Opposition spokesman Adel Tamano has endeared himself to media and is now the subject of talk that he could be the topnotcher of the next senatorial elections. Tamano’s cool demeanor and his facility at expounding the Opposition’s position in a simple, concise and credible way make him a natural winner before the public eye.
Ironically, Tamano’s greatest unwitting image booster is his counterpart in the administration camp — Tonypet Albano. Albano provides the perfect contrast to create more attention to Tamano’s depth of thought, substance, style and projection. While Tamano complies with media guru Marshal McLuhan’s prescription for television style and form, Albano projects the example of the opposite.
McLuhan established the parameters for effective television projection. The media guru referred to television as the cool medium and radio as the hot medium. To thrive in the cool medium, one is advised to speak a decibel lower than normal conversation and to gesticulate in a subdued manner. You’ll see this in the calculated coolness of American TV anchors.
If they had television in the 1930s during Hitler’s rise to power, the German Fuehrer would self-destruct on the cool medium. Hitler’s style of public speaking was perfect for radio and the big crowded public plazas – but totally unsuitable for television. If seen and heard on television, Hitler’s passionate oratory will come across as a cacophonous and hostile assault on people in the very privacy and peace of their homes.
Tonypet Albano’s communication style happens to be as offensive as having an outsider puking in our living rooms. As Team Unity deputy spokesman, he has shown to us the kind of behavior associated with bad-mannered ruffians. Instead of focusing on addressing very serious issues hurled against the Arroyo regime, he instead resorted to coarse name-calling and personal insults.
When I took Albano to task in a previous column for subscribing to the lowest level of cheap name calling, he had the cheek to write a long rejoinder which the STAR accommodated in the spirit of equal space. It was the oddest rejoinder I’ve ever encountered in that it merely reinforced all the issues I raised.
I suppose Albano’s psychological coping behavior to cover for his lack of substance and credibility is to refer to his vocabulary of sneering remarks and name-calling. After all, how far can you go in defending a regime that has lost credibility and respect? Hence, without ammunition to rebut the slew of issues coming their way, the easiest recourse for Albano is to launch personal attacks on the other person.
Last Thursday, Albano branded Adel Tamano a “racist” when the latter expressed his disbelief over the development that Chavit Singson, a non-Muslim and non-Mindanaon, tallied the highest votes in Maguindanao (in Muslim Mindanao). In so doing, Singson accomplished the unprecedented feat of topping Jamalul Kiram, who is a Muslim and a Mindanaoan, and Migz Zubiri and Prospero Pichay who are also from Mindanao.
Tamano’s point is logical as it is valid. It’s no different from Caloocan’s Recom Echiverri beating Tommy Osmeña for Mayor of Cebu City.
Albano did not even know what issue to pick because “racist” does not even relate to what he wanted to establish. Between Singson and Kiram, there is no race issue. Both are Filipinos. Both are from the same Malay stock. Between Singson and Kiram, there is a difference of religion. Singson is a Christian while Kiram is a Muslim. If there is an issue at all, it would have been bigotry, not racism.
After Tamano made note of that embarrassing, glaring error the next day in a DZMM interview, Albano attempted damage control and rehashed his non-issue, this time calling it bigotry.
Last Tuesday, Tonypet Albano was carping about “trending” allegedly being done by the ABS-CBN-STI quick count. He also suggested that the quick count should be sourced equally from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao — one-third from each island group.
People were wondering what Albano was fussing about when in fact elections were over and additional votes can only be done by dagdag-bawas — not quick counts. There’s “trending” if you manufacture a pre-election survey in order to pre-condition the public mind to accept a certain candidate who is about to win by cheating.
Albano betrayed his ignorance when he also suggested that tally reports coming from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao should be released in equal measure. What he wants will actually create distorted results because of the differences of voting population. Luzon accounts for about 65% of national votes. In order to reflect a representative count, 65% of the reports should come from Luzon.
If Albano fears that the Opposition will get more votes via the quick count, then he is dense because the voting has ended. If he is attempting to remove all indicators of what the real vote was in order to pave the way for administration cheating — then he may be smarter than he sounds.
I really wonder if Albano is not being setup by Team Unity to mouth the ridiculous non-issues that they are desperately trying to raise lately. Perhaps, they now find it convenient to make him verbalize the issues and personal insults that they personally would not want to mouth themselves.
On this “racist” insult hurled by Albano, Tamano stated: “Mr. Albano has called me a liar, gay, and corrupt and I have chosen not to reply to those insults.”
Adel Tamano must be a student of history. He seems to be following Napoleon’s advice: “Never interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake.”
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