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?
November 2007 Archives
By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines--The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (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.
"These vendors have solutions that use OMR (optical mark reader) and DRE (direct recording electronic) machines," Roxas-Chua said during a meeting Wednesday with the IT Association of the Philippines (ITAP).
As CICT chair, he heads a technical advisory committee tasked to help Comelec with its computerization efforts.
By law, the Comelec should undergo computerization in the May 2010 polls but whatever solution selected should be tested in a prior election practice.
The CICT is looking to deploy automation in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao special elections.
"Automation is not only about cost," Roxas-Chua said. "That is why we are conducting a detailed study to find out how the public would react to these technologies."
The Comelec was supposed to automate this year's May senatorial polls but did not 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 can't do it, perhaps the citizenry can.
Now considered as a "fugitive from justice," Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang 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.
"Any arrest is welcome for that matter as long as he's incarcerated," said Borra 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 Supt. Joel R. Goltiao, the Philippine National Police (PNP) director of ARMM, regarding the matter.
"He is a professional soldier so he has to make a professional report to tell us of his compliance or non-compliance with Bedol's arrest order," said Borra.
The ARMM police chief, he said, has not contacted any of the poll body commissioners to apprise them of the situation. He added the Comelec needed Goltiao's official 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 Saints'" 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 "dilly-dallying" 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 Comelec's August 2007 ruling which found him guilty of indirect contempt. His conviction was based, among others, on his failure to appear before the Comelec despite repeated summons to answer questions on alleged cheating activities in Maguindanao.
The Comelec is still set to file new charges against Bedol for various violations of the Civil Service law.
