opposition presidentiables vow no cheating, admin presidentiables fail to vow anything

this is rare in philippine politics, even among the opposition. its a good photo op.  interestingly, key admin presidentiables teodoro, de castro and vice presidentiable puno were not in the group. the only admin presidentiable who was present was bayani fernando while mike velarde from the opposition was also not there.

does that mean those who did not attend plan to cheat in the 2010 elections? hello, garci you there? again?

No cheating in 2010, poll aspirants vow 
By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:06:00 08/31/2009

MANILA, Philippines—Burying their political rivalries for a moment, 13 prospective candidates for president and vice president Sunday walked arm in arm in Taguig City for clean and honest elections next year.

The aspirants—who included survey front-runners Sen. Manuel Villar, former President Joseph Estrada, and Senators Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, and Loren Legarda—also signed sworn statements, duly notarized, declaring that they would not cheat in the elections and would observe the rule of law if elected.

—

The event was also attended by Senators Francis Pangilinan, Richard Gordon, Jamby Madrigal, Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, evangelist Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” Villanueva, environmentalist Nicanor “Nikki” Perlas, and Olongapo Councilor Carlos “JC” delos Reyes of the lay Catholic political group Ang Kapatiran.

Other aspirants who were supposed to attend but did not make it to the event were Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro and Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno. They were reportedly sick. Vice President Noli de Castro was not around, either.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090831-222802/No-cheating-in-2010-poll-aspirants-vow

Darna: A Poem About True Heroism

DARNA
Prof. Dan Rivero
This poem is written for tomorrow’s occasion of National Heroes Day (Aug. 31)

A fictitious heroine, Darna is her name;
Prowess, strength and grace made her to fame;
From comics to film and now in the tube;
Many follow her, even on YouTube.

Her villains now are ferocious as ever;
Of a snake, vampire or whatever monster.
A girl swallows a stone and shout’s aloud
The heroine’s name, Behold! Has come about.

But there are real evils and villains in this nation;
And not only those which are told in fiction;
Greed, corruption, indifference and apathy
From the government down to the citizenry.

Are heroes and heroines only tales to tell;
In this world of life that seem going to hell.
Who will rescue us from this slumber and fall;
To raise us up and make us proud and tall.

Why do we still look for a hero or heroine who flies;
Or found in books and on monuments of people died.
Heroism is in each of us, if only we open our eyes.
And work hard together to change our life.

A nation without heroes is truly such a pity;
But still searching for one is a shame of a country;
I hope and pray that all will stand and move;
To change ourselves and the country for the good.

Nicanor Perlas’ Acceptance Speech for the Right Livelihood Award 2003

THE RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARDS 2003

Acceptance Speech by
Nicanor Perlas
December 8th, 2003

Before anything else, I would like to express my deep gratitude for having been found worthy by the jury of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation to be one of the recipients of their prestigious Right Livelihood Award for 2003. I humbly accept this great honor and distinction as it will be important in the on-going and incoming struggle to create a better world for humanity and the planet.

Inner and Outer Journey

The journey that took me from my place of work to standing here before you has been long and hard but inwardly enriching. It started 35 years ago in Manila, Philippines when I was around 18 years of age. I grew up in a relatively sheltered life of ease and leisure and educated in one of the two top elite schools of the country, a school whose students’ parents determined the direction of Philippine economic and political life. This world drastically changed when I realized that such a sheltered and privileged life was totally empty and meaningless amidst the sea of poor and oppressed people that was and is the Philippines. This feeling was so strong that I chose agriculture as my career because it would give me a direct access to helping the poor.

My classmates were horrified. They thought I was crazy, wanting to give up a life of ease. They thought I was mad, giving up sure fame for winning the Athlete of the Year award and an invitation to be part of the Philippine Olympic team, a sure road to stardom in a country which adores outstanding athletes.

Ignoring this insult, I organized one mass mobilization after another to challenge oppressive structures in Philippine society and to create a more just and sustainable reality. At the same time, as I started receiving death threats, I had to develop inner strength and courage to carry through with my decision that I was willing to die for my principles.

