Archive - News

By RONALD RAMAO Diocese of Malaybalay, Bukidnon MALAYBALAY, Bukidnon.—A Roman Catholic priest is running for governor in this province. Fr. Diosdado F. Tabios has joined the gubernatorial race, promising the preservation of natural resources, renewed governance, economic progress and promotion of peace and unity for Christians, Muslims, Lumads and other tribal groups.

By MELVIN PURZUELO Green Forum-Western Visayas ILOILO CITY. — Voters here urged candidates to fight pollution and protect the environment, making the issue central to the local electoral race. The election this year is seen as an opportunity to push for political will and accountability from elected officials.

By ROSLYN ARAYATA Alyansa Tigil Mina VICTORIA, Oriental Mindoro. —Local candidates of the Liberal Party recently expressed their opposition to large-scale mining activities in the province. At the miting de avance held in Sitio Tamaraw, Barangay Poblacion III ON Saturday, Victoria’s incumbent mayor and reelectionist Alfredo G. Ortega said the town managed to become a

Text by BUENA BERNAL Photos by ELAINE TIU “AGRA, bumaba ka na sa posisyon mo (Agra, step down from office),” cried Erlyn Umpal, mother of the son of slain UNTV cameraman McGilbert Arriola. Umpal, along with other protesters, marched down the streets of Morayta and Mendiola in Manila on Friday in protest of Justice Secretary

By MINDANEWS ILIGAN CITY. —Two towns in Lanao del Norte might be placed under the control of the Commission on Elections in view of violent incidents between contending parties, Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo of the province’s second district said. Dimaporo, speaking in the program Balitang Panlalawigan over radio station dxLS on Monday, was referring to the

By BUENA C. BERNAL COMING on the heels of the botched multimillion-peso ballot secrecy folder contract, a poll watchdog group has asked the Commission on Elections to explain how the P16.5 billion fund for the May elections is being used. The National Citizens’ Movement For Free Elections said Comelec should exercise a “policy of disclosure.”

By MINDANEWS GENERAL SANTOS CITY. – The roadside bomb attack on a convoy of Sarangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez before noon Monday was reportedly considered a minor blast as only the explosive’s blasting cap went off, police officials said late Monday afternoon. Senior Supt. Restito Gatera, Sarangani police director, said results of their investigation showed

From abs-cbnnews.com “THESE networks should get their act together. It’s time for a big debate.” Less than a month to Election Day, youth-based organization Youth Vote Philippines is calling for the three major television networks–ABS-CBN, GMA Network and TV5–to jointly organize a presidential debate forum to further the quality of discourse of the issues. Niel

By FRANKLIN Q. DE GUZMAN Archdiocesan Social Action Apostolate Lingayen-Dagupan BINMALEY, Pangasinan. — Come May 10, expect an organized group of citizen journalists in Central Pangasinan to give a blow-by-blow account of the election, said to be a first in the province’s history. “Our Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) volunteers will serve as the

By MINDANEWS ILIGAN CITY. –Three of the five women running for the city council here presented their agenda and stance on various in a forum held on Friday. Marlene Young (Nacionalista Party), a lawyer, pushed for livelihood assistance for women, access to legal services and implementation of the Magna Carta for women. She also wanted

By MELVIN PURZUELO Green Forum – Western Visayas ILOILO CITY. —Candidates sometimes say the darnedest things. In GMA7’s Ang Pamangkot shown recently, gubernatorial candidates Barotac Viejo Mayor Raul Tupas (LP), House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor  (Lakas-Kampi-CMD) and independent Norberto Gil were asked about natural calamities, agenda for the youth and governance.

DAVAO CITY.– Independent presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas has asked the Commission on Elections to postpone the May 10 polls by three months to avoid a possible failure of elections that may result from defects in the new automated election system (AES). “The Comelec is not yet prepared. Many PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) machines are

By RONALD RAMAO Diocese of Malaybalay, Bukidnon MALAYBALAY CITY, Bukidnon. –Four towns and a city in Bukidnon identified as election hot spots will be the target of security deployment plans of the military and police officials of this vote-rich province in Mindanao for the May 10 polls. San Fernando, Kibawe, Talakag, and Kitaotao towns and

By BUENA BERNAL and PAULINE DYCOCO WITH 23 days to go before elections, a group of information technology (IT) professionals has urged the electoral body to adopt a simple, doable and transparent system to ensure the credibility of the polls. They call it the simplified parallel count, a procedure they said could “plug the holes”

By ROSLYN ARAYATA Alyansa Tigil Mina MAJORITY of the presidential candidates favor a revision of the country’s mining policy, a survey of a network of green groups revealed. Conducted on the third week of February by the Green Electoral Initiative (GEI) led by EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace, the results showed that six of the seven

