objective opinions on pnoy

this is a very good criticism of the president - http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/blogs/opinions/11/20/13/final-humility

some of my facebook friends criticize pnoy in facebook as if the president is the worst and can do no right. of course he is not perfect but clearly pnoy is at least doing just fine, and anyone with a logical and objective observation can safely say he is performing much better than the past 2 presidents with regards to the issue on corruption and the economy. it is ok to criticize pnoy of course he makes mistakes but if they are all negative, bias and one sided, you are just embarrassing yourself.

the key to smart political opinions is look at the big picture. consider the other POSSIBILITIES and other perspectives, not just the negative. don't act as if you know for sure your opinion is the only possibility and other opinions are dumb. what amazes me is my facebook friends behaving this way are highly educated and highly successful.

i understand the frustration. if you can't stand pnoy, you probably supported gibo. i admit gibo is more competent than pnoy. no contest even. but you should know by now that politics is more of a likability contest and less of a contest on competency. i think that is the core of your frustration. you probably just don't realize. so instead of bias criticisms on pnoy, it's more reasonable to criticize the voters.

what amazes me is that gibo supporters are acting as if gibo would have been the president if pnoy lost the election. gibo was way down in the polls the only contender was erap. cory's death was like a divine intervention or erap would be our president. foreign investors think erap is corrupt and in the investing world, perception is reality, so there's high probability our country would be doing a lot worse if erap was our president. influx of foreign investments is a big factor in our economy. currently philippine investments are top performing compared to other countries. investors are aware of real world realities. gibo would not also have been a "do no wrong president" - gibo, would not have filed corruption charges against gma even if the corruption was relatively way more heinous with concrete evidence compared to abad and purisima.

if you just open your mind and look at the bigger picture, pnoy rejecting abad's resignation could be a good decision. MAYBE abad is still the most competent and still the least of all evils. pnoy cannot lead the country alone. he needs the best allies. best - meaning perfect blend of competency and least of all evils. pdaf was bad, but it's easy to BELIEVE the pdaf funds really did help the country and the economy (maybe it's not true, maybe not). pnoy’s spat with the justice department could easily be perceived as a healthy spat between check and balances – a sign of a healthy democracy. the justice never even persecuted pnoy it was just more of a warning which pnoy took as an insult or maybe pretended to be insulted to mislead the country into thinking pdaf indeed was in good faith. i'm not really trying to side with anyone i'm just demonstrating how to think rationally.

you can also look at things from an investor's point of view. investors try their best to be objective because being bias and illogical can lose you lots of money. the reason why the influx of foreign investments was not affected after revelations that pnoy bribed congressmen and senators to unseat a corrupt chief of justice is because it can actually be perceived as “competent”. investors are mostly right wingers who feels we live in an imperfect world and there is such a thing as “necessary evil” to fight a greater evil.

investors will also dismiss the purisima blunders, at least for now, pending more evidence. however, i think it’s impossible that people would just donate to replace the flood damaged house of the pnp chief without expecting anything in return. revealing the names of the donors would be key to this investigation.  but smart money will easily shrug off this negative because it’s not purisima’s house. it belongs to the camp and purisima will only live in it for 1.5 years and the reconstruction was planned since 2009 and purisima started as pnp chief in dec 2012. investors might even be impressed that they did not use public funds to spend on something that is low priority even if the cost was only P12 million, which is just the cost of 3 bedroom condo unit in taguig or ayala. also the 5 hectar farm he bought for P1.2 million is too small from an investor’s perspective. heck my family is only getting P1.5 million payment from the government for a 100 hectare farm in bohol that was included in the agrarian reform. the media just toured his residence on oct 7 and so far no fuss so maybe it’s just a modest home. that’s why miriam can only call purisima a “suspicious character” and can only recommend purisima being re-assigned to a different office.

