Miriam to NP, LP: Stop the mudslinging

By Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=566617&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Re-electionist Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has called for an end to the mudslinging between the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Liberal Party (LP), whose two presidential aspirants, senators Manuel Villar Jr. and Benigno Aquino III, have been swapping charges over Villar’s origins as a poor boy and Aquino’s mental health.

“I am calling for a halt to all these mudslinging. Some people are already commenting that this has become the dirtiest campaign in recent history and I join that view,” Santiago said after delivering a speech at the NP rally in Valenzuela last Tuesday evening.

“Can we please discuss issues here? In Politics 101, we are all taught that we must discuss fully every issue… but never dealing with personalities like where Villar really lived exactly in Tondo because he might have been living in a rich man’s enclave in Tondo,” said the feisty senator, who is seeking re-election as guest candidate of the NP, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and the administration’s Lakas-Kampi.

Bong, Jinggoy, Miriam still up

by Helen Flores (The Philippine Star)

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=556547&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Re-electionist senators Bong Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada and Miriam Defensor-Santiago were statistically tied at first place in the latest senatorial survey by Pulse Asia.

Pulse Asia said 14 candidates have a statistical chance of winning Senate seats if the elections were held during the Feb. 21 to 25 survey period.

The non-commissioned survey showed Revilla getting 53.6 percent of votes, which translates to a statistical ranking of 1st to 3rd place. He is in a statistical tie with Estrada, who got 52.6 percent of the votes.

Santiago received 49.4 percent of votes, which places her anywhere from 1st to 5th.

Another re-electionist, Sen. Pia Cayetano, who received 45.4 percent, ranks 3rd to 6th.

Cayetano shared the same statistical ranking as former Senate president Franklin Drilon with 45 percent.

In sixth place is Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (43.8 percent) with a statistical ranking of 4th to 6th.

Other senatorial candidates who have a statistical chance of winning were former senator Tito Sotto with 33.2 percent, former senator and former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Ralph Recto (33.1 percent), former senator Serge Osmeña (29.1 percent), Ilocos Norte Rep. Bongbong Marcos (28.2 percent).

Santiago blames low ratings on married name

by Maila Ager (INQUIRER.net)

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100308-257426/Santiago-blames-low-ratings-on-married-name

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is very much in the race this May election. But people might not find her in the list of senatorial candidates if they will look for “Santiago” come election day.

The re-electionist senator’s name is listed instead as Defensor-Santiago in the special paper ballot that the Commission on Election (Comelec) will use in the country’s first-ever full automated election.

Saying that other married female candidates might find themselves in the same predicament, Santiago urged the Comelec to educate voters on the use of maiden names of married candidates like her.

Santiago lamented that her lower ranking in the recent senatorial survey of Pulse Asia could be because people are looking for her surname, not her maiden name.

NP has most women bets in nat’l slate

by ROLLY T. CARANDANG, HANNAH TORREGOZA (Manila Bulletin)

http://mb.com.ph/articles/246667/np-has-most-women-bets-nat-l-slate

As the world celebrates International Women's Day on Monday, Senator Pia Cayetano lauded Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar for including the most number of women candidates in the party’s national slate for this year’s elections.

Cayetano also called on Filipino voters to support pro-women candidates in the May 10 polls to ensure that the interest and issues of women are protected under the next administration.

“Voters should carefully study the track record of candidates, particularly their stand on women’s concerns,” she said.

“Regardless of whether they are male or female, the candidate should have a clear platform that looks after issues affecting women, including maternal health, the declining state of public health services, feminization of labor migration, gender discrimination, poverty, and trafficking.”

Cayetano, principal author of the Magna Carta of Women, added that a deeper and more diverse field of male and female candidates would give voters more options and better chances of pushing for genuine reforms in 2010.

Teodoro overtakes Villar in Davao City survey

by Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star)

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=552347&publicationSubCategoryId=67

 

MANILA, Philippines - Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. has overtaken Sen. Manuel Villar as the second most preferred presidential candidate – at least in Davao City.

A survey conducted last Feb. 1-8 among 700 city residents by the polling firm Issues and Advocacy Center (The Center) showed Liberal Party candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III leading the race with 37 percent.

Teodoro came in second with 23 percent, followed by Villar, 15 percent; Sen. Richard Gordon, 11 percent; and former President Joseph Estrada, eight percent.

Davao City has more than 948,000 voters.

‘Bongbong’ seeks election of more female lawmakers

by GABRIEL S. MABUTAS (Manila Bulletin)

http://mb.com.ph/articles/243500/bongbong-seeks-election-more-female-lawmakers

Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., Sunday urged the public to elect more female legislators to ensure fast approval of measures that would protect women’s rights and concerns.

Marcos noted that although the country had elected two women to the presidency, the women sector remain underrepresented in both chambers of Congress – the Senate and House of Representatives.

He said the May 10 elections could be a good opportunity for people to elect additional congresswomen and lady senators.

“Here in the Lower House, there are a small number of women legislators, which is also the case in the Senate. If there are an adequate number of women in Congress, we can be assured of more laws intended for women,” Marcos said.

Marcos said that while it is true that a good number of male lawmakers are willing to support women-related legislations, it is still different if women themselves would push for laws related to women’s welfare.

“There really are cases in which it takes time for women-related laws to be crafted. I guess it would be easier for Congress to come up with these kinds of laws if there are enough women legislators,” Marcos pointed out.

At present there are only four lady senators in the 24-member Senate. They are Senators Loren Legarda, Miriam Defensor Santiago, Jamby Madrigal and Pia Cayetano

Celebs get reprieve; politicians chided

by Kristine L. Alave, TJ Burgonio, Christine Avendano (Philippine Daily Inquirer)http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100213-252916/Celebs-get-reprieve-politicians-chided

CELEBRITIES WHO HAVE endorsed politicians can still appear in their television and radio shows as long as they do not voice support for their bets, pending the Commission on Elections’ clarification on the law mandating that they take a leave of absence during the campaign period, a poll official said Friday.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said he and his megastar wife, Sharon Cuneta, were concerned about the Comelec’s prohibition of celebrity endorsements of candidates running in the May polls.

The couple have come out to support Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Pangilinan, whose term as senator ends in 2013, is in charge of the party’s senatorial slates and thus, actively campaigns for them.

The report against Villar

from Inside Congress by Efren L. Danao (The Manila Times)

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/opinion/9986-the-report-against-villar

The New Year’s Eve was gone about three weeks ago but fireworks are certain to erupt once the report of the Senate Committee of the While seeking to censure Sen. Manny Villar is debated on the floor. This is any day soon with the report getting the signatures of the required majority of 12 (or, should it be 13?).

The Senate hit the ground running when it resumed its regular session last Monday by approving 14 bills on third and final reading. Four of these are priority measures, led by the Expanded Senior Citizens Act and the amendment to the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, both sponsored by reelectionist Sen. Pia Cayetano.

However, the debate on the report of the Senate Committee of the Whole against Villar will inevitably lead to at least a session day’s delay in the consideration of other vital bills. I hope that Senate skippers JPE and Sen. Migz Zubiri can still steer these bills off rough waters in the remaining days of the Fourteenth Congress.

I am certain that there will be debates even on the number of votes needed to censure a senator, in this case Villar. If these were an ordinary piece of legislation, then the vote of majority of the senators present, there being a quorum, would suffice. But this is not an ordinary piece of legislation. Some say 12 would be sufficient because there are only 22 senators who could legally attend the session. Others contend it should be 13 because the Senate is supposed to be composed of 24 members. In the end, this debate will go down to a question of numbers.