Enrile is Senate President again
By Christine O. Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — A survivor of many political wars is keeping his grip on the Senate presidency, after all.

Earlier thought to be on his way out, reelected Senator Juan Ponce [...]]]> Tweet

Enrile is Senate President again
By Christine O. Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — A survivor of many political wars is keeping his grip on the Senate presidency, after all.

Earlier thought to be on his way out, reelected Senator Juan Ponce Enrile clinched the Senate leadership Sunday night by obtaining the support of 21 senators — a powerful majority in the 23-member upper chamber of Congress.

Senators said the 86-year-old lawmaker from Cagayan was assured of his continued hold on his position following a series of meetings and sudden developments during the weekend.

The most dramatic was Sunday’s last-minute announcement by Senator Francis Pangilinan, the erstwhile candidate of Malacañang, that he was withdrawing from the Senate presidential race in order to unify the chamber.

“It’s a truly united Senate,” Senator Edgardo Angara told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, saying that all blocs in the chamber have come together to support Enrile as their chief.

It was the second time in the Senate’s recent history that all parties and blocs have backed a common leader, Angara said.

Curiously, both cases involved Enrile and both happened while an Aquino was at the country’s helm — the first during the presidency of the late Corazon Aquino and now, during the rule of her son, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

“In the first Aquino administration, it was Senator Enrile who was the lone minority member in the Senate. Now under the second Aquino administration, he is the head of the unity Senate,” Angara said.

“He [Enrile] has come full circle,” he added.

In a phone interview, Angara credited the sudden turn of events to efforts of the Liberal Party (LP), Nacionalista Party (NP) of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., and other blocs — including Angara’s — to come together and agree on a Senate President by the time the 15th Congress opens this Monday.

Since late last week, Pangilinan had been the frontrunner in the fight for the Senate leadership.

Enrile of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino only loomed as an alternative candidate after the NP and LP candidates failed to get the 13 votes needed to win the Senate presidency.

“Since neither side [Villar and Pangilinan] were able to make it, we agreed with Villar and the others that we need to elect one because it would be embarrassing for the Senate if we can’t rule even ourselves,” Angara said.

All different blocs “contributed” to the unity of the Senate, according to Angara.

He said Enrile was “the best option” because neither Pangilinan nor Villar was able to secure the 13 votes.

Angara said Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada would remain as Senate President pro tempore, while Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto would be the majority leader.

But with a unified Senate behind Enrile, Angara conceded that the question of who would be the minority leader was up in the air.

“We don’t know yet who would want to stand on the opposite aisle,” he said.

The Senate has 23 members with Aquino’s rise to the presidency. Only 21 of them can vote in Monday’s Senate presidency election.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV remains detained while Senator Panfilo Lacson has yet to surface after he left the country six months ago while facing charges for the double murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and Dacer’s driver.

Estrada, like Enrile, committed to support Pangilinan but Estrada made it clear to the LP senator that he would only support him if Enrile did not make a bid for the Senate leadership.

Pangilinan lost support for his bid after party and administration allies late last week confronted him on whether he could secure the necessary numbers and later pushed Enrile to go for the presidency himself.

Enrile had said he would do so if the senators would be able to get him the numbers.

In a statement on Sunday, Pangilinan said he gave up his bid for the top Senate post because he “realized there are political realities and developments that prevent us from securing the needed 13 votes resulting in a deadlock or stalemate.”

“Much as I would like to go down fighting, I realize that to continue with my bid would keep the Senate fragmented and disunited. The disunity must now end. I believe I can help make it happen by voluntarily stepping aside,” he said.

“It has been a very difficult experience for me and my family, but if I had to do this all over again for the cause of genuine change and reforms for our nation, I would. I would like to thank our people for their prayers and support. We fought a good fight,” Pangilinan said.

Senators were meeting on Sunday to deal with the committee chairmanships. There are 27 chairmanships up for grabs.

Drilon and Estrada said they did not think Enrile’s leadership in the Senate would be a problem for President Aquino.

Drilon said that Enrile from the very start had supported Pangilinan’s bid until the latter was unable to get the needed votes.

Likewise, he said Enrile would support the administration’s legislative agenda because not only was the Senate “an institution which will respond to the needs of the country” but one was inclined to support a “popular” President such as Mr. Aquino.

Estrada agreed that Enrile would not be a problem for Mr. Aquino since the two men were very much in good terms in the Senate before.

Malacañang said on Sunday it still expected to deal with a Senate “friendly” to President Aquino despite the withdrawal of Pangilinan from the Senate presidential fight.

“We look forward to working and cooperating with a friendly Senate,” the President’s spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, said. “It’s important that we have a friendly Senate [for] our legislative agenda.”

Lacierda said that in hoping for a friendly Senate, Malacañang was not fearing that the senators might scrutinize the Aquino administration for possible corruption.

“The Aquino administration has promised not to engage in any corrupt practices that’s why we are not afraid of that,” he said. “What we are more concerned of really is the legislative agenda the President has in mind, which will require cooperation from the Senate.”

Transcript of interview of Senator Benigno S. “Noynoy” Aquino III by Anthony Taberna, Umagang Kay Ganda, January 26, 2010

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Transcript of interview of Senator Benigno S. “Noynoy” Aquino III by Anthony Taberna, Umagang Kay Ganda, January 26, 2010

Transcript of Interview by Anthony Taberna at Umagang Kay Ganda

Anthony Taberna: Senator, isa po sa mga katunggali ninyo ay may commercial na natatandaan na po ng mga bata, eto po at itatanong ko sa inyo, kayo po ba ay nakaligo na sa dagat ng basura?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Hindi pa ho yata.

Anthony Taberna: Nag-pasko na ho ba kayo sa gitna ng kalsada?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Meron din ho yata nun, lalong lalo na po after Malacanang eh’, dipende ho kung saan aabutan. Pero ang nanay ko ho kasi talagang importante iyong Christmas eve na magkakasama kami, nung mag-asawa yung mga kapatid ko hanggang alas-diyes, so kadalasan ho kasama ho yung mga neighbors dun sa Times po.

