Politics

Three days after he typecast the urban poor protesters as lazybones, the militant organized labor led by Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) yesterday turned the tables on Vice President Noli de Castro, branding him as an anti-poor bureaucrat “bootlicking for the Arroyo government” and vowed to campaign against him in the forthcoming elections.

THE recent poll survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showing Noynoy Aquino far ahead of his rivals in the 2010 presidential race may have caused rabid believers in surveys that the Liberal Party standard bearer could well be the next president of the Republic.

Will Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino bow to the Catholic bishops’ pressure on him to toe the Church line against the Reproductive Health bill which the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philppines (CBCP) claims to be anti-life and anti-family and withdraw his sponsorship of the bill in exchange for the Catholic bishops’…

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday doubted the constitutionality of a proposed legislation that would lay down the rules on presidential succession in case the 2010 elections, the first fully-automated polls in Philippine history, should fail.

Over the weekend, a group of 43 Filipino journalists led by editors and senior correspondents of mainstream media held a two-day conference entitled “The Frontiers of Transparency” on the occasion of the 6th Summit of the Philippine News Media at the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo City.

A LOT of people are saying Noynoy Aquino lacks the charisma to be president. They say he doesn’t talk well. They say he doesn’t carry himself well. Some even say he doesn’t look very “presidential,” whatever that means.

MANILA, Philippines – A private polling and political advocacy group yesterday expressed doubts on the accuracy of surveys showing Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III leading by a huge margin among the 2010 presidential aspirants.

MANILA – This is the result of the first presidential survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations that includes Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. The survey was taken between Sept. 5 and 6 and was commissioned by a number of private individuals, including some members of the business community.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has rated strongly in a survey of presidential contenders conducted shortly before the announcement of his intention to run in the 2010 elections under the Liberal Party.

MANILA, Philippines – Lawmakers yesterday expressed apprehension that a leadership vacuum will result if there is a failure of elections next year.

Here’s the opposition’s dirty little secret: There is no such thing as unity right now, and there probably won’t be when the polls close in May. And if the opposition really wants to win it all in next year’s elections, the first thing it has to do is perhaps to drop the pretense of seeking…

The dramatic events which happened on Sept. 1 at the Club Filipino, where Mar Roxas, quoting from a speech of his grandfather, Manuel A. Roxas, the first president of the Republic, said he was putting “Country above self,” tossed the baton of leadership and, effectively, the presidential nomination, to the junior senator from Tarlac, Benigno…

There is no doubt that the political stock of Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas has risen quite sharply with his surprising announcement in giving way to the presidential bid of Sen. Benigno “”Noynoy” Aquino III and accepting to be his vice presidential candidate. But as of press time, Noynoy has not yet made the decision to…

Civil socialites who were earlier for Sen. Mar Roxas as presidential bet dumped him for Noynoy Aquino, after they saw the opportunity to ride on the public sympathy shown during the wake and funeral of former President Corazon Aquino, in the belief that the sympathy wave would translate to votes for Noynoy. They certainly had…

MANILA, Philippines – Four out of 10 Filipinos disapprove of President Arroyo’s performance and continue to distrust her, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey released yesterday.

WE are unable to read minds, so we can only guess at what was really going through Senator Mar Roxas’ brain when he decided to sacrifice his presidential ambitions in favor of his friend, Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, whose unremarkable record as a lawmaker is an open book.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II made the “supreme sacrifice” and announced yesterday that he would give way to Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party in the 2010 elections.

Sen. Manuel Villar led the choice among 1,200 respondents in a survey on the preference for president for next year’s elections conducted by The Center with 20 percent followed by former President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Francis Escudero in a tie for second and third places both with 16 percent, which comes to an almost…

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Manny Villar Jr. topped the two-stage sampling conducted by the Issues and Advocacy Center (The Center) from Aug. 18-23, 2009 among some 1,200 respondents nationwide from the different social classes and whose number were pro-rated based on the percentages relative to the number of voters in the last 2007 elections.

It’s been on many people’s lips: “The way Manny Villar is buying up everyone and everything with his money in clearing his path to the presidency. He’ll be worse than Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo” who has bought with corruption money everything from elections and watchdogs, to police and AFP generals, princes of the Catholic Church and other…

Election fever is here again, and an old question once more comes to the fore: the involvement of the Church in politics. Granting that the hierarchy itself should not be involved in partisan politics, the following questions have been asked: 1) Can Associations of Christian Faithful—either public or private—engage in partisan politics? 2) If Public…

Why is there a surge of “religious politicians”? Do the appearance and political prominence of Gov. Ed Panlilio of Pampanga, a Catholic priest suspended from exercising his priestly faculties (powers and functions)—and Protestant Brother Eddie Villanueva, leader of the Jesus Is Lord Movement, and Brother Mike Velarde of the El Shaddai Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement—improve…

Predicting the future is tough enough given the reality that we mere mortals aren’t directly connected to God, deregulation of telecoms not withstanding. But the less uncertainty there is, the easier it is to run a business successfully. The President, by not making a clear categorical statement that she would not try to extend her…

The July 28 to Aug. 10 Pulse Asia survey on senatorial preferences shows the following:

At least three left-leaning congressmen are bent on running for senator in the 2010 elections and one of them has agreed to join the senatorial ticket of deposed President Joseph Estrada’s political party.

The automation of the 2010 elections is a step in the right direction to insure that the results are accurate and will be known in a matter of hours. But it does not necessarily insure that the winners are the best and the wisest choices of the electorate. More important than automation is the education…

MANILA, Philippines – Catholic bishops have vowed to continue to support pro-life groups in opposing the passage of the controversial Reproductive Health Bill.

Leads with 21% rating in field of 10 bets Former President Joseph Estrada, who has yet to declare his candidacy in the 2010 presidential race, has dislodged Nacionalista Party standard bearer Sen. Manuel Villar in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted last June 19 to 22, 2009, with a respondents base of 1,500…

SENATOR Mar Roxas is allying himself with the Left to boost his stock among the poor, who comprise the majority of voters, and increase his chances for the presidency next year, says Senator Franklin Drillon, chairman of the Liberal Party of which Roxas is a member.

According to a blog post citing an article in a newspaper, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero asked Filipinos to stop negative tirades against President Arroyo because she should not anymore be an issue in 2010. Posted on the blog of Ladlad founder and Ateneo Prof.