President Arroyo on Wednesday refused to talk about her plans once her term expires in 2010 amid moves to amend the charter supposedly meant to extend her stay in power.
President was asked what she intended to do once her term legally expires in an interview by members of local media in Baguio City, to which the President emphatically replied: “I don’t want to talk about 2010. Politics is not in the foremost of my mind. Lets talk economics and not politics.”
MANILA, Philippines – Ousted president Joseph Estrada on Friday said he would decide whether to run in the 2010 presidential elections by the last quarter of 2009.
Estrada said he could tell whether he can still unite the opposition by that time. If his efforts fail, he said would run for president.
“I’m still uniting the opposition… Part of my New Year’s resolution is to double my time to unite the opposition into supporting only one candidate in 2010,” Estrada said.
MANILA, Philippines—New year, old foes.
Critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday vowed no respite for her in the new year and in the homestretch of her nine-year term. She has been in Malacañang since 2001.
“There is nothing Ms Arroyo will be able to do in the last few months of her reign of terror that will improve what people think of her,” said Leah Navarro, co-convener of the civil society group Black and White Movement.
Despite four failed attempts to impeach Ms Arroyo, Navarro said her group would continue to “seek redress in that direction” if only to make her accountable for unresolved allegations such as the “Hello Garci” controversy.
Navarro said her group would also continue to block administration efforts to keep Ms Arroyo in office beyond 2009, a lingering suspicion considering moves in the House of Representatives to amend the Constitution.
The move of Malacañang allies to spearhead Charter change can force the fragmented political opposition to forge a unified front against constitutional amendments to ensure that the presidential election in 2010 will take place.
The elusive unity within the opposition was pointed out by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in separate interviews before the country ushered in New Year’s Day.
Cayetano said that Charter change remained the biggest issue confronting critics of Ms Arroyo in 2009.
Common platform
This will provide a common platform for the warring members of the Senate to unite against a “common enemy,” he said.
The opposition has several presidential aspirants but Cayetano said “the big hindrance—what is stopping these major realignments from becoming manifest—is the possibility of Cha-cha, and the possibility of the President staying on in whatever capacity after 2010.”
He said those in the administration had already made “commitments” to their presidential candidates, mostly in the opposition, “subject to the fact that it won’t be a question of choosing between President Arroyo and the next candidate.”
“In short, any political commitment hinges on there being elections in 2010,” he said.
So far, only Sen. Manuel Villar has declared that he would run for president, while Senators Loren Legarda, Mar Roxas, Francis Escudero, Panfilo Lacson and Richard Gordon are keeping coy about their presidential ambitions.
While there will be individual announcements and party recruitment, there is no realignment taking place “until the certainty of the 2010 elections.”
The prospect of no elections is scary for both the opposition and the citizenry, he said, adding that the first quarter of the year would be “crucial” because of Charter change.
The House initially decided to go it alone—proceed with Charter amendments without the Senate—but later declared a ceasefire during the holidays following a large rally spearheaded by the Catholic Church and the opposition in Makati City.
Joint voting
The Senate has been adamant that any Charter change resolution should be decided by both chambers, voting separately, while the much larger House wants a joint voting. The House will start floor debates on Charter change resolution when Congress resumes session on Jan. 19.
Quoting the “Art of War,” Pimentel said: “Under the Sun Tzu principle of the enemy of your enemy is your friend, they might engage in a unified effort to stave off a brazenly unconstitutional act.”
By “they,” he was alluding to presidential aspirants in the Senate.
INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
IF CONVICTED plunderer Joseph “Erap” Estrada succeeds in winning re-election to the presidency in the May 2010 elections, the Filipino people can blame President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former president Cory Aquino for this woeful occurrence, Arroyo for granting him an executive clemency on October 24, 2007 and Aquino for her public apology to him on December 22, 2008.
Estrada was convicted in September of 2007 for plunder after a six year trial which pitted career government prosecutors against a “Dream Team” of the best lawyers Estrada could hire. After extracting an oral promise from Estrada that he would never run for public office again, President Arroyo naively pardoned him one month before he was to begin serving a life sentence in Bilibid prison.
Vice President Noli de Castro yesterday said that he has decided to decline President Gloria Macapagal Arroyos offer to name him secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano Soliman will remain head of the department, he said in a statement. Read more
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Few adults in the Philippines believe their current president should stay in office after her term expires, according to a poll by Social Weather Stations. 64 per cent of respondents disagree with a “charter change” that will allow Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to still be the chief official of the country in the second half of 2010.
Arroyo took over as president in January 2001, following the resignation of Joseph Estrada. Arroyo won a six-year term in the June 2004 presidential election, garnering 39.99 per cent of all cast ballots. The next election is tentatively scheduled for June 2010. Arroyo is ineligible for a consecutive term in office.
MANILA -(Dow Jones)- Philippine senators on Monday voted Senator Juan Ponce Enrile as the new president of the Senate, the third-highest position in the government.
Enrile, the national defense secretary during the regime of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, replaces Senator Manuel Villar, who resigned.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel told ANC television station that Villar had obviously lost the support of the majority.
MANILA, Philippines – Makati City Mayor Jejomar “Jojo” Binay on Tuesday announced his intent to run for president in the 2010 national elections.
A GMA Flash Report said Binay announced his presidential bid during the celebrations of his 66th birthday at the Makati City Hall.
The report quoted Binay as saying that he will accept it if the United Opposition (UNO) will not field him as their standard bearer. Binay is UNO president.
Meanwhile, a report over dzBB radio said Binay had already informed former President Joseph Estrada his plans to run in 2010.
Aside from Binay, those who have announced they will run for president or are reported to be eyeing the presidency in 2010 include Vice President Manuel “Noli” de Castro, Senators Manuel “Manny” Villar, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, Panfilo Lacson, Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando.
Public opinion polling body Social Weather Station on Friday revealed De Castro is the top pick to succeed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010. Following his trail are Villar, Legarda, Lacson, Escudero, former President Estrada, and Roxas. – GMANews.TV
When Rep. Joker Ar-royo of the first con-gressional district of Makati was robbed of the speakership in June 1998, he asked some investigative journalist to dig deeper into information he received about an alleged land-grabbing incident in the hilly town of Norzagaray in Bulacan, right beside the foothills of the Sierra Madre. He had information that behind the supposed land-grabbing was the Villar couple, Manuel, soon to be proclaimed Speaker of the House by the grace of the newly-elected president of the land, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, and his wife Cynthia.
On August 17, 1998 Joker Arroyo spoke before his peers and charged the new Speaker with violations of the Constitution and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, or R.A. 3019, in all of ten specific instances. The fourth charge of corruption stated by Arroyo was about the Capitol Bank’s receipt of financial accommodations from the Bangko Sentral between 1992 and 1998, when Mrs. Cynthia Villar was its CEO, and her husband Manuel was a congressman from Las Piñas, and now, Speaker of the House.
DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. is 99 percent sure he is joining the 2010 presidential race.
The one percent, he said, is on the possibility of no election.
All that he is waiting is the nomination of the Nacionalista Party (NP), which he heads.
