50-million Filipinos: Their moment of truth on Monday May 9, 2010

50-million Filipinos: Their moment of truth on Monday

May 9, 2010, 5:41pm

 

Monday, 50-million Filipino voters are going to the polls to vote for a new president, vice president, hundreds of legislators, and thousands of local officials. Turnout is expected to be higher than the 77 percent at the last presidential elections in 2004.

Analysts have said that this year’s election is highly anticipated by Filipinos, following nine years of government under President Arroyo.

A total of nine candidates are vying to be the country's next president, but surveys show that three candidates dominate the race – Sen. Noynoy Aquino, Sen. Manny Villar, and former President Joseph Estrada. The administration bet, former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro, is trailing behind at fourth place.... MORE  
Source:  The Manila Bulletin

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/256670/50million-filipinos-their-moment-truth-monday

17,888 posts up for grabs CBCP urges Filipinos to pray for peaceful, clean elections By LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO

17,888 posts up for grabs

CBCP urges Filipinos to pray for peaceful, clean elections

By LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO

May 9, 2010, 5:13pm

A total of 50.8-million voters are expected to troop to 76,340 polling precincts Monday to elect government leaders, including the successor of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in the country’s first automated national and local elections.

Up for grabs are a total of 17,888 elective positions – one president, one vice president, 12 senators, 222 members of the House of Representatives, 80 governors, 80 governors, 762 provincial board members, 120 city mayors, 120 city vice mayors, 1,514 municipal mayors, 1,514 vice mayors, 1,346 city councilors, and 12,116 municipal councilors.

Also to be contested by 187 partylist groups are some 45 available seats in the Lower House.
The electorate, however, may need to go to their assigned voting precinct before 7 a.m. since some of the precincts will have 1,000 voters due to the clustering of precincts.... MORE  

Source:  The Manila Bulletin

URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/256656/17888-posts-grabs

News in Pictures: Election Equipment Arrive in Maguindanao Town May 9, 2010

News in Pictures: Election Equipment Arrive in Maguindanao Town

Datu Piang, MAGUINDANAO — Workers unload election equipment at the Datu Piang town hall in Maguindanao. In some areas in the province, delivery of PCOS machines was a problem. Reports said this morning that Comelec people were prevented from delivering these machines to Buldon, a farflung town in Maguindanao. (Photo by Carlos H. Conde/Bulatlat.com)

 Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/09/news-in-pictures-election-equipment-arrive-in-maguindanao-town/

News in Pictures: International Observers Discover Glitches in Tests Conducted at Cavite PCOS Machines May 9, 2010

News in Pictures: International Observers Discover Glitches in Tests Conducted at Cavite PCOS Machines

CAVITE — Delegates of the People’s International Observers’ Mission (PIOM) participated in the mock elections in San Labrador Town in Dasmariñas, Cavite today, May 9, 2010. In Dasmariñas North National High School, one precint experienced glitches when votes for some local candidates were not counted by the PCOS machine. The problem was solved when the CF card was replaced. The teachers complain however that the cards were not properly labeled. They could not immediately identify which is the defective card and which one is the replacement. They also lamented that the time allotted to test the machine is not enough. The original schedule for testing the machines was set on May 3, 2010. (Photo curtesy of ST Exposure and PIOM/Bulatlat.com)


Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/09/carol-pagaduan-araullo-diabolical/

Diabolical Published on May 9, 2010 by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo

 Diabolical

Published on May 9, 2010

By CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise/Business World
Posted by Bulatlat.com

From the beginning, the question of whether automation will significantly reduce electoral fraud, or it will merely accelerate and open new opportunities for it, has been the subject of increasingly heated, albeit unresolved debate.

On one hand, many were willing to grant that elections automation would eliminate if not undercut fraud in the counting and canvassing of votes by its sheer efficiency and speed. It was claimed that the cheating mafia inside Comelec, candidates like Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who make phone calls to Comelec officials to ensure their victory, and the warlords who undertake wholesale “dagdag-bawas” at gunpoint would be stymied by the advances in technology.

