I am very disappointed with myself for not being able to register as a voter for the upcoming 2010 Philippine National Election. I am disappointed not because I will not be able to fulfill my duty as a citizen of this country. This feeling of disappointment comes from the knowledge that I missed out on what would probably be the most important election in Philippines’ modern history. So for those of you who are registered: Don’t be lazy, wake-up early and be part of this momentous event.

This post will contain my thoughts with regards to the Philippine election… Specifically my thoughts on “Voting as a right and how it affects the current political climate of the Philippines”, “the importance of the automated election and what it signifies” and “what will Gibo’s or Gordon’s victory signify”. Before you start reading, let me remind you that I am in no-way an expert on the topics and legalities of the Philippine election. These are just my idle thoughts; thoughts that were mostly conceived while I’m taking a dump or while stuck at a bus in EDSA.

Voting as a right and how it affects the current political climate of the Philippines

It has been said that the most important right acquired by a citizen of a democratic country is the right to vote. As written in Article V Section 1 of the Philippine constitution of 1987 (Present Constitution):

Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one year, and in the place wherein they propose to vote, for at least six months immediately preceding the election. No literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.

So is voting a right? By definition, not exactly. If voting is a ‘right’, especially if you call it a ‘civil right’ then by definition it can not be taken away. Rights can not be lost, for then they would not be ‘rights’. Also, ‘rights’ belong to everyone equally, so if you have any rules about voting, it can not be a ‘right’. Many countries, including the Philippines, have a minimum voting age. Not only that, there are also clause that prohibits one from voting if one has not resided in the Philippines for at least a year.

If voting is not a right, is voting a privilege? By definition, yes. We have in our constitution a well-defined set of rules on how one can earn or lose this “privilege” to vote. However, literacy nor social status (being rich or poor) is not part of those rules.

One would then argue, why not make literacy part of the rules to earn or lose the right to vote? If voting is the most important right in a democratic country and if the future of a nation relies heavily on the appointed leaders, why leave it at the hands of people who are not “educated enough” to make an informed choice?

In the late 19th century, the government of the United States of America enforced a Poll Tax (a discriminatory tax that is a pre-condition of the exercise of the ability to vote) to disfranchise the African-American and Native American voters  as well as poor whites who immigrated after the year specified.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not proposing that we don’t let the poor people vote. I am merely proposing a system wherein votes from people who are “literate” enough to make money to pay their taxes will “weigh” more than the votes of the people who are not able to get a job to pay their taxes. I understand that this is a flawed system, in such a way that “money” doesn’t truly represent one’s ability to make an “informed” decision with regards to choosing the next leaders of this country, but this is an “easy” and straight-forward rule to implement. We can’t let people take an I.Q. test before they are allowed to vote, right? Even then, one could argue that an I.Q. test is not a true measurement of one’s ability to make an informed decision. How about a pop quiz about the candidates then?

The problem with defining rules on how one can earn or lose the “privilege” to vote is that it will always be flawed but we should at least implement a system wherein the votes from certain “classes” of people in the society that is perceived to have the ability to make good informed decisions will weigh more than the votes from certain “classes” of people in the society that is perceived to vote by “preference” (popularity, religious affiliation, race, etc).

Yes, I know it’s complicated. I also understand that we can’t really quantify the ability of a person or group of persons to make an “informed decision”. We even haven’t started to define what entails an “informed decision”. Personally, I don’t even consider myself qualified to make an “informed decision” on who to vote as the next president. Maybe we should just follow other countries and leave the voting to “solons”?

The reason why I brought this up is because our current constitution allows for the likes of Eddy Gil (and some of the current presidential bets) to run for president (Under Article 7, Section 2 of the Philippine Constitution, in order to serve as President, one must be at least 40 years of age, a registered voter, able to read and write, a Filipino citizen by birth, and a resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years immediately preceding election.). Our constitution failed to give a more thorough “selection process” on who to allow to run for president. Yes, the COMELEC do label some of them as nuisance candidates but the criteria is very vague.

