The Top Three Presidentiables and Vice Presidentiables Most Preferred by Mapua Voters

The Top Three Presidentiables and Vice Presidentiables

Most Preferred by Mapua Voters

A Research Paper Presented to

Prof. Marites T. Fagaragan
Mapúa Institute of Technology

in partial fulfillment
of the requirements in
English for Academic Purposes 2
(ENG11)

by
Jennifer G. Diga
Dominique C. Dominguez
Nico L. Duran

March 2010
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ABSTRACT

Election is a form of direct democracy in which all citizens in

a community have the opportunity to participate personally in

collective deliberation and decision-making about how they will

be governed. Alongside with this kind of decision-making is how

the citizens, most especially our youths who take a large

portion in the voting public, will perceive the right

qualifications of a candidate for him to hold the office. There

is a need for awareness of the proper qualifications that the

voters should look for so that they are able to choose the right

person for the right position.

The research team gathered information through intensive

readings of articles from useful references, conduction of

surveys and few interviews with some students and an interview

with an expert specializing in Philippine Politics and

Governance. The research team has found out that the simple

qualifications based from our Constitution are not only the

things they focused on, but instead some other qualifications,

accomplishments and skills also matters to the public. Thus, it

is still the public who decide for their fate and the fate for

the nation. Their expectations to their candidates are neither

realistic nor believable unless already proven.

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In a phone interview with Spokesman for the Peoples’

Primaries, Ricky Xavier, he said about elections, “it’s a people

empowerment process. In the present system right now, we only

have a few politicians, rich or powerful individuals, deciding

the fate of the nation. Whoever the candidate chosen among the

people who join, will, in effect, be the choice of the people.”

Election is just months from now and the people are going to use

their rights of suffrage to express what they desire and what do

they want to happen for our country. Vote-buying is afflicting

our political system which will affect the voting decisions of

the public. Since they are free to choose whoever they want for

the position, more often that unworthy candidates get elected.

The research study will show that democracy is not simply

about popular participation in elections. Qualifications of

elective positions must be improved so that we can prevent our

country from unorganized manner of governance. Through the top

three (3) Presidentiables and Vice Presidentiables most

preferred by our voters will show what kind of governance they

want to experience and how do they choose their preferred

candidate accordingly. To be sure, universal education plays a

very crucial role not only in uplifting the standard of life of

its recipient but also in contributing to better style and

quality of public governance by the nation’s politicians.

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As stated in the Philippine Constitution, a President

should be a natural born Filipino citizen, besides being a

registered voter, also able to read and write. Furthermore, he

must be at least forty (40) years of age and must be a resident

of the Philippines for at least ten (10) years. The constitution

does not prescribe any educational, academic or literary

qualification except for the ability to read and write. (De

Leon, 2008)

Still based on the Philippine Constitution, a candidate for

Vice President must have the same qualification as the

President. Similarly with the President, a Vice President should

be a natural born citizen, a registered voter, also able to read

and write. He must also be at least forty (40) years of age and

must be a resident of the Philippines for at least ten (10)

years. The Constitution does not also require any educational,

academic or literary qualification for the Vice President,

except for the ability to read and write. (De Leon, 2008)

In any case, the qualifications for elective officials

requires under the Constitution are minimal and simple. The

purpose is to accommodate wider participation of those who

desire to serve the country under the democratic concept. Given

the legal qualification, granted the right of anyone who can

vote to run for public office cannot be abridged. Nevertheless,

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it is believed that the Constitution assumes, specifically in

the case of the President, to be sure that he is morally and

intellectually fit and possesses executive ability to occupy the

highest office of the land. (De Leon, 2008)

According to Sureta (2010), a presidential candidate who is

principled, “tested in serving the country,” “courageous,” “has

a good plan for the country,” and “pro-poor” topped the

qualifications that voters want, a survey held by STRATPolls, a

Makati-based polling firm. However, according to the students of

Mapua Institute of Technology, they would prefer a “good

administrator/speaker/debater,” “popular” and “successful

businessman.” It follows that the elder voters have different

thoughts and opinions with that of the students. Although they

look for different qualifications, most of the respondents are

pointing Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino possessing most of the

qualifications. Moreover, Noynoy, being the son of late Senator

Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and late former President Corazon

Aquino did not affect the decision of the respondents. On the

contrary, this result does not indicate who will win this coming

election.
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Sharma (2001) said, “Every President has their Vice at

their back.” This coming election we are looking forward to whom

will be our next President. On the other hand, most of the

voters never mind what kind of Vice they wanted to have. Still,

student voters are looking forward the most to whom will be our

next Vice President. In general, the Vice President they want

must be a “problem-solver,” “transparent,” “servant leader,”

“mobilizer,” “with integrity,” and “fair”, which is very similar

to that of the President. In addition, a Vice President must be

a good supporter to our President. And lastly, a candidate with

comprehensive educational background degree.

