BEFORE the national euphoria over Manny Pacquiao’s 12th round TKO of Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto turns into untrammeled idolatry, let’s stop at cold statistical data. Most Filipinos are clambering into the Pacquiao express train to fame. I can’t join them because the train is already too overcrowded, and whatever words of praise I say, they [...]

The administration’s behemoth coalition plugged a gaping hole in its May election campaign with the last-minute recruitment of actor-TV host Edu Manzano as the running mate of recently resigned Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr.
In recruiting Manzano, Lakas-Kampi-CMD tapped the world of show biz celebrity to pump life into its faltering campaign in which Teodoro, favored [...]

IN AN EFFORT TO BLUNT PRESSURE FROM the oil companies to lift Executive Order 839 imposing a freeze on prices of petroleum products in Luzon, the government took the offensive with the warning by Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes on Monday that the country’s inventory of the most used finished products—diesel and gasoline—was running low and [...]

The black gold empire has struck with merciless retaliation in a face-off with Malacañang over Executive Order No. 839 that puts a lid on spiraling prices of petroleum products, which are critical to the rehabilitation of areas in Luzon devastated by storms.
There is little sign which side will blink first while the public is being [...]

EXECUTIVE ORDER 839, CLAMPING A CAP ON oil prices in the wake of the devastation wrought by “Ondoy” and “Pepeng,” has sparked a tempest of protests from a wide sector of the business community. It also brought to a head the conflict involving government intervention in price-setting and populist measures intended to protect the consumers [...]

SIXTO ESQUIVIAS IV RESIGNED AS REVENUE commissioner on Oct. 30, two days shy of completing first year in office. He is the fifth Bureau of Internal Revenue chief appointed by President Macapagal-Aroyo in eight years, making the BIR the government office with the shortest tenure for its chiefs and with the most unstable leadership environment.
What [...]

Sen. Francis Escudero turned the political landscape upside down last week when he announced that he was resigning from the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) at Club Filipino where he was expected to formally launch his candidacy for president in the May 2010 elections.
Instead, he launched himself on the path of political self-destruction as he cut [...]

Up to a million voters face exclusion from the May 2010 election unless the registration of new voters speeds up to catch the registration deadline on Saturday.
Ten days before the deadline, Comelec Chair Jose Melo admitted that only 2.8 million of the 4 million new voters had registered, raising fears that new entrants to the [...]

Senator Mar Roxas topped the Third Quarter 2009 Social Weather Stations survey of vice-presidential preferences, scoring 40 percent. He was followed by Vice President Noli de Castro and Sen. Loren Legarda, who were tied at 23 percent. They were voted the first top three best leaders who should be vice president.
The survey on the vice [...]

In the wake of the devastation left by Tropical Storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng,” the trisectoral agency hastily set up by President Macapagal-Arroyo two weeks ago to implement an ambitious plan to rehabilitate the damaged areas stands on the brink of collapse—threatened by a leadership vacuum, not by another storm.
Two weeks after Ms Arroyo announced the [...]