December 2009 – Page 2 – ellen tordesillas

Aquino maintains lead in latest Pulse Asia survey

Published by Ellen on December 21, 2009

Update: SWS’s December 09 survey also puts Aquino in the lead

With less than five months before the May 10, 2010 elections, Liberal Party presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino maintains his sizable lead even as three other contenders improved their numbers, Pulse Asia’s December 2009 survey showed.

Pulse Asia asked 2,000 respondents last Dec. 8 to 10, “Of the people in the list, whom would you vote for as president of the Philippines is elections were held today?” In the list were Aquino, Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party, Joseph Estrada of Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, Gilbert Teodoro of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, Richard Gordon of Bagumbayan, and Eddie Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas.

Aquino got 45 percent, one per cent higher than his October 2009 score of 44 per cent; Villar, 23 per cent, four per cent higher than the 19 per cent that he got last October; Estrada , 19 per cent, an eight per cent increase from his previous 11 per cent.

Click here (Pulse Asia) for its complete December 2009 survey.

Pulse Asia said Villar and Estrada are statistically tied for second place owing to the survey’s margin of error.

Christmas away from home

Published by Ellen on December 20, 2009

Christmas is family affair and for Christians, whatever the nationality, we take that to heart.

But on two Christmases in the past, I found myself away from the Philippines, both in colder environments.

My first Christmas outside of the Philippines was in Hanoi, in 1984. In 1991, it was in Versailles, France,

At the end of the conference I and three other Filipinos who attended a conference in Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) in the third week of December 1984, were asked if we wanted to go to Hanoi.

My other companions, from the academe and labor unions, declined the invitation, as they didn’t want to spend Christmas away from home. It’s seldom that one gets an invitation to communist Hanoi so I readily said “Yes.”

Bawal magsabi ng totoo

Published by Ellen on December 19, 2009

Kung kailan nagsabi ng totoo itong si Lorelei Fajardo, saka siya natigbak.

Ayun sa balita, tinanggal si Fajardo dahil sa kanyang sinabi noong, Nov. 25, tatlong araw pagkatapos nangyari ang karumal-dumal na krimen sa Maguindanao kung saan 57 na tao ang namatay sa masaker na ang suspetsa ay kagagawan ng pamilyang Ampatuan.

Ito kasi ang sinabi ni Fajardo: “I don’t think the President’s friendship with the Ampatuans will be severed. Just because they’re in this situation doesn’t mean we will already turn our backs on them.” ( Sa isip ko, hindi masisira ang pagkakaibigan ng Pangulo sa mga Ampatuan. Porke’t nalagay sila sa ganitong sitwasyun, ay tatalikuran na sila.”)

Ampatuan Jr. harrassed at DOJ preliminary hearing

Published by Ellen on December 18, 2009

Related stories from ABS-CBN: I killed hundreds for Ampatuans – ex-child assassin

Ampatuan Jr waves right to answer murder charges

From ABS-CBN:

Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. was harassed by a handful of Filipino journalists when he arrived Friday afternoon at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the preliminary investigation into the mass murder of 57 people in Maguindanao province last month.

Ampatuan Jr. arrived shortly before 1:30 p.m. at the DOJ compound on board a bulletproof van. He came out of the van handcuffed and clad in a bulletproof vest.

Before Ampatuan Jr. entered the DOJ building, he was harassed by some members of the National Press Club (NPC). The journalists were holding several pictures of the bodies taken from the massacre site in Ampatuan town.

Marlon Purificacion, a reporter of People’s Journal, threw pictures into Ampatuan Jr.’s face. The journalist said their protest is a show of support and sympathy for the 57 families of the massacre victims, which includes 30 journalists.

Ampatuan Jr. has been charged with 25 counts of murder for the massacre. Several witnesses have testified he took part in the killings.

Woman to hear Ampatuan trial

Published by Ellen on December 18, 2009

Senators urge SC to protect Reyes

Refuses PNP security; ‘It’s just another case’

by Angela Lopez de Leon
Malaya

The multiple murder case against Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. will be heard by Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Quezon City RTC Branch 221.

The case was re-raffled yesterday after QC RTC Judge Luisito Cortez filed a notice for inhibition Tuesday, citing heavy case load and concerns for the safety of his family, among others.

The re-raffle was presided by acting Executive Judge Fernando Sagun.

Dismaya sa alyansa ng militante sa NP

Published by Ellen on December 18, 2009

Marami ang nadismaya sa pagsama ng mga militanteng pulitiko na Satur Ocampo ng Bayan Muna at Liza Maza ng Gabriela sa kanilang pagsama sa tiket ng Nacionalista Party.

Dati kasi pa-ayaw ayaw pa sila dahil kasama raw si Bongbong Marcos. Ngunit noong isang araw, natuloy na rin. Ang usapan yata hindi sila magsama sa entablado. Anong diperensya nun?

Si Bibeth Orteza naman, iba naman ang dahilan ng kanyang pagkadismaya. Pinadala sa akin ng isang kaibigan ang text sa kanya ni Bibeth.

Ang text ay pagre-resign ni Bibeth sa Gabriela, ang militanteng grupo. Sabi ni Bibeth: “Please accept my resignation from Gabriela. I am not worthy enough to support Loren Legarda’s run for the second highest office of the land.”

Wa akong say.

RP fuels record death toll of journalists worldwide

Published by Ellen on December 17, 2009

2009 is the deadliest year for journalists worldwide, with the election-related massacre of 31 journalists and media workers in the Nov. 23 Maguindanao massacre fuelling…

Approved list of candidates for national office

Published by Ellen on December 17, 2009

The Commission on Elections on Tuesday narrowed down the list of candidates for national positions to eight for president, eight for vice president and 58…

Danny Lim protests disqualification

Published by Ellen on December 16, 2009

Brig. Gen.Danny Lim strongly protests his disqualification as senatorial candidate in the 2010 elections as “baseless and unconstitutional.”

“Despite the fact that I have been adopted by three major parties, climbed the survey ratings, received thousands of volunteers and endorsements, it is their tainted opinion that I have not proven that I could campaign, much less win in these elections and thus has included that I am no more than a nuisance candidate,” Lim said in a statement issued from his detention quarters in Camp Crame.

In Resolution 8713, Lim and 99 other candidates for senator including Ang Ladlad president Danton Remoto, who registered as “independent” were disqualified by Comelec for not having shown the capacity to wage a nationwide campaign.

Lim has been adopted guest candidate of the Liberal Party and Partido ng Masang Pilipino.

What do you want to give Gloria Arroyo for Christmas?

Published by Ellen on December 15, 2009

I asked my Facebook friends what they want to give Gloria Arroyo for Christmas and the answers validate surveys that she is the most disliked Malacañang occupant .

Marife Guzman Toledo said she giver her “sandpaper, pangkaskas sa makapal na mukha.”

Chi Yap would like to give Arroyo the “toys” of her best friends, the Ampatuans: “chain saw and backhoe.” Reynaldo Dillera Barretto is thinking along that line too. He said he will give Arroyo “ Granada na nahukay dito sa Maguindanao. Ipasubo ko sa mouth nya at backhoe ng mga Ampatuan.”

Month: December 2009