September 2007 Archives

By Richel Umel Inquirer ILIGAN CITY, Philippines--The special Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBoC) of Lanao del Norte has proclaimed former Iligan City Councilor Vicente "Varf" Belm onte as the winning congressional candidate for the provinceâs first district, including this city. Belmonteâs proclamation on Wednesday came after the second division of the Comm ission on Elections (Comelec) in Manila finished the canvassing of the certific ates of canvass (CoCs) from the district, which also includes the towns of Lina mon, Kauswagan, Bacolod, Kolambugan, Maigo, Tubod and Baroy. Belmonte, of the United Opposition, garnered a total vote of 60,054 over his cl osest rivals, Angelique Badelles of Kampi (Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino or Pa rtner of the Free Filipino), who took 46,630 votes, and former Lanao del Norte governor Imelda Dimaporo of Lakas, who got 44,343 votes. Reached by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQURER.net, on Thu rsday, Belmonte said he already took his oath of office before Iligan City Coun cilor Voltaire Rovira, who is also one of his lawyers. Badelles had long conceded defeat based on figures from CoCs furnished to her p arty but Dimaporo said her lawyers are now studying what moves to take against Belmonteâs proclamation. Dimaporo told the Inquirer she is not yet giving up the fight. The delay in the proclamation of the winning candidate for the first congressio nal district was caused by the discovery of allegedly tampered CoCs from Maigo, Kauswagan and Bacolod towns during the provincial canvass in May. Initial figures, including those of the so-called tampered CoCs, Dimaporo was l eading by over 10,000 votes. But Belmonte filed petitions before the Comelec for the exclusion of the questi oned CoCs and urged the poll body to instead use its own copies and those of po litical parties in the canvassing. "Itâs over now. Justice and truth have prevailed," he said. Belmonte said among his priorities will be the delivery of development programs for his district and the creation of a separate district for the city. Vice Mayor Henry Dy said the creation of a separate district would be a welcome development. "Iliganons have long dreamed of a separate district because it will pave the wa y for more developments," he said.

By Maila Ager INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines--âThatâs his karma.â This was how lawyer Aquilino âKokoâ Pimentel III described the controversy houn ding Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos regarding the allegedly a nomalous national broadband network project. According to dictionary.com, karma is âthe action, seen as bringing upon onesel f inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation.â Pimentel, who lost his senatorial bid in the last May elections, used a forum i n Quezon City to ventilate his sentiments against Abalos, who he claimed had âm astermindedâ the alleged cheating in the elections last May. He said the NBN contract between the government and the ZTE Corp. was one of th e continuing âinjusticesâ that the country has been facing under this present a dministration. âAng dami pa ring injustices hindi lamang sa aspeto ng human rights, pati na ri n sa [There have been a lot injustices not only in the aspect of human rights b ut also in the [stealing the peopleâs mandate and the latest one is the ZTE inv olving the same person, who maneuvered, masterminded the stealing of an electio n, is the same person now involved in this anomalous ZTE contract,â Pimentel sa id, referring to Abalos. âSo good for him [Abalos]. So thatâs his karma. Nobody believes him kahit anong gawin niyang paliwanag [no matter what explanation he gives],â he said. In the House of Representatives, Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros pressed for the filing of an impeachment complaint against Abalos following a detailed testimony by Jose âJoey â De Venecia III in the Senate regarding the chairman âs role in the NBN fiasco. De Venecia is the son of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and a major shareholder of the Amsterdam Holdings Inc, one of the proponents of the NBN project. Hontiveros said De Veneciaâs sworn statement was enough to impeach Abalos. âThe statement, which was given under oath, would make Comelec Chairman Abalos accountable for violating the Anti-Graft and Corruption law and betrayal of pub lic trust,â she said in a statement. âAt the very least, the minority should meet and discuss whether the testimony is enough to impeach Abalos. Since Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico has not f iled his complaint yet, the minority might tackle the possibility of linking up with Jose de Venecia III about the matter,â she pointed out. Meanwhile, Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño and Gabriela Womenâs Party list Representative Liza Maza were no longer surprised by the younger De Veneci aâs mention of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and his supposed role in the deal. âIf First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo is the mystery man, it doesnât take too much to conclude who the mystery woman is. Above all, she could be held account able in the NBN-ZTE deal,â Casiño said, referring to President Gloria Macapaga l-Arroyo. Manila Representative Bienvenido Abante, an administration ally, joined calls f or the First Gentleman to address the issue confronting him. âI think, Iâve been always supportive of the administration but this time, I ho pe he [Mr. Arroyo] will address the allegation against him,â Abante said. But Cebu Representative Pablo Garcia, also an administration ally, said the Pre sidentâs husband could choose not to appear in a congressional inquiry since th e Constitution provided that only a judge could issue a warrant of arrest or co mpel a person to participate in the hearing. Unlike Abante, Garcia was more interested in what the Speaker has to say about his sonâs exposé. âHe [the Speaker] should not keep quiet. The people also expect to hear somethi ng from him,â he said. The Cebu lawmaker would not say however how this latest exposé against Mr. Arr oyo would affect the political alignment in the House.

