GMANews started offering embed videos

Gmanews.tv started offering ember videos and links for the external viewing of their news on election events and results. However, Vodpod cannot accept it, so I directed it to my other blogs at to access it. You could access it through:

• frjessie.blogspot.com
  
• gmanews

V’zuela canvassing in a mess; Gatchalian faces raps

05/16/2007 | 08:02 PM

A tricycle driver on Wednesday filed robbery charges before the Department of Justice against reelectionist Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian for allegedly snatching his video camera containing footage of over 10,000 copies of alleged Statements of Votes taken inside the van owned by the mayor’s younger brother.

Complainant Rodolfo del Rosario, 41, claimed the mayor, 33, also strangled him while trying to grab the device from his hand while his three bodyguards poked their guns at him.

“Nanlilisik ang mga mata niya habang sinasakal niya ako (With fierce eyes, the mayor tried to strangle me),” Del Rosario, a supporter of Lakas-CMD mayoral bet Emmanuel “ Bobbit” Carlos, claimed.

The election materials bearing alleged signatures and thumb marks of First District election officer Lope Gayo were intended to be sneaked into the convention center inside the Valenzuela City Hall, where the canvassing of votes for the local positions was being held.

If the documents were read, they would guarantee Gatchalian’s victory in the race.

Prior to this, another Carlos’s supporter, Cristina Ramos, said they were outside the convention center around 1 p.m. Tuesday when Rex Gatchalian’s van with license plate UJX-920 arrived.

The supporter asked its driver, Benjamin Ferbles, about its contents, which the latter replied “pagkain lang ng mga poll watchers namin (packed meals for poll watcher).”

The supporter did not believe him and removed its cover. The supposed packed meals turned out to be six boxes of poll documents.

Carlos’ follower immediately called a Comelec representative. Valenzuela City Police chief Supt. Billy Beltran arrived and told the van’s driver to park the vehicle inside the convention center.

Minutes later, the van’s driver sped it off, prompting Carlos’s followers to chase him on their scooters. A supporter called over the radio and asked for assistance.

The vehicle stopped in front of a Petron Gasoline Station on Maysan Road. Del Rosario’s group surrounded it.

Del Rosario said he was taking some shots when the mayor on his black Expedition (REP-111) arrived. He claimed the mayor confronted him.

Del Rosario said Gatchalian grabbed his camera when the mayor’s armed bodyguards ganged him up.

They boarded their vehicle but the mayor’s car chased them while the latter’s bodyguards continued aiming their guns at them.

Del Rosario’s group managed to get away from them and proceeded to Carlos’s headquarters and narrated to him the incident. - GMANews.TV

Arroyo predicts poll victory

05/16/2007 | 08:01 PM

MANILA, Philippines – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo predicted a big victory for pro-administration candidates in the House of Representatives, but the opposition warned Wednesday of possible plots to rig the snail-paced vote count.

Arroyo described Monday’s midterm congressional and local elections as “good, peaceful, free and fair,” but opposition leaders said that portrayal represented “mental dishonesty” and demanded the national police take responsibility for the deaths of more than 120 people since campaigning began in January.

In the latest attack, communist guerrillas ambushed an army convoy helping guard a road where ballot boxes were being transported in northern Abra province, killing seven soldiers, army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said.

A mayoral candidate and his son were shot and killed by suspected followers of his electoral rival Wednesday in the southern town of Malita in Davao del Sur province, regional military spokesman Maj. Randolph Cabangbang said.

The midterm elections are crucial because a stronger opposition in the 24-member Senate, where half the seats are at stake, could stymie passage of the budget and other key economic bills.

Arroyo backers were likely to retain their grip on the House, dooming any effort to launch a third impeachment bid over claims she rigged the 2004 elections.

“I believe we will have an even bigger majority in the House and an almost complete sweep of the local chief executives,” Arroyo said in a statement. “There’s going to be political stability.”

However, without a major shift in either the House or Senate, the current political stalemate is likely to continue.

An exit poll by independent surveyor Pulse Asia and ABS-CBN television said six opposition candidates, four Arroyo allies and two independents were likely to win Senate seats.

The poll surveyed more than 12,000 voters and had a margin of error of 1.6 percentage points. The results were echoed by a quick count by the NAMFREL watchdog, which compiled tallies at 11 percent of the country’s nearly 300,000 precincts.

The administration said it was concerned about the accuracy of early surveys showing the opposition leading, and that if the official results turn out differently, it might trigger massive protests.

Opposition spokesman Adel Tamano said by questioning the surveys, the administration was laying the groundwork to rig the results.

The opposition also slammed the government’s description of the polls as “relatively peaceful.” Tamano called it “mental dishonesty.”

