Noynoy-Mar to formally announce tandem on Monday

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA – The formal announcement for the tandem of Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II for president and vice president in the 2010 national elections is set to be made Monday.

A Liberal Party (LP) official on Sunday confirmed that Roxas has accepted Aquino’s invitation to run as his vice-president.

In an interview on ANC’s “Dateline Philippines,” LP spokesperson and Quezon 4th district Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III said Roxas and Aquino will make the formal announcement on Monday, Sept. 21. A media advisory has been sent by Roxas’s office for a press conference 11 a.m. Monday at Club Filipino.

The formal announcement will reportedly be made on the day when Muslims commemorate the Eid’l Fitr or the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

Monday also marks the commemoration of the 37th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law.

Meanwhile, the LP official has confirmed several of its senatorial candidates for the 2010 elections: former Senate President Franklin Drilon, Muntinlupa Rep. Rozzano Rufino “Ruffy” Biazon, former Rep. Nereus Acosta and Akbayan Rep. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros-Baraquel.

Tañada added that talks are ongoing with other parties for the eight remaining slots in its senatorial slate.

“We don’t want [the] LP slate to be dominated by LP,” he told ANC, adding that the party aims to create a “people’s slate.”

Noynoy is the son of the late former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino and the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.

Roxas, meantime, is the grandson of former President Manuel Roxas and son of the late Sen. Gerardo “Gerry” Roxas.

Noynoy announced his presidential bid last Sept. 9

Mar earlier withdrew from the 2010 presidential race last Sept. 1. He also made known his support for Noynoy’s bid.

Both senators made their announcements at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City

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Noli as Villar's VP? 'Hindi nga!'

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA - "Hindi nga! (No, I'm not!)"

This was Vice-President Noli de Castro's succinct reply to questions that he is being wooed to become Sen. Manuel Villar's running mate for the 2010 elections.

De Castro was visibly irritated during Thursday's commemoration of the 394th Founding Anniversary of Los Baños, Laguna. At least 50 militants conducted a protest rally in the area to remind de Castro of his failed promises in bringing adequate housing to citizens.

De Castro earlier turned down the invitation of the Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats to become the party's standard-bearer for the 2010 polls.

Villar said he is open to inviting de Castro to be his running mate in the 2010 elections, but stressed that he will not preempt the vice-president's plans. He said that de Castro had previously indicated that he might run for president or return to the private sector.

"Kabayan [de Castro] and I have not talked...To be fair with him, I don't know if he wants to run for vice-president or if he wants to return to broadcasting or if he wants to run for president. I expect to talk to him in the coming days..Ayaw kong pangunahan kung ano ang kanyang magiging plano," Villar said in an ANC interview.

Villar visited Albay province on Thursday to lead the oath-taking of over 300 leaders in Bicol, including two incumbent vice-governors, at least 13 mayors and 12 vice-mayors, to the Nacionalista Party. Sen. Pia Cayetano, who is widely rumored to be one of those being considered to be Villar's running mate, was also at the oath-taking.

"I have always been a running mate of Sen. Manny Villar in a sense that I believe in his programs, but if you are referring to being the vice-president, nagulat ako when I first heard of it from him," she said.

She added that she is still mulling over Villar's offer.

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8 minutes needed to fill up 2010 election ballot: study

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA - A voter needs almost 8 minutes to fill up the ballot to be used in the country's first automated elections in May 2010, initial results of a time-and-motion study conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and other groups revealed Friday.

Students of the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities in Tanauan, Batangas on Friday participated in a mock poll in their school to test the electronic ballots to be used in the actual 2010 elections. A total of 1,000 2nd year to 4th year college students, all of voting age, used improvised ballots which had the names of 339 possible candidates for 32 electoral positions in the 2010 elections.

The mock poll is a joint project of Youth Vote Philippine, Former Senior Government Officials, Comelec and Politicalarena.com.

Organizers said the time-and-motion study is meant to determine how long it would take a person to fill up the ballot. This, in turn, would help Comelec determine if 11 hours is enough for an estimated 1,000 voters per clustered precinct to cast their ballots on election day.

"We will find out the actual average of all the voting times. This will help us determine if 11 hours is enough time for all voters in each clustered precinct to cast their ballots," Mildred Ople of Youth Vote Philippines said.

A TV Patrol World report said each student averaged about 7 minutes and 51 seconds or almost eight minutes to fill up the ballot, according to initial results of the time-and-motion study. One first-time voter said he was thrilled to use the new ballots, which only required voters to shade a circle beside the name of the candidate of their choice.

"I now have a glance or preview on how to vote in the elections," he said.

Organizers said the results showed that voting stations should allow at least 12 voters to fill up their ballots simultaneously to allow all 1,000 voters in each clustered precinct to cast their ballots before precincts close.

A brownout was also simulated during the mock poll to show if it would affect the process. During the actual election day, technology consortium Smartmatic-TIM is expected to provide generators to provide backup power.

The Comelec is expected to conduct a mock election using the Smartmatic-TIM machines on the second week of December.

Several groups earlier criticized Comelec for not conducting proper time-and-motion studies before approving the poll automation contract with Smartmatic-TIM

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Escudero wins UP mock poll; Villar places 2nd

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA - Sen. Francis Escudero on Thursday topped a mock poll conducted by students from the University of the Philippines Diliman campus.

Dubbed the "Boto ng Iskolar ng Bayan", the campus-wide mock election was conducted by the Alpha Sigma fraternity last September 8 to 15. A total of 3,156 from 15 colleges in UP Diliman participated in the election.

Escudero, who received his law degree at the UP College of Law, got 690 or 21 percent of the total votes. He gained the most votes in all except in the UP College of Business Administration where Sen. Manuel Villar graduated. Villar placed second in the mock poll with 365 or 11.6 percent of the votes.

Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III placed third in the mock poll with 278 or 8.8 percent of the votes.

The complete results of the UP mock elections is as follows:

1. Sen Francis Escudero - 690 or 21.9%

2. Sen. Manny Villar - 365 or 11.6%

3. Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III - 278 or 8.8%

4. Sen. Jamby Madrigal - 258 or 8.2%

5. Sen. Manuel Roxas - 251 or 8%

6. Sen. Loren Legarda - 237 or 7.9%

7. MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando - 226 or 7.2%

8. Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay - 162 or 5.1%

9. Sen. Richard Gordon - 151 or 4.8%

10. Vice President Noli De Castro - 107 or 3.4%

11. Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio - 53 or 1.7%

12. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro - 52 or 1.6%

13. Former president Joseph Estrada - 35 or 1.1%

14. Bro. Eddie Villanueva - 21 or .07%

15. Sen. Panfilo Lacson - 3 or .09%

16. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV - 1 or .03%

A total of 267 students or 8.5 percent of the students abstained from the mock election.

Officials of the Alpha Sigma fraternity said the mock poll is the first to be conducted by the fraternity ahead of the 2010 elections.

Fraternity spokesman Simon Salinas said the mock poll is meant to spread awareness of the importance of every vote during the country's electoral exercise.

Project head Marc Aguimatang said Escudero could win big among youth voters next year because of his age and general advocacies for the youth.

Alpha Sigma head Jayson Santiago, however, said the other candidates could also appeal to youth voters since the national election is still eight months away.

He said candidates who sincerely want to engage the youth should prioritize social issues such as quality and free education, accountability and transparency in governance, agrarian reform and reproductive health.

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Teodoro vows to quit post

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

Akbayan warns against 'Hello Garci 2'

MANILA - Administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro has vowed to quit his post as defense secretary after he was chosen by the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD on Wednesday as its presidential candidate in the 2010 elections.

In an interview over ANC's The Big Picture hosted by Ricky Carandang, Teodoro said he will be resigning in "due time" after consulting with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Teodoro said he would like to ensure an "orderly transition" at the Department of National Defense (DND) before leaving his post.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros urged Teodoro to resign from his post "in order to insulate the military from partisanship."

In a statement on Wednesday, Hontiveros said Teodoro's decision to run for president under the Lakas-Kampi-CMD would "add political color to his policies and actions as defense secretary."

She raised the possibility that another "Hello, Garci" scandal, wherein elements in the military and an elections commissioner allegedly conspired to help President Arroyo win in 2004, might happen again in 2010.

“His work as defense secretary and the credibility of the electoral process would suffer if he doesn’t resign. Either way, it’s bad for him,” Hontiveros said.

“His work as DND Secretary would be compromised because his candidacy would cast doubts on the motivation behind his policies and decisions in the Cabinet. It would also raise suspicions that he would use his clout in the military to mobilize the AFP for his campaign or to cheat for him," she said.

"For his own good and for the benefit of the country, he should resign.”

“People have not forgotten about ‘Hello Garci’ yet, so it is natural for the public to suspect that he or the people who support him might resort to the same strategy to win in the 2010 elections,” she added.

Cha-cha, parliamentary system

Meantime, in his interview over The Big Picture, Teodoro said Charter change (Cha-cha) would be one of his priorities if he becomes president.

Ever since he became a district representative of Tarlac, he said he has already been advocating for "structural reform," and that he has seen the "weakness of the [1987] Constitution."

Just like a dysfunctional corporation, Teodoro said that "if the structure doesn't work, we have to reorganize."

He said Congress would have to pass a law for a Constitutional convention so that the delegates that will amend the Charter would be "non-partisan."

Teodoro said he prefers a shift to a unicameral parliamentary system of government. He said it should be the legislature which should determine which regions should be given more power rather than "giving autonomy to areas which are not ready."

Since he will be campaigning for Charter change, Teodoro said people will not suspect that he has a hidden agenda in his advocacy for constitutional reform.

Asked about the prospect of him running against his cousin, Sen. Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III, Teodoro said they became friends when they were both district representatives in Congress.

He added that he will not "allow politics to destroy our friendship...and our being cousins."

