Archive - Focus

THE transfer of ownership to wives or husbands of properties that may have been acquired illegally has been a practice by government officials who cannot explain their wealth acquisition. Another common means is to place properties in corporations, former Civil Service Commission chair Karina David told Umagang Kay Ganda Tuesday. “Ginagawa talaga iyan ng mga

THE house at 1655 Beach Park Blvd. in Foster City, California remains registered in the name of Angela Arroyo Montenegro, wife of presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, data from the San Mateo County assessor’s office show. As of Monday, Aug. 31, the latest entry in the assessor’s office was dated April

COMMISSION on Elections spokesperson James Jimenez on Monday answered point by point the questions raised by computer expert Pablo Manalastas in connection with next year’s automated elections, including the possibility of computerized cheating.  Following is the full text of his reply (La Verdad), which appeared in his blog: In an article out of the VERA

By YVONNE T. CHUA WHAT could possibly go wrong in the automated national elections in May 2010? Just because voting will be computerized does not mean it will be error- or problem-free, said Prof. Pablo Manalastas, a faculty member of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Computer Science Department and lecturer at the University of the

Vigilance. This was what an American election watchdog expert and leader of a voters’ advocacy group said must be maintained even as the Philippines will automate its national elections for the first time in May 2010.

By YVONNE T. CHUA CAGAYAN DE ORO.—The monthlong Muslim rite of Ramadan or Puasa begins Friday. But Babu Siti, an elderly Maguindanao woman, fears she would be observing the fasting period for the second straight year not at home but at an evacuation center in Datu Piang, Maguindanao. She and 300,000 other civilians have been

THE New York Post and Washington Post reported on Wednesday yet another expensive meal President Gloria Arroyo and her entourage partook of during her recent working visit to the United States. This time, it was at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Washington, D.C., on July 30, a few days before her $20,000 dinner in New York’s

SETTING aside the ambivalence and mistrust that have characterized their relationship, members of the political Left honored on Saturday night the late President Corazon Aquino, saying she was a sincere leader who was one with the Filipino people in their fight against corruption, fraud and dictatorship. The tribute was held at the Bantayog ng mga

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS PRESS Secretary Cerge Remonde confirmed Saturday the $20,000 or almost P1 million dinner President Gloria Arroyo had at New York’s posh Le Cirque restaurant earlier this week during her working visit to the U.S., but said Malacanang did not foot the bill. “Yes, I was there. It was on the invitation of

PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo’s $20,000 or almost P1 million dinner at New York’s posh Le Cirque restaurant on Aug. 2 has landed her on “Page 6” of the New York Post.  The Aug. 7 entry in the Post’s most-read gossip column said “Macapagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to

TIME magazine paid tribute to former President Corazon Aquino, featuring her again on the cover of its Aug. 17 issue. Calling Mrs. Aquino “The Saint of Democracy,” Time recalled how the former housewife became the country’s and Asia’s first female president through People Power in 1986 and inspired the rest of the world: “The only

THE country laid to rest Wednesday night Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, the housewife who reluctantly became a president and who, by the end of her life, became a beloved leader. Mrs. Aquino was interred beside her husband, former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Jr., at the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque 10 hours after a requiem mass at

READ VERA Files’ real-time account of former President Corazon Aquino’s funeral, from the morning requiem mass to the nine-hour funeral procession and finally to the interment at the Manila Memorial Park.  The blog contains text, photos and videos of VERA Files writers and “tweets” from selected sites.  It logged a total of 14 hours, from

A PERSON of courage in adversity and a woman of humility when she gained power. That was how former President Corazon C. Aquino was as sister, friend, boss and mother. As they struggled to hold back their tears, family members, friends, former appointed officials and a security aide of Mrs. Aquino described the woman who

By TESSA JAMANDRE NOW it can be told. On Feb. 24, 2006, on the 20th anniversary of People Power, former President Corazon Aquino was supposed to have linked arms with both the forces that were loyal to her and had threatened her government during the 1989 bloody coup attempt. Aquino, with Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim

TWO children of former president Ferdinand Marcos paid their respects to his successor and once bitter enemy, Corazon Aquino, as she lay in state at the Manila Cathedral this afternoon. Marcos’ eldest daughter, Imee, and only son, Ferdinand Jr. (Bongbong), arrived at 3 p.m. as Aquino’s family and friends, as well as her former cabinet

YELLOW confetti again rained in profusion over Ayala Avenue in Makati this noon as the truck bearing the body of former President Corazon Aquino traversed the busy street in the country’s financial district that led the fight against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the twilight years of his presidency. About 25,000 people (according to police

By LUZ RIMBAN IF Filipinos are inconsolable over former President Corazon Aquino’s death, that’s because to them she was “Inang Bayan” personified. Inang Bayan was the role “Tita Cory” played in the big production called Philippine politics, said television and movie director and scriptwriter Joey Reyes, in the documentary “Papogi: The Imaging of Philippine Presidents,”