The people have spoken. Based on initial results from the Commission on Elections, the tough-talking Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is on his way to landslide victory in the May 9 presidential elections and will thus become the country’s president starting noon of June 30. As of this writing, Duterte was leading administration candidate Mar… Read More »
The rise in the presidential surveys of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is short of phenomenal and comes just two weeks before the May 9 elections. While the ratings of all his rivals are either sliding down or unmoving, the Davao demagogue has continued to surge and leave his rivals eating dust. In the Pulse Asia survey,… Read More »
Three news articles that appeared in the past week highlighted the sorry state of our political system – the prevalence of political dynasties all over the country. One news item reported that 542 candidates in the local elections are assured of victory because they are running unopposed. Most, if not all, of these unchallenged candidates are members of… Read More »
Something is very wrong with the Philippines’ Commission on Elections. After failing to submit its comment to a petition by former Senator Richard J. Gordon to compel the Comelec to issue receipts to voters after casting their votes in the May 9 polls, it now blames the tribunal for not giving them a chance to give its side.… Read More »
It is a source of wonder why 30 years after Filipinos staged a peaceful revolt to oust a dictator, many of them now seem eager or willing to embrace a presidential candidate who threatens to impose a strongman rule and a vice presidential aspirant who is the namesake son of the supposedly hated leader they deposed in what… Read More »
Since the start of the year, Sen. Grace Poe has been getting unexpected support in the disqualification cases against her that are now pending before the Supreme Court. In the first week of January, the independent presidential candidate got a totally unexpected support from the government’s top lawyer, Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, who caught everybody by surprise… Read More »
President Aquino was just being consistent when he vetoed House Bill No. 5842 that would provide a P2,000 across-the-board increase in the monthly pension of Social Security System (SSS) pensioners. After all, it was not the first time this scion of hacenderos has rejected relief for the millions of poor families in the country. In 2013, Aquino, who… Read More »
From Day One, President Aquino has always referred to the people as his “bosses.” During his inaugural address, he told the people: “Kayo ang boss ko.” And yet, how many times has he ignored the people in his decision-making? Just recently, despite the growing clamor for the ouster of Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya amid the… Read More »
As we are writing this, the Commission on Elections, sitting en banc, had just deferred its decision on the disqualification case against presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe. The six poll commissioners, including Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista, were expected to deliberate again and make a decision the next day, Tuesday. We really can’t understand why the commissioners had… Read More »
Unlike other presidential candidates, with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, you either like him or you don’t. There is not much gray area. It’s black or white, day or night. He is either the strong leader in the mold of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew who will reform the country the tough way, or the dangerous dictator who could… Read More »