Archive - Focus

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS EVEN in detention, Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao continues to issue orders to kill those he suspects would expose his role in the Nov. 23 massacre, a former hitman of the Ampatuans revealed Tuesday. In an interview with reporters, “Jesse” (not his real name) said around four

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, AVIGAIL OLARTE, YVONNE CHUA and LUZ RIMBAN THE controversial $1.32-million house at 1655 Beach Park Blvd in Foster City, California is no longer listed in the name of presidential daughter-in-law Angela Arroyo Montenegro, wife of First Son and Pampanga representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo. Arroyo lawyers and associates quietly reported the transfer

By RAISSA ROBLES CLOSE allies of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo are behind the new polling firm StratPOLLS Inc., which recently showed administration candidate Gilberto Teodoro surging dramatically in its recent survey of presidential candidates. Aware of the power of surveys to sway voters come election day, Congress enacted the Fair Election Act in 2001

By RAISSA ROBLES VOTERS are deluged with surveys during the election season. But they can better appreciate and understand these surveys with the following tips from Dr. Elena Pernia, former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication and communications research professor. Find out who the persons are behind the polling firm

By PUNTO CENTRAL LUZON SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga. —The Second Division of the Commission on Elections on Thursday declared former provincial board member Lilia Pineda won by 1,561 votes over Gov. Eddie Panlilio in the 2007 elections. In an interview with Punto, Second Division chairman Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer stressed, however, that the decision was not immediately

By YOUTH VOTE PHILIPPINES and VERA Files THE country’s first national automated election system promises faster counting and canvassing of votes and less opportunities for massive cheating, but if the technical glitches and other problems observed at the recent mock polls are not addressed, voters could expect more serious ones come election day in May.

By PUNTO CENTRAL LUZON SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga.—A close ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may yet regain the governorship of Pampanga, the province where she is seeking a congressional seat in the May elections. The Commission on Elections is scheduled to promulgate on Thursday its decision on the electoral case filed by former provincial board

By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS MindaNews DAVAO CITY.–The Ampatuans, Mangudadatus, Midtimbangs, Sinsuats, Masturas, Sangkis comprise the majority among Maguindanao’s 879 candidates running for 374 posts: two congressional representatives to Congress, one governor, one vice-governor, 10 provincial board members, 36 mayors, 36 vice mayors and 288 municipal board members or councilors.

By BENJAMIN S. LUIS THEY thought by now, nearly two months after their loved ones perished in the country’s worst pre-election violence in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao, they were already past grief. And so, when the widows and mother of nine slain journalists and the daughter of a missing newsman met recently with a prominent psychiatrist

By MYLAH REYES ROQUE THEIR husbands were close friends but their wives did not know one another. The Ampatuan massacre changed that. When they finally met, Myrna Reblando, Glenna Legarta and Mary Jean Merisco would refer to each other as 17, 20 and 19—the numbers assigned by the police to the bodies of their husbands

THE international outrage generated by last month’s massacre in Maguindanao of 57 men and women, half of them journalists, may offer opportunities to make progress in the areas of justice, security and peace, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in its latest update. The Philippines: After the Maguindanao Massacre, the update briefing from the ICG,

2009 is the deadliest year for journalists worldwide, with the election-related massacre of 31 journalists and media workers in the Nov. 23 Maguindanao massacre fuelling the record toll of 68, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. In its yearend analysis, the CPJ said the killings in Maguindanao make up the “deadliest event