dramatic drops for UNA & dramatic increases for Team PNoy in february SWS sentatoriables survey

the latest february 2013 SWS survey, on the 2013 senatoriables is characterized by dramatic drops and dramatic increases in rankings and/or ratings by some senatoriables. the dramatic drops are  all on UNA senatoriables while the dramatic increases were  on Team PNoy senatoriables.

this survey results are grim and bad news for many UNA senatoriables and for the whole party and great news for  Team PNoy and  specific senatoriables.

this is how bad it is for the UNA senatoriables :

• 9 out of the top 12 senatoriables belong to the admin PNoy coalition with the UNA opposition getting only 3
• 3 UNA senatoriables dropped out of the top 12 while 2 from  Team PNoy barged into the top 12
• 6 out 12 Team PNoy senatoriables gained in rank (aquino, poe, villar, madrigal, trillanes and angara), 6 stayed the same (cayetano, escudero, hontiveros, legarda, magsaysay r, pimentel)
• 6 out of 9 UNA senatoriables declined in rank (honasan, ejercito, enrile, gordon, maceda, zubiri), only 2 gained (binay, magsaysay)  while 1 stayed the same (cojuangco)

• 5 in 12 of the Team PNoy senatoriables gained in ratings (aquino, madrigal, poe, trillanes, villar), 4 stayed (angara, escudero, hontiveros, pimentel) while only 3 lost cayetano, legarda, magsaysay r). these three losses were minimal with 2 losing only 1 percentage point while the 3rd lost 2 percentage points
• on the other hand, 7 out of 9 senatoriables of UNA lost ratings (cojuangco, ejercito, enrile, gordon, honasan, maceda, zubiri), 1 the same (magsaysay m)  and only 1 gained (binay).
• most of the dramatic loses in rankings and/or ratings were suffered by the UNA senatoriables – jv ejercito, migz zubiri, jack enrile, gringo honasan and ernie maceda
• consequently, most of the dramatic gains in ranking and ratings were gained by Team PNoy senatoriables – grace poe, bam aquino, jamby madrigal and cynthia villar
• no changes occurred for UNA bottom dweller mitos magsaysay, tingting cojuangco and ernie maceda

what can explain the dramatic loses by the UNA senatoriables?

we think its a brand positioning blunder by UNA. we read it first from statements from mitos magsaysay where she said UNA wanted “aquino to succeed” and that their role is to give “constructive criticism”. (read here: malacanang delivers THE BOMB on senatoriable mitos magsaysay)

a few days after that, jv ejercito basically said the same thing, plus the UNA spokesman. some of them even said UNA was not necessarily an opposition party. instead of saying they are an opposition party, they were saying things like they will be “fiscalizers”. why then would voters favor UNA when the president himself has his own set of senatoriables?

these were very confusing statements by the UNA senatoriables and the UNA party. people must have wondered  if UNA was not the opposition party, what are they then? that can mean they are part of the administration. if they are part of the administration, why do they have competing senatoriables to that of the admin party?

this was a very basic and fundamental blunder by UNA. instead of differentiating  themselves against Team PNoy, they were actually making themselves similar to their opponents. two of the key elements of brand building is uniqueness and differentiation versus competition. instead of achieving those, they were actually making themselves similar. the result is UNA’s brand positioning became invisible in the eyes of the voters. being invisible allows the voters to only see Team PNoy.

Team PNoy released their TV ads soon after. statements by jv ejercito and the UNA party in reaction to the TV ad did not help the party either and made it worst for them.

Ejercito explained where UNA stands when it comes to the Aquino administration. They support his platform of good governance but they want to keep the Senate as an independent institution to keep the administration in check.

