Tribunal asked to compel Villar firm to pay P345M 04/11/2010

2007 SC RULING ORDERS MANUELA CORP. TO PAY LECA REALTY Tribunal asked to compel Villar firm to pay P345M 04/11/2010 A company claiming more than P345 million from a company the family of Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential bet Manuel Villar Jr. has filed a petition with the Supreme Court (SC) to overturn a lower court’s ruling suspending Manuela Realty Development Corp.’s (Manuela Corp.) payment of its debts to Leca Realty Corp. (Leca Realty). The Tribune obtained a copy of the petition for certiorari and mandamus of Leca Realty filed in September last year questioning the order of the Las Piñas City regional trial court on Aug. 20 last year that “denied for lack of merit” Leca Realty’s motion for a writ of execution of the SC ruling. On Sept. 25, 2007, the SC issued a decision ordering, among others, Manuela Corp. to pay the rentals and all arrearages plus interest at six percent a year to Leca Realty. It said that upon finality of the decision, “the interest (on the debt) shall be 12 percent per annum until fully paid.” Leca Realty computed Manuela Corp.’s debts, made up of unpaid rents, plus interests had run up to more than P345 million. Manuela Corp., originally owned by the family of Senator Villar’s wife, Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Aguilar Villar, contested before a court in Las Piñas, tha family’s home turf, a motion to execute the high court’s order, arguing that the property firm is still undergoing rehabilitation, thus debt payments should be suspended..... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100411hed1.html

HEADLINES Tribunal asked to compel Villar firm to pay P345M Comelec has everything under control — Palace Polish president, scores perish in plane crash MILFsoftens stance on interim peace deal Reveal names of lawmakers who got pork, Binay demands Month-long overseas absentee voting begins

Polish president, scores perish in plane crash 04/11/2010

Polish president, scores perish in plane crash

04/11/2010 SMOLENSK — A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and much of the nation’s ruling elite crashed-landed in the Russian city of Smolensk yesterday, killing all 96 persons on board. The Tupolev Tu-154 jet was carrying Kaczynski and his wife, the military chief of staff, central bank governor, deputy foreign minister, members of parliament and other top officials to a ceremony for thousands of Polish troops massacred by Russian forces in World War II. The Russia-built jet hit treetops in fog as it approached Smolensk, crashed and broke up in flames, Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufiev said.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100411hed3.html

HEADLINES Tribunal asked to compel Villar firm to pay P345M Comelec has everything under control — Palace Polish president, scores perish in plane crash MILFsoftens stance on interim peace deal Reveal names of lawmakers who got pork, Binay demands Month-long overseas absentee voting begins

Another anomaly. What’s new? EDITORIAL 04/11/2010

Another anomaly. What’s new?

EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 04/11/2010 With the anomalies cropping up within the Commission on Elections (Comelec), it appears that the poll body is milking the coming political exercise for all its worth before likely surrendering that it cannot hold the automated elections as planned and may even revert to the old system of manual voting. Earlier it was a P700 million anomaly on the supply of the so-called secrecy folders that was admitted by Comelec commissioners themselves and now it is an indelible ink contract worth P77 million that appears to have skirted bidding rules as claimed by the Comelec accredited poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV). With the anomalies being exposed one after the other, it is highly likely that bigger anomalies may soon be exposed that will all invariably point to at the least a reversion to manual vote if not a total failure of the electoral process. .... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100411com1.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Another anomaly. What’s new? FRONTLINE The same yesterday, today and tomorrow ENQUIRY What’s the PPCRV doing? BLURBAL THRUSTS ‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles FEATURE Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile focus Fortunes differ in British election race VIEWPOINTS Hope and fears

The same yesterday, today and tomorrow FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/11/2010

The same yesterday, today and tomorrow

FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 04/11/2010 From the start, there was really something that smelled fishy within the Commission on Elections (Comelec), in the matter of the automated elections. The law was pretty clear in stating that automated polls would be done in certain cities and provinces in all three regions, prior to going full blast on automation. But the Comelec, calling for a huge budget of P11.3 billion, insisted on having automated polls nationwide, justifying this move by saying that the automated Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) election held earlier was already substantially complying with the law. It was evident even then that the poll body would not have gotten that huge billions in the budget from Congress if it held automated polls only in those areas prescribed by law.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100411com2.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Another anomaly. What’s new? FRONTLINE The same yesterday, today and tomorrow ENQUIRY What’s the PPCRV doing? BLURBAL THRUSTS ‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles FEATURE Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile focus Fortunes differ in British election race VIEWPOINTS Hope and fears

What’s the PPCRV doing? ENQUIRY Demaree J. B. Raval 04/11/2010

What’s the PPCRV doing?