Incumbent Sen. Francisco Pangilinan noted that the shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 33 was called a massacre, while in the Philippines, more than 100 dead is called “generally peaceful.”

He said the national police “should be made to account for its failure to prevent this massacre.”

A group of international observers said they witnessed vote-buying and violence in the south and found that voters did not respect electoral institutions.

“Because the election process is not credible, whoever wins is not credible,” said Mohamad Yunus Lebai Ali, a Malaysian observer from the 21-member Asian Network for Free Elections.

In Bataan province, northwest of Manila, 49 priests issued a statement calling the elections there “one of the dirtiest in Bataan’s history and without parallel in terms of vote-buying and deception of the poor.”

Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos rejected the criticism, saying he had received no reports of widespread cheating. - AP

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SC affirms Dual Citizenship Law’s constitutionality

05/16/2007 | 07:34 PM

The Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of a law allowing former natural-born Filipinos who later became naturalized citizens of other countries to retain their Philippine citizenship.

In a nine-page decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Leornardo Quisumbing, the High Court dismissed for lack of merit a petition seeking to invalidate Republic Act 9225, on the ground that it violates Article IV, section 5 of the Constitution stating that “dual allegiance of citizens is inimical to the national interest and shall be dealt with by law.”

The Supreme Court said that based on the records of legislative deliberations, the law’s framers did not concern themselves with the issue of dual citizenship, but with the status of naturalized citizens who maintain their allegiance to their countries of origin even after they became citizens of other countries.

The High Court held that the law was not against Article IV, Section 5 of the Constitution, which it said is a declaration of policy and not a self-executing provision and thus still needs Congress’ enactment of law on dual allegiance.

“Congress was given a mandate to draft a law that would set specific parameters of what really constitutes dual allegiance. Until this is done, it would be premature for the judicial department, including this Court, to rule on issues pertaining to dual allegiance,” the High Court ruled.

“We cannot arrogate the duty of setting the parameters of what constitutes dual allegiance when the Constitution itself has clearly delegated the duty of determining what acts constitute dual allegiance for study and legislation by Congress,” it added.

The petition was filed by Hector Gumangan Calilung, a member of the Advocates and Adherents of Social Justice For School Teachers and Allied Workers.

Calilung argued that no law on dual allegiance is needed since the case of Mercado v. Manzano, GR No. 135082, in May 26, 1999 had already set the guidelines for determining dual allegiance. – GMANews.TV

Maguindanao goes 12-0 for TU Senate bets; Chavit is no. 1

05/16/2007 | 07:16 PM

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao – Team Unity (TU) may trail the Genuine Opposition (GO) in unofficial quick-counts but the administration’s Senate ticket led by Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson scored 12-0 in Maguindanao province, as of Wednesday morning with 73 percent of votes counted, according to Mindanao-based online news agency MindaNews.

Voter turnout in the province was very high, with no town lower than 90 percent, provincial administrator Norie Unas and election supervisor Lintang Bedol told MindaNews.

Muslim-dominated Maguindanao has 212,795 registered voters.

MindaNews earlier reported that along a 27-kilometer stretch of highway from Shariff Aguak to the boundaries of Shariff Kabunsuan and Sultan Kudarat provinces, there was not a single poster of the Genuine Opposition (GO).

Singson bested all other senatorial bets, getting 136,044 votes in Maguindanao. Bukidnon Representative Juan Miguel Zubiri came in second with 133,321 votes. Former Senator and comedian Tito Sotto got 132,103 votes.

Placing fourth to twelfth in the Team Unity sweep were: Ralph Recto (130,286); Joker Arroyo(126,597) tied with Michael Defensor (126,597); Prospero Pichay (125,150); Cesar Montano (121,775); Edgardo Angara (99,341); Tessie Aquino-Oreta (99,266); Vic Magsaysay (94,129); and Sultan Jamalul Kiram (92,234).

Kiram, the lone Muslim running for the Senate, is from the island-province of Sulu, also part of Mindanao like Maguindanao. Other TU bets from Mindanao are Zubiri, who is outgoing Bukidnon Representative, and Pichay, outgoing Surigao del Sur Representative.

The highest vote-getter for GO was Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who placed 13th, although his 39,824 votes was less than half the 12th placer in the Team Unity ticket.

MindaNews also said a province carved out of Maguindanao – Shariff Kabunsuan – is also expected to go 12-0 for Team Unity but no certificates of canvass had arrived as of Wednesday afternoon. The province has 198,278 registered voters.

The results in Maguindanao bucked the trend in partial, unofficial quick-counts and the official tally.

In the quick-count by AMA, one of several partners of GMA-7 in its Eleksyon 2007 coverage, seven GO bets, four TU, and one independent made it to the Top 12. The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), accredited by the Commission on Elections to do a quick-count, it was seven for GO, three for TU, and two independents.

