|
“I pray some crazy companies will risk losing some money on
certain products and get her [Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago] as
endorser so she would stop sourgraping about our ads.”
—Sen. Panfilo Lacson, quoted in The Manila Standard
SEN. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who has been
feuding with several colleagues for endorsing commercial products
and engaging in “premature politics,” has decided to promote
several educational institutions, a Senate insider said.
Santiago, who has excellent chances of getting a
seat on the International Court of Justice, has criticized several
senators for turning into commercial models and gaining publicity in
the process. She questioned their ethics and also called them
“pangit (ugly).”
Among the endorsers were Senators Lacson (facial
care), Francis Escudero (food supplement), Loren Legarda (skin
smoothener). Manny Villar (toothpaste), Francis Pangilinan (instant
noodles), Richard Gordon (bath soap) and Mar Roxas (detergent).
Santiago said the senators had cheapened their
profession and had violated the law on premature campaigning. Her
critics said she was sour graping because no business would want her
as endorser.
The Senate insider said Maid Miriam, described
in New York City on Friday by President Arroyo as ‘independent,
tough-minded and well-qualified,” has decided to accept an offer
to endorse a language-instruction and English-improvement academy.
The contract is being worked out, the insider
said, under which Senator Santiago is scheduled to appear in a
series of ads and commercials endorsing English proficiency and
mastery for Filipinos.
Another school, the Asia-Pacific Academy for
Public Speaking and Public Policy is also seeking the senator’s
endorsement in recognition of her excellence in debate and public
discourse.
If she has time, Senator Santiago will also be
endorsing the International Institute for Modern Diction and Accent,
which wants her to lecture on effective speech and articulation.
The senator turned down an offer to endorse a
book, How to Insult People Without Really Trying and another one on
The Gentle Art of Putting Down Offensive Characters.
We tried to get in touch with her office but
Congress is in recess and the senator is in New York City with
President Arroyo to campaign for a seat in the prestigious
International Court of Justice.
Said the insider: “Senator Santiago’s
decision does not make her a professional model but a promoter of
education, speech and language. It disproves allegations, like those
of Senator Lacson, that no businessman is crazy to get Mrs. Santiago
to endorse his product.”
BF’s ‘foreign aid program’
CRITICS of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA)
Chairman Bayani Fernando have accused him of politicking by sending
MMDA workers and equipment to the Visayas to help carry out flood
control and sidewalk operations.
Fernando said he was simply complying with
President Arroyo’s instructions, who had ordered him to extend
help to stricken Filipinos hit by Typhoon Frank.
Fernando, who has made no secret about his
presidential ambitions in the 2010 elections, has deployed about 150
workers and more than 20 pieces of equipment to Aklan, Iloilo and
other major towns in the South.
He is exceeding his powers, which are limited to
metro Manila, said Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque City, a critic of
Fernando’s self-advertisements on metro Manila streets.
Golez recalled that even when there had not been
a big disaster, Fernando had offered mayors outside the NCR the
facilities and men of the MMDA if they wanted them. He said Fernando
had spent a great amount of time traveling to the southern
Philippines to deliver speeches.
Chairman Fernando has effectively launched his
foreign-aid program to boost his presidential hopes, Golez and
fellow critics said.
MMDA Gen. Mgr. Roberto Nacianceno said BF will
deploy an initial batch of 85 masons, mechanics and engineers and
equipment consisting of light trucks, generators and concrete
breakers for flood control and sidewalk clearing. He said the mayors
were greatly appreciative of Fernando’s help.
They even asked for BF’s posters and photos,
he added.
Makati rich get ‘subsidy’
MALAYA has reported that more than 2,000 senior
citizens living in Makati’s gated villages received their annual
P1,000 midyear cash gift from the office of Mayor Jejomar Binay.
The mayor’s office has reported that there are
679 senior citizens living in Bel-air Village, 479 in Dasmariñas,
307 in Forbes Park, 439 in Magallanes and 719 in San Lorenzo.
Mayor Binay said that while the recipients were
well-off and comfortably living in posh villages, the city hall
chose to include them in the roster of beneficiaries that generally
includes poor and middle-class seniors.
“Just like their counterparts in the
nonexclusive barangays, the golden millionaires have made
significant contributions to the growth of Makati in their prime
and, until now, many still continue to actively serve the community.
It is but proper that we include them as beneficiaries of our
programs for the elderly, regardless of their economic status,”
Binay said.
The beneficiaries, some of whom arrived in their
SUVs, received their cash gift at the Barangay Bel-Air covered court
Thursday, the news story said.
Meanwhile, Makati social welfare department
chief Marjorie de Veyra said all Makati residents who will turn 60
on June 30, 2008, must apply for a BLU card to qualify for
membership. Benefits include a birthday cake, Christmas cash gift,
free treatment at the city hospital and all the movies a senior
wishes to watch.
|
