Archive for March, 2010

For the past few months, Manny Villar’s “humble origins” were laid into question by pundits and commentators.  The likes of Billy Esposo and Solita Monsod – and recently, Conrado de Quiros – have refuted Villar’s statements about being poor, illustrating the many different disconnects in what he’s presenting on television, and documented evidence.  It seems that from death certificates to places he lived in, right down to mosquito nets and sleeping mats, Villar is anything but poor.

On the one hand, the critics of Villar’s personal history may be right: we all expect a modicum of honesty from the personal histories of our leaders, and that blur between fact and fiction – between literary license and the honest sense – makes it difficult for some people to interpret Villar’s story as truth or myth.  On the other hand, maybe Villar really did pull himself up from the bootstraps, swam in his sea of garbage and slept in a bench in the market, and wants us all to be inspired by that rags-to-riches tale that turned him from fishmonger to (probably) the nation’s next leader.

A friend of mine says that if your administration is so mistrusted, whatever you do will always be treated with more than the usual dose of suspicion.  It’s not because of blind hatred, but because you didn’t cultivate and foster the trust of the people in your governance and policies.  The same is true for Mikey: no matter how sincere he is in serving the marginalized sector of tricycle drivers and security guards (whose interests should already be represented in Congress on account that they’re workers and taxpayers… yes, I’m giving Mikey the benefit of the doubt), he’ll always be seen otherwise.

My informal, irrelevant, non-scientific poll of security guards and tricycle drivers show that none of them really want Mikey Arroyo to represent them in Congress.  In all fairness, though, he’d probably make a good representative for them… if he starts wearing “Good Morning” towels and carries around a nightstick while he monitors attendance in the House of Representatives.  At least, that’s a step-up from making movies like “Sablay Ka Na, Pasaway Ka Pa,” “A.B. Normal College,” and starring alongside Roi Vinzon (who ran once for the Baguio City Council) and Lito Lapid (who’s running for Senator) in “Lagarado: Ibabalik Kita sa Pinanggalingan Mo” (fierce).

The Harapan Vice-Presidential debates generated a lot of talk and Twitter hashtags, among other things.  I was half-expecting Edu Manzano to appear so that Loren Legarda could say, “Atras si Mar ng dalawa, abante ako,” and perhaps see Bayani Fernando do the “Papaya” in his Bob the Builder hat.

Yes, I just had to do that.

Edu no-showed the event, all right, but not without the kind of claptrap, cliché, and cachet expected of someone who, for all intents and purposes, made-Indian an important debate.  Then again, one guy was there.  One guy was willing to debate.  One guy, running for the same position as Edu, Mar Roxas, BF, Loren Legarda, Jejomar Binay, Perfecto Yasay, and Jay Sonza, was ignored.  Not because he was pressing flesh with people who probably pawned their radios to pay for food, but because maybe – just maybe – he wasn’t winnable.

His name is Dominador Chipeco, Jr.