if purisima is a “suspicious character”, why not just replace him? maybe purisima is the best blend between competency and “least of all evils”. MAYBE purisima is not easily replaceable because he is the most competent candidate tasked by pnoy to stop the corruption inside the pnp. purisima has already stopped the fake firearms and security guard license racket inside the pnp so normally many would be angry at him so that could explain why he is being scrutinized.

a common logical flaw is to treat something as a yes or no question even if it's a scale or spectrum. it's wrong to say daang matuwid is a success or failure. the daang matuwid is not yes or no answer. let's say in a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the perfect score. i give pnoy an 8. of course he promised a 10, but that's just politics even the best leaders and politicians overpromise under deliver. i was disappointed with pdaf but after looking at the facts. i'm willing to let that slide. i think he is making good progress towards his goals. i understand fighting corruption in the philippines is very tough and although pdaf definitely hurt his cause, it did not destroy it. i support all the legitimate and valid criticisms of pnoy, i'm glad they exist to keep him in check.

11/14/13 facebook post

in this video ( http://youtu.be/GsOOSejtJ9U ) i just witnessed the seeds of progress for the fililipino people. i've never had so much hope for the filipinos after watching this video and a similar video where president noynoy was grilled in CNN. the 2 top officials in the philippines right now - the president and DLGU secretary don't mind being grilled and crucified in world TV for their incompetence. INCOMPETENCE CAN BE OVERCOME BY PROGRESS.  it may take time, and humility is the key ingredient. however, pride is the biggest evil. pride is the root of corruption. pride is a barrier to progress. pride is the barrier to communication and teamwork. pride is my favorite U2 song.

pnoy and mar roxas are not required by the law and the constitution to be grilled in CNN. they can just say fuck you to CNN reporters if they really want to.  THEY HAVE THE POWER. yet they chose to throw themselves into hot grill and be roasted like a pig. our past leaders absolutely would have dodged these kinds of interview.

i've experienced this grilling so many times during my career as a software engineer in silicon valley and there was never a moment where i was rattled or worried. i knew that relatively i was incompetent moron compared to the geniuses in silicon valley. as long as i tried my best and gave it all i got, why worry? we can only do our best. THERE IS A REASON WHY THE PHILIPPINES IS NOT LAUNCHING ROCKETS AND SPACE SHUTTLES TO SPACE.

i am very proud just to be waitlisted in ateneo. i did not get in to ateneo because my IQ is not that high. on the other hand, pnoy and mar roxas are top graduates from ateneo.

we must remember pnoy was never in the presidential race until his mother died. he was just falling asleep in the senate like a retard. so is a person's competency level suppose to jump when his mother dies? c'mon, what do you expect? most of us vote for people we like. we don't vote for people who are competent. so we should not be surprised when that leader shows incompetence in handling a crisis.

but i understand why elections are a likability contest, not a contest on competence. people don't live on bread alone. people would rather die than having a leader who is competent but unlikable. it's just too painful to vote for the romneys of the world. only great countries with discipline and wise people elect unlikable leaders. that's why winston churchill lost the election even if he was more loved and adored. the british people thought his style of leadership might not fit post war reconstruction. that's why the british ruled half of the world for many centuries.

when a smart nerd talks about concrete solutions to problems, it's just noisy ranting and rambling. when a charismatic quiboloy moron opens his mouth, it's inspiration, hope, it's music to our ears. that's why nerds can only change the world by inventing stuff.

11/21/13 facebook post

pnoy should take advantage of the obamacare debacle and develop a medical tourism industry in the philippines. the doctors in the philippines are astoundingly competent compared to the bronze plan doctors of obamacare. especially the dentists. dr ellen guinocor OMG i was spellbound i wanna marry her.  but of course the platinum and gold plan doctors in america are still by far the best of the best.

procedures that costs $10k in the US will only cost $1k in the philippines. if they prepay for procedures they get 50% discount on airfare. this will bring in dollars, give jobs to our many unemployed RNs, etc ....

(for more of my knowledge bombs, click the "ian's knowledge bombs" banner at the top of this article and choose any article in the table of contents that piques your interest)