Tag Archives: elections
FORMER SENATOR MIGUEL ZUBIRI: ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL
ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL. FORMER SENATOR MIGUEL ZUBIRI HAS JOINED THE PARTIDO NG MASANG PILIPINO OF FORMER PRESIDENT JOSEPH ESTRADA. ZUBIRI WO IS RUNNING FOR SENATOR IN 2013 TOOOK HIS OATH BEFORE ESTRADA AND SENATOR EDGARDO ANGARA EARLY IN MAY 2012.
MANNY TO PUNCH OUT POLITICS AS HE PREPS UP FOR BRADLEY FIGHT
Pacquiao set for tough 8-week training in fight
FOR NOW POLITICS IS OUT.
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AQUINO on Pacquiao joining Binay: SO WHAT?
AQUINO, BINAY SPLIT SEEN IN 2016 ELECTIONS
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World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has declared himself ready for a tough eight-week grind to prime himself up for his June 9 fight against undefeated American Timothy Bradley with his 147-pound crown at stake.
The fighting Sarangani congressman, in a telephone conversation with this writer on Saturday, said an almost two-week prelude he had undergone in Laguna and General Santos City made him ready for what chief trainer Freddie Roach has lined up starting Tuesday in Baguio City.
“Yes, I feel that the initial two-week workout serves as cushion for the tough training regimen Freddie has prepared for me to take care of,” the 33-year-old eight-division kingpin said, adding that he will be arriving at the Pines City on Tuesday.
“The excess fat, the rustiness had been partially lessened so I think I can readily go full-blast in training,” Pacquiao said chuckling while adding that except for a few bible-preaching engagements and time spent with his family during the Holy Week, all his time the past two weeks had been focused on his preparations.
“Workout continued even during the Holy Week, except, of course, on Good Friday. This is how important I consider my fight with Bradley is, contrary to some reports that I am sort of complacent and overconfident,” he said.
Pacquiao actually started his preparations with roadwork in the posh subdivision where his family –- wife Jinkee and children Jimwell, Michael, Princess and Quennie — resides in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.
The frequency increased in General Santos City where the regimen included rounds of mitts under the supervision and guidance of assistant trainer and boyhood friend, Buboy Fernandez, and Nonoy Neri.
Roach, who is already in the country’s summer capital a week earlier in the company of former junior-welterweight titleholder Amir Khan, who will be preparing for his rematch with Lamont Peterson on May 19, for his part, bared that the first week in Baguio will consist morning roadwork and stamina-building with conditioning coach Alex Ariza. Rounding out the days will be rounds of mitts with Roach himself, feet and hands coordination on the balls and bags.
”We hope to complete more or less 30 rounds with the mitts till week’s end to prepare Manny for the sparring which starts on the second week,” Roach disclosed.
Russian welterweight prospect Ruslan Provodnikov, one of three Roach plans to spar with Pacquiao, will be arriving this coming weekend to work with the 147-pound champ in the Baguio leg of the camp.
Owner of an impressive 21-1 win-loss record with 14 KOs, Provodnikov, who came from Beryozovo, Siberia, will also be preparing for a fight against a still unidentified opponent in early June. (PNA)
AQUINO on Pacquiao joining Binay: SO WHAT?
WHO YOU?
MALACANANG is unfazed by boxing icon Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao’s reported move to the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban).
The Palace is taking in stride Pacquiao’s decision to change political parties and run for governor under the banner of Binay’s party in next year’s mid-term elections.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that Pacquiao’s move is his “personal decision”.
“We have no further comment aside from that. That is his personal decision kung saang party siya sasali,” Valte said.
The Palace has many allies even if these allies are not with the ruling LP.
“Marami tayong kaibigan sa Kongreso na hindi natin kapartido pero kaalyado natin dahil suportado nila ang kanyang (President Aquino’s) programa at reform agenda,” she said.
PDP Laban is part of United Nationalist Alliance, a coalition of Binay with former President Joseph Erap Estrada’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino.
President Benigno Aquino of the Liberal Party has said that it is common knowledge Binay belongs to another party but they remain friends.
Valte also downplayed claims that Aquino snubbed Pacquiao at the energy summit in Davao City Friday.
Valte explained that Aquino did not have time to read the names of all lawmakers present at the summit.
“[There were a] lot of lawmakers [so] the President did not mention all their names kasi ang dami.That’s why he only said ‘…and other members of the House of Representatives’,” she said.
