noynoy?

WHY I WILL VOTE FOR NOYNOY
WINNIE MONSOD


Villar still refuses to attend the Senate to face questions, and it only
reminds me of how GMA used the privilege of her office to avoid
questioning. What will happen if Villar wins and more corruption scandals
surface?

With Villar catching up to Noynoy in the polls, I am honestly quite
terrified of the prospect of him winning. There is a clear case of graft in
this instance, and instead of delving into the issues, his allies in the
legislative are simply brushing off the allegations as "politically
motivated". As a citizen, we should not accept this. If there is smoke, we
must see if there is a fire that needs to be put out. Yes, the timing of
the allegations seem a bit off. ( Joker Arroyo was pushing these issues as
early as 1998). A known crook and political opportunist, Juan Ponce Enrile,
is the person leading the censure. However, when the facts are presented,
it is clear as day that something is amiss. It just further builds on my
strong suspicions that Villar is a businessman simply looking to control
the political arena to make a boat load of money.

I have never trusted Villar since day one. I never trust businessmen who
enter politics, because in the end, their core value is and always will be
profit maximization. It is well documented that Villar's real estate empire
ran into some serious financial problems when his overexposure to the real
estate market and the Asian Financial Crisis made him unable to pay debts
he took out to expand his real estate business in the early 1990s. After
the Asian Crisis hit, Capitol Bank, owned by Villar and heavily exposed to
his real estate investments was essentially ran to the ground and needed to
be bailed out. In 2005, Villar tried to solve his debt problems by hiring a
group of investment banks to advise him on how he can consolidate all his
assets into one company (Vista Land). With the local and foreign investment
bankers, Villar came up with a growth story for investors: "Invest in my
company because we need it to fund all these wonderful project!"
However, what was downplayed during the IPO roadshow was that instead of
financing growth, resources from the offering would be used to finance his
debt. To appease creditors, Villar even had his investment bankers pitch
some form of a debt-to-equity conversion that raised skeptical eyebrows of
many. In 2007, the IPO of Vista Land did not do as well as planned, in part
because many investors and brokers were the same people who were burned by
Villar's inability to pay back his loans.

Now, as part of a corporate growth (or should I say corporate
restructuring) plan, Villar is lusting for the highest position in the
land. This scares me because Villar already has a track record of using his
political position to gain the upper hand for his businesses. To save his
empire and increase shareholder value of his business, Villar used his
influence as Senate Finance Chair to shrewdly derail a Cavite road project
that was supposed to be BUILD, OPERATE, and TRANSFER. Villar built a longer
and more expensive road, the C-5 extension, adjacent to it; subsequently
forcing the private investor in the initial project to pull out. The fishy
thing is that this new road, longer and more expensive than the previously
planned project, passed through all of Villar's land in Cavite. It is a
clear case of graft, pointing to Villar use of influence and government
funds to substantially improve the values of his real estate properties. To
add insult to injury
the right of way the government would have to pay in order to complete the
project was substantially higher for the land that Villar owned. These
funds could have easily been used to build needed schools.

This scandal should be a red flag for all voters. However, the scary part
is that Villar is spending billions to keep this out of the picture as he
continues his attempt to brainwash our masses that he is their saviour. He
convinces the masses that he is one of them. A poor boy from the slums of
Tondo. In actuality, he is more like the 5-6 and syndicates, slum dwellers
themselves who make a profit out of their poor brethren. Villar's ad
agencies are doing an excellent job of maintaining this image as well as
doing damage control. TV and radio continues to churn out Parokya Ni
Edgaresque jingles that compete with "Nobody, Nobody." Dolphy is Villar's
new spokesperson and Wowowee is one giant ad for him. In this process of
brainwashing, the masses are not cognizant of how Villar conducts business
as a politician. What they do not see is a man hell bent on turning our
archipelago into his own personal piece of real estate.

It is sad that the efforts of Juan Ponce Enrile, who is leading the censure
for Villar, is actually giving Villar more sympathy votes. People do no
trust Enrile, and when Enrile pounces on someone, it is usually met with a
high degree of skepticism. I do not blame people for feeling this way. I
also think Enrile is a crook who should be jailed for conspiring to
implement Martial Law, for coup attempts, and for the human rights abuses
during the Marcos regime. If someone with a more respectable reputation
were to level these charges on Villar, I am sure the surveys would tell a
different story.

I also fear from some credible reports that Malacanang has actually made a
deal with Villar (under the table). Essentially, GMA's goons said, "We will
help you, in return, leave us alone when you win". Villar's behaviour in
recent forums further adds credence to these reports as Villar has been
very tame and quiet when it comes to how he will treat GMA after the
elections. Appealing to common sense, it makes ALL THE SENSE for GMA to
support someone who has a chance of winning, not a person rating at 4% in
the surveys. GMA tried to reach out to Noynoy after Tita Cory died. All she
got was rejection.

Who can stop Villar in his quest for the presidency?

I am known to be a Noynoy supporter, but to those skeptics and to those who
are still undecided, I do concede that he is not perfect. His record as a
politician is average and unspectacular at best. He does not have the
charisma of his father. Before the death of his mother, he did not get much
mileage. But I am going all out in support for Noynoy in 2010 because he
stands for clean governance and appear willing to accomplish this. In
addition, he has the best chance of preventing a opportunistic businessman,
the assured next President of our country before Cory died, from using the
Office of the President as a personal growth asset to his business empire.

