Juan Country » TG Guingona

[PODCAST] 10 Minutes with TG Guingona

Carlo Ople — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:32:35 +0000

I’ve decided to take Juan Country to the next level by coming out with Podcast interviews with the candidates in the May 2010 elections. I’m still learning so please don’t expect anything professional, hahaha! In fact, I’m just using a P100 microphone which I was able to buy from CDR King. For the first episode, I’m featuring Liberal Party senatorial candidate TG Guingona. We had a 10-minute chat about various topics which included a “Boy-Abunda” like lightning round wherein he gave 2-3 adjectives to react to words that I gave him. Before proceeding, please note that I am a staunch supporter of TG and I hope that you guys vote for him as well. My bias will obviously show in the Podcast below, hahaha!

(Click to Play)

Thank you to TG Guingona and his friend, PV Beley, for agreeing to be in this debut Juan Country podcast. I’ll be uploading other podcasts of candidates next week.

I hope all of you are having a blessed Holy Week. Cheers!

[PODCAST] Acosta, Guingona, Bautista, and Biazon talk about Air Force 1

Carlo Ople — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:07:57 +0000

I was able to meet four senatorial candidates of the Liberal Party during a recent Blog Watch dinner at Sentro in Serendra, Fort. This was the second (or third) time that I’ve talked with Congressmen Biazon and Guingona. It was my first time to grill Dr. Martin Bautista and Teacher Neric Acosta. Since most of the policy and serious questions were already being asked by my fellow bloggers I decided to take a different route. The question?

Other than Obama’s plane, have you ever heard of a place in the Philippines called Air Force 1?

Listen to the lively and informative discussion here:

I’ll be writing more articles about this interview in Blog Watch in the next few days. Cheers!

Why am I voting TG Guingona for Senator

Carlo Ople — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:56:10 +0000

This is the second article of my “Why am I voting for” series. I’ll be alternating the articles here and Blog Watch but I’ll definitely post snippets of the articles that will appear over there here. The next candidate that I’m supporting is from the Liberal Party – TG Guingona. We had the opportunity to sit down with him for a few hours over dinner and he explained to us the ins and outs of the Philippine budget and how the Arroyo administration exploited the system to turn the national budget into a giant personal piggy bank. For a more detailed article on his explanation, please do check out Rochelle Chua’s post on the topic.

His Track Record
One of the things that I like about TG is that he has a solid track record. The misconception that he’s just running because he’s the son of former Vice-President Guingona is completely off the mark. He’s been in congress representing the Second District of Bukidnon for several terms. He’s filed numerous bills (that make sense) and TG has been at the forefront of fighting anomalies in the Philippine budget. His exposes have led the government to abandon really insanely expensive (and useless) projects.

For his professional background, TG has managed a real estate business. Personally I like people who’ve proven their worth in business management because it shows that they have the capability to deliver and to manage people. TG graduated with an Economics degree from the Ateneo and he even joined the student government. He was actually one of the student activists that marched in protest during the 1978 elections and he got arrested for it. He was jailed together with Nene Pimentel, Lorenzo Tanada, and Joker Arroyo.

This guy has a good track record for his political, professional, and educational careers. He’s clearly competent and will be a great addition to the Philippine Senate.

His Platform
This is a bit general but it shows a clear perspective of what he stands for. This is taken from his official website:

TG Guingona strongly believes in the principles of transparency in governance and accountability of government officials. He has played a major role in the move to impeach President Arroyo and has had a significant role in opposing Charter Change. He involved himself in issues such as military corruption, human rights and extra-judicial killings. His plans and programs are directed towards building a healthy and educated citizenry with improved access to food, technology and energy. He is presently very focused on budget reform policies.

TG has lived his life in accordance with the maxim: “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

During the blogger event with TG, I took home one thing. This guy will fight corruption. This guy would make a phenomenal Chief Financial Officer and that’s what the country needs. TG will be our guardian when it comes to the budget and where all that money goes. If Toots Ople is a vote for the OFW and local labor workers, a vote for TG is a vote against corruption because we get a guy who will really protect the country’s interests with eagle eyes.

If I’ve convinced you with this article to vote for TG Guingona, please do re-post this in your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Guingona sa Senado!!

The next candidate that I will feature here will be posted in full in Blog Watch. Please do watch out for that one.

PS: I clarified the “blogger incident” which was reported earlier. The blogger has withdrew his accusation that TG ignored him intentionally. Apparently it was a big event and TG probably didn’t see the blogger since there were a lot of people during that time.

JUAN COUNTRY BALLOT (As of March 19, 2010)
Senatorial:
1. Susan Toots Ople
2. TG Guingona

Why Gloria will run in 2010

Carlo Ople — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:04:02 +0000

I enjoyed the recent blogger session with Congressman TG Guingona (will post about that within the day). One of the topics that cropped up was how the current administration has literally bastardized our institutions and the budget system. Apparently if congress passes the budget and it’s approved, it’s considered law. PGMA has went overboard with the budget and therefore has broken the law. However she can’t be criminally prosecuted because she’s enjoying immunity being a national official. That’s the reason why she will run in 2010 – either for Vice President or Congress. The moment she steps down and becomes a normal citizen, charges left and right will be piled up against her and she’s spend the rest of her remaining years in this planet fending off corruption allegations in court.

How Impeachment and the Ombudsman Failed Us
Since national officials enjoy immunity, the only thing that we have that will allow us to “punish” an erring official is through either the Ombudsman or through Impeachment. However, both have failed miserably. PGMA has held congress hostage by refusing to give Pork Barrel funds to opposition congressmen and senators. The Ombudsman, on the other hand, hasn’t really done anything that will signal her independence from the Arroyo administration.

VP, Senate, or Congress?
This leaves PGMA with the option of just running for national office. She can run for VP, Senate, or Congress. I don’t think she’ll dare set foot in the Senate since she’s made so many enemies there. That and I personally don’t think she’ll be able to get enough votes to get into the top 12 since it is a national consensus. She has a chance of making it in Congress though since she’s done nothing lately but visit her home province again and again for the past year.

If PGMA wins a seat in Congress, she will be immune again from prosecution. That’s why I support Prof. Randy David’s previous announcement that he will run against Arroyo should she pursue her bid in Congress.

I’m currently working on a series of blog posts which aims to gather all the data and facts that will support my personal stand on why I won’t vote for anyone aligned to President Arroyo. Until they answer those questions that I have, they will be fundamentally bankrupt of morals, therefore making it hard to trust them with anything.