Weak but tweaked

A wannabe who was urong-sulong and laban-bawi in running for a seat in the Cagayan de Oro City Council for more than ten years now, may finally be running next year. The wannabe’s face is on a tent. If that’s not a clue, since I saw only one tent, let’s wait for more.

I gotta feeling there’s a conscious effort to change the wannabe’s image to something more acceptable to the madlang pehpohl since Pinas is still a Catholic country with judgmental citizens and a Catholic Church that continues to say no to divorce and same-sex marriage. The image has to fit what the wannabe is expected to be and not what the wannabe has actually morphed into.

And the wannabe’s PR team is not alone in tweaking images. All other PR teams do the same to make their clients easy to sell, er, market, er, win in the election. It’s all about branding. Now you know why a certain Cagayan de Oro congressman has always had the same hairstyle and polo shirt color. One look at him, and the Cagayanon can easily guess who he is, no need for an introduction.

There’s a problem with tweaking images for photo shoots, though. Better use the wannabe’s usual look and not the enhanced one, to make the wannabe easily recognizable during the actual campaign. Otherwise the potential voter will be disappointed, and it’s possible for the wannabe to end up as the emperor with no clothes a.k.a. the emperor in “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

New clothes, new face, new image—the filtered pa more “after” photo. With the real version as the “before” photo.

A political candidate’s “before” photo can be his nipa hut, and the “after” photo his mansion. His Good Morning towel as the “before,” and his monogrammed Hermes bath towel as the “after.” His bike as the “before,” and his Rolls Royce as the “after.” After winning, that is.

Politics is the most lucrative business in Pinas. Laway lang ang puhunan? Hmmm. If you have the gift of tongue, er, if you’re glib-tongued, yes, it’s possible that all you need is laway to win in the election. Hurray to laway.

But public-speaking skills are not a necessity in politics, as proven by some politicians who have become spokespersons of their PR teams. Oops!

Some political candidates—or all of them?—are trained by their PR teams. On how to shake hands and make beso-beso with Lola and the baby. How to talk. How to deliver speeches.

Even the clothes they wear and their overall appearance need the PR team’s approval. From hairstyle to toenails.

Do political candidates write their own speeches? Do Coke employees drink Pepsi? Does Jinkee Pacquiao use fake designer bags?

The political candidate who writes his own speeches is as rare as the mineral kyawthuite which happens to be the rarest thing in the world.

And lucky is the PR team whose political candidate has his own voice and has not become his PR team’s puppet. Wait, lucky? The PR team would rather have a candidate who’s obedient and who has learned to follow their rules.