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Bacolod City, Philippines Tuesday, April 10, 2012
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The Good Life
with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit
OPINIONS

Binay on the line

The Good Life
with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

It’s a good four years away from the next presidential elections, but the campaign, apparently, has already started, at least, on the side of Vice President Jojo Binay, who has made clear his ambitions. He regularly sends me, and I guess millions of others, text messages like we were chums. He doesn’t miss the significant seasons, like Christmas, New Year, Valentines, and Easter and sometimes the occasional word of wisdom or two. The subtext in these is that he is the right guy for Malacañang – caring, concerned, connected to you and the country’s problems.

Oh, yes, I am old enough to know these text messages come from his staff or backroom operations, or even from a computer programmed to send messages to people at the right time. But that’s exactly my point: this simple texting operation tell us how extensive the lists the people of Binay have, which gives us an idea of how efficient – and prepared – he must be for his presidential run.

I’d fall off my chair if he greets me on my birthday, but I understand he does that to ordinary citizens of Makati where he reigns until now. If he could do to the country what he did to Makati, as his vice-presidential campaign ads had trumpeted, that means he has a formidable machinery, one that is attuned to the latest technology and prepared to use it politically.

During the holy days however, there was a disturbing pattern in these texts, something that those preparing for political campaigns would wisely look closely because here could be an example of the potential dangers of texting as a political tool.

After being used to receiving messages from Binay, I’ve fallen into accepting them as really coming from him. It took two of three messages purportedly coming from the vice-president’s office that seemed off, before I actually asked: Are these really from him?

Could he be so brazen as to compare himself to the messiah? “JEsus, JOseph MARy may be gone, but salvation lies in our beloved JEJOMAR. GO VP Binay! Please pass…," said one text.

 Or this: “We pray that GMA’s Strong Republic will be realized under Binay’s Strong Leadership. Time to unite. Patawarin ang nagsisisi!  Binay sa 2016!”

Most intriguing of these was: Let’s pray 4 unity this Holy Week. VP Binay will unite all factions vs the vindictive Yellow Army! Google Manila Times+Binay Senate slate.”

Now, now. We know Binay does not belong to the yellow party of P-Noy, but is he ready to alienate this faction this early by calling them “vindictive”? Does Binay think an alliance with GMA’s forces more important than his unspoken partnership with many yellow forces? Why is he risking his yellow ties now for GMA’s Strong Republic?

It is too early for Binay to spend his political capital now. Four years is a long way to go, and wasting his goodwill now, especially with the yellows is dangerous. Either he believes he is impregnable and can no longer be shaken in the next four years, or it wasn’t Binay nor his office who sent those texts. If he did not, somebody else did and if that is the case, then Binay’s enemies have activated their campaign as well. The heat is on.

And therein lies the beauty and dangers of texting for political purposes. It is fast and cost-efficient in terms of reaching your audience, but it can always be used against you just as easily as you use it*

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