November 2007 Archives

HERE are two video clips INQUIRER.net reporter Veronica Uy took during the oath taking of Senator Manuel Roxas II as Liberal Party president at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City on Nov. 26. Here's a video of the actual oath taking. And here's Mar talking about the LP's platform of government. Is this a prelude to 2010?

By Lawrence Casiraya INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines--The Commission on Information and Communications Technolog y (CICT) will begin its six-month evaluation to determine which technology the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will use for automating the 2010 presidential elections. CICT chair Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua said eight vendors have been selected to test their solutions within the six-month period in selected areas nationwide. âThese vendors have solutions that use OMR (optical mark reader) and DRE (direc t recording electronic) machines,â Roxas-Chua said during a meeting Wednesday w ith the IT Association of the Philippines (ITAP). As CICT chair, he heads a technical advisory committee tasked to help Comelec w ith its computerization efforts. By law, the Comelec should undergo computerization in the May 2010 polls but wh atever solution selected should be tested in a prior election practice. The CICT is looking to deploy automation in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Min danao special elections. "Automation is not only about cost," Roxas-Chua said. "That is why we are condu cting a detailed study to find out how the public would react to these technolo gies." The Comelec was supposed to automate this year's May senatorial polls but did n ot push through with the plan following the controversial P1.3-billion contract with MegaPacific Consortium that was nullified by the courts.

By Beverly T. Natividad Inquirer MANILA, Philippines--If the police canât do it, perhaps the citizenry can. Now considered as a âfugitive from justice," Maguindanao election supervisor Li ntang Bedol is now being offered for citizen arrest. As Bedol continued to evade an arrest warrant issued against him, Commission on Elections Acting Chairman Resurreccion Borra cited on Monday the right and the power of every citizen to arrest the poll supervisor on site and bring him to the nearest local police. âAny arrest is welcome for that matter as long as heâs incarcerated,â said Borr a in an interview. Despite media reports that Bedol has been able to dodge arrest in Maguindanao, Borra said as of Monday, the Comelec was awaiting a formal report from Chief Su pt. Joel R. Goltiao, the Philippine National Police (PNP) director of ARMM, reg arding the matter. âHe is a professional soldier so he has to make a professional report to tell u s of his compliance or non-compliance with Bedolâs arrest order,â said Borra. The ARMM police chief, he said, has not contacted any of the poll body commissi oners to apprise them of the situation. He added the Comelec needed Goltiaoâs o fficial report on Bedol to have a formal basis in evaluating and acting on the situation. Before government offices took a break for the long "All Saintsâ" weekend, the Comelec sent a resolution compelling Goltiao to carry out the warrant of arrest against Bedol issued last Oct. 23. The Comelec felt that Goltiao was âdilly-dallyingâ in his implementation of the arrest warrant. Talking to the media last Saturday, Goltiao announced that the ARMM police was unable to track down Bedol in Maguindanao. The warrant of arrest against Bedol was based on the Comelecâs August 2007 ruli ng which found him guilty of indirect contempt. His conviction was based, among others, on his failure to appear before the Comelec despite repeated summons t o answer questions on alleged cheating activities in Maguindanao. The Comelec is still set to file new charges against Bedol for various violatio ns of the Civil Service law.