Skip to main content

Gay rights activist files senatorial bid

By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 19:25:00 12/01/2009

Filed Under: Gender Issues, Eleksyon 2010, Elections, Politics


MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Gay rights activist Danton Remoto filed his certificate of candidacy for a senatorial seat Tuesday at the Commission on Elections office in Manila.

Remoto heads Ang Ladlad, a national organization of Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders. The group was denied partylist accreditation by the Comelec therefore, ineligible in its bid for next year’s elections.

Remoto, who works as communications officer for the United Nations Development Program communications in the country, taught for more than two decades at Ateneo de Manila University.

“I filed my candidacy because we need to inaugurate a new moon in Philippine politics. Kelangan natin ‘yung hindi trapo at hindi dinastiyang politika (We do not need traditional politicians nor political dynasties,” said Remoto.

Remoto said his group has filed a motion for reconsideration asking the Supreme Court to reverse Comelec’s decision.

Being a former associate professor Remoto said he wants to focus on education for all, especially primary education.

“I’m running to win but I’m still open to coalitions or alliances,” said Remoto, adding, “Malapit ako dun sa magbibigay ng campaign funds. (I am close to people willing to fund my campaign). We’re giving ourselves a week to finalize who we’re supporting.”
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five Poems by Danton Remoto

In the Graveyard Danton Remoto The walls round the graveyard Are ancient and cracked. The moss is too thick they look dark. The paint on my grandfather’s tomb Has the color of bone. Two yellow candles we lighted, Then we uttered our prayers. On my left, somebody’s skull Stares back at me: a black Nothingness in the eyes. The graveyard smells of dust Finer than the pore of one’s skin— Dust mixed with milk gone sour. We are about to depart When a black cat darts Across our path, quickly, With a rat still quivering In its mouth. * Immigration Border Crossing (From Sadao, Thailand to Bukit Changloon, Malaysia) Danton Remoto On their faces that betray No emotion You can read the unspoken Questions: Are you really A Filipino? Why is your skin Not the color of padi ? Your eyes, Why are they slanted Like the ones Who eat babi ? And your palms, Why are there no callouses Layered like th...
Post a Comment
Read more

A mansion of many languages

BY DANTON REMOTO, abs-sbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 10/16/2008 1:00 AM REMOTE CONTROL In 1977, my mentor, the National Artist for Literature and Theater Rolando S. Tinio, said: “It is too simple-minded to suppose that enthusiasm for Filipino as lingua franca and national language of the country necessarily involves the elimination of English usage or training for it in schools. Proficiency in English provides us with all the advantages that champions of English say it does – access to the vast fund of culture expressed in it, mobility in various spheres of the international scene, especially those dominated by the English-speaking Americans, participation in a quality of modern life of which some features may be assimilated by us with great advantage. Linguistic nationalism does not imply cultural chauvinism. Nobody wants to go back to the mountains. The essential Filipino is not the center of an onion one gets at by peeling off layer after layer of vegetable skin. One’s experience with onio...
1 comment
Read more

Taboan: Philippine Writers' Festival 2009

By John Iremil E. Teodoro, Contributor The Daily Tribune 02/26/2009 A happy and historical gathering of wordsmiths with phallocentric and Manila-centric overtones *** This is from my friend, the excellent poet and critic John Iremil Teodoro, who writes from the magical island of Panay. I wish I have his energy, his passion and his time to write. Writing needs necessary leisure. But this budding, bading politician has shifted his directions. On this day alone, I have to attend not one, not two, but three political meetings. And there goes that new poem out of the window. Sigh. *** According to Ricardo de Ungria, a poet of the first magnitude and the director of Taboan: The Philippine International Writers Festival 2009, “the original idea was for a simple get together of writers from all over the country who have been recipients, directly or indirectly, of grants and awards from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). What happened last Feb. 11 to 13 was far from being ...
2 comments
Read more