SC junks Nograles’ petition vs. ‘zombie, ghost voters’

 

   Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed a petition for mandamus filed by former House Speaker Prospero Nograles asking the SC to order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to cleanse its voters’ list in Davao City.
In a six-page en banc decision, the SC dismissed the Nograles’ petition for being moot and academic as the Comelec did already what it had to do prior to the May 10, 2010 local elections in Davao City.
“Notably, three days before the elections, on May 7, 2010, the Comelec issued Resolution No. 8882, entitled Cleansing of The List of Voters Through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS)…” the SC decision said.
Shorlty after the elections, Nograles alleged that the Comelec list was embedded with what his Team Nograles said were ‘zombie or ghost voters.”
Nograles asked the SC to direct the Comelec to prepare a new voters’ list covering the three congressional districts of Davao City, instead of merely relying on so-called “watchlist.”
He argued that it should be used as basis in the conduct of the elections.
Nograles lost to former Vice Mayor Sara Duterte in the May 10, 2010 local elections. Sara is a daughter of incumbent Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Nograles claimed that his camp discovered tens of thousands of multiple/double and dead registrants and that he was alarmed over the possibility of a failure of elections in Davao City.
In its ruling, the SC said that the petition was dismissed on the grounds of mootness because “on May 7, 2010, the Comelec issued Resolution…resolving to adopt the policies and guidelines relative to the [AFIS]. “

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).

DUTERTE: Nograles painted me as a ‘warlord’ before the United Nations

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he had a far worse experience than the 21 officers of the Davao City Police Office slapped with penalty equivalent to one month by the Office of the Ombudsman for their alleged failure to stop the Davao Death Squad (DDS) killing spree.
I was painted like a warlord before the United Nations (UN), said Duterte, who suffered the ignominy of his image and integrity crucified before the Human Rights Commision of the New York-based world body.
Prior to the 2010 elections, the case of the DDS killings had been investigated by the Philippine government and brought to the attention of UN rights body by then Speaker Prospero Nograles, Duterte’s political rival.
News report on a proposed UN probe on the DDS killings had attracted world attention.
In the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa television program on ABS/CBN on
Sunday, Duterte did not name the person who brought up his alleged link to the vigilante group before the UN, leaving to the public to guess his identity.
You know who he is, he said, clearly refering to Nograles.
The case against the police officers was filed in 2010 prior to the May elections before the Ombudsman by a group which identified itself as the Davao City Deserves Good Government Movement.
Of course we know who is behind this group, said Duterte in the program.
He said the case was filed as a politician using his power was trying to reassign police and military officials deemed sympathetic to him.
The DDS was a major issue leveled against Duterte, then the sitting mayor,  and daughter then vice mayor Sara Duterte at the approach to the May elections in 2010.
In the race, Sara beat Nograles by more than 220,000 votes in the mayoral fight; Duterte trounced Ben de Guzman, Nograles’running mate, by more than 300,000 votes in the vice mayoral derby.
Months prior to the campaign period, Nograles, tagging along with a state visit to the US of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, met with the UN Human Rights Commission in New York to bring up the case of the DDS extrajudical killings, said the Team Nograles media bureau in a press release as the election fever started to heat up the city prior to the May polls.
The US visit followed an investigation by the Philippine Cmmission on Human Rights led by its then chair Leila de Lima, now the Justice Secretary.
on the alleged link of Duterte and police and their tolerance of the killings.
Duterte and several police officers were among those invited for questioning by the de Lima probe.
The Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, Duterte’s homegrown party, in a press release then said the CHR investigation was politically motivated and instigated by Nograles, as part of mudslinging propaganda to shame the Dutertes.
The de lima probe would be followed by the release of results of investigation by human rights groups on the DDS killing.
Among the reports was that by the UN Human Rights Commission special rapporteur Philip Alston, which like the other reports squarely placed blame over the DDS summary killings on the police and local government.
This paper had earned a libel charge from the former Speaker for publishing a Hugpong press release accusing Nograles of “shaming the city before the world” for his complaint of human rights violations before the UN rights body.
For neglect of duty that resulted to 720 murders allegedly carried out by the DDS, the Ombudsman ordered the 21 to pay a fine equivalent to a month’s salary.
Police Senior Superintendents Catalino Cuy and Jaime Morente and Police Superintendents Harry Espela, Michael John Dubria, and Rommil Mitra were found guilty of Simple Neglect of Duty over the killings. Also found guilty were other police chief inspectors, police senior inspectors, and police inspectors.
Although the usual penalty for neglect of duty is suspension for one month, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approved the modification of the penalty to just a fine.
A fact-finding team from the Office of the Ombudsman found that 720 people were murdered from 2005 to 2008, with deaths reaching as high as 259 in 2008. The murders were usually done by men riding in tandem on motorcycles and most of the deaths were related to the drug trade, the Office of the Ombudsman said.
Less than half of the murders were ever solved, the fact-finding team found.
“From the foregoing figures, it is evident that the respondents were remiss in their duty to significantly reduce the number of killings,” the Ombudsman’s decision read. The police officers were found guilty under the doctrine of command responsibility under Executive Order No. 226 (1995).
According to the complaint letter that prompted the Ombudsman to investigate the Davao Death Squad killings, high-ranking PNP officers were “directly involved” in the murders.
The Ombudsman said the officers were guilty of failing to “take preventive or corrective action either before, during, or immediately after (the crimes).”
Under that Executive Order, the police officials are presumed to have known about the crimes since they were both widespread and were “repeatedly or regularly committed within (their) area of responsibility.”

