I posted this first at Antipinoy.com, but comments made me realize that this is a very personal article, so I'll post it here:
Following a discussion on the shoutbox in this site, I decided to collect my impressions of presidential candidates for this election and attempt to profile their voters:
Noynoy – the candidate depending most on hate politics (that “if you don’t vote for Noynoy, Villar will win” thing); the candidate for the elite or even elitists, people who profess to want change, but secretly want to keep the status quo, believing that economic inequality should be an unchangeable structure in the country, and the oligarchs should stay in power (and they want to bootlick the oligarchs); fellow oligarchs may prefer him too; apologists and defenders of the people (i.e., the people are always right), and populists also have made him their choice; if he’s popular, then he must be good, that fallacy; and he’s so fricking ordinary, lackluster, no achievement… but rich… and so our lazy people want to be like that;
Villar – He’s the anti-marginalization; candidate; the poor who want out of poverty, and believe in someone else to bring them out of him; the candidate of those who play the victim card; but such voters don’t believe in foreign solutions; they want to believe only in local people and solutions; they think the rich should do everything for them, hence they’ll vote someone as rich as Villar; or, they want change, but not a change in the system, just in their status, i.e., they want to trade places with the rich (so nothing actually changes);
Erap – the idealistic poor’s choice; probably the choice of poor who want to stay poor, but want to be pampered (stay in their squatter communities and wait for someone to ); the choice of the “tarantados” and mabisyong-machismo guys (womanizing, getting drunk, gambling addicts, etc.) who want to keep their way; the idealistic people who hate the elite may go for him; maybe those who believe that he should be given another chance, since he got kicked out by an irate middle class and elite;
Gordon – Here’s a tongue-in-cheek description of mine: the pro-foreign candidate; I say this because Gordon is the only want to wants to remove the protectionist clauses in the Constitution to invite foreign investment, and everyone else is afraid to touch it; I notice that most of his admirers are people who admire foreign culture, upper class OFWs, or Filipinos with US citizenship; even foreign people themselves may prefer him; of course people impatient for change in the country, or are dismayed by our culture may want him; his work on Subic may have been based on Singapore or other countries, so he’s not afraid to look beyond our borders for solutions, which for me is the right thing to do; and he’s seen as hot tempered, which for me reflect his impatience, and I believe impatient people get results, because they’re impatient for those results;
Perlas – A Gibo supporter I know called him idealistic; but that idealism translated into the only platform any presidential candidate fielded; his idealism is attractive to the youth; besides, if you’re too realistic, you may not want any change in the country; if you want grassroots democracy in Pinas, Perlas is it; he is the candidate environmentalists and staunch anti-nuke people may want; he may be more radical than Gordon in a way;
Gibo – A commenter said he’s the candidate of the well-off; I see him as the traditionalist candidate; or what you can call conservative; I saw his interview by an Al Jazeera reporter, and his answers seemed too formal and stiff, the “official answer” style; so he’s the “conservative matalino”; if you want change in the Philippines but want it the traditional way (i.e., the same thing over and over again but expecting different results), or just “slight” changes in the system, Gibo seems to fit that;
Jamby – I have no other idea but her own constituents, or people who know her, who would prefer her; she seems to be an oligarch who pretends not to be one (well, Noynoy does that too);
JC De Los Reyes – The Catholic’s obvious choice; anti-abortion, pro-life, etc.; one of those with the idea that religion should be part of the government;
Brother Eddie – He seems to be the protestant’s choice; seemingly the choice of people who want the least evil of the least evils, despite having no noticeable political performance; another one with the idea that government should have religion in it;
Acosta – KBL trying to rise from the ashes, nuff said.
This is by no means meant to be an accurate profiling of voters. I know it’s “unscientific” and based on my own observations, but I’m sure others may have had these impressions.
But among them Gordon appeals to me the most, because he seems to be the most pro-foreign candidate. I am quite pro-foreign. Meaning, I believe we should allow better foreign ideas and culture to come in, and stick old-school ethnocentrism up into someone’s arse.
I also feel that on the OFW issue, nearly all candidates believe they should try to find some way to help OFWs… but almost no one is thinking of bringing them home. It’s more like, we’ll help the OFWs, but let them stay abroad to work their asses off and send us money. So far, only Gordon and Perlas seem to have the “bring home” notion. And Gordon’s supporting the removal of protectionist clauses is perhaps the most pertinent way to do this, so that the jobs can be brought home. I may be wrong about the others, so you may correct me on this.
If you have a different idea, please get the ball rolling.
But I still think that who one votes reflects what kind of person they are. It reflects how they see their country and what their principles in life are. You believe in feudalism, you will vote for a feudal lord. You believe in conservatism, you’ll vote a conservative candidate. You believe in real change, you’ll vote the candidate you believe can deliver real change, no matter what the surveys say. And if you are a person driven by fear… then you’ll vote someone who knows how to exploit your fear.
Remember guys, you are who you vote.
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