Aquino widens poll lead

Numbers can still change depending on local bets.

Ahead in all areas and socioeconomic classes, presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has widened his lead over rival Manuel Villar, whose numbers dropped significantly over the past two months, results of a survey conducted last month by Pulse Asia Inc. show.
Thirty-seven percent of the respondents, up by a percentage point, said they would vote for Senator Aquino, Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer, had the elections been held last month.
Support for Senator Villar, presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party (NP), dropped to 25 percent from 29 percent in February and 35 percent in January.
Aquino said he was elated by the results of the Pulse Asia survey, which he reckoned moved him closer to winning the presidential race.
He paid tribute to his allies, volunteers and supporters for helping him maintain his lead since he declared he was running for president seven months ago.
“This is proof that our people are determined to walk the road to change for the good of everyone,” he said.
He vowed to dance like South African leader Nelson Mandela if he succeeds in seeing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo leave after nearly a decade in office.
Pulse Asia’s latest survey, conducted from March 21 to March 28, used a multistage probability sample of 3,000 adults and had an error margin of plus-or-minus 2 percentage points.
Deposed President Joseph Estrada was third with 18 percent, the same level of support he got in February.
Administration standard-bearer Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro was fourth with 7 percent, while Sen. Richard “Dick” Gordon of Bagumbayan and Bro. Eddie Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas each had 2 percent.
Other candidates had a voter preference of below 1 percent—Nicanor Perlas (0.3 percent), John Carlos “JC” de los Reyes (0.2 percent) and Sen. Jamby Madrigal (0.1 percent).
In the vice presidential race, Aquino’s running mate, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, continued to enjoy a significant lead over other candidates with a 43-percent voting preference. Villar’s running mate, Loren Legarda, was a far second with 23 percent, while Jejomar Binay had 19 percent.
Others received 3 percent or less—Bayani Fernando (3 percent), Eduardo Manzano (2 percent), Perfecto Yasay (1 percent), Jose “Jay” Sonza (0.5 percent) and Dominador Chipeco (0.1 percent).
Nine percent of the respondents refused to name or remained undecided on their preference for president, while a similar percentage refused to name or were also undecided on their vice presidential preference.
Mandela is idol
“One of my idols is Nelson Mandela. When our brothers led by Nelson Mandela ended apartheid, he was so euphoric that he could not help himself but dance,” said Aquino in an interview with reporters. “I think I’d be euphoric, too, if we end our calvary under Mrs. Arroyo and I would dance.”
Mandela’s victory in South Africa’s all-race elections in 1994 was made memorable by his effusive celebration after giving a victory speech.
LP spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Villar’s falling ratings showed the public’s reaction to the “Villarroyo” alliance, referring to the alleged support of Ms Arroyo and her husband for Villar.
“The people have realized that the Villarroyo tandem is no fabrication. Villar is the administration’s secret candidate. The connections are becoming clearer everyday,” Lacierda said.
Saddened
Villar, who has denied the Villarroyo alliance, was saddened yet unfazed by the survey.
Campaigning in Ilocos Norte province with the support of the children of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Villar said the “black propaganda” against him and his decision not to hit back at his accusers could have affected his survey standing.
He said “we were too kind and did not retaliate against the black propaganda that was not true.”
Villar said he had gotten used to the fluctuating numbers in the surveys, relying on the adjustments his team had made in his campaign that enabled him to narrow the gap between him and Aquino.
Adjustments
He said the latest Pulse Asia survey needed him to have those “adjustments,” which he called “strategies” that he could not divulge.
“We’ve already fixed it and the truth is there’s a latest survey that would show that [I’m] closing in,” he said.
In Bacolod City, the wife of Villar downplayed the results of the survey. “We are not worried,” said Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar when asked for her reaction to the Pulse Asia survey
Command votes
Officials of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats were elated by the slight improvement in Teodoro’s rating, but vowed to work harder on the ground to get him elected.
“That’s a welcome development,” party secretary general Raymundo Roquero said.
Roquero, however, said that the party believed more in the support of local officials and their constituents than survey results.
Party vice president, Prospero Pichay, said the “command votes” of governors counted more than survey results.
Not credible
Villanueva said he did not find pre-election surveys credible because he could not believe that his ratings had not improved after several months of campaigning.
“Last year [my rating] was 2 percent and it’s the same until now?” he asked. He said by now his rating should have gone up since Bangon Pilipinas had taken the campaign to many places.
Perlas said he distrusted surveys because he felt that the firms conducting them had already “written off” lesser known candidates like him.
Perlas said despite this, his ratings had actually been on an “upward trend,” which he attributed to more personal interaction with voters through sorties around Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.
32-point lead in ABC
In the socioeconomic class ABC, Aquino got the support of 49 percent, a 32-point lead over Villar who received 17 percent.
Aquino had the support of 37 percent of Class D compared with the 25 percent for Villar. In Class E, Aquino got 34 percent and Villar, 28 percent.
In Metro Manila, Aquino received the highest level of support among the regions with 42 percent. Villar got 17 percent.
Aquino was also ahead in the rest of Luzon with 33 percent compared with 26 percent for Villar. In the Visayas, the LP standard-bearer received 41 percent and Villar, 30 percent.
Aquino was also leading in Mindanao with 37 percent. Villar’s 23 percent was even lower than Estrada’s 29 percent.
Long way to go
Roland Holmes, Pulse Asia president, said that a month and a half was still a long way to go.
“In previous elections, our last survey was done three weeks before the polls, and certain shifts were still noted between that and the earlier survey round,” he said.
Holmes said the “complexion of the campaign” had changed because the campaign period for local positions had begun.
“Now, the presidential candidates are making sure that they’re either directly in touch with the voters or strengthening their connections on the local level.”
Bias for urban areas
Legarda said Pulse Asia and other polling firms usually engaged in selective sampling of voters across the country.
She said pollsters had “bias or limitations” for urban areas, which means that the concentration of respondents were in densely populated areas because of time-constraints.

