Politics

MANILA, Philippines—Where did the money come from? A party-list group claiming to represent poor children has been able to afford television ad placements costing about P24 million with the country’s biggest network, according to an election consortium monitoring campaign spending.

MANILA, Philippines – The Liberal Party (LP) said yesterday its standard-bearer, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his running mate, Sen. Manuel Roxas II were the most trusted by Filipino voters among public figures and among all candidates running in the presidential and vice-presidential elections on May 10, according to a Pulse Asia survey.

IS IT A TIE?: Postscript has questioned some partisans’ calling a “statistical tie” the close ranking of presidential bets Noynoy Aquino (36 percent, Liberal) and Manny Villar (34 percent, Nacionalista) in the Feb. 24-28 nationwide survey of the Social Weather Stations.

SWS SURVEY MANILA, Philippines—Four of 10 registered voters, or 38 percent, will vote for candidates who favor the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey.

MANILA, Philippines – Most Filipino voters will support candidates who favor the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in the May 10 elections, a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

Independent survey ranks Teodoro No. 2 It is now a three-man race to Malacañang, according to an independent survey whose results were released on Thursday.

The results of the mock presidential election held by the University of Sto. Tomas is out. It is no longer surprising that former Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro topped the mock elections participated in by more than 13,000 students with 32.5 percent of the “votes” since he has emerged number in all surveys conducted in…

CEBU, Philippines – A group that has been leading in the fight against the controversial Reproductive Health Bill has announced that it is supporting the candidacy of Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Senator Manny Villar.

SENATORS Benigno Aquino III and Manuel Villar Jr. remained locked in a statistical tie, 34 percent to 32 percent, in Manila Standard’s latest nationwide survey, in contrast to a Pulse Asia poll that showed Aquino pulling ahead.

The Catholic Church will campaign actively against politicians, especially in the northern part of Metro Manila, who are promoting the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill as it vowed to discourage people from voting those who are incompetent and lacking in moral principles.

The last Commission on Elections (Comelec) list of senatorial candidates that I saw had 59 names in it. With only 12 Senate seats up for grabs, the candidacies of 47 of the listed candidates will be unsuccessful. Who will end up in the 12-candidate winning circle will depend upon a trio of factors.

(Fourth of a series) MANILA, Philippines -To help voters make an informed choice in May, The Philippine STAR has started a series of interviews, in no particular order, with candidates for president.

A network of socio-civic organizations has identified Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. as the biggest spender in the 2010 presidential race.

How do the presidential candidates differ and agree on what concerns the president elected in the May elections must focus on?

MANILA, Philippines – Campaign donations from Philippine-based enterprises are expected to be “fewer and smaller” this year than in the 2004 presidential elections, according to a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

MANILA, Philippines – There are less business contributors in the upcoming elections than the last presidential race. Businessmen are also less keen in donating to multiple candidates.

The huge throng, made up largely of women clad mostly in flaring orange, exchanged “Happy Valentine” greetings as they waited for the program to open. On stage were a highly popular evangelist, who also acted as the emcee, and his guests, including two larger-than-life public figures.

Elite conspiracy in Erap ouster confirmed Close to 10 years after the ouster of then sitting President Joseph Estrada through a coup d’etat, which was preceded by the collapse of the Senate impeachment trial deliberately done to trigger street protests, as the then political opposition and the elite civil society walked out of the Senate…

MANILA, Philippines – Television network GMA 7 yesterday took the initiative to call on its talents and showbiz personalities to take a leave of absence if they continue to endorse candidates or political parties during the campaign period.

I decided to attend at least one forum of presidential candidates, the one at the University of the Philippines last Monday. Getting through the UP campus traffic regulations which nevertheless did not prevent chaos was the first challenge. I ended up cluelessly going through the candidates’ entrance which was clogged from the outside by supporters.…

MANILA, Philippines – After bombarding voters with his rags-to-riches story, Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. faced yesterday a critical business group to declare his commitment – and capability – to steer the country out of poverty.

A BILLIONAIRE and four other millionaires lead the pack of those who want to serve as the 15th president of the Philippines, all invariably swearing by an anti-poverty platform, and with some purposely harking on their poverty roots to spin and curry favor with majority of voters who are poor.

MANILA, Philippines – With less than four months to go before the May 10 presidential elections, Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. has overtaken his main rival Sen. Benigno Aquino III by one percentage point in a “one-on-one’ rider survey dished out by Pulse Asia taken from Jan. 22 to 26.

If only Noynoy had more fire in his belly than smoke in his lungs, he wouldn’t have lost his hefty lead over Manny Villar in the presidential race. The problem with Noynoy is that he seems to exude a sense of entitlement to the position… he seems detached which explains what looks like a lack…

FOR BLAMING BABY BOOM FOR HACIENDA WORKERS’ WOES Four of the biggest rural-based organizations in the country yesterday assailed the sisters of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer in the forthcoming presidential elections, Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III for blaming the lack of family planning among tenants and farm workers of Hacienda Luisita as the reason…

SENATOR Manuel Villar Jr. is statistically tied with Senator Benigno Aquino III in the race for the presidency, according to the latest Manila Standard Today poll conducted Jan. 20 to 27.

PETTY, POPULIST: The title “Le coeur d’un homme, le cerveau d’un cochon” of the CTalk column yesterday of Cito Beltran may have sounded Greek (it was French) to some readers, but I do agree with him when he said:

MANILA, Philippines – Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III continued to top the list of presidential candidates in the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), but Nacionalista Party bet Sen. Manny Villar has further narrowed the gap to just seven percentage points.

Now that I have your attention, allow me to translate today’s heading: “The heart of a man, the brains of a pig”.

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has softened his stand on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.