“We admit that the President is very popular. We have supported the President on his thrust for good governance. But sometimes when you are too popular, you do not know anymore the pulse of the people,” he said.

http://www.rappler.com/nation/21139-jv-ejercito-to-team-pnoy-why-the-impostor-tag

ejercito’s words explain the problem UNA created for  themselves. he did say the party supports aquino in his platform of good governance. aquino was elected by a landslide vote and continue to be the country’s most popular president on the basis of a good governance election promise and actions during his term. ejercito simply acknowledged aquino is doing well which we think to many voters would mean they should favor the senators aquino is supporting.

UNA was not defining themselves in the mind of the voters. what they were doing instead was propping up even more an already popular president and this president has his own list of senatoriables.

in marketing and advertising, you never talk about your competition, you talk about yourself and how good you are and what you can do that competition cannot. if you talk about competition, you do so only to show their weakness or failure. in this case UNA was not even mentioning any failure or weakness of aquino or Team PNoy. ejercito even praised the achievements and strengths of aquino.

UNA’s blunder is not just very bad brand positioning, we think its really a detrimental strategic blunder. we are guessing that they did research and found out that noynoy aquino is a very popular president and that noynoy aquino is the strongest endorser in philippine politics bar none.

UNA was unable to figure what they can do to counter this high popularity of noynoy aquino. we think their biggest error is thinking that since aquino is very popular, they should not go against him. and that thinking is very much like giving up on the election even before it started.

 this kind of results in the surveys with the kind of competition and smarts or lack of smarts by UNA is not surprising. Team PNoy must be very pleased with the way UNA is handling their campaign.

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source of SWS survey :    http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=&title=Team-PNoy-takes-the-lead-in-latest-SWS-BW-poll&id=66397#

Team PNoy takes the lead in latest SWS-BW poll

2013 Senatoriables Poll now open – vote here

welcome to The Presidentiables Blog 2013 Senatoriables Poll!

the list only has the major senatoriables running for the 2013 election. the list is short of the 30+ official candidates for senators. the pictures of the senatoriables with different sizes and shapes were hardly chosen as they were picked up from whatever our friend Google Image gave us.

this is an unscientific poll given that no random sampling has been done and there was no vetting of respondents. anyone with an internet connection can cast their vote in this poll. obviously only those with an internet connection are the respondents in this poll which is hardly reflective of the actual voting population.

but candidates and supporters can use the results for bragging rights.

they can also use the poll results as a gauge of the size of the support candidates are getting out of netizens. respondents who vote here are social media users and they can be harnessed to promote the candidacy of senatoriables. as it has been shown in the most recent months, Philippine netizens who are in social media is a very potent force who can influence national life and behavior or attitudes of national leaders. a candidate who gets higher votes than others here can say they have bigger netizen support. the question then is how can this candidate harness the netizen support for more support in the internet and how to make this spill over to traditional media and real world voting by election time.

make your vote count! you will be given only 12 votes in this list. come back here from time to time and find out who is being chosen by readers of this blog.

thank you all and good luck, senatoriables.

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please read comments for updates in this poll.

VOTE HERE

notes :

• the software will allow you to vote for a maximum of only 12 candidates.
• after you cast your vote, you can click “view results” if you are not taken to the results portion
• poll opened on february 16, 2013
• poll will close on day before election day
• follow us on twitter -> @wawam

note that the pictures here are arranged in alphabetical order based on their first name. that is nearly scientific.

alan peter cayetano

antonio trillanes

bam aquino

chiz escudero

cynthia villar

dick gordon

eddie villanueva

ernie maceda

grace poe

gringo honasan

jack enrile

jamby madrigal

jc de los reyes

jv ejercito

koko pimentel

loren legarda

migz zubiri

mitos magsaysay

nancy binay

ramon magsaysay

risa hontiveros

sonny angara

teddy casino

tingting cojuangco

——

if you have a twitter account, please use these hash tags:

malacanang delivers THE BOMB on senatoriable mitos magsaysay

Palace to Mitos: Thanks, but no thanks

By Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News

mitos magsaysay (picture by PDI)

 

MANILA – Malacañang doubts that United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) senatorial candidate Mitos Magsaysay wants President Aquino to “succeed,” disputing her statement that UNA senatorial candidates give constructive criticisms to help the administration “to be the best that it could be.”

