Kinastigo naman ng Malacañang ang nangungunang presidential candidate na si Noynoy Aquino sa patuloy niyang pagtanggi na manumpa kay Chief Justice Renato Corona. Pinayuhan ng Malacañang si Aquino na magpaka-presidente at itigil na ang pagiging kandidato. Nagpa-Patrol, Willard Cheng. TV Patrol World, Mayo 17, 2010

TARLAC CITY, Tarlac – Contrary to popular belief and his rivals’ claim, presidential aspirant Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III (Liberal Party) has supporters in the 6,435-hectare Hacienda Luisita.

“Dito sa Hacienda Luisita mananalo siya, kaya lang hindi ko alam kung anong porsyento (He will win here in Hacienda Luisita, I just don’t know by how many percent),” said Sebastian, who volunteers as a campaign coordinator for Aquino.

Not angry

“Paano po kami magagalit, wala naman po siyang kinalaman dun. Wala naman siya dun (How can we be angry at him when he has nothing to do with it? He wasn’t even there),” Sebastian said.

He added that prior to the Hacienda Luisita massacre, farmers received travel allowances and hospital and educational loans from the Hacienda Luisita management.

Sebastian’s mother, 72-year-old Aquilina, said she and all other voting members of her family are solid behind Aquino. She has 12 children and around 20 grandchildren.

“May utang na loob kami sa mga may-ari nito dahil ito ang tinitirikan namin nito (We have a sense of gratitude for the owners because it is where our house stands),” said Aquilina, who was also a farmer in her younger days.

“Maraming gumanda ang bahay dahil sa pagtatrabao dito sa hacienda (Many lives improved because of the work here in the hacienda),” she added.

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MANILA, Philippines – With election fever gripping the whole Philippines, regardless of who wins, “presidentiable” novelty items may soon become collector’s items.

When a photo of a Noynoy doll flashing the L sign first popped up on Facebook, people–both for and against Noynoy–agreed the doll had a “cuteness” factor. Never mind if the doll hardly looked like Noynoy Aquino. At least, the doll had glasses and had a yellow shirt and yellow pin on.

It turned out that the doll is of limited edition, and one source has pointed to Noynoy’s sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz as the one who has been giving it away to a few close friends. Not a few people are hoping Noynoy dolls will be included in the auction site ebay.ph for bidding by toy collectors.

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It’s time to relax.

“When you see the outpouring of support, love, and prayers and emotions that people have invested in this campaign it is indeed very rewarding,” Aquino told reporters during a press conference held in Cubao.

The LP, headed by Aquino and his running mate Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, will be at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City at 6 p.m. for their miting de avance.

The LP camp is calling on supporters to come in yellow.

Aquino’s provincial campaign, which kicked off in his home province Tarlac, ended on Monday in the provinces of Albay and Sorsogon in the Bicol region.

His sorties took him from Batanes province in the north to Zamboanga in the south.

There were also numerous requests that he visit provinces that they were unable to visit during the campaign period but according to Aquino “given the fact that this is a rush campaign, this is the best I can do.”

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1. Noynoy Aquino is humble, has strong political will and has the correct vision for the country.

2. Noynoy Aquino has the strong moral fortitude needed by the country especially in these times of immorality and corruption.

3. Noynoy Aquino will definitely fight graft and corruption.

4. Noynoy Aquino is the leading contender for the post. To avoid the prospect of electing a minority president, it is for the best interests of the country to elect Noynoy Aquino as majority president.

5. Noynoy Aquino listens and is quick to his feet especially in decisions that needs his immediate attention.

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Samahan si NOY!

May 7

Biernes 6PM
Quezon Memorial Circle

_______________________________

Wear yellow!

Ipakita nating ang ating lakas!

When Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada and the nuns protecting him briefed Cardinal Rosales on the ZTE scandal, they got the shock of their lives. Perhaps conditioned by the role that the late Jaime Cardinal Sin played in fighting the then evil in the land, Jun and his nun-bodyguards were expecting morale support at the very least.

What they received was the exact opposite. Cardinal Rosales told Jun Lozada: “Truth and lie are the same. They are icing on the cake. What is important is the cake.” When Jun narrated that again to yours truly and some friends last February – one of the nuns who accompanied him to the ZTE briefing was present and confirmed the conversation.

“Just because we are priests doesn’t mean we don’t care about the world,” Archbishop Cruz told media. “The truth is, under the laws of the Church, a priest needs to be concerned about truth and justice. That is canon law. Clerics have to be involved in the promotion of justice and peace in society,” Archbishop Cruz added. He stated that it’s wrong to “speak and do nothing” in the face of the commission of an atrocity.

“Where would you go? To Congress, to the Supreme Court? Even Art Panganiban, the former Chief Justice, said all of the institutions of government are severely compromised. So where will you go but to the power of the people?” Sister Manan-zan added.

Consistent denouncers of evil, Fr. Joe Dizon and Fr. Robert Reyes, echoed similar views which challenged the position taken by Cardinal Rosales.

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“With three days remaining, it will be difficult already for Villar or Estrada to catch up,” said Bobby Tuazon, director of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance in Manila.

More than 50 million people are registered to vote for president and thousands of other national and local positions. The Philippines is switching to a computerized system to reduce the cheating that occurred during manual counting that took weeks. Election officials are racing to install new programs in 76,000 machines after a glitch was discovered this week.

The lead may protect Aquino from problems that may occur as voters use the new system, Tuazon said. It may also help Aquino counter the organization Villar, has funded and built since entering politics in 1992 and which will be used to get supporters to their voting centers. “That’s a safe margin,” he said.

“As a political message it looks to be having impact,” Tuazon said. Villar “has been consistently defending himself; he should have been more offensive, hitting Aquino on performance and leadership.”

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Some years ago, a friend of mine actually told me there was a psychiatric evaluation of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that was truly scary. It showed a profile of someone who harbored all sorts of delusions, not least of them delusions of persecution and grandeur. Well, maybe the part about persecution was not a delusion at all. As they say, paranoid doesn’t mean you’re not being followed.

I laughed it off, however, but not because I didn’t believe it. I laughed it off because I figured that if anyone was seeking therapy for delusions, he—or she—can’t be so batty after all. Psychiatric profiles have never really figured in elections in the United States, not just because the levels of confidentiality between doctor and patient there are high, but because it’s not uncommon to be in therapy. Which raises another kind of insanity, as Erich Fromm argues: Therapy is there to enable people to adjust to their society. But what if the society itself—characterized by consumerism, conformism, hedonism, among others—is insane? But that’s another story.

I agree with those who say the next president will have an unenviable task. And nothing more epically proves Noynoy’s sanity (and that of his sisters) than that he (and they) thought twice about running (and making him run) for president. You’ve got to be insane to want to become the president after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—which all the other “presidentiables” were, chief of them Villar. You’ve got to be even more insane to want to become president after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Joseph Estrada, Villar even being perfectly willing to spend billions to be so. The last couple of regimes haven’t just bankrupted this country financially, they’ve bankrupted this country spiritually.

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