DUTERTE ON LINK TO

DAVAO DEATH SQUAD: So be it!

    What is the reaction of Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to the Wikileaks expose about his alleged involvement in the Davao Death Squad, (DDS) blamed for hundreds of killings of suspectede criminals in Davao City?
So be it, said Duterte on television in a previous edition of the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa onABS/CBN.
Wikileaks is a populat website posting sensitive information on government dealings most of them classified.
In a recent post, the website reported on Duterte’s involvement in the death squad from documents purportedly sourced from the US embassy in Manila.
Duterte had been probed for the killings by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights for his alleged “tolerance” of the extra-judicial executions; and sanctioned by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Duterte had disowned role in the DDS, lamenting that his public warning against criminals about being summarily executed in his city was taken as fact of his link to the killings.
In the television program on ABS/CBN, Duterte  came short of admitting his role in the killings of suspected drug lords in the city.
” I don’t want the druglords to kill me first,”he said. ROGERM. BALANZA

Return of DDS

is the “voice of God”

If the voice of the people is the voice of God, then the Dabawenyos’ loud call for the return of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) must be the “voice of God.”
Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte posited this logic as a survey strongly backed return of the shadowy motorcycle-riding gunmen of the DDS to their deadly business of shooting down criminals, amid a current rush of crimes in the city.
The text survey recently in the hour-long TV Patrol Southern Mindanao news program hosted by Paul Palacio and Melanie Severino on ABS/CBN-Davao, 593 respondents voted for return of the DDS, against 65 respondents for reinforcing the local police force, to curb the rising crime incidents in the city.
The DDS blamed as behind past summary killings had lain low the past few years after more than a decade of a murderous spree that triggered probes on human rights violations linking the local leadership and the police.
If the voice of the people is the voice of God, then the vote of the Dabawenyos for the return of the DDS is the will of God, he said in the Sunday morning show hosted by lawyer-journalist Geraldine Tiu.
Tiu commented the votes may not reflect the entire wish of the Dabawenyos, the survey being limited to a number of respondents.
But Duterte said he was sure that if all the Dabawenyos are asked the questions, the ratio in the TV Patrol survey between votes for return of DDS against the votes of those who wanted to depend on a stronger police to arrest criminalities, would remain constant.
It would be like the votes in the contest between Inday and Nogie, he said. His daughter Inday, now sitting Mayor Sara Duterte trounced former Speaker Prospero Nograles in the 2010 mayoral battle by more than 220,00 votes.
The votes expressed the anger of the Dabawenyos against criminals, said Duterte who is widely-known for his iron-fist policy against criminals during his 18 years as the city mayor.
The votes show the revolting anger of the Dabawenyos against rabid criminals, he said to dismiss Tiu’s comment the votes indicate prevalence of the “culture of violence” in the city.
But Duterte said there is a downside to the Dabawenyo vote condoning the DDS, blamed by human rights groups here as behind summary executions of more than a thousand criminal suspects.
Now the human rights commission would be accusing them of being ‘kunsintidor’ (tolerant) of the DDS, he jested.
Duterte himself had been investigated in 2009 by the Commission on Human Rights for his alleged role with the death Squad and the summary executions. The rights body said Duterte “tolerated” the DDS and the executions but has yet to release its findings on the investigation. ROGER M. BALANZA

