Vilma Santos-Recto (born Maria Rosa Vilma Tuazon Santos November 3, 1953 in Bamban, Tarlac) is the most awarded and one of the most popular actresses in the Philippines. She is known as the “Star for All Seasons.” She is currently in politics as the first woman Governor of Batangas. She was also the first woman Mayor of Lipa City for 9 years (3 terms).

Vilma Santos began acting at the age of nine, after winning the title role for the hit drama film Trudis Liit (Little Trudis). She immediately received her first acting trophy as Best Child Performer from FAMAS for the same film.

Groomed as a lead actress in her teens, her popularity grew further, bolstered by her loveteam with actor Edgar Mortiz and rivalry with contemporary actress and real life friend Nora Aunor. At the height of her showbiz career she was a consistent box-office drawer highlighted by comic-book adapted films like the Darna series and Dyesebel, and dramatic/daring films like Burlesk Queen and Sinasamba Kita, among others.

In 1998, she entered politics and ran for mayor of Lipa City, Batangas where she won by landslide victories in three consecutive elections. As the first woman mayor of Lipa City, she helped bring not just economic progress and infrastructure development to Lipa City, but more notably her various programs on public health, education and environment, which again earned various local and international awards and recognitions.

In 2005, the University of the Philippines conferred to her the Gawad Plaridel Award for her achievements and contributions both as an actress and a public servant. In the same year she was conferred an honorary doctorate degree (honoris causa) in humanities by the Lipa City College. She was again honored in 2006 by the University of the Philippines as one of the four awardees in UP’s First Diwata Awards.

Governor Vilma Santos is married to Senator Ralph Recto, who belongs to a well-known political clan in the Philippines. Together they have a son, Ryan Christian. She is also mother to actor/model/television host Luis ‘Lucky’ Manzano, from previous marriage to actor Edu Manzano.

Santos-Recto was proclaimed as the Governor-elect of the province of Batangas on May 21, 2007 after garnering 475,740 votes against Sanchez’s 344,969 for a winning margin of more than 130,000. She is the first female governor of the province of Batangas.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Teodoro got the overwhelming majority during the national executive committee’s voting. He, however, declined to divulge the exact result of the vote.

The party’s deputy secretary-general Silvestre Bello said the result was proof of a "clear mandate" that Teodoro should be the party’s standard-bearer.

"Subject to ratification by a national convention to be called by the party in accordance with law, the candidate of Lakas-Kampi-CMD for the 2010 presidential election, as endorsed by the party’s national executive committee, is the honorable Gilbert C. Teodoro," announced the party’s secretary-general Gabriel Claudio.

Claudio also announced that the party’s national executive committee expressed preference for Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno as the party’s vice-presidential candidate.

Teodoro’s rival for the endorsement, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando, left the Edsa Shangri-La hotel in Mandaluyong City ahead of Claudio’s reading of the official statement.

Fernando had earlier presented a motion before the national executive committee to consider setting a clearer criteria for choosing the standard bearer, which was effectively denied after top party members decided to push through with the voting.

The MMDA chairman had insisted that he was the rightful standard-bearer as he has been an old-timer in the party. He also declared that he might leave the party if it fails to chose to endorse him for the presidential post for the 2010 elections.

Ermita, meanwhile, said that Fernando was "entitled to his opinion" and that the selection process seemed fair.

"At least what we can say is that Chairman Bayani Fernando had been given all the opportunity as had been given to Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro," he said.

Next move: Making Gibo popular

Ermita said that after finally announcing its standard bearer, the party’s next challenge is how to make Teodoro more popular to voters.

"It is our task now to push for the better awareness of the party’s candidate. We will see in the coming months when surveys are held and how they will fare," he said.

He said that Teodoro’s low popularity in recent surveys, referring to the defense secretary’s less than 1 percent rating, would serve as a challenge to the party’s members.

"These recent surveys, where our candidate has not registered well, will serve as a challenge…This will be a challenge for our candidate," he said.

He added that the party has the capability of bringing up Teodoro’s survey ratings as it is "the most organized, the biggest and the strongest party."

In an interview over ABS-CBN’s Umagang Kay Ganda, Teodoro expressed confidence that his survey ratings will go up once the Lakas-Kampi-CMD picks him as its standard-bearer.

"Kapag nagkaisa na ang partido, kapag nagsama-sama na lahat ng miyembro, hindi puwedeng hindi umakyat iyan eh," he said.

He predicted that the election survey results will change once all aspirants have finally filed their certificates of candidacy on or before November 30.

Duplicating Ramos, Magsaysay

The former lawyer and three-term congressman aims to duplicate the political careers of two former presidents — Ramon Magsaysay and Fidel Ramos — who rose to the top after successes in the defense department.

Magsaysay, the first defense chief to be elected Philippine president, succeeded in breaking the back of the agrarian-based Huk rebellion in the early 1950s.

Ramos, a bemedalled retired general, was hailed as a hero of a popular revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos from power in 1986. Six years later, he became the second defense chief to win the country’s highest political post.

An air force colonel in the reserve force who flies light planes and keeps himself fit with daily shadow boxing, Teodoro is hoping his crackdown on Muslim and communist rebels will boost his image. He has been a vocal champion of more investment in defense.

Teodoro belongs to one of the country’s most powerful political families, the Cojuangco clan in Tarlac.

For the election, he may get backing of his uncle Eduardo Cojuangco, who heads cash-rich San Miguel and is one of the wealthiest men in the country.

