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Voted.

Good luck HazzN!

which will you give more priority? military or industry?

Both are heavily reliant on each other. After all, our military could not function without steady supply from local industry. On the flip side of that, most industry is heavily reliant on war to make sales (such as weapons, gifts, moving tickets to an extent and all the raw materials associated with them). This makes it a difficult question to answer.

Both are equally important on my list of priorities, is perhaps the best answer I can give. I want to help local businesses and will do that by providing contracts to supply the military. With a good supplies our military is then able to go on more training missions and improve that way. Hopefully the plan will allow both sectors to grow.

1. What do you feel the role of Congress is? (Other than debating and voting on law proposals)

2. How do you think the government should communicate with people who do not wish to join the forums?

3. How do you think the government can attract more businesses to the Philippines?

4. What do you think is a more important attribute for a government official; activity or experience (both is not an acceptable answer! 😉 )

5. Do you think the Philippines could survive a military attack without the current UK contingent? (Bit rhetorical I know! Maybe give an idea of how long they might be able to put up a fight)

RM, number 4 is hardly fair tbf mate.
He could be a really eager president but crap, or really experienced but never around to do anything. Come on dude.

Owh and my question:
Is there anything you feel needs major improvements/changes?

@ Hoskin, BBB has done an excellent job. My main concern at the moment is helping local industry off the ground, and providing supplies for our military. Thankfully these two issues can be sorted at the same time.

Another thing I would like to address is the need for a population boom. The more people that live here, the more workers we have, the better industry does. It also allows fresh blood into government, and the military. It generally gets everything moving.

All pretty fair questions I thought, you know what the UK PM has to deal with. I'm not sure how I would like them if I had to answer them rather than ask them 😉

1. What do you think about the relationship between congress and the government? Congress only votes on the law proposals, and as we all know this is small part of the game. One of the reasons I resigned from Congress was that I was very disappointed with the response I got from some members of the Government when asking questions as I am sure you are aware.

2. Interesting points. I notice some of the Government Department Newspapers seem to have gone quiet of late (Deparment of Home Affairs has published nothing, Bank of Philippines was three months ago). I am sure a skilled communicator such as yourself would greatly improve this area.

3. You've clearly got a good understanding of the economy. Personally I'm not a socialist, but I think in a small country like the Philippines then Government Intervention is necessary and welcome.

4. @hoskin: It was a completely fair question. Yes, of course its difficult to answer, that's the whole point. HazzN dealt expertly with it, and instead of avoiding an answer I had asked for he gave one showing what a skilled politician he is. One thing I would say is that you can advise and educate an active but inexperienced player. You cannot make anyone more active if they are never around.

5. You do know we neighbour Indonesia don't you? 😉 I wasn't trying to play down your efforts in the Military, they have been excellent. I just don't know whether the "Nationalistic" members of the Philippines appreciate the protection that non-native born Filipinos provide.

Thank you HazzN for fielding these questions; this is an excellent example of how to run a Presidential Campaign. I hope the opposition is watching.

Thanks RM for some good thought out questions. They aren't fairing so well on the forum.

As for our neighbour being Indonesia, yes faced by Indonesia, and in fact the whole of PEACE we wouldn't stand a chance. I think very few countries would. We saw the "great" USA crumble under an attack from Mexico simply because the had PEACE support. This is why we are going to great lengths to keep communications open with PEACE and staying on good terms with them.

However, if we were faced by Malaysia, who is another of our neighbours, I think we would fair much better. I think an attack from them is more likely at this point then Indonesia.

I'm not against anyone having fun, but only by asking tough questions will people see what an excellent President you would make.

You've still dodged my follow up to 1. though 😉

I'm not really up to speed on International Affairs, and I know anyone attacked by PEACE would probably disagree but they seem pretty fair minded to me. I couldn't see them attacking the Philippines; they have most of the resources they need.

Sorry, didn't notice the question in 1.

Well when it comes down to it, the people selected to work in the cabinet are picked because they are good at what they do. The general day to day running of say for example: the military, really does not need to be discussed in Congress. It would waste time. Just let the Directors get on with it, as long as they are reporting to the Country President, who has been selected by the public to run the country, then I see no issue.