“Thank you Rep. Mitos but the President and his Cabinet do not need a US Army slogan to excel. The President has been doing good governance for the past three years, much admired by both the local and international communities, notwithstanding your ‘friendly’ help,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a text message.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte described Magsaysay’s statement as a “turnaround” from the critical statements that Magsaysay has issued about President Aquino.

Valte pointed out the Magsaysay has called Aquino several names.

Magsaysay once described Aquino as “the most amateur, stubborn, laid back, lazy, immature, and least knowledgeable president we ever had.”

“That is certainly a turnaround from the two-and-a-half years worth of statements that Representative Magsaysay has been issuing against the President. Very early on, she had already let loose of several names about the President… With friends like that, who needs enemies?” Valte said.

“She’s not in the slate of the President. That speaks volumes for itself,” Valte added.

Lacierda earlier said that UNA senatorial candidates are confusing the public by wanting to be associated with President Aquino to increase their chances of winning but have been very critical of the administration.

source : http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/02/01/13/palace-mitos-thanks-no-thanks

mitos magsaysay since noynoy aquino became president had nothing but criticism and disdain on aquino on every any topic, with or without an issue. for some reason, mitos is always interviewed by media and for some reason she has given some comment, or the other on anything aquino does. and more than always, she would give a negative comment.

this reaction on malacanang to mitos is understandable and certainly deserving of mitos magsaysay.

nitos is on the 21-22nd spot in the latest SWS senatoriables, a long way off from making it to the top 12.

majority floor leader boyet gonzales “threatens” rep. kimi cojuangco to “keep your mouth shut” on rhbill

we are posting here the screen caps of representative kimi cojuangco’s tweets this morning as they were tweeted and in sequence. rep. conjuangco is one of the leaders of the pro #rhbill at the house of representatives. we are posting here the exact screen caps at nothing added, nothing taken away. readers can make their own conclusions by reading them.

“MFL” is majority floor leader neptali “boyet” gonzales

some points:

• MLF gonzales is aligned with president noynoy aquino and the president has given his support on the rhbill. in fact aquino has bravely taken flak from the catholic church for this support. at one point a bishop even threatened to  ”excommunicate” aquino for his stand. does this mean gonzales has broken away from aquino?
• gonzales seem to be playing some “let-me-fool-you-let-me-fool-everybody” political game where he is saying two different things to the people and media, to speaker of the house gonzales, congress, congressman edcel lagman (main proponent of the rh bill) and representative cojuangco. and the things gonzales is saying cannot be described as “honest”.
• gonzales “threatens” rep. cojuangco to “shut your mouth”. we were not there when these words were said but we should accept it as its recipient, cojuangco saw it as a “threat”. cojuangco is quite a lady, she has her own mind that she speaks out very well. threatening someone like cojuangco is really a very bad idea.
• which begs some questions – how many more “threats” have been given by gonzales and to how many more congressmen other than cojuangco? what will come next if cojuangco’s threats are not heeded? the majority floor leader at the HOR gets  things done or undone through “threats”?
• where is rep gonzales on the rh bill? he appears to be against it based on this tweets and his “threats” to cojuangco. he is then going against the stand of the party that he belongs to, that of president aquino who is pro rh bill. has he declared his position to belmonte and the president? or did he “shut up” on that too?

