First In Philippine Politics: Voters start buying candidates' "T-Bills"

CEBU, Philippines – After launching a movement that encourages people to support their favored candidate through the purchase of an innovative document called “T-Bills” or “Trust Bills,” Gerry Gamez, convenor of the “Buy Me a Good Senator” movement, says that many ordinary Filipinos have now bought the “T-Bills” as they want to invest their money in “candidates that will give us good governance.”

In what could be the first in Philippine politics, Gamez said that the initiative has gained traction since they launched it last Saturday.

According to him, more people have invested in the initiative, a sign that shows that millions of Filipinos really want to elect good people in government.

These “T-Bills,” Gamez said, are different from the usual “90-day” or “360-day” treasury bills being sold by the Bureau of Treasury, explaining the “T” in their “T-Bills” stands for “Trust.”

Gamez said it is time for ordinary Filipinos to support their favored candidates instead of the usual practice of politicians’ spending money just to be elected into office.

“The traditional way is for politicians to spend millions just to be favored, seen and probably elected by their constituents. Our group aims to support our favored candidates by buying their ‘T-Bills’ or ‘Trust Bills.’ These T-Bills are documents which bind the candidate to us, the electorate, for the whole period of their term, so that they will faithfully serve us, instead of the people serving them.”

Gamez said they picked Liberal Party senatorial candidate Atty. Alex Lacson as the first candidate to support, saying that he agreed with their concept of introducing T-Bills in the political arena.

“Like Treasury bills and bonds, these ‘Trust Bills’ are social obligations of the candidate. When we buy one, we expect the candidate to honor his end of the bargain. For six years, the candidate has an obligation to truly do what is stated in the T-Bills. What’s good about it, if he reneges, then, we can actually use the T-Bills against him,” he explained.

For those who want to buy these T-Bills, all they need to do is text ALEX <AMOUNT> to 2399 using their Globe phones. — /WAB (THE FREEMAN)