By MARK MADRONA FIVE days after the nation trooped to the polls, the Commission on Elections officially wrapped up its canvassing for the 2013 senatorial elections by proclaiming the last three winners in the race on Saturday. The proclamation of San Juan Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito, re-electionist Gregorio Honasan, and former Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar
By VERA FILES CAN you do the math, and fast? Amid apprehensions over “untenable figures” used to proclaim the top nine senatorial candidates, a poll watchdog says there are two remaining ways to silence allegations of fraudulent results. The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections yesterday said one way to crosscheck figures is through the parallel
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 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 LALA ORDENES and IRENE ROSALES CEBU City—Unless they grow a pair of wings on election day, 1,770 public school teachers who are on poll duty here may not be able to cast their votes on May 13. Three teachers will man each of Cebu City’s 592 clustered precincts as members of the Board of
By MIKHA FLORES THE Commission on Elections has identified the 234 towns and municipalities across the country where a random manual audit (RMA) will be conducted after the May 13 elections. Election Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said the audit will check whether the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines accurately counted the votes cast. “It is
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 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 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
