Two party system?

Tell me why, when you peruse this list of accredited party list groups, an organization like Ang Ladlad isn’t qualified, but an association of electrical cooperatives, local traders, and Marcos loyalists made the cut?

the perfect trio: Sotto, Oreta, and Pichay (SOP) to campaign together. Opposition makes opening salvo in campaign. Malaya reports administration candidates have asked the President not to be seen with them (perhaps according to the same logic that had Republicans avoiding Bush during the recent mid terms).

House campaign news: Darlene Custodio will go mano a mano with Pacquiao. Scuttlebutt long bruited about finally makes it to the news: the Speaker faces a fight and Luis Villafuerte is at odds with his son (part of the ongoing cannibalism among administration parties). This is just strange, from the same story: the President’s chief of staff makes a bibulous political gambit.

Comelec launches voter education website, according to this report.

In the punditocracy, the Inquirer editorial points says the administration ended up scraping the bottom of the barrel to put together its senate slate.

Manuel Buencamino castigates the entire Wednesday Club. Ellen Tordesillas says the President and Recto et al. deserve each other. Marichu Villanueva says the Palace is furious at Manuel Villar, Jr.

Bong Austero looks into the media projection of various candidates.

In the blogosphere, An entry on the two-party system caught my eye. James Cartmire thinks we are slowly, though informally, returning to the two-party system, and if so, that’s a healthy political development.

One person’s advocacy is another person’s spin? So say Alex Maximo and Abe Olandres who discuss how campaigns will be fought out in cyberspace.

No updates from today to Sunday, I’m going to Bacolod to deliver a couple of talks on opinion writing and blogging.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

120 thoughts on “Two party system?

  1. Shaman… on campaign strategy… let me cite a few examples.
    ..If you are happy with affirming to yourself how wise your anti-GMA position is, then the way you deal with rego and mita is a-OK. I doubt you are winning rego over, but then again, this was not your objective. Just be aware that if you do with your officemates and neighbors what you do with rego, that you probably are not winning any NEW converts to the anti-GMA platform. Screeching is annoying.
    But you may want to accomplish more. Your goal may be to put an anti-GMA set of congressmen and senators after May2007. If this is so, then your message has to change some. You can’t be “preaching to the choir” if you want to convince 3 or 4 or a dozen fence-sitters to your anti-GMA position. [Remember, the GMA-side is working hard to put their team into the new congress.] This will require you to first, listen and second, think before you talk, before the 3rd step — to talk.
    …Repeat : the focus is not you, the focus is “them”-the voters. So you may want to listen to what the other side cares about. Many of the class-D and -E would really rather talk about the cost of living and jobs as well as health-benefits/social-security. With these folks, talk how Chiz Escudero or Trillanes will help regarding the P125-minimum wage increase (in contrast to GMA, who has already stated her position AGAINST the P125-increase). You do know, don’t you, that a lot of pro-ERAP remain angry that the president they elected got kicked out and is in jail? Then you can point to Chavit Singson’s role in that EdsaDos (but don’t brag about your role (if you were there) or about your friends who may have marched in Edsa-2001).
    ====
    Hope this helped. The official election-season has barely started and a lot of effort (pounding the pavements and working with voters) is needed before the new Congress becomes a pro-impeachment Congress.

  2. For a few seconds of humor, go check out professionalheckler’s Valentine’s Day greetings, which included:
    :3: To President Gloria, from Garci

    On Valentine’s Day:
    Saying hello on a piece of paper
    is certainly much safer.
    I can tell you anything
    minus the stutter.
    No hesitation,
    no fear,
    no wiretapping soldier.

  3. CVJ, Shaman and Zapper,

    Under the 1987 Constitution, it is stipulated that “[t]he State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.” (Art. II, Sec. 26).

  4. The Tamanos are a well-entrenched political clan from Mindanao. If this Tamano is not running for any senate seat, good for him. But for him to say there is no political dynasties in this country is the biggest irony of all.

    If it’s a matter of definition, pick a better name but in the end, it’s the same thing. If we want to sweep it under the rug, that’s the individual’s choice.

    Pangilinan, Legarda, Defensor, Coseteng, Trillanes, Honasan, Angara, Villar, Richard Gomez, Victor Wood, Danton Remoto and others in his party are the ones who are running on their own achievements. Everybody else is, in one way or another, capitalizing on the name their forebears or spouses carried in politics.

