by a slogan of the straight path.” My friend then asked, as if aloud, whom to vote for, but I think he was grappling with the idea of supporting a candidate who talks trash, is downright ill-mannered, has issues with human rights and one who will not hesitate to kill someone if he commits a crime. I can understand Cerwin’s dilemma. A Catholic education easily puts him in a quandary.
Cerwin can correct me on this, but I think that despite his professional ties with City Hall, the PR professional is not inclined to support Vice President and UNA presidential bet Jejomar Binay, the candidate of Team Rama.
Cerwin, wa ka mag-inusara (you are not alone). And so I think it would be good to consider the strategy offered by Manila Times columnist Yen Makabenta, who like Cerwin and this corner included have not yet decided whom to support in the presidential derby.
For Makabenta, it is important that voters need to get a good grasp of the candidates’ character and judgement based on six (6) questions which, for the opinion maker, will reveal the candidates’ temperament and disposition.
The first question deals with the granting of statehood or greater autonomy to Muslim Filipinos in Mindanao where they constitute the majority of the population.
Number two, is the candidate in favor of requiring young citizens of our republic to provide a period of mandatory service to the nation, be it in the military or government service? Number three, what is the stance of the presidentiable in terms of giving minimum wage increases to all workers in the country? Should billionaires be taxed more heavily? Fourth, how will the candidate support educational reforms? Fifth, is he in favor of expanding and institutionalizing the 4Ps Pantawid Pamilya program and make conditional cash transfers a guaranteed policy of the government? And sixth, is the candidate in favor of amending the Constitution, particularly its economic provisions and allow for the election of senators by region?
If I may include two important questions to the six:
What is the presidential candidate’s stance on the development and growth of cooperatives in the country? What is his road map and specific programs to spur economic activity in the agricultural sector?
I’m writing this article some five hours ahead of the last presidential debate and I doubt if these questions will be fully tackled by each candidate during the debate, assuming they will be asked, if at all, owing to the time limit imposed by the Comelec.
However, with two more weeks to go before D-Day, a presidential candidate with conviction will have to stand his ground on each of these issues. I agree with Mr. Makabenta that at some point, the candidate will lose support from certain quarters but gain votes from another.
The important thing is, we’d be able to hear the candidates’ opinions because the last thing we need is a president with a wishy-washy standpoint and feeble character.
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Cebu City Michael Rama took time out from his busy schedule last Saturday to grace the annual general assembly of the Cebu News Workers Cooperative (NewsCoop) at the Marcelo B. Fernan Press Center.
Mike, who is running for a third and last term as mayor, looked cool in an orange-colored shirt and light olive drab-colored slim pants. He urged the co-op media enterprise to engage in more co-op businesses to serve its members. He also promised to create an office dedicated for cooperative development if he gets reelected, but didn’t explain why he was unable to do so after six years in office. Since Hizzoner is meeting with newspaper editors and columnists tomorrow, I hope he will address this issue.
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