Read rest of entry

Erap camp to Comelec: Disqualify Villar over campaign ads

The camp of Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino standard bearer, former President Joseph Estrada, today dared the Commission on Elections to disqualify any candidate who has violated the Omnibus Election Code, particularly the limit set on airtime for his or her campaign advertisements.


“This is an acid test for our poll officials, and if they fail this one, then the results of the May 2010 national elections will forever be put in doubt," PMP spokesman Ralph Calinisan said.

Calinisan was reacting to the report recently by the advocacy group, Pera at Pulitika, and based on the data from the AGB Nielsen Media Research, which showed that Nacionalista Party president candidate Sen. Mannya Villar has already exceeded his alloted airtime for TV campaign ads, totalling 2,054 minutes.

The report also revealed that Villar has outspent his other rivals for the presidency, shelling out P1.2-billion from Nov. 1, 2009 to Feb. 8, 2010.

“What we are seeing here is a clear case of using money not to promote one’s program of government but to purchase a quick ride to the presidency,” Calinisan said.

“The Filipino electorate can see through this, and we are all calling on the Comelec to fulfill its mandate in this regard.”

He cited Section 11 of Comelec Resolution No. 8758, which sets the duration of airtime that a candidate may avail of for his or her campaign: 120 minutes in television or cable television, and 180 minutes in radio

Read rest of entry

Davao's Duterte mum on backing Noynoy, but it’s ‘an open secret’

Incumbent Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Friday declined to confirm talks that he was supporting Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

"That remains to be announced," Duterte told GMANews.TV when asked whose presidential bid he was backing.

However, his campaign paraphernalia suggest otherwise. At the proclamation rally of the Dutertes' party, Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, Aquino's posters were plastered alongside the posters of the Duterte father-and-daughter tandem.

Duterte is running for vice mayor, a post currently held by his daughter Sara, who in turn is hoping to assume her father's current post.

The Liberal Party also held a motorcade to promote Aquino and running mate, Senator Manuel Roxas II, although the two candidates were not in Davao City.

No less than Sara Duterte's rival for the mayoralty post, House Speaker Prospero Nograles Sr., revealed that the elder Duterte was supporting Aquino.

"I am supporting Gibo [Gilberto Teodoro Jr. of Lakas-Kampi-CMD] because we are partymates. Duterte is supporting Noynoy," Nograles told GMANews.TV earlier in the day.

Locals interviewed by GMANews.TV said it was an open secret that Duterte was backing the son of the late President Corazon Aquino, whom the mayor supported during her long fight against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. "Hindi naman tago na si Noynoy (It's not a secret Duterte is supporting Noynoy)," said a market vendor.

Davao City is the fourth-largest Philippine city in terms of population, with registered voters reaching to more than 940,000. Winning the clear support of its feisty mayor is considered a prize plum for any national-level candidate.—JV, GMANews.TV

Read rest of entry

Solon seeks a stop to Arroyo ads in Pampanga

Liberal Party senatorial candidate and Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel has filed a petition with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop President Macapagal-Arroyo from using any mass media in her campaign to win a congressional seat representing Pampanga.




In a five-page petition, Baraquel said Arroyo has been using the government's machinery and resources in her advertisements in Pampanga.



“The use of taxpayers' money for one's vanity ads, especially if they are designed to court voters, is wrong and should be declared illegal by the Comelec,” the party-list representative said.



Arroyo's ads, she stressed, have been violating the essence of the Fair Elections law.



“That she could place multimillion-peso ads using public funds is proof that she can and she is willing to use the resources and machinery of the government to illegally influence the election,” Baraquel said.



“In an unprecedented move slammed by her political foes, Ms Arroyo filed her certificate of candidacy for Congress on December 1, becoming the first sitting President to run for a local post after serving years as the country’s chief executive,” she said.



The political opposition said Arroyo’s candidacy was just the first stage in a plot to install her as House Speaker and move for a shift to a parliamentary form of government.

Read rest of entry

Over 6M Filipinos will find it difficult to vote

Over six million Filipinos who are “functionally illiterate” will find it difficult to vote in the upcoming first ever national automated elections in May, a group said on Monday.

These six million Filipinos who find it difficult to read, write, compute, and comprehend may be unable to vote effectively on May 10, according to election watch dog Compact (Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections).

Tomas “Butch” Africa, former administrator of the National Statistics Office, said that 16 percent of 40 million Filipinos will find it difficult to vote in the upcoming elections, raising fears of cheating.

He said that compared to manual elections, automated elections are more complicated.

“In manual elections, the voters only need to be basic literate, meaning they only need to be able to read and write,” Africa said, adding that for automated elections, one has to understand the process of selecting their preferred candidate, shading the appropriate boxes, and other technical procedures.

Africa said the Commission on Elections has failed to conduct effective voter’s education, criticizing the infomercial launched by the Comelec, which has “simplified” the voting process.

“They should have taught the voters how to do it step-by-step. They could have presented the actual scenario. They even failed to tell the voters how long the ballot really is,” Africa said during a press conference.

During the re-launch of the group Compact, its members raised fears that the lack of voter’s education could lead to a violation of the Filipino’s right of suffrage.

