An intrepid band of bloggers (and sundry interested citizens) filed a complaint for intervention seeking to include the thwarted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the charges in the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.

The text of the complaint itself, and the events which transpired this morning during the filing are set forth in revealing detail in Manolo Quezon’s blog. I especially enjoyed reading about the discomfiture of the House Secretary-General, Marilyn Yap, in dealing with the “unprecedented” complaint.

The intervention move seeks to include among the grounds for impeachment GMA’s complicity in the aborted MOA which would have established a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and effectively given away a significant chunk of the republic to the MILF. This can be viewed as treason. As pointed out in the complaint, the Supreme Court ruled on the unconstitutionality of the executive actions meant to conclude the agreement one day after the present impeachment complaint was filed in the house. The ruling by the High Court adds significant weight to the grounds for impeachment. And the intervention is timely as the original complaint has not yet been referred to the proper committee for evaluation. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Credit: phiscout.org

Not as national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. He’s already that. As president of the Philippines.

Today is the birthday of the mayor of Makati, and he took the opportunity to announce before the assembled throng of well-wishers at the city hall his bid for national office. He has a countrywide network as head of the United Opposition (UNO) and believes that he has sufficient resources to launch a campaign for the presidency in 2010. Makati congressman and Binay stalwart Teddy Boy Locsin was present to give his buddy moral support, and jokingly said that in Binay the country may have found its own Barack. Read the rest of this entry »

A reader, Capolegis, commented that:

President-elect Obama accepted congratulations from nine presidents and prime ministers Thursday, returning calls from world leaders who reached out after his presidential victory.

In a report, Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the president-elect spoke to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Why didn’t he return the GMA’s call? Later on maybe?

This got me thinking . It’s unlikely that he will return the call anytime soon. And even if he does, the damage has been done. The brush off has been embarrassing. The president-elect is just “too busy” to take her call.

And this isn’t the first time that Obama snubbed GMA. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo from MSNBC

Or if there is one, it will be short.

The nearly universal consensus, amidst the rejoicing on Barack Obama’s landslide election victory as the 44th president of the U.S., is that he has his work cut out for him. With the American economy in shambles and wars under way in Iraq and Afghanistan, the continuing threat of terrorism and festering domestic issues like health care and energy, his plate will be full even before day 1.

Expectations are high around the world as well, as political leaders look to Obama to help forge a new “era of renewed partnership and a new multilateralism”, in the words of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. France’s Nicolas Sarkozy said that Obama’s election had raised “enormous hope”. Even our very own President Arroyo, whose congratulatory phone call Obama did not accept, expressed confidence that Obama will “strengthen regional cooperation” and address the concerns of Filipino World War II veterans. She was referring to the Veterans Equity Bill still pending before the U.S. legislature which seeks to increase the benefits accorded Filipino war veterans. There seems to be no constituency, near or far, which has not looked upon an Obama presidency for salvation. Read the rest of this entry »

As the results of the U.S. elections trickle in, early returns put Barack Obama with a commanding lead. This is entirely consistent with the all the opinions polls leading up to election day.

What is clear, though, is that the economy was the foremost concern in voters’ minds and is the most critical determinant of today’s outcome. According to CNN, exit polls showed that 62% of voters said the economy was the most important issue. The war in Iraq was the most important for 10%, and terrorism and health care were each the top issue for 9 % of voters. Read the rest of this entry »