Aquino’s alleged snub of Pacquiao came amid the reports of the latter’s plan to join Binay’s PDP-Laban.
High survey rating no effect on Davao City mayor
High ratings in surveys indicate strong public trust and confidence and winning popularity, but Mayor Sara Duterte is not being pushed to seek reelection only because ego-boosting figures in a local survey.
ALSO READ: DUTERTES VOW DEFEAT OF EX-SPEAKER PROSPERO …
ALSO READ: Karlo has big chance to beat Rody, Sara in 2013 …
The University of Mindanao Institute of Public Opinion (UM-IPO) in a recent survey on popularity and trust placed the mayor and father Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on top of the heap.
This is not enough to convince me to seek reelection, said Mayor Duterte who has kept to her heart her future political plans.
While she was thankful for the results showing the Dabawenyos’ confidence in her, the mayor said the IPO figures inspire her to do more for the city.
But Mayor Duterte said she may put off a plan to retire after her first term after her father said he would spend for her if she seeks reelection.
Mayor Duterte bagged the vice mayoral race without a contest in the 2010 elections in her first foray into politics.
She demolished former House Speaker Prospero Nograles in the mayoral contest in 2010, winning with a vote margin of more than 220,000 votes.
Looming in the horizon to push a challenge in 2013 to the Dutertes’ stranglehold on local politics are Nograles and son First District congressman Karlo Nograles.
Sources said Karlo may contest the mayoral post while the ex-Speaker was speculated to attempt to go back to Congress.
Even as the Dutertes have not yet made a decision on who and what position to run for in 2013, their political bloc Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod is prepping up to “politically demolish” the Nograleses in next year’s polls.
“The Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod has a mopping up work to do in the coming 2013 local elections: Erase from the political landscape the highest elected official from the opposition, a report in the Durian Post said earlier.
Object of the marching order of the dominant local political bloc is First District Representative Karlo Nograles, son of former Speaker Prospero Nograles.
Hugpong was founded by former mayor now Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte two elections ago. The bloc is the third political bloc that dominated local politics, headed by Duterte (mayor for 18 years), since his first mayoral term in 1988. Its predecessors were the Lakas ng Dabaw and Alyansa Dabaw.
Hugpong is presently headed by Mayor Sara Duterte. Mayor Duterte beat the former Speaker in the mayoral race by more than 220,000 in the 2010 elections. It was the elder Nograles’ third failed attempt to capture City Hall.
Karlo was among few survivors of the Hugpong onslaught in the 2010, where Hugpong captured 20 of 24 elective positions at stake. Runnng under his father’s Team Nograles, Karlo beat city councilor Mabel Acosta, the Hugpong bet, by only about 8,000 votes in the district known to be Nograles’ stronghold.
My father wants the next representative of the city’s first congressional district to come from Hugpong, Mayor Sara Duterte told media.
The two other congressional posts in the city are held by Hugpong: Isidro Ungab (Third District) and Mylen Garcia (Second District).
A sweep of all elective posts is said to be a long dream of Vice Mayor Duterte.
The 26-member Davao City Council is also dominated by Hugpong with only four non-members: Joanne Bonguyan and Rene Lopez of Team Nograles, and independents Jimmy Dureza and Pilar Braga.
The Hugpong has yet to decide on who to field against Karlo Nograles, but speculations say it could be any of the three Dutertes. Aside from the mayor and vice mayor, there is a third Duterte in local politics: Paolo Duterte, Barangay Captain of Catalunan Grande who sits in the Davao City Council representing the Association of Barangays (Liga ng mga Barangay).
Is there a need for change?
THEDURIANBEAT
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in his Sunday program Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa over the weekend talked about politics and the coming 2013 elections.
No wonder. Next year’s polls for the second time would be an automated polling and the Commission on Election needs more time to prepare election paraphernalia.
The filing of Certificates of Candidacy comes earlier in the last two weeks of October this year.
The election fever should also bite earlier the politicians and the poliitical parties.
With filing of candidacy early, there should also be early selection for party bets.
Automated elections, if there is a downside to it, has extended the unofficial period for campaigning to several months, although the official period should be 45 days (for local candidates) up to E-day. This means a candidate should have larger campaign kitty.
