ellen tordesillas Posts

Mabuti naman at naisama ang Ang Ladlad, ang grupo na magtatanggol ng karapatan ng isang tao laban sa diskriminasyun dahil sa kanyang kasarian o gender, sa listahan ng partylist groups na mapagpilian ng mga botante sa nalalapit na eleksyun sa Mayo.

Umabot sa 144 ang listahan ng mga partylist groups na maaring pagpilian ng mga botante na magiging kinatawan ng mga sinasabi nating marginalized sector o bahagi ng ating lipunan na hindi nabigyan ng sapat na oportunidad para umunlad.

Hindi ko nakita sa listahan ang Magdalo, ng mga makabayang sundalo na kasamahan ni Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. Ito ang isang pagkakamali ng Comelec na kailangan pa iwasto.

by Lito Banayo
Malaya

My friend Jun Campillo invited me to the Presidential Policy Forum sponsored by the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation of which he is one of the main movers, and I am glad I went. There is a difference between watching a forum on television, no matter if live, as against being right there where it unfolds.

The forum, held at the AIM Conference Center, was mainly focused on the country’s external relations and international competitiveness, which are the primary concerns of the policy center named after one of our history’s top diplomats, and is ably presided over by his son, himself a seasoned diplomat, former ambassador and foreign minister Bobby Romulo.

Only three of the five major presidentiables went to yesterday’s jam-packed forum – Gilbert Teodoro, Dick Gordon and Manny Villar. The audience was pretty distinguished, with foreign diplomats and heads of multinational agencies, foreign trade chambers, credible business community leaders, media, and even a former president, Fidel V. Ramos. Erap probably dodged the forum wisely. That crowd would not have warmed up to him, nor he to them. But Noynoy should have been around. Most in the audience empathize with him and Mar. His absence became more felt when FVR asked the obvious when he stood up to ask the last question – “Where are the others?”