Anthony Taberna: Naniniwala po ba kayo na para makatulong ang isang kandidato o kaya ay naghahangad maging Pangulo sa mga mahihirap ay kailangan ngang maging mahirap?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Palagay ko ho mas importante naranasan ninyo yung naranasan nila, pag sinasabi sa bansa natin yung mahirap, sinasabi katarungan, hindi nga nabibigyan ng adequate na abogado, hindi nasusulong yung kaso, hindi naipapakita yung kanilang punto. Kami po ay dumaan sa panahon ng martial law, yung nag-accuse po sa tatay ko si Marcos, yung may tangan po dun sa mga opisyales ng militar na humusga sa kanya si Marcos, yung magre-reveal nung kaso si Marcos, eh’ talagang talo pa po yung kangaroo court. Talagang wala ka ng kalaban-laban, marami naman po kaming dinaanan na kami rin po ay naapi, so alam po natin kung ano yung nadarama ng mga naapi, so palagay ko naman ho ayaw nating maulit yung pang-aapi kaya naman tayo ay may supisyenteng eksperyensa na para labanan yung pang-aapi.

Anthony Taberna: Pero yung pong sinasabi nilang kailangan mo munang dumaan sa pagiging gutom para malaman mo kung gaano kahirap ang maging gutom, kailangan mo munang… didiretsuhin ko na po, si Sen. Manny Villar, kailangan daw pong dumaan ka sa pagiging tindero ng hipon sa palengke para po malaman mo kung ano ang nararamdaman ng mga tindero, ganoon po ba yun?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Palagay ko naman ho lahat tayo hindi naka-inom ng lason pero alam natin na nakakamatay ang lason, wala hong may eksperiyensa na ang pag-inom po nung lason ay nabuhay, yun pong sinasabi niyang kuwento. Puwede namang dumaan ka doon mali naman yung leksiyon eh’ di wala rin hong silbi, ang point ko lang ho dito, when you are poor and you have so much of one thing for so many things, yung that is something that, yung people who have been deprived of whatever can also matter, can also be passionate about striving to changes.

Anthony Taberna: Kayo po ay may mga pinapalabas naring mga TV advertisements, magkaano na ho ang inyong ginagastos?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Kailangan ko hong i-check dun sa ating accountant, hindi ho ako binibigyan ng running total, pero malayo ho dun sa mga katunggali natin, siguradong-sigurado po yun.

Anthony Taberna: Kamusta ho ang pagdating ng tulong pinansiyal pagdating po sa politika para sa parating na halalan?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Maganda naman po, lalo na po nag-umpisa kami ng wala dahil hindi naman po ako nag-planong tumakbo, supisyente naman po para mapondohan yung ating mga sorties, yung mga political ads natin at tsaka maitulong dun sa mga volunteers natin.

Anthony Taberna: Magastos po yan ano, ang sabi po doon sa inyong TV ad, hindi po kayo magnanakaw, mayroon po ba kayong pinatatamaan doon?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Mayroon po mga naku-kuwestiyon kung saan nga po napunta yung pondo ano, more than anything nga po ang hina-highlight natin dun, tayo naman po ay nanggaling na ng Malakanyang, tayo naman po ay nanging opisyales sa gobyernong ito hindi naman natin inaabuso yung kapangyarihan na naipag-kaloob sa atin at sa pagkakataon. Noong panahon na ang nanay ko po ang Presidente at ang tawag po sa akin ng mga kabarkada ko ay “tanga”. Nung tinanong ko po paano naging “tanga” dahil naka-deans list naman ho ako kahit papaano, eh’ ang sagot ho eh’, may pagkakataon kaming kumita, tumiba-tiba eh’ hindi raw namin sinamantala kaya raw po kami “tanga’, ganoon na nga lang po eh’ di’ thank you.

Anthony Taberna: Pero dito po sa kasalukuyang bakbakan sa pagka-Pangulo, nung sinabi po ninyong hindi ako magnanakaw, magandang-maganda po ang dating nun, ang kahulugan po ba nito, yung ibang mga kandidato ay maaaring magnakaw o nagnanakaw.

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Tandaan po ninyo ang focus po namin ay ang kasalukuyang pamamahala, balikan po natin yung ZTE, yung ZTE po ayon sa board meeting ng NEDA P5 milyon dapat ang nagastusan dun sa backbone ng ZyberEd. Yun pong tinatawag ni Jun Lozada na “tong-pats” ang tinatantiya ay mga P14 billion, so P5 billion lang talaga yung proyekto yung paghahati-hatian nila P35 billion, hindi ho ba pagnanakaw yun? Yung pagde-deprive ng mga puwedeng naging eskuwelahan, ospital, kalsada, kuryente sa mamamayan. Imbes na kumuha na lamang ng kapiraso ng P5 million, naging importante yung dinagdag na times seven ho bale ang dagdag.

Anthony Taberna: kayo po ay hindi magnanakaw, kami po ay maniniwala doon sa inyong pangako na iyon, pero paano po iyung mga nakapaligid sa inyo?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Kapag yung nasa itaas po ay magli-lead by example, kakabahan naman po maski papaano yung nasa ibaba at mayroon kayong moral superiority para habulin lahat ng hindi susunod. Pero minumungkahi po namin na hindi lamang lalabanan ang korapsiyon, pero bigyan naman natin ng pagkakataon yung matino na manatiling matino, Presidente po ng Republika P50,000 po ang suweldo, gross, ang pinapangasiwaang budget ay P1.5 trillion, baka mayroong matukso ho diyan kapag hindi maisagot ho yung tuition ng anak. Kailangan pong gayahin natin tulad ng Singapore na kung saan mataas-taas yung porsiyento ng private sector counterpart, sa Pilipinas po entry level pantay, pag na-promote na yung private sector ang layo na po ng agwat, so paano kapag ganoon na kataas yung super levy, sa ma mababa, mas mababa po talaga, medaling tuksuhin, kaya kailangan din po nating itaas ang antas na yun para makayanang labanan yung tukso.

Anthony Taberna: Lahat po ng mga kasama ninyo ngayon, mga sumusuporta, mga pulitiko na lumapit po sa inyo at sumakay sa Liberal Party ay dumaan po sa pagsala para matiyak na, oh’ eto ay talagang hindi rin mangnanakaw.

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: As much as possible po, pero pati naman pos a Bibliya ano, si Kristo nagsalita ng “those who have no sin cast the first stone”, sasabihin ko ho ba kami lahat dito ay Santo maski paanong husgahan, baka mayroon din yung may kasalanan, pero ang point ho nun, nanigurado kami na walang major na kasalanan. Wala naman pong perpektong tao.