representative kimi cojuangco of the 5th district of pangasinan

• we have to admire congresswoman cojuangco for her tweets today. it may be a few days late (she said this happened some days ago) but revealing them today is good enough.
• she has the courage to go against the “boys club” (we hesitate to call it a “gentleman’s club” for its sleazy connotation and also, gonzales was no “gentleman” in this event. but then again, isn’t the HOR through this event is being very sleazy?) and spoke her mind and tell the twitter world what happened.
• it not only shows her courage, it shows her commitment to the cause of the rh bill and her strong and unwavering stand on principles and what is right.
• the rh bill we believe will benefit women, the poor, the pinoy family and the nation at large. cojuangco is standing up for those.
• courage as she is standing up against the majority floor leader who is also a seasoned politician and leader of the house.
• cojuangco will defend and uphold the principles she believes in and risk everything as a congresswoman. she knows the revelation can put her position in jeopardy but she is willing to put that on the table just so she defends what is right and what is principled.

 

the continuing saga of Sarah Pope, the blogger senator tito sotto plagiarized

we will be aggregating posts on the blogs of sarah, (the healthy home economist) on the alleged plagiarism charge on senator tito sotto. these posts are available on these sites :

• http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/
• http://www.facebook.com/thehealthyhomeeconomi

this will make it easier for everyone to appreciate the posts made so far on her sites.

notice : these are actual screen caps from her blogs, nothing added, nothing removed. and senator sotto – everything here is properly referenced and acknowledged. (ahem)

sarah posted these comments on her facebook page:

sarah was referring to this post by a certain atty. hector villacorta who claims to be the chief of staff of senator sotto.

caution : we have no way of confirming if the person who posted that on her site is really from atty. villacorta nor do we know if the atty is senator sotto’s chief of staff.

—-

here is the latest:

Sotto’s office admits copying US blog

by Jojo Malig, ABS-CBNNews.com

Posted at 08/16/2012 9:45 PM | Updated as of 08/16/2012 11:04 PM

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Senator Tito Sotto’s chief of staff on Thursday night admitted that they copied the work of an American blogger in the lawmaker’s turno en contra speech on the reproductive health (RH) bill.

Atty. Hector Villacorta, in a message posted on the Facebook page of Sarah Pope, said it was the senator’s staff who lifted the content of the blogger’s work without attributing it to her.

160 Ateneo De Manila University Professors declare support for the RH Bill

HUMAN RIGHTS, STATE OBLIGATIONS, AND THE RH BILL

Declaration of Support for House Bill 4244
(The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Bill)
by individual faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University  

We, the undersigned individual faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University, declare our strong support for House Bill 4244, the consolidated Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Bill (or RH Bill). We are heartened by the recent move of the House of Representatives to terminate the protracted debates and interpellations on this bill which has languished in Congress since 1999.

We urge our legislators to act swiftly and judiciously on the proposed amendments to the bill, and thereafter vote for its passage. We issue this call in our individual capacities as educators, researchers, medical doctors, lawyers, and citizens, and in no way speak for our University, the Society of Jesus, or the rest of our colleagues.

As members of the academe who value academic freedom and responsibility, we wish to put knowledge at the service of national development goals that promote the wellbeing of the majority of our people. In so doing, we seek to ground our claims on the current scientific consensus and empirical evidence, including the lived experience of the poor and marginalized.

We recognize that others who do the same may arrive at a position contrary to ours; however, we view the ability to hold and express divergent opinions on an issue as a sign of a vibrant academic community. Having read and studied HB 4244 (the Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Bill) as well as the proposed amendments by the bill’s authors, we conclude that it is rights-based; supportive of State obligations to protect and promote health under the Philippine Constitution and international covenants and conventions; and in accordance with what Filipinos want, the vast majority of whom consistently say in surveys that they support the RH Bill.

Most important, the RH Bill is an equity measure that aims to reduce differential access to reproductive health and family planning services and information. It is the poor—and in particular poor women and their children—who stand to benefit the most from the passage of this bill. And should not the poor be the focal concern of any social institution, be it religion, education, or the government? State obligations, RH rights We commend President Benigno S. Aquino III for remaining steadfast to his campaign promise of “recognizing the advancement and protection of public health, which includes responsible parenthood, as key measures of good governance” (item 4 in his Social Contract with the Filipino People).

