Aral sa halalan

ISANG matinding aral sa kampanya ng mga iba’t-ibang kandidato sa pangluhan ang usapin ng mga larawan na nakikita natin sa social media at tradisyunal na media. Huwag maniniwala sapagkat marami ang hindi totoo. Maraming larawan ang niretoke upang palabasin na malakas ang isang kandidato kahit hindi totoo.

Kadalasan na ang nandadaya ay ang kampo ni BBM. Ikinakalat ng kampo ni BBM ang mga larawan na nagsisinungaling. Kadalasan na pinasinungalingan ang mga post at larawan na kanilang ikinakalat ng mga fact facting agency na tulad na rappler.com, Vera Files, at Agence France Presse. Mandaraya at sinungaling ang kampo ni BBM.

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TUNGKOL pulitika, tama ang ginawang pagbisita ni Leni Robredo sa mga lugar kung saan malakas siya. Ipinapayo sa maraming kandidato sa mga posisyong nasyonal – presidente, bise presidente, at senador, unahin bisitahin ang mga lugar na kung saan malakas siya. Ito ay dahil pagdating ng aktuwal na kampanya, wala na siyang panahon na bisitahin ang mga iyon.

Nabisita na ni Leni ang Region 3 (Central Luzon), 4 (Southern Tagalog), 5 (Bicolandia), 6 Western Visayas) at 7 (Central Visayas). Hindi magkamayaw ang mga tao sa sigla at tuwa ng pagbisita ni Leni. Nandoon sila sa gilid ng mga kalsada at kumakakayaw kay Leni.

Huwag maniwala sa mga larawan ng pagbisita ni BBM sa ibang lugar. Pawang retokado ang mga tao. Pilit na ipinalalabas ng kanilang kampo na tagumpay ang pagpunta niya, ngunit hindi naman kapani-paniwala ang mga larawan. Hindi naman kasing sigla at dami ng mga sumalubong kay Leni. Nanloloko lang sila.

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May isinulat kami na isang sanaysay sa Ingles tungkol sa paghahambing namin kay Bong Go at Gen. Fabian Ver. Pareho silang kilala bilang alalay ng pangulo. Alalay ni Ferdinand Marcos si Ver at kay Rodrigo Duterte naman si Bong Go. Pakibasa:

When it came to dogged loyalty to dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Gen Fabian Ver was top. His loyalty was beyond any shadow of doubt. If Marcos asked him to jump off a building, he would readily agree and follow but not without asking him from which floor.

Because of his remarkable loyalty, Marcos made him the AFP chief of staff and head of the feared Marcos intelligence network or NISA. He was also head of various offices, occupying positions of big and small consequences to the nation.

In his published book “From Malacanang to Maikiki,” which detailed Marcos’s post-EDSA life, the late Col. Arturo Aruiza, its author, was somewhat bewildered by Ver’s excessive loyalty to Marcos and the dictator’s patronizing ways to him. The reciprocity was very noticeable.

But their relationship was put to test when Marcos was kicked out of power in the 1986 EDSA People Revolution. They all ended as exiles in Hawaii. Months after they stayed in Hawaii, Aruiza recalled that Ver had a heart-to-heart talk with Marcos.

Then, he learned that Ver bid goodbye to Marcos. That was the first time they had parted ways. That was the last time they were together. They never met again until they died under different circumstances. Marcos died in Hawaii in late 1989.

Ver left the United States to relocate elsewhere. He later died in Singapore sometime in 1992.

Aruiza said he and the other staff in the Marcos household at first held the illusion that Ver went somewhere to prepare for Marcos homecoming to the Philippines and return to power. Then, he said in his book that he came to the realization that it was a permanent separation.

Ver was not in a position to initiate Marcos return to power. Ver, as subordinate, was so used to receiving orders from Marcos to the point that he never learned to take the initiative.

In brief, he lost the power of imagination.

Bong Go is no different to Gen. Ver. Like the Marcos’s errand boy, Bong Go was spread thinly, occupying several posts, legally and illegally, and doing a lot of work, but none of which could be regarded as effective.

Loyal and powerful, Bong Go is similar to Ver, who could not take the initiative because he thinks like any other flunkey. “Utak alalay.”

How Bong Go would fare in the future is everybody’s guess. But his future is tied with Rodrigo Duterte’s.

Without the sick crazy old man, he’s nothing. He’s nobody. That’s always the fate of unimaginative flunkeys. They are never their own men.

They have abdicated their right to think, as they just follow orders.

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May kumukutya na malaki ng papel ni Sonny Dominguez, kalihim ng pananalapi, sa programa. Siya ang kumikilos upang mangutang sa ibang bansa. Siya ang lumalapit upang magkaroon ng pondo ang programa sa bakuna (kung may programa nga). Siya ang kumakausap sa mga kinatawan ng World Bank, Asian Development Bank, at Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank.

Si Dominguez ay ang pangunahing economic manager sa bansa. Bahagi siya ng Davao Group, o ang binansagang “Inferior Davao,” ang pangkat ng mga taong gobyerno na galing sa Katimugan. Hindi sila kilala sa kagalingan. Marami sa kanila ang matulis ang dila ngunit hindi kailanman ang diwa.

Hanggang saan ang control si Dominguez sa naghaharing uri ay isang bagay na hindi malinaw. Siya na yata ang Cesar Virata ni Duterte na kung wala si Dominguez, hindi na makagalaw ang gobyerno. Totoo ba ito?

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MGA PILING SALITA: “Bullets will only address the symptoms of the CPP-NPA insurgency and won’t end it. Food and freedom, jobs and justice, in the words of Ka Pepe Diokno, will address its root cause and will end it.” – Sahid Sinsuat Glang, netizen, retiradong sugo

“Light travels at 671 million miles per hour. Imagine the reach of the pink lights of UST, DLSU, San Beda College, etc.. Wow!” – PL, netizen

“Bong Go has no word of honor. He said he wouldn’t run to unburden his president. But he wouldn’t back up his words by appearing personally at Comelec to withdraw formally. Why take him seriously? He doesn’t possess the sense of propriety and self-respect.” – Archimedes Mendoza, netizen