A bad electorate will choose a bad leader!

First of all, allow me to greet our beloved eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal on his 79th birthday today and we pray that God would allow his servant to continue serving his Church. Perhaps the best gift that the Cebu prelate got was the good news that because of lack of quorum in the Senate and Congress, the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill was literally bypassed or set aside by this Congress. Cardinal Vidal was on the forefront in the fight against the RH bill because of its dire consequences for our country. At least this part of the struggle is over as of now. So many happy returns of the day your eminence and may God always bless and keep you!

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Our article last Wednesday entitled “Filipinos are Truly a Forgetful People” got a lot of e-mailed reactions and here’s one from Gilbert Yam:

“Your column in The Philippine STAR on Feb. 3 is interesting and please share some insights on the book ‘Greed & Betrayal.’ Cory was not a saint as most people would want to believe. To me she was a lousy President responsible for the ills that plague this country today. As to her son, he is no better. Just a stooge used by the same power-hungry oligarchs that want to return to their ‘glory days.’ A Noynoy presidency frightens the daylight out of me. Thanks and keep up the good work.”

I also got a lot of requests as to where to secure the book Greed & Betrayal by Cecilio T. Arillo. My sources told me that you can contact Mr. Arillo through his e-mail address [email protected] or call his number 896-2358 or 896-2348 and look for Leni or Babes. The price of the book is P200 and I guess you can secure discounts if you get by bulk.

Also as a reaction to the Arillo book, I also got an e-mail from a friend asking me to let the late President Cory Aquino rest in peace. While I fully agree with my friend, letting Cory Aquino rest in peace is the responsibility of his son Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III who is running on a campaign based on his “Tatay and his Nanay.” If only Sen. Noynoy was a performer in Congress and in the Senate, then he wouldn’t have to use his parents as his reason for running for president.

In any case, we are now seeing that the campaign strategy of Noynoy is grounding to a halt because as pundits say, the Cory Magic is waning once more. We’ve already written this before and it is only now that the Liberal Party has gotten its wake-up call and rethinking Noynoy’s campaign. What are gravely disturbing are the results of the latest surveys that put Sen. Manny Villar on a statistical tie with Noynoy. This only shows or proves how uneducated is the Filipino electorate about the issues swirling around the C-5 controversy. Here is Noynoy Aquino campaigning for good governance and there’s Manny Villar being pilloried for his unethical or even corrupt behavior, yet his popularity continues to rise?

It’s no wonder that we get bad leaders because the Filipino voter cannot distinguish between a good and honest person and one who is potentially corrupt. Alas, this is a defect of our democracy, but what can we do? As the words of the forehead of the Cebu provincial capitol proclaims, “Authority of the Government emanates from the People.” So let’s educate our people to choose wisely their leaders and I’m sure we shall have good governance.

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I haven’t heard from an old friend, Manoling Morato for some time until my good friend Erik Espina (son of former Cebu governor Rene Espina) gave me his cell phone number and I sent a text message to him on how he was and this was his reply: “Hi Bobit, it’s been a long time! I’m glad you’re helping Gibo! We must really make him win. I have not seen a presidential candidate as qualified, capable, honest, noble, proper, extremely intelligent and knowledgeable in everything, unassuming and highly principled since President Quezon’s time.

“I will even dare to say more than Quezon, my godfather and the closest friend of my father, Gilbert Teodoro is the only candidate for 2010 who can bring those times back to our people. We need a president who can bring back sanity in public service, unity and direction, without anger, hatred and vindictiveness we inherited from the Aquino regime.” Thanks Manoling for allowing me to print this text!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. Avila’s columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.