EVERYTHING’S wrong with Philippine politics – period!

This tongue and cheek reply to the first query above encapsulates the frustrations of many a writer on where to begin to dissect the multitude of problems reducing them into palatable morsels. The easier way to go about this is perhaps to focus on the current state of affairs which has obstinately captured the interests and occupied the minds of our people since about a year ago, or even beyond: the election of a Philippine president.

 
(this article first appeared on news.abs-cbn.com)

If Bonifacio cried in Catanduanes, no one would have heard him. If Jose Rizal had been shot in Dapitan, the shots would not have echoed. If the battle had not been for Manila, the war of independence would not have started. If Ninoy Aquino landed in Davao, he would not have been shot. He would be a banana farmer. But the cry was in Balintawak; the shot was in Luneta; the exchange of gunfire was in Sta. Ana; and the last carpet of incendiary bombs was unrolled by America across Manila, burning everything the bombs already destroyed—and killing a lot of those the Japs failed to massacre. And the second shot was on a tarmac of the Manila International Airport.

Know the weak features of this animal called the VCM that the unscrupulous might exploit on election day

The Internet is the Wild Wild West of information, that searching for the right and accurate often poses a challenge. Given the approaching elections in the Philippines, one subject of many wrong information and misconceptions is the vote-counting machines or VCMs that will be used at the precincts on May 9.

Dear family and friends outside of Davao,

It doesn't really matter who wins, we will still be prosperous. We will still be complaining about things like traffic while being driven in our European cars on our way to play 18 holes. We will still travel abroad at least once a year with family/friends and enjoy amazing meals in the best restaurants like La Cabrera in Makati.

MANILA, Philippines – Less than a week before Filipinos elect a new chief executive, President Aquino reminded people that nobody is indispensable in government.

“Sometimes there are still those who tell me, ‘you should have sought reelection.’ I said, ‘that’s not in the Constitution.’ ‘You should have extended even just for three years.’ I said: ‘That seems difficult,’” Aquino said in a meeting with local leaders and residents in Tuguegarao City on Monday.

MAYOR Rodrigo Duterte was our guest at a recent meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines and the Makati Business Club. He is now the frontrunner in the presidential race, and Election Day is only a few days away.

SOCIAL media have played a bigger role in the campaign for this year’s national elections, but they suffer from credibility issues, leaving traditional media, especially television, still the best platform for politicians to pitch their message.

In anticipation of the upcoming elections,young leaders of the Centrist Democratic Youth Association of the Philippines (CDYAP) Compostela Valley chapters in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Stifftung Philippines (KAS) and CDPI conducted its simultaneous Voter's Education and Basic Orienation Seminar for the young voters in the municipalities of Monkayo and Compostela in Compostela Valley Province from April 30 to May 1, 2016.

Key leaders of Tagum City, Davao del Norte as participants to the CDPI's workshop on Federalism and Centrist Democracy conducted simultaneously last April 23 and May 1 in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Mayor of Tagum City, Hon. Geterio Gementiza.

May 9 is just around the corner. Have you finally made a choice? Is that now an irrevocable choice? Based on present circumstances, we are hurtling towards a presidential election that is like no other in recent past.