All I’m saying is, if the constitution allows unqualified people to run for office, how can we even expect people to take voting seriously? How can we expect them to make an “informed decision”? The combination of allowing unqualified yet popular people to run for office and allowing uneducated voters who votes by popularity will always result to a sad failure. The situation is worsened by the fact that 90% of the Filipino people belongs to the Class C and D income specification (the MASA). The MASA is known to vote by popularity and not by capability. Even if the remaining 10% will vote wisely, it will never ever win against the 90%. However, if we create a system wherein only “qualified” men and women will be allowed to run for office, the 90%-10% divide would no longer matter because whoever wins will be qualified for the job.

The way I see it, there are two ways to solve this problem:

1. Create a system wherein votes coming from people who are known to make “informed decision” to weigh more than the votes of people who are known to only vote by “preference”.
2. Create a more thorough “selection process” so that only qualified men and women will be allowed to run for office.

The importance of the automated election

Let me begin by quoting Chairman Jose Melo of the COMELEC:

We are finally moving away from the known flaws and weaknesses of the old ways of doing things and toward an automated election system that promises a speedy and accurate count, a highly efficient reporting mechanism that democratizes the count and canvass of election results, and most importantly, the extinction of dagdag-bawas (vote padding and vote shaving)

Automation is a good thing. It represents progress. It represents change. Did you know that in the entire South-east Asian region, the Philippines would be the first to implement a fully legally binding electronic voting using voting machines? This map from Competence Center for Electronic Voting and Participation shows the global proliferation and use of electronic voting machines:

Note that the white part are the countries that have not yet implemented E-voting (this was published last Feb. 2010 so the Philippines was not included), the yellow part are the countries currently testing or considering E-voting and the green part are the countries that have successfully conducted a legally binding electronic voting with voting machines.

So according to the map, China have not yet even considered E-voting, while South Korea is still considering E-Voting and Japan have successfully conducted E-Voting. If the automated election tomorrow will be a success, Philippines will join the ranks of 1st world countries such as USA, Japan and Australia. The eyes of our fellow Asian neighbors will be on us tomorrow as we set the stage for proving that E-Voting in a large scale and a small budget could be possible.

The success of the automated election is very important because it will signify the re-entry of the Philippines, and of the Filipino People, to the global race for modernization.

Let me tell you, there are a lot of unqualified, laypeople who don’t really understand the science of Computer Security and encryption that discredits the automated election. I have spent the last couple of days reading news and laughing at laypeople while they make shame of themselves by talking about something that they don’t really understand.

However, I’ll be honest and admit that I have not conducted proper research about the PCOS machine and its technical details. I have searched online for the technical details of said PCOS machine but I haven’t found anything but let me tell you this: I have more confidence in a counting system being performed by machines and that was reviewed by *real* international experts that will have nothing to gain in making false claims, than in a counting system being performed by humans that are prone in making mistakes because they are hungry, irritated, tired, and just-want-to-get-home, plus the fact that they can have biases, lapse in judgment and be bought by dirty politicians.

I am not arguing that there is no possibility of cheating or “errors” in an automated system. I am just merely arguing that the probability of having such unwanted behaviors is way higher in a manual system than in an automated system. As an added bonus, the automated election will be faster too!

The success of the automated election will represent a collective change in the way of thinking of the Filipino people and of the Philippines as a nation. Moving away from flawed traditional ways to a more efficient, effective and modern ways.

My presidential candidate

Before I begin, let me quote my schoolmate who’s a genius at making offensive comments:

There are only three types of people in the Philippines:

1. Gordon Supporters
2. Gibo Supporters
3. Jejemons

Sometimes, I can’t help but think that people voting for the other presidential candidates are morons being misled. Having said that, let me just say that I respect your opinion.

If you haven’t noticed yet, you’re either living under a rock or living in a remote province that is out of reach of local media. In one hand, we have the other leading presidential candidates (Yellow and Orange) battling it out on TV land to have the most number of political ads shown. On the other, we seldom see Gibo or Gordon political ads in T.V. Why is that? Because Gibo and Gordon are like Apple. They don’t really rely on traditional “marketing”. They have their legion of crazy fanboys and fangirls who battle it out on social media land. Their supporters write blogs to promote their candidate, using reason and logic to convince people, not addictive jingles and feel-good messages (another reason why they don’t do 30-second ads, its just not enough time to deliver a coherent and convincing argument). That is one of the reasons why I believe that the supporters of these candidates are more “intellectually” inclined than the others.