Modernity was finally catching up with an antiquated elections system prone to all sorts of crass as well as sophisticated shenanigans designed to thwart the will of the people. Or so it was argued.... MORE  

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/09/carol-pagaduan-araullo-diabolical/

2010 Elections: Jobs, Agrarian Reform, Housing and Social Services Top Urban Poor Electoral Agenda Published on May 8, 2010

2010 Elections: Jobs, Agrarian Reform, Housing and Social Services Top Urban Poor Electoral Agenda
Published on May 8, 2010
By ANDREA ZARAH DAYAO and JENNY DE VENECIA
Bulatlat.com
 
MANILA — At the slightest rainfall, the relocation site where Rhiza Perlas, (age), lives is usually flooded. But on one fateful day on September 25, 2009, many homes in Montalban, Rizal were damaged and worse, swept by tropical storm Ondoy. The flood water rose so fast making it almost impossible to bring important things and documents to safety.

“During Ondoy, the water entered our house and reached the roof. Our house wasn’t destroyed but all our things were drenched and most of it were ruined,” Perlas said in Filipino.

Perlas was relocated to Montalban, Rizal after their home in San Andres Bukid, Manila was demolished due to a road-widening program of the government at the boundary of Makati and Manila in 2003. Perlas noticed that the slightest rainfall would make their relocation site flooded but an abnormal typhoon like Ondoy left them with no money, no furnitures and belongings and yet no help from the government.

“The first help that we received were from Anakpawis Party-list and Kadamay. Other NGOs also came to help us. But help coming from the government sector came only after a couple of days,” Perlas said, “We had a hard time cleaning our area. Some NGOs came to help but the government’s arrived very late.”

But after her gradual recovery from the damages that Ondoy had caused, Perlas and her neighbors still have to face the dire living conditions that they have to go through even before the storm Ondoy hit the country, foremost of which is the lack of job opportunities in the area.... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/08/jobs-agrarian-reform-housing-and-social-services-top-urban-poor-electoral-agenda/

The Blood in Your Coffee (and Milk) Thickens: Nestlé Replaces Union on Strike, Continues to Flout SC Decision By MARYA SALAMAT

The Blood in Your Coffee (and Milk) Thickens: Nestlé Replaces Union on Strike, Continues to Flout SC Decision

Published on May 8, 2010
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

Cabuyao, LAGUNA – The core factory in Asia of the world’s biggest food company Nestlé is a spotless white, sprawling structure along the national highway that runs through the town of Cabuyao in Laguna. This factory churns out milk, coffee and related products (from Nestogen to Milo, Chuckie, Bear Brand, Alpine, Nestlé Sorbetes to Chamyto to Coffeemate) for the Philippine market and nine other countries in Asia, Oceania and Africa.

Aboard a jeepney and shuttle buses that ferry workers to factories in Laguna’s industrial parks, one cannot miss the long white fence and low buildings of Nestlé. But despite its white paint, Nestlé has been notorious for the “blood in its coffee,” milk, cereals and other Nestlé products it is making and re-exporting from the Philippines.

Nestlé is one of the few global giants that rake in profits even during the bleakest times of the global downturn since 2008, due perhaps to its exploitative, bloody treatment of workers, especially in Third World countries.
In the Philippines, particularly in its core factory in Laguna, Nestlé has adopted a business-as-usual stance and decked out its factory like a military garrison from 2002 to 2007, crushed the eight-year workers’ strike, busted the union and laid-off hundreds of employees to make way for lower paid employees.

Nestlé only started shedding its outward look of being a military garrison when the International Labor Organization, acting on complaints of the striking United Filipro Employees-Drug, food, and Allied Industries Union-Kilusang Mayo Uno (UFE-DFA-KMU) and trade unions abroad, asked Nestlé to pullout the military in 2007. At about the same time, the regional special action force (RSAF), an elite police unit that was utilized in brutal assaults against the striking workers, was renamed to LIPPAG (Laguna Industrial Peace Police Action Group).... MORE  

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/08/the-blood-in-your-coffee-and-milk-thickens-nestle-replaces-union-on-strike-continues-to-flout-sc-decision/

2010 Elections: Kontra Daya, Other Groups Protest Comelec Failure to Ensure Trouble-free Elections By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL

2010 Elections: Kontra Daya, Other Groups Protest Comelec Failure to Ensure Trouble-free Elections

Published on May 7, 2010
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Kontra Daya, together with various people’s organization and progressive party-list groups as well as Makabayan senatoriable bets Rep. Satur Ocampo and Rep. Liza Maza held a protest action in front of the Comelec office today to protest against a “no-election and holdover scenario” and to hold Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Comelec and Smartmatic accountable for the numerous problems plaguing preparations for the May 2010 elections.

