Candidate #2

Michael Defensor

He surprised everyone with his acquired name, Tol which is a Filipino slang that means brother/sibling. Some people also refer to their close friends as Tol, so with him being Tol, he can be the brother or a friend. The image that he or any other candidate would surely want to project to voters.

While i was talking to a friend about this, I began to wonder, why change his nickname MIKE to a pet name TOL? the first thing that came into my mind was that a popular MIKE in the administration right now has an image that is very much tainted now. Shying away from the MIKE will make Defensor be known as who he is, and not as someone with the same name as the other MIKE.

I first knew about Mr. Defensor after him being one of the Spice Boys of Congress who were popularly known to be against the then President Joseph Estrada. Then he became the HUDCC chief, then DENR chief, and much recently the Presidential Chief of Staff.

I know many dont like him. they call him the President's puppy or what. In his defense, i shall post here the comment that i made on another site in response to his critics.

"i know how everyone feels about mike defensor. i know also how a lot of people like chiz escudero. but in my observation, they are two people you could draw some parallelism about. mike is consistent and firm on being with GMA. many people dont like him because he is standing by GMA, and people hate GMA now. on the other hand, chiz escudero is firm with his stance on being in the opposition. he stands by what he has started. he started as someone who defended former Pres Estrada, he still has that belief on hand till this day. and difference is people like chiz because he is against GMA. so i think it is quite unfair to debate that mike is a no good person. with that said, i would say that these two are examples of what we need in our country that most politicians lack, firm beliefs and convictions. we move from one area to the other, whatever makes us convenient, and we forget where we come from. (though of course i cannot argue, using these two, on making them as examples for what is right and just. that would create a whole biased discussion). =o) i therefore round it up in a couple of words: they are part of my senatorial slate!"