Despite his getting the nod of an overwhelming majority of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD national executive committee, Teodoro said his running is "not yet 100 percent sure."

"I think at this point, it's 99 percent," he said.

Teodoro said he has no one else in mind as his running mate other than Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

Another defense chief as president?

The former lawyer and three-term congressman aims to duplicate the political careers of two former presidents -- Ramon Magsaysay and Fidel Ramos -- who rose to the top after successes in the defense department.

Magsaysay, the first defense chief to be elected Philippine president, succeeded in breaking the back of the agrarian-based Huk rebellion in the early 1950s.

Ramos, a bemedalled retired general, was hailed as a hero of a popular revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos from power in 1986. Six years later, he became the second defense chief to win the country's highest political post.

An Air Force colonel in the reserve force who flies light planes and keeps himself fit with daily shadow boxing, Teodoro is hoping his crackdown on Muslim and communist rebels will boost his image. He has been a vocal champion of more investment in defense.

For the election, he is also counting on the backing of his uncle Eduardo Cojuangco, who heads cash-rich San Miguel and is one of the wealthiest men in the country.

His wife, who used to be a commercial model, took over his Congress seat when Arroyo appointed him as defense secretary in 2007.

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Villar won't preempt Noli's plans

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA - Senator and presidential aspirant Manuel Villar on Thursday said he is open to inviting Vice-President Noli de Castro to be his running mate in the 2010 elections, but stressed that he will not preempt de Castro's plans.

"Kabayan [de Castro] and I have not talked...To be fair with him, I don't know if he wants to run for vice-president or if he wants to return to broadcasting or if he wants to run for president. I expect to talk to him in the coming days..Ayaw kong pangunahan kung ano ang kanyang magiging plano," Villar said in an interview with ANC's Dateline.

He said that de Castro had previously indicated that he might run for president or return to the private sector.

Earlier reports said Villar has been trying to woo de Castro to become his running mate in the 2010 elections. De Castro earlier turned down the invitation of the Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats to become the party's standard bearer for the 2010 polls.

Villar, meanwhile, welcomed the Lakas-Kampi-CMD's decision to field Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro as the party's standard-bearer for next year's election.

He refused to say, however, if he preferred to take on Teodoro or Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando in the elections next year. "They're both good but they have to catch up in popularity [surveys]," he said.

He also downplayed reports that he had lost the lead in the presidential race to Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, as shown in the latest popularity survey.

The recent Social Weather Stations survey showed that one out of every two voters in vote-rich areas of Luzon would have chosen Noynoy if presidential elections were held in early September 2009. Aquino was preferred by 50% of 1,200 respondents from a pre-selected list of five names that also included erstwhile survey leaders Villar, former President Joseph Estrada, Senator Francis 'Chiz' Escudero, and Vice-President Noli de Castro.

Villar said Noynoy's popularity increased dramatically after the death of his mother, former president Corazon Aquino, last August 1.

"I have not gone down in the surveys, it's Noynoy that has gone up. It's hard to fight against the sentiment since everybody respects Cory Aquino and there was a lot of coverage," he said.

He said he is currently busy going around the country to allow people to know him better ahead of the 2010 elections.

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Who is Gilbert Teodoro?

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA - A bar topnotcher and Harvard-educated scion of the wealthy Cojuangco family, National Defense Secretary Gilbert Cojuangco Teodoro Jr. was born into politics.

His father, Gilbert Sr., was former Social Security System (SSS) administrator and his mother, Mercedes, was a former member of the Batasang Pambansa.

Former President Corazon Aquino was his aunt, while businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., founder of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) party, is his uncle.

The 45-year-old Teodoro entered politics in 1998 a year after finishing his Masters of Law in the US.

He served three terms as representative of the first district of Tarlac and was assistant minority leader in the 11th Congress.

He is best remembered not for the bills he authored, but for the political moves that he either initiated or supported in the House of Representatives.

In 2003, Teodoro led his NPC partymates in a controversial move to impeach then Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide that almost caused a constitutional crisis.

Teodoro was accused then of acting for the interests of his uncle Danding Cojuangco, who had pending cases with the high court.

As a congressman, Teodoro has consistently supported efforts to amend the Constitution and voted against all moves to impeach President Arroyo.

His loyalty paid off.

In 2007, at the age of 43, he was appointed national defense secretary, the youngest ever to hold the national defense portfolio.

As Department of National Defense chief, Teodoro pushed for reforms and called for more funds for the military's modernization program.

This year, he declared his intention to run for president and sought Mrs. Arroyo's endorsement.

His wife has said that there is nothing but the presidency for Teodoro.

And though he continues to perform dismally in presidential surveys, Teodoro enjoys the support of a number of administration members, including governors and party leaders.

He is also undaunted by the possibility of facing his cousin, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, in next year's elections.

With the administration machinery behind him, Teodoro is hoping to become the third national defense secretary to become president after Ramon Magsaysay in 1953 and Fidel V. Ramos in 1992.

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