THE CAMPAIGN

First-World Techniques, Third-World Setting

The X-Men: The Story of Activists-Turned-Political Consultants

With a Little Help from (U.S.) Friends

Campaigning, Filipino Style

Spinning the News

Campaigns on the High-Tech Road

Songs in the Key of Politics

PHOTO ESSAY

The Presidency as Image

ELECTION PERSPECTIVES

Elections are like Water

Between Tinsel and Trapo

The Enigma of the Popular Will

VOTER'S VOICE

First-time Voter

Regular Voter

Non-Voter

Hope and Elections in Payatas

THE LIGHTER SIDE

Making (Non)Sense of Politics

Election Lexicon

Quickie Quiz for the Politically Insane

A SHARP contrast to Lacson, at least in image, is former senator and education secretary Raul Roco, who comes off as a bureaucrat and not at all a macho man of action like Lacson. The rotund Roco, who also ran in the 1998 presidential race, sheds his signature floral shirt in favor of a plain, off-white barong Tagalog in his two current commercials, in which the tone is still light yet undeniably no-nonsense. Roco makes it clear right away that education will be among his priorities, as well as transparency in government transactions. In one ad, he says that as education secretary, he was able to achieve a true implementation of the government's free education policy (covering elementary and high school); he also increased the number of free textbooks from 15 million to 44 million. In the other ad, Roco declares that in the "new Philippines" corruption would not be tolerated and that public biddings would be "public talaga (really out in the open)."

Roco has been talking about having a "sunshine policy" for years now, and the Department of Education's public approval rating did increase during his watch. It is also true that under his leadership, the DepEd banned the collection of various fees (such as those for the Girl and Boy Scouts, as well as for anti-TB campaigns) public schools collected from students during enrollment. But the increase in the number of textbooks cannot be attributed to his efforts alone, since the department began undertaking reforms in textbook procurement in 1999 or almost two years before he became its chief. The DepEd may not even have been able to pull off those reforms without the generous infusion of funds from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. And although the textbook to pupil ratio in three core subjects now stands at 1:1, there are still hundreds of schools without textbooks, while others have the wrong ones.

The DepEd's experience in fighting corruption may also douse water on those who think this pervasive social ill is that easy to get rid off, as the Roco ad seems to imply. As one PCIJ report noted last year, while strict monitoring has led to a cleaner DepEd central office, money is still being exchanged under the table, and at a fast clip, in the field offices.

Roco himself left the department in less than favorable circumstances. After only eight months in office, he resigned abruptly, claiming that the president had done him a discourtesy by not informing him first regarding an official investigation about to be conducted on him. It turned out that the DepEd central office's employees' union had filed some 20 cases against him before the Presidential Commission on Anti-Graft and Corruption. Among other things, they accused Roco of letting his wife use a government vehicle for her personal errands, as well as failing to deposit a service fee totaling at least P15 million, and allowing a P70-million tax exemption on equipment imported by the University of Sto. Tomas Hospital. Roco would deny most of these charges, admitting only his wife's use of an official car with a government-paid driver at its wheel.

Lastly there is the ad of action film king and current presidential frontrunner, Fernando Poe Jr. A self-described man of few words, Poe as of this writing has yet to present a platform of government and has refused to join a debate among the other presidential contenders. His ad therefore is in character, since it barely says anything except make a promise that "a new morning is coming." He is also seen surrounded by members of the masa, who have always been his most ardent movie fans, and they listen in awe as he states in his patent gravelly voice that any problem can be surpassed if everyone worked together "sa pagpapanday ng bagong umaga (forging a new morning)," a nod to one of Poe's most famous movie characters, who was a panday (blacksmith). About the only thing that is somewhat un-FPJ in the commercial is the fact that the action movie king is portrayed sitting.

But that doesn't seem to matter to those sitting around the table with him, and their faces light up and there are smiles all around after Poe utters his only line in the commercial. Running mate Loren Legarda then turns to a seatmate and declares that with FPJ, "bayan ang bida (the country is the hero)." The allusions to Poe's status as monarch of the movies cannot be missed, and the scenario is completed by the burst of applause after a toothless old woman in duster tells Poe that she will vote for him. These, however, can only increase the creases in the foreheads of those who have been waiting for some sign that Poe understands there would be no retakes should he become president, and that being the leader of the nation means more than playing up to the masses. Cryptic one-liners may have worked in his films, but anyone aiming for the presidency should be able to articulate his plans for the country as early as the first day of the campaign.