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Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Poll registration... again!?

A new registration of votes may have to be called in Muntinlupa City after election records were destroyed in the fire that razed the city hall on Friday.

The records include the entire voters list and other records of the Commission on Elections containing data of registered voters in Muntinlupa.

She said the ongoing registration of voters for the Sangguniang Kabataan and barangay elections in October was not affected since it was being held in every barangay in Muntinlupa.

The Muntinlupa City government has started relocating offices a day after the fire.

Mayor Aldrin San Pedro held an emergency meeting with department heads on Saturday to discuss where the offices would be transferred.

San Pedro said satellite offices would be set up at the Festival Supermall in Alabang including revenue-generating departments like the treasury, accounting and tax and license. The mayors office will also be put up there.

The mayors staff showed The Manila Times the extent of the damages at the second floor, which housed the mayors office, personnel, engineering, vice-mayors office, budget and management information system. Chairs, tables and documents were charred as the fire engulfed the entire second floor.

Rodolfo Oliquino, head of the Business Permits and License Office, placed the damage at around P200 million.

Also heavily damaged were offices of regional trial courts, municipal trial court, the local Comelec and the records section of the Muntinlupa Prosecutors Office.

Employees reported back to work on Saturday to see if they could recover documents and other valuables.

At the Peoples Center, a nearby building inside the city hall complex which was spared from the fire, the session hall of the Sangguniang Panlungsod will be converted temporarily into the mayors office.

Electricians and construction personnel were working double time to set up partitions for other offices.

A court employee said damaged were documents containing dismissed and pending cases under the jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Court Branches 276 and 256 and Municipal Trial Court Branch 80.

The fire also wiped out the 201 Files of employees and payroll. Personnel officer Cecile Lazarte said it was a good thing that they have existing files that were recovered from the Management Information System office, which prints the payrolls.

They will also coordinate with the Civil Service Commission to recover records of regular employees.

Article Source

Philippine Lotto Results

Monday, August 6, 2007

Emergency powers for drought? nah!

Votester.com.ph - Philippine Political News
Pinoy Henyo - Are you a genius?

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said on Sunday he might recommend that emergency powers for President Arroyo be sought from Congress as there are indications the dry spell could last until the end of the year.

Yap said such powers could allow the President to order the immediate importation of rice to prevent the situation from being exploited by unscrupulous rice traders.

He stressed that he would monitor weather reports in the next two weeks before making his final recommendation.

"I hope the situation will not be politicized or used for political ends, but as I see it in terms of the extended damage that the dry spell will cause, we must act quickly," Yap said in a telephone interview.

"This is about ensuring supply, preventing hoarding and price manipulation," he said.

Luzon accounts for 45 percent of the country’s rice production and 30 to 40 percent fo corn, Yap said.

He said he received disturbing reports from government weather specialists that the dry spell could continue until December at least for provinces in Region 1.

Yap, who has been visiting affected provinces in Luzon since last week, said initial estimates show only half of rain dependent rice fields have been planted and at least 20 percent of the yield from those using irrigation might be damaged.

His visits, including one to Bulacan this week, involve the distribution of more equipment for shallow tube wells to allow those experiencing less irrigation water to benefit.

Yap explained procuring rice under Republic Act 9184 would be too slow to allow the government to intervene in terms of supply and prices. Emergency powers would allow Mrs. Arroyo to order the swift importation of rice.

He pointed out that once there is a perception that there is rice shortage, prices would most likely be manipulated.

The National Food Authority (NFA), he said, can immediately move for "surgical strikes" in areas where there is hoarding or price manipulation through supplying rice if it has enough in its inventory.



Story Source AND continuation...

Friday, August 3, 2007

Solid 8 - Disarray!

Sen. Francis Escudero said on Thursday that the refusal of the members of the “Solid 8” opposition senators to support Senate President Manuel Villar is the main reason the opposition in the Senate is deeply divided.

In a roundtable with Manila Times editors, columnists and reporters, Escudero said the opposition could have immediately united on their very first caucus had some senators not insisted on fielding Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. against Villar.

“If you are interested in unifying the opposition, give the Senate presidency to Villar. We invited the Most Valuable Player to our team and after he accepted, we try to replace him? That is not just right!” Escudero remembered telling his opposition colleagues on why they should all rally behind Villar.

He pointed out that it was former President Joseph Estrada who convinced Villar to join the opposition ticket, the reason why Estrada is fully supporting Villar.

The former president’s son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, was among 15 senators, including nine from the administration, who voted for Villar. The younger Estrada is now the Villar’s second in command as Senate President Pro-Tempore.

Pimentel’s seven votes came from the “Solid 8.” Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th, the eighth member of the bloc, was still detained and was unable to vote.

Escudero said the “Solid 8” did not want Villar to be elected by acclamation, and some even questioned his being an oppositionist.

“Some said they want a level playing field for all presidential contenders and proposed that they hold secret balloting among themselves to determine who between Villar and Pimentel should be their common candidate for Senate President.