We shut down our university and made it more relevant to the needs of the country. We prevented the Marcos dictatorship from building 12 nuclear power plants located near active volcanoes and earthquake faults. In the process, we launched the largest global protest movement at that time against nuclear plants in a so-called “Third World” country. We banned 32 pesticide formulations that were dumped on unsuspecting countries like the Philippines, harming the lives and the economic livelihood of millions of rice and other farmers. Bomb threats did not stop this work which instead triggered the large scale application of sustainable agriculture practices in the Philippines, benefiting the lives of hundreds of thousands of farmers.

We moved on and organized the largest network of civil society organizations consisting of over 5000 member organizations. This became the third power in Philippine society, counterbalancing the often unjust and harmful policies and programs of the State and the Market. With this social force, we developed Philippine Agenda 21 as the sustainable development framework of the Philippine government and blunted the radical neo-liberal agenda of the United States in APEC. In a tactical partnership with government, we introduced an innovation called social threefolding, where civil society, business and government dialogued and debated the future of world development within the Commission on Sustainable Development in the United Nations. This innovation was one of two streams of influences which enable the tri-sectoral approach to become a major policy approach adopted by the UN Millennium Summit. And recently, amidst great dangers to our lives, we ousted a corrupt Philippine President from office, using the threefolding approach to mobilize key leaders from civil society, government, and business.

Brave New World of the Future

You will note that I have given a sense of the inner process that has accompanied me all these years in the different areas of contention, an inner process that ultimately resulted in some form of good for people in a specific part of our planet and for humanity in general. I did this with a particular concern and purpose in mind. We are entering a “brave new world”, totally alien to history, totally alien to our present experience of the world. This “brave new world” will require more than ever our harnessing inner resources if we are not to plunge ourselves into the abyss of destruction.

We are in the midst of elite globalization, that promises to destroy nature and wipe out most of what we traditionally hold dear, especially all the diverse identities of the world. Instead of a mutual understanding of cultures and identities, we have a “clash of civilizations” spreading like wildfire in many parts of the world, ensuring unending strife and battle. We are also seeing in our time the radical alteration of the nation state and their relationships, including, but not limited to, the increasing Atlantic divide between the U.S. and Europe, as well as the divide between the two and the rest of the world. We are also witness today to the newly emerged U.S. Empire, embodied in the Bush Doctrine, which seeks to dominate the other nations of the world as well as outer space, through its new and more deadly weapons of mass destruction.

Simultaneously while this commodification and domination of the world is taking place, the revolutions in nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive technology are moving towards “technological singularity”. This is the term scientists use for the convergence of these four technologies aimed at physically re-engineering the human being and creating super-intelligent machines, with capacities far exceeding the ordinary logic of humans. In short, technological singularity will dominate the very physical make-up of the human being. When this happens within the horizon of most of the lives of people gathered here tonight, then Francis Fukuyama’s greatest nightmare will come true. We will experience the “end of history” not because capitalism and liberal democracy has triumphed permanently over communism, but because it will be the end of humans as we know them. For human history will have ended, because conventional humans, Homo sapiens, will have disappeared, superceded by human cyborgs and super-intelligent machines.

In our collective journey as humanity in this planet, we have clearly entered a totally unprecedented era. The problems we face are complex and extraordinary. In my forthcoming book, Spirit or Empire; Societal Revolutions of the 21st century, I have called this complex of problems the “Empire-Cyborg Matrix”. I am introducing the discourse of “spirit” back in social activism because the problems we face, dear friends, cannot be solved by the same kind of mind and heart that created these problems in the first place. We are in fact faced with very deep spiritual social problems, which require spiritual responses from us. Ordinary, secular, materialistic answers will not do. The plea for human rights, for example, makes no sense if we truly believe that humans are simply complex biochemical machines that we can alter, patent, and clone. If we believe in materialistic concepts of evolution, we really can have no valid objections to the Empire Project of the United States and the technological singularity of scientists who want to transform humans into cyborgs.

