10 GIMMICKS PRACTICED BY NATURAL-BORN POLITICIANS

Candidates use humor and hand signals, symbols and slogans to sell themselves.

by Vinia M. Datinguinoo and Avigail Olarte

1. Get a nickname.

Mr Palengke — Mar Roxas
Kap — Bong Revilla Jr.

Other nicknames:
The Rock — Raul Roco
Doc — Parouk Hussin
Kabayan — Noli de Castro
Compañera — Pia Cayetano
Wow Dick — Richard Gordon
JPE — Juan Ponce Enrile
Manong/Mr. Expose/Ka Ernie — Ernesto Maceda

2. Invent or recycle a hand or fist signal.

3. Be crafty with your slogans.
If you're an actor, your slogan should say something about you being a hero, or, better yet, giving the people the starring role. Feel free to use words from your movie titles.

Tickle the fancy of the millions of fans of a massively popular Taiwanese boy band.

If you're the other party, think quickly of the perfect counter-slogan.

Play with your name. Make up some rhymes. Do it today. Don't waste any time.

If you've been here before, make sure your slogan sells what you think you've done for the people.

4. Play with symbols.
Never mind if you end up looking like a Sanrio product or the long-lost father of Pucca (the better to attract the youth).

At the campaign kick-off, Raul Roco and his slate emerged in a V formation. He said they want to be an arrow "to break the campaign of the other tickets."

Panfilo Lacson has appropriated the color red for his campaign, which, he says symbolizes bravery.

But Roco also called on his supporters to wear red or floral clothing last Feb. 10, the first day of the campaign period, to show that while he doesn't have the money and machinery that FPJ and GMA have, Roco has "the support of thinking believers who also happen to be fashionable." Roco has never gone out to campaign without a floral shirt on him. Flowers, he has been quoted to have said, "will be the symbol of hope."

5. Find a reference to a historical figure.
Former police chief and Manila mayor Alfredo Lim's battle cry is one of equality before the law and uses the Katipunan to sell this.

In one of his kick-off speeches, Lacson, a native of Imus, Cavite, referred to Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, the first president of the Republic, and told the crowd it was time for another president from Cavite.