He used to be a member of  the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), but quit in July after he joined the ruling party.

His wife, Monica Louise Prieto-Teodoro, who used to be a commercial model, took over his Congress seat as representative of Tarlac when Arroyo appointed him as defense secretary in 2007.

Teodoro has shrugged off criticism about his low popularity, saying the party machinery will help him catch up with survey leaders who are mostly from the opposition. — with a report from Reuters

Kristian Ablan is a lawyer from Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. He is running for congressman on the 1st Distrtict of Ilocos Norte.

The issues of INTEGRITY and COMPETENCE are NOT limited to the individual who will be elected as President as the "front act". The issues about INTEGRITY and COMPETENCE are really more about "All the President’s Men and Women" who will be the ones who will further screw up the Filipino People or truly work for real positive changes for the welfare and benefit of the marginalized majority of the estimated 98 million Filipino citizens in more than 42,000 Barangays, 1,495 Municipalities, 136 Cities, 81 Provinces, and National Capital Region composed of 14 Cities and 1 Municipality", spread over the 7,107 islands. That is the real bottom line for the MAY 2010 Presidential elections.

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The article written by Maila Ager, "Aquinos still not keen on Noynoy’s Palace bid," talked about the possibility that the senator would  vie for the presidential post. Towards the end of the article, the following paragraphs appear:

While he was comfortable talking about politics, Aquino wants to keep his love life private.

He said he already asked his youngest sister and popular TV host Kris not discuss his love life in public.

"I talked to my sister and I did ask her that’s the part of my life that I want to be private as it can’t develop in the public like in a fishball. I think she understood it…She texted me and apologized," said the senator.

After the article came out, some bloggers copy-pasted Noynoy’s quote and made it a topic in their blogs.

What caught the bloggers’ attention was the word "fishball" in Noynoy’s quote. While the word may sound okay when spoken, it doesn’t seem right when read. "Fishball," as we all know, is a popular street food.

The camp of Noynoy is now reacting because his supposed quote has become a subject of ridicule among bloggers.

In fact, on Chuvaness.com, the following comments were posted:

"We’re two lost souls swimming in a fishball." – Pink Floyd as reinterpreted by Noynoy — sugarcages

"And that, ladies in gentlemen, is from a presidential wannabe." — majesticow

"either someone needs to have his/her ears checked and cleaned or Noynoy needs to improve on his pronunciation " — pan_de_sal

And this issue is fast becoming an untoward mess, especially now that Noynoy has declared his intention to run for the presidency.

According to Noynoy’s camp, considering the Senator’s fluency in both Filipino and English—he is an Economics graduate from Ateneo de Manila University—he could not have meant "fishball" when talking about his lovelife. What he actually meant was "fish bowl" and the writer just made a typo error or misheard the Senator, and the editor failed to correct it.

Noynoy is now romantically linked to Valenzuela City Councilor Shalani Soledad, although the Senator’s sister Kris Aquino says that their relationship is still "new."

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Estrada gained popularity as a film actor, playing the lead role in over 100 films in an acting career spanning 33 years. He leveraged his popularity as an actor to make gains in politics, serving as mayor of San Juan for seventeen years, as Senator for one term, then as Vice President of the Philippines under the administration of President Fidel Ramos.

Estrada was elected President in 1998 with a wide margin of votes separating him from the other challengers, and was sworn into the presidency on June 30, 1998. However, allegations of corruption spawned an impeachment trial in the Senate, and in 2001 Estrada was ousted from power after the trial was aborted. In 2007, he was found guilty of plunder and sentenced to reclusion perpetua, but was later granted a pardon by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

A graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, he was seriously wounded by rebel soldiers in a failed coup attempt during his mother’s presidency. In 1998, he was elected to the House of Representatives as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province in the 11th Congress of the Philippines; he was reelected twice, eventually becoming Deputy Speaker. In 2007, he was elected to the Senate of the 14th Congress of the Philippines.

Ang kaso ay kaugnay sa insidente ng barilan sa Bocaue, Bulacan ilang araw bago ang May 14 mid-elections na ikinamatay ng isang sundalo mula sa Philippine Army.

Ang akusadong si Villanueva ay isang negosyante at kapatid ni anti-corruption party-list Rep. Joel Villanueva (Cibac). Sa pitong pahinang resolusyon ng pinirmahan nina Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño at Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon, nakasaad na may sapat na basehan upang isakdal ang alkalde, kasama si Francisco Verdi Villa at ilan pang “John Does."

Binigyang halaga ng DOJ ang testimonya nina Cpl. Enrique Aningat at iba pang miyembro ng 7th Infantry Division ng Army na positibong kumilala kay Villanueva at sa grupo nito na namaril sa kanilang grupo noong Mayo 4 na ikinamatay ni Cpl. Leonardo Pataray, 34, mula sa 3rd Infantry Battalion ng Army.

"The findings in the documentary evidence and the impartial testimonies of eyewitnesses plainly prove that there was shooting from Villanueva’s group," saad sa resolusyon ng DOJ na isinulat ni State Prosecutor Geronimo Sy.

Iginiit ni Villanueva na hindi sila kasama sa barilan at ang palitan ng putok ay naganap sa pagitan ng mga pulis at sundalo.
Subalit napatunayan umano ng DOJ sa paunang imbestigasyon na ang grupo ni Villanueva ay nasa lugar ng pinangyarihan ng engkwentro. – Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV