Panlilio-Padaca tandem for 2010 elections

Amid reports that they might seek the two highest posts in the land in the 2010 elections, Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio and Isabela Governor Grace Padaca on Monday reiterated that they are still mulling the possibility of running for president and vice president next year.

Panlilio, in an interview on GMA’s Unang Hirit, said that he is still discerning whether he will pursue a presidential bid, which he said is hinged on public clamor for a new brand of leadership.

While Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, states that, "Basta ako ang titignan ko, ano kaya ang magiging reaksyon ng mga tao, ng mga Pilipino, sa ganitong possibility...yun ang magiging basis ko, senyal naman siguro para sakin [I will look at the reaction of the Filipino people to this possibility...that will be my basis, perhaps a signal for me to run]," she said in an interview over radio dzBB.

Padaca said while she is not inclined to run for the country's second highest post, she will consider the push of several non-government organizations for a Panlilio-Padaca team-up in respect for the groups.

Panlilio and Padaca are members of the Kaya Natin! Movement for good governance and responsible citizenship.

On Sunday, the movement and several farmers’ organizations formed the Panlilio-Padaca Para sa Pagbabago (PPPP) launched their coalition for the Panlilio-Padaca tandem.

Activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes said the two governors could not only stamp out corruption in the government, but also restore dignity to public service.

Panlilio won in the 2007 gubernatorial elections in Pampanga, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s home province. In that same year, he bared Malacañang's P500,000 “gift" to governors at the height of an impeachment bid against the President.

Panlilio recently accused President Arroyo's son, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, of turning a blind eye in the rampant jueteng operations in his province.

Source: Gmanews.tv

Senate Vote on the 11.3 billion Supplemental Budget

Here are the Philippine Senators who casts their votes on the midnight of Thursday for the 11.3 billion supplemental budget.

Those who voted against the bill were Senate Pro Tempore Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, and opposition Senators Simeon Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, Francis Escudero, and Ma. Ana Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal.


Those in favor of the supplemental budget were Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senators Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Richard Gordon, Gregorio Honasan II, Manuel Lapid, Loren Legarda, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and Ramon Revilla Jr.

2010 automated polls budget updates III

The Senate passed the House-approved P11.3-billion supplemental budget for the automation of the elections on May 10, 2010 on Wednesday midnight. Thus, they have beaten the deadline.

“We are ready. There will be full automation nationwide,” COMELEC Chairman Jose Melo said in a press conference.

Instead of writing on ballots, voters will shade the spaces allotted for the names of candidates. The ballots will then be inserted into the optical machine readers to be placed in clustered precincts all over the country.

Although exhausted from almost seven hours of debate, main proponents Senators Edgardo Angara and Richard Gordon beamed after the presiding officer, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, banged the gavel to adopt House Bill No. 5715, which the House of Representatives passed on Monday.

Angara said the supplemental budget was a landmark measure because it buried the electoral system introduced in the country since democratic elections started at the turn of the 20th century.

“It is the beginning of a new era of modern elections. I’m glad that my colleagues have embraced this march to modernization of the electoral process,” he said.

With nine of the 13 senators voting to support poll automation, Angara and Gordon declared in separate interviews after the plenary vote that the approval of the measure marked the end of the manual counting of votes in the country.

2010 automated polls budget updates II

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Wednesday said the chamber will adopt en toto the House version of the poll automation budget.

Enrile told reporters they will pass the automation budget on second third reading today hopefully.

The House of Representatives on Monday night approved on its final reading the House bill # 5715 known as the supplemental budget for automated polls in next year's national and local election with 193 of our Congressmen.

Election Automation in 2010

Perhaps all we can say for now is "Dream on...Philippines, Dream on".

As the national election of 2010 is fast-approaching, rumors still up on the air that this election will not going to happen. For Gloria still wants power and her allies want her to stay.

Well, let us all hope that this will never come true.

The law modernizing the elections, Republic Act 9369, was passed on Jan. 23, 2007. It updated and fine-tuned RA 8436, which authorized the Commission on Elections to use an automated system in the 1998 general elections. Eleven years after national hopes for modern elections were enshrined in law, Filipinos are still waiting for poll automation.

See...in our dreams fellow Filipinos.

For eleven long years we are still waiting for this automation to happen we are still hoping until now.

Hope that we could taste for the very first an automated polls this coming 2010. Or should I say...let there be an election this 2010 first, be it automation or not.