A pitch for Heidi Mendoza

During those times when we, old disc jockeys, still played vinyl records in our radio programs, we adopted an unusual term - “r?-groove.” We meant the point when the music would sound repeating a lyrical line. It would happen when a record had a deep scratch, a groove and the needle would slide thru that groove back to an earlier part of the music.

In relation to the currentpolitical season, let me put forth a “re-grooved” position. I said it earlier in different wordings though when I wrote here that I would not vote for entertainers. Mine really is a doomsday forecast. What happened to Dean Florin Hilbay as candidate for senator in 2019 and Dean Chel Diokno as a senatorial bet in 2022 might happen to candidate Heidi Mendoza in the 2025 elections should our foolhardy preferences for showbiz personalities continue to rein our minds.

In the 2019 election, Atty. Florin Hilbay was the most intellectually gifted candidate for senator. Having topped the 1999 bar examinations, his academic preparation was best suited for the Senate. He also taught constitutional law a subject which deals with the structure and powers of the government.

Hilbay was once our solicitor general.

In the 2019, elections, there was also a candidate for senator named Manuel “Lito” Mercado Lapid. While Lapid completed his elementary education at the Porac Central School in 1968 and secondary education at St. Catherine's Academy in Porac in 1972, he did not enroll for his tertiary education as he pursued a career in acting.

Records show that Hilbay lost as he placed only number 29, garnering less than 3,000,000 votes while Lapid came out a winner, landing as number 7 with almost 17,000,000 votes. It was our collective failure as a nation in choosing a movie actor, Lito Lapid, over a learned man, Dean Hilbay.

In 2022, Dean Jose Manuel Tadeo “Chel” Icasiano Diokno, ran for the Senate. He was the founding dean of the De La Salle University College of Law. Like his father, Senator Jose Wright Diokno, Dean Chel became a human rights advocate and a broadcaster.

Robinhood Ferdinand Cariño Padilla, ran for senator in 2022. Robin Padilla is an actor, (known as Bad Boy in the movie world) and a film director. He took his elementary education at Siena College of Quezon City and attended high school at Saint Louis University Boys' High School. He discontinued his studies when he was 17 to pursue his acting career. He finished his bachelor's degree in Criminology at Philippine College of Criminology.

The result of the 2022 senatorial elections showed actor Robin Padilla as ranking number 1 with more than 26 million votes while Dean Chel Diokno came out number 19 with close to 10 million.As a “re-groove” It was our collective failure as a nation in choosing a movie actor, Robin Padilla, over a learned man, Dean Chel Diokno.

We have a new face running for senator in the 2025 elections. She is Heidi Macaraan Lloce-Mendoza, a Certified Public Accountant a former Undersecretary General for the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight and was a commissioner and officer-in-charge of the Commission on Audit before being nominated by UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon to head the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services.

It is no brainer to claim that Mendoza is better qualified than Lapid. There is no comparison in their credentials. It was our collective national mistake to elect Lapid then even for him to become a useless member of the Senate’s committee on silence. Let us not “re-groove” the same error of electing as senator the incompetent Mr. Lapid. Instead, we must vote for senator an accomplished professional in Ms. Mendoza.