In the meantime, here’s our message to the VP-apparent: “go0d lucK P0 P0wH. Ang yamN-yaMn ng Mkt P0WH. SNa~ P0Wh~ MPYAMN Ny0 riN~ Ang Bu0NG pins p0wH. JEJEjEj ” Binay will be proclaimed, along with President-elect Noynoy Aquino today, June 9. Ironically, while Aquino won by landslide against his rivals, Binay’s lead over Mar Roxas is the slimmest in recent history _ a mere 727,000 or so votes.

Followers of Mar Roxas are still stumped with what happened to their bet, to say the least. Although an election protest is believed to be forthcoming.

What could have gone wrong with the Roxas campaign? We can only offer a few guesses.

a) the color blue

b) Korina Sanchez

c) Peping Cojuangco

d) his complacency

e) all of the above

f) none of the above

Well, what do you think?

I missed seeing The Buzz last Sunday where Kris Aquino interviewed President-to-be Noynoy Aquino’s girlfriend of almost two years, Shalani Soledad. Thank God for Youtube we were able to see it. The full transcript of the interview is also on the ABS-CBN website and Barrio Siete.

Their love story has been likened to that of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline (Jackie) Bouvier. Like Noynoy and Shalani, he was also a senator and she was a reporter when they first met. We’re closely watching developments on their story. After all, by becoming President of the Philippines, he now becomes the most eligible bachelor in the country. Will his friendship with Shalani (who is 20 years his junior) end up at the altar, or will he stay single all his life?

Apparently, words have been said by Noynoy to the effect that he doesn’t see himself getting married within the next six years of his presidency. Whew, this could only be bad news to Shalani though we think a real good woman can pin down even the most elusive bachelor to marriage at all cost. Go Team Shalani!

The good thing with this girlfriend is her mass appeal and popularity, even though she is not an Assumptionista or doesn’t carry a high pedigree surname. She also appears to fully support and trust her man. Just imagine, if she waits for six years more, she’ll be 36 to his 56 by then. Or they could end up not being together at all. Whew!

In a previous interview with Manila Bulletin, Shalani has said: ” Seriously, the result of an election is not enough to be the basis of taking a relationship to the next step. Kami kasi ni Noy, like any other couple, we have our issues that we are working on together. Hopefully, when the defining moment comes, we will be able to pass it successfully together.”

Good luck gurl!

Much to our relief, the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines didn’t fare badly as we thought during the May 10 2010 elections. I join the nation in praising the conduct of the polls and how the votes were promptly and easily counted, the automated way.

Although doubts have been raised as to the influence of the online media in the outcome of the votes, this didn’t prevent people from exchanging post-election chit-chat and banter through the internetz. Three sites I was glued in all this time: Facebook, Twitter and the news.

Who would have thought the post-election celebration would give rise to a Twitter star in the person of @PCOSmachine? His humor and wit have earned him 11,422 followers as of press time, and growing.

At first, I thought he was just a creation of PCOS proponent Smartmatic-TIM. Turns out he’s lawyer slash iPhone/iPad developer Yves Gonzalez who created the identity out of boredom.Want samples in Twitter’s terse 140 characters format? Take a look at these and laugh your heart out:

- Just got off d phone w/ people frm ABANTE tabloid. They want to start a new sex colum, aptly called “Xerex Machine”

- Received a draft copy of d new NoyBi posters which wil soon grace d walls of all Philippine govt offices.

- “what is your take on the candidacy of Jamby Madrigal?” /via @GeloLopez – the machines like her. Made counting easy coz not too much votes.

- do u like any of the candidates who are so far in the top 12 senators?” /via @iamsuperbianca – cant believe only 33% r celebs. I want more.

- you want boy abunda as your manager or anabelle rama?” /via @whatevertoni – Boy. Wud not want 2 be on d bad side of d new First Lady Kris A

- Back frm SM-TIM celebration. So cool, d next prez of d country dropped by. He looked ok 2 me, but wat do I know, I’m not a psychology. Gnytü

- OMG boss Cesar definitely knows how to party. Too bad he told everyone “what happens in airforce one, stays in airforce one”. Iv said 2 much

- @PCOSmachine are you a jejemon? haha” /via @riolm_21 – low level lang p0hz. I think it’s just a glitch in my programming.

- “@PCOSmachine by far, you’re better than @CFcard! That dude is a trying hard!” /via @albertdaryll – I believe he was purchased in CDR-King.

- Filipino people, d current PCOS machines do NOT have sex, get aroused, or turned on. Tell Congress if u want that model. It’ll cost u thou.

- @PCOSmachine why is it that sometimes when you swallow the ballot it gets jammed?” /via @MissIzaCalzado – gag reflex. Stupid programmer.

“@PCOSmachine if u are not a machine, who will u vote for president and why?” /via @kingofthefranks – Gordon. Transformer. Duh.

RT @blistersun @PCOSmachine What do u say about your alias as ‘Hokus PCOS’? – Who said that? Mabawasan nga votes. Magic pala ha

- was nervous at first but after putting it in, it felt really great! ” /via @falloutkee – first time is always the hardest.