Anthony Taberna: Nangangamba po ang iba Senator na baka po kayo ay diktahan ng civil society na nag-upo rin noon kay Pangulong Arroyo matapos maalis si Erap pero iniwanan din po lumaon ito pong si Pangulong Arroyo, hindi daw po kaya ganito rin ang sapitin ninyo sa kanilang mga kamay?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Dapat po kasi open, mayroon akong idea, mayroong idea yung aking katunggali na baka pinagsama natin yan mas maganda yung produkto, at same time sa dulo po nito yung Pangulo ang may responsibilidad sa lahat ng desisyon na gagawin niya, so ako naman po kapag naharap ko yung magulang ko masabi ko sa kanilang tama yung ginawa ko, para masabi ko ho yun, hindi ako puwedeng diktahan nino man, pati nanay ko po. With all due respect to my mother may mga panahon na nagtalo din po kami sa ibang desisyon, at one point in time siya ho ay tutol sa death penalty, ako ho ay may pananaw na yung talagang paulit-ulit na heinous crimes ang ginagamit ay may karapatan ang lipunan na proteksiyunan ang sarili niya, later on medyo nag-rethink nitong posisyon na ito, nakita ko yung justice system natin na kung saan yung public attorney’s office sobrang dami ng kasong hinahawakan, hindi nga po nabibigyan ng kaukulang pansin na masinsinan yung mga naaakusahan ng krimen, so hangga’t hindi natin maiaayos yun, masigurado na mapangalagaan yung mga karapatan nila. Baka nga may mapapahamak pag mayroon tayong death penalty na hindi naman pala dapat parusahan.

Anthony Taberna: So kayo po ba ay papayag na madiktahan ng sinoman sa inyo pong pagpapasiya?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Ang reputasyon ko ho eh’ matigas ang ulo, so yun bang pati nung nasa House, dun sa mga kasamahan ko doon na nakasabay ko doon, mayroong sinasabi na ito ay majority decision, ako po ay hindi automatic na sumasama dun sa majority decision, eto ba kaya kong panindigan na desisyon o hindi, kapag hindi ko kayang panindigan hindi ho ako sumasama sa kanila.

Anthony Taberna: Tutukuyin ko na po, isa sa grupo na malapit na malapit sa inyo ngayon ay yung kontrobersiyal na law firm na kung tawagin ay The Firm, ito po ay malaking papel sa administrasyong Arroyo mula po nung Day 1 at in fact naging abogado pa po sila sa marami ilang kaso ng katiwalian ng administrasyon ng Pangulong Arroyo si First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, ano po ang sagot ninyo doon sa mga obserbasyon nab aka kayo ay paikutan lamang ng mga ito?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Kung puwede ho nilang subukan, pero isa lang po ang kasama namin dun sa The Firm, si Nonong Cruz, dating kalihim ng tanggulang pambansa, yung lahat ng kasama ko ngayon, siguro kung kakilala nila ako, isama na ninyo yung mga ka-klase ko nung grade school, high school at college. Hindi ako puwedeng dinadala kung saan saan lang, sa palagay ko hindi tama, yung Lolo ko po nung high school ako ang sabi ay talagang napaka-importante na may barkada ka pero huwag kang nagpapadala, huwag kang kaladkarin, kailangan ikaw ang lider. Paulit-ulit ho sila ng ganoon, so again, lahat ho ng desisyon ko at the end of the day, kailangan kaya kong panindigan.

Anthony Taberna: Kagabi po medyo napuyat kayo sa pagtalakay sa C-5 controversy, senator isang diretsang tanong, puwede po ba kayong mag-inhibit na lamang doon po sa pagsisiyasat na ito para po mawala na yung pangangatwiran na kayo ay namumulitika lamang ditto sa isyu laban kay Sen. Villar?

Sen. Noynoy Aquino: Ang problema ho yung numero namin sa Senado, kasi ho kami ay 23 total, isa yung naka-kulong, 11-11 na nga ho ang puwedeng mangyari, walang desisyon, kailangan ma-resolve yung issue, kung hindi na ho kailangan yung partisipasyon ko pero maaaring na-resolve yung issue one way or the other baka puwede po nating pag-isipan yan. Pero uulitin ko po kung namumulitika ako ho dito, si Senator Alan Cayetano at si Gilbert Remulla mismo ang magpapatunay na umpisa-umpisa pa lamang ho at hanggang sa mga araw na ito, nakiki-usap ako kay Senator Villar, pumunta ka dito kung talagang wala kang kasalanan mapapakita mo yan, mabigyan ka ng karapatan mo na magkaroon ng proseso, kung saan puwede mong ipagtanggol yung sarili mo.

[Archived from the official campaign web site of President Benigno S. "Noynoy" Aquino III]

Estrada scolds Maceda; LP warns of ‘Arroyo option’
By Philip Tubeza, Christian V. Esguerra
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Be careful what you wish for.

Former President Joseph Estrada Thursday said he scolded former Sen. Ernesto Maceda for coming up with that “kalokohan (nonsense)”.

Noynoy lead now 22 points; Erap overtakes Villar—SWS
GERARD S. DELA PEÑA
BusinessWorld

With the May 10 elections just around the corner, Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III has picked up steam to widen his lead in the presidential race, results of the [...]]]> Tweet

Noynoy lead now 22 points; Erap overtakes Villar—SWS
GERARD S. DELA PEÑA
BusinessWorld

With the May 10 elections just around the corner, Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III has picked up steam to widen his lead in the presidential race, results of the final BusinessWorld-Social Weather Stations (BW-SWS) Pre-Election survey showed.

The May 2-3 poll, conducted roughly a week before Filipinos troop to the precincts, gave Mr. Aquino the support of 42%, up four points and ahead of former President Joseph “Erap” E. Estrada of the Pwersa ng Masa who was now in second place with three-point gain to 20%.

Erstwhile second-placer Sen. Manuel “Manny” B. Villar, Jr. of the Nationalista Party (NP) was a point behind at 19%, a result within the survey’s error margin of 2.2%. His support was down seven points from the prior BW-SWS poll of April 16-19.

The gap between the top two was 22 points, wider than the 12 Mr. Aquino enjoyed over Mr. Villar in the last survey.

Former Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” C. Teodoro Jr., the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD party’s candidate, remained fourth with an unchanged score of 9%.

Bangon Pilipinas bet Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” C. Villanueva was fifth with 3%, followed by Partido Bagumbayan’s Sen. Richard “Dick” J. Gordon (2%), Ang Kapatiran’s John Carlos “JC” G. de los Reyes (0.3%), and independents Maria Consuelo “Jamby” A. S. Madrigal (0.2%) and Nicanor Jesus “Nick” P. Perlas (0.1%)

Six percent of the respondents were classed as undecided. This category included votes for disqualified Kilusang Bagong Lipunan bet Vetellano “Dodong” Acosta and others.