They are calling on the people to be vigilant in the coming May 10 automated elections as the previous testing of the precinct count optical scan machines (PCOS) has been showing glitches. Fr. Joe Dizon, convener of Kontra Daya said this election is vulnerable to massive fraud due to its defective machines.

“We have expressed our doubts about this automated election, even IT experts express doubts on its reliability. But the Comelec did not listen to us, instead they left it all up to Smartmatic without a back up plan,” said Fr. Dizon during the protest.

He said these machines are bought using the people’s money and yet the automated election system, which is meant to be trouble-free, appears to be complicated and at risk to massive fraud. “It’s a miracle if we will have a clean, peaceful, successful and credible elections,” Fr. Dizon said. ... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/07/2010-elections-kontra-daya-other-groups-protest-comelec-failure-to-ensure-trouble-free-elections/

Community Health Workers: Unsung Heroes of a Failed Health System Published on February 17, 2010

Community Health Workers: Unsung Heroes of a Failed Health System

Published on February 17, 2010
In a poor country where one out of two people dies without receiving any medical attention, where more than half of the population do not have access to basic health care, community-based health workers who provide needed services to fill this health-care gap should be heralded as heroes, not thrown to jail and tortured.

By ARNOLD PADILLA
Bulatlat.com

Related blog post: The AFP is telling us we need more NPA guerrillas

MANILA — In a poor country where one out of every two people dies without receiving any medical attention, 50 percent of the population do not have access to health care, 40 percent do not have access to essential medicine, 10 mothers die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth-related causes, and 100 municipalities are doctorless and nurseless ¹ while more than 7,700 nurses, 83 doctors, and 196 professional midwives leave the country yearly ² to work abroad, trainings to equip ordinary citizens attend to the basic health needs of poor and neglected communities should be welcomed.

And a government that is sensitive to the needs of its people should support such initiative, or at least be thankful to medical professionals and volunteers who give their skills, knowledge, time, and resources in order to help bridge the widening gap in the need and availability of health services in the country.

Dr. Alex Montes ministering the sick during a medical mission in Montalban, Rizal. (Photo courtesy of CHD)

So when 43 health workers — including two medical doctors, a registered nurse, a registered midwife, and 39 community health workers — while conducting a training-seminar, were arrested and later tortured by the police and military on claims that they were making bombs, you know at once that something is seriously wrong.... MORE  

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/02/17/community-health-workers-unsung-heroes-of-a-failed-health-system/

How Hacienda Luisita Stock Scheme Led to Farmers’ Misery Published on November 16, 2009

How Hacienda Luisita Stock Scheme Led to Farmers’ Misery

Published on November 16, 2009

Through the stock distribution option such as the one in Hacienda Luisita, the essence of land reform has been distorted to benefit landowners, denying the farmers of actual land redistribution.

By Xandra Bisenio

Ibon Features

The massacre in Tarlac’s Hacienda Luisita five years ago—where seven farm workers were felled by government bullets and scores suffered injuries—is a tragic testament to the peasants’ continuing plight of landlessness and poverty.

Particularly in Luisita, peasants have for two decades been denied the essence of land reform—genuine land distribution. This, as the Cojuangcos persist in implementing the stock distribution option (SDO) despite justified calls for its revocation.

Just recently, Hacienda Luisita again figured in an alleged controversial deal. According to United Luisita Workers Union Chairperson Lito Bais, the national government purchased 83 hectares of Luisita for the construction of a portion of the Subic-Tarlac-Clark Expressway (SCTEX) for which farmworkers received anomalously varying amounts– from as high as P300 to only a few centavos each.... MORE  

Source:    Bulatlat.com

  URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/11/16/how-hacienda-luisita-stock-scheme-led-to-farmers%E2%80%99-misery/

Salungguhit: Panic Time by Flon Faurillo Bulatlat.com

Salungguhit: Panic Time
 


All the assurances and bravado of the Comelec amounted to nothing when the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines encountered a lot of problems during testing a few days before the elections. It now remains to be seen if the country would have its first successful automated elections on May 10, but if the recent trial runs are to be the gauge, it would most probably be a disaster on election day.
 