- “@PCOSmachine What’s the first thing you’re going to say to the officially declared president? /via @bonjourjb” – PABURJER KA NAMAN! JEJEJE

- No joke, just read a ballot with a CHECK mark for Villar. Also had a marking, “baby james”. Weird.

- I can confirm that ERAP did not vote for a vice president on his ballot. I heard him say na trauma na daw sya kay GMA.

All we can say is: LOL!!!1!

If the partial unofficial election results are to be believed, Jejomar Binay might just deliver the biggest upset in the May 10 2010 elections. Of course this is something which depresses some of my friends no end, especially those who were rooting for Mar Roxas, till the last minute the leading contender in the vice-presidential race, according to pre-election surveys.

Yet, even if Roxas edges him out in the end, Binay’s poll performance shows that he’s made of sterner stuff and that we should not underestimate the dark horse candidate ( dark, in reference to his skin color, LOL).

Perhaps, Binay’s masa appeal brought the votes and word going around that he’s the jejemons’ official candidate (jejemon being a pun on his name, see fake poster above). Perhaps, it’s Sen. Chiz Escudero’s endorsement. All these despite allegations of corruption against Binay and a picture of him and a mistress spreading in the internet, a few weeks before the polls.

Now, there is actually a connection if Noynoy Aquino and Jejomar Binay become President and Vice President of the Philippines, respectively,. If you look closely, it was the late President Cory Aquino who launched Binay’s political career. She named him the acting Mayor of Makati in the first-ever appointment she made of a local official. He was also named by her the acting Governor of Manila in 1987. All these served to be the launching pad of the much-touted Binay political dynasty in the premier financial district of Makati City.

PPCRV update as of 11:04 p.m., May 10 ` Vice Presidential race: vp: Binay, 9,142,488; Roxas, 8,339,121; Legarda, 2,350,675; Manzano, 403,157. 44,592 precincts counted, or over 60 per cent.

Partial unofficial results for the May 10 2010 elections coming from the non-partisan group Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) showed Mar Roxas trailing erstwhile Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay by 33,369 votes in the initial counting as of 8:35 p.m. tonight. The figures come from 1,467 precincts so far.

Results for the presidential race shows Noynoy Aquino leading with 179,020; Erap Estrada, 136,295; Manny Villar, 102,271; Gilbert ‘Gibo’ Teodoro, 53,686; Bro. Eddie Villanueva, 14,669; Acosta, 3,105; Dick Gordon, 2,531; Nick Perlas, 791; JC de los Reyes, 610; Jamby Madrigal, 608.

In the senatorial race: the Top 6 are Revilla, Estrada, Defensor-Santiago, Enrile, Lapid, Drilon. Completing the top 12 are: Marcos, Cayetano, Recto, Sotto, Serge Osmena, Guingona.

In the meantime, here’s the Erap Junks Binay video going around in cyberspace:

Watch out for more updates.

(image via the group 2010 Philippine Election on Facebook)

Some 50 million Filipinos are expected to go to polling precincts today (May 10 2010) for the Philippines’ first-ever automated elections. At stake are 17,999 positions from the municipal to the national level. Most important is the hotly-contested post of President who will succeed Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now the second longest-serving Philippine President after Ferdinand Marcos.

Like most civic-minded Filipinos, I pray that the elections will be generally peaceful and honest. I do have my doubts about these ‘high-tech’ elections, especially with earlier tests of PCOS machine malfunctions. Still, I hope that the final results will be reflective of the will of the majority of the voting Filipino people.

I particularly doff my hat off to the tireless army of volunteers in today’s political exercise and to my media friends (both online and mainstream) who will do the hard work of reporting the voting/counting process every step of the way.

Of particular concern to me is this particular confidential report I received which listed several problems in the automated elections. The problems are divided into 1) process 2) people and 3)technology. They include the following:

- Lack of contingency plan in case of systems breakdown due to force majeure, civil disturbance and other factors

- Lack of guidelines for conducting the Random Manual Audit, as required by law

- the possibility of power failure (blackouts) hindering the work of the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines

- Ballots are printed using the Portable Document Format (PDF) without any security feature like ultraviolet marks. The PDF file and barcode can easily be mass-produced

- The teachers who will operate the PCOS machines and explain the long ballot to the voters have not been sufficiently oriented and trained

- the ever-present threat of computer hackers and cellphone jammers

Hopefully, these problems will be overcome and there won’t be the so-called “failure of elections” which could turn things for the worst. After all, the world is watching. God bless the Philippines!

-

Noynoy Aquino’s campaign seems to have scored another PR coup with Noynoy being put on the cover of TIME Magazine’s April 26, 2010 issue headlined “The New Aquino.”

The feature is significant for several reasons: 1) it plays up his image before the international community; 2) it is a recognition from the international media, especially a renowned magazine like TIME which is a lot less likely to be biased and partial than the local media; 3) it follows past TIME covers/articles about the Aquino family figurehead, the late President Cory Aquino and 4) the article succeeds in letting us believe that Aquino III is the undisputed frontrunner in the May 10 2010 elections, barring grim scenarios like blackouts and computer breakdowns

The question, which only destiny can decide, is this: will Noynoy Aquino be the next President of the Philippines?

