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Vice President Noli de Castro’s fitness for office always surfaces
when the question of succession is debated. If President Gloria
Arroyo goes (for whatever reason) a de Castro presidency divides the
country.
His critics say he does not have the experience
or the intellect to become president. He was probably good at being
a newscaster (“a news reader,” the more vicious detractors say)
but not much else. An undergraduate degree in business does not
matter. His experience in radio and TV work counts for little,
popular as he was at ABS-CBN.
The man has served in the Senate. He has worked
as Vice President since 2004. President Arroyo wanted him to become
social welfare secretary but the previous DWSD chief. Ms. Dinky
Soliman, begged to stay. So de Castro was asked to head the Housing
and Urban Development Coordinating Council, our equivalent of the US
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
He has managed or supervised the government’s
affordable housing program and urban land distribution scheme. A
remarkable success was the peaceful transfer of thousands of
families squatting by the rail tracks. They used to menace train
passengers, posed a great danger to public safety and their hovels
blotted the landscape and hurt tourism.
He has attended numerous regional conferences,
has represented President Arroyo on many occasions. He must have
learned a lot from his immediate superior and his work with the
Cabinet. Media work must have added to his sophistication. He could
not be a less worldly-wise and less intelligent person than he was
before joining public service.
His jump from media to politics is a well-beaten
path. His fans say he is “better” than some peers whose
celebrity came from movies and entertainment. From former Sen. Eddie
Ilarde to President Erap Estrada to Sen. Lito Lapid, there must be
space for an aspirant like Vice President Noli. If you prefer
foreign examples, think Ronald Reagan or Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A recent SWS poll showed 30 percent of
respondents preferred de Castro for president in the 2010
presidential race. The three other choices were Senate President
Manny Villar, Sen. Loren Legarda and Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas.
The survey asked: “Under the Constitution, the
term of President Arroyo is only up to the year 2010, and there will
be an election for President in May 2010. Who in your opinion are
the leaders who should succeed President Arroyo?”
De Castro, Roxas, Villar and Legarda are good
choices. Legarda also came from media while Roxas and Villar are
competing for the title, “Mr. Palengke,” because Villar had
worked as market vendor while Roxas champions consumer rights.
Oscar
EDSA competed with Oscar yesterday and, judging
from our informal poll, the Academy Awards won the ratings war over
the Edsa anniversary.
Filipinos had learned what to expect from the
EDSA program: a flood of speeches crying over the failure of the
first people power revolt, how the sins of martial law had gone
unpunished and why civil society-led revolutions inflict further
harm on the nation. If there is an EDSA moment that some people look
forward to, it’s the reenactment of the Fidel Ramos Jump on the
day the mutineers declared a victory.
Filipino cinemagoers look forward to Oscar night
for surprises and to cheer for their favorite movies and
actors. This is a night for humor, fashion, tributes, history and
occasional gaffes. While the nominations are dominated by US movies,
there is great interest in best foreign-language films.
The highlight is the announcement of Best
Picture and Best Director. It’s unlike the Philippine version
where the highest honors go to Best Actor and Best Actress. High
honors also go to best screenplay and best story. In the 80th Oscar,
Joel and Ethan Coens were named best director and best picture is
“No Country for Old Men.”
The respect for writing reminds us of the way
Filipino producers treat screenplays and writers in general. There
is scant need for the written word as producers make their products
without working scripts, improvising dialogues and story development
on the set. A strike by our movie writers (who are generally
underpaid) here would not cripple the movie industry, as it did
Hollywood and US television. There are few full-time writers and we
doubt that they are organized.
The domestic movie business is overtaxed; it
works under a repressive Movie and Television Regulatory and
Classification Board. The drive on contraband films is dispirited.
The MTRCB insists on censorship when it should limit itself to
classification and basic regulation. The Film Development Board that
recognizes excellence through tax-exemption incentives is rarely
heard from.
The industry suffers from a lack of imagination
and enterprise. It survives by repeating tested formulas and past
successes. Our movies celebrate stardom and teenage worship, not
courageous story telling or a striving for literate dramas or
well-made comedies. The great challenge to the industry is how to
replicate the OPM (original Pilipino music) success, a business that
had no market in the 60s and early seventies but is now tremendously
popular with adult and young Filipinos.
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