This is the reason why I gave a glimpse of the inner journey that took me here from the Philippines to Sweden tonight. For behind every act of social resistance and creativity is a spiritual act. Spiritual revolution must have happened first within us before we can create the new world we all long for. Failing this act of spiritual revolution, we will face the future powerless to redeem and transform the mechanical, totalitarian world we have created out of our societies, our selves, and Nature.

In the Impossible Lies the Seed of the Future.

As I reach near the end of my Acceptance Speech, I would like to share a very brief story and a lesson which can lead us hopefully and with courage into a better future.

In January 2001 we had mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to rise up in protest against the scandalous, corrupt, and criminal government of Philippine President Ejercito Estrada. At the same time we were concerned that the 15 different scenarios would most likely lead to a civil war. To make a long story short, we in civil society made elaborate preparations, in cooperation with the top business leaders of the country, to bring the whole transportation system of the Philippines to a halt. No planes, no ships, no buses. We aimed to paralyze the national economy. We were on the verge of implementing this move, when, unexpectedly, the whole military sided with us and that signaled the end of the corrupt regime of Estrada.

This event taught me a valuable lesson which I have never forgotten. I realized, right there and then, that in the impossible is the real; in the impossible is the future waiting to be born. From the perspective of the past and the present, the future that wants to be born is “impossible”, distant, and but a dream. But the future cannot be a mere continuation of the past, no matter how that past seems so familiar and rational to us. The future, of necessity, will appear in the garb of the “impossible”, and only people with vision and deep spiritual creativity can know this and act on this, visionary individuals often called “crazy” by their friends, and even their loved ones. But, dear friends, the “impossible”, a more human future wanting to be born, calls us all to resist and transform the Empire-Cyborg Matrix.

From Winter to the Spring of Life

We are gathered together in the depths of the darkness and cold of winter. It is a good context for our discussions and a perfect symbol of the present world and human situation. However, we know that, after Winter, comes Spring; and with it the re-birth of Nature, the blossoming of the flowers, the chirping of the birds, the re-awakening of life in a grand scale.

In this Winter of our history, we will also have a Spring. But it is a Spring that we will have to create for this kind of Spring will not come automatically. It is a Spring that we must bring forth through effort and courage. Through our free decision to suffer with and engage the world. It is a Spring we can create by so loving the world, that we bring forward the best we can be for the world and for others.

Dear Friends, we face the future confident that we have one thing in us that the Empire-Cyborg Matrix does not have and can never defeat. This is the unconquerable world of the creative Spirit. With this inner power, we can abandon our conditioned habits of mind and heart that energize the Empire-Cyborg Matrix, habits that have been so destructive of the world and of all life. With this inner power, we will unite and move together to realize the “impossible” to halt the decline of human civilization and create a new world. Nothing less is expected of us as we face this great trial of humanity. Nothing less.

For my part, I will work, to the last gasp of my breath and with others from the farthest ends of the planet, to create a different world. Then we will have truly embarked on the urgent journey to give birth to a new civilization, truly worthy of our planet and truly worthy of our dignity as human beings.

Mar Roxas willing to give way to Noynoy presidential run

MANILA – Senator Mar Roxas said Saturday that he is willing to slide down to running as vice-president if his best friend, Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, decides to seek the presidency and gets the support of the Liberal party.

“Ako naman po ay masunurin din. Nakikinig sa tao at nakikinig sa tawag ng panahon,” Roxas told radio dzMM when asked what he will do if Aquino decides to run and gets the support of the people and their political party.

The senator confirmed that he and Aquino will meet this weekend to discuss the possibility of running as partners in 2010. He said there have been ideas of a Mar-Noynoy tandem even before Aquino’s mother, former President Corazon Aquino, died.

“Dahil sa magkapartido kami, isa iyan sa mga nakukunsidera. Kung may pagbabago, siguro si Senator Noynoy lang ang makakapagsabi (Since we belong to the same party, [us running in tandem] is one of the considerations. Only Senator Noynoy can say if he had changed his mind),” Roxas said.

