PR "Prescriptions" for Would- Be Presidents

Candidates for President in the 2010 elections in the Philippine will find it harder this time. I mean, harder than just   presenting  their lonesome selves, and waiting for the votes to come in. Voters will be be more demanding of their candidates, and dismissive of those who will offer not much more than their names.

For those who will market and promote Candidates, including PR managers, the following may be helpful.

1. Popularity still does count, but will not be enough. Easy recall and recognizability may  push the Candidate up front, but that is just the beginning. Candidates will have to traverse a lot of ground before they  get the vote.

2. A great number of voters are young, and many of them disdain popularity and lack of depth, and popularity and glibness, for they  suspect here weakness of principles.

3. Issues are fine, but what issues are really important, and which ones will connect to the voter,  and to which voter? How strongly will your Candidate "connect" with the issues? Often those who insist on "issues" themselves sidestep issues because they really would rather go on with it fast, depending on their high-recall names.

4. Spending a lot of money, or pretending that you have a lot of it to burn, can be counterproductive.  Old and new voters get the impression that profligate candidates themselves believe  that voters can be bought, and these are not be trusted.

5.  Candidates are not products, but people. Candidates  must be able to think, reason out, express and defend  what they believe in and explain to the voters how will they preserve and enhance the republic, serve our people and help keep their freedom and win their prosperity.

6. Voters expect  top-calibre Candidates to choose from, those with high intelligence, proven leadership,  commitment to the public good, and willingness to sacrifice. The day of the buffoons, I fear, is over. Voters know that in spite of the setbacks  that  the country  have had to go through, it is intact, and is in many ways  better and stronger than it used to.  And its next President had better keep it being that.

7.  Candidates are for our people, but it would be nice if we had a President who can with vision, presence and accomplishments be speaking to the rest of the world as well, and gain more respect for our country.

Let us do away wit buffoons and types that we would wish we did not have anything to do about.

8.  Voters will demand from Candidates  respect and due consideration for their intelligence, and the fact that they, our Voters,  work hard for what they believe will be best for their country.

9. Show us how you see our country and what you plan, with our help, to make of  it. Be open, be communicative,  and be truthful. If, in doing so, you blunder or feel you have made a fool of yourself, admit it, explain and go on. Voters have more intelligence and sophistication than you may credit them with.

10. Show us who you really are, because whether you do or don't we will see, anyway. If you do that, and you fail to make it, that wouldn't be so bad, for there are other ways of serving our country than being President.

San Juan, San Juan!

It took just one wedding, but of two of the country's most popular showbiz celebs,  for my father's hometown to land on the front pages, and on prime time news on TV. 

Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo got married recently in the San Juan Nepomuceno Church, town of San Juan, in Batangas, and that's all it took. The town is not yet quite Taal, or Batangas City, in terms of popularity, but people at least have taken notice. Where Juday and Ryan could choose to get married must have something about it.

And does San Juan have it. It has Laiya, that beautiful coast of scores of beach resorts, of white sands, a marine life sanctuary, facilities for boating,  diving and snorkeling,  and excursions and family outings. Laiya is not one barrio, but several, that  promise to develop into a full fledged tourism complex. Investors have been coming in, attracted by a new road that leads out of the town hall through villages, rice fields and coconut plantations, and a host of economic development projects recently launched by the national government. 

Its biggest school, Batangas Eastern Academy, which everybody affectionately calls BEA, was founded by the late

And unbeknownst to many are the splendid old mansions of San Juan. I don't know if these are as numerous as those in Taal or Vigan, or as old, but they are to be seen, and reflected on. They are stately and beautiful, and locked up. They are not tourist attractions open to the public. A friend was so kind to accompany us on a visit to one of them, and it was true to its promise: old law books, for the owner was a distinguished lawyer, antique furniture, old jars,  and wide, hard-wood floors, wide windows and a great sala which hosted grand parties in the old glorious times.

At the outskirts of town is a place where they sell earthen pots (palayok),  vases, and jars, which families around have been making for generations. And they still make lambanog (fermented coconut juice).  All around are farms and orchards. The big families that made the town still have property in San Juan, but no longer live there. An institution that has stayed and grown is the 70-year old Batangas Eastern Academy, founded by the late Mercedes S. de Villa.

San Juan used to be part of what used to be the bigger town  of Rosario. Now San Juan is the second largest town of Batangas, a first-class municipality that hopes to be a city some day. It has some way to go (it has one Mercury Drug Store, but no McDonalds nor Jollibee), but it will get there.

(Photo above of San Juan de Nepomuceno Church is from Recoletos Communications, Inc.)

Pacquiao Packs It In: PR for His Country

Manny Pacquiao, the world's best boxer today, this morning sent Ricky  Hatton ridiculously flat on his back, in the second round of their bout in Las Vegas, after their flooring him  twice right in the first round.  

He has done for the Philippines something no one else is doing: making his people, all of them who have seen or watched or read of him, extremely proud of being Filipinos. 

Manny makes  people stir up, shout, jump and declare to the rest of the world: hey, we Filipinos are good, we are here, and we have what  it takes. In this hall where my son and I watched the live broadcast of  the fight this morning,  hundreds cheered up and hooted and screamed and congratulated each other:  this was a victory of our people and our country. People said to each other: "panalo tayo!, our country has won!"

We will remember for a long time that final lethal left hook that caught Hatton on the jaw: clean, clear, and utterly convincing. And when the referee ruled the fight over, for Hatton was entirely, piteously motionless for a few minutes, Pacquiao rushes to a corner, falls on his knees and says his prayer of thanks. The same thing that he does each time he fights--pray.

Another thing Manny  always does is say that he fights for the honor of his country, and dedicate his victories to his people. In all his fights, he thrills his people with his speed, power, poise, and laser- like focus. He prepares for his fights with months of concentrated and disciplined training, and with the best in his business.  He is a consummate professional.

Manny speaks English now. And he does so with complete refreshing confidence, never hesitates  responding to queries from the world's press, never mind the mishaps that await those who are not to the language born. 

He wins for his country mileage and I hope respectful notice from the rest of the world. A country that produces a champion like Manny Pacquiao cannot be  that much of a loser.  Maybe foreigners will look at our country more closely,  and  regard our people with greater understanding.

Maybe more of them will come to visit or try out investment opportunities?

Manny Pacquiao is the Philippines' best PR agency these days.