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Several election watchdogs expressed apprehension on COMELEC’s automated election system (AES) allegedly due to lack of procedures and a failure to comply with the law.  The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), Automated Election System Watch (AES Watch), and Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) said the system cannot not be trusted.  “It is not compliant with the …

A different vaccine brand as a second booster shot can be “more effective” in warding off the COVID-19 virus, according to the Department of Health (DOH).  Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, head of the National Vaccination Operations Center, supported the recommendation of government’s Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) to use a different vaccine brand as second booster shot.  Cabotaje said, “A different …

Manila Mayor and presidential candidate Isko Moreno, through his political party Aksyon Demokratiko, has asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to garnish the bank accounts linked to the estate of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos to settle the family’s tax liabilities.  Aksyon Demokratiko chairperson Ernesto Ramel Jr. wrote to BIR Commissioner Ceasar Dulay, requesting the agency “to immediately and …

Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon maintained that the automated election system (AES) of Smartmatic’s machines are accurate and reliable.  “The AES and the Smartmatic machines have an accuracy rate of 99.7%. It’s very reliable and so hard to tamper with particularly the transmission of election results,” Guanzon said.  While these machines have been used by Comelec over …

By Ibarra C. Mateo  Less than a fortnight to the May 9 elections, leading financial and banking executives and top economists in the Philippines have projected a rosy business climate and encouraging economic growth under a Robredo administration.  Former presidents of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) have issued a joint statement in mid-March declaring “We Choose Not …

Let’s Vote PINAS, a Vote Counting Machine (VCM) Demo and Experience offered to the public by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and SM Supermalls, was launched on April 18, 2022 at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall. In attendance were COMELEC Chairman Hon. Saidamen B. Pangarungan, COMELEC Commissioners Hon. Socorro B. Inting, Hon. Marlon S. Casquejo, Hon. Aimee P. …

Mayor Luis Chavit Singson (of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur), who decided not to run for any public office in next month’s elections, predicts a landslide win for former Sen. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. (BBM) after recent survey results still showed a wide lead over Vice President Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo, three weeks before the polls. During today’s (April 18, 2022) Kapihan …

The approval and trust ratings of President Rodrigo Duterte are higher in April 2022 than at any point in 2021, according to the results of the PAHAYAG 2022 First Quarter Survey (PQ1 2022) conducted by PUBLiCUS between March 30 and April 6, 2022. 67.2% of the 1,500 respondents who participated in the survey said they ‘approve’ or ‘strongly approve’ of …

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III intends to disclose the names of high-ranking government officials linked in the smuggling of agricultural products coming from China at the 3rd Senate hearing scheduled April 12, which “has been pestering the agricultural sector”, according to Sotto’s tandem, presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. “We will validate the extent of vegetable smuggling and reveal …

“Chinatown is not a place,” declared journalist-author Jullie Yap Daza to her friends.   Now that sentence is the title of her latest book. Technically, Chinatown is only one square kilometer in size, an area surrounded by streets whose real estate values rival Makati’s. If it’s not a place, what is it? In Daza’s words, Chinatown is as much about …