Politics

His vision is simple, nothing fancy, nothing really new, and yet it seems doable only under a leadership of change and transformation, one that Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, the only son of two Philippine democratic icons, vows to pursue if elected as the country’s 15th president.

MANILA, Philippines – Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has seen his margin dwindle to single digit in the race against Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr., results of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed yesterday.

The Comelec decision dismissing three petitions to disqualify President Estrada and the Supreme Court decision throwing out The Vanguard petition also to disqualify him should now debunk the black propaganda of the Nacionalista and Liberal camps that Erap will be disqualified or will withdraw from the 2010 presidential race.

Less than five months before the elections, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd continued to lead other presidential candidates by a sizeable margin, pollster Pulse Asia reported Tuesday.

Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino still leads in the surveys, but his numbers have dropped dramatically, with respondents now giving him only a 31 percent vote, in the latest survey conducted by The Center.

A political group chaired by Senator Edgardo Angara has endorsed l0 senatorial candidates from various parties for the May elections.

MANILA, Philippines – Public satisfaction with the performance of the Arroyo administration fell to a “poor” -23 in the last quarter of 2009, its lowest approval rating in nine years, a survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

Half a year before the event, election violence has begun—horrifically, in Maguindanao province, and more mildly in eight other provinces so far.

MANILA, Philippines – After successfully narrowing the lead of his main rival, Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential bet Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. moved to “evade” the areas perceived to be the bailiwicks of Liberal Party (LP) candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

MANILA, Philippines – Nacionalista Party president and standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar has again narrowed the lead of his rival in the presidential race from 19 to only 11 percentage points in a span of three weeks, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) Special December 2009 survey results showed.

MANILA, Philippines – The administration Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats party should worry more about its standard-bearer’s platform than his packaging.

The latest result of the online survey in Facebook that showed Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro leading over the other presidential contenders in the May elections bolsters his camp’s claim that the Lakas-Kampi CMD standard-bearer continues to dominate the cyberspace surveys.

MANILA, Philippines – The Liberal Party tandem of Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manuel “Mar” Roxas II has topped anew a recent nationwide pre-election survey conducted by an independent group.

MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) drew flak on Monday for allegedly allowing the suspects in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province last Nov. 23 to live like kings while under detention at the police headquarters in General Santos City.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) created on Monday Task Force Ampatuan to secure Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. for Tuesday’s arraignment, which will be held in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Editor’s note: In the first part of this yearend report on the House of Representatives, the article reported the achievements and challenges faced by congressmen in 2009. Following is the continuation of the list of vital measures that were enacted into law during the Third Regular Session. Conclusion

I got this e-mail from Bobby Tordesillas (desills@pldtdsl.net) last week, but due to our holiday schedules, we are only reprinting this now. “Hi Bobit, Don’t you find the latest MBC survey report very misleading? In one part of the news report, it says that 61 percent of the members of the MBC favor Noynoy Aquino,…

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the legality of the merger of the Lakas-Christian and Muslim Democrats with the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi).

MANILA, Philippines – Mea culpa. President Arroyo’s spokesman took the fall yesterday for the unpopularity of his boss, saying the Chief Executive’s ratings, which remain at record lows with only six months left in her term, reflected his performance.

At about the time when things were winding down, Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations, the two respected and widely accepted pollsters published assessments of the 2010 presidential elections, two days apart, a fortnight ago.

MANILA, Philippines – The Filipino public continues to be greatly dissatisfied with the performance of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

SENATOR Jinggoy Estrada has emerged as the top candidate for the Senate in the second Standard Today Poll, with Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago a close second.

SENATOR Benigno Aquino III has maintained a double-digit lead over Senator Manuel Villar Jr. in the race for the presidency, the latest poll commissioned by Standard Today shows.

Public satisfaction with Vice President Noli de Castro’s performance went down, but his rating is still the highest among the top government officials, a recent survey showed. Results of the survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that 58 percent satisfied and 26 percent dissatisfied with the performance of de Castro.

The broadest definition of a political party is that it is an organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power, legitimately through elections or ignobly through other means.

A day after Pulse Asia survey showed Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd with a commanding lead among presidential candidates, another poll by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) also found him ahead in the Palace race with similar figures.

As in a chess game, the contestants in the coming electoral contest will attempt to control the center of the chess board early on, to give each major piece room to maneuver and execute its given task as the match progresses. The core of the political territory in the electoral chessboard is no other than…

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada remained the favorite senatorial candidate of a majority of Filipino adults, receiving more than half of the votes of 1,800 respondents in the latest Pulse Asia survey.

MANILA, Philippines – Less than five months before the May 2010 elections, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III continued to gain the support of a majority of voters, according to the latest surveys conducted by polling firms Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations (SWS).

As shown in other surveys, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd took a commanding lead in a poll conducted by the Makati Business Club of its members—but the surprising second choice was Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro. Aquino is the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, while Teodoro—his cousin—is with the administration’s Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD).