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BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS

In the past,  political observers warn that in the Philippines,  it’s possible to win in the elections but you lose in the counting.

The results of a series of surveys conducted by Social Weather Station evaluating the May 2010 automated elections showed that almost two-thirds of Filipino voters (68 per cent) were satisfied with the counting by the Commission on Elections of the May 10 elections, the first nationwide automated elections in the country. Only 17 per cent were dissatisfied and 13 per cent were undecided.

Among poll workers, who were the ones who carried out the automation process, the satisfaction was even much higher- 97 per cent.

The satisfaction translated into high believability of official results which gave victory to opposition candidates, Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal Party for president and Jejomar Binay of the Partido ng Masang  Pilipino for vice president.

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By ELLEN TORDESILLAS and TESSA JAMANDRE

(Conclusion)

HUNDREDS of junior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who took over the Oakwood Hotel in 2003 in a mutiny against military corruption continue to face the consequences of their actions, with lives derailed and careers destroyed.

Most of them spent years in jail, were physically and mentally tortured, and endured the betrayal and humiliation from a government they had rebelled against. But they are now trying to rebuild lives and careers outside the military.

“We may not have suffered as much as our tormentors wished us to but to this day we are suffering the consequences of what we have done: lost opportunities, destroyed careers, broken friendships and homes, and the ‘rebel’ stigma,” said former Air Force 1Lt Francisco Ashley Acedillo, one of the accused and Magdalo spokesman, now the group’s chairman.

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By TESSA JAMANDRE

HEARINGS on the Maguindanao massacre resumed Wednesday, the first under the Aquino government, with former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and 16 other suspects pleading not guilty to the murder of the 57^th victim, UNTV journalist Victor Nunez.

Ampatuan, the alleged mastermind, and the other suspects, mostly police officers, were each asked in Filipino and entered their pleas separately.


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BY VICTOR REYES

MARINES Col. Ariel Querubin was released yesterday from detention in Camp Aguinaldo and turned over to the custodial care of Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Ordoñez, chief of the Philippine Defense Reform office.

The release order was based on the provisional liberty signed by AFP chief Lt. Gen. Ricardo David Tuesday night.

Querubin, a recipient of the Medal of Valor, left detention at around noontime. He and dozens of Marines and Army officers were detained after figuring in an alleged plot to oust Arroyo in February 2006. He and the remaining accused are charged with violation of the Article of War 67 or mutiny.

Querubin’s release came 59 days after that of his co-accused, former Scout Ranger chief Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim who is also under Ordoñez’ custodial care.

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By ELLEN TORDESILLAS and TESSA JAMANDRE
(First of two parts)

THE stockades at Camps Crame and Aguinaldo in Quezon City and the Marines headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig that once held scores of soldiers accused of rising up against the government are now empty except for three prisoners—a senator, the Armed Forces’ most bemedalled officer and a Marine captain who was a fugitive until a fortnight ago.

Their lives put on hold as their cases drag on before civilian and military courts, these three prisoners are stark reminders of a restive military that rebelled against its former commander in chief, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and represent government’s unfinished business with senior and junior military officers.

Each of the three stockades has a lone occupant.

Antonio Trillanes IV, a former Navy lieutenant senior grade and a civilian since his election to the Senate in 2007, remains in jail at the Phlippine National Police headquarters at Camp Crame, waiting for a Makati court to resolve coup d’etat charges filed against him and 21 other members of the “Magdalo” group. They were charged for laying siege on Makati’s Oakwood Hotel exactly seven years ago yesterday (July 27), on the eve of Arroyo’s third State of the Nation Address, to protest what they said were Malacanang-sanctioned irregularities in the military.

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MILITANT groups welcomed President Benigno Aquino III along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City with a rally, as they have done with previous presidents, every fourth Monday of July.

Aquino passed through Commonwealth en route to the Batasan Pambansa Complex where both Houses of Congress assembled to listen to him deliver his first State of the Nation Address.

In his speech, Aquino said his government was inheriting empty coffers, and government corporations whose board members were fat cats who rewarded themselves with huge compensation packages.

But leaders of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and affiliated groups were disappointed at what they called his lack of vision and long term solutions to the country’s pressing problems.

VERA Files’ Mario Ignacio mingled with the protesters and filed these photos.

STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS
PRESIDENT BENIGNO AQUINO III
July 26, 2010, Batasan Pambansa Complex, Quezon City
(English translation below)

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte; Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile; Vice President Jejomar Binay; Chief Justice Renato Corona; Former Presidents Fidel Valdez Ramos and Joseph Ejercito Estrada; members of the House of Representatives and the Senate; distinguished members of the diplomatic corps; my fellow workers in government;

Mga minamahal kong kababayan:

Sa bawat sandali po ng pamamahala ay nahaharap tayo sa isang sangandaan.

Sa isang banda po ay ang pagpili para sa ikabubuti ng taumbayan. Ang pagtanaw sa interes ng nakakarami; at pagkapit sa prinsipyo; at ang pagiging tapat sa sinumpaan nating tungkulin bilang lingkod-bayan. Ito po ang tuwid na daan.

Sa kabilang banda ay ang pag-una sa pansariling interes. Ang pagpapaalipin sa pulitikal na konsiderasyon, at pagsasakripisyo ng kapakanan ng taumbayan. Ito po ang baluktot na daan.

Matagal pong naligaw ang pamahalaan sa daang baluktot. Araw-araw po, lalong lumilinaw sa akin ang lawak ng problemang ating namana. Damang-dama ko ang bigat ng aking responsibilidad.

Sa unang tatlong linggo ng aming panunungkulan, marami po kaming natuklasan. Nais ko pong ipahayag sa inyo ang iilan lamang sa mga namana nating suliranin at ang ginagawa naming hakbang para lutasin ang mga ito.

Sulyap lamang po ito; hindi pa ito ang lahat ng problemang haharapin natin. Inilihim at sadyang iniligaw ang sambayanan sa totoong kalagayan ng ating bansa.

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THE 15^th Congress opened today electing Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino as senate president  and  Quezon City (4^th district)  Rep. Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. of the Liberal Party  as speaker of the House of Representatives.

Enrile, dubbed as  “unity” senate president,  obtained  17 out of 20 votes of senators belonging to Liberal and Nacionalista Parties, including Sen. Manuel Villar, who ran for president  in the last May elections and was  investigated by the 14^th Senate under Enrile for alleged overpricing on the C-5 road extension project.

Enrile defeated Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano of the NP who automatically becomes the Senate minority leader. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada  was voted Senate President pro tempore . Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III was majority floor leader and chairman of the Senate committee on rules.

Belmonte  got 227 votes over  Albay Rep. Edzel  Lagman  (Lakas-Lampi-CMD) who got only 29 votes. Lagman  will share the position of  House minority leader with Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez.

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By FROILAN GALLARDO

Nuraldin Yusoph with Jesus Dureza of the Mindanao Development Council, and ARMM DENR Secretary Usman Sarangani Sr. upon his release by kidnappers. Photo by Froilan Gallardo.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY.— It was all about the huge amount of bribe money that corrupted election officials who issued orders to cluster polling precincts to favored politicians during the last elections in May, military officers and poll watchdog groups said.

The officers and NGO leaders said  this was the reason  Nuraldin Yusoph, the 22-year-old son of Poll Commissioner Elias Yusoph, was kidnapped in Marawi City.

“Politicians who lost a lot of money want to recoup their losses. That is the reason why Nuraldin was kidnapped,” said Brig. Gen. Ray Ardo, chief of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade. “They want to be refunded.”

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By ELLEN TORDESILLAS

IN the sunset of their lives, 17 Malaya Lolas (Liberated Grandmothers) staged a rally Monday before the Supreme Court protesting the plagiarism in the decision that denied them remedy for the wartime savagery they suffered.

CenterLaw’s Harry Roque, counsel for 40 grandmothers who were forced to serve as “comfort women” to Japanese soldiers during the war, said what the Malaya Lolas got from the High Court was a “triple whammy.”

“They were denied legal remedy using sources that were plagiarized and twisted to support an unjust decision,” Roque said.

The April 28, 2010 SC decision penned by Associate Justice Mariano C. del Castillo said the court greatly sympathized with the cause of petitioners.

But it said, “ Regrettably, it is not within our power to order the Executive Department to take up the petitioners’ cause. Ours is only the power to urge and exhort the Executive Department to take up petitioners’ cause.”

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