Analysis
A generation of Young Turks enters Senate
By Amando DoronilaThe results of the May 13 elections gave President Aquino a mandate to consolidate his control of both houses of Congress in the midterm of his office.
The results of the May 13 elections gave President Aquino a mandate to consolidate his control of both houses of Congress in the midterm of his office.
The imperious President Charles de Gaulle of France is reported to have said, “How can anyone govern a nation that has 46 different kinds of cheeses?” Of the result of Monday’s senatorial elections, it may appropriately be asked, “How can anyone rule a nation that has a Senate composed of members of 24 different parties?”
The nine-three result of last Monday’s Senate elections proclaims a no-change outcome. It locks the country into the iron grip of a status quo—continuity of political sterility in the second half of President Aquino’s administration, which has been hamstrung from delivering economic benefits to the Filipino masses by slogans on good governance.
Thirty-seven million Filipinos go to the polls today in a midterm election which President Aquino considers a referendum on his three years in office.
A widespread power failure hit Metro Manila and parts of Luzon Wednesday with the force of a tsunami for up to six hours, paralyzing light rail transport and disrupting office services.
Less than a week to the May 13 elections, the ground for an administration’s sweep of the Senate polls has been deeply eroded by shifts of “block support” from organizations controlling huge chunks of votes, such as the Iglesia ni Cristo and El Shaddai, the latter a religious group associated with the Roman Catholic Church.
Cracks have appeared on the facade of solidarity of the administration’s Team PNoy senatorial lineup at a critical juncture in the May 13 elections, as tensions between leading candidates of the Liberal Party (LP)-led coalition erupted into mudslinging within its ranks, threatening to break up the alliance.
President Aquino unceremoniously jettisoned Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan from his 51-member delegation to the Association of Southeast Nations summit in Brunei on April 24 shortly before the entourage flew out, and not because it was top-heavy.
Sharp exchanges punctuated the debate among the senatorial candidates on what to do to implement the constitutional ban on political dynasties, the topic of the third and final episode of the Inquirer Senate Forum held in Cebu City on Friday.
In Greek mythology, the hero Hercules, in a fit of madness, slew his own six sons. So he could atone for his actions, the Oracle of Delphi advised him to serve King Eurystheus for 12 years, performing whatever work the king commanded him to do. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to perform 10 labors, the fifth of which was to clean the stables of King Augeas, who owned more cattle than anyone else in Greece.
Under fire for failure to curb corruption in the Bureau of Customs, Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon proposed to President Aquino the abolition of the bureau for a top-down purge that would end smuggling and rid the agency of corruption “once and for all.”
Britain held on Wednesday a funeral full of military honors for former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher comparable to the pomp and pageantry accorded in 1965 to Winston Churchill, its World War II prime minister. Thatcher’s funeral fell short of a state funeral, which she declined when she was alive, but the Cabinet decided it would [...]
