MY CHOICES: May the Best Men & Women Win

I WILL AGAIN exercise my right of suffrage come May 10, 2010. This is the first time that the Commission on Elections will implement an automated counting system. This is my first time to make public my choices and THIS IS NOT a template for which to base your votes ad verbatim. Mind your own list.

This early (or at this late date), I have finally made up my mind after a long and thorough study and recollection of whom to vote for the best possible people to lead and govern my city and my country.

My preference varies and will not toe the line of party dominance or of popularity but hinged on a standard and values entirely on my own conception and design. I am pseudo-liberal and my political strata varies from left-of-center to ultra right.

I am a bona fide resident of Cebu City and, where I live, belonged to the North District. There are only two credible political party slugging it out for slots in the city council (which has eight), the vice mayorship, the mayorship and the district representative of the north.

Of course, the incumbent has the edge for their achievements are the benchmark. The Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) political party have endeared to me, partly because the outgoing mayor – Tomas Osmeña – have made Cebu at par (if not, better) with Metro Manila. Partly because of personal and sentimental reasons.

Sounds biased? No and no. The IT factor is heavy on BO-PK. However, two guys from Kugi Uswag Kusug (KUSUG) and one independent made it to my list for city councilors while a KUSUG lady convinced me with her education, achievement and experience that she is better than her rival in a seat for the House of Congress. Wanna see?

COUNCILORS:

1. Andales, Sisinio (BO-PK)

2. Arcilla, Alvin (BO-PK)

3. Cabrera, Ma. Nida (BO-PK)

4. Fernan, Danilo (KUSUG)

5. Garganera, Joel (KUSUG)

6. Japson, Lea (BO-PK)

7. Labella, Edgardo (BO-PK)

8. Rupinta, Felicisimo (Independent)

VICE MAYOR: Young, Joy Augustus (BO-PK)

MAYOR: Rama, Michael (BO-PK)

NORTH DISTRICT REP: de los Santos, Mary Ann (KUSUG)

Sorry Hon. Raul del Mar, your daughter Cutie doesn't have the IT to represent the North District and continue your good works. You degrade yourself by painting government buses used by northern barangays with you and your daughter's name and face and lending the phrase “Serbisyo del Mar” as if your constituents owe you for providing them these buses which is not your money, in the first place, spent to buy those.

To think that all your constituents might be that dumb when you could not find even one deserving party mate to replace you except your own daughter, of all people. How paternal and traditional. Yes something like a TRAPO does. What a legacy to leave behind.

>>--oOo--<<

Now for the national scene. There are 187 PARTY LISTS out there (as of last count) and I'm sure these marginalized groups are worthy of your vote. Chose well and study every group's aims and advocacy. They vary according to its purpose.

I have a soft spot though for tribal communities and I have seen their children deprived of the basic amenities like education and shelter. Besides they have to walk one to three hours in the jungle trails just to learn and I just hope this time they will have someone from their kind to represent them and gave them a voice.

PARTY LIST: Indigenous people's group like ADD-TRIBAL, ALIM, A-IPRA, AGILA, ALLUMAD, ALUM, ALIF, ANG NICP, AKI, KATRIBU, KASAPI, KATUTUBO

I will chose and vote ONLY ONE from among the above list.

>>--oOo--<<

In the battle for 12 slots in the House of Senate, I would very much like to place at the top of my list fellow Cebuanos. Then those senatoriables coming from the rest of the Visayas and Mindanao are considered before I work on the rest. Below is the trend I would like to happen.

SENATORS:

1. Osmeña, Lito (Independent)

2. Osmeña, Serge (Independent)

3. Maambong, Regalado (KBL)

4. Defensor-Santiago, Miriam (PRP)

5. Tamano, Adel (NP)

6. Cayetano, Pia (NP)

7. Tatad, Francisco (GAD/Gabaybayan)

8. Enrile, Juan Ponce (PMP)

9. Hontiveros-Baraquel, Risa (LP)

10. Ople, Susan (NP)

11. Querubin, Ariel (NP)

12. Ocampo, Satur (BMP)

Why blend leftists and an ultra-rightist to the mainstream? Simply, because I want a better Senate representation from all sides of the political arch than just be dominated by these same elite and traditional politicians that does nothing but make the Senate a half-way house for half-cooked pirates and dim-wit nags who called themselves “honorable”.