As in three prior surveys, the last BW-SWS poll had respondents being asked to fill out ballots in a simulation of the May 10 exercise. Polled were 2,400 registered voters, divided into random samples of 300 for Metro Manila, 900 in the Balance of Luzon, and 600 each in the Visayas and Mindanao.

(The BW-SWS polls for December and January involved the interviewers providing lists of candidates and asking the respondents to choose.)

The error margins used were ±2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, ±3% for the rest of Luzon, and ±4% for the Visayas and Mindanao.

They were asked: “Kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngayon, sino ang pinakamalamang ninyong iboboto bilang presidente, bise-presidente, mga senador at party list ng Pilipinas? Narito ang listahan ng mga kandidato. Paki-shade o itiman po ang naaangkop na oval katabi ng pangalan ng taong pinakamalamang ninyong iboboto. (If the elections were held today, whom would you most probably vote for as president, vice-president, senator, and party list of the Philippines? Here is a list of candidates. Please shade the oval beside the name of the persons you would most likely vote for.)

The results gave Mr. Aquino the lead across all geographic areas and social classes.

The SWS said his wider nationwide lead was due to gains of eight points in Metro Manila (to 43%), six points in Mindanao (39%), four points in the Balance of Luzon (41%), and one point in the Visayas (47%).

Mr. Estrada’s score went up owing to an eight-point improvement in Mindanao (to 30%), one-point gains each in Metro Manila (26%) and the rest of Luzon (18%), and an unchanged 7% in the Visayas.

Mr. Villar’s decline was traced to a 16-point plunge in Mindanao to 15%, an eight-point loss to 10% in Metro Manila and a five-point drop to 20% in the Balance of Luzon. His support in the Visayas stayed at 25%.

Mr. Teodoro’s two-point gain in Mindanao to 10% and a steady score of 9% in Balance of Luzon, meanwhile, were offset by two-point loss each in Metro Manila (to 8%) and the Visayas (9%).

Mr. Villanueva saw his scores in the Balance of Luzon and Mindanao move up by one point each to 4% and 2%, respectively, which was offset by identical declines in Metro Manila (to 2%) and the Visayas (1%).

Mr. Gordon, meanwhile, gained a point in the rest of Luzon (to 3%) and stayed steady in Metro Manila (2%) and the Visayas (1%). His support in Mindanao barely changed at 0.2%.

“The vote percentages of de los Reyes, Madrigal, and Perlas across major study areas hardly changed from April 16-19,” SWS said.

Among the ABC class, Mr. Estrada gained eight points (to 14%,) Mr. Teodoro by three (also to 14%), and Messrs. Villanueva, Gordon and Perlas added one point each (4%, 4%, and 1%, respectively). Messrs. Aquino and Villar lost nine points each to 44% and 13%, respectively.

Among the class D or masa, Mr. Aquino posted a six-point gain to 44%, Mr. Estrada added three points to 19%, while Messrs. Villanueva and Gordon were steady at 2% each. Mr. Teodoro lost two points to score 8% while Mr. Villar slid by seven points to 18%.

Among the class E, Mr. Teodoro posted a six-point increase to 12%, Mr. Aquino was up three points to 35%, and Mr. Villanueva added one point to 2%. Mr. Estrada’s score was unchanged at 23% while Mr. Villar lost 10 points to 21%.

As in geographical areas, the vote percentages for Ms. Madrigal, and Messrs. de los Reyes, Gordon and Perlas were hardly changed.

Sought for comment, Mr. Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a telephone interview: “We are humbled by the numbers. Undecided voters have decided to go for Noynoy after they have heard of our platforms. Secondly, the negative reports that other camps tried to present against us backlashed on them. The issue in this election has boiled down to trustworthiness. The Villar camp is now paying the price of their black propaganda [against us].”

Former senator Ernesto M. Maceda, Mr. Estrada’s campaign manager, said the latest SWS survey results did not match those of their internal survey where Mr. Aquino scored 34% while the former president obtained 29%.

“We do not accept this as reflection of the true situation on the ground. Based on the [support of] tens of thousands of people in our sorties, we feel we have much more,” he said in a separate phone interview.

Lawyer Mike Toledo, Mr. Teodoro’s spokesman, aired the same view, saying: “We find the survey hard to believe. It’s different from what we see on the ground. The surveys don’t reflect the reality [based on our sorties].”

The NP, for its part, was unfazed by the survey results, saying that Mr. Villar’s machinery would help him claim victory on May 10.

“While surveys may be good indicators of public opinion and perception, the NP, however, believes these do not dictate the outcome of elections,” senatorial bet Gilbert C. Remulla, who also acts as NP spokesman, said in a statement.

“We believe that the political machinery established by Senator Villar in the provincial, city and municipal levels nationwide would deliver the much-needed votes for our presidential candidate.” —BusinessWorld

Can a real-estate billionaire transform the Philippines?
PING GALANG
GMANews.tv

On the face of it, Manuel Villar’s rise from modest economic and social beginnings to a stature of immense wealth and political influence qualifies the man as a model for small businessmen and professionals [...]]]> Tweet

Can a real-estate billionaire transform the Philippines?
PING GALANG
GMANews.tv

On the face of it, Manuel Villar’s rise from modest economic and social beginnings to a stature of immense wealth and political influence qualifies the man as a model for small businessmen and professionals aspiring for lofty goals in a struggling economy like the Philippines. Such a record could even be a ticket to the presidency of the land.

But is it really? Was adherence to sipag at tiyaga values all it took for him to be able to make that giant leap to fame and fortune—and now aiming to land on the doorsteps of Malacañang? Although one cannot disparage his claim of industry and perseverance (sipag at tiyaga) as important factors behind his successes, a closer scrutiny of Villar’s colorful career also shows that connections and influence did help him along, official records and published reports indicate.

After getting employed briefly as a finance analyst and then growing a small construction business he had set up in 1975 into a leading provider of low-cost housing, Villar entered politics in 1992. He won a seat in the House of Representatives that was vacated by his father-in-law, Filemon Aguilar who had reached the term limit for his Las Piñas-Muntinlupa congressional district.

A year into his first term as congressman, Villar actively participated in the drafting and sponsorship of a bill that eventually became the “Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter Financing Act of 1994.” The legislation increased budget allocations for agencies involved in the government’s housing program, aimed at triggering more money flowing into private companies that built low-cost, affordable and socialized housing units for individual buyers or for communities.

Villar was reelected twice, propped up by the same political machinery that was instrumental in keeping his father-in-law in office for three consecutive terms (and later Villar’s wife Cynthia, too). In 1998, at the start of his third and last term, Villar was elected House speaker. Not a bad achievement at all, considering that in winning the speakership, the real-estate businessman trounced a highly respected legislator and human rights crusader, Joker Arroyo, who was at the time a congressman representing Makati, the nerve center of Philippine business.