By Christian V. Esguerra, Alcuin Papa View the NBN contract and related documents MANILA, Philippines--One manâs scandal can be another manâs excuse. The controversy hounding C ommission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. has given congressmen yet another reason to justify their move to postpone next monthâs barangay (vilage) and youth elections. Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles Wednesday urged senators to support the House bill resetting the elections to May 2009 if only to allow Abalos to concentrate on his âdefenseâ in the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project. Abalos has been accused by businessman Jose âJoeyâ de Venecia III, son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., of brokering the deal in favor of Chinaâs ZTE Corp. and receiving a huge payof f for his efforts. Abalos has denied the allegation. âThe chair of the Comelec is very busy defending himself in this ZTE issue and heâs supposed to be in charge ... of all electoral processes,â Nograles said in a media forum in Quezon City. He said he had relayed his proposal to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who opposes postponement of the elections. Opposition to postponement solidified the other night when senators at a caucus decided that the Oct. 29 polls should push thro ugh, contrary to the position of some members of the House of Representatives. After Abalos retires Nograles prefers the barangay and youth elections to be held after Abalosâ reti rement in February 2008. By then, Nograles argued, the Comelec would have new f aces who could âfully concentrateâ on the elections. âBecause of the supervening circumstances, maybe (Pimentel) will consider it, t hat we should have an election with a new chairman of the Comelec,â Nograles sa id. House Bill No. 2417 on postponement was passed on third reading Monday and tran smitted to the Senate. Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., chair of the House committee on suffrage and el ectoral reforms, said his counterparts at the Senate -- except for Pimentel -- were generally in favor of resetting the elections. Mafia rule But he said he had been told of the senatorsâ practice of consensus-building: âEither everybody agrees or nobody agrees.â âI didnât know they work together like the Mafia,â he said in the same media fo rum. The Department of Interior and Local Government said more than 9,000 barangay c aptains around the country would be ineligible to run in the elections after se rving three consecutive terms. In a report to Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, National Barangay Operations Of fice (NBOO) Director John Castañeda said 9,642 barangay captains out of the to tal 39,145 were now on their third and final consecutive term. The figures do not include barangay captains in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Current clamor âThese third-termers are however allowed to run as kagawad or council members, â Castañeda said. âHaving been elected in 1994, they are already on their 13th year as chief executives of their respective barangays.â Puno himself said the terms of barangay officials had already been extended for two years and the present clamor was to elect a new set. Puno also said it was time to hold barangay elections because barangay official s might already be exceeding their term limits as set by the law. He said that if the elections were postponed to 2010, then barangay officials w ould have been in power for a total of nine years. âSome of them will have exceeded the age limit for holders of public office as provided by law,â Puno said. Gordon fumes He added that barangay officials who won a third term in 2001 would also be exc eeding term limits. Administration Sen. Richard Gordon fumed against his Senate colleaguesâ decisio n not to postpone the barangay and youth elections. Gordon said that by giving the Comelec more time to prepare for the elections, the Senate was in effect allowing the poll body to again violate the election a utomation law. Gordon is the principal author of Republic Act No. 9369 providing for automated elections passed last January. The Comelec, under Abalos, refused to implement automation during the May 2007 senatorial and local elections, citing lack of time. Need to automate Gordon insisted the Comelec should have long prepared for the automation of the barangay elections. âWe have to force the Comelec to automate,â Gordon said at the plenary session. Senate President Manuel Villar insisted âthere is no reasonâ to once more exten d the terms of barangay captains and councilors as well as the youth leaders. âSome of us wanted to postpone it but we deemed it necessary to finish this iss ue since the candidates for the barangay elections have been waiting,â Villar s aid. âThus, to put this matter to rest, we made a decision and this decision is to push through with the elections.â With a report from Dona Pazzi bugan

MAY 29, 2009 will be very close to the 2 010 presidential election. That would be a good justification to postpone it again, perhaps to coincide wi th the 2010 elections. Meaning, no new faces in those mostly squatter barangay halls. Meaning, the pretty well-greased barangay gentlemen will implement the o rders from the chain of command. All these made possible on the walking orders of the Lower House. What will stop the fifth column of the administration from any advance is our S enate, hopefully. -- Valdemar B Tamayo, Kamuning, Quezon City (via e-mail)

THE SK [Sangguniang Kabataan] should be abolishe d. If the idea is to train the youth to be leaders, a law should be passed to strengthen instead the schools' student councils. This way the students will be able to apply their learning and skills among their peers. Barangay polls must proceed -- this is the only means to change errant barangay leaders. We need to change most of these barangay officials knowing how ineffe ctive they are in governing and administering to the needs of their constituent s. We should not be again experiencing their inadequacies [in] tend[ing] to our ne eds. All we can see are barangay halls that have never given any good administr ation to the citizenry. -- Raul Loreto, Novaliches, Quezon City

HERE'S a video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Veronica Uy at the Senate. For more video clips from INQUIRER.net, visit iVDO.

By Jerome Aning Inquirer MANILA, Philippines--The Commission on Elections on Saturday scored the lawyer of former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol for saying that the lat terâs camp expected the poll body to uphold its earlier decision to convict Bed ol for contempt. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said Bedolâs lawyer Andrei Tagum showed his contempt for the Comelec after he admitted that Bedol was âhalf-expectingâ the Comelec to junk his motion for reconsideration. âIf we go by the history of the commission, I donât think they have ever revers ed their decision because that would be an admission that they erred,â Tagum wa s quoted as saying in media reports. Tagum said Bedol would ask the Supreme Court to overturn the Comelecâs decision . Jimenez explained that when a quasi-judicial body such as the Comelec declines to reverse its decision on a motion for reconsideration, âit is because the arg uments in the motion do not justify reversal, or because the motion failed to p resent any new arguments, that is, different from -- or perhaps better than -- those that led to the original adverse decision.â âIt strikes me as being extremely arrogant for defeated lawyers to claim that t he tribunal before which they are arguing is composed of petty men who would ra ther perpetuate an injustice than to admit their error,â he added. Comelec meted on Bedol a six-month jail term and a fine of P1,000 after he was found guilty of four counts of indirect contempt. The case stemmed from his failure to attend the scheduled canvassing of Maguind anao votes and the hearing of Task Force Maguindanao which looked into alleged poll cheating in the province, as well as his unlawful assumption of custody of poll documents which he eventually lost, his challenge to the Comelec to sue h im for his absences, and for boasting to media that he had a cache of firearms.