By FLON FAURILLO

More Salungguhit editorial cartoons

 

(Reprinted with permission from Bulatlat.com)


Source:  Bulatlat.com


URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/08/salungguhit-panic-time/

Comelec should look into discarded CF cards — PMP 05/08/2010

Comelec should look into discarded CF cards — PMP

05/08/2010 Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) senatorial candidates Francisco “Kit” Tatad, Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo “ompong” Plaza and businessman Joey de Venecia yesterday called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to examine thoroughly the flash cards that have been discarded by its partner Smartmatic Corp. The senatorial candidates of the opposition PMP said what is inside the flash cards must have something to do with the way it performed before Smartmatic decided to pull them out and replace them with new ones. “The Comelec should look into the flash cards before it is discarded,” Plaza said yesterday. Smartmatic had recalled all 76,000 flash cards installed in its precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines because of its failure to accurately count the votes indicated in the ballots. On testing in several cities and municipalities the PCOS machines had failed to count the votes of some candidates. Tatad and Plaza said that there must be some programs in the flash cards that caused the PCOS machines to fail and that it should be investigated. In a press conference on Wednesday former President Estrada expressed dismay at the performance of the PCOS machines which were tested in several cities in Metro Manila.... MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100508hed3.html

HEADLINES SC junks postponement pleas Arroyo exec ‘breaches’ RP’s One-China policy Comelec should look into discarded CF cards — PMP Noynoy not sure winner—Erap camp LP bet, Chiz reject campaign donors disclosure Over 500 foreign observers deployed for RP’s polls

Noynoy not sure winner—Erap camp 05/08/2010

Noynoy not sure winner—Erap camp

05/08/2010 The Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) yesterday said that any attempt to project Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Sen. Noynoy Aquino as unbeatable, simply based on the recently-released Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia surveys would fail as their results are way off the mark based on “realities on the ground.” Although Aquino still maintained a lead over his opponents, PMP spokesman Ralph Calinisan said it was not with a wide margin and has even become questionable when ranged against the enormous turnout of supporters at every one of PMP standard bearer former President Joseph Estrada’s campaign sorties and rallies. “Two or three thousand respondents in Pulse Asia and SWS surveys as against the tens of thousands who welcome President Estrada in his visits around the country? Which is more realistic, and more reflective of what is actually happening at the grassroots level?” Calinisan stressed. Even the LP’s own internal survey, which Calinisan claimed party officials refuse to publicly divulge, belied SWS’ numbers and clearly showed Aquino leading Estrada by a margin of only 5 percent. “Interestingly, the PMP’s own survey showed Noynoy at 34-percent, and Estrada at 29- percent, a margin of only 5 percent,” Calinisan revealed...MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100508hed4.html

HEADLINES SC junks postponement pleas Arroyo exec ‘breaches’ RP’s One-China policy Comelec should look into discarded CF cards — PMP Noynoy not sure winner—Erap camp LP bet, Chiz reject campaign donors disclosure Over 500 foreign observers deployed for RP’s polls

LP bet, Chiz reject campaign donors disclosure By Angie M. Rosales 05/08/2010

 LP bet, Chiz reject campaign donors disclosure

By Angie M. Rosales 05/08/2010 “I wouldn’t dare ask him, and neither will he ask me to disclose where the campaign funds come from.” This was the gist of the response made by Liberal Party (LP) presidential bet Sen. Noynoy Aquino when he was asked whether he will compel his colleague and supporter, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, to disclose his campaign benefactors. Escudero, while not a member of LP, is publicly known to be heavily involved in Aquino’s campaign, having contributed largely to Aquino’s campaign war chest and even using his Senate staff to run the media coverage of the party, sources said. “Is Chiz spending public money to fund Aquino’s campaign from his (Escudero’s) end? He is already getting his Senate staffers to help out in Noynoy’s campaign — even when that is not part of the job that they have been hired,” a Senate staffer told the Tribune yesterday. A number of Escudero’s staff members have been detailed to the LP, specifically in the media bureau of the LP party..... MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100508hed5.html

