'Dear Noynoy:' Pinoys give advice to leading presidential bet

He has not yet been proclaimed winner of the May 10 presidential polls, but this early, thousands of Filipinos are dispensing advice to Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on how to run the country. "Dear Noynoy," writes one Jerry Tieng. "May I suggest that we quadruple government salaries to make it competitive with the private sector?" "Starting salary should be P20,000 or higher to be competitive, and terminate the bottom 10 percent of under-performing employees on a yearly basis--while re-engineering processes and increasing automation/self-service facilities," Tieng says. Aquino, 50, is leading other presidential contenders based on partial, unofficial tally of votes during the May 10 polls. The "Dear Noynoy Aquino (suggestions to a new president)" Facebook page, created by Rock Ed Philippines, was put up 7 p.m. Tuesday when the group's executive director Gang Badoy saw that Noynoy's lead over his rivals in the presidential race was widening. It's only Thursday noon, but the page has already been "liked" by 19,500 Facebook users and counting. "When I saw the returns and Sen. Aquino's lead was widening, I realized that there were many things I wanted to tell him. Acknowledging that a wave like this can only happen because of speedy results, I thought I'd grab the fever pitch of ideas that other people had. I had a feeling many other people wanted to send him their ideas, too. So I set the page up," Badoy tells GMANews.TV via email. "I wanted to catch the first wave of reactions of people - at least those who are on the Internet. I think this page is proof of my belief in the Filipino voter. I believed many of us have matured and that we are now capable of intelligent discourse -even between opposing 'camps'," she says. Various comments The comments range from the intellectual to the practical to the personal. One commenter, Mae Manalang, suggested that Aquino retain Dr. Esperanza Cabral as secretary of the Department of Health. Another suggested that Noynoy quit smoking. "Quit smoking, nakakasira po yan ng ozone layer (that will wreck the ozone layer)," writes Japoy Justiniano. Every now and then there are haters, too. Even though Noynoy has not yet won the presidential race for certain, one commenter is already asking him to "step down." "We all know you're just a fancy president..ur too incompetent, and your a slacker," says Renz Valdez. "Marami pang tao na mas deserving maging president." Badoy says she stays up late to monitor all the posts coming in, and replies to posts that were disrespectful. "It is exhausting, but great," she says, calling the messages"a labor of love and hate wrapped up in proper wording and thought." The Rock Ed founder says she has informed people from Noynoy's camp about the page through informal routes, since many of them are also active on the Web. The idea is to get a "formidable collection of letters" to Aquino, she says. Representative notes would be picked out, compiled, then bound into a book that would be presented to Aquino before his inauguration on June 30. Celebration of democracy "It's a celebration of democracy," Badoy says. " Personally, I think this is a landmark - a checkpoint that says things have moved since I was a kid." "During the Marcos administration, it was unthinkable to write so brashly to the President - the climate then was just not free for this kind of democratic gestures. Today - it is. And I think that's good," she said. Badoy hopes other people will set up their own pages directed to local leaders, such as governors and mayors. She says: "After inaugurations, our vigilance should take in a local shape as well. Vigilance on the Palace will have to transform into something else after June 30. But for now - the period while we wait for him to take his oath - this is what we have to offer." — RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV