SENATOR MANNY Villar has emerged as the man to beat in the presidential derby.
This is no surprise for all my espresso mates at Starbucks-SM Clark, grizzled campaign veterans they all are.
Even when Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino was running roughshod over all pretenders with an over-50 percent poll rating, our caffeine-fixed minds insisted: “Villar can never be a push-over.”
And so it happened in the end-of-January survey of Pulse Asia. From 45 percent in December, Aquino dropped to 37 percent. From 27 percent, Villar rose to 35 percent. Aquino’s minus 8, directly proportional to Villar’s plus 8. There is one hell of a story there. Especially with the ratings of the other candidates practically remaining at a standstill. Aquino’s loss directly translates to Villar’s gain.
With the set two percent margin of error, the lead goes either of the rival’s way.
The momentum though is clearly Villar’s, on the rise as he is. Aquino is caught in an inertia, in the doldrums as seamen say, the wind taken out of his sails.
Ironically, it should have been Villar that found himself marooned, if not sucked into the depths, of the campaign sea. The castigo of the Senate over his alleged improprieties in the C-5 project precisely meant to serve as the millstone tied around his neck to sink him.
Instead, the C-5 probe served as the very booster rocket that propelled Villar to the top of the presidentiables.
Right was Villar ally, San Juan Rep. Ronnie Zamora, in saying: “It’s pretty clear that the people have made up their minds that the C-5 probe in the Senate is nothing but politics. We expect more black propaganda to come and this is something we have to prepare and we are prepared for it.”
Even righter was my coffee buddy who looked like Jun Sula in saying: “Villar is a Teflon candidate. No negative issue stick to him.”
The inanities impacted on the political ads of Aquino – abnoy-inspired, as one in our group laughed – have also been noted by other political observers as directly contributing to Aquino’s drop in the surveys.
“Pasubli-subliminal pa, kasing lalim naman ng batya ang mensaheng dala,” said a psycho grad of Aquino’s commercials.
“They assail the senses and insult the intelligence,” agreed the university professor in our own coffee academy.
“So they think using Kris Aquino’s pre-school son by James Yap is cute? That’s child abuse,” damned the least caffeinated in our lot.
So what does that make of Villar’s use of children in his political ads too?
“Brilliant,” was the instant response. “Villar’s kids are seen in their natural milieu, gut emotions, simple aspirations directly relating to the viewer in-your-face reality, no glossing over, no photoshopping artificiality. Hence, their effectivity.”
The latest survey showed Villar getting 39 percent of the Class E – the masa – bracket, to Aquino’s 31 percent. There’s that difference of 8 again! There really must be some omen there.
Villar’s rise has apparently made Aquino come to his senses – that he could not ride the way to the presidency on the memory of his martyred father and sainted mother. Neither on the storied tactlessness of his (in)famous sister.
Two days back, it was reported in the national papers that Aquino said he, personally, would take full charge of his campaign.
With that, Aquino has just signed his own death sentence. Running a campaign and running for president run parallel lines. We have a runaway train in Aquino here.
I will not vote for Villar, like two others in our group of seven, but were the elections held today, we’d all bet our last peso on him.
This is no surprise for all my espresso mates at Starbucks-SM Clark, grizzled campaign veterans they all are.
Even when Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino was running roughshod over all pretenders with an over-50 percent poll rating, our caffeine-fixed minds insisted: “Villar can never be a push-over.”
And so it happened in the end-of-January survey of Pulse Asia. From 45 percent in December, Aquino dropped to 37 percent. From 27 percent, Villar rose to 35 percent. Aquino’s minus 8, directly proportional to Villar’s plus 8. There is one hell of a story there. Especially with the ratings of the other candidates practically remaining at a standstill. Aquino’s loss directly translates to Villar’s gain.
With the set two percent margin of error, the lead goes either of the rival’s way.
The momentum though is clearly Villar’s, on the rise as he is. Aquino is caught in an inertia, in the doldrums as seamen say, the wind taken out of his sails.
Ironically, it should have been Villar that found himself marooned, if not sucked into the depths, of the campaign sea. The castigo of the Senate over his alleged improprieties in the C-5 project precisely meant to serve as the millstone tied around his neck to sink him.
Instead, the C-5 probe served as the very booster rocket that propelled Villar to the top of the presidentiables.
Right was Villar ally, San Juan Rep. Ronnie Zamora, in saying: “It’s pretty clear that the people have made up their minds that the C-5 probe in the Senate is nothing but politics. We expect more black propaganda to come and this is something we have to prepare and we are prepared for it.”
Even righter was my coffee buddy who looked like Jun Sula in saying: “Villar is a Teflon candidate. No negative issue stick to him.”
The inanities impacted on the political ads of Aquino – abnoy-inspired, as one in our group laughed – have also been noted by other political observers as directly contributing to Aquino’s drop in the surveys.
“Pasubli-subliminal pa, kasing lalim naman ng batya ang mensaheng dala,” said a psycho grad of Aquino’s commercials.
“They assail the senses and insult the intelligence,” agreed the university professor in our own coffee academy.
“So they think using Kris Aquino’s pre-school son by James Yap is cute? That’s child abuse,” damned the least caffeinated in our lot.
So what does that make of Villar’s use of children in his political ads too?
“Brilliant,” was the instant response. “Villar’s kids are seen in their natural milieu, gut emotions, simple aspirations directly relating to the viewer in-your-face reality, no glossing over, no photoshopping artificiality. Hence, their effectivity.”
The latest survey showed Villar getting 39 percent of the Class E – the masa – bracket, to Aquino’s 31 percent. There’s that difference of 8 again! There really must be some omen there.
Villar’s rise has apparently made Aquino come to his senses – that he could not ride the way to the presidency on the memory of his martyred father and sainted mother. Neither on the storied tactlessness of his (in)famous sister.
Two days back, it was reported in the national papers that Aquino said he, personally, would take full charge of his campaign.
With that, Aquino has just signed his own death sentence. Running a campaign and running for president run parallel lines. We have a runaway train in Aquino here.
I will not vote for Villar, like two others in our group of seven, but were the elections held today, we’d all bet our last peso on him.
