Who says you can't buy the presidency?
Like the Wowowee game show, the Pinoy is treated to two choices in the upcoming 2010 elections - Pera o Bayong? But what the hell? The Pinoy is used to Willie Revillame chanting on the crowd into a frenzy mode.
So...Game na ba kayo?
The AGB Nielsen data showed the advertisement values indicative of advertisement spending for media by the presidential candidates. These are data from November 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010. These do not include the "professional fees" paid to the endorsers and the production costs. They do not include paid game shows for endorsement.
On ad duration of presidential candidates on GMA7 and ABS-CBN2 alone, the top advertisers for this period in minutes were:
1. MANUEL VILLAR, JR (696 mins Ch2, 758.5 mins Ch7)
2. GILBERTO TEODORO, JR (293.75 mins Ch2, 257.75 mins Ch7)
3. RICHARD GORDON (248 mins Ch2, 127.5 mins Ch7)
4. BENIGNO AQUINO III (218.75 mins Ch2, 136.75 mins Ch7)
Clearly, there has been a barrage of advertisements from the Villar camp right after the declaration of candidacy from the Aquino camp. The Villar camp had noticed the sudden drop in statistics from the presidential wannabe and there was a need to hype the campaign strategy to a search and destroy mode.
And now you will hear the familiar tune of poor children singing the Villar national anthem (and I will not be surprised that it can change the more patriotic songs in the near future) where the first line of the song "Nakatulog ka na ba sa dagat na basura..." (Have you ever slept in a sea of garbage...) seems to be a populist hit among the Pinoys.
No need to plaster the pains of poverty IN YOUR FACE. Being poor is not an excuse for being stupid and lazy.
But hey, that's the way the political game plan is set. Flood the airwaves till they make the people zombies and puke and sleep and dream singing the to the tune of the campaign song! Hell hath no greater fury! If you can hypnotize the people into voting for you, darn, go ahead and hypnotize them!!!
The Villar and Teodoro camps have spent formidable expenses even during the pre-campaign period.
On total advertisement cost for the same duration, the top spenders include the following with the corresponding expenses (non inclusive of professional fees, production costs, and other non specified costs related to media campaign [under-the-table grease expense, endorsement fees, freebies...etc]):
1. MANNY VILLAR P1,024,176,253 [73,319,407(radio) , 0 (print), 950,856,846 (TV)]
2. GIBO TEODORO 407,364,839 [37,276,793 (radio), 1,319,122 (print), 368,768,924 (TV)]
3. NOYNOY AQUINO 268,802,493 [14,220,000 (radio), 440,667(print) , 254,141,826 (TV)]
4. DICK GORDON 244,639,361 [5,964,732 (radio), 0 (print), 238,674,629 (TV)]
It is estimated that since the data presented are all BEFORE the allowed campaign period, and that there is now a limit to the amount of air time in media among these presidentiables, the total cost of advertising alone would balloon to probably P10B (and this is an underestimate). Remember, the TV advertisement values were actually reduced by 50% to arrive at the indicative real advertisement cost. I also deleted my nuisance candidates - ERAP, Brother Eddie, Jamby and the other inconsequential two whose names I cannot even recall.
All these statistics and data show that this is going to be the most expensive election campaign in the history of Philippine elections.
And the gloves are off.
This has become a no-holds barred contest, where everyone who has a stake at the presidential crown is putting in the Money (no pun intended for Manny). At the rate that Manny V seems to be spending surreptitiously and extravagantly, even the air waves is becoming too deafening to hear the pathetic crowd chant the mantra for the song without the actual meaning.
The last radio ad of Manny V includes resurrecting his dead brother into his campaign. This time he is his own endorser. In the 15 second melee he gives a new meaning to word poor. He has used his dead brother (God rest his soul, he must be writhing in his grave though), by emphasizing in his radio ad the query on "have you been so poor that you had a relative die because you had no money to buy medicines? I have. My brother died.." blah blah blah...and then he cuts to the chase that he was once poor (oh so who hasn't? ) and promises to deliver us from poverty...PRAMIS HA?!?!?
My take on the latter is that while I admire the promise, I doubt that he is the messenger sent to deliver the Pinoy from poverty.
The Pinoys are cursed with poverty. Not only do both Pinoy and Poverty begin with the letter P, they are somehow attached to the way of the life among our government officials. Every Philippine president, since time immemorial has never alleviated the Philippines and the Pinoys from poverty.
It's the graft and corruption, the moral standards, the kind of governance, and the payback that mattered most...and will matter most in the end. It's arithmetic stupid! If you can't read between the lines, at least you can see the numbers. But the Pinoy has always been the poorest when it comes to math and numbers. (The Pinoys cannot pride themselves with being good at numbers. Even the ones that won the math contests abroad were Chinoys. Their names all ended with Tan, Lim, Go, Co, Chua, Choi, Eng, Lee...walang de la Cruz, Ampatuan, Arroyo, Mangundadatu, Villar, Aquino, Teodoro, Prieto, Locsin, Binay, Estrada, Madrigal, Ejercito, Revilla sa listahan!!)
Every election is the same. Every promise is renewed just like the proverbial vows we have each Lenten season, or each New Year resolution, or marriage encounters...
Every election, every politician will promise heaven, purgatory and hell to it's people. Even if Gibo has to choose between his mother-in-law or La Gloria, even if Dolphy will have to resurrect from his sick bed to endorse Manny V, even if Brother Eddie and his flock will have to swear by the bible that there will be change and that change is coming and with his staff and rod he will part Manila Bay...they are all the same...
It is election fever.
It is a time for repentance and sacrifice and crucifixion.
It is a time when money flows so freely and abundantly.
It is a time when the statistics show that with so much cash being spent on this election, you know how much and how long the Pinoys will still have to suffer when the winning candidate redeems his expenditures after being elected into office.
I am willing to make a bet that unless these advertisements stop brainwashing the Pinoys into electing the one with the most money to give, we will end up with a the first president who has bought himself his way to the palace.
PRAMIS!!!
Note: Some data were obtained from www.pcij.org
1 comment:
very funny! and informative. you have made my day.
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