Also, if you will profile their supporters, most of them are either students or part of the white-collar “working class”. Both Gibo and Gordon have a weaker influence on the other 90% of the Filipino population, the MASA. Which is understandable because the “MASA” will not care if you’re a Harvard graduate or a proven leader with a good track record. They just don’t care. The MASA votes in terms of “familiarity”: Were you poor before? Are you a strong believer of Filipino values? Are you a catholic? Are you popular? The answer to those questions by both candidates will disappoint the masses: Both were born in a well-to-do family. Both have “Americanized” values. Both have not relied on their religious affiliation for popularity and both are not as popular as local celebrities.

A few weeks ago, my company performed a “mock” election for both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. I was surprised to learn that the Yellow Team won by a really close margin (2-5 votes difference) over the Transformers (Gordon/Bayani). Why would my intelligent colleagues vote for a less capable candidate? I pondered. After reflecting on this, I realized that some people chose the Yellow Team because it makes them feel good about themselves. They “think” that it is the right thing to do. And you really can’t blame them for it. Some people are optimists, they just want a leader with “perceived” trustworthiness; a leader that will boost the moral, albeit temporarily, of the millions of Filipinos who have lost the will to fight. Yes, its a noble cause and that’s why they feel good about it (in the same sense that you feel good about yourself after giving 5 pesos to a beggar).

I, on the other hand, am a pessimist. I don’t believe a single person will have the ability to influence the thousands of corrupt government officials to stop their evil ways. Let’s say Noynoy wins, people will be crying, they will feel good, somehow they see Noynoy as the “second Ninoy”, the “second savior”, it will boost their moral, people will be hugging each other on the streets. It will be like Feb. 25 again. What happens next? Not much. After 100 days, people will be questioning Noynoy. Because of the high expectations placed upon him, people will be deeply disappointed if he didn’t magically eliminate corruption and poverty. Moral goes down again. People will be mad. People will be doubtful. Allegations of corruption and bad governance will crop up. It’s the same sh*t all over again.

If Noynoy wins, it will indicate that the Filipino People do not yet understand what real change means. It will simply illustrate that majority of the population still think using the faulty, traditional way of thinking. Being tricked by the same set of old tricks.

So let me introduce you to my presidential candidate: The “Dick” Gordon. So what’s so great about this guy, you ask? Aside from his proven track record and credentials, this guy is the embodiment of change. This 9 minute video convinced me that he is exactly what the Philippines need:

Watch it. No, finish it! I’ll wait. Done? Okay. Good!

In just 9 minutes, Gordon was able to say the following offensive things:

1. Kapag naniniwala ka sa survey, tanga ka (SIC)!
2. He dissed Noynoy for being a Mama’s boy
3. He made a “negative” comment about Jesus Christ! (JC not being able to end poverty)
4. He dissed the entire AQUINO family for not being able to stop corruption
5. He praised strongman Marcos for something good that he had said
6. Colonial Hangover. Inferiority Complex.
7. “Shame on us”

How are these “offensive” sentences an indication of “change”? of something new? Because it represent “something” that we never had on a politician (more so on a president):

1. Principle: He stands firmly on what he believes in. He believes that surveys are a big scam and people blindly believing in survey are idiots. He is not afraid to lose votes or make enemies for saying something that he believes in.
2. He is not afraid to challenge dogma. He is ready and willing to challenge the traditional and backwards way of thinking.
3. He is not afraid of the Catholic church. Separation of church and state? I believe he is the only one we can fully enforce that. For once, let us have a leader who is not being manipulated by men in white robes.
4. He is not afraid nor easily influenced by traditional political dynasties. He is not a “tuta” of anyone.
5. He is not afraid of public reprisal (and again, challenging social dogma). Aside from the Marcos family, he is the only politician (that is running) that I know of that have publicly acknowledged the late dictator for something good that he have done. In a society that demonized the late president, it takes a lot of courage and conviction to publicly praise Marcos.
6. He understands the root of all current cultural and social problems of our nation: Colonial Hangover and Inferiority complex. Before other people can respect us, we should respect ourselves first.
7. He honestly and bravely acknowledges the current ills of our society (not sugarcoat it. LOL @ Overpopulation being a “good thing”)

Just like in the success of the automated election, if either Gordon or Gibo wins, it will represent a collective change in the way of thinking of the Filipino people and of the Philippines as a nation. Moving away from the flawed, emotion-driven, dogma-ridden, and traditional way of thinking.

My nine precious girls

Just recently, KPOP bands started becoming popular in the Philippines. I believe it all started when the news about Sandara Park (Yes, this is her) being part of a Korean Girl Group reached the Philippines. As Dara (her cool Korean nickname, we just call her Krung-Krung here) was a big star here in the Philippines, the media got curious and actually gave a f*ck about KPOP. Fire, their first single I believe, entered the local hit chart and every stupid emo kid everywhere was like “ZOMG, I know that girl. KPOP is so cool~~~~ KAWAII! I love Japan” without actually having a clue on what their talking about. So those little emo kids searched the interwebz and the youtubez and found Wonder Girl’s “Nobody” and spammed the local hit charts and radio stations with request of this song. That did it, the Hallyu was in full effect in the Philippines. With Nobody’s addictive chorus (which was incidentally in English), it reached mainstream media faster than you can say “Anyeong Haseo!”. From FM’s 102.7, to Mike Enriquez’s Saksi, there was no escaping Nobody. Even Jollibee and his close friend Chuckie from KFC wasn’t invulnerable to the craze. Nobody was everywhere!

Wondergirls - Nobody

When all of this “KPOP Insanity” was happening, I was quietly downloading all the SNSD videos on Youtube I can get my hands on and then watching them again and again and again till 5:00 AM in the morning or until my mom catches me and scold me to sleep. And while watching the very heart warming Kissing You music video, I was really hoping and praying (I do it once a decade) that SNSD won’t reach the mainstream media here in the Philippines. Almost a month passed and no news about SNSD on the local hit charts. I was relieved.

One fateful day came when a schoolmate popped me on Facebook and said “I just saw SNSD’s Genie on MYX”. I was shocked to say the least! So I asked “Where? On the hit charts?” and I was delighted when she said “On Myx Premiere”. That just meant that the Myx people are just premiering the new Genie song. So I quickly headed over to Soshified and warned everyone to never request for any SNSD songs on MYX. Months passed, and I was overjoyed that the pinoy SONES (local SNSD fans) over at Soshified heeded my warning. But I couldn’t be more wrong. Just a few weeks ago, SNSD entered the local hit chart. It was the result of an effort spearheaded by a pinoy SONE over at Soshified to “mass vote” SNSD’s Genie. SNSD went from rank 20 to 9 in just two weeks! That isn’t surprising at all given the girls’ charm and the wonderful song. As a fan, I should be happy about this. I should be throwing house parties every week to celebrate. BUT I AM NOT. In fact, I hate that SNSD’s Genie is being transmitted on local airwaves.

So why am I not thrilled about SNSD’s popularity here in the Philippines?

JOLOGS

I don’t really know how to define Jologs but I will try to give an example on how something can achieve the Jologs status. Say a certain footwear became the “in” thing in the Philippines. This footwear is really expensive for just a pair of rubber stuff being worn on the smelliest part of the human body. But since the Philippines has that creativity to pirate anything fast, the said footwear now cost only 50 pesos and is readily available at your local tiangge. Now everyone from your driver, to your labandera’s son owns the identical footwear you are wearing. The footwear is now “mainstream” in the sense that the “representative population” of the Philippines (AKA “the masses”) can now own and wear the footwear. Congratulations, your footwear is now jologs.

Divisoria and "the masses"

So back to my point… Since SNSD is now accessible to the masses via the mainstream local media, like the poor footwear who has once prided itself as the “most expensive rubber stuff you are wearing on the smelliest part of your body”, as hard and painful it is for me to admit, SNSD will soon be jologs. And no matter how much I love and care for SNSD, I can’t stop it. I’m just an obsessed fan with a “KPOP boy band”-like hairstyle.

