Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is very famous informally. People like her jokes, her one-liners. She was a presidential candidate who was cheated of victory. She is still tops in terms of being able to constitutionally reason out the illegality of the Bangsa Moro Basic Law. But how come, she does not reach the top of surveys as the best candidate for the presidency in 2016?
1. I think the Filipino people still have a discriminatory attitude towards those who have a Visayan accent. Name me one who has reached the top. Senato Aquilino Pimentel Sr. has a very strong Visayan accent and he never got the nomination for the presidency.
2. There is a stereotype for a president I think in our country. We like to hear and watch someone who acts like he/she has stepped out of the movie screen. A Visayan accent would be for comedians or jokers not for the presidency. By the way, I wonder how Carlos P. Garcia, a Boholano sounded.
3. To market Miriam as president is to make her speak more slowly. Even if she would speak with a Visayan accent; if she would speak slowly, people would know that she wants to communicate with us, not to display her erudition. I think we have a stereotypic idea also that those who speak fast are out to ram their ideas on us, which is wrong, actually. I am used to speaking in English and I don't mind hearing people speak very fast in English.
4. Miriam can get over her lung cancer if she would trust us, that CHEWS lozenge can do the works on her. (By the way, the Chews4Health office number is 4152568. She can come over and listen to a talk about the product. We won't promise a miracle -- but we could always try, couldn't we?)
5. Miriam has to be seen with the poor, not only at posh places. Somehow, her mien is meant more for the upper and middle classes. Well, the majority of voters are in the lower rungs. So her campaigner better check where, in which scenery she should concentrate her visibility.
6. Miriam also needs to be seen in informal costumes, not always in her formal "lawyer's" suit. Remember Ramon Magsaysay? We remember him as a mechanic and a president as well in his barong Tagalog.
7. Miriam must be heard like Trillanes whose speech sounds more like that of a ... ah never mind. She should be quoted more often on radio, as more and more people are turning to this medium for immediate, relevant and quick response to issues.
8. Miriam must promote women's issues as women voters are half of the population. The last time I heard of her, she was campaigning for Reproductive Health. Her media group should have a good grounding on women's issues so that she would always be relevant for us. For example, she could have asked how many women law graduates passed the board exams? How many women are dislocated by the Mamasapano raid of the AFP? How many women need to fill up senatorial and congressional seats?
9. Miriam must have platform, a great part of which would be what she would do for women and children if she gets elected. Since some other candidates might copy that platform, then she could say that she would work for greater legislations that would protect the rights of women and children.
By showing her espousal of women's views, Miriam will endear herself to various women's groups which could exercise strong influence on voting in the country.
10. Lastly, Miriam should promote herself, modestly, in a low key which would be very effective at this time. Grace Poe is not a competitor, not yet I think. The soldiers would be afraid of doing wrong under Miriam as commander-in-chief, not under Grace.
So those are the ten things that I hope Miriam's campaigners would consider fully.
Hala Bira! Hala Bira!
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