It is known that the qualifications based on the Philippine

Constitution are minimal and simple. Moreover, Philippine

Politics and Governance Professor, Dr. Bienvenido Nepomuceno

(2010) said that it’s too cheap and amendments must be done to

it. Special qualifications such as being a full-pledged college

graduate, a Political Science-major or a lawyer would be a

better qualification for a President and Vice President to rule

the country in the best possible way. Also, according to him,

family background does not matter provided that the candidate

knows his best and focusing on it is discriminatory. Popularity

doesn’t even matter among the candidates because they are not

artists. But as long as they have the platforms for the country,
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that is one possible way to encourage people to vote for

him/her. However, if a candidate has committed crime in the

past, he will not be qualified anymore for the position,

especially if his political and civil rights are taken away.

Provided that a candidate must have integrity, he/she should not

have done something that would violate the provisions in the

Constitution.

Expectations now during this election period start to

arise. One is that the people expect that the next President

will exceed the previous one’s capabilities of governing the

country. And with that, corruption is likely to be out-of-sight

of the public. Expectations like these cannot be assured unless

there is development of the citizens’ awareness and knowledge.

We just can’t expect to happen something like that in just a

snap. (Barcelon SJ, 2009)

However, in interviews conducted by the research team,

students came up with different expectations to their preferred

candidates. One student believes that the incoming leaders of

our country should have the courage to win the battle for

corruptions in the government, lead our country to unity,

promote the common good, have good tactical plans in gaining

economic progress and have dignified governance (Glenn D.

Aquisap, CCE-4). Also, one believes and expects that he’ll be

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honest with all his actions with regards to government issues.

It only means that a candidate be transparent. Being a good

problem-solver is another one that he should also possess

(Jeremy Elias, IE-3). Another student, Heherson S. Cabrera, BCC-

3, expects his President to engage in foreign relations and to

be an education-and-science President. He must also strengthen

the defense department and more importantly, the economic

system. Another focus must be agriculture and forestry.

Granted that the fact about the position of Vice President

is just merely an inch away to the position of a President, of

course, expectations also come along with him.

According to PMAP Executive Director Plana (2009), it is

still an enlightenment decision-making process rather than any

other way. The people must expect if his/her candidate will live

even with the times of weaknesses. The people may be aware of

all the pluses and minuses, but he/she will still ask

himself/herself, “Who can I live with?” Plana also said that

picking the right candidate is a very complex responsibility

because it yields a lot of thinking and power is a lot of

thinking and power.

It follows that, according to Pulse Asia survey last

October 2009, frequently, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino was 30 percent

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higher than Manny Villar in the surveys for Presidency, however,

Manny Villar was able to get close to Benigno Aquino’s rating.

Hence, it is now just 3 percent higher. (Ager, 2010)

However, it was different case for Aquino’s running mate,

Senator Manuel Roxas III. Frequently, Roxas picked up speed and

garnered 47 percent, an 8 percentage increase from his rating of

39 percent last December. On the other hand, Senator Loren

Legarda, who previously rated 37 percent, plunged to 28 percent.

However, Estrada’s running mate, Makati Mayor Jejomar “Jojo”

Binay ranked third (3rd) with 13 percent. MMDA Chairman Bayani

Fernando and former Optical Media Board Chairman Edu Manzano

were tied at 2 percent. (Dedace, 2010)

Still, recent surveys cannot be reliable in predicting who

will win the position. Surveys come from one sector to another.

If one does not like the results, they can manipulate it and

show the public that it is the other candidate who wins the

position. An example of this is during the 1992 elections,

former President Fidel V. Ramos got very low ratings in surveys,

but he won in the elections. (Nepomuceno, 2010)

Elections are now being valued even by some of the most

repressive regions in the world. Without it, citizens have no

choice of who will govern them. Elections must be free. It

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should include ample opportunity for citizens to form political

parties and put forward candidates. An open and fair competition

between those seeking positions in the government is a must so

that the electorate could settle meaningful choices. They should

be allowed to campaign freely and within the same set of rules.

Elections also act as agents of political parties to aggregate

interests in order to build their political support as widely as

possible. (Jackson, 2000)

Election is said to be the only way to express democracy

and express of people’s sovereignty. This is the only thing that

is safe to say. This is through the influence on public policies

by indirect means. In fact, it is the people who entrust the

reigns to a particular representative whom they believe will

promote their welfare. Again, as defined by one of the country’s

leaders, “election is the means by which the people choose their

public officials for definite and fixed periods and to whom they

entrust, for the time being, as their representatives the

exercise of the powers of the government.” Furthermore,

election, if honest and clean, is vital and important for it

expresses the sovereign will of the people.

But because the people are free to vote for anyone they

want or like, notwithstanding the fact that it is more often

than not, undeserving candidates get elected. Democracy is not

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simply about popular participation in elections as voters and

candidates. Moreover, maybe it is high time that something is

done to raise the level of political maturity of our people and

to expand the legal qualifications of candidates to ensure that

only the most worthy and capable occupy elective public offices.