Roxas said the weekend meeting between him and Aquino will be succeeded with more meetings

read in full: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/29/09/mar-willing-give-way-noynoy-presidential-run

read here: breaking news – mar roxas gives up presidential bid

arroyo “anoints” de castro – a blessing or a kiss of death?

arroyo anointing de castro as the “chosen one” puts de castro in a pickle. these are the things that de castro need to think about:

• the last senatorial election when almost all senatorial candidates of the administration lost in the election. the admin senators lost despite malacanang boasting about the GDP growth during that time and saying their political machinery was working for the admin senators. even senator trillanes won that election who was in jail during the campaign period and had little advertising. on the other hand many of the admin senators were top ad spenders but lost the election just the same. the easy conclusion is that an arroyo endorsement or being associated with arroyo is a kiss of death.
• arroyo is the most unpopular president since marcos – is arroyo’s backing and anointment worth anything? in other words, not much has changed since the senatorial elections when being associated with arroyo was a kiss of death.
• is arroyo’s anointment consistent with de castro’s image of being independent? de castro ran as an independent, will he give this up?
• will de castro’s  refusal of  arroyo’s anointment bolster his image as an independent?
• will it be the end of arroyo and the admin political party if de castro refuses the anointment? 
• can de castro ignore the advantage of being supported by the incumbent president and party in power? the admin holds the majority in congress. is that worth anything? or worth losing?
• does de castro have a political machinery to back him up? maybe he does not need the supposed “admin political machinery”. is there really value to the admin political machinery?
• will accepting arroyo’s anointment be a strategic advantage or a strategic disaster?

 tell us what you think.

 

Arroyo ‘anoints’ De Castro

By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:55:00 08/29/2009

MANILA, Philippines — There should be no doubt any longer as to who President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants to anoint as the administration presidential standard-bearer in 2010, and as her would-be successor.

Vice President Noli de Castro has the qualities of a “good President,” Ms Arroyo said in a statement Friday, a virtual endorsement of De Castro’s future candidacy, even as the ruling party is still drawing up its selection criteria.

The President, who chairs the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD, issued the statement to thank De Castro for speaking well of the party, and for saying that he saw his current position as on-the-job training for the top post.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Ms Arroyo was confirming that she wanted De Castro to be the party’s presidential candidate, while not wanting to preempt De Castro and party officials.

“There’s nothing inconsistent about it,” he said. “There’s nothing left to settle except the process and time.”

Ms Arroyo said that while she did not want to get ahead of De Castro’s decision, she wanted to thank him “for acknowledging the value of the administration party’s support and attesting to the earnest work that we do in the Cabinet as well as its significance on on-the-job training for the presidency.”

“The party, the Cabinet and I regard Vice President de Castro as a leader imbued with decency, capability, dedication to public service and genuine sensitivity for the Filipino masses that will make him a good President,” she said.

Ms Arroyo’s statement was relayed to De Castro via text message and released to the press.

De Castro has yet to issue a reply.

The administration coalition has been wooing De Castro, who ran as an independent as Ms Arroyo’s running mate in 2004, to be its standard-bearer in 2010. He is seen to be the administration’s best bet against the opposition front-runners.

De Castro was topping all presidential preference surveys for the past several months until very recently when he fell behind Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. and deposed President Joseph Estrada in a Pulse Asia survey, a fact that party officials have attributed to his silence on his plans and lack of television ads.

De Castro confirmed on Thursday that Ms Arroyo had asked him to be the coalition’s standard-bearer, although she said he would have to go through the nomination process.