The Comelec official tally, still at a very early stage with only a few thousand votes counted, saw eight GO bets, three TU, and one independent making it to the Top 12.

Twelve of 24 Senate seats are at stake in the elections. -GMANews.TV

Pangilinan tops initial Comelec OAV canvass

05/16/2007 | 02:58 PM

Initial results of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) canvassing of actual votes cast during the 30-day overseas absentee voting in four Asia Pacific countries showed Independent senatorial candidate Francis Pangilinan on top of the list, closely followed by Genuine Opposition candidates Loren Legarda, Manuel Villar Jr and Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Out of 12, 840 ballots coming from polling precincts in Laos, Cambodia, Koea and Papua New Guinea/Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati and nearby islands, Pangilinan garnered 929 votes. Legarda got 892, followed by Villar with 756 and Aquino with 734.

Next on the list were (5) Francis Escudero -GO, with 716; (6) Ralph Recto – TU, 715; (7) Joker Arroyo – TU, 650; (8) Panfilo Lacson – GO, 617; (9) Alan Peter Cayetano – GO, 603; (10) Edgardo Angara – TU, 597; (11) Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III – GO, 565; and (12) Michael Defensor, TU, 493.

Overall, the outcome was seven candidates from Go (Legarda, Villar, Aquino, Escudero, Lacson, Cayetano and Pimentel), four from the administration’s Team Unity (Recto, Arroyo, Angara and Defensor), and one Independent (Pangilinan).

Outside the “Magic Circle of 12″ were: (13) Juan Miguel Zubiri – TU, 464; (14) Sonia Roco – GO, 459; (15) Vicente “Tito” Sotto III- TU, 426; (16) Gregorio Honasan – Ind, 424; (17) Vicente Magsaysay – TU, 354 (18) Antonio Trillanes – GO, 320; (19) John Henry Osmena – GO, 313; (20) Anna Dominique “Nikki” Coseteng – GO, 311. – GMANews.TV

Many star-politicians losing bids for congressional posts

05/16/2007 | 10:13 AM

Isang patunay na hindi gaanong umuubra ang kasikatan ng mga kandidatong artista sa kalakaran ng 2007 eleksyon ay ang kasalukuyang lumalabas na trend sa bilangan ng boto para sa pagka-congressman.

Sa mga artistang tumakbo para sa pagkaka-kongresista, tanging si Mikey Arroyo ang lumalamang sa botohan. Ayon sa report ng AMA Quick Count banding alas-kuwatro ng hapon, malakas ang hatak ng Presidential son-actor sa second district ng Pampanga. Mayroon siyang 4,777 na boto, samantalang ang kalaban niyang si Jose Montemayor, Jr. ay may 681 na boto lamang.

Base pa rin sa AMA Quick Count, halos kalahati ang lamang ng first district South Cotabato reelectionist na si Darlene Custodio laban sa Pambasang Kamao na si Manny Pacquiao. Sa ngayon, mayroong 6,978 na boto si Pacquiao habang si Custodio ay may 14,353 na boto.

Nagpag-iiwanan din sa karera sa pagka-kongresista si Nadia Montenegro na kasalukuyang tumatakbo sa unang distrito sa Caloocan. Ayon sa partial at unofficial AMA Quick Count, sa 251 na botong natamo ng actress, nasa ikatlong pwesto pa lamang siya laban kina Oscar Malapitan (1st) at Rico Echiverri (2nd).

Ganito rin ang status ngayon ng aktor na si Jestoni Alarcon na tumakbo bilang kongresista ng unang distrito ng Antipolo. Ikalawa lamang ang pwesto ng kasalukuyang dami ng boto ni Alarcon na 1,553 laban sa 2,020 ni Angelito Gatlabayan.

Anjo

Sa Paranaque, si Anjo Yllana ay nasa pangalawang pwesto sa karera para sa vice mayoralty post.

Ayon sa AMA Quick Count na ipinakita sa “Eleksyon 2007″ ng GMA-7, kasalukuyang pumapangalawa ang komedyanteng si Anjo Yllana na nagtamo ng 7,382 votes kumpara kay Gus Tambunting na nagtamo ng 10,547 votes. Ang host ng “Eat Bulaga” ay ang incumbent vice-mayor ng naturang siyudad.

Nagka-issue noon si Anjo nang naharap siya sa akusasyong diskuwalipikasyon dahil sa double registration. Ayon sa Comelec certified record, si Yllana ay registered voter ng precinct numbers 0426A Barangay San Isidro, District 1 at 0531A Barangay BF Homes, District II, ng Parañaque. - Philippine Entertainment Portal

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Namfrel count: Legarda wrestles lead from Chiz

By FIDEL JIMENEZ, GMANews.TV

05/16/2007 | 01:45 PM

(Updated 2:03 p.m.) Former Sen. Loren Legarda has taken over the lead from fellow opposition candidate Francis Escudero in the latest partial unofficial tally of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel).