“Yes, the election day is drawing near, but our worst fears remain unabated. And our worst fear is, beyond the chaos and confusion come election day, the Filipino people’s democratic right of suffrage will be violated. Considerable disenfranchisement could become the norm during election day. And this is not without basis,” the group said in a statement.

National broadband network deal whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr., a member of the group, also expressed concern on the unavailability of a system that would allow voters to verify that they have indeed registered their votes.

Lozada said that come election day, voters would not be given slips of paper to verify that they have voted.

“There is no electronic acknowledgement given to voters. Other machines do it, like our automated teller machines (ATMs) and even our lotto system,” Lozada said.

“It seems like they would like our election to be ‘Lucky Pick,’” Lozada added, referring to the lotto process where the machine picks the number combination for the person.

In the case of the elections, the machine would pick the preferred candidates for each voter.

Former congresswoman Etta Rosales, the group’s convener, said that Compact was re-launched to ensure that the right of suffrage of every voter is protected.

Compact, which was initially launched in 2003 for the 2004 elections, seeks to educate voters on automated elections.

Rosales said her group would be bringing in international observers from other countries to ensure transparency in the elections.

These observers would be coming from the countries of Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United States, Thailand, and India.

Read rest of entry

Pacquiao faces tough political fight, analysts say

Boxing champ Manny Pacquiao will return home this week to a hero's welcome but his next challenge may see him go down for the count as he steps into the even more bruising ring of Philippine politics.

Pacquiao's latest victory has earned the superstar even more acclaim and wealth, but analysts warn that adulation and big spending may not convert to votes when he runs for a seat in Congress in May national elections.

“It will be a harder battle than all the battles he has waged in the ring,” said political science professor Ronald Holmes of Manila's De La Salle University.

“They (the public) might be passionate about him in boxing but this does not necessarily translate into political support.”

Pacquiao, 31, whose boxing riches have hauled his family out of deep poverty, appears to be taking his political future as seriously as his sporting career.

Soon after his weekend win over Ghana's Joshua Clottey in Texas to retain the World Boxing Organization welterweight title, he affirmed his desire to represent the southern Philippine province of Sarangani.

“Now it is time for a more serious fight for me and that is my campaign for Congress. The people of my province are among the poorest. They have been under-served for too long,” he said.

“I know how my people have suffered because I have too. That is how I grew up and because I am one of the fortunate ones to have escaped poverty, I am compelled to be a public servant for them.”

But his opponent, Roy Chiongbian, is no pushover: he comes from a powerful family that has dominated business and politics in the area for years.

Members and allies of the Chiongbian clan have long occupied many of the top positions in the sparsely populated, rural and deeply impoverished province.

“It's not easy to discount the network they have established, the support they have nurtured through the years,” Holmes told Agence France-Presse.

One key feature of the Philippines' chaotic brand of democracy is the ability of clans to hold on to power by fair means and foul, with the same surnames being seen in political posts for generations.

Pacquiao has also tasted defeat at the polls before.

Despite being worshipped by his fans, he lost his first bid for Congress in his hometown of General Santos City in 2007, also to a member of a heavyweight political clan.

For his campaign team, Pacquiao's biggest priority now is to make personal appearances in the area and make up for the time spent outside the province while he pursued boxing glory.

“Time is running out for Manny's campaign because he has been away training and he has to make up, saturate the whole Sarangani province,” said Mindaluz Gulle, executive director of Pacquiao's campaign.

Still, Holmes said Pacquiao seemed more prepared this time than he was three years ago.

“He has been planning the transfer (to Sarangani) for quite some time. He has been more generous in helping out people in many areas there,” the analyst said.

Pacquiao's wealth has soared with each boxing victory—he reportedly earned 12 million dollars for beating Clottey— and he has invested heavily in his political career by helping local communities and spending on advertising.

He also has an important backer in Senator Manny Villar, a leading presidential candidate.

Villar persuaded Pacquiao last year to join his Nacionalista Party, ending the boxer's alliance with President Gloria Arroyo and her coalition.

Villar has since been using Pacquiao to bolster his own image, playing up the theme that they are both poor boys who fought their way to prominence but whose hearts are still with the country's downtrodden masses.

“When he arrives, we will help him campaign in Sarangani just as he will do the same for me,” said Villar, who is running a close second in presidential polls behind Benigno Aquino, the son of late democracy heroine Corazon Aquino.

Nacionalista spokesman Gilbert Remulla is confident that Pacquiao can go the distance.

“Manny Pacquiao can take care of his own campaign. He has the logistics, the organization that he built up for himself,” he said.

Read rest of entry

Arroyo gov’t concocted power crisis—Estrada

Former president Joseph Estrada on Wednesday claimed that the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “concocted” the ongoing power crisis in Mindanao and expressed fears the crisis could "derail national and local elections.”

“The current power crisis in Mindanao could have been avoided,” Estrada said in a press conference.

“But the Arroyo administration not only did not take any concrete steps to avoid the calamity. It actually concocted the crisis as another means to line up the pockets of its favored cronies yet again and further savage the economy,” he added.

Estrada is running for president under the party Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.

Particularly, Estrada slammed the proposal of Representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, the president’s eldest son, to allocate P5.5 billion to lease 160 modular generators to supply 160 megawatts of power to Mindanao.

“Why are they preparing only 160 megawatts [of power], when the deficit is 600 to 750 megawatts?” Estrada said.

During a Powerpoint presentation, Estrada said that the average base load requirement in Mindanao is 500 to 650 megawatts, while the daily peak load requirement ranges from 1,200 to 1,380 megawatts.

The deficit—600 to 750 megawatts—results in eight to 12-hour daily brownouts, Estrada added.

