The plot thickens with the Senate announcing full participation in the planned activity of the moment: the amendment of the Constitution. Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri’s surprise filing on Jan. 15 of Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 proposing the amendment of certain economic provisions represents a stronger than usual push for Charter change....
High court’s rules do not cure ‘horribly repressive’ antiterror law, says lawyer
The rules set by the Supreme Court on the Anti-Terror Act of 2020 cannot cure the “horribly repressive” law that will be enforced by a “horribly repressive’’ council, lawyer Neri Colmenares said on Wednesday. Colmenares, who presented oral arguments against the law at the high court as counsel for the militant group Bayan Muna, said...
Ninoy Aquino’s speeches are now available online
“We are called upon to show now responsibility to duty, fidelity to our mandate despite our political diversity. I know that for the majority this may be hard, for what is demanded of us is to place country over party, sanity over the twisted logic of our baser political instincts.” This is an excerpt from...
A challenge to winning showbiz people in the barangay and youth elections
It’s back to business among showbiz personalities who ran and won in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections last Oct. 30. After all is said and done, quo vadis, poll winners who are now barangay captains, youth chairs, and council members? What are we expecting in terms of better lives for ourselves or in behalf of...
‘You, France’: In historic move, lawmaker takes Duterte to court
ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro was grieving over the death of her father early this month when she was jarred by a video of former president Rodrigo Duterte seemingly threatening to kill her and other “communists” during his weekly television program in Davao City. Castro was in a funeral home in Quezon City on Oct....
Music piracy rampant in barangay election campaign
If the Intellectual Property Office and individual recording artists or companies decide to go after those using original music in campaign jingles during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE), the courts would be swamped with lawsuits. Thieves and pirates are brazenly making their pitch on originals and musical adaptations of popular songs. I’ve been...
Why you should vote in the Oct. 30 barangay elections
The barangay is the smallest political unit in the Philippines. But for Filipinos, the barangay represents more than just a government identity. It is also the smallest territorial unit that embodies a community. These two “faces” of the barangay—being both a local government and a community—give it a distinct significance in Philippine democracy, said Michael...
Hontiveros: Senate should adopt House realignment of secret funds
The Senate can do “no less” than adopt the House of Representatives’ realignment of P1.23-billion in confidential funds in the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday. “The House has taken the first step institutionally. So I think we in the Senate can do no less because we actually started...
When public money is spent confidentially
The Office of Vice President Sara Duterte has denied her involvement in the recent disruption of traffic on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City purportedly to allow her convoy to pass unhampered. By then the video showing all sorts of vehicles at full stop on the busy avenue had, in the common parlance, gone viral, accompanied...
Philippines prepares for 3 elections in next two years; 10 urgent tasks for Comelec, voters
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) as well as the poll watchdogs have a full plate as the country prepares to hold three elections in the next two years. While everyone is gearing up for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) on Oct. 30, preparations are also already underway for at least two elections in...