“They are subject to criticism.”
Candidates for public office are subject to press criticism. Here’s my list of candidates who should not be voted for on election day.
Leni Robredo is an absolute misfit for the presidency. This lawyer who passed the Bar examination only on her second attempt is incompetent, underhanded, pretentious and deceptive, and will resort to anything, including telling outright lies and disseminating gossip, just to become president.
Robredo pretends to be an “independent” candidate for president. She is not honest enough to admit that she is actually the candidate of the very unpopular Liberal Party. The communists are openly campaigning for Robredo.
Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso is as ambitious and pretentious as Robredo. In 2019, in just his first year as Mayor of Manila, Moreno was already busy touring the country to campaign for the presidency.
Moreno is an absentee mayor and apparently still draws his full monthly salary. He was recently sued in the Office of the Ombudsman for selling the Divisoria Public Market to a private corporation when voters weren’t looking.
Manny Pacquiao is absolutely unfit for any public office, the presidency in particular.
Television comedian and vice presidential wanna-be Vicente “Tito” Sotto III should answer public queries about his alleged involvement in the so-called Pepsi Paloma case. Sotto even tried to censor online stories about the incident. We cannot afford a vice president who has too many skeletons in his political closet.
Now to the senatorial candidates.
In April 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of Raffy Tulfo for libel, a crime involving moral turpitude. Under the Omnibus Election Code, a person convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude is disqualified from running for public office within five years from the time of the finality of his conviction. Why the Commission on Elections has not disqualified Tulfo is a big anomaly.
Jejomar Binay still has to explain to the taxpayers why the Makati city government under the watch of his family’s political dynasty spent P2.29-billion to construct a car park that’s not even worth half of the entire amount. The corresponding graft case against Binay and his son is currently pending in the Office of the Ombudsman. Even the Commission on Audit has ordered them to refund to the government the P2.29-billion.
Alan Peter Cayetano reneges on his promises. After being installed House Speaker in June 2019, Cayetano promised to step down in 2020 for Lord Allan Velasco. When 2020 came, Cayetano changed his mind, so the members of the House voted to unseat Cayetano. Minutes after he was unseated, Cayetano “resigned” as House Speaker.
When the two-faced Francis “Chiz” Escudero ran for vice president (and lost) in 2019, he criticized the Marcos family, but kept silent about the fact that the Escuderos were political allies of President Ferdinand Marcos at the height of the latter’s power.
The cost of electricity in the Philippines remains very expensive today because Sherwin Gatchalian has been using his office as senator to harass potential investors in the power industry in the Philippines.
Chel Diokno is an unethical lawyer. In 2019, the Supreme Court actually scolded Diokno for pretending to be the lawyer of some poor fishermen when the truth is the fishermen never even hired him as their lawyer.
Like Risa Hontiveros, Diokno’s sympathies are with the communists.
Leila de Lima is facing criminal raps for having allegedly received bribes from drug lords detained at the national penitentiary during her time as Justice Secretary. Her continued detention at Camp Crame has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
When he became a soldier, Antonio Trillanes IV took a solemn oath to defend the duly-elected government of the Philippines. Despite that oath, Trillanes twice attempted to overthrow the government under then President Gloria Arroyo. His backroom politics as a senator paved the way for China to seize islets and shoals in the West Philippine Sea.
In 2016, the Ombudsman rendered final judgment declaring Joel Villanueva disqualified from holding public office for misusing P10-million in public funds. Villanueva thinks he is beyond the law and insists that he cannot be held accountable for any misuse of government money. His family controls a powerful Christian sect, known for its use of religious activities for partisan political ends.
Filipinos who want the best for the Philippines should not vote for any of the foregoing politicians.
