Bobo wrote "Bakit ba kahit alam nating sinungaling ang isang kandidato ay binoboto pa rin natin sa pwesto?"

You know, I've been thinking about that too for a long time. How could we Filipinos (the majority of us) keep voting for these known corrupt or dirty politicians? Have we lost our senses to know the difference between a genuine politician, whose love for our country is unblemished by money, and a bad one?

Let's go over your list:

Enrile. Why is he still in power? For the last 10 years he hasn't done much for our country than to scare foreign investors away and make noises in the Senate by bickering with other officials and acting important. He was a staunched supporter of former President Ferdinand Marcos and committed many - MANY - human-rights violations during the Martial Law. But Enrile was a smart man for himself. When he sensed that Marcos grip of the country was slipping, he flipped sides and joined the millions of people rallying at EDSA, gaining their unwavering support and ensuring his political future. Quite a smart move by Enrile at that time.

That fake ambush you mentioned was true. If he could do such thing (among many other terrible things he did in Marcos time), it tells a lot about his character. There's no doubt in my mind that he will do whatever is necessary to keep his political position intact. That's why he's still up there for over 30 years, surpassing the dictator himself.

Miriam Defensor. Now, why is it every time I hear her name I see a mad woman spewing rhetorics against her political opponents? Don't get me wrong. I used to love her back in the old days when she was working at the Commission on Immigration and Deportation during Aquino's term. In that time, she was really fighting corruption in the government. But somehow she had changed.

Her recent handling of World Bank's bid-rigging controversy was a joke. Instead of running a full investigation and disciplining the Ombudsman for its blatant neglect of the report, she ACCUSED World Bank for creating an anomaly and even blurted out the names of the officials involved in bid-rigging!

Anyone in his right mind would never dare mention the names of people involved in a case when it's still under investigation - not to mention this is a high-profile case. Her move gave the criminals time to cover up their tracks and create some good alibis.

It wasn't the first time Defensor did this kind of stupidty, which was done for an obvious reason.

Another thing I noticed about her was the fact that she would never - at any point in her politcal career - contradict or get into a debate with Enrile even if his views or handling of a case were wrong. I hope you know why, but let me just say it in case you don't know.

She and Enrile came a long way when she was working for him during Marcos era. In fact, she was the person that Enrile called to compose a letter for Marcos to declare Martial Law on national TV. In other words, she's Enrile's puppetry. She owed her first political career from Enrile and without his backing would have never survived as a young vibrant public servant. That is why we never see her - and we never will - going against her only master (Enrile).

Joseph Ejercito Estrada. Need I say more? This is the president who lied, on television, that he deposited some "Jueteng" money in a bank using an alias, and then later on, admitted that he did sign some papers using an alias. Wow.

What kind of a President who would lie to his people and engage in activities against the very laws he has sworn to protect and uphold? And where is he right now? He's out there campaigning for president [again] with a smirk on his face.

This man had not only spat in the face of our justice system, he also got away with it. And it's quite bothering to see our people cheering for him and shaking hands with a man who had brought shame and dishonor to our country.

Ping Lacson. Dacer-Corbito double-murder case, Kuratong Baleleng case, and God knows what other crimes this criminal had committed during his stay in power. I truly hope he gets caught and brought to justice together with Estrada.

And it makes us wonder, isn't it? Why in the world are we still voting for these people? Like most of you, I spent time thinking over this and it dawned upon me that these people stayed in power not because the majority of us have voted for them, but because they don't play fair. If you play a game of cards against a cheating opponent, you are bound to lose every time; he always wins!

I don't think we're stupid enough to keep voting for known dirty politicians when our future is at stake. Tomorrow we could lose our jobs for voting someone who has little or no political background. Our cities could end up in a rot if we have a mayor whose favorite hobby is collecting expensive cars using our tax money.

It's these people who don't play fair, through vote-buying, vote-rigging or eliminating their opponents, are partly to blame. And then we have the New People's Army.

These communist rebels have been at war against our government for decades. They even have non-combatant divisions like the Anak-Bayan, Bayan Muna and others, with a goal to disrupt the peace and order of our country through relentless protests targeted mostly at our Phils. gov't and the U.S. But we never saw them protesting in front of the Saudi Embassy in Manila when news of that Filipina, who was raped by her Arab boss and caught on the cellphone, broke out a few years ago.

There were RUMORS that the non-combatant NPAs were told to vote known dirty politicians (i.e. Estrada) to make our country worst economically, making the Filipinos lost hope of our government and succumb to communism. Now, these are just rumors so I cannot guarantee whether they're true or not. Perhaps you've heard of them, too.

I hope we can surpass all these tribulations we're in. We have a beautiful country, abundant in natural resources and beauty. If only we can end corruption, perhaps we can end poverty.

In the meantime, our people are going hungry each day and children living in the streets, literally begging for food or eating garbage.

Gene:

Which ones do you think are lies?

Gene:

You accused me of spreading lies and told me to get my facts straight. So, I asked you politely which of the things I wrote were lies, and lo and behold, you gave me that crap.

Okay, I don't want to be rude. Perhaps you're frustrated as some of us about our government. But I would advice you to be a little tactful in your reply so you don't offend anybody. And try to answer the questions being asked so we can have a good exchange of thoughts going.

As to your question about my thoughts on Gloria (and her family), I actually voted for her in the last presidential election. Now, before you get your machine gun, let me tell you this quickly.

I voted for her because there was no other candidate that I thought was qualified enough to run our country. She's a smart person; graduated validectorian in high school and magna cum laude in college. She was a consistent Dean's Lister during her short study at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Of course, you need more than just intelligence to run a country, but at that time, I never heard anything about corruption allegations against her until later when she became our President.

I am disappointed. Very disappointed. The ones that are very incriminating are the "Hello, Garci" scandal, the ZTE-Broadband scandal and the World Bank's bid-rigging scandal, where her husband was mentioned being involved.

I also watched a documentary by GMA Network, stating that she signed some agreement with the Chinese government, allowing the Chinese to conduct oil exploration around our Spratley Islands in exchange for a monetary loan. As a result, the Chinese communists are now dancing in our backyard and even shooting down our fishermen from Palawan for free.

So, yes; before I supported her, but not anymore. I am glad that her term is almost over, so we can all move on (hopefully).

Alundio:

Every thing you said about the NPA is true to some extent, particularly about enticing poor people to join them in the mountains or in various protests against our government in exchange for food and small bit of money.

Sadly, those dirty politicians are also using this approach to lure poor Filipinos to vote for them by giving away money and gifts (vote-buying) and making empty promises like sending their kids to schools.

Corruption has a lot to do with what is going on in our country. We have so many corrupt people in the government that it's estimated they steal hundreds of millions of pesos each month. EACH MONTH. Money that can be put to good use to provide food and shelter to those homeless people we see everyday. Money to provide chairs, books and improve facilities for our public schools and hire more teachers. Money for improving relationships and understanding between our Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters, for rebuildling our infrastructures, provide tap water in rural areas, paved roads and financial assistance for families who don't earn much for a living. Money to END POVERTY.

If we are truly united as a people - the People of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao - the People of the Philippines - there is no doubt in my mind that this nation can achieve greatness beyond our wildest dreams, and even become the envy of other nations for setting a world example that - despite the many tribulations we are facing - we managed to bring our country from the ashes of poverty. We are 100 million strong Filipinos, there is no reason we can't do it. I know we can do it. Let's end corruption. Let's end poverty!

Alundio:

Again, you hit it right on the nail, man. Corruption has plagued our country for years and we see its many negative outcomes, or "byproduct" as you call it, on a daily basis.

Just drive around Manila and you'll see drivers not following traffic laws. I'm not talking about a handful of drivers, but practically ALMOST everybody. You'll see people driving in between lanes, two or three vehicles running side by side in a single lane, drivers not stopping at a red light and over-speeding!

You wonder, "How did these people get their driver's license?" If this is how it is, then why are we bothering installing all these traffic signs and painting lines on the road when nobody follows them anyway? That's right; byproduct of corruption.

If you're a building contractor, then you know that applying for any kind of permit (i.e. construction, fire safety, etc) means you have to do the "Lagay Muna" dance. Otherwise, they're going to give you a hard time and your project will be delayed. So, yeah, you dance the "Lagay Muna," finish your project on time and go home happy. Unfortunately, some dirty contractors are taking advantage of this, and we end up seeing businesses that are fire and electrical hazards (i.e. no exit signs, no working smoke and heat detectors, opened electrical circuits, etc). And we wonder, "How come they're allowed to run their business when they don't have detectors to warn people of fire?" That's right; byproduct of corruption.

Now, let me talk about the Abu Sayaf. You know, I always kind of wonder why this terrorist group could not be eradicated by our military. This group is almost entirely made up of "No-Read-No-Write" people. It's a shame that our military, professionally trained and armed with high-caliber weapons (like the ones they found at the Ampatuan's backyard) - could not even stop these murderous and rapist bastards.

Are our military being outsmarted by a bunch of illiterate scumbags? Are they going to wait for this group to grow to a point that it's actually hopeless to stop them like the MILF and the NPA? Do we need more bastards terrorizing and killing our innocent people?

It just doesn't add up. Whatever the reason, I hope it's not "corruption."