10th May 2013

Mammoth crowd in LP miting de avance Posted by Jani Arnaiz, Chief Editor on May 10, 2013, 12:04 am   By Jani Arnaiz May 10, 2013  MAASIN CITY -- Hundredsof people mostly wearing yellow shirts flocked at an open space at the wet market area on Thursday for the miting de avance of former Gov. Rosettte Lerias and her LP candidates. Lerias faces mayor Malone Samaco and her daughter Marisa against gov. Damian Mercado for a seat in congress. This would be their third face-off against Samaco and Mercado respectively. Liberal party gubernatorial bet Robert Castanares would be up against Rep. Roger Mercado, who is running for governor after his term ended as Rep. of the lone district of Southern Leyte. This is the second face-off between the two. They fought it out for a seat in the House in 2007. The LP bets took turns in lambasting the incumbent officials of alleged corruption. Their supporters lapped it up when one of their speakers, Engr. Anggo Astorga, enumerated the alleged corruption at the Capitol and the city hall. Just days ago, Astorga was a job order employee of the province and a mouthpiece of Gov. Mercado’s two blocktime programs at a local radio station DYDM. The flip-flopping Astorga as anchor of the provincial government’s program castigated former Gov. Lerias administration for graft and corrupt practices. At the public plaza fronting the city hall, St. Bernard mayor Rico Rentuza, who is running as congressman, presented his platform of stand up for a change in his own miting de avance. He is supporting the candidacy of Robert Canstanares and Sogod mayor Sheffered Tan who is up against Board Member Roberto Lagumbay for vice governor. Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

26th April 2013

Solon denies 4PS beneficiaries threatened not to attend LP proc rally Posted by Jani Arnaiz, Chief Editor on April 26, 2013, 7:00 pm By Jani Arnaiz MAASIN CITY -- Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado vehemently denied the accusation of local LP leaders that they threatened 4PS beneficiaries that if they will attend the LP proclamation rally with Pres. Pinoy, conditional cash transfer (CCT) will be stopped. "It's their words not ours. In fact we were campaigning hard that we should support the senatorial candidates of Pres. Aquino so that this 4PS will continue and we are even admonishing the DSWD to enlist those deserving for this program," said Rep. Mercado who is running for governor. He added that "the LP candidates are feeding wrong information to Pres. Aquino against us because they wanted to look better than us." “It's election time and they are the opposition in the local scene they resort to mudslinging.” Mercado also said they are not offended with the speech of Pres. Aquino but for the three senatoriables particularly Riza Hontiveros, Bam Aquino and Ramon Magsaysay who were personally present and endorsed their opponent, "We could not control our supporters if they will not vote for them." "Since we’re on coalition with Team Pinoy being with NUP we are batting for 12-0 but with their endorsement of our opponents, things will change." He did not elaborate. The three termer Congressman is running for governor. In an interview with Inquirer reporter Norman Bordadora, former Gov. Rosette Lerias has accused the incumbent officials of threatening 4ps beneficiaries that if they will attend the proclamation of local LP bets by the Pres. Aquino, the 4PS will be stopped. "The local administration officials have used (the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps) as a tool to threaten the... poor people among 4Ps beneficiaries," former Southern Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias told reporters at her residence here. "They were told not to come because if they will come, they will no longer have the privilege of being members of the 4Ps," Lerias added. Lerias, who's running for mayor of Maasin, was among the organizers of Team Pnoy's campaign rally in the city on Friday. No less than President Aquino and a few of his chosen senatorial bets attended the administration's campaign sortie at a park in this city. Lerias' daughter and the LP's candidate for the lone district of Southern Leyte, Marissa, said there are 16,000 4Ps beneficiary households in the province out of its 90,000 households. The incumbent Southern Leyte governor is Damian Mercado while its incumbent representative in the House of Representatives is his brother Roger. "When the number of beneficiaries is that big, they also get afraid. We have sixth, fifth and fourth class municipalities here," Marissa Lerias said. "If that kind of benefit is removed, they easily get afraid because they have no other source of income in a place like this," Marissa Lerias added. Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