DUTERTES VOW DEFEAT OF EX-SPEAKER PROSPERO NOGRALES SON IN 2013 ELECTION

Hugpong 2013 battlecry:
Get the head of Karlo!

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

    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.
Object of the marching order of the dominant local political bloc is First District Representative Karlo Nograles, son of former Speaker Prospero Nograles.

DURIAN POST NO. 100

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).

 

No hocus-pocus in PCOS

INDAY SARA NOT AGAINST

AUTOMATED ELECTION

The automatic poll counting machines damned by former House Speaker Prospero Nograles for giving Mayor Sara Duterte a 220,000-vote margin in the automated 2010 mayoral polls would be back in action in the 2013 elections.
Nograles had filed a poll protest seeking to annul the election for alleged electoral fraud perpetuated through the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS), but the Commission on Elections (Comelec) dismissed the case.
Mayor Duterte said she sees nothing wrong if the PCOS machines would be used in the polls next year.
She has yet to make a final decision on whether or not to seek

NOGIE. Thrice loser

reelection. Nograles also has not made an announcement on his political plans but a fourth try at the mayoral seat could be another political disaster for Nograles who had already lost thrice in his bid to capture City Hall.
He was defeated by now Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in 1992, by then Duterte political ally Benjamin de Guzman in 1998 and by Mayor Sara Duterte in 2010.
The PCOS would be at center stage anew in the 2013 elections, the second automated elections where the polling machines would be used.
The Comelec in a recent en banc decision voted 5-2 in favor of purchasing additional PCOS machines for the 2013 elections from Smartmatic International, the outfit that proovided the machines in 2010.
The PCOS were dependable and commendable in the 2010 elections, said Duterte who had welcomed Nograles’ poll protest.
The problems encountered with PCOS were expected as it was the first automated elections, she said.
Among others, Nograles claimed in his protest that the PCOS were reconfigured to give Duterte an edge in the counting.
In Manila, a group is planning to question the decision by Comelec to purchase of the PCOs machines for the 2013 elections before the Supreme Court.
Election watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) said that civil society groups and poll reform advocates are thinking of filing a petition for temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the purchase of the PCOS machines for use in the 2013 elections.

Karlo has big chance to beat Rody, Sara in 2013 – THE DURIAN POST NO. 100

FUCK YOU!

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

Davao City First District Congressman Karlo Nograles stands a good chance of beating Mayor Sara Duterte or Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in an electoral contest, if results of a local popularity survey is to be taken as barometer for victory.
Congressman Nograles, son of former Speaker Prospero Nograles, gained votes equal to that of the Dutertes in the survey conducted by the Institute of Popular Opinion (IPO) of the Research and Publication Center of the University of Mindanao (UM).
The survey gave the Dutertes and Nograles similar acceptance ratings of 99.4 %.
Former Speaker Nograles reportedly is prepping up Karlo for the mayoral post, after his third failed attempt in the 2010 elections to grab the top post in the battle against Mayor Duterte.
Mayor Duterte however has yet to reveal her final plans leading to speculations that Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte would stage a comeback to the post he held for 18 years before her daughter became mayor.
Karlo’s high ratings comes as a bouyant factor to the sagging political image of the Nograleses, following the former Speaker’s miserable defeat in the mayoral battle with Mayor Duterte in 2010.
The elder Nograles earlier had lost in the mayoral races in 1992 against Rodrigo Duterte and to Duterte ally Benjamin de Guzman in the 1998 elections.
While Karlo stood in equal footing with the Dutertes in the IPO’s popularity survey, he was several percentiles in the trust rating survey behind the Duterte’s 98.8 percent. Karlo netted only 91.3 %.

