Archive - Vote 2013

By JONATHAN DE SANTOS DASMARIÑAS CITY, Cavite—Josephine Bae carefully shaded the ovals on the ballot as her mother looked on. When she was done, she eagerly showed her handiwork to the “visitor” at the precinct. It was 22-year-old Bae’s first time to vote on Monday. But unlike other voters, Bae, who has Down Syndrome, was

PESO bills circulating in Samar province had taken on a slightly different look till the runup to election day itself.  On their face appeared new names: those of candidates, both administration and opposition, that dwarfed the names of heroes to whom the bills have been assigned. In Cabanatuan City, eight Ford XLT 15-seater passengers unloaded about

By MIKHA FLORES THE Commission on Elections, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), suspended the canvassing of party-lists but expedited the tallying of votes for senators in order to meet its self-imposed deadline to proclaim them on Wednesday evening. “The better ruling is for us to suspend the party-list, proceed with the senatorial

CANDIDATES from the government’s coalition party, led by Grace Poe, are leading the senatorial race as of Tuesday morning, according to an unofficial parallel count conducted by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV). With results from about 48,291 precincts counted, or nearly 50 percent of total precincts nationwide, Poe, the daughter of famous

By MIKHA FLORES The 2013 mid-term elections had a rough start in many precincts in parts of the country because of malfunctioning machines that caused delays, frustration and even fears among  voters that they might not be able to cast their votes. Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes, Jr said they have received reports

By VERA Files CANDIDATES in Monday’s midterm elections have been using “Mother’s Day” and birthday celebrations, among others, as cover to buy votes, a political think tank said Sunday. A statement issued by Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) on election eve said election cheating has worsened and poll automation “is powerless against it.” CenPEG

By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews DAVAO CITY – The Dimaporos of Lanao del Norte and the Plazas of Agusan del Sur are the longest-surviving political clans in Mindanao, having ruled their areas for at least half a century, interrupted only briefly when the People Power revolt ousted the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, replaced local chief

By MELISSA LUZ LOPEZ OF the 36,778 polling centers in the country, only two—both in Dasmariñas City in Cavite—will have designated polling places for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Monday’s elections. And only 17 voting centers will have two sign language interpreters each to assist PWD voters registered there. Salawag Elementary School and Area E

By MIKHA FLORES THE Supreme Court stopped the Commission on Elections on Friday from imposing limits on cash withdrawals intended to curb vote-buying during the election period. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno issued the status quo ante order after the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) questioned the constitutionality of Resolution 9688 which limits cash

By VINCE NONATO, LEILANIE ADRIANO, REYNARD MAGTOTO and CLTV 36 Was it a P1.4 billion well spent? Airfreight 2100 (Air 21), one of the two freight and cargo forwarding firms awarded by the Commission on Elections a P1.4 billion contract to deploy poll machines on Monday, caused massive delays and confusion in polling precincts for

By MIKHA FLORES AFTER starting with more than 300 names, party-lists allowed to run in the May 13 elections are now down to a little over a hundred. They will be vying for 58 seats in Congress. The Commission on Elections began with 352 party-lists—187 holdovers from the 2010 elections and 165 new entrants. The

By MIKHA FLORES, MELISSA LUZ LOPEZ, MARK PERE MADRONA and VINCE NONATO DELAYS, confusion and malfunctioning machines marred the testing on Monday of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, raising fears that these incidents might cause voter disenfranchisement on election day. But Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. dismissed these incidents as minor glitches

By MIKHA FLORES THE good news is the source code for the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines will be finally available for review by interested groups and political parties. The bad news is any review will not be completed until after the May 13 elections. Commission on Elections Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Monday

By MIKHA FLORES ELECTION watchdogs and civil society organizations filed a complaint against the Commission on Elections before an international human rights body on Friday for allegedly compromising the May 13 elections and violating their right to vote. A group of 33 individuals from civil society groups filed a 52-page complaint before the United Nations

By LUCILLE SODIPE CEBU City–Just like any brand of shampoo, diaper, energy drink or deodorant, candidates need to be properly ‘packaged’ to become sellable to the Filipino voters. With the help of image builders, they employ various marketing strategies to convince voters they are the best brand in the market. Political analyst Prospero De Vera

By JOHANNE MARGARETTE R. MACOB DAGUPAN City – Who’s the better man? Or who’s facing fewer charges? It’s a battle all the way to the top for Pangasinan gubernatorial candidates Amado Espino Jr and Hernani Braganza in their race to claim Urduja House, amid plunder charges filed against them. Just last week, both candidates were

By MELISSA LUZ LOPEZ CALOOCAN City -A sea of yellow bathed the Caloocan High School Auditorium. No, it was not a campaign rally for administration candidates. Rather, it was the signing of a manifesto of support for a 10-point agenda asserting the rights of persons with disabilities (PWDs). With the theme “Action! To Make the Right

By MIKHA FLORES AN irritated Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. scolded citizens’ arm National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) for publicly airing their concerns for the May 13 elections. Brillantes said NAMFREL, as an accredited citizens’ arm, should refrain from making public statements especially those that are critical of Comelec’s preparation for the midterm

By MIKHA FLORES THE Commission on Elections has promised improved random manual audit (RMA) system for the May 13 elections with “new rules and innovations” using lessons learned from the 2010 elections and the mock polls last February. Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, who is in charge of the manual audit, told VERA Files the RMA

By CLTV 36 SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga—The good news about the elections in Central Luzon is that only a tiny fraction of candidates running for public office in the May 13 elections comes from political families. The bad news is that Pampanga has the highest number of candidates for various positions who hail from those dynasties,

By VINCE NONATO TO this Baptist church in Quezon City, Paul Watser is what you may call a good Christian. He’s tall, he’s young, he reads the Bible, he votes. Watser is a character in a series of shorts depicting the story of an ordinary, church-going, apathetic college student. And for the first time last

LET this be a warning to voters. All may not turn out right on election day. Take the case of James Jimenez, the spokesman of the Commission on Elections, who will be unable to cast his vote on May 13. He checked his status in the Comelec’s precinct finder only to find that his name

By JONATHAN DE SANTOS RESIDENTS of Casiguran opposed to the construction and land conversion at the Aurora Pacific Economic and Freeport Zone (APECO) may be barking up the wrong tree, APECO spokesman Kent Avestruz said Tuesday. In a telephone interview with Vera Files, Avestruz said APECO has been doing road construction in areas covered by the

By JONATHAN DE SANTOS CHRISTIAN Losano, an 18-year-old Agta Dumagat, can cite several reasons why he is opposed to the freeport zone project in Aurora province, but he gets really emotional when he talks about how the venture is tearing their community apart. The Aurora Pacific Economic Zone (APECO), the pet project of the Angaras,