The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday approved the candidacies of environmentalist Nicanor Perlas and detained former Army general Danilo Lim, reversing an earlier decision excluding the two from the official list of candidates in the May 10 national elections.

Through Resolution 8743, the Comelec en banc announced that presidential aspirant Perlas and Liberal Party senatorial bet Lim have been included in the final list of candidates for the elections.

In the same resolution, the Comelec also denied the oppositions and motions for reconsideration of 89 people who filed their COCs for national posts, including presidential aspirants Oliver Lozano and Elly Pamatong and former Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez.

According to the resolution, Perlas was allowed to partipate in the presidential race because of his “distinguished track record in public service” and capacity to launch a nationwide campaign through the environmentalist’s “access to national media” and “organized group of persons… who volunteered to support for his bid for candidacy.”
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Cruz urges soldiers to stay loyal to Constitution.

MANILA, Philippines—Warning about a “disturbing pattern” showing that the Arroyo administration will try to perpetuate itself in power, former Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. Wednesday urged soldiers to defy “patently unlawful orders” for partisan political ends and for subverting the Constitution.

Speaking at a forum of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in Pasig City, Cruz accused President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of masterminding moves in Congress to amend the Constitution without the Senate’s consent.

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Panlilio: It is God calling I run for president.

MANILA, Philippines—Priest-turned-Governor Eddie Panlilio of Pampanga on Tuesday announced that he had decided to run for president in 2010.

“I have every intention to file my candidacy on or before [the deadline of] Nov. 30. I’m ready for all the consequences, including dispensation from priesthood,” Panlilio declared at the weekly forum arranged by the Catholic Media Network in Intramuros, Manila.

“Until today many people were not sure [whether] I will run. They only learned today; we are only announcing our decision today,” he said.

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Antuñez: I didn’t ask for P500M.

MANILA, Philippines—Jose Mari Antuñez, the head of local IT provider Total Information Management Corp. (TIM), denied on Wednesday he had demanded P500 million for next year’s election computerization program, or that he was close to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.

“The first and only time that I met the First Gentleman in person or ever spoke to him was in 1994 during the blessing of TIM’s business recovery service center,” Antuñez said in a brief interview.

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Gloria Arroyo is trying to pull off another smoke and mirrors trick with her seemingly frenzied efforts to force Lakas and Kampi into a merger to ensure a win for her candidates in the 2010 elections. At noon of June 30, 2010 she is politically dead meat. An overwhelming victory by Lakas-Kampi candidates in Congress and local government units will not save her and Mike from the retribution sure to be exacted by a people they savaged over nine years of misrule.

The time for accounting will come in due time. Even a victory by Noli de Castro, the administration’s best bet for the presidency, will not shield Gloria and Mike from the certainty of facing trial for plunder, among other crimes.

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