Obviously large country effecting issues would be raised in congress, such as declaring war on another country, as it would effect every citizen. I think this is the main distinction. A member of congress represents the people. They should be taking concerns to the government, involving themselves in the discussion and then reporting back to their constituents. Or vica versa.

Also to point out, there seems to be line being drawn between cabinet and congress. This should not be the case. If a member of congress wants to be more involved, there is absolutely nothing stopping him or her applying for a position in a Department, or approaching a Director and asking if they can help out. Especially if I win the election, there will be more than enough positions to go round. Let people work in areas that are their strengths and leave them to get on with their job, and no harm will come. But if congress try and micromanage the Cabinet, efficiency will drop dramatically. We'd be in a position where it would take months to get anything done.

The reason there appears to be a line drawn between congress and cabinet is because that was my experience of it. When I was a congressman the rapidly declining population and lack of jobs was a concern of mine and many other citizens who had contacted me. I asked for a comment from the Labour Minister (I didn't know who it was as there are no publicly available lists of government appointments). I later found out that Keitarour was Minister of Labour and that he had left the country. When I asked about this (in the private Filipino Progressive Movement forum) his response was "Bite me". You told me I should show him some respect which I thought was very ironic, since I have always spoken to people with respect even though I might not hold them in high regard.

I had offered to help many times in the forum but no one in the cabinet ever accepted these offers, and Big Boy Bulley flat out rejected any co-operation with the Committee on Education. Ariel is the only person from Cabinet who had recognised any of my efforts or believed I had a contribution to make.

I realise this was not your administration, but this is the reasoning behind my questioning. I received the most votes of any Filipino Progressive Movement member when I was elected to congress, yet I received nothing from the Party by way of information or encouragement.

Oh, BTW, average military strength in Malaysia is 4.93 as of right now. In the Philippines its 4.32.

While our country is rather small it still can influence other nations. How do you plan to use that influence in affairs not directly affecting the Philippines?

@RM I am going to ignore you first comment, as I saw your messages on the forum to Keitarour. You were certainly goading him, and other members of the moderator team thought the same. It was not a surprise that eventually he snapped at you.

Two things regarding strength. Yes they have a higher average but:

1. Our soldiers are generally of higher rank as they have regular excursions abroad. This means they do more damage. I don't know if you have ever played with the damage calculator, but you will see that rank makes quite the difference.

2. We have more citizens than they do. Do the calculations, we have approx 200 more strength then them.

Trust me on this, only last night I was chatting on the Malaysian IRC channel and we were discussing this very subject.

@Alex I am writing my Foreign Affairs policies as we speak. By "not directly affect" do you mean not having "negative consequences." As I hope some of the Foreign Affairs policies will in fact improve our nation.

We are currently in the process of joining PEACE, something our previous President started. Now regardless on what you have heard about PEACE, whether you like them or not, I will make a stand and say it is a good idea. We border Indonesia, perhaps one of the largest super powers in the eWorld, and they can at times be unpredictable. Indonesia is a member of PEACE, and by joining them we pretty much guarantee our safety. This will be my main priority.

I would also like to improve relations with Malaysia. They are another of our neighbours, and from chatting to some of them recently, seem like decent people. They are of a similar size to us in terms of population, and so war games might not be our of the question. I feel small countries teaming up together also helps protect us against some of the giants out there. It is good to stick together in case of attack or political take over.

sorry, to clarify: I meant how would you use the this influence to affect the events of the eWorld outside our sphere. As opposed to those that actually affect us directly (which would be a seperate question).

Oh I see. Ok, well their are three ways to influence other nations, political take overs, wars and diplomacy.

I wouldn't consider carrying out an organised PTO on an enemy ever. I think it is an underhand tactic, and not one I would want associated with our nation.

In terms of war, I would only involve our troops if their was a possible threat to our shores or that of our enemies. Other battles can be used as training wars, though I would take steps that we would not move the balance of a fight in any direction.

I like diplomacy, and making friends across nations is a great idea. However, I would hesitate to force my opinion on any other government. After all, their nation would be for them to run, and not mine. The only reason I would put up a particularly good debate, is if it benefited the Philippines in some way.