Estrada said that according to his camp’s computations, the amount needed to lease 160 modular generators cost only P2.1 billion and not P5.5 billion.

“The cost of 160 one-megawatt generators for six months is as follows: P624 million in rent, P1.382 billion in fuel consumption, and P80 million in mobilization/demobilization,” Estrada said.

“Compute it. That will add up to only P2.086 billion. There’s an excess of P3.4 billion. Where would they spend or who will get that huge amount” he added.

Estrada went on, “Why generate only 160 megawatts?”

He also added that if the power crisis in Mindanao was left unsolved, then it could cause serious problems come election time.

“This government is not interested in solving the problem, a problem of its own making. It precipitated the crisis precisely to give them the reason to defraud the people through yet another graft scheme,” Estrada said.

“The eight-hour power outages in Mindanao are bound to be there come election day: a very dire scenario that evokes all sorts of grim projections, including a failure of elections that could trigger tragic consequences,” he said.

Read rest of entry

Teodoro, Gordon talk about health, mum on sex life

Administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro served notice to the public about his health, but remained mum about his sex life.

Together with Senator Richard Gordon, presidential standard-bearer of Bagumbayan party, Teodoro faced health professionals in a recent forum in Medical City in Pasig City and answered queries on his physical condition.

But asked if he still has a sex life despite the heavy schedule of the campaign, Teodoro said, “That is within the protective sphere of privacy.”

Gordon, however, quipped, “You don’t want me to brag here, do you?”

Teodoro disclosed to the audience that he was hypertensive and has high blood sugar for which he was taking medicines. He also said he needed a checkup for his gallbladder.

“I have a good fortune of inheriting a lot of things from my parents, including hypertension and high blood sugar, for which I take maintenance medicine everyday. Aside from gallbladder that needs to be taken out as soon as I have time, I’m okay,” he said.

Gordon said he was stricken with a sore throat that he got from campaigning, but apart from this, he was physically fit. He said his doctor, who was among the audience, could attest to his physical condition.

During the forum, Teodoro also said he favored government funding for both natural and modern methods of family planning. Gordon, however, said the government should not spend money for condoms. He said the government should instead use the money for education.

Read rest of entry

Aquino scores removal of parents’ posters along Manila road

DAET, Camarines Norte – Why don't they also remove "Ninoy Aquino" from NAIA?

This was the reaction by Liberal Party standard bearer and Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to government moves to remove banners that had pictures of his parents along Roxas Boulevard in Manila because these supposedly helped his campaign.

The only son of the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and president Corazon Aquino said the authorities were "stretching" the meaning of the Omnibus Election Code in claiming that the banners, put up by the city government of Manila to honor his parents violated election rules.

"That's stretching it too far. If we follow the line of argument perhaps they should remove the Ninoy Aquino in name of NAIA [the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila]...Perhaps they should change [the name] of the municipality of Ninoy Aquino," Aquino said.

"Their position is somewhat absurd," he added.

Aquino said the Metro Manila Development Authority removed the banners even as the Commission on Elections issued a statement that the banners might be helping Aquino’s campaign.

"It looks like they are singling me out. That is really unique...I know the Comelec has jurisdiction over candidates. Everything that has to do with Omnibus Election Code," Aquino said. 

"Obviously the law no longer applies to deceased individuals. So I don’t see, apart from being petty and diminutive, why this should be done," he added. 

He said he first heard about the removal of the banners form Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim. He said Lim was supposed to have a meeting with MMDA Oscar Inocentes.

"Mayor Lim wants to find out what Comelec resolution was used to justify this move," Aquino said.

Read rest of entry

Gordon, Fernando, Villanueva told to remove oversized billboards

-The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has warned presidential bets Sen. Richard Gordon and his vice-presidential partner Bayani Fernando, and Bangon Pilipinas standard bearer Bro. Eddie Villanueva to take down their oversize billboards, lest they risk election offense charges. 

Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez Tuesday said the poll body have been monitoring the outdoor advertisements of candidates and found out that Gordon, Fernando, and Villanueva have billboards that exceed the mandated size.

Jimenez said they have sent the photos of the billboards to the Law Department, which will notify the candidates to take down the posters as soon as they receive the notice.

“The clock is ticking. They should remove these billboards forthwith, otherwise, they risk facing sanctions for violating election laws,” said Jimenez.

“We have already forwarded images of posters and streamers that we feel are in violation of election laws… We gave the evidence to the law department so they can now take the proper legal action,” he added.

According to Jimenez, Gordon and Fernando's oversized posters were found along EDSA and the South Luzon Expressway. Villanueva, on the other hand, has a giant banner endorsing him near Quiapo Bridge in Manila.

Jimenez said the posters exceed the sizes provided in the Fair Elections Act. Under the law, campaign materials—whether written or printed—should not exceed 8 1/2 by 14 inches, as well as posters with an area not exceeding 2 by 3 feet.

Those found guilty of an election offense face up to six years of imprisonment and disqualification from public and government office.

Read rest of entry

Aquino on Danding Cojuangco: `We're no longer enemies'

Some may have accused his uncle of being behind his father's murder, but Liberal Party standard-bearer Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III has said he no longer considers his uncle, businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. as an enemy.

Aquino said on Monday morning that their families had been estranged politically since 1967 but "his generation" in the Cojuangco clan had never "taken personally" their political differences.

He also cast doubts on suggestions that Cojuangco might have been behind his father's assassination.

"In truth, for us in Tarlac, in our generation, we did not take (our political differences) personally and I think we can say that we helped each other for the betterment of Tarlac," Aquino said in an interview with GMA Channel 7's Unang Hirit.