As of 12:22 p.m. Wednesday, Legarda got 1,116,587 votes while Escudero got 1,113,507 votes.

With the latest Namfrel results, seven senatorial candidates of the Genuine Opposition (GO) made it to the Magic 12.

Three Team Unity (TU) bets and two independent candidates, meanwhile, also made the cut.

GO candidates Senator Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Manuel Villar gained 964,484 and 960,615 votes, respectively.

Independent bet Francis Pangilinan came in at fifth spot with 954,820 votes.

The Namfrel has so far tabulated results from 23,837 polling precincts, which comprise 10.61 percent of the vote for this year’s polls.

Rounding up the Magic 12 are Tarlac Rep. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III (GO) with 923,962 votes; Sen. Edgardo Angara (TU) with 829,879 votes; Sen. Joker Arroyo (TU) with 792,960 votes; Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (GO) with 724,479 votes; former Sen. Gregorio Honasan (Ind.) with 719,643 votes, Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (GO) with 710, 979 votes; and Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (TU) with 704,690.

Dropping out of the winning circle is Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV (GO), who got 697,688 votes. He was followed by Ralph Recto (TU) with 686,586 votes and Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay (TU) with 661,553 votes.

Meanwhile, the top three party-list groups were as follows: Buhay (23,128 votes) , Abakada (19,194 votes) and Bayan Muna (13,139 votes). – GMANews.TV

Opposition leading Philippine elections

05/16/2007 | 01:38 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Opposition leaders accused the government Wednesday of laying the groundwork for rigging congressional elections by questioning exit polls showing the opposition likely to keep control of the Senate.

The opposition also criticized authorities for characterizing Monday’s elections as relatively peaceful. At least 126 people have been killed since campaigning started in January for the congressional and local elections — seen as a proxy for a power struggle between President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the disgraced ex-leader she replaced.

In the latest bloodshed, five masked gunmen burst into a voting center at school south of Manila on Tuesday, poured gasoline on ballot boxes and torched the building, killing two teachers.

The government, however, has noted that the death toll is lower than the 189 people killed in 2004 election violence.

“I feel that they have laid the bar of clean and honest elections too low when they say it’s peaceful and more than 100 people are killed in election violence, including two teachers burned alive,” said opposition spokesman Adel Tamano.

The ballots are being counted by hand, and official results could be weeks away.

An exit poll by independent surveyor Pulse Asia and ABS-CBN television showed opposition candidates were likely to retain control of the Senate.

But government campaign spokesman Tonypet Albano warned the surveys could be wrong, and that protests could erupt if the official results turn out to be different.

“We should not be fixed on these surveys because they’re unofficial and very partial, very marginal to actually predict the whole outcome,” he said.

Albano said that by questioning the surveys, the administration was “laying the groundwork for a cover” to steal the race.

Monday’s elections were for half of the 24 Senate seats, all 265 House of Representatives members and 17,500 local posts.

The exit poll showed six opposition candidates, four Arroyo allies and two independents likely to win Senate seats. It surveyed more than 12,000 voters and had a 1.6 percent margin of error.

Arroyo’s supporters, however, are widely expected to keep control of the House, dooming any effort at third impeachment bid over claims she fixed the 2004 election that won her six more years. Arroyo has been in office since January 2001, when a revolt ousted former action-movie star Joseph Estrada on corruption allegations.

Since then, Arroyo has steadied the economy and withstood crises including at least two coup plots. But Estrada has maintained much of his popularity among the poor for a film career in which he frequently portrayed underdog heroes. - AP

gmanews.tv

 

Pacquiao mulls staying away from politics – report

05/16/2007 | 12:52 PM

Pummeled in the early rounds of the counting of votes, boxing champion and Congressional candidate Manny Pacquiao is reportedly mulling over staying away from the political arena.

In the partial, unofficial results of the AMA quick-count as of May 15, 11 p.m., opposition bet Darlene Antonino-Custodio, incumbent Representative of South Cotabato’s 1st district, had 34,112 votes against Pacquiao’s 18,585. The district has about 250,000 registered voters.

Radio station dzEC reported Wednesday that in a local interview, Pacquiao said he was thinking of staying away from politics for good.

DzEC added that while Pacquiao has not yet conceded, the boxer’s neighbors in General Santos City who visited him said he was feeling down.

Following a string of international bouts and lucrative commercial endorsements, Pacquiao decided earlier this year to enter the political ring under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) party.

Many sports commentators had called on the country’s most popular athlete to just focus on focus while still in his prime. -GMANews.TV