First, some "House Rules". Since this has become a political blog where I have identified myself, I will only reply to people of goodwill with a verifiable email address because while I will engage in sincere discussion any well-meaning person who wants to follow my journey, the demands of the campaign have made it difficult for me to reply to all comments, some of which have malicious origins.

Anyone who faithfully follows this blog will know that my wife and I left a very lucrative practice in Oklahoma because when we were faced with the dismal reality of Filipinos continuing to die from hypertension and diabetes because of an inability to purchase simple medications we felt that to continue to live in Oklahoma where we have friends we love with all our hearts and patients who depended upon us for competent medical care was no longer a moral option compared to the millions of suffering poor who have never experienced human dignity. Monetary contributions and heartfelt suggestions seemed so insufficient. My country needs no less than a revolution, a peaceful one but a revolution nonetheless. Again and again I have repeated that the traditional political formula has only served to make the poor poorer. The sum total of all the expertise and good intentions of all our politicians over the past 60 years have only made the situation worse. We need to try a different way.

From the "traditional" perspective, I have no chance to become a Senator. Without 200 million pesos to buy television and radio ads, to grease the lethally corrupt political machinery and to bribe dishonest election officials I can not become a Senator. This is the reason why from the beginning I have asked for prayers because this part of my journey requires a miracle. In 1986, we united to depose a seemingly all-powerful despot. This happened because of a miracle. We need another miracle to stop the widespread call to abandon ship, to stop the pervasive cynicism that feeds the evil and corrupt political set-up that alienates daily, millions of people who do not seek much, just a little less suffering, a little more justice, a little more truthfulness.

Now is the time for us to live our faith. Now is the time for us to gather courage to defend what we believe in. The time for careful analysis and reflection coupled with inaction is past. I did that for 20 years. What other people will think is not as important as to what I will think of myself if I do not do this today.

TV is a hard and unforgiving master. There is very little time and you need to come up with clear, brief and substantive answers. Behind every reply is the reality that you will always be held accountable for your words. I need to become good at this. Unlike the other candidates, some of whom spent their careers in media, the interview yesterday was only the third in my life. Due to the death of VHS and because we don't have a DVD recorder, I only got to see myself from a replay. I know that other people hire coaches for this sort of thing.

In a political campaign though, television has become indispensable and there is no escaping from it. Lacking the material means to compete head to head with my infinitely better funded opponents, Jess, Adrian and I have had to scramble for these ever so ephemeral but free television appearances. I am going get good at this.

This must be my first Tagalog title ever but since I speak Tagalog almost exclusively while campaigning, expect a gradual increase in phrases and sentences in the vernacular.

I was interviewed on television today together with my running mate Jess Paredes and English Professor Danton Remoto who is also in the Senate race. Unfortunately, Danton is running as an independent because he can't seem to get his Ladlad ("to bare") party "accredited". This may be due to the fact that the party is composed of openly gay persons. We continue to have an intolerable number of bigots in the country. This is a major societal change that we must work hard to achieve.

Jess and I strongly tried to convince Danton to join our party. We think that Danton is a good, well-educated and virtuous man who will only enrich Ang Kapatiran. I hope that he will decide to join us.