Noynoy's clean record is a big plus for me. It is a trait that I think
should be the most important quality that we should look for in our next
president. His appeal is that his track record is not tarnished by
corruption scandals and his political debts are minimal. I know that many
critics are trying to make an issue over his involvement in Hacienda
Luisita, but Noynoy is not even heavily involved in the company. As a
shareholder, Noynoy only owns .04% of Hacienda Luisita, a drop in the ocean
and hardly in any position to do something about it. The case of the
Hacienda does not have the substance that the C-5 extension controversy has
a lot of.

In addition, Nonoy also has an incredible legacy to live up to. All the
pressure is on him to be clean and stay clean. He can't afford to tarnish
the Aquino name and the immense legacy that his parents left behind. Cory
and Ninoy practically sacrificed their family for their dream of a better
Philippines. For Noynoy, to know that your father and mother went through
so much hardship to improve our country is a heavy burden to think about if
you do decide to become a crook and destroy everything that they fought
for.

We all have to make a choice. In my opinion, it has to go to the
presidentiable who has an independent mind, stands up for what he believes
in, is clean, and has the legacy his parents to live up to and maintain.
For me, Nonoy, with all his flaws, is that candidate. For what this
country needs is a clean president who can set an example top-down for the
entire state; it needs a president with the will to change things and stamp
out corruption; it needs a President who can set an example and is willing
to perfect our dysfunctional democracy.

I want someone who stands for being clean. He does not need a degree from
Harvard. He does not need to have a multi-million peso business to show me
he can make us all rich. He does not have to speak well. He just has to be
clean. Nothing else should matter. He has to prioritize a platform of clean
and effective governance and make sure that it delivers on that promise.
Policies on the economy, education, energy, environment and health can all
follow after the fundamentals are taken cared of. So far, the only
candidate who promotes my vision with a clean record to back it up is
Noynoy.

Our urban landscape is replete with political slogans that attempt to
convince people of certain candidate's ability to lead our nation

Galing at Talino? Sorry Gibo, those were the supposed qualities of GMA,
rubber stamped with a Phd in Economics. And what happened? She only
worsened our economy. To GMA's credit she did balance our budget at one
point, but it has again ballooned to the level where the next president
will have to deal with the same economic issues she faced in 2005. During
GMA's watch investment in infrastructure was insufficient, poverty
incidence worsened, public education deteriorated, our nautical highway is
still incomplete, goons like the Ampatuan's flourished in the south, and a
culture of corruption flourished in our institutions. Instead of creating
jobs, GMA focused on a policy of exporting labor without measuring the
social costs of such a policy- thousands of broken OFW families and
children of OFW's who do not have the proper parental supervision to teach
them the differences between right and wrong. In effect, our next
generation is left on their own to
figure out how to become empowered patriots who love their country and will
fight to defend it. In effect, whatever statistics in GDP growth GMA and
her allies love to advertise, non of it trickled down and benefitted the
poor..and none of it accounts for the social costs to her policies.

Good speaker? Sorry Gibo, Marcos had that quality and he did nothing good
for our contry. In fact, Marcos squandered the opportunity to be our Lee
Kuan Yew and Dr. Mahatir. If I want a good, charismatic, and eloquent
speaker, let's just run down the list of effective public speakers and vote
them in.

Para sa mahirap? Sorry Erap, you had your chance and failed miserably. Your
only accomplishment is in convincing our masses that movie roles do not
carry over into the political area.

My only concern with Noynoy is how deep he might be in the Liberal Party
and whether he has accumulate political debts to Liberal trapos. The
Liberal PArty, like any party, has its own share of crooks (including those
bandwagon trapos who jumped off GMA"s boat to ride on Aquino's popularity).
How much will Nonoy have to give back to the Liberal trapos (and bandwagon
Liberals who jumped GMA's ship) if elected? We will never know. However, I
am willing to live with that unanswered question if it means preventing
someone like Villar from turning the Philippines into Vista Land's next
subdivision development. I am also reassured by the fact that he has that
"Aquino" name and the ghosts of his parents to answer to if does decide to
go down the immoral path.

Nonoy will not solve all our problems. One person can't. But we need a
start somewhere and it should be with someone who pushes honesty, reform,
and good governance. It will be a tough battle, but I want to give Noynoy
the chance to build on what his mother tried to accomplish. And I hope that
if Noynoy wins, he will have the courage to make tough decisions and go
after crooks, even if it means hurting a lot of friends and colleagues in
government.

To give you a better sense on how Villar conducts business, here is also a
link to Joker Arroyo's 1998 privilege speech:
http://www.malayang halalan.com/ 2010/01/ 26/joker- arroyo-raises- issue-
of-accountability- of-public- officers-against- manny- villar/

Actual notes scanned: http://www.scribd. com/doc/22789941/ Joker-
Arroyo-Privilege- Speech

I guess "if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a
duck.." Well, as the saying goes......

Vote wisely Philippines. And continue to work towards uplifting the masses
and freeing them from their state of hopelessness. Defend them from
opportunists. DEVELOP THEM (FIRST) SPIRITUALLY AND BEHAVIORALLY; THEN
ECONOMICALLY! When we lift up the poor and ween them off the mentality of
hopelessness, our country will become first world. Only then will we have
the powerful middle class that our young democracy is screaming for.

Winnie Monsod