Risa Hontiveros may be a devout Roman Catholic but her values are very inclusive in the sense that she believes in the individual’s right to self-determination and freedom of speech; thought and action have to be defended in the law. While she may have had socialist and left leanings, this does not detract from the fact that she has done her homework as a member of congress representing the Akbayan! party list.
She was hardly a prominent national figure as the surveys showed. In Pulse Asia polls conducted just a few weeks before the elections, her awareness rating (determined by an affirmative response to “do you know this person?”) was at 62% – easily the lowest in the bunch that had a statistical chance of winning in the May polls.
She ran a spirited campaign but what did her was probably how the Iglesia ni Cristo poured in votes into the elections. The religious sect has always practiced bloc voting in national and local elections. Each member of the religious organization is strongly encouraged to vote for the sect’s ticket for the sake of unity and the common good.
Eleven of the twelve senators that the INC endorsed are likely winners. The only candidate to have crashed into the top twelve is Serge Osmena – a former senator. Ruffy Biazon who is currently in a distant 14th is the only one from the INC’s list that is likely to fail in winning a seat. Risa Hontiveros is sitting idly in 13th – over 800 thousand votes behind erstwhile 12th placer TG Guingona.
The estimates regarding the Iglesia’s support are varied. Some quarters peg it at over four to five million while more realistic numbers approach 1.5 to 2 million supporters. Regardless, in an election where Lito Lapid (author of one bill in six years) and Tito Sotto is ahead of Risa Hontiveros, a solid voting bloc is absolutely a game changer.
It’s really hard to say whether or not serious manipulation is happening. For one, the people voting are consenting adults who for some reason or another decided to give up the right to think for themselves and let their overseers decide what’s best for them and their congregation. It’s hard to knock them for driving mental and spiritual slaves into precinct to vote for the sect’s choices if the freedom and individuality of the member are willingly given up for the common good.
Free thought is the very thing and the only thing that Freethinkers hold most dearly. But what happens when a person chooses to give it up? Is it still free though in action? In the name of justice, the person still is exercising his right to self-determination in that sense. Whether or not he is aware of the other options is moot; it would have been a wiser decision had there been no monopoly of perspectives before the choice was made.
if the I.N.C Bloc voting is real then why did mar roxas lost .in the last survey prior to election roxas was still leading binay ,granting that there is a four million solid I.N.C votes then it would have been a land slide win for mar .proving once again that I.N.C BLOC VOTING IS A MYTH!
indoctrination=brainwashing.
Lahat kayong mga tao na nagtataka,tumutuligsa at nanlalait sa INC ay maiko-consider na mangmang. Magpadoktrina kayo para maunawaan nyo ang INC kung bakit, MALAKAS, MATATAG,MAYAMAN, MAY PAGKAKAISA,MASUNURIN,at KINATATAKUTAN BANGGAIN (ng mga maton at pulitiko.) If ever makaunawa na kayo Im sure di na rin kayo hihiwalay pa sa church na ito. Sige dare yourself para malaman nyo ang MISTERYO ng IGLESIA NI CRISTO.
kayo ang mangmang kc wla kyo sarili desisyon. kung ano sbihin pinuno nyo, sunod nlang kyo. wla kyo sarili isip.
no worries, when noy2 vacates his position, #13 senator (riza) will be the replacement. 😀
Much as I really want to, rissa will not be a replacement when noy vacates his place. the senators were proclaimed already and rissa will have a chance comes special election day, whenever that would be sked.
INC bloc voting for me is very amazing and impressive. I cant understand how a big organization ( more than a million membership ) is able to deliver bloc votes especially in this time when almost everybody has his opinion to say.
Let's face it, all we can do is to be critical of what they're doing, more so when our candidate's not endorsed or supported by the INC. But if we are going to look closely, INC has gone a long way. Look how successful they are! They are a silent mover. We always criticize them but we fail to appreciate their enormous contribution to the society and our government – housing projects, tree planting activities, free medical and dental missions, clean-up drives, blood donations campaign, very much affordable education up to college level, cheap inpatient hospitalization and the list goes on.
Politicians seek their endorsement, media go to them to get news. After election, they're just quiet! Have you heard anything from them? Nothing! We never heard them celebrate because the politicians they voted win.In short, they just voted.
People accuse them of getting a large amount of money in exchange of their votes. But this remains just an accusation and never been proven. We never heard any politicians telling the public that INC demanded money. To put it simply, they just exercise their rights to vote. Why do people will not just respect that. That's their votes anyway, not ours!
Just my 2 cents worth..
The problem is that WE suffer for their decisions when they vote a trapo into power.
