Archive - Vote 2013

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS Election period started Sunday night, Jan. 13 in connection with the May 13, 2013 synchronized national and local elections. It’s a 120- day period that will end on June 12. Election being an important exercise in a democracy, the government wants to make sure that the environment is conducive to the people

By ACE ESMERALDA THE election period in the Philippines began Sunday and signalled the start of a nationwide total gun ban expected to minimize election-related offenses, particularly gun-related violence among political groups and clans. For many, the gun ban brings some relief, especially since the country enters this period with heightened fear of gun-related violence.

By MIKHA FLORES PRESIDENT Aquino has asked the Commission on Elections to exempt him from the gun ban that takes effect nationwide when the election period starts on Sunday, a Comelec official said Thursday. Elections Commissioner Elias Yusoph said Aquino, a known gun enthusiast, filed for a personal exemption Thursday morning at his office. The

By MIKHA FLORES COMMISSION on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. is proposing that the two new commissioners President Aquino will soon appoint be named “consultants” first before their formal appointment to allow them to already participate in the poll body’s deliberations. “The President can announce who will be appointed so that by Feb. 2 or

By MIKHA FLORES THE Commission on Elections is moving the ballot configuration originally set on Friday to its “deadliest deadline,” Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said Wednesday. During the configuration, Comelec will finalize the ballot face in both the national and local elections. The front face will include all elective positions in the national level: senators

By MIKHA FLORES THE  Commission on Elections has asked a Laguna court to let it take over a warehouse storing poll automation machines for the 2013 elections. Elections Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said Comelec filed two suits in a Biñan court seeking to expropriate the warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna that houses the 82,000 Precinct Count

By MIKHA FLORES CABANATUAN City would have to wait until after the May 13 elections to get residents to vote on a proposal to turn it from a component city of Nueva Ecija province into a highly urbanized city (HUC). The Commission on Elections on Tuesday again denied the city’s motion for reconsideration to schedule

By MIKHA FLORES THE Commission on Elections stands to save more than P200 million worth of taxpayers’ money after the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) has allowed it to re-use ballot boxes used in 2010. In a resolution dated Dec. 4, the PET approved a petition filed by Comelec Law Department Director Esmeralda Amora-Ladra to use the

By JONATHAN DE SANTOS IT has taken Congress a quarter of a century to craft a law that will make the Constitutional ban on political dynasties real, but Fr. Leo Casas, candidate for governor of Masbate province, says citizens are not powerless against political clans that dominate politics. At a forum on political dynasties at

THE Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) recently awarded financial grants to 11 projects that seek to advance democracy, ensure security and stability, and stimulate sustainable economic growth. VERA Files is among the 11 recipients of the competitive small grants program.

By YVONNE T. CHUA
THE Commission on Elections filed last year a case against a candidate in a small town for overspending in the 2010 elections, said to be a first in the annals of the poll body. But that was out of sheer luck.

By LALA ORDENES “THE election is war, there is no room for gentleness.” This is the advice of newly appointed Comelec Commissioner Grace Padaca to non-governmental organization (NGO) members who are fielding or supporting candidates in the 2013 elections.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES BANGUED, Abra—The filing of certificates of candidacy for local positions last week signals the approaching election season, and for inmates at the Abra Provincial Jail (APJ), this could mean one thing: Freedom.

By LORIE ANN A. CASCARO with a report from CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews DAVAO CITY —The Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is confident it can beat the deadline of six months given for the review of Republic Act 9054 (Expanded Organic Act for the ARMM) as it has so far “achieved two major things,” RLA Speaker Rasol Y. Mitmug Jr. said.

By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews DAVAO CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has found through its Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) at least 61,416 double/multiple registrants in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as of September 11.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES The hearings of the Election Registration Board (ERB) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has been postponed again. Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution 9519 promulgated September 13 moved the ERB schedule to November. The postponement was made based on the recommendation of lawyer Teofisto Elnas Jr, Director IV of the Election and Barangay Affairs Department.

By VERA Files UMINGAN, Pangasinan – This town posted the highest turnout of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the province’s special voters registration, thanks to the efficient coordination of municipal government agencies, local leaders and PWD organizations.

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES SULU residents are bent on filing an objection to the list of voting applicants, despite possible reprisals and threats to their lives, Sulu’s second district representative said.