  5. never was there an instance where these anti-Gma forces are consistent except for ousting a sitting president or illegally. they are not true opposition in that sense, only anti-gma.

    as joker arroyo says:

    “I have no discomfort about running with people who want to abolish the Senate because that’s constitutional,”

    “But how can I join a group that would like to abolish democracy by overthrowing it? That is what the other side is.
    “We have been waiting for the opposition to say one simple thing: That they would not overthrow the government and that they would not engage in destabilization, but what did they do? They even inserted someone [into their Senate lineup] who is a rebel,”

  6. Mas-pagtatawanan tayo kung pananatiliin nating nasa poder ang isang pekeng pangulo na huling-huli namang nandaya.

    I do not hear anybody laughing. In fact the credit rating of the country was raised by CAlpers, recently. Exchange rate was down from 55 to 48. Budget deficit is reduced.

    I hear laughs okay but for those who predicted that we will be like Argentina. I hear laughs for people who up to now can’t move on, that their world has stagnated.

  7. UPn student,

    You’re right, it’s not my intention to win over Rego because I won’t. Despite his protestation that he is neutral, his bias for GMA is splashed all over in neon lights.

    Thank God that most of my officemates and neighbors share my stand. But, pray tell me, what exactly have I done with Rego? That I have exposed the stupi… okay, the silliness of his arguments? Rego is not even complaining, not that I know of. The laast I heard from him, he wished me good luck. Unless he complained to you privately and asked you to take the cudgels for him. As for Mita, haven’t heard from her.

    As for me, the immediate task that trumps everything else is the ouster of the GMA government from power by constitutional means. I have no quarrel with you about the importance of raising the minimum wage (to me the P125/day is even inadequate), creating jobs, providing affordable health care, providing decent housing, but these concerns will never be addressed properly as long as there is an illegitimate government in power that spawns political instability and that is getting more and more despotic. This is the reality that some people just do not understand or refuse to understand.

    Believe me, as long as GMA refuses to clear up the issues of legitimacy and corruption leveled against her, political instability won’t go away. And without political stability, the economy will flounder.

  8. “…prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

    Rego, has the law defined “political dynasty”? Adel is right, as long as it has not been defined by law, it doesn’t exist. All we have right now are 85 million opinions about what political dynasty is. how can you accuse somebody of a “crime” that is not in the books yet?

    Come on, drop the political dynasty issue. I’m not even accusing Mikey and Iggy (and soon Dato) of it.

  9. james,

    Why is it all right to abolish the Senate constitutionally, but wrong to overthrow a corrupt and illegitimate government constitutionally by impeachment?

    Joker must even be thankful that Trillanes is now seeking to attain his objectives by legal means. Would he rather have Trillanes remain a rebel outside the law?

  10. I think rego won this round!!!

    Im waiting for cvj, shaman etc for a comeback on the next one.

    Sino naman ang sunod na kandidato ang mag head to head?

    Nice discussion although may kaunting murahan at tawagan na naman …

    Chiz Escudero Vs Mike Defensor?

  11. Ca T, the credit rating agencies measure our credit worthiness, i.e. the ability to pay debts. I would value my loan shark’s opinion in some areas but not in others. On the other hand, my colleague from Hongkong, recently asked me why Arroyo is still in power.

    The exchange rate, as previously discussed, is more a function of dollar inflows which include record remittances from OFWs. This is happening and will continue to happen regardless of Arroyo’s actions or her status as fake president.

  12. Cat, you must be describing the GMA camp. You even included her personal political party, Kampi.

  13. Cat, it was a good definition of political dynasty, among the 85 million I was talking of:

    Kami – the GMA supporters
    Kampi – GMA’s political party
    Kapamilya – the Family, of course, led by Fatso

    Perfect!

  14. Shaman,

    cvj, opening argument, comparing passing laws to fake diplomas. after nun hindi na pumasok sa kukote ko yung iba niyang argument…

    Shaman, what was mentioned in the article is the Biofuels Act and the Rental Reforms Act authored by Zubiri, but when you mentioned street renaming nawala na rin vote ko sayo.

    Although you started in that argument at a disadvantage because the article highlighted the advantages of Zubiri vs Cayetano. It only mentioned the performance from July 2004. If you dig before that and marami rin palang naipasang batas si Cayetano you will have a better argument. I guess its a trap by Rego and you get caught hook, line ang sinker.

    Chiz Escudero vs Mike Defensor, anyone?