The perceived presidential aspirants in the “Solid 8” are Senators Loren Legarda, Panfilo Lacson and Mar Roxas.

Escudero recalled that they were only 10 then so he proposed that they wait until they get the majority before they could hold secret voting.

They invited Senators Francis Pangilinan and Pia Cayetano but the two refused because they had already committed to Villar.

Escudero said Lacson told him lately that the “Solid 8” bloc was willing to support Villar so they could form the majority but that the offer came too late.

“Senator Villar had already made commitments to administration senators,” he said.

The “Solid 8” that now make up the Senate’s minority is composed of Senators Rodolfo Biazon, Benigno Aquino 3rd, Jamby Madrigal, Pimentel, Legarda, Roxas, Lacson and Trillanes.

The three opposition senators in the majority with nine administration senators are Alan Peter Cayetano, Estrada and Escudero.

Article Source

Votester

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Plum posts not for undesirables - Philippine Politics News

Philippine Political News

Following the call for leaner but effective committee system, Defensor said his panel would trim the members of the rules panel from the 50 during the 13th Congress to only 25.

The plenary also approved the omnibus confirmation of the following members of the majority coalition as chairmen of a partial list of standing committees, namely:

1. Committee on Accounts Herminia Ramiro (Second District, Misamis Occidental)

2. Committee on Ways and Means Exequiel Javier (Lone District, Antique)

3. Committee on Agriculture and Food Abraham Khalil Mitra (Second District, Palawan)

4. Committee on Cooperatives Development Ernesto Pablo (Apec party-list)

5. Committee on Dangerous Drugs Roque Ablan Jr. (First District, Ilocos Norte)

6. Committee on Energy Juan Miguel Macapagal Arroyo (Second District, Pampanga)

7. Committee on Economic Affairs Ramon Red Durano (Fifth District, Cebu)

8. Committee on Games and Amusements Victor Dominguez (Lone District, Mt. Province)

9. Committee on Information and Communication Technology Joseph Santiago (Lone District, Catanduanes)

10. Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Relations and Diplomacy Lorna Silverio (Third District, Bulacan)

11. Committee on Healthâ Arthur Pingoy Jr. (Second District, South Cotabato)

12. Committee on Natural Resources Ignacio Arroyo (Fifth District, Negros Occidental)

13. Committee on Public Information Bienvenido Abante (Sixth District, Manila)

14. Committee on Public Order and Safety Rodolfo Antonino (Fourth District, Nueva Ecija)

15. Committee on Foreign Affairs Antonio Cuenco (Second District, Cebu City)

16. Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reform Teodoro Locsin Jr. (First District, Makati)

17. Committee on Tourism Edgar Chatto (First District, Bohol)

18. Committee on Trade and Industry Antonio Alvarez (First District, Palawan)

19. Special Committee on East Asean Growth Area (EAGA) Edelmiro Amante (Second District, Agusan del Norte)

20. Special Committee on Food Security Leonila Chavez (Butil party-list)

21. Special Committee on Metro Manila Development May Ann Susano (Second District, Quezon City).

Source and the complete story

Newest Messenger in town! They Yehey Messenger (yehey TOL)

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Koko, hindi pa rin matahimik!

Senatorial candidate Aquilino Pimentel 3rd filed Monday before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) a formal protest against the proclamation of Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri as the 12th winning senator in the May 14, 2007 election.

Zubiri welcomed the protest and expressed confidence that he would be vindicated once the contested ballot boxes are opened. He also opened the possibility of filing a counter-protest in areas where he believed he was also cheated.

Pimentel disputed the election results from 44 towns of seven Mindanao provinces involving a total of 391,081 votes. The official canvassing by the Commission on Elections gave Zubiri a lead of 19,292 votes over Pimentel.

The election results from these areas are manufactured, padded, fraudulent, altered, distorted and illegal votes totals which are not reflective of the true results of voting and counting in the protested precincts, Pimentel said in a 33-page complaint with the SET.

He cited the Maguindanao count as a palpable showcase of manufactured and sham votes, illegally fabricated, at the post-voting/post-election stage, for proclamation-grabbing purposes.

Zubiri was credited with 195,823 votes out of 198,912 or a vote conversion rate of 98.45 percent, in Maguindanao. Pimentel questioned Maguindanaos abnormally high voters turnout of more than 97 percent, and the very lopsided results in favor of Team Unity candidates who posted a 12-0 win in all 22 towns.

Zubiri said he is leaving the protest issue to his lawyers.

All I am interested in is work, work, work. I dont want to be distracted from my work, he said.

At the same time, he said that he might file a counter-protest involving areas where he unbelievably lost.

It is also my right to find out the truth if I was cheated in these areas, Zubiri said, without identifying these areas.

The members of the SET have not yet been named. The SET will be composed of four majority and two minority senators, and five associate justices of the Supreme Court, one of whom will be the presiding officer.
Source (article)

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He cant accept he lost. too bad. pls, just accept it and run next time. if they really cheated, that will be against their conscience. so please...

News - Philippines

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