Hot seat: Manny Villar - (Part 2)
Bandila has created a good initiative to help the Filipinos on deciding who to vote this coming 2010 elections, through a segment in their news program called the Hot Seat. The Hot seat segment features questions from various Filipino netizens via Facebook, which would later be collected, documented and chosen (by the people of Bandila) to be asked by the news anchor to the featured candidate of the day. Questions and interaction at Bandila Facebook page hit a record-breaking three thousand four hundred questions coming from Facebook users upon Bandila's announcement that Manny Villar would be the featured candidate on the Hot Seat the day before that. A testimony of either the popularity of the candidate or the news program, and that Filipinos are still actively participating on various discussion concerning the future of our country through the Philippine elections.
Thanks to this Hot Seat interview on Manny Villar, I now see him on a more lighter perspective. Questions regarding the challenges in the presidential campaign of Manny Villar is answered by the candidate in a very classy and humble manner... a very traditional politician's approach, if you will ask me. Even with a limited amount of time (30 seconds) to answer each of the questions, Villar still managed to clarify most of the questions, controversies and propagandas against him.
Villar has a small complain against the traditional media (like news programs and various publications) that he shared on the hot seat interview. Traditional media focuses too much on the controversies, black propagandas against him or even his rival which in turn is "allegedly" traced back to him has seemingly villainize the candidate. Well, Villar can't be blamed because there are indeed instances that traditional media has become a one-sided party even how much they claim to be neutral or unbiased; one of which is the prolific reporting about the results of various social media surveys which by the way is a form of political brainwashing and mental conditioning.
All in all I found the Bandila's Hot Seat interview with Manny Villar to be pretty informative and enlightening. Somehow he gained my sympathy after the interview, but that does not necessary mean that he has my vote as well. It is with these types of initiative where traditional media deserved the praise from concerned Filipinos, helping them decide if they have chosen the right candidate or to educate those who haven't chosen one. The 2010 Philippine election, as I said in my previous posts is a very crucial turning point to our country. Let us not waste our one vote by being swayed off by the popularity contest, survey results, and political backlashing amongst candidates. Let's put an extra effort in knowing each candidates through watching interviews, debates and campaign rallies which we would later weigh, and if and only if he symbolizes all the necessary requirements of being the Philippine Head of State then let us help him get there.