  15. hindi ako botante,

    I admit I had no time to really research Alan. Good to know na marami rin palang batas siyang naipasa.

    Agreed, Rental and Biofuels are very important. But Zubiri’s description was “prolific”. So, I asked what the other laws he passed were all about. I know that more often than not, a congressman files bills of local significance, for the benefit of his local constituency. Renaming streets is one of them.

    Again, as I said, the performance of a congressman should not be measured merely by the number of bills he files or co-sponsors. He can also contribute significantly by actively participating in the deliberations of bills other than his own. Legislation is a collective undertaking. Team effort, ika nga.

  16. Chiz Escudero vs Mike Defensor, anyone?

    Mike Defensor? may Miriam Defensor-Santiago na.

    Are they related?

    rego:Escudero had the most number of House bills authored, with 77 measures, 51 of which remain pending, 18 have been substituted by several related bills, while eight have been transmitted to the Senate for approval.

    Now I think I going to vote for Chiz Escudero,

  17. hindi ako botante, i wasn’t saying that laws are similar to fake diplomas. in questioning the metric of number of laws passed, i was calling for the need to look at the substance behind those laws (a point which Shaman was better able to explain). A few diplomas from UP is worth more than all the diplomas produced in Recto so looking at the raw numbers is not enough. Using number of laws as the measure on its own may also result in a situation where we have too many laws. A more well thought out metric is required. In any case, thanks for helping to clarify the record on Cayetano and i appreciate your feedback as well.

  18. teka, wala po akong ni-clarify, hindi ako nag research…

    what i mean is, if you have research more on this, Cayetano may have passed more laws or may have passed more meaningful laws under their 3 terms in the House.

  19. Here is one more point that a Strong Party system of government is more effective in passing more effective laws than individual lawmakers, introducing individual bills that may only affect the welfare of the particular parts of the country or specific region or constituent.

    In a party system, a bill is usually introduced by the Minister of which the law is pertaining to. The bill could be authored by anyone, an NGO concerned, a member of the governing party, or the party platform itself. No single person can claim credit for such bill, except the Government of the day and they will be responsible for that particular bill. But once the bill passes the house and becomes law, then it is now the law of the country irregardless who introduced and wrote the bill. No regards to the person who proposed the law, it is just their jobs…

  20. Me thinks that Rep. Cayetano is all words, no actions. Same goes for Escudero. I haven’t seen any progress in Sorsogon.

    P.S. Don’t visit my blog yet. It was suspended because I didn’t have the money to pay my webhosting bills. hehehe!

  21. “Chiz Escudero vs Mike Defensor, anyone?”

    —Why vote gma’s mouthpiece and defender? He (DEFENSOR) can’t even make his statement intelligible…”Yeah, it’s the president talking, but it’s not her voice”. Ano ba yan?! Not bulol but ‘buking’, mouthpiece kasi eh. Og course, I’ll vote for Chiz!!

  22. Cayetano Vs Zubiri?
    — Of course, Cayetano! La lang feel ko lang. Anybody associated with Glueria doesn’t deserve a seat. La lang feel ko lang.

  23. teka, wala po akong ni-clarify, hindi ako nag research…

    what i mean is, if you have research more on this, Cayetano may have passed more laws or may have passed more meaningful laws under their 3 terms in the House.

    He sponsored 12 bills and two resolutions only.

    1. AN ACT CONVERTING THE TAGUIG-PATEROS DISTRICT HOSPITAL IN TAGUIG, METRO MANILA INTO A MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER TO BE KNOWN AS THE SENATOR RENATO “COMPANERO” L. CAYETANO

    2. AN ACT DECLARING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY OF EVERY YEAR AS “LIVER CANCER AND HEPATITIS-B AWARENESS AND PREVENTION MONTH”

    3. AN ACT DECLARING THE MONTH OF AUGUST OF EVERY YEAR AS “NATIONAL BREASTFEEDING AWARENESS MONTH”

    4. AN ACT REQUIRING MANDATORY BASIC IMMUNIZATION SERVICES FOR INFANTS INCLUDING HEPATITIS B VACCINATION

    5. An Act to amend a presidential decree (pending since 2004)

    6. 5 bills setting up and or conversion of existing schools to national high schools

    7. 2 resolutions to conduct investigations in aid of legislation.

    Naawa naman ako sa kaniya, pinaghirapan niya iguro ito. duh.