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The vice-presidency is an honorable office that have been regarded at one time as a staging ground to usurp the presidency by that second sequel of People Power. However, it has regained some of its lost glory (as a silent bridesmaid) courtesy of the incumbent – Mr. Noli de Castro.

The present cast of vice-presidentiables are a hoary lot. Three are too noisy and too vindictive, another one is too TRAPO and the rest are feeling their way in their dark shades. Of course, I need someone who is not a traditional politican and who could fit well as a silent bridesmaid but could not be dictated by a mere presidential staff.

I have one in mind:

VICE PRESIDENT: Yasay, Perfecto Jr. (BMP)

>>--oOo--<<

Six years is a long time to experience a bad president and I would not want that. Would you? There are five heavyweights and four lightweights in the presidential race. Let's start with the lightweights.

JC de Veyra of Ang Kapatiran is a child playing in a game purely designed for matured men, except one. Though endorsed by six archbishops of the Roman Catholic Church, he knows he does not have a chance of winning this lofty position and you don't have to be a rocket scientist why is it so.

Nicanor Perlas, an independent, is my original choice before with his non-traditional platform and for espousing green politics. But I have changed course since then when I became convinced that he has not an iota of a chance to pummel his way via an upset. Not in 2010. Needs more exposure though.

Jamby Madrigal is a sitting senator running as an independent and I think she should concentrate more as a housewife and a soon-to-be mother than by just chasing another candidate as the highlight of her platform of governance.

I remembered after the 2004 polls when Bro. Eddie Villanueva cried foul after being “cheated” saying God anointed him to become the next President of the Republic of the Philippines. This electoral process is quite interesting don't you think?

Honestly, I never voted for Joseph Estrada in 1998, much more so this May. He had his chance then and he blew it. I am just wondering why a convicted felon is allowed to run in the elections? Only in the Philippines.

Richard Gordon is a doer and his candidacy is a fresh wisp of breathing air to a stale market populated by old traditional parties of whose tentacles lived off on a society of corruption, patronage politics and violence. A good choice but rather “Hitlerian” in style which tend to divide a nation instead of healing it.

Noynoy Aquino's candidacy is anchored on the death of her mother. Nothing else. It may start like a wildfire - big and threatening - but peters out at the last stretch as everyone became wise. Trend setting. Credit that to his handlers. Personally, I don't think he has the skill and the depth to run a country if you base his forgettable 9-year stint in congress and another six ho-hum years in the senate. He could not even lick his aversion to smoking. Basically, he is just a child trapped inside a man's body.

“Naliligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura?” (Have you bathed in a sea of garbage?) This line from Manny Villar's campaign jingle caught everybody by surprise and endeared himself to the masses. It projected himself to be one with them. Which is true, perhaps. On the heels of a corruption headline he caught up and tied with another candidate in the surveys which got the ire of the latter. However, he invited suspicions of how he would recoup his campaign expenditures once he gets elected.

Many people say, an endorsement from the most hated person today – Madame President – is a kiss of death. That is only an innuendo thrown by skeptics to Gibo Teodoro's candidacy. For the record, Gibo was never a member of long standing with the dominant party LAKAS-KAMPI and was only thrown into the seat because many believed he has the IT to run a country judging by his intelligence, integrity, competence and depth while he was serving three terms in congress and as Secretary of National Defense. His is a darkhorse challenge and he remains a darkhorse with full of optimism.

I always love a darkhorse. I don't know, maybe I can see things that other people don't. We're talking of substance here. I do believe that Gibo is the best man to whom we start to rally ourselves, and this nation, to respectability and recovery.

PRESIDENT: Teodoro, Gilbert Jr. (LAKAS-KAMPI)

>>--oOo--<<

One last thing, isn't six years too short for a good president to serve?

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NAPO TO BABAG TALES XXVII: Jungle Wil

THERE IS A PROMISE of a hot day today, October 4, 2009, as me and my guest, Wil Rhys Davies aka CochiseRattlesnake, walked the concrete-and-asphalt road at 8:15 AM from Guadalupe to Napo. Will is a Welsh national who opted to live here in Cebu and put up an adventure-tour business – Jungle Wild Adventure, Inc. He had been living in Banilad since February and we crossed paths at the Tap Room of the Gustavian Restaurant on September 29 after he surfed and contacted me in the Internet in my dormant MyOpera blog and in my very active Blogger account.