ROGER THE HECKLER

 

UNIVERSITY OF MINDANAO SURVEY: Sara, Rody trust ratings high at 98.8%

By Kristianne Fusilero

Top city government officials earned high trust ratings based on the recent poll conducted by the Institute of Popular Opinion (IPO).

The survey of IPO, the newly-created institute under the Research and Publication Center of the University of Mindanao (UM), revealed that Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Cong. Karlo Nograles of the First District all have a high popularity rating of 99.4%.

Both the mayor and vice mayor have the same trust rating of 98.8% while Nograles gained 91.3%. The results were presented yesterday by Dr. Maria Linda Arquiza, director of IPO, in the launching of the survey center at the conference room in DPT Bldg., UM Matina Campus.

IPO is an opinion survey center that aims to provide quality survey results and adheres to integrity, professionalism and efficiency in publishing its results. The main focus of the center is to conduct surveys that relates to the popular concerns of the people of Davao.

Guillermo P. Torres Jr., president of UM and chief executive officer of the TIMES, said the launching of the opinion survey center “is a momentous occasion for us considering that not only is this the first institute within UM, it is also, I believe, the first institute of opinion survey ever established in Davao City.”

Torres said the university as a higher educational institution has three traditional functions such as instruction, extension and research. The university, for instance, conducts relevant research to contribute to the improvement of quality of life.

“The role of research in total development cannot be dispensed with because it lies at the center of economic, social, cultural and political advancement. As an academic institution, we know that it is our responsibility to discover, create and advance knowledge,” he added.

The results of the survey in the Second and Third districts will be revealed next week.

The IPO concluded that there is a correlation between popularity and trust among the residents based in the first district.

“The equal trust ratings for the mayor and the vice mayor imply that although the mayor and vice mayor are (on several times) known to differ in their respective stand on policy issues, the people support and trust them as one,” Arquiza said.

She said there seems to be a “reinforcing effect” between the two officials as the supporter of the vice mayor is likely to support the mayor and vice-versa. Mayor Sara is the daughter of Vice Mayor Rodrigo who served as the city’s chief executive for almost two decades.

The results of the survey further revealed that the younger Duterte, for instance, is most trusted among the middle-aged and those on their early 60s. She has also a higher net trust rating among those aged 43 to 49 years old.

“The unemployed have also high trust on the lady executive as she is also considered as champion of the poor being most popular among the low income groups but she strikes a balance with the high income groups as well,” Arquiza added.

The IPO first presented yesterday its survey to about 300 residents based in the first district. The survey was conducted on Feb. 4 to 13 to respondents aged 18 years old and above. The opinion survey employed systematic sampling at 95% confidence interval using face to face interview.

The respondents also gave positive remarks to the councilors of the first district and the city’s department heads.

In the first district, Councilor Pilar Braga topped as the most popular and most trusted lawmaker within the congressional area with a popularity rating of 94.8% and trust rating of 83.5%. She was followed by Councilors Leah Librado and Edgar Ibuyan in terms on popularity.

Out of 15 department heads, Leonardo Avila III, officer in charge of City Agriculturist Office, ranked one in terms on gaining the highest popularity rating of 53.5% and trust rating of 43.9 %. Avila was a former councilor in the first district.

He was followed by City Health Josephine Villafuerte and Maria Luisa Bermudo, head of City Social Services and Development Office, in terms on having the highest popularity and trust rating.

The respondents based in the first district also observed the People’s Park as the most beneficial project of the city government, followed by Central 911.

Can Polong break Nogie’s stranglehold in First District?

