Representatives of Smartmatic met with the future first lady before the May 9, 2022, presidential election, violating their contract as the automated election system (AES) provider for the Commission on Elections (Comelec), according to a motion to disqualify the company from involvement in the 2025 polls. The submission to the Comelec on Sept. 11 is...
Author: Oliver Teves (Oliver Teves)
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TV journalist Atom Araullo files P2-M suit against Red-taggers
Multi-awarded television journalist and documentarist Atom Araullo filed a civil suit claiming P2 million in damages against former anticommunist task force spokesperson Lorraine Badoy-Partosa and Jeffrey Celiz for allegedly Red-tagging him and jeopardizing his safety. Araullo said Badoy-Partosa and Celiz, anchors of a program on SMNI television network, made “a series of unsubstantiated accusations and...
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May 2022 vote rigged from the start, retired general, others say
After recovering from their stunned disbelief at the results of the national elections on May 9, 2022, certain prominent senior citizens formed an informal group that is now trying to rouse Filipinos into questioning the vote count which, they said, had been rigged even before the first ballot was cast. One of them, retired brigadier...
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Fighting back: Activist Carol Araullo takes Red-taggers to court
Two of the government’s main anticommunist propagandists were brought to court on Wednesday on a P2.15-million civil suit by one of their principal targets, Carol Araullo, a veteran activist and chair emeritus of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan). Araullo said in a statement that she filed the first such damage suit against Lorraine Badoy Partosa...
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New chief has less than a year to clean up drug-smeared PNP
When Police Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. took over as Philippine National Police chief from Rodolfo Azurin Jr. on April 24, he promised a “relentless” anticrime drive and assured his predecessor that he would continue “cleansing” the ranks. Acorda made an “uncompromising commitment” to turn the police into “vanguards of peace to ensure a safe and...
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UP academic community in disquiet, laments ‘loss’ of democratic governance
The recent appointment of the new chancellor of the University of the Philippines Diliman has been disquieting for the academic community of students, faculty and staff in the country’s premier university, and the growing resentment against the selection process could turn into resistance to the administration of the new UP president, Angelo Jimenez. On April...
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Latest oil spill threatens Verde Island Passage, biodiversity global center
Philippine marine scientists are warning that the country faces a potentially serious environmental disaster from the Oriental Mindoro oil spill once masses of the black sludge make their way to the Verde Island Passage (VIP) and damage this biodiversity hotspot. Local governments and agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and...
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Edsa 1: Democracy and disappointment
Feb. 22-25, 1986, were “four days that shook the world”—the words used by the late journalist and press secretary Teodoro C. Benigno to describe the history of the Edsa People Power Revolution that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The peaceful revolt was the culmination of a pent-up desire to get rid of Marcos short of...
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New Year’s Day air space shutdown a ‘blessing in disguise’?
Sen. Miguel Zubiri was close to bursting into an incredulous laugh when he heard that very sensitive air navigation equipment worth billions of pesos wasn’t being monitored by even inexpensive closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras that he himself has all over his house in Cagayan de Oro City. The Senate president was unpleasantly surprised by one...