30th January 2013

Marcos Sins, Victims' Woes to be Taught in Schools Posted by Yel Cobile, Contributing Correspondent, on January 30, 2013, 1:40 am (By Leila B. Salaverria, 1:40 am Wed 30 Jan 2013) JAILED TWICE One of the victims of martial law abuses, Carmencita Florentino, 64, is shown peering through the screen door of her home in a poor area of Tatalon, Quezon City. More than 9,000 victims stand to receive compensation from the $246-million fund the government recovered from the Marcos wealth. Florentino was jailed twice, in 1977 and 1978. Bullit Marquez/AP Never again. So the nation will remember not to forget, a bill that recognizes for the first time that the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship committed atrocities against Filipinos also mandates the teaching in schools of the abuses inflicted on its opponents and the heroism of those who fought the regime. The bill, ratified by the two chambers of Congress on Monday and awaits the signing into law by President Aquino, creates the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission and lays down guidelines for monetary reparations to the victims from a P10-billion fund out of the ill-gotten wealth recovered from Marcos. The memorial commission is tasked with collaborating with the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) “to ensure that the teaching of martial law atrocities, the lives and sacrifices of [victims of human rights violations] in our history are included in the basic, secondary, and tertiary education curricula.” Read more... Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

5th January 2013

Gov't Lacks Political Will To Go After The Marcoses Posted by Yel Cobile, Contributing Correspondent, on January 5, 2013, 12:00 am (By Satur C. Ocampo, The Philippine Star, 12:00 am | 5 January 2013) One can understand Andres Bautista’s deep frustration in wanting to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which he has headed since October 2010, although - or because - it has failed to accomplish its two-pronged mandate, 27 years after President Cory Aquino created the PCGG through Executive Order No. 1. The mandate: to recover an estimated $10 billion in ill-gotten wealth, amassed and stashed away by Ferdinand Marcos, his wife Imelda, and his cronies during his 14-year dictatorship, and to prosecute them accordingly. (Marcos died in Hawaii on Sept. 28, 1989.) The PCGG claims to have recovered $4 billion in cash and assets, about half the estimated loot. However, the PCGG has been losing the court battles in more than 200 cases it filed against the Marcos heirs and cronies.  Bautista attributes this losing streak to two factors: 1) the cases “were weak from the very start,” and 2) “our justice system is flawed.” Read more... Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

5th October 2012

Leni Robredo files candidacy for House seat Posted by Yel Cobile, Contributing Correspondent, on October 5, 2012, 3:52 pm (By Karen Boncocan, Inquirer.net, 3:52 pm , Friday, 5 Oct 2012)     Leni Robredo with daughter Jillian shows off her certificate of candidacy. She is flanked by Liberal Party candidates in Naga City, from extreme left vice mayoral candidate Nelson Legacion, reelectionist mayor John Bongat and incumbent Vice Mayor Gabriel Bordado, who withdraw his LP endorsement for congressman and endorsed Leni in the morning of Oct. 5. DANNY AREUS/INQUIRER MANILA, Philippines --- Lawyer Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, widow of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, on Friday decided to run for a seat in Congress, according to television reports. Robredo has decided to represent the third district of Camarines Sur under the Liberal Party, the same party of her late husband, and has filed her certificate of candidacy, according to television reports. Her youngest daughter, Jillian, was reported to have tagged along with her to the Comelec office, holding Robredo’s COC. Other radio reports described Robredo to have arrived at the Comelec office with a throng of supporters clad in yellow. Earlier, Naga City vice mayor Gabby Bordado, who was supposed to run as congressman in the third district of Camarines Sur, decided to endorse Robredo instead, upon which employees of the city hall trooped to her home to urge her to run in the midterm elections. She has been urged to compete with the wife of Camarines Sur Representative Luis Villafuerte Sr., Nelly, who will be running for governor after his third term as congressman. Another contender for the position of representative of the third district of Camarines Sur is former Solicitor General Anselmo Cadiz. There has been a lot of talk of the administration party asking Robredo to run for the 2013 midterm elections but Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that the widow of the former Department of Interior and Local Government chief showed interest in politics. Robredo has recently been assigned as chief of the LP in Camarines Sur. Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