It was also in 1998 when Villar’s flagship C&P Homes Inc. and its affiliates struggled with a crippling business slowdown that ravaged the firms’ capability to repay debts estimated at some P16 billion at the time. Short on cash, the C&P group had to give up many of its assets to settle payables. Villar was already House speaker when his companies started working out repayment deals with creditors, a process that took eight years to complete with the emergence of Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. in February 2007 as the Villar group’s new holding company.

From a low-key leadership as House speaker, Villar was catapulted into the limelight in November 2000 when he, at the start of the plenary debate on a move to impeach then-president Joseph Estrada, ignored parliamentary procedural calls and appeals from the floor by speed-reading a resolution against Estrada that sent the case to the Senate for trial. However, Villar himself was unseated later in that day’s session in a vote on his parliamentary conduct.

In the national election the following year, on the back of his newfound popularity for his role in the ouster of Estrada, Villar won a seat in the Senate despite his lack of any party affiliation during the campaign. He was elected Senate president in 2006. His term was cut short in 2008, however, owing to weakened support from his peers in the chamber, some of whom accused him later of having allegedly used his position to benefit his own real-estate projects in his hometown.

Campaign peg

Today, surveys show that Villar is one of the leading candidates for president in the May 10 election. He has waged his amply-financed campaign around the idea of entrepreneurship becoming every Filipino’s route to wealth and prosperity, in much the same way that he has steered his own life—from seafood vendor to office employee to small business owner to “brown taipan” in a business setting where Chinese-Filipinos are the dominant tycoons.

Villar nurtured in his younger days a deep admiration for Chinese-Filipino families in his Tondo community who were able to balance hectic personal and business-related activities. Villar observed that the Tsinoys often lived in two-storey apartments where they tended to some commercial shop on the ground floor and maintained their living quarters on the second floor.

Young members of Tsinoy families, Villar recalls, would get an early training on the intricacies and rigors of managing and sustaining a business because they automatically got involved in the family shop downstairs. When he set up his own business, an extension of his house served as its office.

On the campaign stump these days, Villar repeats the same refrain of “empowerment through entrepreneurship” that he first voiced in the mid-1990s after he became a certified billionaire by virtue of a sharp upvaluation of his and his family’s 80 percent shareholdings in C&P Homes following its listing on the stock exchange.

“I have shown that Filipinos can make it big in business,” he often proclaims in speeches and in press briefings. “The trick is not to stop until you achieve your goal through hard work, persistence, and determination.”

When Villar first landed on Forbes magazine’s list of the richest individuals in the Philippines in 2006, he was promptly labelled “the brown taipan” as the first Filipino to join the ranks of wealthy Tsinoy business tycoons. In the latest, 2009 edition of its “The Philippines’ 40 Richest” list, Forbes valued Villar’s fortune at $530 million (equivalent to P25.5 billion in August 2009 when the list was released), good enough to occupy 9th place.

In the first edition of the Forbes list in 2006, Villar was No. 24 with total assets estimated at $110 million. In the 2007 list, he roared ahead to No. 5 on account of a 755 percent surge in his wealth to $940 million following a new public offering of shares that year by Vista Land, the reincarnation of C&P Homes that had earlier foundered under a heavy load of debts to banks here and abroad.

It would seem that Villar’s fortune has been influenced by the rise and fall of the overall economy—growing when consumer demand is strong (especially when the remittances sent home by Filipinos working abroad increase which enable their families to make payments on their housing loans), and softening when the economic conditions turn sour.

It also helped that Villar was a prominent player in an industry whose products are non-perishable and whose leaders knew how to exploit flaws in the government’s policies and regulations on housing. One of those policies allowed a steady flow of government financing to subdivision developers even if their buyers did not have established capacity to pay amortizations regularly. That was the finding of a Special Task Force on Housing in 1993 that was convened by the House of Representatives to find out how the implementation of the national housing program could be fast-tracked.

Manuel Eduardo Lunas, then president of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC) that served as one of the government’s financing providers for housing, told the task force in its August 2, 1993 meeting that “the present credit system operates on a formula basis [that is] premised on the fact that even if the person does not really have a take-home pay to allocate for housing, he can [still] borrow.”

“In effect, even we ourselves [at NHMFC] are forced to comply [with mortgage financing] even if we know already that the person may not necessarily be in a position to pay,” Lunas told the task force, according to the minutes of that 1993 meeting.

More recently, this sentiment was echoed in disclosures by Antonio Hidalgo, former secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) which was set up as the main supervisory agency for the government’s housing strategy, the Unified Home Lending Program (UHLP), created by President Corazon Aquino’s Executive Order 90 issued in December 1986. The EO also tasked NHMFC with the development of a system that would attract private institutional funds into long term housing mortgages, and eventually setting up a secondary mortgage market in the country.

Hidalgo, who was HUDCC head in 1995-1998 during the administration of Fidel Ramos, said in an interview last month with GMANews.TV that while the concept behind EO 90 was good, its subsequent implementation was exploited by private housing developers whose influence extended into the way funds would be released. That situation came about, one former housing official recalled, because the experts behind the original mortgage financing scheme from which EO 90 was patterned—all former officials at the Marcos-era Ministry of Human Settlements—had left the government.

Under the rules that were adopted, Hidalgo said, NHMFC turned into a virtual cash-disbursing agency to the private housing developers who would produce mortage contracts, but without any mandate to screen the mortages and examine the buyers’ creditworthiness or regular incomes.

“All the NHMFC was left to do was to handle the cash from the funders—Social Security System, Pag-IBIG Fund (the Home Development Mutual Fund), and Government Service Insurance System—and allocate to the housing developers on the basis of quotas. These quotas were established on the proven capacities of the major developers in low-cost and socialized housing,” Hidaldo said.

Under that system, Villar’s subdivision companies, Camella Homes and Palmera Homes, became “entitled” to the largest share of those mortgage finance allocations because they accounted for the most housing units erected. One particular update by NHMFC in 1994, for instance, showed Camella topping the list of mortgage takeouts as of July of that year with P2.2 billion and Palmera taking the second highest loan releases with P1.96 billion—or a combined P4.16 billion out of the total P9 billion given to the top ten borrowers for that period alone.

By the time the government decided to reform the mortgage financing system, NHMFC had recorded total releases of over P42 billion for mortages over the four years to 1996, more than half of which was to the C&P group’s account—and a large part not being serviced, according to Hidalgo. SSS, the pension fund for private-sector employees, was the source of 63 percent of the funds released while the government employees’ pension fund GSIS accounted for nearly 14 percent.