  24. Ca T, the credit rating agencies measure our credit worthiness, i.e. the ability to pay debts.

    Calpers is not a credit rating agency. Widen yor perspective.We are not talking about your friendly neighbor loan sharks.

    I am talking about investments of pensions and insurance of the organization to make their monies earn for their clients.

    Before they ever do investments or loan extensions, they need to have an assurance that their investments are going to be recouped.

    If that is not important, what is? Di ba accountant ka rin, you should know these financial analysis bullshits.

    Oh by the way, you didn’t have to ask your friend from HK, that is a partial explanation.

    The supply comes from the OFW remittances. Correct. That have been going on even with the previous administrations.

    I will tell you why, there is so much supply of dollar.

    Just a simple explanation that you do not have to get your economics book or ask Shaman who has economics degree.

    While OFWs send their remittances, businessmen who have no confidence on the peace and condition of the country continue to salt dollars. Minsan hindi pa nakakaabot sa bansa ang pera, hanggang HK lang.

    After the fall of Erap, lots of dollars flew out of the country.

    The jitters that the coup attempts brought made the aristocrats hold on to their dollars just in case.

    The GMA’s ability to avert crisis after crisis made her earn the confidence of the people watching the economy and the business sector of the country.

    And I thought that you are business degree holder?

  25. mike defensor and miriam are related although not THAT closely.

    gee, don’t you miss the old miriam? the one before she ran for president and lost? only miriam could think of “fungus face”

  26. i got moderated…probably for including the link to this information. let me just resend:

    zubiri filed 66 national and local bills in the period 2001-07-04 TO 2007-02-16. the scope: education, transportation, the environment, energy, labor, local government, pacuiao, ka erdy, etc.

  27. “The Ca t :
    Shaman,
    Don’t rejoice. Mine is generic. It applies to both sides.”

    It applies more to your side. Kampi, ha, ha, ha. You hit the nail on the head this time. You made my day. I’m rejoicing!

  28. Calpers is not a credit rating agency. Widen your perspective. We are not talking about your friendly neighbor loan sharks…If that is not important, what is? Di ba accountant ka rin, you should know these financial analysis bullshits. – Ca T

    Calper’s rating system operates in a similar enough manner for the comparison to be applicable. The main priority of Calpers is to protect its investments so the variables that it considers is skewed towards this objective. Just like a loan shark, it does not care how it gets it returns. In fact, plus points are given for the ability to keep the dead bodies out of sight (as measured by the stability indicator). I would not blame them for their measures, after all they are in business. However, i won’t use them as an indicator that everything is (triple) a-ok. We have other measures for that.

    With regards to the exchange rate appreciation, i agree that the decrease in budget deficit has a favorable effect in the peso. However, in the first place, the budget deficit ballooned under Gloria’s watch so she is solving as problem that she herself created (using taxes collected from E-Vat). I also wouldn’t credit the businessmen and aristocrats for doing something that they ought to have done so in the first place i.e. keep their capital in country. Dollar salting and capital flight is economic sabotage so if they did this in the past, then shame on them. As a reference to any further discussion, here’s a history of our exchange rates since Year 2000:

    Year PHP:USD Remarks
    2000 44.24 — Erap
    2001 50.993 — GMA takes over here
    2002 51.604 — still going down
    2003 54.203 — still going down
    2004 56.04 — all time low
    2005 55.086 — E-Vat law passed
    2006 51.314 — E-Vat implemented + record remittances
    [Source: CIA Factbook]

    Here’s further information on OFW remitances (in Billions of US Dollars):

    Year USD
    2000 6.05 Billion
    2001 6.03 Billion
    2002 6.89 Billion
    2003 7.58 Billion
    2004 8.55 Billion
    2005 10.70 Billion
    2006 12.76 Billion
    [Source: BSP]

  29. Cat, tell me what the Calpers credit rating means to the more than 2 million households (not persons) that did not have anything to eat at least once in three months in 2005.

    If only GMA can earn the confidence of the hungry poor rather than the analysts’. Unfortunately, she can’t do it by lying, cheating, and stealing. Yes, I’m that obsessive.

  30. Mita,

    Zubiri is still hard to sell, despite having that luxurious commercial. Anybody who’s kapit with gma is simply hard to sell.

