Negative ads.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Solita Collas-Monsod

AS we get closer to E-day, the mud is flying faster and more furiously, and anyone keeping track of some kind of "Mud Index" will probably see it regularly going off the charts from now on: on a scale of 1 to 10, it would be showing 20.

The main target, naturally, is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The bad guy even when she was behind, the criticism against her has escalated in direct proportion to her upward trend in the surveys. The latest FPJ TV ad is a case in point. I'm not a couch potato, so I haven't seen many of the candidates' ads. But what struck me is an FPJ commercial which is clearly a negative ad, focusing on the alleged flaws of the opponent rather than the good points of the candidate himself.

Negative ads are the rule rather than the exception in the United States. But this was not the case in the Philippines, until now. The common practice was for candidates to tear each other apart on the campaign trail, but the ads were a different matter altogether.

Having had some experience with regular TV commercials, I know that the Advertising Board, which supervises these things, requires (1) that the information given on the commercial is based on fact rather than on imagination (any assertion has to have empirical backup) and (2) no derogatory mention of the competing brand, even if it is based on fact. The FPJ ad, which features accusatory newspaper headlines, has disregarded these rules, and has gotten away with it.

This can only mean, it seems to me, that the FPJ camp is getting desperate, and is adopting desperate measures-in spite of FPJ's original vow that his campaign would be dignified and above-the-belt, and in spite of claims that FPJ's victory is in the bag, based on the fervor of the people's reception of him in his campaign sorties. This fervor, they say, is a more accurate indicator than the surveys, which are MM (Manipulated by Malacanang).