Suggestions for BF

BF cannot win this election. At this point, it seems impossible.

The mass media who shapes our election does not give BF any positive coverage. Meanwhile, BF is not considered even as an alternative candidate.. for many he is considered a TRAPO.

Nevertheless there are some suggestions to counter most negative publicity BF is receiving:

1. Conduct a survey regularly to ask if Metro Manilans and the rest of the country support BF projects and ideas. Examples of survey questions are as follows:

• What should BF do with sidewalk vendors? a. Arrest them? b. Put them inside public markets for free? c. Put them inside public markets for a small fee? d. Just remove them whatever it takes? and e. they are poor people, leave them alone?

• What should BF do to Metro Manila bus and jeepney drivers that are habitual traffic law breakers? a. Put them in jail? b. confiscate their license? c. create systematic traffic and pedestrian systems? d. they are poor people, leave them alone?

• What should BF do with squatters? a. give them free housing? b. just remove them whatever it takes? c. transfer them to government housing for free? d. transfer them to government housing for a small monthly fee and near railways so that they have access to work? e. they are poor people, leave them alone?

Of course, everyone knows the best answers here. And of course, they are the ones that BF is doing. But the conclusion will be glaring.. that everyone supports BF implementing good ideas and implementing the laws!

If TeamBF can do this regularly every 2 weeks at least, and release the survey results at the same frequency, then there is a chance that everyone will come to a conclusion that BF is a reasonable candidate after all!!! Team BF can then spread the results to different blogsites and advocacy groups for them to digest the real meaning of the surveys. They can try to send the result to different mass media organizations..

It will be easy to see that this strategy will be feed the Pinoy's penchance for survey. People just like to see and believe survey results! Proof to this is that other politicians manipulate survey questions so that they will be seen as topping the surveys! So there is something in surveys that we Filipinos like.

Doing the surveys may be hard to do. They need some credible statisticians who will develop a scientific method of getting the answers so that the results are defensible. I am sure Team BF can get someone from Ateneo or even the marketing people at AIM and other business management schools to help them do this. Team BF also need people to actually conduct the field surveys. Here, MMDA employees may be used. Obviously whatever the result is for the good of Metro Manila anyway, so there is nothing wrong with using MMDA employees.

Meanwhile, doing the surveys also will negate the black propaganda that BF is a brutal dictator. If everyone thinks the same way as BF does, then it is not a dictatorship.. It is just plain simple implementing the laws!

2. BF from now on can start painting the Metro with Yellow, Black and White paints, to replace Blue and Pink colors disdained by many.

Many people hate pink in the Metro simply because the mass media says so. Pink is a very defensible color because it is the only color not used by many marketing billboards - therefore easy to see and identify. To add that Pink is dedicated for Pedestrians means a lot I am sure to make it easier for pedestrians to understand which way is the safe way around the Metro roads. However, because BF is identified with it, everyone now seem to dislike it (the people's minds are herded by the mass media).

Then, why Yellow? Simple, Yellow is the color for warning... Meaning motorists should be careful because there are pedestrians around. Of course we also know that Yellow is identified with Cory Aquino and everyone loves Cory. No one will dare question the color. Yellow and black coordinates well for warning motorists.. and black is for mourning. White goes well with yellow and black, and white is for purity at the same time! So paint the Metro Yellow to give respect to Cory Aquino and Team BF have a valid reason to remove Pink (not succumbing to pressure by critics, but respecting a hero). At the same time, BF can now wear yellow and black polo shirt and own the color while no one is still using it after Cory!

3. BF can now (or maybe nearer the election period) call for a press briefing and start saying he will not run for President if he does not do well in the surveys. He will begin to be more natural and candid in his speech and action.

BF with a bit of drama and with a touching personal approach can say "I offered my services but the country seem not to like me. Perhaps I am thought of as a Trapo which I am not. I just want to see our country improving by implemeting its laws. Because graft and corruption is plain and simple inability of government to implement the laws. No country can move forward without implementing laws. I would just like to do what they have done in Singapore but without being a dictator like Lee Kuan Yew. I believe in open Democracy and by that we can do better than Lee Kuan Yew.