We reached Napo at nine and crossed the first river crossing. Wil liked the idea of crossing streams stepping on stones placed across its width. “Only in the jungles will you find these”, he said and I surely agree with that. We both laughed. He is a good-natured guy and willing to take the risk of walking behind me along a trail that followed the bends and turns of the Sapangdaku River. He slowly learned a few Cebuano words of greeting from me and he waved and smiled as we meet locals going the other way. As we walked, I showed to him plants and fruit trees that are very useful for survival.

We rested after we made the second river crossing and Wil was sweating all over and was dripping with it – literally! His bush shirt and long walking pants were a mass of brine-soaked fabric and he kept wiping his face with a handkerchief. I drank from a nearby spring and filled my water bottle then we started to climb a trail passing along a small flower farm and into an upland community where we took another rest. It is so hot and I had been breathing hard. The shade from a mango tree where we sat is most welcome.

After a lengthy conversation, we left the place and climbed again passing a trail lined by ancient mango trees. This is mango country and their sweet yellow fruits have made Cebu famous internationally. I let him know that and he smiled. Along the way, we meet a couple with their little son clearing the trail of its already thick vegetation. Will gave away his new bolo to the husband who appreciated very much the gift. We climbed on until we reached the house of my young friend, Manwel Roble.

Jucel, Manwel's 3-year old brother, jumped up and down upon seeing me and I brought out my token of bread and gave it to him and he vanished inside his house giggling as he ate. That fattened my heart and Will appreciated very much my generosity to the kids. As we sat on the bamboo benches, I showed to him my home-made three-bladed dagger, my white-steeled Mantrack little machete and my tomahawk, the shaft of which I made and carved with my own hands.

Afterwards, Manwel arrived with four young coconuts and I helped him open the bottom end of the fruit with my own blade. God, it was sweet and Wil helped himself with his share of the coconuts. Well rested and fully nourished by the nutritious fruit, we climbed again at eleven going by way of the Babag East Ridge Pass. It is almost noon and the sun shone its hottest over this part of the globe and upon us and, soon enough, I struggled to keep my pace and gulped air as fast as I could exhale them.

I rested often feeling the heaviness of the load I carried. I looked over my shoulder and Wil seem to be not bothered a bit by the heat and the exertions. Saw him wipe his face, time and again, with his handkerchief and wring it and, besides that, he is uncomplaining. A true outdoorsman in the purest sense of the word. Slowly, we were able to reach Babag Ridge and rested at a store. We both drank soda drinks and I ate my hamburger lunch. Wil did not, the coconuts might have been enough for him.

After a half-hour of siesta, we started going downhill via Kahugan Trail. Retracing partly a trail where we had passed before, we came into a slippery slope along a forest of madre de cacao trees. Will was able to hold his balance well and both of us went through unscathed until we reached the community chapel and rested. It was in this interlude that Wil caught a good subject for his photo collection – an 81-year old woman carrying a heavy basket balanced on her head while smoking a home-made tobacco.

Satisfied with the picture shot, Wil took the lead in going down to the river crossing and greeted everybody he met on the trail until we reached Napo. From Napo we walked down for Guadalupe and everywhere people waved at him, happy to see a foreigner going backpacking in their place. It elated them so much to see Wil.

Finally, finally, we reached the church in Guadalupe and I invited Will to meet good friends Boy Toledo and Ernie Salomon waiting in V. Rama Avenue. Both were pleased to meet Wil and practiced their English in their hard Cebuano accent. We were able to finish one case – six one-liter bottles – of Red Horse Strong Beer and, by then, both Boy T and Ernie spoke in a slurred accent.

It was a good workout for Wil and a good introduction for him into the local trails here in Cebu. It also was an eye-opener for him to know the company I keep and how easy we make water out of beer. Just kidding.

Anyhow, Jungle Wil is now connected with the Trailhawk in Facebook and you will see more of him soon. Just keep that mouse handy and you'll get your fill of adventure.

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