Methinks that if it ever comes to that, he will be a mediocre president like his mother, whose moral force was greater than her actual accomplishments in public office. But after decades of widespread corruption, abuse and cronyism – from one administration to another – we go back to moral symbols like Cory (and Noynoy).

It also got me thinking that with a bachelor for a President, there will be less relatives, and only Kris Aquino’s blabbermouth, to deal with

23 days to go before the Philippine national elections. God bless the Philippines! Pray for enlightenment! Pray for clean and honest polls!

Time magazine article link page here.

It doesn’t take rocket science to deduce that among all the presidential candidates, Manny Villar is the one spending (and investing) the most on his campaign. A report by global market research company Nielsen showed that for the period October to December alone, Villar’s approximate ad spend already amounted to P543 million. This has ranked him No.14 among the Top 20 national advertisers for the said period. You can just imagine how the Villar camp’s expenditures has gone full-blast since the start of the official campaign season. (Source: adobo magazine)

Adobo points to Villar’s segment buy of “Stop my Hirap” in the popular noontime TV show Eat Bulaga as most pioneering. It’s something that hasn’t been done before by any presidentiable (foremostly because it’s expensive.) The segment is totally in line with Villar’s overall strategy to appeal to the masses, although I can’t quite reconcile how joining a noontime show jibes with the “sipag at tyaga” morals he’s trying to preach.

Although some people are sick of the Villar ads already, I do find his masterplanned and well-oiled election machine impressive. It looks like they’re leaving no stone unturned in attaining their main objective which is: to harness the full force of the media (including blogs and social media) to influence people’s minds and ensure a Villar win. You see, Villar can’t be like Barack Obama and campaign just through Facebook and Twitter. Internet penetration in our part of the world is still comparatively low. Candidates still have to go through the whole masa appeal route.

Whether Villar wins or loses this election, the campaign approach he used will be one interesting case study to advertising students, and the advertising wizards who became overnight multi-millionaires because of him.;)

Improbable, you might say, but it has actually worked in the US for three consecutive elections, according to Jose Victor Paterno, president & CEO of Philippine Seven Corporation. Indications that Barack Obama will win first showed in the informal poll called 7-Election that 7-11 conducted along with prominent global news networks CNN and USA Today, he added.

The Philippine version of 7-Election works this way: each 2010 presidential candidate is represented by a color-coded cup (for example: yellow for Noynoy, orange for Villar, blue for Gordon, green for Gibo etc.) There are cups for “minor” candidates and the abstaining or “undecided” portion of the populace. The presidentiables are assigned a specific barcode, which 7-Eleven cashiers will scan upon purchase of their Gulp drinks.

Anyway, I do love the colorful cups. I think they’re a nice memorabilia of the coming crazy por crazy elections

All votes will be carefully audited and may be verified at the official 7-Election website. Here, the public can view updates on detailed polling results and may even share their vote through Facebook.

To safeguard the integrity of their informal polls, 7-Eleven has vowed not to run out of candidates’ cups or drinks. They also claimed to be apolitical and non-partisan.

They expressed hopes that their promotion will be a fun way of “feeling the pulse” of the public on the forthcoming national elections, considering 7-11′s strong network of 450 stores nationwide.

Mr. Paterno added that their US exercise showed surprisingly accurate results. There was only one to two per cent discrepancy between actual numbers from US voters versus 7-Election participants. Hopefully, this kind of outcome will continue in the Philippines – and that’s supposing people who buy Gulp drinks aren’t underaged, or aren’t wise enough to mass purchase the GULP cups to favor trending for a particular candidate.

BTW, Ate Glow wants to have her own cup too! (Photo taken at the official promo launch in the Rockwell Tent)

Hot off the press: the Noynoy Aquino video first shown on ABS-CBN tonight. Have you watched it yet?

Honestly, I got goosebumps when I saw this. My American husband says the one thing with Noynoy is that he’s catching the imagination of the apathetic Filipino people and that’s a good thing.

Most notable is the fact that Noynoy is spending the least among the presidentiables. The star-studded Hindi Ka Nag-iisa video itself is described as a “love offering from entertainment and advertising industry professionals.”

Regine Velasquez is shown singing the Noynoy anthem, which makes you think why Sharon Cuneta and Ogie Alcasid aren’t lending their voice when they’re also in it. Also seen in the video: Kris Aquino (of course), Dingdong Dantes, Marian Rivera, Anne Curtis, Mariel Rodriguez, Ai-ai de las Alas, Boy Abunda and some others.

Expect the yellow Philippine Islands shirt Noynoy is wearing to be in vogue as election fever heats up. It seems I want to buy one now.

Honestly, the only thing that daunts me about a Noynoy Aquino presidency is the prospect of Ai-Ai and Boy Abunda holding Cabinet or consultative advisory positions. I dread Noynoy asking Boy Abunda’s magic mirror when he wants to be enlightened on important national decisions. Okay, am joking. Now back to business…. show business

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