Campaign Day 39: Poverty, hunger as poll issues

Workers on Friday, Campaign Day 29, challenged senatorial candidates to spell out their platform against poverty and hunger. The latest Social Weather Stations surveys on hunger and poverty have highlighted the issues amid the election campaign, prompting labor party-list group Partido ng Manggagawa to ask candidates of both the administration and the opposition to flesh out their anti-poverty strategies. "The workers are asking the candidates for the Senate to speak their mind on measures to combat hunger and poverty. The workers will not accept motherhood statements. We want them to spell out specific policies," said Gerry Rivera of Partido ng Manggagawa. The Partido ng Manggagawa said among the set of solutions they are advocating to solve the problem of hunger and poverty are the legislated wage hike and tax exemption for workers earning below the cost of living, the regulation of contractualization so that workers will have regular jobs and the realignment of debt servicing to social services. Rivera took pot shot at the recently signed national budget for being anti-poor. "The one trillion budget is not for social payback but to payback creditors. The biggest slice of the budget or 318.6 billion goes to servicing debt a big part of which is illegitimate and onerous. This is more than that allocated for social services. Social payback is a myth," he said. Senatorial bet’s list trimmed down The six Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners, in an en banc meeting Friday approved the inclusion of 37 politicians in the poll body's official list of senatorial candidates for the May 2007 elections, even as some officials noted that the number could be trimmed further. This is the same number that the Comelec law department had proposed to be included in the final list of candidates, in the absence of disqualification petitions. A total of 80 politicians had filed certificates of candidacy to run for senator, as of the February 13, 2007 deadline. This number was initially reduced to 42 by the Comelec. Chairman Benjamin Abalos on Friday told reporters: "I think meron nang (resolution). Pipirmahan ko na this afternoon. Kasama ang dalawang Cayetano pero may asterisk (ang mga pangalan nila)," pending resolution of the disqualification cases. (There is a resolution already. I am signing this afternoon. The two Cayetanos are in but there is an asterisk beside their names.) Comelec spokesman James Jimenez had said on Tuesday that, "those given due course are not likely to be cut anymore." The law department had submitted the list to the commission en banc on February 14. But Jimenez said the Comelec law department’s list is “nothing but a piece of paper that holds no word" since the en banc has yet to make a decision. The two Cayetanos Abalos was referring to are Genuine Opposition's Alan Peter Cayetano, his namesake Joselito Cayetano, who is running under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan party of the Marcoses. A third candidate, lawyer Oliver Lozano, also of KBL, is also the subject of a disqualification case. Alan Peter, incumbent Taguig-Pateros Representative, has sought the disqualification of Joselito, whom the former accused of being part of an administration ploy to confuse voters. Lozano, on the other hand, is seeking the lawmaker’s removal from the race. Lozano’s disqualification, in turn, is being sought by lawyer Elly Pamatong, who questioned the former's authority to represent the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, the party founded by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The official list of senatorial candidates recommended by the Comelec Legal Department is as follows: 1. Angara, Edgardo J. 2. Aquino, Benigno Simeon III C. 3. Arroyo, Joker P. 4. Bautista, Martin D. 5. Cantal, Felix C. 6. Cayetano, Alan Peter S. 7. Cayetano, Joselito P. 8. Chavez, Melchor G. 9. Coseteng, Anna Dominique M. 10. Defensor, Michael T. 11. Enciso, Ruben C. 12. Escudero, Francis Joseph G. 13. Estrella, Antonio L. 14. Gomez, Richard I. 15. Honasan, Gregorio B. 16. Kiram, Jamalul D. 17. Lacson, Panfilo M. 18. Legarda, Loren B. 19. Lozano, Oliver O. 20. Magsaysay, Vicente P. 21. Montano, Cesar M. 22. Oreta, Teresa A. 23. Orpilla, Eduardo F. 24. Osmeña, John Henry R. 25. Pangilinan, Francis N. 26. Paredes, Zosimo Jesus II M. 27. Pichay, Prospero Jr A. 28. Pimentel, Aquilino L. 29. Recto, Ralph G. 30. Roco, Sonia M. 31. Singson, Luis S. 32. Sison, Adrian O. 33. Sotto, Vicente III C. 34. Trillanes, Antonio IV F. 35. Villar, Manuel Jr B. 36. Wood, Victor N. 37. Zubiri, Juan Miguel F. Montano defends mineral water ads Actor Cesar Montano, a senatorial candidate allied with the administration, has asked the Commission on Elections to allow the continued display of his advertisement in the vehicles of a mineral water company he is endorsing. In a petition filed before the Comelec, Montano argued through his counsel that the advertising materials bearing his picture displayed on the delivery vans and company vehicles of the firm should not be considered as campaign materials. The petition came after the Comelec cracked down on the illegal posting and display of campaign materials by politicians running in the coming elections. "These materials are intended to entice the public to buy Nature's Spring and were not designed to solicit votes for the petitioner. When these printed materials were exhibited to the buying public as early as the first quarter of 2006, petitioner was not a candidate," Montano said in his 4-page petition. "Even assuming for the sake of argument that these materials are campaign materials, there is no law which prohibits the use thereof as election propaganda. With due deference, the Commission could not ban what is not banned by statute," Montano argued. Montano's picture appears in the advertising materials of the Cebu-based company Philippine Spring Water Resources, Inc. The company distributes Nature's Spring purified drinking water. The actor has been an endorser of the firm since July 2005. The company has more than 600 delivery vans plying the whole country. Montano was one of the candidates the Comelec has warned for possible liability for violation of the rules on posters because of his failure to remove his billboards endorsing various commercial products. The actor is a product endorser who is supposed to have given up as much as P30 million because of canceled advertisement contracts as a result of his decision to run for senator. Montano reportedly considered backing out of the senatorial race because of funding problems, although he later denied the reports. PNP: P644.37M needed for poll duty The Philippine National Police (PNP) sought P644.37 million from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for its poll duties for the May 14 mid-term elections. PNP Directorate for Operations chief Director Wilfredo Garcia said though that the Comelec has yet to approve the proposal, the soonest could be this Monday when the poll body meets to discuss the matter. "That is our request based on the requirements submitted. But this is not necessarily the exact figure. This is only for purposes of request," Garcia told a press briefing Friday in Camp Crame after presiding over a command conference of all operations chiefs from the different regional police offices. He could not immediately provide a breakdown, however, for which the amount will be particularly used. The PNP is tasked mainly to secure this year's elections on May 14 after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) distanced itself from the activity to avoid being dragged into allegations of electioneering similar to what happened in the 2004 presidential elections. Last week, PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon alerted police units nationwide against the possible outbreak of election-related violence as the campaign period for local positions nears. "Based on historical data, we anticipate political rivalry to heat up in perennial election areas of concern," Calderon said. As of last week, the National Election Monitoring and Action Center (NEMAC) in Camp Crame has recorded 29 Election Related Violent Incidents in different parts of the country. In addition, the PNP has accounted for 1,106 firearms, 57 explosive devices and 198 other deadly weapons from 1,178 arrested violators of the Comelec-imposed nationwide gun ban. - GMANews.TV