Standing and Speaking up: From Mr. Palengke to Mr. Padyak

I do not hate it. I simply do not like it. It is a disservice to the man, his accomplishments, and the values he represents and fights for.  Another blogger has declared that the new Mar Roxas advertisement is simply the wrong way to do Padyak. I agree with him but mainly for different reasons.

The latest political advertisement by Mar Roxas is a failure for many reasons. First, the script is plainly nonsensical, the message fails to connect, and the image it wishes to convey is nothing but short of being superficial. Second, it is not yet time to do political campaigning. And the Mr. Padyak commercial is clearly a political advertisement for the 2010 elections.

While a rival to the presidency has been spending millions everyday since last year for these advertisements, Mar Roxas need not imitate the strategy of this traditional and corrupt politician from Las Pinas. Known for his statesmanship rather than political showmanship, Mar Roxas should be delivering political messages and not political advertisements. The former puts premium on issues, substance, and advocacy while the latter prefers to waste time on political tidbits and image-creation.

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Mar and Korina to wed this year

No question mark this time. Only affirmation of the date. The next affirmations that will be spoken would be, “yes, I do.”

And yes, they are going to do it. They are getting married this year.

Mar Roxas is scheduled to make an official announcement of the wedding this coming Monday, April 20, 2009. A pamamanhikan is already in the offing with Korina’s two siblings (I think Korina’s parents have both passed away.)

And so the predictions hold true.

This marks the start of the long march for Mar and Korina – not the march along the wedding aisle but the march towards the presidency in 2010.

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Thoughts on Education from Bonn

Bonn World Conference Center, Bonn, Germany: As the 700 delegates from 151 countries leave the conference plenary, a mixture of optimism and pessimism about the possibility of realizing the items enumerated in the declaration adopted by the plenary can be felt. The same can be said of the NGO conference I was part of last week where we also made our own declaration coming from the NGO perspective.

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