Despite intense pressure from Catholic bishops and other groups who vigorously oppose the RH Bill and are campaigning for its defeat in Congress, President Aquino in 2011 endorsed the Responsible Parenthood Bill (popularly known as the Reproductive Health Bill) as among his administration’s priority measures, and reiterated the need for responsible parenthood in his State of the Nation Address last July 23, 2012.

We are likewise heartened that members of his Cabinet stand solidly behind the President in supporting the RH Bill. These include the 20 agencies under the Human Development and Poverty Reduction (HDPR) Cabinet Cluster such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Health, the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, the National Economic and Development Authority, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, and the Philippine Commission on Women, among others. After a decade of neglect of state support for family planning services (except for natural family planning [NFP]) under the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo which adopted an NFP-only policy, President Aquino’s endorsement of a comprehensive framework for reproductive health initiatives is not only welcome but also long overdue.

Indeed, it is the obligation of the State, as primary duty-bearer, to provide information on and access to the full array of medically safe, effective, and legal family planning services in order to enable women, men, and couples—especially among the poor—to plan the number and spacing of their children. Government budgetary support for modern family planning methods (which include NFP and “artificial” contraception) is neither unconstitutional nor a breach in good governance (a form of “corruption,” according to some bishops).

In the same way that the State is obligated to provide free basic education in public schools for the poor, so should it make information and services on family planning and reproductive health available to those who cannot afford these services.

chief justice corona is guilty, impeached from his office

senators who voted  to impeach renato corona:

1. edgardo angara
2. alan peter cayetabo
3. pia cayetabo
4. franklin drilon
5. junggoy estrada
6. chiz escudero
7. tg guingona
8. gringo honasan
9. ping lacson
10. lito lapid
11. loren legarda
12. serg osmena
13. kiko pangilinan
14. koko pimentel
15. ralph recto
16. bong revilla
17. tito sotto
18. antonio trillanes
19. manny villar
20. juan ponce enrile

published (PGMA) Prisoner Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s mugshot here

there are conflicting reports on whether these mugshots are authentic or not.  DILG chief robredo says they are not but the latest news, also printed here puts the police saying they are authentic.

we are posting the disclaimers and the pictures here for the readers to decide.

as far as we are concerened, we think the mugshots from mugshots.com and the PDI are real for the simple reason that arroyo obviously posed for the pictures. one needs to pose for the pictures to get the full shot and the 2 profiles of left and right, these cannot be photoshopped.

mugshots.com claims the mugshots were released in the internet and they got got hold of it, posted  the pictures first, then PDI posted the pictures when PDI got them from another source. a PDI article on the mugshots also confirm that they saw the pics from the website first.

with all these disclaimers aside, if these are authentic pictures, that means someone from the court or police leaked the photos. robredo might be saying they are not real because he needs to answer to the court for having someone from the police leak it to the internet.

enjoy the mugshots just the same.

 

 

 

source: http://mugshots.com/Current-Events/Gloria-Arroyo.html

 

posted 3:22 pm, November 22, 2010

Arroyo mugshots genuine, say cop, court execsBy
Miko Morelos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines-The clerk of court of the Pasay Regional Trial Court Branch 112 has authenticated the mug shots of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that appeared on the front page of the INQUIRER and posted on inquirer.net onTuesday.

In a radio interview, clerk of court Joel Pelicano said the photos he viewed via inquirer.net, the national newspaper’s online edition, were “almost the same” as the ones the police submitted to the sala of Branch 112 presiding Judge Jesus Mupas on Monday morning.

He said the only difference was the text below the INQUIRER photos, which contained the case reference number.

Television news reports also quoted Southern Police District officer in charge Senior Supt. Jaime Bucayu as saying the mugshots used in the Inquirer were authentic.

