ellen tordesillas – Page 57 – Making life worth living.

A good list to choose from for next batch of senators

Published by Ellen on October 18, 2015

Filipinos just love elections.

A total of 130 have filed certificates of candidacy for president in the May 2016 elections and 19 for vice president.
There are 172 who are vying for the 12 slots in the Senate.

The five reelectionist senators – Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto, Teofisto Guingona III, Sergio Osmeña III, Vicente Sotto III- have an edge being familiar names and having an established nationwide machinery. Unless something terribly awful happens that would involve them in controversy before the elections, they are expected to be in the Magic 12.

There are four former senators who want to return to the Senate and they also enjoy an advantage in terms of name recall. They are Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Richard Gordon, Francis Pangilinan, and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

U.S. provokes China, PH applauds

Published by Ellen on October 15, 2015

The USS Kidd sailing off to Spratlys. Photo from The Diplomat.

The Navy Times, the official publication of the United States Navy, reported last week that “The Navy is preparing to send a surface ship inside the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit China claims for its man-made island chain.”

It said that the operation “could take place within days but awaits final approval from the Obama administration.”
It didn’t say which of the eight islands that China occupies in the disputed waters of the South China Sea the U.S. Navy is testing the 12-nautical mile limit to underscore freedom of navigation in the disputed waters.

Update:A Chinese military official warned that that the People’s Liberation Army would deliver a “head-on blow” to any foreign forces “violating” China’s sovereignty. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/940258b2-7340-11e5-a129-3fcc4f641d98.html#axzz3ogWqjSe6

It is important to know where the U.S. ship would be going because of the eight features that China occupies and have expanded into islands, four are rocks and are entitled to 12 nautical mile territorial sea. They are Fiery Cross, Johnson Reef, Cuarteron Reef and Scarborough Shoal just off Zambales.

Thank you, Sen. Joker Arroyo

Published by Ellen on October 13, 2015

I owe Joker Arroyo big time.

As a legislator, Joker Arroyo had millions of pesos at his disposal under the Priority Development Assistance Fund. Some of his colleagues disposed of their PDAF into their pockets with gusto.

Arroyo earned the reputation as “Scrooge” because of his low office expenditure. He maintained a very small staff.

I had been a recipient, however, of the generosity of the Congress’ “Scrooge.”

Concerns of everyday Filipinojs

Published by Ellen on October 9, 2015

The findings of Pulse Asia’s survey on most urgent national concerns should be of interest to candidates in the 2016 elections.

Last month, Pulse Asia listed several national issues and asked 2,400 respondents nationwide to name three that the Aquino administration should act on.

They were also told to include other concerns that were not in the list.

The findings would be a helpful guide not only on how the candidates would conduct their campaign but also how they could chart their program of governance if they win.

Trillanes formalizes vice-presidential bid

Published by Ellen on October 5, 2015

Trillanes announces his vice-presidential bid

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV last Saturday declared his candidacy for vice-president in the May 2016 elections during the national convention of Samahang Magdalo at Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City last Saturday.

Although a member of the Nacionalista Party, Trillanes will be running as an independent candidate carrying Grace Poe as his presidential candidate.

Unlike in elections past (except in the 2010 elections when Jojo Binay staged an upset over early frontrunner Mar Roxas) when vice presidential contest was just a shadow of the presidential race and a bit boring, it looks like the VP race in 2016 will be as heated and as exciting as the presidential race.

The worst is yet to come for Binay

Published by Ellen on October 2, 2015

Vice President Jejomar Binay. Thanks to Inquirer for photo.

Pulse Asia’s latest poll on approval and trust ratings of top government officials showed Vice President Jejomar Binay suffering a huge minus 15 drop in performance and minus 18 in trust in the span of three months.

Approval of President Aquino’s performance remained the same at 54 percent in June 2015 and during last month’s survey (Sept. 8 to 14). The people’s trust for him registered a minimal decline, from 50 percent last June to 49 percent last month.

The performance and trust rating for Senate President Franklin Drilon, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Lourdes Sereno remained almost the same, moving only one or three percent.

The usefulness of election surveys

Published by Ellen on September 27, 2015

Surveys if conducted by professionals and executed with integrity are gauge of the sentiments of the people.

I have to stress “executed with integrity” because during election season, there are surveys and surveys. One has to check on the background of the survey firms, who commissioned the survey as well as the questions asked.

As Sen. Grace Poe said, thanking her supporters for their trust that put her as the frontrunner among presidential aspirants, “Surveys help us check if we’re on the right track.”

But she said, “We derive our inspiration from the needs and aspirations of our country, with or without surveys.”

Poe declared her presidential candidacy for the 2016 elections last Sept. 16. The next day, fellow senator who is also known as her mentor, Chiz Escudero, announced that he is Poe’s running mate.

Antonio Luna not assassinated? Puñeta

Published by Ellen on September 24, 2015

Aguinaldo descendant Emilio Joseph 'Jun' Abaya — Aguinaldo descendant Emilio Joseph ‘Jun’ Abaya

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio “Jun” Abaya is a great grandson of Emilio Aguinaldo, considered as the First President of the Philippines (1899–1901).

Aguinaldo was head of the revolutionary forces that proclaimed Philippine independence from Spain on June 12, 1898 in Kawit, Cavite.

The current box office sensation is Jerrold Tarrog’s “Heneral Luna”, a movie about Gen. Antonio Luna, the disciplinarian and temperamental commander of the Philippine Revolutionary Forces.

Tarrog’s “Heneral Luna” was based on the book “The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna” by retired University of the Philippines Professor Vivencio R. Jose.

Is there something more in Lim’s ‘China election sabotage expose’?

Published by Ellen on September 23, 2015

Comelec Commissioiner Christian Robert Lim

I really hope that Election Commissioner Christian Robert Lim’s allegation that China is out to sabotage the 2016 elections is just a burst of irresponsibility that has been in abundance in this administration.

What is more worrisome is if the sinister scenario that Lim raised is a camouflage for an operation just like what the operators of Gloria Arroyo did in the 2004 elections to ensure her “winning” the presidency against Fernando Poe, Jr.

Lim was one of the lawyers of the 2010 Aquino-Roxas team and it is well known that Mar Roxas, the Liberal Party’s presidential candidates in the 2016 elections, pushed for his appointment in the Commission on Elections.

At the budget hearing for the Comelec last week at the House of Representatives, Lim revealed they “have received intelligence reports that there may be an attempt to sabotage the elections by China… I feel personally that the biggest threat to the 2016 elections is China.”

Aquino, Del Rosario and Gazmin should watch ‘Heneral Luna’

Published by Ellen on September 20, 2015

I watched “Heneral Luna” last Friday at Southmall in Las Pinas and I witnessed something that re-affirmed my faith in the Filipino: after the screening the students in the audience clapped.

I should not be worrying much about the future of our country.

Actress, writer and director Bibeth Orteza, who is a member of the board of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board posted a suggested in Facebook: “I’m saying this in my individual capacity, not as a member of the MTRCB. If I were the producer of “Heneral Luna” I’d bring the film back to the MTRCB, seek a lower audience rating classification, and then bring it around the country for a school tour.”

Heneral Luna is rated R-13, which means only those age 13 and above can watch the movie. It must be because of the violent scene in the movie, which were essential to underscore the intensity of the power struggle at that time. I myself had to close my eyes in the murder scene.

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