Yes, I’m brave enough to declare who I’m voting for this time around. I’ve been keeping track of the Inquirer.net Elekyon 2007 podcasts for the past weeks now. The gig’s pretty much simple, a set of questions, a set of answers. But by far, it’s Chiz who won me with his set of answers.

And here are the reasons why (Yeah, they may sound shallow, but this is only based on the podcasts. I’m not the type of person who’d just brashly make decisions).

Know the Problem, Know the Solution

He pinpoints three major problems that the country faces (summing up to a shoddy internal mechanism in order to provide for jobs for everyone to make a living.

Education is Key

Now having been a member of a group back in college that believed that education is a right, not a privilege, his focus on social services just made me give him a plus one.

…insofar as the economy is concerned, especially spending in social services including education and health, it’s a question of budgetary prioritization and allocation. Under the Constitution, highest budgetary priority must go and must be given to education; however, they have included some items which you call off-budget items to the budget.

I think government, for as long as we can afford it, must be able to set the bar insofar as salaries are concerned so that the private sector would follow. And, number two, government must also be able to set the bar insofar as the lowered cost of education is concerned. So that the private sector would also follow suit. Otherwise, they will simply lose out in the business that they had entered into, insofar as educating our youth is concerned.

Call Centers are for the Short Term

Yung call center is a temporary phenomenon. Para sa akin, wala namang masama. Pero hindi rin naman tama na in the long term, iyan na lang ang tayaan at asahan natin. Think for example [of] forward-looking countries like Singapore. I do not and cannot see why our country cannot do the same insofar as planning forward is concerned, or being forward-looking is concerned.

He Loves Animals

It simply increases the penalties for cruelty against animals, particularly dogs. Because it doesn’t seem to have [a] deterrent effect given the low penalties the previously law had.

No Need for More Additional Taxes

After I have given away approximately dozens of sneakers to the government through my income tax, I say three cheers for no more additional taxes.

…under the Constitution, taxation must always be based on the taxpayer’s ability to pay. Hindi sinunod sa VAT ‘yun. Tayong lahat tinamaan ng VAT nu’ng ito’y pinasa ng Kongreso, mayaman man o mahirap, may trabaho man o wala.

Anyway, so those sum up my reasons for taking Chiz’s as my favorite among the podcasts. he pretty much captures my own advocacies. So who better to vote than the person with whom you share the same advocacies, right?

As for the other podcats, none of them really seemed to amaze me (save for Danton’s but I hear he’s backing out of the National race). And check out Zubiri’s quip in his podcast interview:

You know, why are these people running? Most of them don’t have the background for it. Most of them have credibility problems. Not that I’m saying I’m credible but at least…

Nuh-uh. Cut it there before he makes excuses. How could I vote for a candidate who isn’t confident enough to say that he’s credible 100%. Hehe. Now, maybe that’s honesty. (Cough! Cough!) Oh yeah, and he’s running instead of making babies. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Check out these other posts:

1. Chiz Escudero versus Chuck Norris versus Jack Bauer
2. Roco wants ICT in education
3. Stick ‘em up!
4. Loren Legarda on Inquirer.net Eleksyon 2007 Podcast
5. And Inquirer.net answers with election podcasts