Malaya – Page 74 – ellen tordesillas

Media access to Trillanes

Published by Ellen on May 20, 2007

Last March, a number of working journalists wrote Judge Oscar Pimentel Sr. of the Makati Regional Trial Court to give us access to detained Lt. (s.g.) Antonio Trillanes, senatorial candidate of the Genuine Opposition.

We cited in our petition provisions in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution that guarantee “freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press.”

Charged with coup d’etat in connection with what is referred to as “Oakwood mutiny” on July 27, 2003, Trillanes is detained at the Marine Brig in Fort Bonifacio.

Chiz, Alan almost lose 100T Zambales votes

Published by Ellen on May 19, 2007

By Gerard Naval
Malaya

Update from Inquirer: Shaved votes restored

Genuine Opposition candidates Francis Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano were almost victims of apparent vote shaving after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC) yesterday discovered discrepancies in the certificate of canvass (COC) for Zambales.

The COC showed that votes for Escudero and Cayetano were shaved by 100,000 each.

Based on the COC, Cayetano got 29,198 votes but in the statement of votes (SOV), the votes written were 129,198.

The Trillanes phenomenon (2)

Published by Ellen on May 18, 2007

A close look at the tally sheets of local absentee voting for the police, military and government personnel will show that the highest number of votes among the senatorial candidates went to Panfilo Lacson, Gregorio Honasan, Francis Escudero, and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Of the four, only Escudero of the Genuine Opposition, is not from the military.

Lacson, Honasan, and Trillanes are all graduates of the Philippine Military Academy. Lacson and Honasan had their careers in the police and the army, respectively, before going into politics. It’s not surprising that they enjoy the support of the men in uniform.

The Trillanes phenomenon (1)

Published by Ellen on May 18, 2007

The inclusion of detained Navy officer Antonio Trillanes IV of the Genuine Opposition in the Magic 12 in all credible post-election surveys has been described invariably as a “shocker” and a “coup.”

Someone has coined the phrase, “doing it the Trillanes way” to mean coming from behind to score a victory.

Until the last two weeks before election day when he rose to No. 16 in the SWS/Inquirer survey, he was languishing in the 21st to 25th spots.

The day after

Published by Ellen on May 15, 2007

Tuesday, 2.pm. Pulse Asia/ABS-CBN exit poll for the Metro Manila showed detained Antonio Trillanes is in number 7.

Gloria Arroyo’s chief presidential legal adviser. Sergio “Mr. Wetness” Apostol: “Once the votes from Visayas and Mindanao come in, malalaglag din siya sa Magic 12,” Apostol said.

Five hours after, 7 p.m., Pulse Asia/ABS-CBN released the nationwide exit poll. Trillanes is no. 9.

“Mr. Wetness” Apostol is no longer available for comment.

My choices

Published by Ellen on May 11, 2007

On Monday, I will vote all the 11 senatorial candidates of the Genuine Opposition and Martin Bautista of Kapatiran to complete my slate.

I will put Antonio Trillanes IV in number one. I’d like him to win. His courage to bring the truth to the public about Gloria Arroyo and the dignity with which he bore the punishment of an unjust administration showed strength of character. He is needed in the Senate.

A vote for Trillanes is a slap in the face of Gloria Arroyo. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there would be 15 million of us who would be doing that?

Stoking the fire in the AFP

Published by Ellen on May 8, 2007

Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Antonio Trillanes IV has a good answer to the denial of AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon of reports attributing to him an order for military personnel to vote 12-0 in favor of Team Unity senatorial bets.

Speaking by phone at the Kapihan sa Maynila last Monday, Trillanes said: “Esperon will automatically deny that in the same way that he denied having participated in the Hello Garci operation.”

Esperon was one of the ranking military officers mentioned by Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in his several conversations with Gloria Arroyo helping them in their operations to tamper with the results of the 2004 elections in Mindanao. At that time, Esperon, who was then AFP deputy chief for operations, was deputy chief of the military’s Task Force HOPE (Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections).

Who’s next?

Published by Ellen on May 6, 2007

Makati Mayor Jojo Binay joined last Friday’s march for Jayjay Burgos, who was abducted more than a week ago.

We noticed that during the hike from Pioneer st. in Mandaluyong to the Edsa Shrine in Quezon City, Binay was constantly on the phone. Little did we know that a few hours later, we would be called to rally for him as the devious tentacles of Gloria and Mike Arroyo tried again to grab power in Makati.

Binay was at the march for Jayjay as a member of the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism, Inc. (MABINI), a lawyers group that gave free legal assistance for victims of Marcos’ dictatorship. Other Mabini members at the march that we recognized were former Sen. Rene Saguisag, former Environment Secretary Fulgencio Factoran, and Ed Araullo.

Mike Arroyo sees the light?

Published by Ellen on May 3, 2007

Mike Arroyo yesterday announced that he is withdrawing the libel suits he filed before 46 journalists.
The announcement was made in a 12-paragraph statement read for him by Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, which was about his recovery from what he called “a dreadful ordeal”.

He quoted Fr. Fernando Suarez saying “there are times when God performs miracles to remind people that he is there.”

Pray for Jayjay

Published by Ellen on May 1, 2007

Update on Jonas: Cory Aquino to govt: Where’s Jonas Burgos?

Here’s Malacañang’s directive.

What struck me in that Pieta-like picture of Edith Burgos holding the picture of her missing son was the close resemblance of Jonas Joseph (Jayjay) to his father Joe Burgos, press freedom crusader and founder of We Forum and Malaya.

A witness to the abduction of Jayjay surfaced the other night at ABS-CBN after he saw Edith appealing for help to find her son.

The witness who hid under the name “Randy” said he saw Jayjay eating alone at the Hapag-Kainan restaurant at the Ever Gotesco Mall on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City about 1 p.m. when four “bodyguard-looking” men approached him. At first, Randy said, one of guys put his hand on Jayjay shoulders. “Hinihimas-himas,” was Randy’s description. I can imagine that it was a hard massage that the bodyguard-looking guy was applying on Jayjay.

Category: Malaya