Finally, the Genuine Opposition has a blog! I have been longing for a site that would completely entail the informations about the agenda of the Genuine Opposition. The site was made last March 21, 2007. (How I hope I could contribute in the site)

10 Point Program of the Genuine Opposition

GO will strive to create more opportunities for all Filipinos, especially those who have less, to achieve a higher quality of life in a society that is justly, peacefully and honestly governed.

GO adheres to the principles of transparency, accountability and good governance and will endeavor to eliminate lying, cheating and stealing.

GO assures to protect the sanctity of the Constitution by opposing any attempt by the Arroyo regime to amend the Constitution by any mode as recent attempt have exposed the desires of said regime to tamper with the Constitution solely for the purpose of remaining in power.

GO reinforces the Constitutional provisions of checks and balances in government and pledges that the Senate shall continue to be the people’s vanguard against abuses.

GO will sponsor and/or support legislative initiatives that would:

1. Generate more jobs through labor intensive infrastructure projects in the rural areas rather than mega projects which are prone to large scale corruption.

2. Train our youth in higher skilled disciplines through increased budgetary allocations for our educational system at all levels including teacher’s pay, books, classrooms, computers, distance learning and school feeding programs except anomalous rice subsidies.

3. Substantially lower the cost of drugs by as much as 90% by providing incentives for domestic production of drugs, adoption of procurement reforms in the health sector and parallel importation of affordable medicines.

4. Lower the costs of transportation and power through the aggressive development of renewable domestic sources of energy.

5. Reject any new tax such as the proposed tax on text messaging, improve tax administration and exclusively utilize the additional revenues collected from EVAT for priority areas like education, healthcare, agriculture and science and technology.

6. Strengthen the protection of human rights by granting prosecutorial powers to the Commission on Human Rights and upgrading its investigative capabilities and review the government’s counter-insurgency program to de-emphasize the heavily militarist approach and once again address the deeper causes of social conflict – poverty and injustice – through development programs.

7. Contribute to the arrest of global warming and ensure a cleaner and better environment for future generations through programs that would accelerate the use of cleaner fuels, reforestation, lower electricity consumption and waste recycling.

8. Organize additional support programs for OFWs that will provide them with legal assistance abroad in their countries of work, retraining services, entrepreneurial mentoring and welfare and counseling services to the families they leave behind.

9. Reinforce the effectiveness of the press in its role as watchdog against graft and corruption by decriminalizing libel and increasing penalties for harm done to newspersons.

10. Institute other meaningful reforms to make the economy more dynamic, efficient and equitable and make the Filipino workers and enterprises more globally competitive.

Labels: election 2007, genuine opposition, pgma, senators

The time has come for the youth to be represented. Finally, Kabataan Party has come for us to let the House of Representatives hear the sentiments of the youth with regards on the issues of the country.

I am encouraging all the first-time voters and the voting public, as a whole, to let the youth's voice be heard. We want to the youth to help shape their future.

With your vote, you can help stop the abuses of the government that makes the youth's future more close to danger. Vote KABATAAN for partylist this May 2007 elections!

Labels: election 2007, pgma

It's final, Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos is running for Batangas Governor, under the Lakas-CMD, against incumbent Gov. Armand Sanchez, who is running under the KAMPI, and Vilma's brother-in-law Vice Gov. Ricky Recto, who is running under the Genuine Opposition.

She made the announcement in an event together with her husband, Sen. Ralph Recto (also called as Mr. E-VAT) and Sen. Joker Arroyo. The event was also attended by Vice President Noli de Castro and Edwin Ermita, the son of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. Edwin is the one being groomed as Vilma's runningmate in the upcoming elections.

Vilma is on her third and last term as Lipa City Mayor. As what her constituents can say, she has made Lipa City from a barren place into a star-studded city. Star-studded in a sense of development in infrastructure, social services, social welfare and health.