ENQUIRY Demaree J. B. Raval 04/11/2010 That was the question asked by those who attended the Kapihan sa Sulo yesterday, after Prof. Roberto Verzola of the Halalang Marangal (Halal), an election watchdog, had detailed the security features of the Automated Election System (AES) stripped away by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), without the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) raising a howl. Why the PPCRV appears inutile in its tasks as the Comelec-accredited citizens’ arm for the May 2010 elections is indeed puzzling, leading some to speculate that .... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100411com3.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Another anomaly. What’s new? FRONTLINE The same yesterday, today and tomorrow ENQUIRY What’s the PPCRV doing? BLURBAL THRUSTS ‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles FEATURE Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile focus Fortunes differ in British election race VIEWPOINTS Hope and fears

‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles

‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles

BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 04/11/2010 That was quite a bombshell dropped by Baby James Yap, the son of Liberal Party standard bearer Noynoy Aquino’s lead endorser who happens to be younger sister Kris, during that fateful campaign rally in Bacolod City last Easter Sunday. Asked by his talk show host mom, who was carrying him in her arms at the time, to say “hello” to the throng that was literally standing at her feet since it was a tall stage she was on, the toddler dutifully did as he was told — and much, much more. Instead of shouting out the name of his uncle Noynoy, as he was naturally expected to by everyone there, Baby James inadvertently blurted “Villar” which is verboten in the LP camp since it is the name of its arch-enemy, Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Manny Villar.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100411com4.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Another anomaly. What’s new? FRONTLINE The same yesterday, today and tomorrow ENQUIRY What’s the PPCRV doing? BLURBAL THRUSTS ‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles FEATURE Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile focus Fortunes differ in British election race VIEWPOINTS Hope and fears

Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile FEATURE 04/11/2010

Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile

FEATURE 04/11/2010 MOSFLSBAER — Anna Margret Bjoernsdottir never thought she would be forced to leave her once wealthy homeland, but after 18 months of economic upheaval she has decided to join the biggest emigration wave from Iceland in more than a century. “I just don’t see any future here. There isn’t going to be any future in this country for the next 20 years, everything is going backwards,” lamented the 46-year-old single mother, who plans to move to Norway in June. The former real estate agent who lost her job when Iceland’s housing market disintegrated two years ago said she feared she could soon be forced out of her large house in Mosfellsbaer, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) from Reykjavik.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100411com5.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Another anomaly. What’s new? FRONTLINE The same yesterday, today and tomorrow ENQUIRY What’s the PPCRV doing? BLURBAL THRUSTS ‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles FEATURE Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile focus Fortunes differ in British election race VIEWPOINTS Hope and fears

Fortunes differ in British election race focus 04/11/2010

Fortunes differ in British election race

focus 04/11/2010 LONDON — Britain’s Labour and Conservative parties are locked in a tight election race — but their funding war chests are far from equal, and the issue is causing headaches on both sides. Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Tory rival David Cameron hit the campaign trail this week, kicking off a month-long blitz of rallies, adverts and canvassing in one of the closest vote races in years, ahead of May 6 polls. In the last election in 2005, both parties spent almost 18 million pounds (27 million dollars, 20 million euros) each on national campaigning, close to the legally-imposed limit, as well as millions more at a local level. The Conservatives are in a good position to match this in next month’s vote, having received 32.5 million pounds in donations and public funding last year alone, compared to just 16.2 million pounds received by Labour.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100411com6.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Another anomaly. What’s new? FRONTLINE The same yesterday, today and tomorrow ENQUIRY What’s the PPCRV doing? BLURBAL THRUSTS ‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles FEATURE Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile focus Fortunes differ in British election race VIEWPOINTS Hope and fears

Hope and fears VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/11/2010

Hope and fears

VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 04/11/2010 As hope means trust, confidence and optimism, fear on the other hand brings about dread, foreboding and anxiety. Needless to say, ordinarily, people have only one or the other psychological bearing and pursuant emotional toward one or the same reality. In other words, usually someone simply either pins his hope or draws his fear toward something. There are however certain markedly ambivalent situations where many harbor both their hopes and fears about the same reality. And such is exactly what the forthcoming May 10 national elections do to a good number of ordinary Filipinos. In other words, the progressively nearing political exercise provides precisely the reality for people in general, ample and valid reasons to entertain hopes and fears, to be optimistic and pessimistic about it.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100411com7.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Another anomaly. What’s new? FRONTLINE The same yesterday, today and tomorrow ENQUIRY What’s the PPCRV doing? BLURBAL THRUSTS ‘Villar’ now a household word due to campaign jingles FEATURE Destitute and desperate, Icelanders opt for exile focus Fortunes differ in British election race VIEWPOINTS Hope and fears