Roxas should not yet concede, wait for ARMM votes—analysts

   

MANILA, Philippines – Analysts agree that the remaining 8 million votes yet to be transmitted are crucial in determining who between Makati mayor Jejomar Binay and Sen. Manuel Roxas will snag the Vice Presidential seat.

“In the case of Mar (Roxas) and Jojo (Binay), they need to watch out for ARMM because it’s still around a million votes,” Ateneo College of Law dean Antonio La Vina told ANC on Tuesday.

Binay and Roxas have been in a tight battle for the second highest position as initial Commission on Elections (Comelec) results showed that Binay leads the race with 39.51% of votes while Roxas closely follows with 36.84%.

Via ABS-CBN News

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Most Arroyo ex-Cabinet men second-placers in local polls, unofficial tally shows

Most of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s former Cabinet members who are seeking local elective posts have yet to catch up with their rivals, partial and unofficial results of the May 10 polls showed.

GMA Network’s tally as of 9:31 a.m. on Tuesday showed that former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, former presidential chief legal counsel Raul Gonzalez, former Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera and former presidential peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon placed second to their rivals.

Ermita, who is seeking a House of Representatives seat in Batangas’ first district, received 92,207 votes. His sole rival, Tomas Apacible, got 116,357 votes.

via GMANews.TV.

Effing, Agra-vating ruling

   

BIG DEAL
By Dan Mariano

As this was being written Monday morning, dozens of employees of the Department of Justice DOJ were reported to have staged a walkout.

They were protesting the decision of their own boss, DOJ Secretary Alberto Agra, to drop murder charges against two suspects in the November 23 massacre of 57 people in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

According to Agra, he found no evidence that Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan were at the scene of the crime. Zaldy was governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Akmad mayor of Mamapasano municipality at the time of the grisly massacre of media workers, lawyers and members of a rival political clan.

The walkout was the latest tremor to rock the DOJ since Agra took over from Agnes Devanadera who stepped down to run for public office in February. The department employees certainly have cause to feel resentful.

Agra’s resolution exonerating the two ranking members of the powerful Ampatuan clan was announced to the media late Friday. However, there are indications that the ruling was released earlier in an apparent bid to expedite the release of Zaldy and Akmad prior to their transfer to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

Click Dan Mariano.

Department of (in)Justice

By LITO BANAYO

JUST before she left office after the Supreme Court reversed itself and declared that appointive officials running for public office must resign, this lady called Agnes Devanadera ordered the filing of criminal charges against another lady, Judge Theresa de la Torre-Yadao for rendering an “unjust” decision against former Mindoro Occidental Governor Jose Villarosa.

In so doing, Devanadera, who is running for Congress to represent the people of the first district of Quezon, reversed the earlier findings of State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, who dismissed the complaint of Villarosa that the judge “knowingly rendered an unjust judgment” in convicting him as the mastermind of the murder of the Quintos brothers almost 13 years ago.

Click LITO BANAYO.

‘Detained Legacy scam brains holding political caucuses in condo’

MANILA, Philippines – The brains behind the multi-billion-peso Legacy group financial scam is “holding political caucuses in a condominium suite,” courtesy of Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, a senior lawmaker disclosed yesterday.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman warned the Department of Justice (DOJ) chief against leaving her office hastily, in light of the Supreme Court ruling on appointed officials seeking elective office, because she still has “unfinished business” regarding the case of Eduardo de los Angeles.

“While contemporary American pyramiding culprit Bernard Madoff is now serving a prison term, De los Angeles is holding political caucuses in the comfort of a condominium suite,” the Bicolano congressman revealed.

Click Philippine Star.

5 Arroyo Cabinet execs finally resign

MANILA, Philippines—It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

Five members of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Cabinet have tendered their courtesy resignations to prepare for the May 10 elections.

Leading the way was Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who said he filed his resignation on Tuesday, a day after the Supreme Court ruled that appointed officials running in the elections were deemed resigned.

Joining Ermita were Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, Presidential Management Staff chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya and Ed Pamintuan, Malacañang’s point person in the urban Luzon beltway project.

Click INQUIRER Politics.

No rush to quit Cabinet; GMA calls them to meeting

MANILA, Philippines – There is no rush among Cabinet officials running in the May elections to resign despite a Supreme Court order, but some of them have started to pack up.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., who is running for a seat in Congress representing the first district of Camarines Sur, was the first to tender his resignation.

“I have no choice but to obey the ruling of the Supreme Court, a fidelity to judicial decisions that is shared by the rest of my colleagues,” Andaya said.

Click Philippine Star.

Devanadera’s road to Congress hits an obstacle

LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines—Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera’s road to Congress is being threatened by a blunder committed by her sister, whom she had replaced as candidate for a congressional seat in Quezon province’s first district.

Zaldy Gariguez, Nacionalista Party (NP) coordinator in Quezon, in a petition dated Jan. 4, asked Commission on Elections legal chief Ferdinand Rafanan to declare Elizabeth Anne Torres-Suarez as an “independent candidate” and not as an official bet by the administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

Suarez, sister of the justice secretary but a virtual unknown in local politics, filed her certificate of candidacy shortly before midnight of December 1. This immediately created the speculation that Devanadera would eventually join the race by replacing her sister.

Click INQUIRER Politics.