Bucayu however said the source of the leak was unknown.

source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/98461/arroyo-mugshots-genuine-say-cop-court-execs

here is another disclaimer, this one is posted at 3 pm, November 22, 2011.

Arroyo mugshots on Internet authentic – police
(The Philippine Star) Updated November 22, 2011 11:41 AM

MANILA, Philippines – A police official today confirmed that the mugshots of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo circulating on the Internet are authentic.

Senior Superintendent James Bucayu, acting chief of the Southern Police District (SPD), said that their investigator confirmed to him that the mugshots provided to them by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and those posted bywww.mugshots.com are the same.

source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=750833&publicationSubCategoryId=63

DISCLAIMER, posted morning of November 22, 2011:

Robredo: Arroyo mug shots in Inquirer not real
PATERNO ESMAQUEL II, GMA News
11/22/2011 | 10:00 AM

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo on Tuesday said the pictures published on the Philippine Daily Inquirer were not the real mug shots of detained former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“[I] just clarified that they are not [the] real mug shots after verifying with the [Criminal Investigation and Detection Group],” Robredo told GMA News Online when asked to confirm his statement that the photos were fake.

source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/239245/nation/robredo-arroyo-mug-shots-in-inquirer-not-real

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as she appears in a composite of mugshots taken by the police in her hospital room in St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City in connection with her being charged with the nonbailable crime of election…

that neck brace looks wicked. the straps and metal rings look very intimidating. we can only imagine how much discomfort the patient feels on that brace. it’s also amazing the the p-atient manages to look good in this picture.

the above mugshots also appeared at http://www.mugshots.com/

These photographs are believed to be the ORIGINAL and AUTHENTIC most sought-after arrest mugshots of CGMA (Gloria Arroyo).

DISCLAIMER: On November 20th 2011, the two side-view photographs above appeared on the internet on a number of social sites. These photographs are believed to be the authentic official arrest mugshots of CGMA taken in a hospital when CGMA was on a recliner (description below). Please note, no guarantee of authenticity is made therein.

UPDATE NOV. 21st 2011: Frontal mugshot has been added. It was sent to us from a highly reliable source in the Philippines.

SECOND UPDATE NOV 21 2011: After our release of these mugshot photographs, The Philippine Daily Inquirer published the same mugshot photographs, writes full article (link below).

source : http://www.inquirer.net/

arroyo is the second ex philippine president who has a mugshot. the first one was erap estrada who was eventually convicted of the crime of plunder  but was given a presidential pardon ironically by  president arroyo.

ADB : Poverty In the Philippines – causes, constraints & opportunities

click to read pdf file  —>  Poverty-Philippines-Causes-Constraints-Opportunities

source : ADB website : http://bit.ly/ulR9RP

how anti RHBill proponents fail to reproduce logic, the senator miriam speech

THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL: LOGIC 101

(Speech at the inter-university forum on 15 September 2011 sponsored by the UP Law Center Human Rights Institute at the UP College of Law Malcolm Theatre)

Reproductive Rights as Part of Human Rights

Our topic is the nature of reproductive rights as part of the greater sum of human rights.  In legal terms, human rights form the totality of the freedoms, immunities, and benefits that, according to modern values – specially at an international level – all human beings should be able to claim as a matter of right in the society in which they live.

In international law, the basic document is the non-binding but authoritative Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accompanied by the binding documents known as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

In national or domestic law, the basic document is the Philippine Constitution, particularly Article 2 on Declaration of State Policies, and Article 3 on the Bill of Rights.  Our Constitution, Art. 2 Sec. 15 specifically provides: “The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.”  This right to health is now viewed as including the right to reproductive health.

Reproductive rights constitute the totality of a person’s constitutionally protected rights relating to the control of his or her procreative activities.  Specifically, reproductive rights refer to the cluster of civil liberties relating to pregnancy, abortion, and sterilization, specially the personal bodily rights of a woman in her decision whether to become pregnant or bear a child.

