"Mary Oveta L. Villareal" <mary_oveta@...> wrote:

Dear Friends!


Names for your ballots!  I dont know them but at
least they're not "trapos"! We need new blood in the
Senate! Let's get rid of all those "trapos"!


>   THE UNKNOWNS
>   Senate bets run on God-centered politics
>
> By Christian V. Esguerra
>   Philippine Daily Inquirer
>  
>    
>   The tall man, grinning, offered handshakes to
> shoppers. A total stranger, hewas welcomed anyway at
> the Greenhills  "tiangge" in San Juan yesterday.  "I
> am Dr. Martin Bautista. I am running for senator
> under Ang Kapatiran (The Brotherhood) party. I am
> not a traditional politician," he told curious
> strangers huddled around him.
>
> "Bautista who? Ang Kapatiran what?" was the quietly
> polite reaction of the shoppers. One went further
> and asked: "Do you have any chance of winning?"
>  
>   Bautista, 44, knows only too well it's a tall
> order to go against a bunch of senatorial hopefuls
> parading celebrity wives, prominent names and
> bottomless campaign kitties.
>  
>   But the gastro-enterologist would not have
> abandoned a lucrative medical practice in the United
> States if he was not convinced of victory, or at
> least a shot at it.  Bautista left for the US a year
> after he graduated from the University of the
> Philippines in 1989.  Throughout the 17 years that
> he spent as a physician in New York and Oklahoma ,
> he said he never applied for a green card.
>  
>   Last year, he came home for good, bringing with
> him his wife, a  UP-trained pulmonologist, and four
> young daughters. "Life is short, so better spend it
> by doing something good for your country," he said
> in an interview at the Ang Kapatiran headquarters at
> Greenmeadows in Pasig .
>  
>   Ang Kapatiran ( Alliance for the Common Good) is a
> political party put up three years ago by Nandy
> Pacheco, the well-known advocate for a gunless
> society.  The party promotes God-centered politics
> and calls for the abolition of the "pork barrel" and
> gambling, among other advocacies.
>
>   Aside from Bautista, the party is fielding three
> other candidates for senator :  Mario Ongkiko,
> Zosimo  Paredes and Adrian Sison, who are all
> lawyers.
>
> Except for Ongkiko and Paredes, the two others are
> unknowns in politics.
>  
> "All the pundits are saying that we won't win, but
> that's a defective concept," said the 50-year-old
> Sison who specializes in family law and taxation
> cases.
>  
>   "We're praying that the people will finally wake
> up and realize that there are genuine alternatives
> to  traditional politics and politicians, " he said.
>  
>  
>   There's an abundance of idealism among the four
> candidates, including Ongkiko who has been
> practicing law for the past 50 years. At 75, he
> doesn't really need the prestige and clout that come
> with being a senator to cement his place in the sun.
> "I can earn enough to last me my lifetime. But I'm
> not thinking of myself. I'm doing this for my
> children and my grandchildren, " he said.
>  
>  
>   So it is also with the 58-year-old Paredes who is
> best remembered for publicly criticizing the
> transfer of an American soldier, the convicted
> rapist Daniel Smith, to the custody of the US
> Embassy.  It cost Paredes his job as executive
> director of the presidential commission monitoring
> the implementation of the Visiting Forces Agreement.
>
>  
>   XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>    
>   Pacheco said the decision to field senatorial
> candidates in May was meant in part to educate
> Filipino voters who have become inured to
> traditional politics.  "The people are truly fed up
> with what they see," he said.  "If [the Kapitiran
> candidates] win, it will be a clear sign that
> Filipino voters are becoming mature," he said.
>  
>   "Three lawyers and a doctor who are dedicated to
> God  can do a lot to make a difference in the
> Senate.  They all vow to vigorously pursue the
> Kapatiran vision "to bring back the teachings of God
> into the center of politics."  This is the response
> of Pacheco and his peers to the Second Vatican
> Council's idea of an "empowered laity."
>  
>   XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   Kapatiran is also unique in
> vowing to discipline members for any wrongdoing.
>  
>   Ongkiko said theirs was the only genuine political
> party, noting that both the administration' s Team
> Unity and the Genuine Opposition were carrying
> candidates who used to belong to the other side.
> "There's no opposition or administration, it's just
> a fantasy. They don't have a platform. All they want
> is to win," he said.  Paredes said that some
> administration and opposition candidates would
> eventually "cancel each other out," paving the way
> for Kapatiran candidates to be noticed and
> eventually fill in the spaces in the magic 12.
>  
>   XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>   The party has launched a project called "Alay
> Panglinis Pulitika" to invite campaign donations. It
> has also quietly enlisted the support of a number of
> parish-based organizations, including the
> wide-ranging Basic Ecclesial  Communities (BECs).
>  
>   Not being entitled to poll watchers, it will rely
> on groups like the Parish Pastoral Council for
> Responsible Voting to ensure honest elections in May
> and indirectly safeguard their votes.
>  
>   XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX
>    
>   Yesterday, Bautista was on a one-man campaign at
> the densely populated Greenhills area.  Offering
> nothing but flyers, a sincere greeting and a clear
> legislative program, he was not shunned as just
> another nuisance candidate.
>  
>   It's a good start for someone who doesn't ride on
> the popularity of a former president, does not sing
> or dance, and is not the husband of a movie star,
> and nor a movie star himself.
>
> XXXXXXXxXXXXXX
>  
> (Pls. pass to your mailing list.  May God help us
> make the right choices.)

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