The right model?

Claiming a familiarity with what he calls the “political jungle,” Villar now says he wants to change the Filipino mindset that puts becoming an employee rather than creating employment as a life goal. He says he wants to make entrepreneurs out of every Filipino if he gets elected president.

If that is how it’s supposed to work, how many captains of business have been elected heads of state and succeeded in leading their people into prosperity? Judging by the experience of a few governments that came under the control of rich businessmen, such a philosophy may actually be a nebulous one.

In Hong Kong, for example, successful shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa became the chief executive right after its handover from Britain to China in 1997. Thaksin Shinawatra first became a top police officer and then a billionaire business magnate before being elected prime minister of Thailand in 2001.

Both Tung and Thaksin ended their terms (one was forced to resign, the other was ousted in a military coup) with their respective economies not exactly in better shape than when they took over the reins of government. The Thai billionaire politician even left a trail of corruption and “abuse of power” even as he used his authority and influence to protect his own telecoms business while he pursued populist policies that made him a “hero” among the poor in the rural areas of his country where he liberally poured economic largesse.

In Italy, Silvio Berlusconi was a successful construction entrepreneur first before he became a media magnate and then prime minister. Scandals and controversy have become synonymous with Berlusconi, and he has been accused of having entered politics to save his companies from bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Italy’s GDP has steadily declined since 2007.

Ian Buruma, professor of democracy and human rights at the Bard College in New York, recently wrote about business tycoons getting elected to lead their countries on hopes that “men who managed to accumulate so much personal wealth could do the same for their voters.”

Buruma said that “without [an ideological basis for] idealism, politics becomes a form of accounting, a management of purely material interests.” His study could not cite any success story of a business magnate who made good as a leader of his country.

That makes Villar’s campaign philosophy, for all its seductive allure, a flawed one. - VS/HS, GMANews.TV

Villar profitably combined politics and housing
PING GALANG
GMANew.tv

(Second of two parts)

One of Manuel Villar’s websites, www.mannyvillar.com.ph, proclaims among other trivia his early legislative initiatives as a new member of the House of Representatives back in 1992: the New Foreign Investments [...]]]> Tweet

Villar profitably combined politics and housing
PING GALANG
GMANew.tv

(Second of two parts)

One of Manuel Villar’s websites, www.mannyvillar.com.ph, proclaims among other trivia his early legislative initiatives as a new member of the House of Representatives back in 1992: the New Foreign Investments Act and the restructuring of the Central Bank of the Philippines (now the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas).

The website is silent, however, on Villar’s active involvement, also during his first term, in the passage of a major bill that subsequently was enacted into a law, Republic Act No. 7835 or the “Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter Financing Act of 1994,” which mandated a massive increase in the capitalization of government agencies involved in programs on low-cost, affordable and socialized housing over a five-year period.

It was not a priority bill for the administration of then president Fidel Ramos but it gained support from most of the congressmen. Villar, one of the bill’s ardent proponents, not only authored two key sections of the bill and acted as one of its sponsors in the plenary deliberations, but also joined the House team in the bicameral conference committee with the Senate that reconciled the two chambers’ versions of the legislation ahead of its enactment into law.

In effect, Villar acted as a sort of “baby-sitter” for a state policy measure that would later stimulate the flow of financing into a sector that’s close to the real-estate magnate’s heart (and pockets): low-cost housing and residential subdivision development.

During the plenary discussion on House Bill No. 11184 that later became R.A. 7835, Villar argued for the inclusion into the sources of financing for low-cost and socialized housing the banking system’s mandatory lending allocations for agrarian and agriculture projects (the so-called “agri-agra credit scheme”).

When asked by Leonardo Montemayor, former agriculture secretary who was party-list congressman representing the peasants sector, how much would be raised for housing from that source, Villar made impromptu calculations based on a total loanable fund source of P400 billion, from which Montemayor estimated that about P80 to P100 billion could be channeled to housing.

Villar said that since the banks were not really using that huge fund for agri-agra projects but instead “using it for money market placements,” he said the banks would be given “an additional item on their menu”—housing—for their “leftover” agri-agra funds.

Then Negros Oriental Congressman and current Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, on the other hand, expressed apprehensions about the proposal’s impact on domestic interest rates, on banks’ financing for small and medium enterprises, and on food production. Villar skirted the issue by pointing out that “the financial institutions will be better off with this [the option to put their loanable funds in housing] because right now their only option is through the agri-agra law or money market placements.”

When the House was done with amendments to the bill, it also proposed, apart from the huge increases in the capitalization of the government’s agencies (NHMFC, from P500 million to P5.5 billion; Home Insurance Guaranty Corp., from P1 billion to P2.5 billion; Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund, from P2.5 billion to P5.5 billion) these other sources of funds for housing: proceeds from forfeited customs bonds, proceeds from documentary stamp tax, proceeds equivalent to 20 percent of any excise tax on soft drinks, and savings from any government policy to reduce debt servicing.

The part on soft drinks taxes was apparently blocked by the Senate at the bicameral committee, but added were parts of proceeds from the National Government’s share of the gross earnings of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and from any sale of military camps in Metro Manila.

Apart from the provision on agri-agra funds, Villar was also the author of another earlier proposal, an increase in the capitalization of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC) that funds the mortgages on units sold by housing and subdivision companies. That was later incorporated into HB 11184, according to Makati Representative Joker Arroyo who slammed in a privilege speech later the benefits derived by Villar’s business from this bill.

Other congressmen would point out years later that the House of Representatives had virtually ignored the government’s program to boost the rural sector through viable agrarian reform undertakings, as well as agricultural projects that banks often avoid owing to the high risks perceived in such exposures.

‘Constitutional breach’

More pointedly, Joker Arroyo in 1998 made damaging accusations of alleged “constitutional breach” involving benefits that Villar’s businesses were said to have derived from certain government institutions and from legislation approved during his term as lawmaker.

In a privilege speech, Arroyo, listed these charges against Villar:

* that Villar-owned companies Camella and Palmera Homes and subsidiaries allegedly “were given financial accommodations” by such government banks or financial institutions as NHMFC and Pag-IBIG Fund from 1992 to 1998 while Villar was a member of the House of Representatives.

* that during that period his real-estate companies were allegedly getting financial accommodation from state institutions and banks, Villar “did not divest himself of his interests in, nor did he sever connections with,” these companies.