Labels: batangas, election 2007, genuine opposition, kampi, lakas-cmd, pgma

It's very clear that the people are tired of candidates who really don't deserve to have a seat in the Senate. These candidates I am referring to are mostly in the Team Unity (TU). Most of TU's bets are lagging behind the Genuine Opposition's (GO) candidates and even Independents! What's the real score behind it? Well, most of TU's bets are not united at all. They have different views on issues thus the name TEAM UNITY doesn't make it deserving to call for themselves.

In the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) Survey that was conducted last February 24-27, 2007, from 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages), the result was in favor of GO bets.

The survey topnotcher was not from GO, not from TU but an Independent (though he's anti-administration): Francis Pangilinan (Liberal Party-Drilon Wing) with 56%.

Trailing behind him are Loren Legarda (Nationalist People's Coalition-GO) with 54% followed by Manuel Villar Jr. (Nacionalista Party-GO) with 52%, Alan Peter Cayetano (Nacionalista Party-GO), Panfilo Lacson (United Opposition-GO) with 43%, and Francis Escudero (Nationalist People's Party-GO), 37%.

Ralph Recto (Lakas-CMD-TU) got a percentage of 37% while his fellow team mate Vicente Sotto III (Nationalist People's Party-TU) got 31%.

Completing the last 4 seats are John Osmeña (United Opposition-GO) and Benigno Aquino III (Liberal Party-Drilon Wing-GO), 30%; Gregorio Honasan (Independent) gaining 29% and lastly the People's Dragon, Joker Arroyo (Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino-TU) with 28%.

On the other hand, the government agency Social Security System (SSS) also held their own mock polls where unknowingly, GO bets led the said polls. It was ironic that the agency under the Arroyo administration is favoring its rival's bets that theirs. It just shows the dissatisfaction of government employees to Gloria Arroyo!

The result was 9 GO, 2 Independents and 1 TU. It was casted by 4,800 employees from 118 SSS branch offices participated in the mock polls that started last March 6. Here's the result:

The mock poll topnotcher was Francis "Chiz" Escudero with 3,862 votes; followed by Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III with 3,149 votes and on third place was Alan Peter Cayetano with 3,100 votes.

Landing in fourth, fifth and sixth places were Loren Legarda (2,985), Manuel Villar (2,872) and Panfilo "Ping" Lacson (2,855).

Wrapping up the Magic 12 were Arroyo (2,555), Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan (2,361), Antonio Trillanes (2,147), Sonia Roco (2,011), Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III (1,095) and Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan (1,679).

It's now clear on who's winning the soon-to-be-vacated 12 Senate seats. It will be an opposition-dominated Senate. The TU bets will make it hard to have a 12-0 in favor of them because they're dimwits. They're running for the public office that they want to abolish.

Labels: chiz escudero, election 2007, pgma, senators

We've seen their respective senatorial line-ups, and we had heard a few of their platforms. Now, they're scrambling to get the endorsement of their "supremos" namely Joseph "Erap" Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for the Genuine Opposition (GO) and Team Unity, respectively.

The Team Unity recently made their proclamation rally here in Cebu and showed up their strong "kuno" ticket that would surely beat the opposition's.

Huh? Are you joking? Having an endorsement from PGMA would be a kiss of death! Just look at the Philippines under her watch. Increased killings of leftists and of media practitioners, widespread corruption, toleration of election cheating and vote rigging, an many to mention.

Actually, I was one of the supporters of Erap's ouster in January 2001. Though, as the years past, I have seen this person as a symbol of oppression and abuse of the Arroyo regime. I really admire Erap's deed of forgiveness to his mortal enemies in politics.

When I am chosen to have an endorsement between Erap and PGMA, I would rather chose Erap! PGMA's record for the past 6 years has been the worst that any Philippine President. Erap may have served for only a few years because of his immorality. I admit that. But time has changed,and he also has changed. Now, he's the real symbol of the "masa" and PGMA of the "elite".

So, how about you? Given a chance to be endorsed by Erap and PGMA, whose hand would you like to be raised? I've given my side, now it's your turn.

Labels: election 2007, erap, pgma, senators