Like Wonder Girls’ Nobody, SNSD songs will be played over and over again everywhere to oblivion. Here’s the list of what I think will transpire over the weeks as SNSD reaches the top 1 spot on the local hit charts:

• Willie Revillame will dance Gee on Wowowee
• The Sex Bomb Girls will perform a cover of Genie
• Maja Salvador, Erich, and that other girl (ASAP) will perform a “sucky” (”poor” to be more polite) rendition of Kissing You (With the lollipop and all)
• Kids from Divisoria will be shown on T.V. dancing Gee from a loud boom box playing from a “pirated” music store
• Bubble Gang will parody SNSD
• Mainstream Media will talk about SNSD (and mixing/confusing them with 2NE1 and WG)
• “Malilibog” (Dirty old) jeepney drivers will have the SNSD posters on their jeeps with indecent markings.
• A “disco remix” of SNSD song’s will be available in Divisoria’s pirated music stores
• Infinite jologsness to come…

The Sex Bomb Girls

However, even if SNSD becomes jologs, I think my love for the 9 girls will outweigh the harm done by the local media. I will still watch my SNSD video collection until 5:00 AM in the morning or until my mom scold me to sleep for staying up late, I will still have my mp3 player play SNSD’s album collection, and I will still buy SNSD albums from Yes! Asia. If this unfortunate event changed something, that would be me changing my phone’s ring tone from SNSD’s Kissing You back to Nokia’s standard tone.

If you liked reading this post, you may want to read this post entitled “In defense of KPOP: Is KPOP Jologs?”

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Do you think my definition of jologs is inaccurate? Do you think I’m being a spoiled delusional elitist? Please assist me in finding the accurate definition of jologs… Help the world accumulate and catalog Human Knowledge, discuss! (Ad Hominem comments will be rejected).

PS: I am particularly interested if the “jologs” mentality applies to other countries as well.

EDIT: It was not my intention to offend people, I just want to share my opinion in my personal blog. Again, If I have offended you, I apologize.

I apologize for the sudden lack of software development updates. Its just that I got hit by the Korean Fever (no, its not a pandemic Flu! ) So please forgive this non-programming blog post.

Girls Generation

My addiction to all things Korean started when my Ex showed me a cute music video of a South Korean nine-member girl group called Girls Generation (SNSD/????). At first, I got very annoyed with the crazy jingle, but I instantly recognized the cuteness of the video. Now, I have a total of 4 GB of SNSD videos (meticulously stolen from Youtube), their complete discography on my Phone, and SNSD Ringtones. I am so addicted to them that I even have my four office monitors with SNSD wallpapers and SNSD Screensavers. I even watch and listen to my SNSD videos while working. My colleague, too, is also uber addicted to them and he says that the video increases his productivity!

To make my addiction worse, my brother who is addicted to Korean and Japanese Dramas, introduced me to Boys Before Flowers – the Korean drama adaptation of the Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango. After watching the said video, I suddenly want a Korean Hairstyle and a wardrobe makeover. Now, my TV set is locked-in to KBS. (And somebody please remind me to call Sky Cable to inquire YTF they removed Arirang from my TV Listing).

To my curiosity, I researched about the history of South Korea, the culture of South Korea and the economy of South Korea. And one thing was apparent, South Koreans love their country. They are proud of their lineage. They are both protectors of their future and guardians of their past. Just like the Japanese, they are nationalistic.

So it begs the question, Why are they Nationalistic and Why Filipinos are not? After sometime thinking bout this, I arrived at a simple answer.

Because they have something to be proud of!

In South Korea’s case, there is really something to be proud of. After their formal establishment in 1948, South Korea’s GDP is insanely growing. Just look at this graph!

South Korea's GRP Nominal Groth from 1960 to 2007

Just reading this Wikipedia article makes me want to be Korean:

The economy of South Korea is a highly developed^[7] trillion dollar free-market economy that is the fourth largest in Asia and 13th largest in the world. South Korea’s overnight transformation to a wealthy developed country in less than half a century is often called the Miracle on the Han River and earned the distinctive reputation of “Asian Tiger” in the international community.