The phrase “reproductive rights” includes the idea of being able to make reproductive decisions free from discrimination, coercion, or violence.  Human-rights scholars increasingly consider many reproductive rights to be protected by international human rights law.

When we speak of Philippine internal laws and politics, we are speaking of the so-called “horizontal” strand of the human rights movement.  But as constitutionalism spreads among states, we now speak of the so-called “vertical strand” of the new international law, that is meant to bind states and that is implemented by the new international institutions.  Filipino politicians seem to be aware only of the horizontal but not of the vertical dimension of the human rights movement.¹

But the truly novel developments of the last half century have involved primarily the vertical dimension.  Thus, contrary to the misimpression of many of our politicians, the national debate on reproductive health is not only limited to the Constitution, but necessarily include Philippine obligations under the legally binding obligations of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, as well as other treaties to which the Philippines is a state party.

The urgency of enforcing reproductive rights in our country was raised at the 1993 Vienna World Conference, when the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights² drew attention to:

The shocking reality . . . that States and the international community as a whole continue to tolerate all too often breaches of economic social and cultural rights which . . . would provoke horror and outrage and would lead to concerted calls for immediate remedial action.

In the human rights movement, the mechanisms and processes for the delivery of health services are themselves morally compelling.  Evaluation of health programs emphasizes distribution in outcomes, not only averages.  We are concerned about the entire distribution, because reproductive rights theories take seriously the idea that every human being is worthy of respect.

Advocates of human rights pay particular attention to disaggregated data among women and the poor, because they are particularly liable to practices and prejudices that weaken their agency and the social basis of their self-esteem.  Finally, reproductive rights approaches accommodate adoptive preferences.  Many poor women do not receive information on how to receive reproductive health care.  In addition, our underprivileged women have to accept standards lower than what they need, want, or deserve.

This is the reason why we hold forums like these – to raise consciousness, provide political education, and take measures in civil society to expand the imagination and the demands of the excluded group of women who belong to the poorest of the poor.³

Why the RH Bill is Controversial

The two most controversial provisions of the RH bill are:

Sec. 7.  Access to Family Planning. – All accredited public and private health facilities shall provide a full range of modern family planning methods, except in specialty hospitals which may render such services on an optional basis.  No person shall be denied information and access to family planning services.

Sec. 8.  Maternal Death Review.

Sec. 9.  Family Planning Supplies as Essential Medicines. – The National Drug Formulary shall include hormonal contraceptives, intrauterine devices, injectables and other safe, legal and effective family planning products and supplies in accordance (with FDA guidelines).  These products and supplies shall also be included in the regular purchase of essential medicines and supplies of all national and local hospitals, provincial, city, and municipal health offices, including rural health units.

Photo by archiegonzalez.lens.ph

In brief, the RH bill merely wants to empower a woman from the poorest economic class to march to the nearest facility operated by the Department of Health or the local government unit, to demand information on a family planning product or supply of her choice.  The bill, at the simplest level, wants to give an indigent married woman the freedom of informed choice concerning her reproductive rights.

If the bill is highly controversial, it is not because it is dangerous to humans or to the planet.  It is not subversive of the political order.  It is not a fascist diktat of a totalitarian power structure.  The reason this bill is emotionally charged is because of the fervent opposition of the Catholic church in the Philippines and those who wish to be perceived as its champions.

jejomar binay and bayani fernando tied in exit poll – The 2010 Presidentiables Blog Exit Poll for vice president

this poll is now open, please vote.

also vote in the exit poll for president here —> Now Open – The 2010 Presidentiables Blog Presidentiables Exit Poll For President (who did you vote for president?)

read: vote here: your sentiments and reactions on the 2010 election experience, voice them out here

jejomar binay

bayani fernando

loren legarda

edu manzano

mar roxas

perfecto yasay

The 2010 Presidentiables Blog Exit Poll Now Open