HEADLINES SC junks postponement pleas Arroyo exec ‘breaches’ RP’s One-China policy Comelec should look into discarded CF cards — PMP Noynoy not sure winner—Erap camp LP bet, Chiz reject campaign donors disclosure Over 500 foreign observers deployed for RP’s polls

Over 500 foreign observers deployed for RP’s polls By Marie Surbano and Michaela P. del Callar 05/08/2010

Over 500 foreign observers deployed for RP’s polls

By Marie Surbano and Michaela P. del Callar 05/08/2010 More than 500 foreign observers are in the country to observe the general elections this Monday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday reported. According to Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, around 364 foreign observers and 159 foreign media have registered with the Comelec’s Education and Information Department for this year’s electoral exercise. Jimenez added that almost of all of the foreign embassies will send their representatives to observe the elections. The government of Japan also has joined several countries in deploying poll observers to the country to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections on May 10.... MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100508hed6.html

HEADLINES SC junks postponement pleas Arroyo exec ‘breaches’ RP’s One-China policy Comelec should look into discarded CF cards — PMP Noynoy not sure winner—Erap camp LP bet, Chiz reject campaign donors disclosure Over 500 foreign observers deployed for RP’s polls

PNP, lawyers’ group tie-up to safeguard elections 05/08/2010

PNP, lawyers’ group tie-up to safeguard elections

05/08/2010 The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday signed a partnership agreement with a lawyers’ group to safeguard the holding of clean, honest, orderly and credible elections on Monday. The PNP and the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) forged a memorandum of agreement (MoA) at the PNP main headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City for a stronger police-civil society partnership in safeguarding the forthcoming national elections.   PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa welcomed the newly forged partnership with Lente as a manifestation of active citizen support to the PNP’s initiatives under its advocacy for “Hope,” an acronym for honest, orderly and peaceful elections.  Lente is a Commission on Elections-accredited citizens’ arm composed of lawyers, law students, and paralegal volunteers from 44 law schools, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the poll watchdog National Movement for Free Elections. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) is its lead convenor.  Lente honorary chairman, lawyer Christian Monsod said Lente is a coalition of various non-partisan groups organized to monitor election activities, including the canvassing and tallying of votes in cities, municipalities and provinces around the country, to help protect the integrity of the electoral process and to deter commission of fraudulent acts.... MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100508nat2.html

NATION Bangit issues final orders to commanders on ‘E Day’ PNP, lawyers’ group tie-up to safeguard elections DoJ bares P55M aid fund for massacre victims’ kin ZenCom seeks end to political dynasties, private armies

ZenCom seeks end to political dynasties, private armies By Aytch S. de la Cruz 05/08/2010

ZenCom seeks end to political dynasties, private armies

By Aytch S. de la Cruz 05/08/2010 An end to political dynasties in the country that in turn would cause for private armed groups (PAGs) being maintained by some local politicians to be done away with should be among the measures that the 15th Congress must pass, the Zenarosa Commission (ZenCom) has said. In a fresh list of recommendations he submitted yesterday to President Arroyo, ZenCom commissioner Herman Basbaño enumerated several bills that the body plans to propose to the next Congress when it opens session upon the installation of the next administration. Basbaño said the ZenCom will strongly lobby for the Anti-Political Dynasty Law once Congress opens, adding the members of the commission hope that Arroyo herself will support it along with the body’s other proposals when she wins a seat in the lower House representing the second district of Pampanga province, where her hometown is. “I know that it will be not that easy for us to have this Anti-Political Dynasty Law passed, but I think we have to campaign to these public officials, (these) legislators in Congress and the Senate, to do so if they are really after the good of the country. Because this does not only create problems (as it cultivates the existence of) private armies, but as well as other problems for our nation,” Basbaño said. Incidentally, the Arroyos are among the clans that are currently maintaining political dynasties in the country. Aside from her being President, Arroyo has two sons and a brother-in-law in Congress. She, however, is expected to soon join them and other relatives in the lower House as she is seen to win in her electoral bid.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100508nat4.html

