HEADS UP: How Politicians Get You to Relate to Them (Dec. 7)

Here’s a Heads Up from reportr on news you need to know today, Dec. 7:

POLITICS EXPLAINED

• Why do Isko Moreno and Bongbong Marcos say they’re just like you? Here’s how politicians use the everyman narrative to win in elections.

ELECTION NEWS

• Why is human rights lawyer Harry Roque running for senator with the dictator’s son, Bongbong Marcos? That’s because Marcos Jr is no dictator and is not an evil person, he said.
• Manila Mayor Isko Moreno said he would vote for President Rodrigo Duterte as senator and invited the 76-year-old leader to join his campaign.
• Comelec has warned candidates against scammers asking for money in exchange for victory in the 2022 elections.

NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Pasig City residents flexed photos of Mayor Vico Sotto’s Christmas ayuda bags, which he prioritized over Christmas decorations on the streets that ex-Mayor Bobby Eusebio said were sorely lacking this season.
• Cebu City will enforce a no vaccine no entry policy in most establishments starting Jan 1 to encourage more people to get jabbed in the face of the Omicron variant threat.
• The Omicron variant likely picked up a piece of the common cold virus, which could explain why it appears to be more transmissible, scientists said.
• Thailand reported its first Omicron variant case, a U.S. citizen who arrived in the country from Spain.
• What is Beijing up to? Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin said China’s military flights near Taiwan looked like “rehearsals”. That’s military-speak for something is being planned.
• The eruption of the Semeru Volcano in Indonesia’s Java island has left at least 14 people killed and villages buried in ash.
• Saudi Arabia will allow entry of tourists who got jabbed with Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine starting Jan. 1.