By MELVIN PURZUELO Green Forum-Western Visayas ILOILO CITY. —It’s yes to “Cha-cha” and to mining for all three congressional candidates here. In a debate aired on Bombo Radyo last Saturday, Iloilo City Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr., Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and former Iloilo City Mayor Mansueto Malabor were asked about Charter change, specifically the

By ABDULBASIT BENITO Bangsamoro Center for JustPeace in the Philippines Inc. BULUAN, Maguindanao. —If he wins, he will turn Maguindanao into a gun-less society. Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu promised this during the Gubernatorial Candidates Forum and Dialogue held on April 6, the first of a series of dialogues between candidates and civil society

By FRANKLIN Q. DE GUZMAN Archdiocesan Social Action Apostolate Lingayen-Dagupan DAGUPAN CITY. — More than 30 judges, lawyers, and volunteers representing the different parishes of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan (ALD) and the Diocese of Alaminos are being trained to serve as legal and paralegal volunteers in the coming elections in Pangasinan. Attending the Legal and

By BELINDO AGUILAR Cor Jesu College DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur.–Go to mass and learn how to vote. This is the message of a unique brand of voter education campaign that the Church and civil society groups launched here, with a month to go before elections. Before every mass at the Mary Mediatrix Cathedral in

LIBERAL Party (LP) presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino III, scoring a 37 percent voting preference, continues to lead the other presidential contenders. In second place is Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar (Nacionalista Party [NP]) with 25 percent voter support.

By MALU CADELINA-MANAR MindaNews KIDAPAWAN CITY.– North Cotabato vice-governor Emmanuel Pinol will not give in to the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) demand for payment of a “permit-to-campaign” and “permit to win” despite the latter’s declaration it would continue to launch attacks in Pinol’s stronghold. Pinol said that since he started campaigning for a government post

By BUSINESSWORLD ONLY one new name has made it to the “Magic 12” list of possible senatorial winners, with reelectionists again dominating the race, results of the latest BusinessWorld-Social Weather Stations Pre-Election survey showed. Staying in first place in the March 19-22 poll was reelectionist Sen. Ramon B. Revilla, Jr. of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD with

By BUSINESSWORLD SENATOR Manuel “Mar” A. Roxas of the Liberal Party continues to dominate the contest for the vice-presidency despite a three-point drop in his voter preference score, leading Senator Loren B. Legarda who saw her support eroded by the same margin. The latest BusinessWorld-Social Weather Stations (SWS) Pre-Election Survey, conducted last March 19-22 just

By BUSINESSWORLD LIBERAL Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III has opened up a nine-point lead over his nearest rival for the presidency, fellow legislator and Nacionalista Party bet Sen. Manuel “Manny” B. Villar Jr., based on the results of the latest BusinessWorld-Social Weather Stations Pre-Election Survey. Mr. Aquino picked up a point

FROM behind bars, former Lieutenant Senior Grade James Layug formally launched on Sunday his campaign to represent the second district of Taguig City in the House of Representatives with a motorcade by his supporters. “It is my conviction to fulfill our hopes and dreams. We, the people of Taguig, should have better employment, improved healthcare,

THREE of the country’s leading statistics experts have urged institutions conducting electoral surveys to open their methods to public scrutiny and peer review. Former National Statistics Office Administrator Tomas P. Africa, former Philippine Statistical Association president Jose Ramon G. Albert and PSA life member Corinne B. Burgos also cautioned the public against results from surveys

By MINDANEWS GENERAL SANTOS CITY.– World boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao will temporarily set aside his recent ring exploits once he arrives here on Friday as he takes on another shot for a congressional post through the lone district of Sarangani province in the upcoming May 10 synchronized national and local elections. Dominico Congson, chair of

SMARTMATIC-Total Information Management Inc. (TIM), the consortium that won the poll automation project, said Thursday it has printed 22 million or a little over half of the 50 million ballots needed in the May elections. By weekend, total number of ballots printed would reach  25 million, Smartmatic said in an update it released amid continuing

AN international delegation that visited the country last week said suspicions and the lack of trust fuel the public’s general anxiety over the 2010 automated elections. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has yet to clarify and issue instructions on a range of outstanding issues — from addressing contingency planning, accessing automated election system source codes,

By MINDANEWS DAVAO CITY–Politics was the main fare tackled in a gathering recently held in Davao City by some 100 youth leaders from all over Mindanao, and speaker after speaker urged the participants to get involved in it. But something was conspicuously missing – the faces of politicians who would normally exploit such event especially