Promises Promises . . . Aren't They Made To Be Broken?

That is if you're soon to be former president and soon to be new congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Facing the prospect of a tough uphill battle for the speakership of the House of Representatives against returning congressman Feliciano Belmonte, Arroyo has supposedly declined her allies prodding that she run for speaker of the house.

According to Arroyo she would rather be the "Sonia Gandhi" of the Philippines and help her fellow representatives from the floor and not from the speaker position.

Quite appropriate since Sonia Gandhi was faced with a lot of controversy especially concerning her "true" citizenship.

But Arroyo can compare herself with anyone as her right.

That being said the real reason potentially she will not run for the speakership is that it would be an uphill battle for her, especially if many of her so called allies and supporters defect to Aquino's side.

After all who wouldn't want to be near the root of power. It is our way as Filipinos after all - whether we like it or not; good or bad.

Of course who knows if this would be true. After all her record for sticking to her word has been, at the very least, spotty.

I'm sure she will do her best to protect herself from potentially be investigated by the Aquino government as seen by her last minute actions prior to her departure from office.

She has the political acumen.

Too bad she did not use it for the Filipino people.

So What If It's A Snub?

As long as there is no constitutional provision or law requiring a president-elect to take the oath of office in front of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court then he or she should be allowed to pick the officer to administer the oath.

That's the plan of president-elect Benigno Aquino III when he takes his oath of office and officially takes the reign of the government.

A political statement concerning the appointment of Associate Justice Renato Corona as the new Chief Justice?

Probably.

Is it unconstitutional?

Probably not.

Is it bad form?

Probably.

At least it's starting his presidency off with a bang.

Malacañang has been vocal about Aquino taking his oath of office in front of Corona. Spokesperson Charito Planas even went as far as saying that "he will be 10-feet taller if he would [take his oath from Corona], instead of taking his oath before a judge, or a notary public, or other justices.''

I don't know about you but if Aquino was not 10 feet tall now I doubt being sworn in by the Chief Justice will make him any taller.

Planas further stated that in swearing in front of Corona, Aquino would be "recognizing and respecting the principle of the separation of powers' of the executive, legislative and judicial branches."

You mean recognizing the midnight appointment of Corona and the abuse of power of Arroyo?

I don't think so.

She also added that "You can criticize whatever you want but still you have to follow and respect the decision of the Supreme Court."

But what if, for argument's sake the Supreme Court is wrong?

What if for argument's sake the Court was wrong?

Who would protect us, the good citizens of this country from that kind of mistake?

And if Arroyo was of good she would have just allowed Aquino to choose the new Chief Justice as one of his first acts as president.

But then again if she did that then she would not be safe from potential litigation should Aquino choose to investigate her for the wrong doings she did when she was president.

I mean come on any moron can see that.

So it becomes a constitutional crisis. With everything else this country has faced and survived what's one more.

Besides, who knows there might be another people power to put *gasp* Erap in power.

Now wouldn't that be something.

I hope not . . .

Candidates MUST Clean-Up After Themselves

Because quite frankly it's a mess.

During the campaign period all sorts of campaign paraphernalia and materials were used to shout out to all who would care to read or listen the merits of this or that candidate.

We were awoken at six in the morning to the sounds of each candidate's song - sung by bad singers who can't even enunciate well.

Case in point - one of the candidates for councilor in my hometown had a song that instead of his name I heard "lychee."

Good if you're the fruit, bad if you're the candidate.

But at least that kind of pollution (and who ever first thought about it should be shot) disappears after elections.

What does not disappear as quickly are the ton of streamers, tarpaulins, stickers and what-have-you that the candidates used to tell all of us that they are less of a scoundrel and theif than the next candidate.

It's around and it's hard to remove, especially the stickers.

The thing is the candidates don't clean this up. For them it is not their job despite the fact that they were the ones who put it up in the first place.

They expect everyone else to clean up after them.

It should be mandatory that the candidates should be liable for the clean up of their mess after elections are over.

It shouldn't matter even if it was a supporter that did it - the fact is they are getting the benefit of having their name out.

The Comelec should make it mandatory and should have each candidate put in escrow money to be used for cleaning up.

(I say this out of pure ignorance of course because for all I know they already do)

Anyway they should clean up after themselves and that's that.

Binay Versus Roxas For The Best Job Ever - Vice-President

Things are heating up between vice-presidential bets Jejomar Binay and Mar Roxas.

Accusations of fraud and what not has been slung between the two with no signs of abating

No surprise as the gap between the two is negligible and so it is unsure who will really win the coveted easy seat of Vice-President of the Philippines.

Why do I say it's an easy job?

To my mind the vice-president, at least in our country really does nothing - much. If they do they really don't get that much exposure.

Also, since the vice-president often is from a different party, the president will not be that open to using the VP since he or she does not want the VP to get politically strong and win the the next national election for the other party.

And let's just say there's really no trust because of the different party thing. That's why I wonder why we don't elect both the president and the vice-president as one package - much like in the United States.

But because of the current system, the VP gets to network and be behind the scenes without much concern. He or she gets an on-the-job-training on how to be a president so when the times comes he or she knows what to do and not what to do - especially if the president does something that becomes truly unpopular.

So who ever wins the vice-presidency will, barring any stupid mistakes that can result in political suicide - like vice-president Noli de Castro - most likely be the next president.

So depending on who you want it's either going to be Binay or Roxas.

We just have to wait and see.

The People Have Spoken - We Have Our Next President

A day after the historic May 10th national elections it looks like we have a new president in the form of Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

Mud had been slung, lies had been made, accusations had been sung and after all that the people of the Philippines has spoken - emphatically.

4 presidential bets have already conceded - Senator Manny Villar, Richard Gordon, Gilbert Teodoro and JC de los Reyes.

A good gesture because based upon the unofficial returns there was no way in hell either of them could overtake Aquino.

The other presidential bets should also do the same because barring a major catastrophe Aquino is it.

People may hate him, they may not like him, they may be apathetic towards him but it is a fact that he is going to be the one.

Hence we should put aside differences and loo forward to working with the government of the Philippines which will soon be under new management.

That being said Aquino should not forget that when he takes his seat as President he did not get a majority since if over 40 million of us voted then he is only at about 40% or so.

He has to remember that more than 55% did not vote for him for one reason or another so they will be looking, and looking hard, to see how he would perform - especially in his first 100-days.

As for who his vice-president is going to be it seems like it will be Jejomar Binay. However it is a closer battle for this position what with Aquino's running mate Manuel Roxas breathing down his neck.

We'll soon see how that will go. Should it be Binay we're potentially seeing the next in line to be president after Aquino.

But then again predictions are not always a sure thing.

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Note: The automated elections seem to be a success based on the outcome. There were glitches along the way but nothing that couldn't be fixed. That being said I hope that next election we have a true electronic voting system where we just press a screen and our vote get's counted.

Despite my earlier misgivings good job Comelec. Let's give credit where credit is due at least.