"So, are we now OK? We are no longer enemies. I think that's the closest thing that I could say today," he added.

While Cojuangco has been tightlipped over who was his bet in the presidential race, his daughter and brother Henry have come out in support of Aquino.

Danding Cojuangco was among the closest business associates of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Cojuangco, chairman of the San Miguel Corp., who was said to have used the coconut levy funds paid for by farmers to consolidate his interests in the SMC, was called the top Marcos crony due to his closeness to the Marcos regime.

He is cousin to the late former president Corazon C. Aquino, who was catapulted to power via the 1986 Edsa Revolution that toppled Marcos and exiled him to Hawaii. Cojuangco fled the country together with Marcos.

He returned to the country in the early 1990s and later regained control of the San Miguel Corp.
The issue of the coconut levy funds is still pending with the courts.

Read rest of entry

17M ballots printed for May polls—Comelec

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Monday that about 17 million ballots have already been printed for the country’s first ever automated elections in May.

“Right now, we have printed 17 million out of the total 50 million ballots. The newly printed ballots are to be used in polling precincts mostly in Visayas and Mindanao and some Luzon areas,” said Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who chairs the steering committee on automation.

With a fifth printer set to arrive by March 20 at the National Printing Office (NPO), Comelec expects to finish the printing of all 50 million ballots by April 25—also the start of the shipment of ballots, the poll machines, ballot boxes and other election paraphernalia, said the poll official.

When the additional printer arrives, Larrazabal said they expect to ramp up production of 900,000 ballots printed daily, up from the current daily output of 650,000 to 700,000.

“When the fifth printer arrives next week, the earliest on March 20, we see production of up to 900,000 ballots per day. This would enable us to finish printing all ballots by April 25,” he noted.

Ballots to be used in Metro Manila would be printed last since shipment would be easier from NPO to municipal treasury offices compared to Visayas and Mindanao regions, he said.

In late February, the NPO printed the 1.7 million ballots for use in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and started printing the main ballot to be used in 1,600 municipalities, cities or districts nationwide, except in ARMM.

The main ballot to be used in most parts of the country measures 8.5 inches wide and 25 inches long, containing English and Filipino translations for voting instructions for both national and local positions.

The ballot security features include the custom-made 160 GSM imported paper, invisible UV ink from Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM, a regular 2D barcode, Comelec’s own security markings and unique precinct-based numbers, which can only be recognized by a specific poll machine. The main ballot has an additional UV ink marking from NPO as a redundant security measure, Larrazabal said.

To vote using the special paper ballots for automated polls, a voter must the ovals opposite the names of the national and local candidates printed on both sides of the paper shade using special permanent marking pens. After filling out a ballot, a voter will feed it to a machine for scanning and counting of the votes.

Read rest of entry

Manny Villar "Pacquiao’s victory shows importance of perseverance"

Senator Manuel Villar, Nacionalista Party standard-bearer, lauded Pacquiao for the perseverance that made him the greatest boxer in the world.


In a statement on Sunday, Villar said Pacquiao’s win over the Ghanian boxer Joshua Clottey was yet another proof that with "perseverance, anyone can overcome any obstacle."

Villar’s statement tries to bring to mind his own rags-to-riches campaign message, which has been using the "Sipag at Tiyaga" (Industry and Perseverance) slogan.

"Isang halimbawa si Manny na kaya nating talunin ang kahirapan, na magaling ang Pilipino, at karapat-dapat lamang na kilalanin ng buong mundo. Mabuhay ka, Manny! (Manny is an example that we can defeat poverty, that the Filipino people are excellent and competent and they deserve to be known in the world. Long live, Manny!" Villar said.

Pacquiao is running for Congress in the lone district of Saranggani under the Villar ticket in the May 10 elections.

The boxer was a staunch ally of President Macapagal Arroyo before defecting to the NP camp.

Pacquiao had announced he would join Villar’s campaign sorties upon his return to the country after his fight.

Read rest of entry

Legarda stands by claim Roxas offered her a deal

Vice-presidential candidate Loren Legarda is standing by her claim that her closest rival, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, had approached her with a deal to make her withdraw from the race.




Roxas has denied Legarda’s allegation, saying she was “pulling all stunts” to protect her Nacionalista Party presidential running mate, Sen. Manuel Villar.



Legarda Thursday reiterated the claim she made in a radio interview last Wednesday that Roxas had approached her in February with a proposal that her political advisers have since interpreted as an “exchange deal” offer for her to withdraw her candidacy.

Roxas, the vice-presidential running mate of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Sen. Benigno Aquino III, leads Legarda by 17 points in the latest voter preference surveys.



Last Wednesday, Legarda revealed in an interview on dzBB radio Roxas’ supposed attempt to bribe her last February.



According to Legarda, as she passed by Roxas’ desk in the Senate session hall, Roxas told her: “If there’s any way that you can support my principal (Aquino) and me, if there’s anything you want, we can provide.”



At the time, when she had yet to find a presidential running mate, she said she did not know what Roxas meant exactly.



In a press conference in Surigao City Thursday, Roxas again denied making an offer for Legarda to withdraw.



He said: “I asked her if she could support the Noy-Mar ticket because I could not believe that she was serious in supporting Villar whom he described as corrupt, lacking in leadership qualities, always absent and always prioritizing his business interests over the country. When she did not reply, that was the end of it.”



In the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from Feb. 24 to 28, Roxas obtained 34 percent against Legarda’s 28 percent.



Legarda claimed that compared to Roxas, her ratings have been steadily improving, noting that Roxas’ acceptability to the voters had gone down by four percentage points since the last SWS survey in January.



