The giant media network ABS-CBN once again conducted another forum this time the guests are the candidates for the 2nd most powerful position in the country, the vice president. The forum was dubbed as Harapan: The ABS-CBN Vice Presidential Forum and still part of the network’s advocacy on honest and clean election or known as “Ako ang Simula” which was inaugurated last May 10, 2009. This was the 3rd forum hosted by the network as the first 2 were participated by the presidentiables. The said event has the goal for the people know the vice-presidentiables; their profile, their backgrounds, what are their priorities and plans if elected as the next vice-president of the Republic of the Philippines by answering questions about the social problems the country are facing like corruption, poverty, education,agriculture etc. and these questions will be coming from first, their co candidates, next from the moderator and lastly people coming from different sectors of society. There were 7 aspiring presidentiables but there are only 6 who took the challenge and also to took the change to present to the Filipino people their intentions and their plans for the country and also to convince people to vote for them. The candidates who were present were Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay of the United Opposition (UNO), MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando of Bagumbayan Party, Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nacionalista Party (NP), Sen. Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party (LP), Jay Sonza of Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) and Perfecto “Jun” Yasay of the Bangon Pilipinas Party. LAKAS-KAMPI CMD candidate Edu Manzano failed to attend the forum for reason not mentioned. The forum was held at the La Consolacion College in Manila and was lived telecast on national and local television channels of ABS-CBN and was hosted by Ted Failon.
For me, this forum where the vice presidentiables were the guests is very important because being the second most powerful position, people must also decide for a good vice president in case if the president is out either voluntary, accident or ousted. So knowing the vice presidentiables is also very important and this vice presidential forum could be one of knowing and scaling these candidates more as they are oblige to answer every questions thrown unto them and also to present their plans and platforms of government in solving the cancer that hurting the country for so many years. I watched the whole duration of the vice presidential forum for me also to know each of them especially those who don’t appear that much on t.v advertisement and those who were not that popular as compared to those traditional politician who their faces appear every elections promising again what they had promised before when they first ran in public office 9 years ago. As a first time voter also and being part of the Filipino youth, our vote is very important so I will make the right decision on who will I going to vote. I listened carefully on every word that came from their mouth in answering questions and even their behaviors on the whole duration of the forum. And apparently, there are candidates that talked non-sense, still promising those old promises of free medicine, access to quality education, fight corruption, affordable prices of basic commodities, agriculture etc. but there are also those who showed a lot of sense in answering the questions. For the benefit of everybody especially those first time voters, I will evaluate very vice-presidentiables based on their answers to the questions, how realistic and relevant their answers are, whether they gave the right answer to the question or are they just fooling the people. This evaluation is personal so no other people involve or influence my opinion. Up to now, I am still undecided yet to whom will I vote.
Mayor Jejomar Binay – on the first parts round of the forum, it was the clash between him and MMDA chair Bayani Fernando. Binay asked a very good question to Bayani Fernando on why he is allowing his men in MMDA to violently demolished informal settlers and destroy the goods where sidewalk vendors sell on sidewalks, identifying it as human rights violation. I admired him barring Fernando from calling these poor people “squatters”. His primary weapon maybe is his experience being a 17 years mayor in Makati City known as one of the most progressive city and the center for business and commerce in the country. I also liked his answer as one farmer from Nueva Ecija who was badly affected by El-Nino phenomenon, that if we have a good leadership, el-nino will not be a huge problem as what the current administration failed to do and even making el-nino as reason to cover their lapses. Good leadership will help farmer to produce more. However, his plans and programs for education in remote areas are not clear to me when one teacher from Zambales who are teaching aetas in mountains asked question on what are their solutions to the education problems in remote areas. Binay instead answered what he has made to the education in Makati which I believe impossible to implement in remote areas. Overall, Binay is a good vice president in this country based on his experience, education and his advocacy of good leadership.
MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando – “Mr. Political Will”. It was a clash between him and Mayor Binay on the first part of the forum. Honestly, I don’t really agree on his answer or on his actions regarding the violent dispersals on sidewalk vendors. He categorized it as part of his belief that implementing the law will make our country prosper. Yes I agree that we need to follow the law but it is not necessary to exert force. Instead have a dialogue with these vendors and give them a place to sell their goods. He also called illegal settlers “squatters” but he was corrected by Mayor Binay saying that “we must give dignity and respect to these people”. However, he made a right point in his solution to the worse effects of el-nino through engineering a reliable irrigation system that will help farmers water their farms. Also his plans on the education on increasing the salary of teachers to 40,000 a month is very promising, but is it possible? For me, there are a lot of problems in the education sector like classrooms, books etc. classroom in public schools now are not a conducive place to learn. Well overall, Bayani Fernando could also be a good vice president for his political will, but sometimes we don’t need to use force to our fellow countrymen. This could also be a disadvantage for his candidacy as many witnesses violent dispersals on sidewalk vendors in Manila.
