Nicanor Perlas, the Presidentiable

Just recently, at the recently concluded second wave of “HER TIME IS UP: 2010 Election Forum” held at the UP College of Law by KAISA and several student councils in UP Diliman, I had the chance to interview and listen to what Mr. Nicanor Perlas has to say on the Maguindanao Massacre. Here's his video interview c/o Noemi Dado and Blogwatch.ph:



In choosing someone to succeed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2010, one must take into serious consideration what the candidate has planned, his vision, and how he or she will run the country.

In the forum, he laid out his vision and 6 pillars to spell out his platform (which you can browse at the link provided below).

• Erradicate Poverty and Enhance Quality of Life
• Advance Moral and Effective Governance
• Uphold the Integrity of Creation
• Build Partnerships for Social Justice
• Promote Creative Education and Inner Change
• Mainstream Visionary Initiatives

It is good to note that Mr. Nick Perlas is the first to have released a concrete platform of government for his bid for the Presidency of the land.


To be honest, I like his ideas, his vision, his will and courage to take the road less traveled by. Certainly, he says, it would be hard for him to win. He has too little following compared to seasoned politicians, and those who are already in the limelight. He has much less financial support as compared to others. So what are the chances he'll win?

In our elite democracy, where money, power and fame dictate societal norms, one could dare but only imagine how he'd penetrate the system. Let's see if Mr. Nicanor Perlas can do it. I like what he wrote in his site, "The Trap of Traditional Notions of Winnability," and he says, "The good news is that there is a tremendous burst of initiatives in the Philippines trying to reclaim authentic democracy in the national elections of 2010. The bad news is that the would-be bearers of change politics are still stuck with the thinking of the old politics. Nowhere is this more evident than in their concept of “winnability”. To win in 2010 means, for them, to have, from the beginning, name recognition, political machinery, financial and other resources, and endorsements."


He continues in "Winning An Election the Non-Traditional Way", and this is the point, "One of the tasks of new innovative politics is to reframe old notions of winnability and not to remain trapped into letting old winnability concepts dictate the future of new politics." In a truly democratic country, everyone has the chance to be President. But with the unequal field politics is being played in, I doubt if that's the case.

Senator Chiz Escudero in HER TIME IS UP: 2010 Election Forum Series

KAISA - Nagkakaisang Iskolar para sa Pamantasan at Sambayanan

in cooperation with the

College of Science Student Council (CS-SC),
College of Home Economics Student Council (CHE-SC),
National College of Public Administration and Governance Student Council (NCPAG-SC),
Asian Institute of Tourism Student Council (AIT-SC),
College of Human Kinetics Student Council (CHK-SC),
College of Architecture Student Council (ASC),
Alliance of Concerned Dormitories (ACD),
Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity, and the
University Student Council-Mass Media Committee

presents

HER TIME IS UP
2010 Election Forum Series

1st Guest Presidentiable is Sen. Francis "Chiz" G. Escudero

November 12, 2009, 1:00-4:00 P.M.
Malcolm Hall Theater (College of Law), UP Diliman

This election forum series is for the benefit of UP students, who wants to be an audience with the future public officials of our country. The one-on-one will focus on the education sector, touching on his/her plans for UP as the premier state university, and overall plans for the youth as a whole. They are also expected to tackle on their governance and economic plans.

Leading by X-ample

It's time to go back to my Alma Matter and hear out Secretary Gilbert Teodoro's vision for the Philippines. He was once one of my picks for President in 2010, but the better in me saw light. No--school ties shouldn't dictate when you choose your next President. It should not matter. What matters is his vision, creativity and passion to learn and serve the Philippines and share with it with the Filipino people. I hope to learn a lot from the forum, and engage Gibo and the audience in a healthy discussion.



If you have questions, suggestions, comments, violent reactions you wish to address to Sec. Teodoro, you may email me at brian_bong88@yahoo.com or message me at Plurk. I shall ask them in the Forum later.

Senator Mar Roxas with Youth Leaders

As far as I remember, the first time I heard of Mar Roxas aspiring for "THE SEAT", for President, was when Kevin Ray Chua launched and rallied for the Mar Roxas for President in 2010 blog, which is #5 in the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2008, where my blog Manila Foodistas also won. This was different from the bloggers "soiree with Mar Roxas", which I was not part of. They intended to utilize the new media, particularly the Blogosphere, in order to advance their campaign during August last year.






Last night, youth leaders from different schools and localities gathered to listen to what Mar Roxas had to say, and get to question him on different issues and concerns of the youth of today. The crowd was made up of mostly UP Students, some of them were from Ateneo, DLSU, UST, and others.






This is my opinion (as objective and positive as possible). Yes, on the outside, Mar Roxas is a presence on stage, he can articulate and give his two cents and explain himself in a manner that you would listen and tend to genuinely believe him. He was fair enough in his speech. He is very knowledgeable about the present situation, political and social aspects of our society, and the context where we are in right now. But sadly, I found the "meet and greet" quite lacking and a bit of a disappointment. For starters, he didn't really elaborate and concretize on "The Role of the Youth in National Development" - the point of us being there.



I think that he should have used that opportunity to "address" the youth of today, and how they would "fall in the scheme of things" and how they could "act" collectively and individually, and tackle the pressing issues and problems of and about the youth, and the tangible and concrete solutions and projects he might think of with and for the youth (case in point, for the college students in attendance) and our country. I would love to hear and engage him for the second time, and hopefully in another forum or other fora.






As an aside, (this is where it manifests that I am a foodie) we were treated to a scrumptious dinner of pasta, BBQ, lumpia and rice. Drink all you can, then the beer (which we didn't drink). We had Dilly Bars right after (for the win)!






Right now, I can't say that I am endorsing Mar Roxas. I want to see all of them first, if possible talk to them, scrutinize their vision, platform and plans, then comes my decision. For now, it's premature for me to do so, given that he's the first one, among those who have "signified intention" for presidency, I met.



There will be more meetings with Mar, so I hope he'll redeem himself. Don't get me wrong, so far, I can see him as one of the best (slash) most probably candidate that would be rallied upon by people, but he has to really step up and shape up to get our vote. One thing's for sure, you must be critical, hear all sides, and you must have standards in "searching for our voice in 2010" :)









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