Opposition digs own grave with negative ads

The opposition is digging its own grave with negative campaign ads they have taken out against President Arroyo, administration lawmakers said yesterday.

"The message of the surveys is clear — that people detest hate campaigns which deprive them of a chance to dissect the platform of candidates as these focus solely on character assassination," Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles said.

Davao Oriental Rep. Mayo Almario agreed, saying "the black propaganda against the President ironically has earned her more sympathy and support instead of diminishing her rank of supporters and followers."

He cited as proof Mrs. Arroyo’s "growing bandwagon and widening survey lead" a week before the elections.

Almario said these negative advertisements in newspapers "have shown how pathetic the opposition have become. While the President’s ratings are soaring, their (opposition’s) ratings are sagging because of the hate campaign."

He said that the opposition’s advertisements are bereft of any concrete plan to uplift the lives of the poor, unlike the ads taken out by former President Joseph Estrada prior to the 1998 presidential election.

Estrada’s ads dealt mainly on pro-people programs and 55 percent of respondents in a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations in February 1998 claimed they were aware of these ads, Almario said.

He also said Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. "missed the chance of using his campaign ads to elaborate on his platform, which people have long been yearning for him to expound. The negative ads have proven their lack of vision and concrete platform for the country and the people."

Nograles claimed that putting out these ads only shows how the opposition is "agonizing" over Mrs. Arroyo’s "looming victory."

"Their malicious, nasty advertisements are their only known medium to unseat her. But they cannot just put her down because of her track record," he said.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay said that with the elections only a week away, "all the opposition can now hope to do is to salvage as many local and senatorial candidates while narrowing the margin of victory of Mrs. Arroyo."

He added that the KNP has "consistently failed" to respect the intelligence and sensibilities of Filipino voters, "who have already firmed up their choice for Mrs. Arroyo. The bright boys of (Estrada) who are behind Poe did not heed the lessons from the ouster of their political kingpin."