A kind stranger linked me to the Bloomberg.com article that have led people to believe that Noynoy Aquino, if he loses, plans to lead another People Power Revolution.
A post entitled “A Tale of 2 Presidentiables” has been circling the Internet and Tumblr, seeking to compare the “character” and “personality” of two presidential candidates for the Philippines 2010 Elections.
First of all, ‘presidentiable’ isn’t even a word, but that is neither here nor there.
Secondly, I find it pretty sad that someone found it prudent to spread the following quote, as though it were said by Noynoy Aquino, verbatim: “The only way i can lose is if I am cheated. And if that happens, we will take to the streets for another people power.”
This article, by William Pesek, is apparently where it all started from. I’ve read through it and a couple of thoughts:
- Noynoy Aquino did not say these words: “The only way i can lose is if I am cheated. And if that happens, we will take to the streets for another people power.” I understand how people could misconstrue his statement to read like that, but I don’t think it’s fair to twist his words into that context.
- Aquino says: “if we have a correct counting of the votes I think we will be very victorious,” which is no different from Erap claiming that he thinks that they will have a good chance of winning when interviewed at his precinct yesterday. Aquino is, presumably basing this on recent survey results, which have been pretty accurate election results, by the way.
- The Bloomberg article continues, “If not, and “the people’s will is frustrated,” he added, demonstrations could make recent protests in Thailand seem “mild” by comparison.” I find no claims by Aquino that he will lead the protest rallies. He is simply stating the possibility of demonstrations that could be violent. The Philippines has had its experience of electoral fraud, and Filipinos have been frustrated for the past several decades. They have shown in the past that their go-to solutions include protest rallies. Aquino, to me, is just stating the possibility of this happening.
The context is vague, and the intention of the statements are pretty easy to twist around (What exactly did Aquino mean by ‘the people’s will’? For him to win, or their will in general?) to suit one’s own agenda.
For me, the point is, Noynoy Aquino did not say these words: “The only way i can lose is if I am cheated. And if that happens, we will take to the streets for another people power.”
Shame on whoever it was that spread this “information.”
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