From now on, I will be back on plainly working on what I do best... improving Metro Manila, and helping other local governments do the same as what we do in Marikina and Metro Manila by giving them support and by teaching them how. I would be helping everyone by giving them advise on our experience.. Thereby, I am still able to help the country. But I assure everyone that my name will not be seen in MMDA projects or on any projects that MMDA would help on, nor my face will ever be seen on posters again except if I run (etc. etc. insert all the platform here) ...

And I will ask the people, I will ask the Muslims, I will ask the CBCP, I will ask the other churches, I will ask alternative forces, I will ask politicians, I will ask ordinary people, I will ask everyone if they want me to run... and if the people does not want me, I won't run. But if the surveys improve, then I will."

There goes my three suggestions. I hope some people in Team BF will realize their merit.

Who would you vote?

Who would you vote from the following:

The one that advertises Lucida?
The one that advertises Tide?
The one that advertises facial care (or is it?)?
The one that advertises his work for the OFW?
The one that advertises the Pag-ibig housing?
or the one that advertises "Kaayusan"?

Definitely, the first three (eg. Legarda, Roxas and Lacson) are out from my list because they are engaging in flagrant corruption. If we do not realize that endorsing a product or business is corruption for a government official and is immoral, then we won't realize anything... I am sure that present laws have this covered but no one is looking.

The last three are engaging in premature electioneering (I am sure) and use of public funds (I have no proof of this though) to forward their ambition. The defective election laws though does not have provisions to remain fair to everyone. (ie. the election law that limits the candidates campaigns to three months prior the election is grossly unfair to those who are unknown and is grossly tilted toward the celebrities.)...

BF’s problems and the most crucial questions

Bayani Fernando has a problem...

It was in 2002 that BF was appointed as MMDA Chairman by President Arroyo. Fresh from his successful stint in transforming Marikina into one of the most orderly and cleanest city in the Philippines as Mayor, the new MMDA Chairman started his work on Metro Manila.

One of his first projects was what to be known as the sidewalk clearing operations. With this project, BF started demolishing anything on the sidewalk that should not be there and hinders its use by pedestrians. He started clearing the illegal sidewalk from vendors. He also demolished signages even those huge signages by companies such as Jollibee and McDonalds (I personally saw MMDA removing the huge Jollibee signage at the cor. of Araneta and Aurora Blvd).

Immediately, a lot of people saw a different brand of public servant BF is. He generates a lot of ideas and he moves fast and focused to make the Metro clean. Most noticeably, he is not afraid of the “sidewalk vendors” who form part of the “masa”, a group of people highly venerated (and “used”) by traditional politicians. Mass media became excited and BF became their biggest news. They covered him everywhere he goes. The name of BF is becoming huge and fast. Everyone is supporting him. The common question might be: Have we at last seen a person who will not bow to a huge chunk of voters for the sake of the greater good? These are all natural reactions.

However, as if by one grand stroke of a master conductor, all of the positive noise about BF immediately ceased one day. No, I am not counting a few days nor a gradual reduction of support. It just happen in one day and without reason. Yesterday, the news is all positive about BF and radio/TV commentators are all praises. Next day, it is as if Bayani Fernando does not exist.

Obviously, it was at that point that the powers behind mass media and Philippine politics (basically the same group of people) realize that BF is getting free positive media mileage. BF, an outsider, is becoming too popular. They thought, this should not be. To them, politics should be politics as usual.

From that point up to present, there are no more positive coverage on BF. The mass media became unnatural robots, they do not have natural reactions to events and to what is right. The MMDA demolition of sidewalk vendors became (but do not prosper even, for it cannot) a human rights issue. When mayors support sidewalk vendors instead, the mass media now seem to think there is nothing wrong with that. Surely though, Metro Manila is transformed by BF little by little into a better place. There is definitely better order now. The traffic is less. Etc. (see why I support BF). But the mass media did not notice the difference.