EASY TO BEAT. With the political machinery of Nograles in shreds, Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod bet Councilor Paolo Duterte could beat without a sweat Team Nograles' Congressman Karlo Nograles, in photo at left with broadcasters Bitoy Villasis and Zaldy Chatto, in the First District congressional race in 2013.

inFRONTPAGE PUBLISHED IN THE DURIAN POST NO. 87,

Nov 28-Dec. 04, 2011

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

If the Karlo-Polong battle for Congress in the First District in the 2013 election materializes, Councilor Paolo “Polong” Duterte, son of Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and brother to Mayor Sara Duterte,  would be facing a formidable foe in incumbent Congressman Karlo Nograles, son of former Speaker Prospero Nograles.
The First District is a known “Nograles country.”
The former Speaker himself was unbeaten in all his congressional run in the district, spoiled only by his first foray into politics when he lost to lawyer Jesus Dureza in 1988. Nograles, who contested results of the election, however cut short Dureza’s term by half after the House of Representative Electoral Tribunal declared him winner half-way through Dureza’s term.
Karlo won the seat in the 2010 polls against councilor Mabel Acosta, the candidate of the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod of the Dutertes.
But political machinery could factor in when the guns start firing, to turn the tide to Polong’s favor.
Nograles suffered his third defeat in his bid to capture City Hall in the 2010 election against Mayor Sara Duterte. He had lost to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the 1992 contest, and in his second bid in 1998 against Benjamin de Guzman, who was supported by then Mayor Duterte.
Out of the power corridor and his poliitical machinery in tatters, Nograles may no longer have the fire power to maintain his hold and make Karlo win his reelection. Karlo beat Acosta in the May polls by only about 8,000 votes despite the Nograleses’ strong hold in the district.
Polong, barangay captain of Catalunan Grande, sits as sectoral representative of the Liga ng mga Barangay in the City Council. His hold over the barangay captains as president of Liga would be a vital factor that could further shatter the Nograles hold over First District.
A Polong-Karlo contest in 2013 surfaced after Mayor Sara dismissed reports she would contest the Nograles son’s post in the next election. The mayor said it is Polong who is interest to battle Karlo, adding she plans to retire from politics after her mayoral term.

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON

A Karlo fan

    As a big fan of Davao City First District Congressman Karlo Nograles, I am frustrated that the son of former House Speaker

NOGIE & KARLO

Prospero Nograles, also my idol, once, has taken the route of political suicide taken by his father.
This after reading a news report about the young Nograles urging the national government to allow foreigners to engage in agricultural production in the country.
Interpreted simply, this means that Karlo wants foreigners to own land in the country at the expense of the poor farmers.
Before he bowed out of office, Speaker Nograles came short of being crucified by farmers’ groups and the militant sector for his authorship of an idea now being pursued by the son, dubbed as a big sell-out of the country’s patrimony by critics.
The  then Speaker had authored House Resolution No. 737 – which would allow foreign groups to own land in the Philippines.
The bill could lead to heightened agrarian unrest in the countryside as it could lead to the intensification of foreign and corporate land-grabbing, according to critics of the Nograles resolution.
Karlo has a lot to learn about politics and how to get himself endeared to people who matter if he wants to stay in politics. Unless, of course, he is motivated by other ulterior financially-rewarding agenda started by his father that he has to pursue as a member of Congress.
In the local election in May last year, Speaker Nograles lost potent votes in the mayoral race from  farmers and progressive militant groups here because of his resolution.
Karlo, apparently is doing the same right now, by pushing the same idea described as totally anti-farmer and anti-people.
Specifically, he wants the Philippines to enter into agreement with Arab countries on agricultural production in Mindanao, which should of course start with land purchase by the Arab companies.
According to Nograles the partnership could develop some 26,000 hectares of government property in Central Mindanao into a major agri-industrial production and processing complex, with the Arab companies exporting the produce to their countries.
This is precisely the idea of the former Speaker. Foreigners coming in to own lands that could displace farmers. Foreigners making use of our own patrimony for their own benefit at the expense of the farmers.
Former Speaker Nograles was tagged for his resolution on foreigners owning lands in the country as a “traitor” and miserably lost in the Davao City mayoral contest.
That is what is going to happen also to Karlo Nograles if he apes his father.
We suggest he drops his idea at soonest.
We are giving him this piece of advice because we heard he is running for mayor in Davao City in 2013.
In politics, lightning could strike the same spot twice, thrice or even more.
Karlo should avoid this situation by not following on the footstep of his father by toying with the idea of selling lands to foreigners. JOVITA SALVADOR, Bucana, Davao City

