Filing an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte is “the right thing to do,” according to former senator Leila de Lima, spokesperson of the 16 individuals who filed the complaint at the House of Representatives on Monday. The last straw for Francis Joseph Aquino Dee was Duterte’s profanity-laden rant late last month that she...
Tag: politics
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Proposals to delay BARMM polls also seek to change makeup of interim gov’t
It’s not a simple postponement proposal. The identical bills filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives do not just seek to delay again the schedule of the first regular elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). They also seek to change the composition of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) as...
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Election parallels: Does a bad world need a bad guy?
The world is in shock, the headlines say, in reporting that Donald Trump has decisively won the US presidential election and defied the odds once more, this time in convincing fashion. As soon as the trend was clear, congratulatory messages from world leaders started coming in, in apparent relief that the result was unassailable and...
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Iqbal: ‘It’s more advantageous for us if elections are held in 2025’
Mohagher Iqbal is surprised by Congress’ proposals to postpone the elections. The high-ranking official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Minister of Education of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said there were no consultations with them before Senate President Francis Escudero filed a bill to postpone the elections next year. ...
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Sulu’s exit shakes up Bangsamoro: 5 scenarios for the 2025 polls
Before September, the first regular elections next year in the five-year old Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) were already shaping up to be a highly anticipated event. Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, who announced his bid to become the BARMM’s chief minister last May, was set to face whoever would emerge as the contender...
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Amid jostling for power in BARMM, a new breed of leaders steps forward
COTABATO CITY—With reporters in tow, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia flew into the city on a C-130 plane early Monday, Nov. 4, to witness the opening of the six-day filing of certificates of candidacy (CoCs) and manifestations of intent to participate (MIPs) in the May 2025 elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in...
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Scum returns, to stay?
The ebb and flow of history is such that the scum that was washed away eventually returns to shore. The problem is, unless we are able to clean the Sea of Human Nature, it comes back thicker and in greater volume. A cursory survey of current events makes one realize that everything has happened before....
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Risa, Leni show the way
True to form, Sen. Risa Hontiveros battled mightily to prevent the dignity of the Senate, such as what it has become, from being fully shredded at the start of the inquiry into extrajudicial killings during Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal “war on drugs.” But for Hontiveros’ efforts the upper chamber would have been in complete thrall to...
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5 ways Philippine dynasties are able to stay in power
(Last of two parts) The Sanggunian Kabataan (SK) law and Bangsamoro Electoral Code define and prohibit political dynasties. However, these laws only cover the SK and Bangsamoro parliamentary elections. In national and local elections, clans continue to consolidate political and economic power. Based on the electoral plans for May 2025 of district representatives belonging to...
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8 out of 10 district reps belong to dynasties
(First of two parts) Fathers and mothers passing on their government posts to sons and daughters, as if these were family heirlooms, is nothing new. But election watchdogs said it was jarring to watch political dynasties flaunt their power during the week-long filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) this October. It’s as if Oct. 1...