* that Villar family-owned Capitol Bank allegedly “received loans, financial accommodations and guarantees from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from 1992 to 1998 while he was a Representative.”

* that Villar allegedly “did not divest himself of his interest in his companies” when the bills that he introduced or co-authored were enacted into law as required by the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials (Republic Act 6713).

* that a supposedly financially troubled company owned by Villar wife’s family, Manuela Corp., allegedly got a syndicated loan worth P3 billion from the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System even as SSS had never granted a direct loan to a private corporation before.

* that from the P3 billion syndicated loan from the state financial institutions, Manuela Corp. allocated P150 million to repay loan that it owed to Villar-owned Capitol Bank. Arroyo called that an “indirect financial accommodation.”

* that Villar-owned property companies allegedly developed land supposedly intended for Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program coverage into residential subdivisions “without the appropriate [Department of Agrarian Reform] issuances that would authorize such [land conversions]“. Arroyo mentioned 5,950 hectares involved.

Arroyo, who delievered his speech after Villar defeated him for the speakership, lamented that “the House cannot reform itself, much less even operate effectively if a cloud of doubt hangs over the Speaker of the House.”

If Villar “wants to continue in business and deal with government financial institutions,” Arroyo said, “he can do so but he cannot also be a congressman, If he wants to be a congressman, then he must not be in business which deals with the government.”

When the government moved to reform the housing mortgage system, the state-funded NHMFC had released over P42 billion for mortgages over the four years to 1996. More than half of that amount went to two Villar housing developers, Camella Homes and Palmera Homes, according to Antonio Hidalgo, secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), the main supervisory agency for the government’s housing strategy.

And in the meantime, the shortage of housing units relative to the size of the population has remained unchanged at about 3.5 million over the same period. The government’s expensive housing program certainly cannot claim success.

The inspiration

This is one side of real-estate mogul Villar’s foray into politics that has ignited curiosity from both admirers and critics. Apart from that 1994 legislation—which stimulated the flow of financing into low-cost housing and residential subdivision development—recent reports of possible conflict of interest or even improprieties in the manner his businesses gained from his official acts could devalue his words of inspiration for people who entertain thoughts of someday rising to the same level of wealth he had achieved.

Entrepreneurship, Villar always points out, is the “only viable way out of poverty for most of our people, the only way for the country to join the region’s economic tigers.”

If that sounds familiar, it is because that was what former president Ferdinand Marcos also used to tell audiences when he was in power. But, as is now widely known, instead of empowering the citizens, Marcos crippled the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit by dispensing largesse and playing favorites in the distribution of business opportunities. Cronyism and nepotism prospered, and investors soon avoided the Philippines. We all know how that era ended.

These days, when Villar shows his “generosity” to the impoverished by selectively giving out cash and goodies, including houses in subdivisions he owns, he obviously is thinking that he is “empowering” those beneficiaries. He could be wrong. What many actually see is a culture of dependency and largesse that Villar seems to be propagating.

On the other hand, Villar’s participation in the drafting of RA 7835 was effectively an exercise in legislating rewards to a business sector where he belongs, according to his critics. It will be noted that when Villar was first elected to Congress, his declared net worth was only P75 million. That amount steadily expanded to billions while he occupied his positions in the House and in his real-estate companies.

A ‘twin’ in the Senate

The charges aired against Villar by a peer in the Senate showed a similarity in the nature of the allegations previously made by Arroyo in the House: that Villar’s businesses may have benefitted from his lofty position in Congress and his influence in allegedly skewing the balance of opportunities in his firms’ favor.

The Senate committee of the whole, following an investigation into an ethics complaint filed by Senator Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, concluded that properties owned by Villar companies benefitted from a revision in the plans for a major infrastructure project, the C-5 road extension project in southern Metro Manila.

Initially, the accusation involved an alleged “double-insertion” of P200 million in the national budget for the contruction of that project. Later, evidence was presented that showed a realignment of the road project to make it pass through or close to properties owned by the Villar companies.

In the Senate committee report, Villar was alleged to have personally influenced the road realignment. Villar had denied the accusations but he steadfastly refused to make himself available to his peers during the investigation, criticizing the investigation as a “political” ploy by his opponents.

For Villar, these allegations in the House and the Senate were further exacerbated by reports of Villar-owned Camella Homes having erected a subdivision in Ilolilo province allegedly on rice farms covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, making the project allegedly illegal. In Bulacan province, a group of farmers filed a plunder case against Villar and his wife for allegedly having mortgaged their farm lands to the Bangko Sentral for the benefit of Villar-owned Capitol Development Bank (which also ran into debilitating financial troubles in the late 1990s). Villar and officers of his political party and his companies have denied all these allegations, but have not discussed any specific details.

There is a lingering theme in the accusations that have cropped up against Villar over these past years. They may or may not be directly related to his candidacy for the presidency. Whether they are politically motivated or not, at least they deserve to get some precise answers from Villar. He has consistently failed to address the issues raised against him.

An old ‘anarchy’

Economists who have observed this saga point to a phenomenon that brought about the “crony capitalism” of the Marcos era: “rent-seeking.” It is about the use of political power and influence to promote certain economic or business interests.

A rent-seeking political culture produces laws and government policies designed in such a way that a particular group incurs an advantage over competitors in the rivalry for market shares and profits.

Various studies have pointed to rent-seeking as a pervasive character of the Philippine economy so that development has failed to spread benefits to a wider section of the population, particularly to the poor citizens.

In his widely quoted 1994 book “An Anarchy of Families”, for instance, history professor Alfed McCoy noted that “the rise of ‘rents’ as a significant share” of the Philippine economy has been one of two key elements that contributed to the formation of “power political families” in the country. The other element is, according to McCoy’s thesis, a “simultaneous attenuation of central government control over the provinces.”

The synergy between these two elements, McCoy said, has led to the “privatization of public resources [that] strengthens a few fortunate families while weakening the state’s resources and its bureaucratic apparatus.”

By fusing politics and business, elite Filipino families “have proved adept and aggressive at rent seeking, subverting public institutions to promote private accumulation. These political families have accumulated sufficient power, prestige, skill, and wealth to perpetuate a system that serves their interests.”

“Indeed, any attempt to use the state to restrain these elites may, as it did in the Marcos era, merely mask a partisan attack by new, even more avariciouos families. This subversion of the public weal in the service of private, familial wealth may be a corruption under the law but it is also the dominant feature of politics as practiced in the Philippines,” McCoy said.

In the coming national election, voters will be looking for change that will ferry them to better living standards. Judging by his record as a businessman and a politician, Villar would probably deliver more of the same. - VS/HS, GMANews.TV

Ping Galang is a journalist who has been covering the Philippine economy since the Marcos era.