  31. Come on, drop the political dynasty issue. I’m not even accusing Mikey and Iggy (and soon Dato) of it.—-Shaman
    ——————————————————–

    This is what Im saying! Now, you cannot touch Gloria on that area political dynasty because your camp is very much into it now. I remember when the news broke out that Dato is running for congress. Manolo quickly did an entry cocondeming it and the exact phrased used is “garapalan na”. So parepareho na kayong GARAPAL ngayon! You are just as guilty as Gloria in teh dirty tricks department! So wala na kayong “K” mag malinis pa
    at magpaka “holier than thou”. ( Di ba CVJ)

    So the best and most practical way to really look out for in this election is the positive performance and teh positive contribution of each candidate the well being of nation.

    Rego, has the law defined “political dynasty”? Adel is right, as long as it has not been defined by law, it doesn’t exist. All we have right now are 85 million opinions about what political dynasty is. how can you accuse somebody of a “crime” that is not in the books yet?

  32. Rego, has the law defined “political dynasty”? Adel is right, as long as it has not been defined by law, it doesn’t exist. All we have right now are 85 million opinions about what political dynasty is. how can you accuse somebody of a “crime” that is not in the books yet? – Shaman.

    ——————————————————–
    What the enabling law for political dynasty is to be able to punish the the violator of teh law and and of course clearly define the political dynasty. But the absence of such will never exempt has from severe and negative consequences of violating the principles of “equal opportunity for all” as stated in the consitution.

    When the problem is the absence of enabling law/s, will it do good for the nation make the problem even worst by electing a brother and sister, a father and son , an aunt and nephew in the senate?

    No maam! The solution for the absence of an enabling law is to push for the creation of such laws! Bayan Muna and Sen. Pimentel has already made a draft for the creation of such. (I wonder what doe sthat make of Senator Pimentel)….

  33. “Believe me, as long as GMA refuses to clear up the issues of legitimacy and corruption leveled against her, political instability won’t go away. And without political stability, the economy will flounder. “—Shamman.
    ———————————————————

    The legitimacy issue will never ever be closed for as long as the issue will fully benifit one group or sector of the country. . The oppsition dont want the issue closed and would always want the issue debated over and over again because there is so much to gain from it. ( Obviosu na obvious, Di ba CVJ?)

  34. rego, i don’t understand the leap from saying koko et al remove the ability to oppose dato et al, from saying “you’re the same in the dirty tricks” department. there is no dirty trick in running koko who is running for a national position, while dato is cartpetbagging his way to bicol.

    neither does it make sense to say the opposition doesn’t want the issue of legitimacy closed. people power would have closed it. a succesful impeachment would have closed it.

  35. Manolo,

    Koko’s capitalizing on the name recall of his father is just as dirty. he cannot even win a local position when the voters are his very own consituuents that know him very well. and he attempted twice at that.

    And the dirtiest of it all is when his father and the opposition abandon their prosposed law on political dynasty just to acomodate him.

    We all know that senate is just a very narrow and limited representation of the people in the country. And now we are allowing some families to have two representative in that body. And how do we control that it wil just be up to two reps?

    The opposition are just so noisy about any action of Gloria that they perceived is a violation of the constitution. But they are grossly violating the consitution as well.

    Then CVJ and his ilk hated us so much for not supporting the cause of opposition? eh parepareho lang naman yang mga politiko natin eh!!!!

  36. Cat, tell me what the Calpers credit rating means to the more than 2 million households (not persons) that did not have anything to eat at least once in three months in 2005.

    And I thought that you as VP of a company and an economics degree holder, we will be speaking in the same language.

  37. The main priority of Calpers is to protect its investments so the variables

    Who would not? They are not charitable institutions. They are handling the pension funds of the small workers of California.

    However, i won’t use them as an indicator that everything is (triple) a-ok. We have other measures for that.

    So what other measures do you like?

  38. Of course, Cayetano! La lang feel ko lang. Anybody associated with Glueria doesn’t deserve a seat. La lang feel ko lang.

    It’s time to eat dark chocolate.

  39. re the economy. if one area is showing improvement, say the peso rate, do we necessarily have to follow that with a big “HOWEVER” to prove that GMA is not doing a good job?
    I’m just wondering why that’s all. it would make opposition look better, more rational and more honest if we can simply give credit where credit is due.

    even chiz escudero has already come out in the open and said the economy is getting better “HOWEVER”…

    Ed Angara, who is running in the admin party, was honest enough to say the country was growing at a faster rate during Ramos’ time…if i were in the opposition, i’d capitalize on that statement and come up with a really good follow-up…

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