EDITORIAL - Old habits do not make a new Filipino

A one-fourth page full-color advertisement bearing the image of Jesus is Lord Movement leader Eddie Villanueva has been appearing daily in the newspapers. Villanueva, who ran and lost for president in 2004, must be running again in 2010.

No problem with that. Barring any legal impediments, Brother Eddie has every right to join the most compelling reality show in the Philippines. The problem lies in the disparity between his actions and the image he is trying to project.

Take his self-promoting newspaper advertisements, for instance. They come at a time when such advertisements are being assailed as exploitative, taking advantage of the loopholes in our election laws.

Such ads clearly campaign ahead of the election period but the law cannot be made to bear on the "campaigners" because technically they cannot be charged with campaigning since they are not yet candidates, not having filed their certificates of candidacy.

The beef is this: The advertisements of Villanueva promote him as the harbinger of change, of change for the better, of change into a new and better Filipino. In fact he exhorts the public to join his "Bagong Pilipinas, Bagong Pilipino Movement."

But what Bagong Pilipinas or Bagong Pilipino are we talking about when the exhortation comes in the form of something that is associated with the same old traditional political tricks and maneuvers?

Maybe the ploy of Villanueva is to join the traditional game first. Unless he joins the game, in accordance with its rules, there is no way he can hope to win. Maybe he thinks that only when he wins can he effect the changes he promises to impose on the country.

The problem with that equation is that the path you choose in going in one direction will still be the one you take on your return, in so doing nullifying all the changes you may have effected in between.

Thus, if the goal is to become a new Filipino, then one has to be a new Filipino all the way. One cannot profess to be the harbinger of change while practicing the same old habits at the same time.