Bayani Fernando, Bagumbayan Vice-presidential candidate said he is confident of winning “at least 90 percent” of support of the members of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD. Fernando said they are supporting him instead of the Lakas official candidate, actor Edu Manzano.

“I am their most logical ally,” said Fernando.

Fernando is the running mate of Senator Richard Gordon of the Bagumbayan Party ( “The Transformers” ). Fernando abandoned his original plan to run for president after the Lakas-Kampi-CMD national executive committee picked then Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro over him as the administration candidate.

Richard Gordon said that it was all right if Lakas-Kampi-CMD members to support Fernando. He said: “That’s good, if Lakas members are supporting him. I want him to win because he is better than any of the other (vice presidential) candidates.”

Gordon denied speculations of a rift between him and Fernando as they are rarely seen campaigning together. Fernando explained that he and Gordon are rarely seen together because they sometimes have conflicting schedules. Bayani added that Gordon is often invited to presidential forums.

Full story: Bayani boasts of 90% Lakas support

The ruling One Cebu Party pledged to at least a million votes out of Cebu’s 1.8 million votes for Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential candidate Gilberto ‘Gibo’ Teodoro in the May 10 elections:

Rep. Pablo John Garcia, secretary general of One Cebu Party gave the assurance to Teodoro during the rally in Toledo City on the western side of the island province

Rep. Garcia admitted that in the previous survey conducted last March, Teodoro was a close second to Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel “Manny” Villar.

But according to Garcia “In Cebu province and nationally, people are beginning to take a second look at Teodoro.” He added that Teodoro is doing very well and he believes that his rating is higher than what is coming out of the surveys.

Full story: One Cebu pledges 1 million votes for Gibo

Manny Villar would like voters to believe, his family was almost desperately poor, judging from the songs, rhetoric and political ads that have formed the main narrative of his political campaign.

Contrary to Villar’s claims of being dirt-poor, spending Christmas in the streets, swimming in a sea of garbage and not being able to afford medicine to save his brother’s life, GMANEWS concludes Villar’s Tondo roots were definitely middle class.

Manny Villar’s father, Manuel Villar Sr., was a US-educated Philippine government budget officer and his mother was an enterprising fish dealer, with a choice stall in Divisoria market, one of Manila’s busiest.

• In 1957, when they were very poor , Villar’s father was earning P3,960 a year, four times more than the average annual income of P924.
• In 1961, Villar’s father was earning P448/month, equivalent today to about P35,392/month.
• But the bigger income was probably from Villar mother’s business, from which she earned P80 to P600/day (equivalent to P6,320 to P47,400 PER DAY in 2010).

The Villar family’s conviction about their own poverty in the 1950s and 1960s could simply highlight the different definitions people have of being poor. Having nine children, with one dying of disease, could have left an imprint of hardship on their memories.

Dr. Cielito Habito, an economist at Ateneo de Manila University and a former head of the National Economic and Development Authority, or NEDA said: “They were definitely middle class.“  Habito who helped GMANews.TV convert the elder Villar’s income to today’s money.

Dr. Mary Racelis, an urban anthropologist who did poverty studies in Tondo in the 1960s, says poverty cannot be measured by income alone. Racelis said “There was no way they were poor in Tondo.“  She also said:

• “Housing is a very strong indicator of poverty … They (the Villars) were renters of a home made of strong materials. That does not make them poor.“
• “The really poor in Tondo lived in ramshackle homes of nipa and straw.“
• According to the poor: “the poverty threshold is having three regular meals a day. That’s the threshold in Tondo to this day..”
• “The Villars had a double income, the father was a regular wage earner, they eventually owned a piece of land. They were in the formal sector – they could have been in the upper 10 percent. “

See Full story :
Villar’s Tondo roots were ‘definitely middle class’

Liberal Party Senatorial candidate Alex Lacson is author of the book “12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country,” which lists simple things that each and everyone of us can do.

1. Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3. Don’t buy smuggled goods. Buy local. Buy Filipino. (Or, if you read the book, he suggests: 50-50).
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners speak positively about us and our country.
5. Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.
6. Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.
7. Support your church.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
9. Pay your employees well.
10. Pay your taxes.
11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our country.

The late Max Soliven related an encounter with Alex Lacson

Liberal Party presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III slammed the proposal of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to increase the value added tax from 12 to 15 percent, saying it would only be an added burden to the public.

Aquino said that instead of increasing the VAT, the government should be implementing effective and efficient tax collection measures. He cited that in 2009, money lost due to graft and corruption was estimated to be P280 billion.

In a statement, Aquino said
“This is the easy way out. We can collect more taxes at the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenues) and higher duties at Customs if we become more serious in curbing and punishing tax evasion and smuggling,”
…
“We will not shift the burden of improving revenue collection to the Filipino people. This government dug up this debt hole we’re in; an Aquino administration will try its best to dig us out of it by addressing the main reason we have not been able to collect taxes properly: corruption”

Full story: Noynoy hits proposed hike in VAT
Complete list of national candidates

Liberal Party presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III courted vote-rich Pampanga province, political bailiwick of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

At a press conference in the Jose Feliciano College in Mabalacat town, Noynoy Aquino said he is not giving up on pro-Arroyo Pampanga. He was accompanied by Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio, who is seeking re-election, and LP vice gubernatorial candidate Marco Lazatin.

Aquino noted that Pampangenos backed up his father, martyred senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., and his mother, the late former president Corazon Aquino, during the martial law era.

“Ito po’y huling kampanya ko na rin, bumabalik po ako sa aking pinagmulan. At ako’y umaasa na talagang ngayon ho makakadesisyon nang malaya ang ating mga kababayan at makikita natin po uli yung talagang pagkatagal-tagalan na ugnayan at pagtutulungan po natin,(This is my last campaign, and I am going back to where I began. I am hoping that the people can now decide freely and we will see the relations and assistance we have long extended to one another.)” said Aquino, who has previously said he won’t run for any other position after his presidential term if he wins in the May elections.

Noynoy courts voters in Arroyo home province
List of National candidates

Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino spokesman Ralph Calinisan accused Nacionalista Party presidential bet Sen. Manny Villar’s campaign of copying a campaign ad of Argentinean presidential hopeful Ricardo Hipolito Lopez Murphy.

Calinisan said, “The concept, visual cues and even the execution are identical.There is no other way to describe Sen. Villar’s but a cheap rip-off of the original.”

The ad features numerous phrases read sequentially, but when subsequently read in reverse, the phrases convey a different meaning. The viewer’s attention is guided by a bar that highlights the current phrase being read.

“He (Villar) even chose orange as his official campaign color, obviously mimicking President Joseph Estrada who has been using orange as his official campaign color for more than 20 years,” Calinisan added.

Full Story: Estrada camp accuses Villar of being a copycat

Senator Manuel Villar Jr., Nacionalista Party candidate for President that his failure to answer the allegations hurled against him affected his performance in surveys about the electorate’s presidential preferences.

“Yung black propaganda na hindi totoo, naging masyado kaming mabait (We’ve been too kind in handling that false kind of black propaganda),” he said. Villar said he was saddened with the result of a recent Pulse Asia survey, which showed him 12 percentage points behind leading presidential bet Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III of the Liberal Party.

Full story: Villar: My failure to answer allegations caused drop in surveys
See list of national candidates
See list of local candidates

Bangon Pilipinas Party presidential candidate Eduardo Villanueva signed a covenant vowing to pursue the establishment of a federal form of government in Mindanao and guarantee economic justice and pursuit of the peace talks. The signing was witnessed by Moro Islamic Liberation Front spokesman Eid Kabalu.

“In the long term, Bangon Pilpinas commits to call for a Constitutional Convention to submit, propose and support the adoption of the federal form of government as a final and permanent solution to the pursuit of peace and progress in Mindanao,” the covenant said.

Full story: Villanueva signs pact with MILF
See National Candidares for 2010 Elections