They may have a right to vote, but does that mean I have to take the hit for their stupidity?
On INC:
Do you suffer from alleged bloc voting of INC, probabilised by the author of this post to have caused the votes that nudged Risa Hontiveros out of the "Magic 12"? How do you suffer?
I respect the members of that church and how they conduct their business on elections and voting. Though i would go about the affair in a different way from them, yes it's their votes anyway not mine. And INC has filled a gap of much-needed social services, left by an increasingly corrupt and bureaucratic government of the past nine years.
Do you suffer in a Philippines of religious people and full of stupid religious movements? Why don't you leave? And when you have done that, you will discover that stupid religious movements exist and are visible in other countries too. And who will be banging his head on the wall?
On trapo:
Do you suffer from a majority trapos being elected to the Senate again?
I feel your frustration. No special respect here for Bong R and Lapid, being that I decided to chart the course of my life by stars other than movie stars. So Bong took a course in UP public adnministration after got elected the first time? That by itself means diddly squat. If you look at it, Bong and Lapid are less trapo than the 2nd generation political scions who won Senate seats by means fair or foul. But that is hardly a consolation.
Where we probably disagree is the part when I say that even a Bong, Lapid, or even dyed in the wool trapos can experience positive transformation. Obviously their learning curve towards that [i]metanoeia[/i] is a bit steeper than it is for the disempowered who have nothing to lose. It's a matter of attitude. The living proof that pro-staus quo and outright evil men can turn their lives around is John Perkins, ex Economic Hitman enforcing the IMF-WB financial establishment's stranglehold over third world countries. During his time as an agent Perkins would bribe progressive South American heads of state into adopting the Bank's policies (those who did not take the bribe were assasinated). Read his book Confessions of an Economic Hitman to know what I'm talking about. This, Christian theologians like to call 'grace' which no evil human alive today is beyond its reach. Only it is a matter of balancing the equation between the suffering that these evil inflict, taking into account human rights which they too have. A distasteful statement that needed to be said.
Peace and metta
"And INC has filled a gap of much-needed social services, left by an increasingly corrupt and bureaucratic government of the past nine years."
You do have a valid point on religious groups running social services in our country. However, just because a religious group engages in social services does not make their belief any more correct. The Red Cross is just as capable of engaging in social services, and they don't engage in favoring in one religion over another.
"Do you suffer in a Philippines of religious people and full of stupid religious movements? Why don’t you leave? And when you have done that, you will discover that stupid religious movements exist and are visible in other countries too. And who will be banging his head on the wall?"
You pose a false dichotomy argument here.
So if the Philippines is full of religious groups I don't agree with, I should just leave? It's not as simple as turning off my TV if I don't like the show.
There is another option: Stay and see if we can help progressively change the system, and if not that, at least the people around us.
And you don't need to tell me about religious fundie groups in other countries – I do help run the new updates segment of the forums after all, so I have a pretty good idea of some of the more serious acts of stupidity religious groups are capable of.
As for the matter of Bong Revilla, I will elaborate on why I loathe him. Bong Revilla helped author and pass the anti-child porn bill into law.
Among the tennets of this said law is a clause that basically states that even owning any illustrations or literature explicit explicit sexual activity involving children can have you charged to the same degree as actual pedophilia.
The clause was very explicit about hentai as well – in fact, any form of hentai, regardless of the age of the subject involved, will get you arrested because all such illustrations are automatically assumed to be underaged girls.
Yes, technically, that means that even owning a copy of lolita or hentai fanfics can get me charged to the same degree as a child rapist.
I am particularly pissed at this reasoning because hentai is a victimless crime – I'm no more a child rapist when I view hentai than I am a murderer when I blow a pedestrian's head off when I play GTA 4.
Given how this law was constructed, and how Bong failed to provide any insight into keeping it sensible, I honestly think he is a fucking moron.
Are you implying that leaders of the INC has robbed their members of their freewill and choice? I tell you they DO NOT…
Yes, you may say that they encourage the members to vote what they have endorsed, but when it comes right down to it, a particular member has the freewill to exercise his/her choice…he may or may not follow it.
It is just like what Our Lord God Himself said on
"Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV"
"…I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life,…"
Does this mean that God has robbed us too of our freewill when He said – "therefore choose life"
It is also true for INC – Choosing the endorsed candidate or not. It is up to you, however, they strongly encourage to choose the endorsed one.
It is a matter of UNITY. I Cor. 1:10 states that clearly.
If this a agreement can be done through an intelligent and honest discussion among the community's members whilst taking and respecting each members differing viewpoints, and results in a group consensus that takes into consideraion the concerns of each member, then I don't see any problems.