He said he has not given an answer yet because he was still unsure whether to run for President.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090829-222554/Arroyo-anoints-De-Castro

countdown – how much longer do we wait for gloria macapagal arroyo’s term to end?

from facebook:

Fr. Ed, The Unlikely takes the high ground – will withdraw his candidacy to support noynoy for president if noynoy runs

we applaud Fr. Ed, The Unlikely for taking the high ground and announcing he will withdraw his candidacy for president to support noynoy if he runs for president.

we think it is a very principled stand and we admire him even more for it. this kind of announcement has its costs but he does not seem to mind. announcing

 he might withdraw will give pause to his own supporters, their energy and interest will pipe down and those still undecided will remove panlilio from their radar. in other words, he can stand to lose supporters. but it appears that side of it  fr. ed, the unlikely does not mind.

he is taking a principled stand, behind the idea of the opposition unified under one candidate and supporting a candidate that he probably sees as someone who believes in the same principles he does. noynoy’s greatest strenght is his name and his being, having cory and ninoy as parents. that is the twin legacy that noynoy will uphold.

while the announcement might cost fr. ed, the unlikely some supporters and some momentum, it will also gain him supporters and admirers for taking such a principled stand.

we applaud fr. ed, the unlikely.

read more about fr. ed, the unlikely in this blog: https://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/category/ed-panlilio/

 

Panlilio to back Noynoy for president

By Tonette Orejas, Michael Lim Ubac, Central Luzon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:32:00 08/28/2009

MANILA, Philippines — Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio Thursday raised the possibility he would drop his presidential plan and instead rally behind Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III should he run for president.

“I’m thinking of not running. That’s a big probability. I want to support Noynoy because with so many [candidates for president] from the reform movements, it would do our country more good if there is just one reform candidate. This would be Noynoy,” Panlilio told the Inquirer.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090828-222375/Panlilio-to-back-Noynoy-for-president

Why Should We Vote for Nicanor Perlas in 2010?

Why vote for Nicky? What are his credentials and how is he different from other candidates? Through this article I am presenting to you the reason why we should support Nick Perlas. It is you who will finally tell whether he is indeed a worthy candidate, deserving of your vote. I cannot shove it to you but what I ask you is to be objective.

Now WHY SHOULD WE VOTE AND SUPPORT NICKY?

Systemic Strategic Agenda

Nicanor Perlas is often praised as a globally renowned environmentalist. But he is not a one-issue person. He has made significant and outstanding contributions in other issue areas important to the future of the country. These include: poverty reduction, anti-corruption, education, peace building, sustainable agriculture, trade policy, globalization, leadership formation, science and technology, among others. Systemic challenges require systemic responses, an approach Perlas is comfortable with. He can place his wide-ranging talents and track record in the systemic and structural renewal of the Philippines. See www.nicanorperlas.com or www.nicanor-perlas.com for more details.

Societal Threefolding Partnerships

We face deep problems in governance. But we also are confronted with many other kinds of challenges that are cultural, economic, and societal in nature. These include poverty, corruption, unemployment, low quality education, unsustainable population levels, conflict, drugs, environmental degradation, and others. A purely political approach, while important, will not be enough. Solving these problems requires harnessing the collective resources, skills, and intelligence of the three key actors in society: civil society in culture, government in politics, and business in the economy, hence the term societal threefolding partnership. Nicanor Perlas is a world authority on societal threefolding. His book, Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power, and Threefolding has become a global bestseller and has influenced diverse institutions including the United Nations, global thinkers, and local governments in the Philippines.

Mainstreaming of Positive Initiatives

There are thousands of promising initiatives throughout the country. These initiatives address dozens of problem areas and give positive solutions to most, if not, all the problems we face in the country. We have initiatives in renewable energies, eco-tourism, solid waste management, participatory governance, sustainable agriculture, poverty reduction thru micro-finance, meaningful artistic and cultural festivals, drug rehabilitation, and so on. Yet past governments simply chose to ignore these hotbeds of societal innovation. Through appropriate means, Nicanor Perlas will harness these points of light into a powerful network of excellence that will be the basis for creating a visionary Philippines.