She said the SWS survey was validated by the Manila Standard Today survey, conducted from Feb. 20 to 26, in which she got 30 percent against Roxas’ 39 percent, with the latter leading by only 9 points.



Although still leading Legarda, this was a major decline for Roxas because in a Pulse Asia survey conducted from Feb. 21 to 25, Roxas had a huge lead over Legarda of 16 points, with 43 percent for him compared to Legarda’s 27 percent.



Legarda said she was ahead of Roxas in the Class E socioeconomic class, “because I am one of them. I and Senator Villar came from the ranks of the poor, so we fully understand the plight of the poor.”

Read rest of entry

Santiago blames low ratings on married name

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is very much in the race this May election. But people might not find her in the list of senatorial candidates if they will look for “Santiago” come election day.


The re-electionist senator’s name is listed instead as Defensor-Santiago in the special paper ballot that the Commission on Election (Comelec) will use in the country’s first-ever full automated election.

Saying that other married female candidates might find themselves in the same predicament, Santiago urged the Comelec to educate voters on the use of maiden names of married candidates like her.

Santiago lamented that her lower ranking in the recent senatorial survey of Pulse Asia could be because people are looking for her surname, not her maiden name.

The poll body should take “affirmative action” by educating voters that some female candidates like her have chosen to be listed under their maiden name, followed by their married name.

In the past elections, the voters write the name of candidates in the ballot. This time, however, the voters will simply shade the circles beside the name of the candidates. An electronic machine will automatically read and count the shaded circles.

And as the world celebrates the women’s month this March, the senator invoked the constitutional provision that: “The State shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of men and women.”

Since women constitute one-half of the population, Santiago said women should make up one-half of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, and one-half of the 15-member justices in the Supreme Court.

As a gender-sensitive country, the senator said, the Philippines should also have a female Senate President, a female Speaker, and a female Chief Justice.


In a recent gathering of some 5,000 barangay (village) leaders at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City, Santiago joked that the fundamental right of married women was to be loved by their husbands.


“But when you are told to love your neighbor, this does not mean that a man should love all the women in his barangay,” Santiago said, sending the crowd into gales of laughter.

Read rest of entry

Comelec seeks proof to exclude Arroyo son, Reyes from partylist

The Commission on Elections urged those who want Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo out of the party-list race to immediately file a complaint against them with the poll body and present evidence that the two do not really represent "marginalized sectors" in Congress.


Election Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said they would need evidence in order to disqualify nominees submitted by the party-list groups themselves.

He said that with 187 accredited party-list groups — each submitting at least five nominees — the poll body could not scrutinize all of the names, all at once.

In order for the Comelec to reject a nominee motu propio, or on its own volition, it would need evidence or information, Sarmiento said.

“There are many nominees. And [for us to act] motu propio, honestly, we need information [and] assistance, what with the many concerns of Comelec. It will [have to] be a collaborative effort, with the stakeholders helping Comelec,” Sarmiento said.

The party-list system was created to ensure that marginalized sectors are represented in Congress.

Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño earlier said Reyes and Arroyo were both not qualified to run in the party-list system, having come from the moneyed political class.

Reyes was the Armed Forces chief of staff before he became a member of the Arroyo Cabinet. Mikey Arroyo is the son of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Comelec has never rejected a party-list nominee — even in the past, according to Sarmiento.

He said he recognized the need for more guidelines to ensure that the partylist voting system would be for marginalized sectors.

The 187 party-list groups have until March 26 to submit a list of their five nominees to the Comelec. Petitions against the nominees may be filed after this date.

Read rest of entry

Villar tried to buy me out of presidential race - Gordon

Bagumbayan presidential bet Sen. Richard Gordon revealed yesterday that Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. tried to buy him out of the presidential race and promised to give him a Cabinet position of his choice if the latter is elected president.




In a one-on-one interview with broadcaster Mike Enriquez over radio dzBB, Gordon continued his tirade against Villar, saying the NP bet’s attempt at buying him, which occurred a week before Feb. 9 or during the time when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile presented his report on the C-5 road controversy and was facing an attempt to oust him from the Senate presidency, was witnessed by his son.



But Villar immediately downplayed all of Gordon’s accusations, telling his audience in Surigao that people are out to destroy him. He said he and his entire NP team are geared for victory on May 10, and that he has no time for “negotiating” for the withdrawal of fellow presidential candidates.



Gordon, in the same radio interview, said that Villar’s camp wanted him to back out from the race and support the NP standard-bearer.



“They asked me not to attend the (Senate) session and in return they will pay me and reimburse the expenses in my preparation for the presidency, and promised to give me a Cabinet position of my choice,” Gordon said in Filipino.

Gordon’s disclosure surprised Enriquez, as it came near the end of the one-hour interview designed for presidential candidates.




Enriquez asked Gordon to identify Villar’s emissary but he declined. He, however, insinuated that he would drop another bombshell soon.



He said he was irked by the buy out attempt because it only showed the arrogance of the moneyed candidate.



But Gordon said he is unfazed and vowed to fight on.



During the interview, he also assailed other candidates’ attempt to condition the minds of voters through surveys.



The NP kicked off the Mindanao-leg of their campaign yesterday, promising economic development and improving the human development index in the entire region.



“I am running clean and I have no other intention. I respect the other candidates even if I hear comments like that. Some people probably want to besmirch my reputation. Please don’t believe in those things,” Villar said in an interview.



He noted that it is just two months before elections, and he expects that no presidential candidate would back out at this point.



He also belittled claims that he tapped Mike Velarde to ask Estrada to withdraw from the race.