That's a democracy at work.
On the other hand, it you were trying to insinuate that the members agree for the simple sake of conformity and maintaining a status quo regardless of the consequences of the choice and of the differing opinions of each member, then you have a problem, and I have a problem with your reading of that biblical passage.
My Comm. Theory professor has another term for the latter: Groupthink, more commonly known as the bandwagon effect, or Peer Pressure. Argumentum ad populam.
The idea of her being a leftist or not is not even the main topic here – it's block voting. T_T
She can left, right, black, white or purple but at the end of the day, she still has a better head on her shoulders than Bong Revilla, Lapid or Sotto.
Ask Risa, what is her idea of the ONLY proper function of the government in the life of an individual Filipino. Her answers are no different from other candidates.
"Risa Hontiveros may be a devout Roman Catholic but her values are very inclusive in the sense that she believes in the individual’s right to self-determination and freedom of speech"
I disagree very much.
First of, she is a self-avowed leftist. The people from the left believe it's okay to use a gun to force people to do things for the benefit of the "common good", she is not one to support the right to "self-determination" if she were, she would be for less government regulations, not Socialism which takes from man his basic liberties.
Secondly, she is a supporter of the RH Bill. Section 21 and Section 22 are very troubling with regards to freedom of speech. While the whole of the RH Bill is especially threatening to "self-determination" because of all the force it contains in relation to medical professionals and employers.
And before I forget – you've used a strawman argument by insinuating that all leftists would prefer to use guns and other forms of physical coercion to get what they want.
“If I’m going to do good with other people’s money I first have to take it away from them. That means that the welfare state philosophy, at its very bottom, is a philosophy of violence and coercion. It is against freedom, because I have to use force to get the money.”
-Milton Friedman
All programs coming from the left consists of taking from A to give to B. If A refuses, he is either put to jail or fined. This is force.
Joshua, public education, public hospitals, police, and the fire department are all technically miniaturized forms of socialism in our country, so I'm not so sure what your deal with socialism is.
Or are you confusing this with Communism?
"The people from the left believe it’s okay to use a gun to force people to do things for the benefit of the “common good”, she is not one to support the right to “self-determination” if she were, she would be for less government regulations, not Socialism which takes from man his basic liberties.'
Over-generalizing much? When was the last time that Risa has called for some sort of armed struggle or a show of violence against the establishment?
You trying to make some sort of comparison between her notion of being a leftist with the NPA is no different from comparing a muslim moderate with the Taliban.
And on another note, you talk of self-determination, but have you ever thought about how much accessibility a typical woman has to that when she is forced to endure a pregnancy she is in no way prepared for, and was unable to prevent due to lack of education and money for her choices?
You talk of freedom of speech, and yet it's the woman's freedom to make their choice and to determine their life path that is silenced when a doctor refuses to help them on grounds of personal religious belief.
"Over-generalizing much? When was the last time that Risa has called for some sort of armed struggle or a show of violence against the establishment? "
Different means, same ends. All left-wing countries end up the same. Risa basically wants a "peaceful" way towards slavery.
"You trying to make some sort of comparison between her notion of being a leftist with the NPA is no different from comparing a muslim moderate with the Taliban. "
Not comparing her to the NPA, though their goals are the same. (On a side note, she wants peace talks with them) When I say they use force I mean they use it whenever they have a social program, take for example this RH Bill. Why don't you guys create your own socialist commune and fund it yourself and leave us alone, why force us to participate?
"And on another note, you talk of self-determination, but have you ever thought about how much accessibility a typical woman has to that when she is forced to endure a pregnancy she is in no way prepared for, and was unable to prevent due to lack of education and money for her choices?"
Again, help her out yourself or ask a charity to do so. You have no moral right to force anyone to do anything.
"You talk of freedom of speech, and yet it’s the woman’s freedom to make their choice and to determine their life path that is silenced when a doctor refuses to help them on grounds of personal religious belief."
Once more, you have no right to force the doctor to do anything he doesn't want, anything less than total agreement with this principle would mean a support for forced labor.
