by Joanne Rae M. Ramirez
from The Philippine Star
 
MANILA, Philippines – He was the much-awaited baby boy, coming into his parents’ lives when his father’s star was ascending fast in the Philippine political firmament.
Benigno Simeon Aquino III was born at the Far Eastern University Hospital in Manila 50 years ago tomorrow to Tarlac Vice Governor Benigno Simeon “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and his wife, Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco. He was the third child of the prominent Tarlac couple.
“Dad and Mom were so happy because they were already hoping for a boy when I …

Theres The Rub
by Conrado de Quiros
from Philippine Daily Inquirer
IS the Cory magic gone?
Manny Villar’s camp proposed the idea, and Noynoy Aquino’s camp entertained it. That was after Villar narrowed the gap between him and Noynoy in the Pulse Asia survey to just two percentage points. The Liberal Party’s assessment showed so. Maybe, they said, Noynoy should start exploring another tack. Maybe, they said, the Cory magic has lost its magic.
Not at all.
The Cory magic hasn’t lost its magic, it has simply not been used. Or the Cory magic hasn’t lost …

by Rey O. Arcilla
from MALAYA
‘Peace panel head admits MILF draft agreement will require “major constitutional changes.”’
NEW Press Secretary Cris Icban Jr. likened his new boss, Ms. Gloria Arroyo, to President Ferdinand Marcos.
First (and last?) faux pas?
Further, I sayeth none.
***
A government spokesman who is both a Filipino and American citizen?! Geeez!
Even a nitwit would know that is wrong. And Ms. Gloria Arroyo is supposed to be an intelligent person?!
I hope junior mouthpiece Gary Olivar doesn’t get cockeyed trying to determine where Philippine interests begin and where American interests end.
Given the so-called …

Hagad: 400 Million Ways to Elect an Honest President

Bottom Line
by Andy H. Hagad
from Sun Star Bacolod

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/bacolod/hagad-400-million-ways-elect-honest-president
OUR election laws allow a presidential candidate to spend not more than P10 per registered voter as campaign expense. That means Noynoy Aquino, Manny Villar, Richard Gordon, Joseph Estrada, Gilbert Teodoro, Brother Eddie Villanueva, JC de los Reyes and Nick Perlas each are not allowed by law to spend more than P400 million during the entire campaign up to Election Day.

There are two main reasons for the prohibition: first, because an excessive campaign expense is …

by Ducky Paredes
from MALAYA

“There is also a greater possibility of abuse, graft, corruption and bribery in a task force than in a regular government agency” –  Ducky Paredes
Whoever the next President will be, he has to learn from the mistakes of the past. For instance, it is clear that giving task forces major jobs – such as the one assigned to the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) to stop smuggling – is clearly not the way to go. 
The problem with task forces is that they do not fit in with the …

by Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas
http://fatherbernas.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-cconstitutional-crisis.html
Every indication coming from the Palace is that, come hell or high water, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will reject the 1992 lesson given by the late President Diosdado Macapagal and will appoint the next Chief Justice once Chief Justice Puno retires next May 17.
But then we really are not so sure that she will. At least, I am not so sure. Did not a life changing experience happen to Paul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus when he heard a voice saying, “Paul, Paul, why …

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
by William M. Esposo
from The Philippine Star

“Nakaligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura? (Have you bathed in a sea of garbage?)” is the opening line of the jingle of Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Manny Villar which is featured in a television commercial that attempts to project him as having been one of the poorest of the poor. But was Manny Villar really one of the poorest of the poor as what his advertising has been projecting?
A Chair Wrecker reader from Tondo who claimed to know …

With Due Respect
by Artemio V. Panganiban
from Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100206-251688/Can-the-Senate-stop-an-Arroyo-holdover
MANILA, Philippines—To stop President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from prolonging her stay, a senator whose term expires only in 2013 should be elected Senate president. This was the near unanimous reaction of readers to last Sunday’s column. There, I opined that a failed election in 15 percent of the country would give Arroyo the opportunity to become a holdover president because the top officials mandated by the Constitution to succeed her (Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Prospero …

Get Real
by Solita Collas-Monsod
from Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100205-251517/Refuting-Mannys-defenders
IN RESPONSE TO LAST WEEK’S COLUMN where I presented some incontrovertible facts regarding the ethics case against Sen. Manny Villar, I received an e-mail from one Danilo Suarez of Quezon City. He wrote: “Read your column re your take on C5 and Sen. Villar’s ‘involvement.’ In the interest of fairness, I exhort you, as a supporter of Sen. Villar, to also check his official website and his side on the matter. I trust you would put this out as you search for the truth …

FRANKLY SPEAKING
by Frank Wenceslao
   
I’m sure current and former Filipino and ex-Filipino public officials, their close associates and immediate family members, private individuals and businessmen that colluded with them came across a news dispatch from Zurich that Switzerland’s authorities froze $4.6 million in Swiss bank accounts belonging to the family of former Haiti’s dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, as illegally earned.
I just learned that upon the request of Haiti’s authorities the US has spread a worldwide net to recover Duvalier’s illicit assets estimated over $100 million mostly in France, former Haiti’s colonizer and …