QUEZON City, Philippines (April 1) – Kung ang Pilipinas, sumasakit ang ulo sa 2016 Presidential Election, ang U.S din.
Let’s take a break from our upcoming 2016 election and take a look at the other election – that of the United States of America.
Much ado has been made about the Philippines’ special relationship with the United States. As such, it is important that we also pay attention to the United States election. The campaign and platform touted by the leading candidates will surely impact not only the Philippines but the world as well.
That said, let’s get to know the leading candidates!
Leading candidate number one -Bernie Sanders, if ever he won, will be the first Jewish president. Historic, yes, but he does not highlight his religion as part of his campaign. Bernie Sanders was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from James Madison High School, Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago. He started working as carpenter and documentary filmmaker after graduating. He became the mayor of the state’s largest city, Burlington in 1981. In 2006 he was elected as congressman to represent Vermont, for 16 years. He is now serving his second term after re-election in 2012 with 71% of vote.
In his website, berniesanders.com, he tackled the following issues and platforms:
Income and Wealth Inequality– It is true that the gap between the rich and poor is widening. This gap will increase the rate of poverty, the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer.
One of Sanders’ proposals was that business corporations should stop exporting their business to other countries just to avoid paying U.S income tax. If this happened, employment rate in our country will be affected. Philippines was entitled the “Call Center Capital”. Most of the call center companies from the U.S. choose to set-up their business in our country. Call Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) chairman Benedict Hernandez claimed in an expo that the call center group would continue to grow and was projected to reach 1.3 million employments. If these companies pull out, imagine the unemployment rate.
Fair and humane immigration policy – “We are a nation of immigrants. I am the son of an immigrant myself. Their story, my story, our story is a story of America: hard-working families coming to the United States to create a brighter future for their children. The story of immigrants is the story of America, a story rooted in family and fueled by hope. It continues today in families all across the United States.” This proposal by Bernie Sander uplifts the spirit of immigrant, especially the third largest Asian immigrant group, our fellow Filipinos. It may not contribute to nationalism but at least there are points in humanity.
Leading candidate number two, from Chicago, Hillary Clinton, if ever she won, will be the first woman president. Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the wife of 42nd president of the United States, William “Bill” Jefferson Clinton and served as 67th U.S Secretary of State under current President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. Her introductory remarks in the White House started with the strong lines “finally fathers will be able to say to their daughters, ‘You, too, can grow up to be president.’”
One of the platforms presented in her website at hillaryclinton.com, is about how she’s going to defeat the ISIS. She proposed three steps on how she would defeat the terrorism. First, “we need to crush Isis on its home turf”. On her website, she claimed that, “we can’t just contain ISIS- we need to defeat it. By going through their bases in Iraq, Syria and other Middle East countries, the troops will be ensured with their needs to create “safe spaces”. Second, “we need to disrupt and dismantle terrorist infrastructure—on the ground and online”. Hillary Clinton believes that by cutting their resources and being advanced in their online propaganda and recruitment, ISIS can be defeated. Third, “we have to protect America and our allies.” Is Philippines safe with her propaganda? Are we with the said allies?
Leading candidate number three, from New York City, Donald Trump, if ever would be the first flesh eating lizard president as what netizens accuse him. Trump, said the netizens, possess a “lizard brain” which is the part of the brain that responds to flight or fight, emotion and aggression. The political columnist Joe Klein said in MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Trump has a “highly developed lizard brain”. He compared Trump with the ancient ruler Caligula, the incestuous and insane leader of Rome that was executed after four years for being raving lunatic.
He is a media personality and a business man. Chairman and president of Trump Organization and founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts, Donald Trump is a multimillionaire candidate bashed by people.
One of Donald Trump’s proposals is reforming the U.S-China trade relationship to make America great again. His expertise in business helped him decide that the relationship in China should be maintained. If this relationship is settled for good, China will be back in the bargaining table where it can put its businesses in the U.S, it will hold an increase in employment rate that America have not witnessed since the closure of 50,000 factories and loose 10 million jobs. Bringing China back in the trading will reclaim American jobs and the industry of manufacturing.
The issue of island dispute between China and Philippines is not yet settled, if the U.S-China relationship resulted in a good economy with America, then it seems that the US may not support the Philippines with it’s stand claiming the Scarborough Shoal anymore.
Regardless of the result, this will be historic for the America may have, a. first Jewish President, b. first woman president and c. first flesh eating lizard person.
Whatever happens, Philippines should always be ready or better yet larn to stand in our own two feet and learn to be truly independent.
Reference:
https://berniesanders.com/about/
http://manilastandardtoday.com/business/168765/call-centers-adding-100-000-agents-in-2015.html
http://immigrationtounitedstates.org/497-filipino-immigrants.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-first-woman-president_us_561dbf71e4b028dd7ea5af6c
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions
http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2016/02/18/trump-has-lizard-brain-syndrome.html
(written by Karen Llacuna, edited by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Lovely Ann Cruz)