Today, South Korea is classified as a high income economy by the World Bank and an advanced economy by the IMF and CIA. Its capital, Seoul, is a major global city and a leading international financial centre in Asia.^[8] South Koreans enjoy one of the highest living standards in the world and have a high life expectancy and a high level of economic freedom.

An extremely competitive education system and a highly skilled and motivated workforce are two key factors driving this knowledge economy that has the world’s highest scientific literacy^[9] and second highest mathematical literacy.^[9]

It boasts the world’s highest broadband internet access per capita^[10] and is the most wired country in the world.^[11] In 2007, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked South Korea’s IT Industry Competitiveness among the top three in the world^[12].

For the longest time, I can say that my nationalism is peculiarly high for a kid my age. I have always believed that the Philippines still has a chance. That my generation will somehow get us back on track. But now, I’m having second thoughts. In the past, I have a strong hate against the people who are leaving our country to work abroad. Now, I want to grab the cheapest flight to South Korea and work there, forever. If only majority of South Koreans can speak English.

Lapu Lapu -- True blooded Pilipino

To be fair, I did some research too about Filipino History. Sad as it is, there is only one instance in the entire Filipino History that I can truthfully say that I am proud to be a Filipino and that was the time when Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan. This is how I imagined it happened:

Lapu-Lapu’s Second Hand Man: Sir, the Spaniards are arriving! They are 3 miles off the coast of Mactan!

Lapu-Lapu: Let them come to their deaths! /gg

Lapu-Lapu’s Second Hand Man: *Thinking* “What the f*ck? Are you freakin’ insane? They have GUNS!”

*After 5 hours of waiting* (The boats are not diesel-powered, afterall)

Lapu-Lapu to Magellan’s Messenger: Before you speak, Spaniard, know that in Mactan… Everyone, even a King’s messenger, is held accountable for the words of his voice. Now, what message do you bring? (In Spartan voice)

Magellan’s Messenger: Education and Religion.

Lapu-Lapu: You rode all the way from Spain for Education and Religion? Do not be coy or stupid, Spaniard. You can afford neither in Mactan.

Magellan’s Messenger: THIS IS MADNESS!

Lapu-Lapu: Madness? THIS IS M-A-C-T-A-N!

Lapu-Lapu then stabbed the Messenger in the right eye. He then grabbed his “Spear” and threw it to Magellan who is observing from the balcony of his boat. Magellan got hit in the heart and then died and his men, slaughtered.

How can you not be proud? That is pure courage and valiance! A mark of a true Filipino. After Lapu-Lapu, all of the so-called “Filipino Heroes” are either 1.) A modern equivalent of a Blogger or 2.) An exact replica of a Bayanmuna Representative.

We only have ONE TRUE HERO in our entire history and what did we do to honor him? Put him in a 1 centavo coin! Seriously? When was the last time you saw one?

Lapu Lapu on 1 centavo coin

On our largest bill (1 thousand peso bill), we have the face of three unknown clowns. The only one that I am a little familiar with is Jose Abad Santos. I am not familiar with “Jose Abad Santos” (the person), but I am familiar with Jose Abad Santos (the street).

One Thousand Peso Bill

As a Filipino, its really hard to be nationalistic. When you hear news about the Philippines being the most corrupt country in Asia, how can you be nationalistic? When you see Politicians sitting in their Limo being escorted by the Police in a congested Makati street while you, the TAXPAYER, is sitting in a Jeepney inhaling all the smoke and sweating to death,how can you be nationalistic? When you watch insanely corny and cheap presidential campaign videos that you know is full of BS, how can you be nationalistic? When you see a “senator” who involves himself in a celebrity scandal that has nothing to do in making the Philippines a better country, how can you be nationalistic?

Being a Filipino is there something to be proud of? As a Filipino, how can we be nationalistic? I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a clue.

But if you happen to be part of the new “Knowledge Worker” workforce, you are probably working somewhere in Makati, Ortigas or Taguig. Day in and Day out, all I  see are these huge office buildings and sometimes, it makes me forget that we were once a Third World Country. Try it, go to The Fort Global City.

Makati Skyline at Night by "Rawrage"

Oh, just some random ramblings. Anyway, there will be no article about Software Development this week as I will be attending a 3-day seminar about Leadership in Tagaytay hosted by Accenture.