In Tacloban City recently, Sen. Noynoy Aquino declared that the issue these days is not Ferdinand Marcos but President Arroyo. He added that his focus is not on Marcos, the Aquino family’s archenemy and which the Aquinos in the past have declared to be behind the assassination of Noynoy’s father, Ninoy Aquino, but on President [...]

Many opposition candidates and a number of biased media commentators keep talking about alleged irregularities in the 2004 elections, saying the administration will again resort to such alleged illegal means to win in the May elections.
Or worse, plan to let PGMA remain in office in a holdover capacity. Many political analysts of note, including this [...]

Despite questionable survey results bombarding readers every day, students of the Ateneo de Manila University gave substance to ominous signs of things to come. A major broadsheet reported yesterday that in a mock election conducted at the Ateneo, presidential contender Gibo Teodoro convincingly won “hands down” over his cousin, Noynoy Aquino—despite Noynoy and his father [...]

I AM taking temporary leave from this weekly column, in line with the policy and rules on campaigning being implemented by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). And so this will be my last piece before voters go to the polls to choose the next president of the Philippines.
I am presenting the challenges that the new [...]

The recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey reflects the fast-narrowing gap between Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar as, in fact, another survey conducted by the Manila Standard-Today newspaper has revealed an even much-closer result between the two presidential contenders.
In the Pulse Asia survey, however, it’s now practically even, after Villar has gone up in the [...]

THE government’s fiscal-deficit figures are worrying. It estimated that at the end of November, the budget gap was already P22.5 billion over the P250-billion ceiling for the year. But now it estimates the deficit at P293 billion or 3.7 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) for the whole of 2009.
This was caused by weak [...]

In my previous column I commented on the arrest of fugitive Jason Aguilar Ivler, and made mention of the responsibility and culpability of his mother, Marlene Aguilar Pollard, who, to my mind, cannot escape responsibility for her actuations which make her definitely an accessory to the crime of her son.
This, as defined under Article 9, [...]

IN this second part of a “look-back” at the economy, I pay tribute to our modern heroes, the overseas Filipino workers (OFW). They have once again responded to the silent distress call of the economy as it teetered into recession last year.
I believe that our countrymen, who continue to endure separation from their families to [...]

THE consensus for the economy points to a 1-percent growth in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) for the whole of 2009.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which previously forecast GDP growth at 1.6 percent, has lowered its growth outlook for the Philippines this year to 1 percent. It reported that the economy “performed even worse [...]

The Supreme Court upheld the formal merger of Lakas and Kampi over the objections of former Speaker Jose de Venecia.
This development should inject new muscle to Lakas and, hopefully, will invigorate the presidential bid of former defense secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr.
In fact, it seems encouraging as it appears that in some surveys Gibo Teodoro [...]