But there is an upside to it too. The unofficial extended campaign period gives more time for the candidates to present themselves to the voters. Conversely, voters are given ample time to assess the politicians.
This is supposed to boil down to intelligent voting on E-day.
At this point in time, although the election is more than a year away, politics should already be a matter of public discussion.
For members of the press, it would be no sin to start with its mission to educate voters on intelligent voting, being partners in governance and guiding light for voters in knowing their candidates.
Media people stand up upon demand of their calling as messengers of good and bad news during elections, for people to know their candidates and help them come up with decisions on who should be their next leaders deserving of their trust and confidence.
Along the way, they get labeled as political partisans under pay of some politicians. Along the way, they get praised for telling the truth, in the spirit of free speech in aid of intelligent choice. Along the way, they are charged for libel for telling the truth—or for peddling lies against certain candidates.
Whatever, media people do their job—at the risk of earning praise, being tagged as lapdogs or at worst crucified with a libel rap.
In Davao City, Dabawenyos, like the rest of the Pinoys, would now be starting to assess politicians vying for seats in the coming elections.
There would be those who would challenge the present leadership.
And there would be questions to answer if there is need to or not to achieve an intelligent vote—to retain the present leadership or usher in new leaders.
We take this opportunity to throw in some of these questions to guide voters.
Is there a need to change their leaders? Will the change benefit them?
Is there a need for a change in this city that has become the envy of other cities?
Has the challengers something to add to the excellent peace and order situation?
Has a candidate done anything for the good of the Dabawenyos and their city?
Is the candidate sincere?
At this point in time, we are elated that these questions served as barometers for intelligent voting in the past, the reason why the Dutertes remain as top choice of the Dabawenyos every election day.
These barometers in fact have been reduced to a simple routine.
The Dabawenyos simply look at photos of the Dutertes, and then at the opposition, and pronto, make a sound decision.
But in the coming elections, certain politicians whose hunger and ambition to topple down the Dutertes have been frustrated with never-ending ignominous defeats and their political stock consigned to oblivion, are expected to surface anew to pose a challenge to the present leadership.
These ambitious politicians are political sadists who find hapiness in tormenting themselves with political defeats.
DATU PAX MANGUDADATU: I will send my son to jail
Former Sultan Kudarat governor Pax Mangudadtu said he would have no qualms about seeing his son sent to jail if found guilty of rape, but said he should be given a chance in court to prove his innocence.
Datu Pax Mangudadatu
Datu Pax Mangudadatu
I will never tolerate a member of my family or my relatives to break the law. We, Muslims, are law abiding citizens. As a longtime government servant, I have already set the example that we should not commit crimes, said Mangudadatu, who is being groomed to run for the governorship in the coming Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in August.
This developed as Judge Emmanuel Carpio of Branch 16 in Davao City issued an arrest warrant against Datu Naga Mitra Mangudadatu, son of Mangudadatu, and an unidentified cousin for the alleged rape of a 20-year old nursing student in Davao City in August last year.
If he is guilty, I would not stop anybody from sending him to jail, said Mangudadatu, uncle of Maguindanao governor Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu.
The prosecution office last week charged the two for two counts of rape after failing to submit their counter-affidavits to answer the complaint filed by the alleged victim.
The subpoena issued last Oct. 18 was returned to the prosecution office after the accused could no longer be found in their last known address
PUBLISHED
IN THE DURIAN POST WEEKLY 58TH EDITION
Rody to retire from politics
So Nogie could become mayor
In a mixed expression of pity and derision, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he is thinking of retiring from politics….so that former congressman Prospero Nograles could win a mayoral race.
Nograles, a perennial loser in the mayoral derby, tacks a record of three consecutive debacles: a loss to Duterte in 1992, a second defeat in Duterte’s former ally turned bitter foe former mayor Benjamin de Guzman and the latest, in the hands of Mayor Sara Duterte in the May polls last year.
Duterte said there is no way for Nograles to become mayor—a childhood dream of the congressman—for as long as he is still around.
Using his vast resources as the sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nograles waged a two-year campaign to discredit Duterte and daughter then Vice Mayor Sara Duterte in the prelude to the May polls, but earned his worst political debacle losing with a record vote margin of 220,000.
PUBLISHED IN THE DURIAN POST WEEKLY 58TH EDITION
Pax Mangudadatu running for ARMM governor
“ARMM is nothing without stable peace and order”
By ROGER M. BALANZA