Importance of Civil Society and Cultural Transformation

Structural and systemic transformation is important. But human beings populate and manage the political, cultural, and economic institutions of this country. Thus, in the end, mindsets, values, attitudes, and habits of people, in short, its culture, will determine the ultimate success of efforts to create a better country. The heart and mind of any revolution is the revolution of hearts and minds. In partnership with and in support of civil society, the key actor in culture, Perlas will encourage a cultural revolution that is peaceful, creative, and celebratory. This will be the foundation, the living basis for massive reforms in government and business that will propel the renaissance of the Philippines, domestically and globally.

While most political leaders have no idea of the nature and capabilities of civil society and have often been in conflict with its active citizens, Perlas has been a leader in civil society for over 40 years and has written one of the most influential books on civil society in the world. Perlas will use his expertise and competence in this area to encourage wide-ranging partnerships with civil society to lay the cultural basis for renewing Philippine society.

Inner Change and Creativity as Basis of Societal Transformation

Computer science has a saying: garbage in, garbage out. The wrong software can render the most sophisticated computer hardware dysfunctional and worthless. The same is true in societal transformation. We may create the most wonderful constitution, sets of laws, and structures of governance, but if people remain lazy, cynical, apathetic, corrupt, and hopeless, then our structural reform will never take off. Profound societal transformation can only be done on the basis of inner change.

Past and present governments, with rare exceptions, have no understanding of and appreciation for the importance of human development within a societal transformation context. But Nicanor Perlas has had extensive experience in socially engaged human and leadership development. Perlas will harness his competence in this area to secure the long-term renewal of government institutions on the basis of self-directed inner change of its key leaders, management, and staff.

Tayong Lahat! Ngayon! (All together! Now!)

Systemic transformation, societal threefolding partnerships, positive initiatives, cultural transformation, and inner-change all point to one reality. No single person, no matter how brilliant and competent, can change the country alone. It will require the engagement of millions of citizens to renew a country. Most governments do not appreciate the genius of its people, no matter what economic class they may belong to. But Nicanor Perlas has been facilitating national and global workshops on harnessing the collective intelligence of groups of people. With his rally cry, TAYONG LAHAT! NGAYON!, Perlas will become the first Philippine President, if voters say so, to harness the collective intelligence of a nation to realize its highest aspirations and to change its destiny forever.

bayani fernando admits he received P1.6M cash gift, says he will do it again

presidentiable bayani fernando admits he received P1.6M in cash gifts for his birthday. fernando also said he will do it again, receive the gift in the future as he thought “Wala akong makitang kalabisan.”

we now have a presidentiable who admits he takes bribe or money he did not work for, is not part of his duties and something he did not earn, but money for his birthday gift.

it’s hard to decide what is more wrong here – the fact that he received the money, or that he admitted it or that he says he will do it again in the future. on the last one alone, fernando does not deserve to be president of this country.

if fernando becomes president — how many more P1.6M cash gift will he receive as he sees nothing wrong with it?

what in that makes it acceptable? we think fernando should be jailed!

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando on Wednesday admitted that the P1.6 million he received as birthday “gifts” for four years were sourced from the funds of Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

Testifying before the Senate blue ribbon committee, Fernando said the giving of the cash was an initiative of the MMFF executive committee “in recognition for a job well done of all those who have contributed to the success of the project.”

“The gift, which I do not agree to be called a gift, is not isolated because all sectors responsible for the success of the festival for the aforesaid year were likewise accordingly rewarded,” he said.

MMFF is under the management of the MMDA.

Fernando admitted receiving cash gifts in the amount of P500,000 in 2003; P500,000 in 2004; P100,000 in 2005; and P500,000 in 2006.

Lawyer Espiridion Laxa, chairman of the Film Academy of the Philippines, confirmed that the giving of cash gifts was initiated by the MMFF executive committee.

Citing records, Fernando said MMFF only earned P147.7 million in 2001, or before his term as chairman of the body. In 2002, the first year of his term, the organization earned P315.3 million, or more than double that what it earned the previous year.

According to Fernando, the act of giving recognition has been a tradition of the MMFF since its inception more than three decades ago.

Fernando also denied that these cash gifts caused the diminution of the MMFF fund for its beneficiaries, including the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation Inc (Mowelfund), as alleged by Senate Pro-Tempore Jose Estrada in a privilege speech last May.

