Bizarre candidates such as the “Ultimate Messiah” and a man who crows like a chicken are seeking their moments of fame by making unlikely bids for president in next year’s Philippine elections.
Their chances of winning are nonexistent, but they have given a splash of color to the start of a long election race in which the Southeast Asian nation’s chaotic brand of democracy will be on full display.
Rigoberto Madera was the first to register as a candidate at the election commission on Friday, waving handouts identifying him as “Star General Ace Diamond, Commander-in-Chief on Earth ... Emparador [Emperor], Ultimate Messiah.”
But for Madera, 62, winning the May elections and becoming president for six years is only a stepping stone.
“I will run for president of the US, after [US President] Barack Obama,” he declared to reporters.
Another prospective candidate who rushed to register at the Commission of Elections was George Samia, 60, although he said he preferred to go by the name of “Samia Manok,” which translates to Samia Chicken.
To emphasize this, he crowed “cock-a-roo-a-roo,” much to the amusement of the election registrars.
Taxi-driver Wendell Lope insisted on filing his candidacy for president even though at 34, he does not meet the minimum age of 40 as required by the Constitution.
Lope argued that the age restriction was wrong, citing a quote from Filipino national hero Jose Rizal that “the youth are the hope of the nation.”
His main platform is a plan to sue Spain, the US and Japan for damages in relation to their colonial activities in the Philippines from the 1500s to 1946.
Joining the clamor to register on day one was David Torralba Alimurung, 70, who said he was a retired general and represented the “Majestic Alliance of Positive Activists.”
He said he was running because, as president, he wanted to promote a plan to combat climate change by providing seedlings from the Philippines to reforest the deserts of the Middle East.
Daniel Magtira, 49, came to the commission blowing a party horn and handing out T-shirts with “Vote Daniel Magtira” printed on them.
His main reason for running is to push for the Philippines to switch from its standard 220 volts on electricity sockets to 110 volts.
“We will advance if we are like America with 110 volts. And if a person gets electrocuted, it won’t be as bad,” Magtira said.
Insurance agent Mel Carreon, 63, sought to stand out from the crowd.
He wore a red headband and a sash emblazoned with his name, and loudly proclaimed himself as a “long-term survivor who refused to surrender” — but refused to say what conflict he had been involved in.
Such candidates have been a staple of presidential elections in the Philippines since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos ushered in a tumultuous era of democracy.
In previous elections, men claiming to be Jesus Christ or relatives of Adolf Hitler have also registered to run.
The election commission usually declares them “nuisance candidates,” however, and removes their names from the ballots before polling day.
Nevertheless, commission spokesman James Jimenez said authorities would not immediately dismiss the likes of the “Ultimate Messiah,” and that they would all have a chance to prove themselves legitimate presidential contenders.
“The primary thing is we try to determine whether the candidacy is in good faith,” Jimenez told local TV network ABS-CBN. “Essentially what we are looking at is to decide if a candidacy has been filed to cause confusion in voters or perhaps for the purpose of putting the process in mockery or disrepute.”
Jimenez said the candidates also had to prove they had the capacity to conduct a nationwide campaign — meaning they needed to have both the money and the political machinery to campaign nationwide.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS