The Manila Mail

Estrada vows to deal knockout punch on Villar, rivals ala Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines -- Former President Joseph Estrada vowed to deliver the knockout punch on boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao's president of choice. Pacquiao earlier promised to campaign for Sen. Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party, who, together with Senator Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III, leads Estrada in recent surveys of candidates in ...

Metro moms bond for baby wellness

MANILA, PhilippinesThe celebration of National Buntis (pregnant women) Day on the 10th of March every year highlights the significance of what is considered by many as life's greatest miracle: A mother carrying a new human being in her womb. While pregnancy is often a cause for happiness and celebration, it ...

Gov’t told to stop blaming El Niño for power, water shortages

MANILA, PhilippinesA day after a state of calamity was declared in Mindanao due to long brownouts in the region, environmentalists said the Arroyo government should not blame El Niño, a periodically recurrent phenomenon, for causing the power and water shortages. In a statement on Saturday, Archie Orillosa of the Advocates ...

24,000 detainees expected to vote in May

MANILA, PhilippinesFor the first time since elections have been held in the country, detainees will be allowed to exercise their right to vote in the May balloting. The Commission on Elections, saying it was high time that the disenfranchisement of detainees ended, will run a pilot program with the Commission ...

Metro Manila bishops urge voters to choose candidates well

MANILA, PhilippinesBe wary of moneyed candidates. This was the advice of Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and several other bishops in a pastoral letter to the Catholic faithful who are contemplating their choices for the May 10 elections. Rosales, who issued the letter jointly with the other prelates, said voters ...

Smartmatic: Techies won’t try to influence voters

MANILA, PhilippinesSmartmatic TIM Corp. said the technicians it hired to help election officers in the May 10 polls will not influence voters as they will only enter a precinct if a voting machine needs to be fixed or replaced. Smartmatic TIM spokesman Gene... Originally posted here: Smartmatic: Techies won't try to ...

Chances of cheating slim but possible, says election contractor

MANILA, PhilippinesAlthough the opportunity to cheat in an automated election is very slim, a desperate and determined candidate can still cheat his way to office, said an executive of a recruitment company hired by a Commission on Elections contractor to hire information technology people for the national and local elections ...

Boat with 10 passengers missing

BATANGAS CITY, PhilippinesA motor boat with about 10 passengers on board suffered a broken hull and was carried away by the waves as it drifted off Fortune island in Nasugbu Saturday.... View post: Boat with 10 passengers missing

Villar campaigns in Maasin, a day later than expected

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, PhilippinesNacionalista Party standard bearer Senator Manuel Villar arrived here on Saturday for the second day of his slate's barnstorming in Eastern Visayas. He spent almost an hour shaking hands with voters in the capital of this province, a known administration bailiwick, seemingly to make up for ...

Pacquiao, Clottey will tangle for title belt

ARLINGTON - His campaign for political office in the Philippines will begin soon. He has hinted that this could be his last fight. And then there is the lingering hangover from the whole Floyd Mayweather Jr. mess. Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) has ample reason to be distracted when he ...

De Castro tops satisfaction ratings

MANILA, PhilippinesVice President Noli de Castro and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile scored 'moderate' net satisfaction ratings, Chief Justice Reynato Puno a 'neutral' net satisfaction rating, and House Speaker Prospero Nograles a 'poor' net satisfaction rating in the Fourth Quarter... Original post: De Castro tops satisfaction ratings

What debate? Aquino, Villar camps in the dark

MANILA, PhilippinesIf only he knows when and where, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III is raring to debate Nacionalista Party candidate Sen. Manuel Villar one-on-one. In an interview with reporters in Surigao City on Thursday night, Aquino said he and his camp were the last to know that ...

Teodoro on family feud: Am for people, not hurt of one man

MANILA, PhilippinesFamily feuds may be a hallmark of Philippine politics, but according to administration standard-bearer Gilbert 'Gibo' Teodoro, his own feud with the family of his uncle, industrialist and Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) founder Eduardo 'Danding' Cojuangco, should have no place in the current presidential race. 'We are talking about ...

It’s drizzling or showering, whatever, it’s raining

MANILA, PhilippinesIt was a respite from the heat but not the silver lining everyone was hoping for. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said rain that came down in Metro Manila and Southern Luzon Friday morning did not mean an end to the El Niño phenomenon. And ...

How to enjoy a gallery

03/13/2010 Currently on view and the first of a series of exhibits for 2010 is Inscapes by Suzette Montelibano, which opened last Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the spacious quarters of the Avellana Gallery in Pasay City. This gallery, which is actually a two-story old house refurbished to house ...

Ten years of comradeship

By Jan Milo R. Severo Photos by Bunhur Arcayan 03/13/2010 It was a pleasurable evening when the fearless newspaper The Daily Tribune celebrated its 10th year of delivering to the public the true state of the nation. Employees from different departments enjoyed a simple dinner, yet smiles were all over ...

Spoofed!

03/13/2010 One of the highlights of The Daily Tribunes anniversary offering is the yearly spoof pages, dubbed in later years as The Yearly Tribute. Within its pages, the hardworking staff of the... Original post: Spoofed!

Namfrel withdraws bid for Comelec accreditation

03/13/2010 The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) has withdrawn its application for accreditation from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to be its citizens arm in the forthcoming national polls. Namfrel Chairman Jose Cuisia Jr. yesterday said the poll watchdog was no longer pursuing... Original post: Namfrel withdraws bid for ...

Australia to provide RP P7M to boost human rights campaign

03/13/2010 The Australian government will provide the Philippines a new funding amounting to A$175,000 or about P7 million to help promote and address human rights problems in the country. Ambassador Rod Smith said the murder of civilians and journalists in Maguindanao province late last year all the more heightened the ...

Agra eyes zero backlog of cases by end of GMA administration

03/13/2010 Some 9,000 pending cases languishing in the Department of Justice (DoJ) since the Ramos administration will be resolved in the next four months, if Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra will have his way. Agra said he has no plan of overhauling the organization and would instead concentrate on reducing ...

Teachers worry over foreseen problems on Election Day

03/13/2010 Teachers have expressed concern over problems they foresee come Election Day on May 10. According to Education Undersecretary Franklin Sunga, among the fears the teachers who have been enlisted as members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) have raised is when they turn away a voter whose name ...

Seeking headhunting roots in tribal Taiwan

FEATURE 03/13/2010 TAIPEI With his thick central Chinese accent, Chen Tangsan could easily be mistaken for any other resident of Henan province, but he is in fact a descendant of Taiwanese headhunters and proud of it. More than 350 years after a distant ancestor left Taiwan and settled ...

Still evasive, still reluctant

FRONTLINE 03/13/2010 Had Speaker Prospero Nograles not moved to have the zombie registrants removed by filing a mandamus before the high court, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners would have done nothing to clean up the voters list. Recall that during the joint congressional panel hearing, the commissioners claimed that ...

New power outages hit Metro Manila

03/13/2010 An energy crisis in the country triggered by a severe drought deepened yesterday as Metro Manila endured another round of rolling blackouts. It was the third week this year that the nations capital faced power outages, while Mindanao has faced blackouts daily for more than a month. We have ...

Peso recovers from fall, ends at 45.6 against the dollar

MANILA, PhilippinesThe peso closed stronger Friday, quickly recovering from the fall seen the previous day and reinforcing projections that the local currency will relatively be strong in 2010 amid improved investor sentiment. The local currency ended the day's trading at 45.66... Go here to see the original: Peso recovers from fall, ends ...

QC judge faces raps for finding Villarosa guilty

MANILA, PhilippinesThe Department of Justice (DoJ) has ordered the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office to charge Judge Ma. Theresa de la Torre-Yadao with 'knowingly rendering unjust judgment' when she convicted former Occidental Mindoro Rep. Jose Villarosa for the murder in 2006 of... Read more from the original source: QC judge faces raps for ...

Legarda stands by claim Roxas offered her a deal

MANILA, PhilippinesVice-presidential candidate Loren Legarda is standing by her claim that her closest rival, Sen. Manuel 'Mar' Roxas II, had approached her with a deal to make her withdraw from the race. Roxas has denied Legarda's allegation, saying she was 'pulling all stunts' to protect her Nacionalista Party presidential running ...

Binay: I’m ready to take over from Estrada

SANGAY, CAMARINES SURPwersa ng Masang Pilipino vice presidential candidate Mayor Jejomar Binay said Thursday he'll be ready to take over in the event both he and former President Joseph Estrada win and Estrada opts to cut short... Originally posted here: Binay: I'm ready to take over from Estrada

Rain comes to Metro Manila; cold front in Luzon

MANILA, Philippines After weeks of scorching heat, rain has finally come at least in parts of Metro Manila and the government-run weather bureau is forecasting that there will be more due to a cold... Excerpt from: Rain comes to Metro Manila; cold front in Luzon

Stop adopting politicos, military asked

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) should put an end to its practice of adopting politicians as part of insulating the military from politics, a congressman said Friday. Muntinlupa Representative Rufino Biazon said the military and... Read the original: Stop adopting politicos, military asked