4th October 2012

Aquino wants end to reign of Pinedas Posted by Yel Cobile, Contributing Correspondent, on October 4, 2012, 9:17 am (By Tonette Orejas | Inquirer Central Luzon | 10:51 pm, Thursday, 4 Oct 2012)   GOOD GOVERNANCE CHAMPIONS. The late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Grace Padaca and Fr. Eddie Panlilio in a photo taken in 2011. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- President Aquino will be in this Pampanga capital Friday to endorse his party’s candidate for governor and whether or not it would be priest Eddie Panlilio is still anybody’s guess here. What is certain, though, is that Mr. Aquino wants to end the rule of Gov. Baby Pineda, one of the closest friends of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and wife of alleged jueteng lord Bong Pineda. Ferdinand Caylao, city administrator, said the Presidential Security Group had coordinated the President’s visit with city officials. Mr. Aquino is also inaugurating the building of the City College of San Fernando Pampanga (CCSFP) during his visit today, the last day of filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2013 elections. Read more... Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

1st October 2012

MIGRANTE partylist gets Comelec nod for 2013 elections Posted by Yel Cobile, Contributing Correspondent, on October 1, 2012, 9:53 am (By Ronald O. Reyes, Source: www.manialchannel, 1 Oct 2012) It’s official: MIGRANTE partylist is joining the May 2013 elections. The confirmation came from MIGRANTE national headquarter today after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) finally gave accreditation to the sectoral party representing the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) throughout the globe. “We welcome this positive development which will allow us to run in May 2013 partylist elections. Our chapters and supporters worldwide are elated upon hearing the good news and conveyed their support and will campaign hard for us to get a seat in the Philippine Congress,” said John Leonard Monterona, MIGRANTE’s Sectoral Party Vice chairperson and campaign manager in the Middle East and North Africa. Read more... Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

12th September 2012

Puno breaks silence, quits Posted by Yel Cobile, Contributing Correspondent, on September 12, 2012, 12:04 am (By TJ Burgonio, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 12:04 am, Wednesday, 12 Sep 2012)  President Aquino on Tuesday dropped Rico E. Puno after his controversial shooting range buddy got caught in yet another storm following the death of his immediate boss, Jesse Robredo. Mr. Aquino on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Puno as undersecretary in the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in the aftermath of a furor over his alleged “raids,” purportedly to secure state papers upon the President’s directive, on the offices of Robredo and an attempt to enter the apartment of Robredo after his plane crashed on August 18. Puno kept silent throughout the furor until Tuesday when he sent his resignation letter. “As undersecretary for peace and order in the DILG, I am entrusted with duties and responsibilities that involve strict confidence, security and protocol. Violating the confidential nature of my duties may expose people to danger or jeopardize critical operations,” Puno began his statement. Read more... Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

10th September 2012

Robredo aide: 'People of Naga are angry' Posted by Yel Cobile, Contributing Correspondent, on September 10, 2012, 10:54 am (By Natashya Gutierrez,;Posted 11:55 pm, 9 Sep 2012; Updated 10:54 am 10 Sep 2012) ROBREDO'S PEOPLE. One of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo's closest friends, Jun Lavadia, says the people of Naga are angry about recent reports relating to their former Mayor's death.    MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - In Naga City, home of the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, people are angry. They feel unsettled.   Reports on Interior Undersecretary Rico E. Puno's attempt to search Robredo's house for documents when Robredo was still missing have hit a nerve among Nagueños. President Benigno Aquino III said Puno was simply implementing his orders to secure Robredo’s documents but in the minds of many Naga residents, something is off. Read more... Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0

1st September 2012

Robredo remembered on RM awards night Posted by Yel Cobile, Contributing Correspondent, on September 1, 2012, 8:42 pm (By TJ Burgonio, Nina Calleja, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Saturday, 1 Sep 2012)  RM CLASS OF 2012. President Aquino (at right) with Ramon Magsaysay awardees (from left) Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto of Indonesia, Yang Saing Koma of Cambodia, Syeda Rizwana Hasan of Bangladesh, Kulandei Francis of India, Romulo Davide of the Philippines and Chen Shu-Jiu of Taiwan offer a prayer for the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who was also a Ramon Magsasay awardee, during ceremonies held at the PICC on Friday. (RAFFY LERMA) They are the “living bearers” of the legacy of the late President and popular Philippine leader Ramon Magsaysay, President Benigno Aquino III said of the six Asian heroes who were awarded Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize in ceremonies that also paid tribute to 2000 Ramon Magsaysay (RM) awardee for government service Jesse Robredo. The interior secretary died with two others when the plane he was riding en route to Naga City crashed in waters off Masbate City on August 18. The awarding ceremonies held Friday night at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City devoted a few minutes in prayers for Robredo, whom President Aquino also extolled. Read more... Tell a Friend... :: Comments: 0