Hi Joshua. Thank you for participating in our discussions. It's refreshing to hear objectivists like you give out clear and concise arguments instead of the usual "You are drowning in your own drivel and clearly you don't understand what you are talking about. Go read the books of Ayn Rand over and over until you agree with me." 🙂
I believe that any idea that cannot be summarized in two sentences is not worth hearing at all. With your brevity I'm actually beginning to see what 'others' failed to express in entire tl;dr articles. Would you care to submit your own article to the FF blog? I would really appreciate it. 🙂
"First of, she is a self-avowed leftist. The people from the left believe it’s okay to use a gun to force people to do things for the benefit of the “common good”
citations please, else this falls under the "Sweeping Generalization Fallacy". I'm willing to overlook the libelous insinuations but you don't get a free pass from bad logic here
"If I'm going to do good with other people's money I first have to take it away from them. That means that the welfare state philosophy, at its very bottom, is a philosophy of violence and coercion. It is against freedom, because I have to use force to get the money."
-Milton Friedman
All programs coming from the left consists of taking from A to give to B. If A refuses, he is either put to jail or fined. This is force.
ummm… that's a quote from Friedman, not Risa.
again the use of "All programs coming from the left…" leads to the sweeping generalization fallacy. This black-and-white perspective of yours is highly disturbing. Akbayan's not even using Stalin's version which you keep on imposing to them. Their official ideological stance is according to their website is "Democratic socialism, social democracy, socialist feminism, and participatory democracy". Its a new social experiment on creating a middle ground between two ideologies that haven't been applied well in the past.
Hi Josh.
I actually asked her about these two provisions of the bill when I met her (along with Red and Tania). She did tell me that doctors who DO NOT agree with the bill can simply refer to another doctor. The act of referring the patient would absolve the doctor (who's not into RH) from any further complications/ legal trouble – at least according to her.
On her being from the so-called "left":
Do we really have to be black and white about things? She has certain values that are progressive and she is willing to challenge the status quo. The Akbayan party list has been at odds with the other leftist parties because of their unwillingness to support the armed struggle, as far as I know.
Socialists cry "Power to the people", and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean—power over people, power to the State.
-Margaret Thatcher
This quote above is perfectly applicable to Risa. The status quo, is much much better than what she would give us. Just because she doesn't want an armed struggled doesn't mean her ideology is absolved. It all ends up the same, we'll have rivers of blood or a stagnant country which has a standard of living fitting only a serf. The certain values she has that are left-wing have been tried. They have never worked.
the picture you paint of Risa… is there any actual *FACTUAL* basis for it? did you do any research at all?
She was given the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award for Peace Advocacy in 2001 and yet you make her out to be this blood-thirsty warmonger.
The best you have come up with so far is quoting from an American lib market capitalist economist and a former British PM. Surely two not intimately familiar with Philippine situation. Too bad the guy died four years ago and is not here with us to admit his ignorance. I'm surprised that by this point you haven't dealt us the Rand card.
How do you come to be DisOriented? Or you were never oriented? Perhaps you are Enclave Boy dependent upon imported ideas just like me? I admire, you are an imaginative fellow. Rivers of Blood, my, my.
Please refrain from slandering people, writing false about them. This is the blog of a community where mutual respect is being practiced. Though it should be practiced more. Risa Hontiveros not just towards her, but to all people whether you know them or not. Please be respectful.
there are people who have been trained not to think for themselves ..
Myopic mind…When you follow what your President wants the people to do, it does not mean you are not thinking for yourself. Rather, you believe the President. Iglesia Ni Cristo follow only what they believe.
I got a former friend who affiliates with the INC. He told me it's "God's Will" that these rosters of politicians should be elected. The ministers chose them, believing in their decisions, and winning is a matter or Providence. I tried to ask him "what if they're wrong", but the same answer goes arrogantly, "they can't be wrong! the truth prevails!"
peer pressure? it makes people do crazy stuff… like jumping off a waterfall *wink, wink* 😀
sometimes people just find that the cost of "choice" is too high so they'd rather prefer to be told what to do. its a perception problem – the common "masa" doesn't see the value of choice, to them its a burden having to research, weigh options, discuss pros and cons. its more convenient to just follow the crowd.
I saw the same faces winning positions in the Government. Same people means the same ideas. And the new guys are just replacements to the previous. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" These people had a taste of power. now don't want to let go. If they weren't corrupt then they would have let new people have a shot.
What's next? President Ramon Bong Revilla?
If I were Riza, I would've just sought the endorsement of INC anyway … or did she?
Che, Im sure she did.
Tasyo, it's for unity.
i do not understand why they bloc vote.why exactly? is it a matter of faith? irrational creeps.
Its really amazing how these religious leaders influence their 'flock', they're dealing the if-you-dont-obey-you-go-straight-to-hell card all the time.
There's a good way of looking at Risa not being in the top twelve: if I were in her place, I wouldn't want to be elected by the same people who voted for most of the people on that roster, especially the ones on top. Still, I would've wanted her to win.
Anyway, welcome back, Benj! Nice post 🙂