It’s About Time For Change
Making a bid for a political position was farthest from my mind when I resigned as Executive Director of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in January. I was surprised when I received a call from Nandy Pacheco, Founder and current Secretary General of the Ang Kapatiran Party. The call was an invitation to run as senatorial candidate under the Ang Kapatiran Party.
My knee-jerk response was a “no”. For I had initially planned to go back to a quiet private life as a lawyer and as an educator and spend more quality time with my famiy. Besides, I said, I have no money. But Nandy, persuasive and persistent that he is as I know him now, asked me to reconsider and forwarded me the party’s platform and principles of government.
I read the documents. And lo and behold, everything that I have been aspiring for as a civil and public servant all my life were boldly written and spelled out in the party’s principles. And in as much as I have declared to my family that public office was no longer an option, (to my family’s, especially my wife’s relief then, mind you), it felt like some divine intervention was happening and prodding me to do otherwise, to go for it.
I have been serving my country all my adult life, as a soldier, a public and a civil servant. So all told, I could very well just say that I’ve done my part. But I guess, the “Paredes” in me was kicking in. As background, I come from a family of public servants, starting with the late Don Quintin Paredes, who was a senator, a Senate president and secretary of the Department of Public Works [and Highways], sometime in the past. And so, it’s in my blood, in the family. Most of us are lawyers and justices and entertainers like Jim Paredes of the Apo Hiking Society. So public service to the Paredes clan is second nature to us.
To cut to the chase, my controversial and sudden resignation from my last position and the events that triggered it somehow started falling into place. The crossroad that I was in was there for a reason, a purpose. And this purpose, I now realize was CHANGE.
That the country was ripe and ready for SOLID and PRINCIPLED change. And if I wanted change to happen, it should start from me. From my not giving up on serving my country knowing that I still have a lot to give. And embracing the belief that GOOD politics can and will happen in this country.
And so began my journey as a change agent in advocating GOOD and PRINCIPLED politics in this country.
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Please improve your website.
- Make the candidates’ info readily available on the home page.
- Lessen the number of sub-menu headings.
- Please create a livelier website. One that promises “we’re in to win!” The colors utilized are simply catatonic. The pictures are shrinking away instead of reaching out to its intended audience. The image imparted must be clean, crisp, modern, simple, and honest.
Please improve your campaign:
- Please ask Z. Paredes to project a firmer image. First, he needs a haircut to be considered respectable by the electorate. He needs to smile more often; he projects utter seriousness – as if always ready to create an enemy –though he actually sounds very calm & level-headed.
- Please ask A. Sison to imprint bullet points in the listener’s/viewer’s memory. He only has little time to spare his listener, so precious time is wasted on lingering. Bullet points. Summarize clearly. Buttress only with relevant & related info.
- Martin Bautista is suerte because the camera is kindest to him; though he tends to get hypnotized by it and he tends to glare at times. He is effective in imparting and imprinting his points, issues, remarks and solutions.
- Always campaign together. The three are most effective when viewed and listened to as a team. Tatlo na lang nga kayo, maghihiwalay pa kayo. That is when the “Kapatiran” concept seems to make glaring sense.
- Starting now, leave the “sacificial” aspect of the Kapatiran campaign & struggle behind muna. It is a very subtle but quite effective turn-off! Talk about succeeding, talk about the promise of a good Philippine future. Talk about the simple plans you have when you take your seat in the Senate. The youth of today have a hidden aversion to the struggles of the past. (especially, when they see the apathy & ineffectiveness of the results of past struggles.) They must be talked to in the context of their own present struggle to create a better future, and not to give up on this dream.
- What is Ang Kapatiran’s campaign slogan? “Ibot natin sa Senado” isn’t a slogan. This is why the electorate is not responding to your campaign, however good & honest its intentions are. Make it simple for the voters to remember you. Create a 2-3 word slogan.
- Filipinos do not “understand” platforms. Again, Filipinos do NOT “understand” platforms. Filipinos appreciate intentions. When campaigning, bring “up” the platform to the level of intentions. That’s when Filipinos “see through” the candidate, and begin to make sense of platforms.
- Make each candidate stand for one very important & easily-relatable issue. (ex: the battered husband bill isn’t a significantly appealing stand for a candidate…what’s the significance to a bleak economic future?)
- As a party, make three (only 3)significant promises you can accomplish by the end of your first term. Encourage all candidates and parties (Kapatiran or not) to follow your example. Not every candidate or party can promise to deliver everything, as has been the campaign strategy of Filipino parties in the recent past. What can you actually deliver and by what means & possibilities can we expect this to be accomplished? At what cost? Why are these priorities? What are the immediate and long-term benefits?
- Change something drastically in your campaign. Make people notice you. Create or ride on a significant issue you can effectively spark interest in during the heat of the last stretch.
- Remember the eagerness and availability of the youth of the lower-classes, more than those of the middle class. Maximize their vigor and vitality in the remaining days of the campaign.
- Transform your campaign materials into wallpapers and screensavers, and make them available to sympathetic internet cafes, schools, institutions, Makati offices, exclusive villages, etc. This is where the middle class can be very effective.
That’s all for now. I’ll contribute more in the nearest future…
Dear Jerome,
Thank you Jerome for your valuable inputs and feedback. Rest assured we will take these into consideration. I will forward your comments to the other candidates as well. It is feedback like these that help us be more aware and relevant as our campaign progresses.
Humbly yours,
Jess Paredes