Villar featured in Forbes Asia Magazine
By Christina Mendez
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – If elected president, Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. will be the first businessman elected into the highest office in the land.

Forbes Asia magazine recently [...]]]> Tweet

Villar featured in Forbes Asia Magazine
By Christina Mendez
The Philippine Star

Reporters barred from interviewing Villar
AMITA O. LEGASPI
GMANews.TV

Villar, Noynoy warn vs delaying polls
abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential rivals Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party and Sen. Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party on Wednesday opposed proposals to postpone the May 10 polls, saying it may lead to President [...]]]> Tweet

Villar, Noynoy warn vs delaying polls
abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential rivals Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party and Sen. Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party on Wednesday opposed proposals to postpone the May 10 polls, saying it may lead to President Gloria Arroyo extending her stay in power or a leadership vacuum.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro also opposed a postponement, calling it “irresponsible” since it had no legal basis.

At least three presidential candidates backed a proposal to postpone the elections despite fears that it may lead to a failure to proclaim a new president before the end of Arroyo’s term on June 30.

Presidential bets Joseph Estrada, Eddie Villanueva and Nick Perlas supported the proposal of Atty. Romulo Macalintal, President Arroyo’s election lawyer, to postpone elections for 2 weeks to allow the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to fix glitches in the automation process.

Villanueva and Perlas said delaying the elections for 2 weeks is necessary to prevent the possible outbreak of violence if there is widespread failure of the May 10 polls.

Villar fears GMA term extension

In a statement, Villar said postponing the elections “could result in bigger problems, including a possible term extension of President Arroyo.” He said the people “cannot allow any term extension for the President.”

If the elections are deferred by 2 weeks as proposed by Arroyo’s election lawyer, Villar warned that the Philippines may plunge into a “political turmoil.”

“Nahihirapan na po ang mga kandidato. Talagang hinihintay na lamang nila ang election. Kung i-extend naman iyan, ewan ko kung papaano tatanggapin ng local officials,” he said in a phone interview with DYHP-Cebu of the Radio Mindanao Network.

“While I hope things will go well with the automated elections, we cannot help but feel anxious about the electoral exercise given the ways things are now unfolding,” Villar said.

Noynoy: No to postponement

Aquino, who is leading in the presidential surveys, on Wednesday pushed for a manual count of the elections and insisted that the voting push through on Monday.

“Elections must push through on Monday, May 10, as mandated by law. Our people want a new leadership,” he said.

“The risk of elections not pushing through at all becomes much greater with a postponement.  It is our sacred obligation to say ‘NO’ to these proposals to postpone elections to a later date. Each postponement increases the possibility of yet another postponement, bringing us closer to a potentially disastrous crisis of a leadership vacuum on June 30,” Aquino added.

The Liberal Party demanded the Comelec begin preparations for a full manual count, which, it believes, can prevent a total failure of the elections.

“We demand that Comelec begin preparations for a full manual count and present their contingency plan to the public as soon as possible. Under the law, this is allowed.  We know that they have made initial preparations for a manual count.  Thus, there should be no obstacle to prevent elections from taking place this Monday,” Aquino said.

“What is important is the integrity of the process and its final outcome. If full manual counting is the practical solution, then let us do it, no matter how long it takes to finish,” he added.

Erap says ‘why not’?

For his part, Estrada said he is amenable to a 10-15 day delay but only if the Comelec reverts to a manual count of the elections.

“If there will be a delay, it should only be to put the manual counting into effect. If there will be a delay of 10-15 days but this will ensure clean and reliable elections, then why not? Anyway, within 15 days that is still within Arroyo’s term and the only fear of the people is that her term will not be extended. So if the postponement is just another 10 – 15 days but it will decrease the risks of fraud and failure of elections, then we should consider it,” he said in a statement.

For his part, Teodoro said postponing the election would be the “height of irresponsibility” in the part of Comelec.

Teodoro urged Comelec to resolve the problems in poll automation. He said the Comelec was given enough time to prepare a contingency plan for manual elections.

Calls for a delay of the nationwide elections mounted Tuesday after Comelec and poll machine supplier Smartmatic-TIM admitted that faulty software in memory cards for more than 76,000 vote counting machines would have to be replaced.

Palace: Don’t blame us

A Malacañang spokesman on Wednesday said he favored a postponement of the election but backtracked after Comelec said the memory cards will be replaced in time and the election will be able to go ahead.

Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar also said the Palace should not be dragged into the problems with the vote-counting machines.

He said critics should “remember that the Comelec is a constitutional body wherein Malacañang cannot interfere and does not interfere in its decisions and operations.”

“Those critics should look at their books and study the Constitution before casting their blame on the Palace. We have been consistent in our support and advocacy for fair, free, orderly and credible elections,” Olivar said.

Postponement allowed only for local polls?

A noted constitutionalist and an administration senator, meanwhile, opposed the suggestion to delay the May 10 polls.

Lawyer Joaquin Bernas, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, said the Omnibus Election Code does not have a provision that allows a delay in the national election.

“Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code states that Comelec is authorized to postpone in any local subdivision. There’s nothing in the law about national election. It would seem the power is only in local elections,” he said.

He said that while the issue can be brought before the Supreme Court, many people may oppose the idea of a delayed election because they distrust the Arroyo administration. “It will probably increase their distrust in the system,” he said.

Postponement and failure

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, meanwhile, said that while the Omnibus Election Code does not allow postponement of elections nationwide, it allows the Comelec to declare a failure of elections nationwide.

“There is a big difference between postponement of elections and declaration of failure of elections.  In the case of postponement, the law allows it only in a political subdivision, such as a town or a province.  In the case of failure of elections, the law allows it nationwide,” she told reporters.

Santiago also said that unlike postponement of elections, the provision on failure of election allows the Comelec to call for a new election within 30 days after the failure of elections.

“If we proceed with the elections as scheduled, in case there is serious cause, the Comelec can still declare a failure of elections.  The causes for the declaration of a failure of election may occur before, or after, the casting of votes or on election day,” she said. — with reports from Carmela Fonbuena, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak; Ces Drilon, Jay Ruiz, Sheryll Mundo, Lynda Jumilla, ABS-CBN News

Villar vows to bring home stranded OFWs on Day 1 of presidency
By Christina Mendez
The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar has reiterated his vow to bring distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) back to the country and [...]]]> Tweet

Villar vows to bring home stranded OFWs on Day 1 of presidency
By Christina Mendez
The Philippine Star