Roxas, Escudero jump in survey Shows youth vote emerging *** I've said it before in this blog and am saying it now. 2010 will be a youthquake of an election. It will show the tremendous power of young people, of the Internet, of new media. And for those running for senators in 2010 who still thumb their noses down at the young and the tech-savvy, mga kuya, magtanim na kayo ng kamote sa tabi-tabi. *** By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 19:04:00 03/31/2009 MANILA, Philippines--With a little over a year before the elections, solons said the horse race for the presidency has become too close to call with age and the youth sector emerging as key factors in the people’s choice. Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra said the surge of Senators Manuel Roxas II and Francis Escudero in the recent surveys showed that the youth vote has started to kick in. "The gain of Mar and Chiz are substantial from previous surveys while almost all of the rest are going down,’’ said M...

By Danton Remoto | Remote Control | 03/30/2009 11:22 PM YouTube has brought the power of vivid images right in your very face. I’m sure many of you have now seen the horrible video where the very obscure Boyet Fajardo ordered a cashier at Duty Free to kneel in front of him. Reason? The poor man did not know Boyet and asked him to show another ID to verify his identity, since Boyet’s credit card was unsigned. And Boyet, puffed up with wounded pride because he is not known at Duty Free, ordered the hapless man to supplicate. Last I looked there were 600 comments to that video uploaded in You Tube. Rightly so, they skewered Boyet for his crassness and arrogance. But I take issue with some comments who said that Boyet is like that because he is gay. Hello? Where did your logic go? One is not connected to the other. I’ve known gays who used to be as poor as Boyet but infinitely more famous than him now – like my dear friend, Boy Abunda – who have remained humble. The ancient writers are rig...

BY JOHANNA D. POBLETE, Reporter Businessworld Weekender magazine It’s hard to be a woman, but it’s harder to become a woman. Female issues revolve around empowerment, battling for the same entitlements given to men — the right to be educated, to vote, to hold public office, to work and earn fair wages, to have marital as well as parental rights, to have religious freedom, to have bodily autonomy even — but one tends to forget that transgender individuals are struggling for the same fundamental rights sometimes taken for granted by the traditionally male and female members of society. "As far as I can remember, I’ve always identified myself as feminine."?— Nadine The general appellation of "trans-gender" refers to "people who express their gender in ways that are not traditionally associated with their birth-assigned one" (cross-dressers or transvestites, genderqueers, androgynes), and who "identify with a gender opposite to the one assigned to them at...

BY PAU FONTANOS AND SASS ROGANDO SASOT Business World Magazine March 27, 2009 As advocates for the Filipino lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, we watched in horror and disappointment as well-known members of our community, one after the other, came out on TV and other media disparaging Binibini (BB for short) Gandanghari. When BB Gandanghari first burst out into the scene, we, who make-up the "T" part of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community, were excited that at last someone as high profile as BB had arrived and could potentially bring our issues to the fore and with matching beauty, wit, charm and aplomb at that. That she was met instead with ridicule, criticism and nastiness only confirmed one thing that we have been contending with for some time now: that the LGBT community needs to do more in terms of educating society in general about equality and respect for diversity particularly in regard to trans-gender issues. For if those p...

Nagpapasalamat ako sa Kaya Natin! for including me in their array of choices for a reform president. I am willing to engage Kaya Natin! and all other reform groups so we can find ways to unite everyone who believes in the promise of change and a nation of worth which are the real issues in the 2010 elections. The values and causes we share in the growing reform constituency are much, much larger than any of us. We represent, fight for and share the struggle with the people. Kaya naman kami sa Partido Liberal ay masigasig na pinupursigi ang pagkakaisa ng lahat ng grupong nagnanais ng tunay na pagbabago sa ating bansa. Natutuwa akong sumama na sa atin ang mga lider at grupo ng civil society at ng mga sektor sa pagpapalakas pa lalo ng kilusang reporma. Nagtitiwala ako na dahil tunay at taos-puso ang ating pagkakaisa sa adhikain ng pagbabago, makakamit natin sa 2010 ang ating minimithi na lideratong ipapatupad ng walang pasubali ang mga repormang aayos n gating bansa. Hindi ko pababayaan n...

I thought of this last week, and I am glad to be proven correct. I see here a realignment of forces between Kaya Natin's reformist bloc and the Liberal Party of Mar Roxas. Forget the Lito what's his name bloc of the LP. It's been flushed down the toilet bowl. I am happy about the Kaya Natin-LP alliance, since LP -- the party to which I now belong -- has a long tradition of being reform-minded. Now, if only this streak of reformism burns brightly and turns into action in 2010, then Senator Roxas as presidential candidate, with Governor Among Ed Panlilio or Governor Grace Padaca as Vice-Presidential timber, will have a strong chance in the 2010 elections. *** By Tina Arceo-Dumlao Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 04:34:00 03/27/2009 MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Manuel Roxas II is being asked to join a US-style popularity contest that will select the standard-bearer of a political reform movement in the 2010 presidential election. Governors Ed Panlilio of Pampanga and Grace P...

The voice of Lorelei Fajardo emanating from TV is enough to make your skin break out in hives. But wait! You've got to hear what recent vapidity the lady is saying. Rita Gadi Baltazar made the Marcoses look and sound elegant with her wit and learned commentary, when she worked for the conjugal dictators in the 1970s and the 1980s. But Aling Lorelei -- who does not speak but lisps the most IQ-challenged statements this side of the dark world -- takes the cake for being as insubtanstial as a marshmallow. All sweetness, all lightness, and all, sheer air. I am sure my friend Atty Adel Tamano would agree. *** Editorial Philippine Daily Inquierer www.inq7.net March 28, 2009 The President of the Philippines expresses her contempt for public opinion by deputizing the most ill-informed, the least knowledgeable neophyte politician available to speak on her behalf. We mean, of course, Lorelei Fajardo, one of two deputy presidential spokespersons. Her role is lip service, in a deeply literal s...