Last January, BF announced that he is interested in the job of Philippine President in 2010. Still a few people learned of it. I am not sure if these really happened but these would have been bigger news that day: Estrada had his hair trimmed. Villar had a hiccup. Roxas spoke a word (for the first time). De Castro had a cough. Legarda uses a new brand of lipstick.

With this dilemma, I am sure the BF communication team ran out of ideas how to get BF known as a Presidential candidate in 2010. The only way they will get covered is by getting bad press. Surely, by getting their man on posters around the Metro, the mass media will pounce on the irony of the situation. (Of course, BF strategizers knew the impending media backlash. And since they do, they could only be hoping and prepared for exactly that). Here is the person who bowed to clean the Metro yet now he is the one littering his face about.

Indeed, the best coverage of BF since 2002 now happened. The press is having a field day. Everyone is jumping on BF. Both Golez and Binay, whose names and faces are gracing every nook and corner of Paranaque and Makati City spoke against the MMDA chairman. The mass media at last noticed that BF is electioneering, so they interviewed Golez and Binay (both master of electioneering which mass media, and with the double standard they practice, do not seem to mind). Meanwhile, the same mass media and other people even bloggers does not notice that Roxas has a nice Mr. Palengke ad now running. They didn’t notice that Villar is interviewed about anything under the sun on radio every morning. They didn’t notice that DeCastro and Estrada are now going about and campaigning everywhere.

Meanwhile, the most plausible defense BF handlers could come up is: to effectively communicate and promote order in Metro Manila. A BF assistant said that if it was his face on the billboard, the communication of the message wouldn’t be as effective as BF’s face is on it. Surely a logical defense, but does not hide the fact that it is still electioneering. Easily, one could have argued that if that is the case, why not put Kris Aquino’s face instead (I am sure Kris would have obliged). What is important though is if the BF billboards are legal. Is it defensible in court? I am sure it is.

So BF’s dilemma is clear. It is the same dilemma that hounded other well meaning people who ever ran for office. The last AngKap senate bets for example was covered by media 1 time per 100 of any other serious senatorial candidate. As a result, the AngKap bets are there figuring at the bottom, changing places with Victor Wood and the other KBL candidates. But AngKap, the idealist that they were need not fret. If Jesus Christ disguises himself with another name and was on the same ballot, given our shamelessly biased media, I am sure he would also be gracing the same bottom.

The question now is what BF, or AngKap, or any other well meaning candidate should do? Should they engage in traditional political ways and means for a better chance, or should they hold a holier than thou position and lose? The elections are always unfair. Is it not but fair to engage in unfairness to get a better (not yet even equal, though) chance of success? This question is the most crucial one that must be answered by thinkers and intellectuals, and whatever the answer is, must be propagated to everyone. The answers to these question could hold the key to the betterment of our future. With a year or so before the elections, and with all the distractions of late, we are all too late in trying to get to the answers. But we need the answers nevertheless.

BF is doing a poor job on Wikipedia

I think the handlers of Bayani Fernando are doing a poor job on the internet. I checked on Wikipedia and found the following dismal article on Fernando:

Bayani Fernando (born July 25, 1946) is the current Secretary of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). He concurrently holds the position of director of the Department of Public Works and Highways for the National Capital Region.

He was born in San Juan, Metro Manila. He ran for public office in 1992, becoming mayor of Marikina City. His administration as mayor is credited with several cleanliness and beautification projects, and his term saw the transformation of Marikina from a 4th class municipality to a model Philippine city. He was re-elected mayor twice, and served as mayor until 2001. In 2002, he was appointed chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

His wife, Ma. Lourdes C. Fernando, is the current mayor of Marikina City.

Fernando incurred the ire of members of the Motorcycle Philippines Federation and motorcycle owners all over the Philippines after insisting on the implementation of MMDA Resolution 07-07. The “Dual Motorcycle and Helmet License Plate Numbers Policy,” contained in the resolution, would require all motorcycle riders to permanently affix waterproof stickers on both sides of their helmets bearing their motorcycle's plate numbers. The stickers should be large enough to be seen by the public at a distance of 25 meters.

He felt that by doing this, crime can be prevented since most criminals are using motorcycles, and by having plate number stickers on helmets, identification would be easy. The proposed sticker should be seen 25 meters away. This has caused an alarm among the motoring public, because doing this, it would affect the helmet as stated in every helmet owner's manual, and it would also void the warranty. Helmets do not come cheap, a standard DOT certified helmet costs P2,000.00 up to P15,000.00. Even the Philippine National Police disapproves of this, it would only cause further confusion to the public, and as one PNP official stated, most criminals don't wear helmets as this would affect their visibility while escaping the scene of the crime and also while under pursuit from the police.

He announced later that automobiles are the next target, he is considering of having plate numbers etched on the side panels of four-wheel vehicles, this undertaking, he thinks, would help prevent crime. This ordinance is still being studied by the Metro Manila Council and time would only tell if this will be implemented.

Motorcycle riders organized an online petition Against Dangerous MMDA Helmet Rules. On July 20, a massive protest rally was held by an estimated 5000 motorcycle riders at the MMDA offices in Makati City to protest against the MMDA policy.

The Motorcycle Philippines Federation and other respective clubs planned to stage another rally in front of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) office against the plate number sticker ordinance which would have been implemented at the end of July 2007, as reported by GMA News ("Motorcycle groups rally vs helmet policy")

The plan has since been scrapped.

On December 17, 2007, Alfredo Lim told MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando not to conduct its sidewalk clearing operations in Manila since vendors were allowed to sell on sidewalks for humanitarian reasons. Lim stated: "I jokingly told Chairman Fernando that they are welcome anytime but I cannot guarantee their safety. Their problem is how they will get out."^[1]

With all his sterling accomplishments as Mayor of Marikina and now as Chairman of MMDA, all that is written at the Wikipedia are mostly about Motorcycles (and Gwapotel)?

Now contrast that to Mar Roxas' wikipedia page here. Easily, we can say who is doing the better job, can't we?

Totally one sided negative coverage of BF

This is just one example of a totally one-sided negative coverage of Bayani Fernando from GMANews.TV. BF was not even given a chance to explain why Pink is the chosen color.

Bayani Fernando lumalabag sa patakaran ng MMDA - Golez

MANILA – Nakahanap ng panibagong butas si Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez upang batikusin si Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando dahil sa paglabag umano sa pandaigdigang patakaran sa traffic signs dahil sa paggamit ng kulay pink.

Bukod dito, sinabi ni Golez na nilabag din umano ni Fernando ang sariling patakaran ng MMDA sa paggamit ng road at traffic signs na kulay pink.

Ipinaliwanag ni Golez na batay sa international color standards sa road at traffic signs, ang kulay pink ay ginagamit na babala para sa bagyo, emergency shelters at civil defense warnings.

Ngunit ginagamit ng MMDA ang kulay pink sa road signs na dapat, alinsunod sa international standards, ay kulay pula at puti, ayon kay Golez.

Bilang patunay, sinabi ni Golez na maging ang MMDA ay nagpalabasng regulation 04-04 noong Sept. 2, 2004 at pinirmahan ni Fernando na nagpapahayag na "all traffic signs to be installed in all streets of Metro Manila whether local or national roads, shall conform to the international standards as to design."

"Therefore, the MMDA, in using pink road and traffic signs, violates their own rules," pahayag ng kongresista ng Parañaque.

"I believe the MMDA chairman is imposing his whimsical and capricious taste for the color pink in pursuit of his political agenda and in violation of his own MMDA rule, in the process uglifying Metro Manila," idinagdag niya.

Taliwas din umano sa sariling kampanya ng MMDA laban sa billboards at iba pang karatula sa EDSA na nakakaagaw sa atensyon ng motorista ang mga malalaking tarpaulin na may mukha ni Fernando at may nakasulat na, "Kaayusan: Mga Batas ay Alamin at Sundin."