Sen. Loren Legarda – being the only female candidate, Loren could have the edge among other candidates in terms of voted from women as she understood them more among the other candidates. For almost the whole part of the forum, it was a clash between her and Mar Roxas each of them throwing questions with each other even blaming and attacking personally. Personally, there are some points were I got disappointed with her answers on some of the questions because she don’t hit the nail in the head. But her advocacy on environment could also be her asset especially for those who love the environment. also she kept on telling to the people what are her legislations like the climate change act, her continuous battle for free medicine and benefits to elders. She even had a debate with Sen. Mar Roxas on her prime advocacy. Mar Roxas asked her why is she strongly fighting climate change while the Philippines are just a small contributor to the causes. Her answer impressed me that though we contribute little, we are the once that could be badly affected since we have a very long coast line and we are vulnerable to the effects like strong typhoons, el-nino and floods. I believe that boosting the awareness on climate change most specially its effects could help us to be more ready for the future so that Ondoy and Peping will not happen again. She got my attention there. Additional benefits for teachers could also be a better solution but for me not totally will solve the problem of poor education quality mostly in rural areas. For me, Loren could also be an effective vice president but she lacks on platform for the agriculture, economy employment among others. Free medicine will always be impossible for me in contrast to her promise.
Sen. Mar Roxas – author of the cheaper medicine act and probably one of the best speakers on the forum. He answered every question direct to the point. He even insulted Loren Legarda for not following mechanics of the forum saying “those who don’t follow instruction lacks self discipline” referring to Loren not following time limits and even rebutting while Mar is answering the argument. Loren even referred him as Balimbing as he is transferring from opposition to administration and now back to opposition. He explained to the people why he supported the VAT and E-VAT bills and he was saying he was pro poor. He said that collecting tax is not bad but stealing taxpayers money is the bad act. He even said to Loren that that money she used on her advocates came from taxpayer’s money. He also said that we need tax to fund government projects. On the issue on land reforms, he safely said that it’s up to the Supreme Court to decide on that issue. He even spoke Ilonggo dialect when she asked Loren on the importance of climate change. For me, Mar was wrong in his thoughts that Philippines shall not focus on climate change because we are the most vulnerable among other countries in the world. We need to educate our people that this problem is not a small problem but a very serious problem. But he provided good answers on agriculture and irrigation, to remove rice importation and to increase rice production among local farmers, to fund them and to lower the cost of fertilizers and pesticides while increasing the value of their harvests. On education Mar also said that giving teachers the right benefits will solve the problem. He said that their advocacy “Kung Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap” will be the solutions with the problems of education as the department were among the most corrupt in the government. For me, Roxas also got experience and the knowledge, but he has to prove to the people that he is really pro poor and a certified Mr. Palengke and Mr. Botika in his advocacy in lowering the cost of medicines in the country.
Jay Sonza – one of the underrated candidates based on surveys but he proved to the people that he is a serious candidate with a sense of urgency to lead the country and the people to move forward though making change in leadership and politicians. Known in showbiz for a long time, Jay was among the best speaker in the forum as he refused to throw mud to his opponents instead answering questions which the people deserves and from his heart. When he was aked by Mar Roxas on if ever Mar and Noy-Noy wil win, will he be open to render his service to the government and what service would that be. He replied with confidence that he will and it will be on the agriculture sector. He argue that it needs someone who is expert on the field of agriculture to solve the problems and being a farmer in Mindanao, Jay is qualified to do so. He consistently giving realistic answer and asking relevant questions like how will the candidates solve corruption as all of them keep saying they will fight corruption? But How? This question is very good for me. When asked by Ted Failon if given a chance to wish on a genie and that genie was Pres. GMA, he humbly answer that he will wish to enlighten the minds of every Filipino people that this is the last chance for us to make a change and to move forward. Jay also gave impressive answers on his solutions to agriculture problems like stop rice importation and proper irrigation. In education he also gave sufficient answers on reversing the budget to level the rural areas to the city and to have equal tax allocation and not just in Manila. Overall, Jay Sonza impressed me a lot in that forum though I don’t know him that much. The fighting spirit is there together with faith in GOD.
another underrated candidate, Jun Yasay’s advocacy is more or people becoming future entrepreneurs and zero corruption. I don’t know this person but he also impressed me on his answers to the questions especially in agriculture and education. In agriculture, he supports removing rice importation, removing middle man in buying the products of farmers and teaching farmers how to sell their products by teaching entrepreneurial skills. On education, I also agree in his principle regarding the misconception to the importance of education that was taught to the children. It is not enough to teach children to teach education to have a good job, instead teach them to become future entrepreneurs. But this would take a long time taking the basis of the education problems of the country. Nonetheless, it’s good that there is a person that really wants the people to become somebody in the future. Still Mr. Yasay needs to gain popularity for this endeavor to become a reality.
Still a long way to go for these candidates to know their fate in May 2010. Even me is still undecided on who will I be voting. Jay Sonza is a pride of Mindanao and being in a people in Mindanao, he truly understands what are our needs, Binay proved to be a good leader as he made Makati a primiere city in Asia, Mar Roxas is a person with credibility and have accomplished in helping the poor, Loren with her climate change and environment advocacy and Jun Yasay with his dream of making Filipino business minded and zero corruption. These credentials made my decisions becoming tougher. Maybe weighing these and be vigilant will help me deciding who will be my vice president.