EDITORIALpage

PUBLISHED IN THE DURIAN POST NO. 85, Nov 14-20, 2011

Signboard politicians

THEDURIANBEAT

BY ROGER M.BALANZA

    Although the next election is still far away–May 2013–politicians fond of naming government projects and property after them or their relatives better be warned and should take heed of two proposed bills in Congress banning this practice aimed at getting publicity at the expense of public money.
In the House of Representatives, Bayan Muna Representatives Teddy Casino and  Neri Javier Colmenares have authored
House Bill No. 2309  which bans the practice.
“Clearly, it is immoral and unethical for any incumbent official to name government properties, services or programs, financed as these are by taxpayers’ money, after himself /herself or his/her immediate relatives. Such an act indicates that the public official is soliciting fame and glory in order to perpetuate oneself or one’s family in power at the expense of government resources, ” said the Bayan Muna congressmen in their explanatory note.
In the Senate, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago has filed a similar bill prohibiting public officials to affix their name or image to any signage on a proposed or ongoing public works project.
In her explanatory note on Senate Bill No. 1967, known as the “Anti-Signage of Public Works Act,” Santiago said that appending the names of officials on public works projects either funded or facilitated through their office is “unnecessary and highly unethical.”
She added that crediting individuals instead of the government on such projects promotes a culture of political patronage and corruption.
Thus, the bill allows only signs and billboards that bear the name, image or logo of the local or national government agency handling the project.
Once the Santiago bill is enacted into law, any official violating the provisions may serve jail time from six months to a year and perpetual disqualification from public office.
The implication is that  if the bill gets passed before the May 2013 elections, it could have tragic impact on the political future of “signboard politicians,” who if found guilty, could be banned for life from joining any electoral exercise or to hold any government position.
Signboard politicians are very imaginative people hungry as in hungry detergents to gain media mileage using government properties.
They emblazon signboards and streamers on government projects with their names, cleverly preceded with the word “Through the initiative of…,”  with premeditated, selfish intention to gain publicity out of projects funded by people’s money.
In Davao City in the 2010 elections where Mayor Sara Duterte trounced then Congressman Prospero Nograles with a vote margin of more than 220,000 votes,  signboards plastered on government vehicles and on public works by the former House Speaker and son, Karlo, then his chief-of-staff and now First District congressman,  was a hot issue.
The blatant abuse came to such a point that in one of the road projects, the name of the congressman was embedded in the middle of the concrete road in letters made of marble.
Seeing immorality in the use of public projects used for political self-aggrandizement, we wrote extensively about it, especially that the local administration frowned on names of local officials being scrawled in signboards of city government projects.
At the time, an anti-corruption group had surfaced in the heat of the electoral campaign to remind candidates about the signboards being a potent evidence in a corruption case against the signboard politicians.
We would like to see an end to politicians who promote themselves on the back of public money by putting their own names and photos on publicly-funded projects, said Alan Davis, a British national who headed the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP), which was funded by the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID).
The Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod of then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, now the vice mayor, was quick to jump on the Davis pronouncement, and said it has photographs, that it would use as evidence in filing corruption charges,  of signboards erected on government projects with Speaker Nograles and son Karlo claiming credit for the projects.
Mr. Davis could be laughing his heart out now that his idea has been picked up by Senator Defensor and representatives Casino and Colmenares and he would no longer be coming over in the next election to remind politicians about their signboard politics.
For those who are reading this piece now, please don’t tell Congressman Karlo Nograles about the bills on the signboard politicians.
We and our photographer have been going the rounds of the city’s First District to shoot photos of the signboards on government projects with the congressman’s name.
If the Santiago bill gets passed before the May 2013 election, paktay kang bata ka!

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PUBLISHED IN THE DURIAN POST NO. 85, Nov 14-20, 2011