The NP bet reiterated that he did not talk with any presidential candidate to offer them reimbursement of their poll expenses and promise a good Cabinet position.



Asked why all sorts of criticisms are thrown his way, Villar said it is “good news” because he is being hit since he has become number one in the surveys.



Students from the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication (CMC) have “surprisingly and unexpectedly” picked Sen. Richard Gordon in their recent open-source mock polls.



This, even as Gordon had reportedly lambasted journalists covering his sorties.



A survey result conducted by the Department of Journalism, which was released yesterday, showed Gordon garnering a total of 139 votes, representing 37.57 percent of the 370 enrolled students of the CMC, who participated in the mock presidential polls.



The UP-CMC has 1,086 enrolled students.



Administration presidential bet Gilbert Teodoro came in second in the survey with 107 votes (28.92 percent), Benigno Aquino III was third with 48 votes (12.97 percent), and Manuel Villar Jr. placed fourth with 37 votes (10 percent).



Observers were surprised with the result of the Feb. 24 mock polls of students of the premier State University, which has always been known as a bastion of activism.



But former CMC dean Prof. Luis Teodoro believes that the changing population of the CMC could have been a factor, although the way presidential aspirants appear and answer questions in various presidential debates could have also been a significant influence to the decision of the students.



He said that while UP students consider themselves as reform-minded and pro-poor, the results of the presidential mock polls could be an “expression of protest over what is perceived to be popular.”



“The results of the mock polls showed a disconnection between the perceived perception of the students and the perceived perception of the general Filipino voters as shown in the surveys,” he said.



However, Teodoro said that the result could be a signal that candidates would have to take a different approach to convince students, as compared to, for instance, the urban poor voters.



He said students might have chosen Gordon and Teodoro for being “fluently persuasive” or “smooth, smooth talker.”



A lot of student-participants in the mock polls cited the ability of Gordon and Teodoro to articulate their respective specific platform well.



Teodoro added that Aquino’s image may have been stained by the Hacienda Luisita massacre while Villar has to work on his claims of innocence after being implicated in the C5-road extension mess.



He surmised that perhaps the students “are not buying that Villar is the only salvation of the poor or that Aquino is the last hope for reform.”



And despite the seeming bias of UP students on President Arroyo, the journalism professor thinks the students might be seeing “something else” in Teodoro other than his alliance with President Arroyo.



“Or maybe his (Teodoro) looks have something to do with it,” he said, drawing out laugher from the audience.



Nicanor Perlas came in 5th place with 15 votes, representing 4.05 percent of the voter turnout; evangelist Eduardo Villanueva, 6th place with five votes (1.35 percent); Jamby Madrigal with three votes (.81 percent); and former President Joseph Estrada with one vote (.27 percent).



Ang Kapatiran Party standard-bearer, Olongapo City Councilor JC delos Reyes, and Kilusang Bagong Lipunan presidential bet Vetellano Acosta, got zero votes in the mock polls.



Fifteen students, representing 4.05 percent of the total voter turnout, abstained in the presidential survey.



Gordon: Mediamen are useless



Good showing or not, Gordon, who usually bash Senator Villar in his sorties, has trained his guns on mediamen covering his campaign.



In a forum hosted by the students and faculty of the Union Christian College in San Fernando, La Union, Gordon started by hitting the NP standard-bearer then threw cheap shots on “embedded” journalists covering him.



Gordon was ranting on his almost “invisible” presence in the media and was apparently blaming the journalists trailing him in his sorties.



“Kunwari lang na kino-cover kami pero tinitwist nila ang istorya at hindi nila inilalabas ang totoo (They pretend to be covering us but they twist the story and does not come out with the truth),” he said.



The journalists covering him at the school’s covered gym walked out in disgust after Gordon pointed them out to the crowd of students and teachers present.



“May kasama nga akong media pero kunwari lang akong kino-cover (I have mediamen with me but they are just pretending to cover me),” he said.



It was at this point that the reporters, including Mike Frialde of The STAR, stood up and walked out.



“Ayun, iniwan na ako ng media (Now they have left me),” Gordon blurted out.



He had earlier complained about his poor showing in the media and was even quick to refer to members of the press as “Mickey Mouse mediamen” in several forums.



Prior to the incident yesterday, a member of Gordon’s staff revealed that the senator was complaining why even the most trivial of statements made by his opponents are picked-up by media networks while his statements were never picked-up.



A source close to Gordon also revealed the senator had also remarked that, “Walang silbi naman ang mga media na kasama natin, (Mediamen covering him were useless)” prior to his talk at the Union Christian College.



LP hits Villar anew



Meanwhile, the Liberal Party said the allegations of bribery and vote buying against Villar were alarming and should serve as a warning to the people about the kind of administration the NP bet would have if elected president in May.



LP spokesperson and senatorial candidate Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said the bigger issue involving Villar was not just the handing out of scholarships and P20 but the “pattern of bribery on his part that is large scale.”



Being a senator and former Senate president, Hontiveros said it was disgusting to hear that Villar was on a “bribery spree,” given the revelations of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and presidential candidates former President Estrada (of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino) and Gordon.



“So our question is, if as a senator and as a former Senate president, he is showing a pattern of bribery that involves big (amounts) and high-ranking (officials), what can you expect but large scale corruption under the Villaroyo administration,” Hontiveros said, referring to the alleged conspiracy and alliance between Villar and the Arroyo administration.



“We have to look at the way he (Villar) has also been trying to buy this whole campaign with the amounts of money being expended for advertising, which according to the PCIJ (Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism) has breached the P1-billion mark,” said LP campaign manager Florencio “Butch” Abad.



