(sent to Inquirer)
I am writing in response to the article Pacman’s political agenda, dated May 7, 2009. After having just watched Legally Blonde 2, I was inspired to speak up because I’ve observed that there has been too much hype going on after Pacquiao’s victory, and it really ain’t pretty.
Being a symbol of Filipino pride is one thing, running for office to represent the Filipino is another. To me, Manny Pacquiao has always symbolized the Filipino who had to sweat and bleed to rise from poverty; an inspiration to those who had to live with almost nothing to their name; a man who represents the faith and strength of the Filipino. Yet, I still can’t help but dwell on the issue of his political agenda.
After a failed attempt at congress, Pacquiao, after his victory over Hatton stated his intention to run for office again because he supposes that he can help the poor through the Congress. To me, this idea of governance has been the problem why our government is like traffic on a Monday morning – stand-still: people thinking that it is the only avenue for them to affect change in this country.
I have always believed that good governance is a function of electing brilliant leaders whose sole purpose is to serve their country. To me, good leaders are those who actually know how to argue for themselves, those who have actually learned to research on issues that affect our country, those who have experience in managing people and have immersed themselves enough to know the problem. While Manny has the experience to back his candidacy for Congress up, I think that he does not have enough knowledge to actually be immersed in that kind of politics. Being a congressman is a tough job – he has to propose legislation and decide on very important matters that will affect this country such as to confirm treaties, declare war, impeach a public official, etc. He cannot always rely on his staff to do things for him because in the end he is the one who decides. He will just be used by others to advance their political agenda. I have this observation that he has kept this attitude of the uneducated voter who thinks that those people run really do want to do good. This is the Philippines, and to tell you honestly, not all of them have clean intentions, and to rise from our poverty, we must elect an Obama!
Pacquiao has won over P580M during his match with Hatton. It is just sad to him throw it all away should he really run for office. Heck, even if he gives each Filipino a million pesos each, he still has over P400M left! But if he really wants to help people and to rebuild this nation, why not invest in long term development projects of NGO’s such as Gawad Kalinga, World Vision, and the World Wildlife Fund? Through those organizations he could provide scholarships for those who are smart from the slums but do not have the money to study, help save the environment and most importantly REBUILD THIS NATION!
The wisest investment and agenda he could make is to put his money where real solutions lie; nothing political – just pure, genuine, faith-based and principled service.
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Okay, before you react negatively, let me explain why I think that. Partially Free. This is a moment in history that Martin Luther King would've been very proud of. This is Martin Luther King's Dream. For the first time in the history of the United States, an African-American was elected as the commander-in-chief. Barack Obama captured the position with 338 electoral votes against John McCain's 163, as of November 5, 2008, 11:06PM (HK Time). The Dems have also captured majority in the Senate and in the House. Barack Obama speaks in front of his supporters in Chicago after being declared winner of the highly contested US Elections, citing that "Change has come to America". Read full transcript here. For the first time, John McCain is not too negative towards his opponent as he concedes. McCain calls for unity with the Obama camp as the nation prepares to welcome its new leader. Full transcript here. Personally, I feel that this is the first election where America has proved to have deviated from its dark past of having fought civil wars after the eras of slavery and racial discrimination. While there's still so much to work on -- reviving an economy that has fallen so gravely and a war that has been fought without reason in Iraq (and a host of other issues such as health care and energy), I think that Obama's administration can handle these pressures well. Or at least it has to do what it has promised. McCain finally sells his soul to the devil for this lame attempt at comedy. My goodness, he's terrible. I was watching CNN earlier and remembered that it's been a while since I've last seen a full show there. Earlier today, I've realized that the US elections are just days away. So I played catch up on the internet, until I gave up knowing that I can watch it on TV. Here's the first ten minutes of Barack's speech today. Hope I can find the full one soon. :) Thanks to my friend Niko, who is also an avid fan of the US Presidential elections, I have discovered the wonders of SNL. Here are a few of my favorite clips. Okay, so some may not approve of this, but it's fun to see politicians take the humor. Although I still don't approve of Sarah Palin, it's funny how she rode with the joke. At least some people know how to make fun of themselves. And oh, I love how Tina Fey does those impersonations. She should win the Emmy for it. I enjoyed this Parody. Thank you, Niko for supplying the link |