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By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES and AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN BULDON, Maguindanao— Voters literally chased after ballot boxes in hotly contested towns in Maguindanao on barangay election day, while in others, there was hardly anyone outside the homes.

By VERA Files SENIOR citizens and persons with disabilities became the darlings of the press when they cast their ballots for the first time in SM malls on Monday. In Batangas, the media fussed over Reymundo Chica and his wife Melanie, both with visual impairment, as they entered SM Lipa, one of the four pilot areas

  By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES COTABATO CITY—Elections in some barangays in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Monday will be just a formality: There will be no real contest because a number of candidates are running unopposed. Local politicos in these areas have opted to “negotiate” the elections as a way to avert

By AVIGAIL OLARTE, LALA ORDENES and YVONNE T. CHUA (UPDATED) CEBU CITY—A powerful earthquake on Tuesday morning took Central Visayas by surprise, forcing residents to stay off the streets and businesses to close shop as a series of aftershocks continued to shake the city till evening. The epicenter of the 7.2-magnitude temblor struck Carmen in

  Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA IF Dr. Alfredo Mahar Francisco Lagmay, executive director of the Nationwide Operational Assessments of Hazards (NOAH), had his way, politics would be outlawed in disaster work. Speaking at the University of the Philippines Alumni Association’s “Kapihan ng Bayan sa UP,” he said local officials and their communities must

By JONATHAN DE SANTOS FORMER employees of the Commission on Human Rights have accused two commissioners of abusing their positions, prompting human rights advocates to write President Benigno Aquino III to urge tighter screening of appointees. The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) released the letter on Thursday at a press conference attended by

  By DANA BATNAG IT WILL be a much-anticipated media event, but the filing of complaints against senators and congressmen allegedly involved in the pork barrel scam is unlikely to result in fireworks or other earthshaking political upheavals. That’s because filing a complaint with the Ombudsman is just the start of a long process—one that

By YEN BLANCO DELGADO ZAMBOANGA CITY—Residents of Zamboanga City are bracing for the worst, after the standoff between the military and the Moro National Liberation Front remained unresolved by nightfall.

  By ELLEN TORDESILLAS THE Department of Foreign Affairs issued Monday a media briefer on the China-Asean Expo (CAEXPO) but skipped the issue that President Aquino was not informed that China had canceled as early as Aug. 23 his planned attendance at the event on Sept. 3. DFA’s failure to relay China’s message to Malacañang

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS EARLY last week, President Aquino was telling everybody—from the Vietnamese defense minister  to guests at the 2013 Apolinario Mabini Awards in Malacanang—that he was pushing through with his Sept. 3 visit to China. The media reported the trip on Wednesday, and quoted the President saying, “Bibiyahe ho tayo next week. Mahaba hong

By JONATHAN DE SANTOS THE rallyists had their own calls and campaigns and clung to their own advocacies, but for a few hours at least, they were united in calling for the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the prosecution of lawmakers and individuals involved in the allocation of public money to fake

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS  ALLEGED big-time pork barrel operator Janet Lim-Napoles has close ties with a Malacañang consultant whom President Benigno Aquino III ordered fired as soon as he discovered the connection two weeks ago. Brian Raymund Yamsuan, consultant to Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa, was ordered dismissed after he was mentioned as having brokered Napoles’

By YVONNE T.  CHUA PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III announced Friday his administration is set to “abolish” the infamous Priority Development Assistance Fund, or PDAF.  But “pork barrel,” in reality, is staying. In Aquino’s own words, legislators will retain the discretion to “identify and suggest projects” for their districts under a new mechanism the budget

By LUZ RIMBAN THE  tape recording starts with the sound of the plane landing and people talking among themselves. “Everybody remains on board,” one of them says. Moments later, a single gunshot rings out and women are wailing. “What happened? What was that?” a woman’s voice asks. More gunshots. The wailing becomes louder. Then an

Slideshow by LUIS LIWANAG PORTIONS of Roxas District in Quezon City have again gone under water as relentless rain brought on by typhoon “Maring” and the monsoon caused the San Juan River to overflow. Like in the previous great deluges in 2009 (“Ondoy”) and last year (the monsoon or “habagat”), floodwaters reached chest to one-story

By TESSA JAMANDRE PRESIDENT Aquino is going on a one-day trip to China on Sept. 3 in what is seen as an effort to end strained relations with China triggered by the standoff in Bajo de Masinloc in April last year. The President has accepted China’s invitation to attend the 10th ASEAN-China Expo (CAEXPO) to

By JOHNNA VILLAVIRAY  GIOLAGON THE new accord being negotiated by the Philippines and the United States on increased American presence in the country will be covered by an executive agreement and will not be subjected to a Senate ratification. “We are looking at this agreement to be between the Department of National Defense and the

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS THE Aquino government  will announce tomorrow the start of the talks with the United States on providing increased access by American military personnel to Philippine facilities. The briefing to be conducted by  Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin will be held tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.  at the Patio