He said the funds Villar was utilizing for the campaign could be a product of this conflict of interest and his impunity in the abuse of government authority to make good money out of his businesses.



“Bribery is corruption. There is no doubt that Senator Villar is the richest presidential candidate but for him to assume that he can buy his way to Malacañang and get away with it is severely insulting,” Hontiveros said.

Read rest of entry

Quick count is history, says Comelec

The slow count that prompted operation quick counts in the past may now be consigned to history.

The country’s first nationwide automated elections on May 10 are expected to produce results in two days, the Commission on Elections said.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said media entities and other parties could still conduct their own count and call the results of the races.
But Jimenez told reporters on Wednesday that the wait for the official results to be posted on the Comelec website would not take long.
“The quick count would not be applicable because what could be faster than the official count now? The official count now would basically be the system used for the quick count in the past. The reason there was a quick count then was because there was a slow count, the one from Comelec. Now, there is no more slow count,” he said.

Jimenez also said that since the results of the polling would be posted online, there was no need to require media outfits to request permission to conduct their own quick count.

Asked whether media entities could still resort to trending or extrapolation, he said that this was not expected to be prevalent now because the results from all precincts were expected to be transmitted at roughly the same time.

But he also said that if media entities would want to conduct their own count of the votes, they should clearly state where the votes that they had tallied had come from.
Under automated elections, the votes would be recorded and tallied by counting machines in each polling precinct, and the results would be electronically sent to the canvassing boards.
There would be no need to manually tally the votes, eliminating the long wait for the results.

Read rest of entry

In Pampanga, Erap keeps up pitch to make ‘jueteng’ legal

Right in Pampanga, which was once described by Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. as the “Vatican of jueteng,” former President Joseph Estrada on Wednesday reached out to students to explain why he supported the legalization of jueteng as early as his term as senator.




In a forum at the Holy Angel University here, Estrada, the standard-bearer of the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, told about 1,500 students that jueteng generates jobs for the poor so he supported its legalization.



Estrada was convicted of plunder but pardoned very early by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.



Bribes



Among the charges hurled against him was accepting bribe from jueteng lords.



In January 2001, Estrada was ousted by a citizen revolt that installed then Vice President Arroyo to the presidency.



Estrada said one of his first privilege speeches during his term as senator supported moves to legalize jueteng because he came face to face with the numbers game as mayor of San Juan in Metro Manila.



Estrada said jueteng workers asked for jobs, even as garbage collectors, but there was none available.



“That’s the social problem, a hungry stomach knows no law,” he said. “Stop jueteng, where will they turn to? They will steal and engage in kidnapping.”



Erap numbers

Citing a study that he said was conducted by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Estrada said there were 163,000 jueteng bet collectors (kubrador) and managers (cabo) in the five regions of Luzon in 2004.



To get an accurate picture of the extent of how the illegal numbers game provide livelihood to poor people, he said this number should be multiplied by four to represent the jueteng employees’ family members.

Read rest of entry

Villar slams ‘rich, landed’ rivals with no track record

Nacionalista Party standard bearer and Senator Manuel Villar warned voters here against candidates for president who came from rich families and have had no track record of leadership.
Villar did not name names but obviously referred to his closest rival, LP standard bearer and Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, and the latter's running mate, Sen. Manuel Roxas II, whom he referred to as “hacienderos” in his brief speech on Saturday.
“Ang kalaban ko ngayon, dalawa pong haciendero, [may]malalaking hacienda. Pero sabi ko, hindi nyo naranasan kasi ang kahirapan kaya ganyan magsalita, kung ano-ano ang inyong sinasabi (My rivals are two landowners, they have vast estates. But I say to them, ‘You never experienced hardship and that’s why it’s easy for you to say things against me’,” Villar said at a jam-packed gym after presiding over the oath-taking of members of a local women's organization here in Villasin.
“Humaharap kayo sa tao na wala kayo karanasan, na wala naman kayong pinakitang kakayahang mamahala, wala naman pa kayong pinapakitang liderato. Humaharap kayo sa bansa na para lamang kayong naglalaro. Sinasabi ko na seryoso ang pagkapangulo (You are presenting yourselves to the people, without any experience, without proven capabilities in leadership. You are facing the nation as if you’re just playing. I say to you that the presidency is a serious business),” Villar said, referring to his rivals.
“Hindi yan puede na sino na lamang ang magsasabi na 'Gusto ko maging pangulo o ako ay dapat maging pangulo dahil ang nanay ko ay pangulo (Nobody can just say, ‘I want to be president or I should be president because my mother was president),’” Villar added, referring to Aquino, the only son of the late former president Corazon Aquino.
"Sapagkat pag nagkamali po tayo ng pili, tuloy tuloy na naman po ang kahirapan, (If we make the wrong choice, poverty will continue," Villar said, this time directly addressing the crowd.
Villar has been capitalizing on his own rags-to-riches tale in the presidential campaign, always identifying himself with the poor by injecting in his speeches sob stories of his growing up years in Tondo.
Earlier in the day, Villar, his running mate Sen. Loren Legarda and a handful of the NP senatorial candidates met with the residents of the tent city in Barangay (Village) San Pedro in Rosales town.
Some 350 families had been living in tents and makeshift homes for the last four months after their houses were washed away by floods brought by typhoon “Pepeng” in late 2009.
On a rundown stage, Villar's staff gathered some 40 children and urged them to sing the presidential candidate's hugely popular “Naging Mahirap” (I was once poor) campaign jingle.
Villar, Legarda and the senatorial bets distributed “taho” and “ice candy” to the children.

Read rest of entry