After the deluge of waters comes the deluge of help -- and the deluge of unimaginable acts coming from some politicians. Re-electionist senator told a barangay captain that the captain's request for a truck of potable water is possible ONLY if the media takes a picture of the re-electionist senator shaking the hand of the barangay captain in front of the truck of potable water. Hay naku, hindi ka na talaga magna-number one senator kapag maitim ang budhi mo. Other candidates rode their helicopters to drop off the relief goods. I am sure their names and Boy Botox faces are stamped on the plastic bags that contained the relief goods. My heart goes to Mayor Ilagan of Cainta, whose eyebags are now the size of big coins. He still has to reach the inner subdivisions of his town, and this hardworking man has worked round-the-clock and hardly slept at all the past week. And the other candidates? Oh they are busy posting messages and press releases in their websites, as if the light-less hou...

By Lito Banayo Ang Pahayagang Malaya October 1, 2009 Those of us who had the good fortune to be spared from the life-and-death crisis that was the killer-weekend Typhoon Ondoy brought about, and whose only annoyance was being caught up in endless traffic, or having had to suffer the inconveniences of flooded streets and brownouts, will do well to ponder at the travails of our fellows --- friends, relatives, as well as simple kapwa-tao. My friend Ric Golpeo, who is the executive director of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, was on his way home with wife Emma to their thirty-year old Provident Village residence. That house was built in the last years of martial law, after Ric had saved some from his years of working for the Puyat interests. They had just come from a nearby supermarket, and used to flooding in this Marikina neighborhood, they parked their car at the entrance, which never got flooded in the three decades they had lived there. What happened next came too fast. They didn’t...

Philippine News Agency September 25, 2009 Ladlad, a gay and lesbian group, has renewed its bid to get the nod of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to accredit and allow the group to join the party list elections next year. Ladlad head Danton Remoto said he is hoping that the poll body will evaluate thoroughly their application. “I hope the Comelec will see the point of our party list,” he said before the hearing of their accreditation Thursday at the Comelec head office in Manila. He said Ladlad should be allowed to participate in 2010 elections as they represent a marginalized sector in the society. “Like many Filipinos, many lesbians, gays, transgenders are poor. So we reflect the economic conditions of the country. Marginalization is not only financial,” Remoto pointed out. He is also confident that they will finally get the approval of the Comelec since they already have members all over the country. Remoto revealed that they have 13 regional chapters and 22,000 members and aff...

BY SOPHIA DEDACE, GMANews.TV 09/25/2009 | 01:17 PM With only a month to go before the registration period for the 2010 elections ends, the number of names purged from the voters’ list is more than twice the number of new voters that have signed up so far, according to records obtained from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). As of July 2009, a total of 2.7 million new voters have signed up since the registration period started in December 2008, figures culled from Comelec records by GMA News Research show. During the same period, however, the number of names that have been purged from the list of registered voters has reached 6.1 million. Most of them, or about 5.6 million, are Filipinos who did not vote in the last two elections. James Jimenez, head of the poll body’s Education and Information Department, said the figures should not give the impression that there is a low turnout of new registrants because more voters have been stricken off the voters’ list. “There is a misconcepti...

By Mayen Jaymalin The Philippine Star Updated September 25, 2009 12:00 AM MANILA, Philippines - The gay rights group Ang Ladlad has come out of the closet once again to seek recognition as a legitimate party-list organization by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). The group led by Danton Remoto filed a petition before the Comelec yesterday, urging the poll body to allow them to participate in the 2010 elections. Remoto said their group represents gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders that account for 10 percent of the total 43.5 million registered voters nationwide. The group sought anew to be recognized as a party-list organization, two years after the Comelec junked their petition for accreditation citing the failure to comply with the legal requirements of national membership. Remoto this time argued that Ang Ladlad has sufficient membership to mount a national campaign. He insisted their advocacy to promote gay rights is legitimate and thus they should be allowed to partici...

BY Ellen Tordesillas www.ellentordesillas.com It’s heartening to know interest among young people to participate in the 2010 elections is growing. Political consultant Malou Tiquia, in her presentation on “Developments in the 2010 election campaign” in a recent forum sponsored by the Ateneo School of Government, said of the 45,029,443 registered voters as of March 2009, nine million belong to age 18-35 years old. Election observers expect 22 per cent of voters would come from the youth sector. If these young people would identify with someone in their age range, they would have three to choose from: Chiz Escudero of the National People’s Coalition, who will be turning 40 (the minimum age requirement to be president) on October 10; Gilbert Teodoro of the administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD; and the Liberal Party’s Noynoy Aquino. With the significant number of voters being young, Tiquia, who is advising Escudero now, said there would be higher use of New Media both by the candidates and the...

BY Lito Banayo Ang Pahayagang Malaya September 18, 2009 ON the 16th day of the 9th month of the Gregorian calendar, which is the 28th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, also known as the "Kwi Ge" or ghost month, Gilbert Teodoro was "chosen" by the PaLaKa Executive Committee as their standard-bearer for 2010. (For the benefit of those who do not know the significance that the Chinese place on the Kwi Ge, know this: No Chinese family moves to a house, no businessman opens a store or an office, or ink a major contract or agreement during the Kwi Ge, when ghosts roam the land. No announcements of major significance, no career changes are made, or bad luck steps in if ghosts attach themselves to house, office or career. And this year, the 7th month began August 20 and ends today, September 18. That’s when the moon cakes are given around, thanking the gods for passing through a dreadful month.) So Ronnie Puno is wiser. He did not allow himself to be nominated as ...