Far from being Obama

by Manuel "Poks" Divina

Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga has hit me in almost unprecedented way. I am currently reading the 4th and last installment of the series. I can only imagine two people who can interrupt my reading spree, my dad, and my favorite JCI Senator, Darius Cunanan. Twilight piled up stuff I need to do like updating our website, writing my journal and many more.

One news item though that I heard from our loud television caught my attention and forced me to temporarily ignore Twilight—Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay’s declaration of his candidacy for the 2010 Presidential election.

Now we can add Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay’s name to the long list of Presidentiables aiming to replace President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010. He had formally indicated his intention to run as President during the celebration of his 66th Birthday.

Binay’s declaration is actually no longer news. It is nonevent in fact. The lingering talk of his intention to run has already been swirling around ever since. The big news though is him being called Barack Obama of the Philippines by his supporters, surely with his consent. For, Zeus sake, does his supporters—or him for that matter—know what their claiming. Do they actually believe that they can fool us?

Though I don’t like the President-elect Obama’s politics, I do laud his ability to inspire many people because of his message of hope, and the fresh politics he promised to bring with him at the White House—Change in short. Other characteristics he have that distinct him from other politicians is his being a non-Establishment candidate or what they call Washington outsider, and his unblemished political reputation.

Comparing the President-elect to Jejomar Binay is an insult to Obama and to the intelligence of the Filipino people.

Jejomar Binay is undeniably a traditional politician. He is a politician who played with the weakness of the local political system just to keep Makati under his control. It must be remembered that after his term ended in 1998, he instead had her wife Elenita, who has no public office experience whatsoever, run as Mayor of Makati. In 2001, he made a comeback and took the office from his wife. Jejomar Binay also appears to have already subscribed to the prevalent Political dynasty system in Philippine politics when his daughter run for and apparently won a congressional seat for a district in Makati. Although not yet proven, it noteworthy that Mayor Binay, and the former Mayor Elinita Binay have pending graft and corruption cases filed against them.

There are many reasons why Binay is far from being Barack Obama. The only similarity between the two that I see is their apparent resolved to do anything, as in anything, just to achieved their ambition.

One final note: Binay, after his declaration said, “I cannot run without President Estrada’s blessings”. It is undisputed that President-elect Obama is never under the mercy or control of any court convicted personality. A candidate of change is never under the control of any political godfather.