Hindi kaagad nakunan ng reaksyon si Fernando na nasa ibang bansa umano, ngunit nanindigan ang isang opisyal ng MMDA na epektibo ang paggamit ng kulay pink at mukha ni Fernando sa kanilang kampanya upang ipatupad ang desiplina sa mga lansangan sa Metro Manila.

Una ng binatikos ni Golez at hiniling imbestigahan ang pondong ginamit ni Fernando sa mga tarpaulin at mga permanenteng U-turn slot sa EDSA at Commonwealth Avenue sa Quezon City. - Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV

The writer doesn't even need to interview BF himself. There are people from MMDA who surely could explain.

Meanwhile, I searched for Bayani Fernando on Google and found a whole lot of bloggers attacking him (such as this ). Amazingly, those bloggers does not have any good comment about him, only negative. Could there be credibility left in any of them? Of course, their attacks were centered on BF's thick-faced posters on EDSA, yet these bloggers are obviously attacking him much like being in someone's employ to do so. They have the guts to point out how corrupt someone is when they themselves obviously are.

Meanwhile, even the wikipedia article is not too kind on BF. Indeed, as if someone is conducting an opera, he is now negatively sewn all around the internet. I think BF has got a lot of things to do. Yet, I do not believe he will be President.

Hmmm...

Why Bayani for President?

I do not personally know Bayani Fernando (BF). I am sure he doesn't know me. Why am I rooting for him to be President, then?

Actually, I am not rooting for him. Not yet, at least.

I cannot help but notice though, that among the people who took the helm at the MMDA, only BF has done really something noticeably positive in Metro Manila. In the more than 20 years I have been traveling around the Metropolis, it is only under BF that I noticed the presence of government. Indeed, some may not agree with a number of his projects, but it is only now that THERE REALLY ARE PROJECTS. Case in point: Does anyone remember what the other chairmen of MMDA before BF has done for the Metro?

Under BF, the Metro has seen huge transformations. Some may not agree with u-turn slots, but those slots works to make travel faster. Still some may disdain the pink urinals, but now we don't see anyone peeing on walls. Indeed, there are now fewer trash and fewer potholes on the streets, floods are quicker to subside, there are more pedestrian walkways and bridgeways, the sidewalks are clearer even wider. Now, there are more meaningful signboards on EDSA (there even are plants now). During election campaigns, there are less campaign materials posted around. Graffiti walls are replaced with MMDA Art.

In fact, before he became MMDA chairman, BF has done well as Mayor of Marikina. Marikina is now one, if not the cleanest and most orderly City in Metro Manila.

The BF difference is so obvious that even the blind will notice, yet our mass media largely ignore if not malign him. In fact, the focus of our mass media are accidents that happen around the u-turn slots and around MMDA barriers, obviously trying to focus on the negative side of those projects. Funny, the widest recent coverage BF got was when the MMDA posted his huge posters around the Metro.

If our mass media is composed of normal human beings with normal reactions, they would have hailed BF as the best public servant of our time. His actions would have been covered by everyone, right into the details. In a country where disorder is the norm, a place like Marikina would have been the subject of study by everyone which example is for every Mayor to follow or emulate. In a country where government is rarely seen doing anything, BF should have been put into a pedestal and sure to become the next President. Unfortunately mass media is sooooooo corrupt that they wouldn't give any free positive publicity for BF.

Amazingly, even so called bloggers (such as this one) are now attacking BF. What could their motivation be? Is it because they want a better country? Does the people who criticize BF really does not see anything good about what he has done? Obviously, this is not the case. Surely, they have seen that BF is a threat, even when everyone is attacking him. For why would anyone attack someone who is so small and largely ignored? Someone that defends BF blindly is easily understood - that person wants BF to be president in 2010 for some reason on another, bad reason or not. But attacking BF has no reasonable explanation except to neutralize him so early in the game. It is an abnormal action and there is no way to explain it but with money and politics. No one can attack BF and claim neutrality at the same time!

So that is why I am now doing this blog - to give him a fairer chance. I may just be one small voice drowned in the noise of mass media and even by bloggers who attack BF. But who knows, maybe my small voice can tilt the balance into something better.