BY JHONG DELA CRUZ Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH / BREAKING NEWS May 14, 2007 - 3:22pm Canada-based overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are using the short-messaging system (SMS), known as text messaging, to support progressive party-list groups in this year’s Philippine...

BY KARL G. OMBION Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH / BREAKING NEWS May 14, 2007 - 2:59pm Negros Oriental Commission on Elections (Comelec) supervisor Manuel Advincula was nabbed by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) this morning for allegedly extorting...

BY KARL G. OMBION Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH / BREAKING NEWS May 14, 2007 Voters of five neighboring haciendas in the upland Barangay Tanza, EB Magalona town in the province of Negros Occidental were roused from their sleep by 10 armed men believed to be members of...

BY AUBREY MAKILAN Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH/BREAKING NEWS May 14, 2007 - 1:15pm Rotello Legaspi, a pollwatcher for Anakpawis Party-list in Brgy. Suba, Dimasalang, Masbate, complained of harassment by a local candidate in their area. Darwin Avela, Anakpawis...

Jailed Solon Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran (Anakpawis) casts his vote at exactly 10:26 am at Precinct 1608A at the Commonwealth Elementary School in Quezon City under heavy guard as a soldier takes photographs of Beltran's supporters using a digital camera. Accompanying...

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH / BREAKING NEWS May 14, 2007 - 11:26 a.m. The Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) decried what it described as an attempt by the administration to “confuse the public” about the status of a number of party-list groups...

BY CHERYLL D. FIEL davaotoday.com Posted by Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH/BREAKING NEWS May 14, 2007 - 11:07am DAVAO CITY — International observers who are in the southern Philippines to monitor today’s elections said Sunday that a clean, peaceful and honest elections in...

BY BULATLAT ELECTION WATCH/BREAKING NEWS May 14, 2007 - 11:06am The names of senatoriables Ralph Recto (Team Unity) and Antonio Trillanes (Genuine Opposition) were not found in the list of senators attached in the secrecy folder in the town of Las Piñas in Metro...

NI JOSE F. LACABA Inilathala ng Bulatlat TULA Vol. VII, No. 14 May 13-19, 2007 Mabuhay ka, kaibigan! Mabuhay ka! Iyan ang una’t huli kong Tagubilin at habilin: Mabuhay ka! Sa edad kong ito, marami akong maibibigay na payo. Mayaman ako sa payo. Maghugas ka ng kamay...

Fraud recycles the political dynasties and keeps them in power. It breeds generations of cheaters, corrupt politicians, mediocre executives, bribe takers, absenteeism in Congress. It is part of the lifeblood of bureaucrat capitalism. BY THE POLICY STUDY,...

Interview with Coni Ledesma, international spokesperson of Makibaka, Filipino revolutionary woman’s association May 14, election day in the Philippines, may signal a historic turning-point in its political devolution since the February 1986 “people power” revolt...

Fixing the spotlights to be used for political rallies in Fuente Osmeña, Cebu City, a guy keeps his balance as if on a slippery palosebo pole. He is seemingly oblivious to the precarious nature of his job as the elections are one of the busiest and lucrative times...

Twenty-five foreign observers arrived here to join a People’s International Observers Mission to help stem the cycle of violence and fraud plaguing elections in the country. BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH Vol. VII, No. 14 May 13-19, 2007 American...

An anti-fraud watchdog and several militant groups have expressed concern over possible tampering of overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) votes. BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH Vol. VII, No. 14 May 13-19, 2007 An anti-fraud watchdog and several militant...

Church leaders described the militarization of urban communities as a “nail hammered on the flailing limbs of freedom in this country.” BY AUBREY MAKILAN Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH Vol. VII, No. 14 May 13-19, 2007 Militants welcomed the order of AFP chief Gen....

Everyone fumbled for answers when American Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell went missing. BY ACE ALEGRE Contributed to Bulatlat Vol. VII, No. 14 May 13-19, 2007 Everyone fumbled for answers when American Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell went missing. Was...

In this year’s senatorial elections, the Genuine Opposition is by all indications leading the race. What will it do if it is cheated – or it does win? BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat ELECTION WATCH Vol. VII, No. 14 May 13-19, 2007 In this year’s senatorial...

Residents of the first district of Camarines Sur comprising the municipalities of Cabusao, Del Gallego, Libmanan, Lupi, Minalabac, Pamplona, Pasacao, Ragay, San Fernando, and Sipocot are being forced to attend seminars conducted by the 42nd Infantry Battalion under...

In an interview with Bulatlat, an employee at the Department of National Defense corroborated reports that soldiers were instructed to vote 12-0 for the administration senatorial candidates as well as a military-backed party-list group. BY ALEXANDER MARTIN...

BY RICKY GELIDO Posted by Bulatlat DEMOCRATIC SPACE Vol. VII, No. 14 May 13-19, 2007 Looking at the political state of the nation, especially before the May 14 elections, one may say that Philippine politics has gone from bad to worse. The political hullabaloo is...