“The accusations against me were brought about because the good senator (Estrada) could have been misinformed of the circumstances behind these monies,” Fernando said.

The admission however did not sit well with several senators, including Estrada who had filed Senate Bill 2041 seeking the transfer of the management of MMFF to Mowelfund to prevent similar incidents.

Estrada said Fernando is liable of technical malversation and had violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act despite the MMDA chief’s claim that the money involved was not public funds.

“It’s not only unethical, it’s anomalous because these are public funds. We will submit our findings to the Office of the Ombudsman,” Estrada said.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago said Fernando’s statement is a public confession of liability for a crime. “In effect, that is an admission against interest of probative value if you were to be sued in court,” she said.

She said under the code of conduct, public officials are not allowed to receive any gifts at all whether in cash or anything of monetary value.

“Liability is accepting a gift. We are not allowed to accept a gift unless of nominal or of insignificant value,” Santiago said.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/170792/mmda-chief-admits-receiving-p16m-cash-gift-from-mmff-funds

Loren Legarda supports “Ligtas Likas” Environmental Advocacy film showing

Senator Loren Legarda’s Tweet: Ligtas Likas, an animated film promoting a green environment, premiers on Wednesday, August 26, at 10:30 a.m. at Cinema 1 of Shang Cineplex.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, Please click this link. GMANews.TV – Ligtas Likas Advocacy campaign for environment launched – Video – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News

Resources: www.twitter.com/loren_legarda www.gmanews.tv www.lorenlegarda.com.ph

president noynoy aquino or vice-president noynoy aquino? help him decide

there is so much talk on noynoy aquino’s political plans this 2010. some are saying he should run for president. another set says he should run for vice-president. noynoy says he doesn’t know yet what he will do. one thing sure he has the aquino name. and that name is worth in multiple weights of gold in philippine politics now. there is no question, people power was rekindled when the nation mourned and buried tita cory. it was across the board – you saw all genders and demographics even ages who were not yet born when tita cory was installed after the people power revolution. what happened and what we felt during the early part of august is excellent political currency for noynoy to tap. what do you think -should noynoy run for president? or should he run for vice-president? tell us what you think, leave a comment on this post.

read, just in a few minutes ago: breaking news – mar roxas gives up presidential bid

Drive on to gather 1M signatures for Noynoy
 By Niña Catherine Calleja
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:25:00 08/27/2009

MANILA, Philippines—The group that convinced Corazon Aquino to run for president in the 1986 snap election called by dictator

Ferdinand Marcos has embarked on a similar campaign.

The group is seeking to gather more than a million signatures to encourage the late former President’s only son, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, to also run for president.

This time, the campaign’s prime mover is Edgardo Roces, a son of Joaquin “Chino” Roces, the newspaper publisher who began a signature campaign called Cory Aquino for President Movement 24 years ago.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090827-222210/Drive-on-to-gather-1M-signatures-for-Noynoy

a certain mike posted this link to an online petition for noynoy aquino from the WAWAM! after hours blog (president noynoy aquino or vice-president noynoy aquino? help him decide).

we are providing that link here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/Aquino/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/Aquino/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/Aquino/petition.html

~wawam~

Ginhawa ng Pilipinas, Perlas Na… Tayong Lahat Caravan Goes Baguio

Nick Perlas is holding a Forum in Baguio for all Tayong Lahat ay Perlas Volunteers on Sept. 1, 2009.

The forum begins at 8AM and ends at 5PM. Venue is at the SF Training Center, 24 Naguilan Road, Baguio City. If you want to participate or have friends who are in Baguio, please contact Francis Caguioa at 09293879247 or 09229377066.

This is an incredible opportunity to meet Nick Perlas, ask questions, and discuss how we’re going to bring about the new and better Philippines.

Email us: info@nicanor-perlas.com
Read more: Official Site of Nicanor Perlas.

Ginhawa ng Pilipinas. Tayong Lahat ay Perlas.