Carvajal: Political musings

ERAP Estrada had his date with destiny and he bungled it big time as a boozing, gambling and womanizing high official who literally toyed with the presidency. He should just enjoy the spoils of his former office and spare the country the ill-repute of having a convicted felon as president. Still, he would get votes from fans who do not know any better.

Gibo Teodoro, with PGMA’s kiss of death, might get even less votes. He has compounded his problems by refusing to change anything of PGMA’s governance which many less intellectually endowed Filipinos denounce. Gibo is supposed to be the most intelligent of all the candidates. Therefore, his non-critical stance on the present administration’s governance can only mean he does not have the strength of his convictions. Needing PGMA’s support, he knows he can ill afford to offend her.

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Corruption, not intelligence, is the issue. If Gibo fully endorses PGMA’s governance I do not think the Filipino people will want to touch him. They want PGMA out and anybody who intends to follow her intelligent but self-serving path of governance.

Gordon and Fernando could be the best pair around. Gordon just gives himself too much credit for his accomplishments at Subic. But Bayani’s political will in bringing order to the chaos of Metro Manila’s streets is simply remarkable. Unfortunately, people are not going to waste their votes one candidate whom they do not perceive to have a realistic chance of winning.

Should Villar win the presidency, it would be due not in a small way to the support he is getting from an ally in the North, Bongbong Marcos, son of the late dictator. This brings up the distinct possibility that in return Villar would allow the late dictator’s remains to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The thought makes me squirm with painful unease.

Moreover, while Villar has Bongbong getting votes for him from the extreme right, he strangely has Satur Ocampo doing it for him on the extreme left. That makes him a man that wants to enjoy the best of two worlds, an ambivalent person to say the least but, at worst, a compromiser, in his lust for power.

Unfortunately, middle class people like me do not elect presidents. The lower classes do. Hence, Villar is in a statistical tie with Noynoy Aquino because he, of rags to riches fame, is telling the poor that he has the experience to bring them out of their poverty.

Noynoy is not his parents but he is running upon the yellow-shirt crowd’s request that he uphold the legacy of his parents. If only for that, Noynoy holds the promise of new governance. Not that he alone holds that promise but he, of the few, has the most realistic chance of not wasting the vote of people who want change.