Chain of Fools

Philippine Politics |

By MAJOR TOM | March 14, 2007

I am not really fond of chain letters and whenever I received them, I’d either just take a short browse on their content or at times, just completely disregard them and not read them at all. But here’s one chain-letter that I received from my fraternal brod Michael Lopez that got me reading with a focus eye and I found it most interesting and certainly relevant, especially now that we are within that proverbial time called ‘the election period’. So insightful that in fact I have thought about blogging it and share it with my readers. We may not agree on all its content, but it’s worth pondering on.

Here’s the exact content:

Dear Fellow Filipino,

Good day to all of you! Before I begin my letter... just a disclaimer,
for people who know me they know that I love the Philippines very much
and I am not really one who rants and complaints to high heavens about
what is happening to our country and does nothing about it, in fact, I
feel that at my relatively young age of 27, I have done much service to
the Philippines by setting up Pathways to Higher Education which has
sent more than 500 poor but deserving students to college and AHON
Foundation which has already built two public elementary school
libraries that have benefitted more than 3,500 students. Yet, after
seeing how events in our nation have transpired the past few weeks and
talking with some friends, I feel the urge to share with you my own
thoughts and feelings.

Over the weekend, we saw the completion of two major political alliances
for this coming Senate Elections that has just began here in the
Philippines . Now we have two political forces with familiar faces
nonetheless on opposite sides of the fences. On one end, you have Tito
Sotto and Tessie Aquino-Oreta who were two major stalwarts of the
opposition and the FPJ Campaign in 2004 hobnobbing with the woman (Pres.
GMA) whom they claimed to have cheated FPJ in the last Presidential
Elections.On the other side of the fence, you see Manny Villar, the
former house speaker who was actually responsible for impeaching Erap
now part of the United Opposition who is led by no less than... Erap
himself. Now if you don't see anything wrong with this picture then you
must be one of the many Filipinos who have accepted this very sad
reality that there is indeed no permanent ideals that our government
leaders stand up for but rather they just go where there self-interests
can best be served. It is this kind of politics why I no longer wonder
why good people like Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Mayor Jesse Robredo of Naga
City or outstanding Bulacan Governor Josie Dela Cruz will find it hard
or worse, never be elected to national positions.

It is with these in mind that I'd like to share with you what are events
this coming May elections that will make me consider leaving the
Philippines :

1.) If former COMELEC Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano of Hello Garci
fame wins in his bid to become Congressman of Bukidnon...seeking to
replace a good man no less in incumbent Cong. Neric Acosta... We would
really be the laughing stock of the whole world if we allow a man with
the reputation of Garci to be one of our so called "Honorable
Gentlemen".

2.) If Dancing Queen Tessie Aquino Oreta reclaims her seat at the
Senate... I hope that all of us would still remember that dance that she
did during the 2001 impeachment hearings after they voted to overrule
the decision of then Chief Justice Davide... let us make sure that
people like her never make it to the Senate again.

3.) If Richard Gomez becomes a senator... what does he know about making
laws? We already have the likes of Bong Revilla and Lito Lapid in the
Senate and their performance or lack of it would be reason enough not to
elect another actor who has no prior experience in government to the
distinguished halls of the Senate.

4.) If Gringo Honasan wins again.... have we not learned our lesson? I
cannot believe that just because someone is charismatic then we will
just elect him to become one of our senators despite the fact that he
has time and again caused so much instability in our country... if we
want a military junta similar to that of Thailand ... then lets all vote
for this guy....

5.) If Manny Pacquiao becomes Congressman of General Santos City...
everybody loves Manny the Boxing Champ but Manny the Lawmaker? Lets be
realistic here, Manny is our Hero alright but I think it takes more than
just great boxing skills and a desire to serve to be able to make
appropriate laws that would help uplift the lives of the many Filipinos
who live in Poverty.

6.) If Lito Lapid wins for Mayor of Makati City... I don't like Jojo
Binay as well but Lito Lapid as city mayor of the country's finance and
business center?!?! And do you really think he is from Makati and has
good plans for the city? The Arroyos asking someone like him to run just
goes to show you how much love and concern this government has for our
country.

7.) If Chavit Singson becomes a Senator, ....
enough said.

Now if all of these 7 things happen during this coming elections then
don't be surprised if I decide to leave this country that I love dearly.
Like I said during the first part of my letter, I feel that I have done
much for this country but I think its time that Filipinos become more
vigilant and critical in selecting our leaders for the sake of our
future and the generations that will go beyond us. So I appeal to every
Filipino who asks what can I actually do for my country... Choose and
vote for the right people this coming elections, huwag na tayong
magpaloko sa mga kandidatong maganda lang ang jingle o gwapo lang sa mga
poster. Let us choose leaders who have a good track record for service
and who are genuinely committed towards serving our country.

Manindigan naman tayong lahat para sa ating Kinabukasan at para sa
Kapakanan ng ating Bayan!

Thank you very much for your time in reading this letter.

Sincerely,

Harvey S. Keh

Email: harveykeh@gmail. com

KAILANGANG MABASA ITO NG 80 MILLIONG PILIPINO !!! IPASA NYO NG IPASA
!!!

P.S. I don't mean to say here that the people mentioned in this post are are fools in actuality, baka ma libel ako mahirap na. I just thought about the cool sixties song "Chain of Fools" the moment I posted the content of the subject chain letter. Chain letters....chain of fools....Philippine elections.....it make some sense, doesn't it?

7 Comments »

1. snglguy says; March 15, 2007 @ 8:48 pm

   I bet if countries like the US, Canada, Australia and the rest of the first world nations relax their immigration laws we'd see a long line of Pinoys in their respective embassies applying for immigrant visas...

2. Major Tom says; March 16, 2007 @ 5:39 pm

   To sngl: There should be no doubt about that bro, and there's a great possibility that I might be in that line...

3. bw says; March 17, 2007 @ 2:45 am

   I have long been convinced that the political machinery in Pinas is one giant association of politicos and business leaders who have one goal in mind and that is to use their authority and power to enrich their personal fortunes first and then serve the country second.

   One way to test this is to ask the question - whatever happened to the Marcoses and lately Erap, both very high ranking politicians indicted with crimes of plunder. Have we seen the full discharge of justice on these people ? Nope and we may never and the system will continue to stall and vascillate on their cases until it fades away from the people's consciousness. This simply confirms that their powers are still breathing, hence the inability of the government to nail them down for good or simply that the officials in government are showing their true conscience, that they cannot muster the sight of a fellow thief going to the gallows. After all they were all in this together

4. ipanema says; March 17, 2007 @ 7:28 am

   Well, he got them stringed and ought to be CHAINED indeed. Reading through the names make me sick already.

5. Major Tom says; March 17, 2007 @ 2:01 pm

   To BW: it has been a long-standing view that in our country, we forgive and forget easily that the wrongdoers in the past are to this day have not been meted the supposed punishment. I have a lot of reason to believe that It'll take a generation at least to change this rotten system of ours.

   To ipanema: And I was also bewildered at how many such names and facts that could makes us escape this desperation happening in our cou8ntry nowadays.

6. Michael says; March 20, 2007 @ 11:28 am

   My Old Posts on the subject:
   Christmas Balikbayan: Why Return?

   You might be also interested on my recent entries.
   Infidel Links #1

7. iskoo says; March 28, 2007 @ 8:15 am

   actually more than 7 pa yan. kaya ngayon election 2 palang ang napipisil kong senatoriables na iboboto.

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