Vendors start selling Noynoy-inspired souvenir items

Enterprising small-time entrepreneurs are at it again: Displaying in their humble stores a wide array of souvenir items inspired by President-elect Benigno Aquino III, and hoping to lure in prospective buyers who are beginning to catch the inauguration fever.

From shirts and button pins with Aquino's face printed on them to commemorative cups and yellow ribbons — the icon he used during his campaign — the list of Noynoy memorabilia that suddenly sprouted in Metro Manila markets goes on and on. A QTV Balitanghali report quoted vendors in Manila's Quiapo district as saying that they were merely responding to the increased demand from Aquino supporters, especially students, who wanted to get some Noynoy souvenirs in time for his inauguration on Wednesday. Ronald Trabo, a worker at a store selling picture frames, said that sales of their products picked up when they added a little touch of Noynoy. By inserting the President-elect's photograph into each frame, passersby seemed to have become more interested in stopping and checking out their wares, Trabo observed. "Iyong mga tao, napapansin yung mga frame namin kasi nakalagay si Noynoy (People notice our frames more because Noynoy's picture is in them)," he said. Aling Mary Ann, a Noynoy supporter, even draped a recycled Noynoy Aquino election campaign poster outside her store in Manila’s Quiapo district, in the hope of attracting more customers. Over in Binondo district, still in Manila, garment stores and dress shops have suddenly populated their clothes racks with shirts bearing "Aquino" prints. The busy Quiapo and Binondo districts sit not too far away from Manila’s University Belt — a congested urban sprawl where dozens of major universities and colleges are located. In Quezon City, meanwhile, a convenient store sells commemorative cups that have for its design a black and white picture of Noynoy with the Philippine flag in the background. Deja vu? However, seeing traders scrambling to come out with any commodity that has "Noynoy Aquino" in it is actually not something very novel. During the campaign period from February to March, Noynoy-inspired items from yellow ballers and shirts with an embroidered yellow ribbon also proliferated souvenir shops across the metropolis. Again, barely a year ago, vendors grabbed at a chance to augment their income by selling their Aquino paraphernalia on August 5, the day the late President Corazon "Cory" Aquino was buried. During the burial procession, entrepreneurs from the neighboring provinces of Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas arrived in groups to sell anything Cory-inspired: shirts, button pins, caps, hats, umbrellas, and yellow ribbons. A month after her mother's death, the younger Aquino decided to vie for the presidency. (See: Entrepreneurs see Cory wake as just another business opportunity) Nine months later, Noynoy's pursuit of the presidency became reality with a landslide win during the May 10 elections, racking up more than 15 million votes.—JV, GMANews.TV