(De Leon, 2008)

In a democratic society, it is given that those who

exercise the right of suffrage are sufficiently knowledgeable

and well-informed to reasonably understand the essential issues

in every election and to properly assess the qualifications and

fitness of candidates as well as their stand on controversial

issues. But, this is possible only if we have an educated

citizenry.
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The candidates preferred by Mapua voters are Benigno

“Noynoy” Aquino III, Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, and Richard Gordon

for the position of President. For the position of Vice

President, the top three were Manuel “Mar” Roxas III, Jejomar

“Jojo” Binay and Bayani Fernando. The said names were ranked

according to their percentage rates based on the survey

conducted.

All the candidates are legally accepted as they were

approved by the Commissions on Elections (COMELEC), to comply

with the qualifications of their running position according to

the Philippine Constitution. Although, their qualifications

according to the voters are still yet to be met.

The expectations of the students from the candidates,

whether for President or Vice President, are almost the same.

Their expectations states that: he/she should be a problem

solver; our country is facing problems that are needed to be

solved; he/she should be open-minded – in order for our country

to have democracy and to prevent dictatorial form of governance

and in order for the people to be heard of their plea and better

suggestions; he/she should be transparent – based on the word

itself, the leader should not be hiding anything from the

people; he/she should be a servant leader – should have the

initiative to serve the public and the country; he/she should be

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a mobilizer – should be an organized person to have organized

management; he/she should be just and fair – for the true

justice to be promulgated at all times.

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APPENDICES
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Figure 1. THE PRESIDENTIABLES 2010

AQUINO DELOS REYES ESTRADA GORDON

MADRIGAL TEODORO VILLANUEVA VILLAR

Figure 2. THE VICE PRESIDENTIABLES 2010

BINAY CHIPECO FERNANDO LEGARDA

MANZANO ROXAS SONZA YASAY

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RESULTS OF THE SURVEY CONDUCTED TO A HUNDRED MAPUA VOTERS

Presidentiables

Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino III…………………………………25 %

John Carlos “JC” delos Reyes……………………………2 %

Joseph “Erap” Estrada………………………………………………6 %

Richard “Dick” Gordon………………………………………………17 %

Ma. Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal………………2 %

Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro……………………………………………24 %

Bro. Eddie Villanueva………………………………………………8 %

Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr………………………………………16 %

Vice Presidentiables

Jejomar “Jojo”Binay……………………………………………………22 %

Dominador Chipeco Jr…………………………………………………3 %

Bayani Fernando………………………………………………………………20 %

Loren Legarda……………………………………………………………………18 %

Eduardo “Edu” Manzano………………………………………………4 %

Manuel “Mar” Roxas III……………………………………………29 %

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Jay Sonza……………………………………………………………………………2 %

Perfecto Yasay Jr………………………………………………………2 %

Figure 3. CLEAR STANDINGS OF PRESIDENTIABLES

Aquino 25% 1

delos Reyes 2%

Estrada 6%

Gordon 17% 3

Madrigal 2%

Teodoro 24% 2
Figure 4. THE STANDINGS OF VICE PRESIDENTIABLES
Villanueva 8%

Villar 16%

Figure 4. CLEAR STANDINGS OF VICE PRESIDENTIABLES

Binay 22% 2

Chipeco 3%

Fernando 20% 3

Legarda 18%

Manzano 4%

Roxas 29% 1

Sonza 2%

Yasay 2%
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INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

(interview questions asked to Prof. Bienvenido Nepomuceno Ph.D)

1. What do you think of the provisions in the Philippine

Constitution about the qualifications of a President and

Vice President?

2. Should there be any amendment to be done to these

qualifications?

3. Can you state some of these?

4. Does family background contribute effectively to the

success of a candidate?

5. Is popularity among candidates really matter?

6. What if a presidentiable committed a crime in the past, is

he still qualified for the position?

7. Who do you think is better for the position – a pro-poor or

the one who had been poor?

8. Do you believe that the greatest leaders are organized?

9. Do you think the results on recent surveys will soon be the

same as what will be the results on the upcoming elections?

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10. Who is your bet for the position of President and Vice

President?

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Ager, Maila (2010). Villar to win one-on-one fight vs. Aquino.

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Barcelon, Emeterio SJ (2009, February 5). Hopes and

Expectations. Manila Bulletin, Editorial Section, p.10

De Leon, Hector S. (2008). Textbook on Philippine Constitution.

1977 CM Recto Avenue, Manila, Philippines. REX Bookstore

pp. 300-305

Dedace, Sophia (2010, February 3). Aquino, Villar neck and neck

in latest Pulse Asia Survey. Pulse Asia Survey. Retrieved

February 10, 2010, from GMANews.tv

Donato, Juanito E. (1999). Introduction to Political Science: A

Simplified Text in Political Science. National Bookstore,

pp.61-64
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Jackson, Robert J. et.al. (2000). A Comparative Introduction to

Political Science. Prentice-Hall, Inc. pp.364-366, 375-379

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in palace, says Poll. Philippine Daily Inquirer

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no author (2003, August 1). The Party-List System in the

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