NATION Bangit issues final orders to commanders on ‘E Day ’PNP, lawyers’ group tie-up to safeguard elections DoJ bares P55M aid fund for massacre victims’ kin ZenCom seeks end to political dynasties, private armies

Too little, too late EDITORIAL 05/08/2010

Too little, too late

EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 05/08/2010 It may have come too little and too late. The Supreme Court (SC) the other day ordered the Commission on Elections to disclose all its preparations for the country’s first automated polls for Monday, giving the Comelec two days to do so, upon receipt of the order. If the order was received Thursday — which is impossible, since even the media got hold of the SC order after office hours Thursday — this means that Comelec will have to disclose all the items ordered by the high court by Saturday at the latest. If this order was received Friday, assuming this was hand delivered, the Comelec will have to disclose all these by Sunday — or a day before the polls. Either date, Saturday, Sunday, or even Monday, would be much too late for any IT group to do a thorough study of whatever study is needed.  The information the Comelec needs to reveal is a lot as this includes the nature and security of all equipment devices such as software and hardware components, source code for review by interested parties; the terms and protocols of the random manual audit; and certification from the technical evaluation committee that the entire automated system is fully functional and that the continuity plan is already in place.... MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100508com1.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Too little, too late FRONTLINE Leaks for mind-conditioning SILVER LINING Leap of faith

Leaks for mind-conditioning FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 05/08/2010

Leaks for mind-conditioning

FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 05/08/2010 If there was any doubt that the Social Weather Stations (SWS) was into mind-conditioning, and perhaps even manipulating the results of a presidential candidate that it is supporting, doubt no more. There can hardly be any doubt left today — not after the still dubious survey results that were supposed to be embargoed for a newspaper, the BusinessWorld, to print for Friday’s issue, were deliberately leaked to the Liberal Party standard bearer, Sen. Noynoy Aquino, in time for the other media establishments to quickly carry the results, showing the LP bet widening his lead, with a 42 percent survey score. It was reportedly Kris Aquino, sister to Noynoy, who flashed the results in her Twitter account. How else could she have gotten these results? There are only two possible sources: One, BusinessWorld itself, which would be pretty stupid on the newspapers’ part, since it has exclusive rights to the survey results and would have lost out to the electronic media — in the sense that the electronic media, that do not have exclusivity rights, had robbed BusinessWorld of its exclusive story on the survey results; and two, SWS itself, leaking the embargoed results to Aquino.... MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100508com2.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Too little, too late FRONTLINE Leaks for mind-conditioning SILVER LINING Leap of faith

Leap of faith SILVER LINING Dean Ernest Maceda 05/08/2010

Leap of faith

SILVER LINING Dean Ernest Maceda 05/08/2010 With just three days to go before the nation elects a new President, tension, anxiety and paranoia are expected. This is exactly the time when supporters are on heightened alert promoting or countering last minute black operations, imagined or real. Disunity and acrimony — the usual toll of election day eve. This election day eve is different. The jitters have arrived on schedule but it is not our opponents we are wary of. Rather, supporters of all colors — for so long divided — have found themselves united against a common foe. Instead of worrying about winning, we now worry about whether we will have elections at all. It has become orange, yellow and green against black. Even under the best of circumstances, accepting the results of a general election has always required a leap of faith. No effort, however gargantuan, can guarantee 100 percent accuracy in determining the people’s will. It is their acquiescence in the outcome that is the ultimate verdict of whether the electoral exercise was successful, regardless of glitches. With the events of recent days, it is now clear to many that Monday’s scheduled election is going to need the longest leap of faith.  The nation has heard Chairman Jose Melo’s assurance that all efforts are being done to make Monday’s polls proceed without a hitch/glitch. Scheduled for today, May 8, is a general meeting with all candidates and political parties to address concerns on automation. And the commission has just instructed that “testing and sealing” dry runs with the newly reconfigured flash cards continue until tomorrow, May 9. But we will continue to seek out peace of mind.... MORE   Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100508com3.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Too little, too late FRONTLINE Leaks for mind-conditioning SILVER LINING Leap of faith