The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

Iglesia ni Cristo

The new executive minister of the bloc-voting Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), Eduardo Manalo, may have his late father’s conservative views, but with a twist.

Manalo—Ka Eduardo to his flock—pulled a surprise on Wednesday when he endorsed the candidacy of Liberal Party standard bearers Benigno Noynoy Aquino III and Manuel Roxas II.

The announcement came amid expectations by some INC elders and insiders that the sect would pick Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Manuel Villar Jr. Between Aquino and Villar, the latter courted the INC endorsement more avidly.

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MANILA, Philippines - The race is on for presidential candidates beginning today, after months of unofficial free-for-all.

The frontrunner, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, kicks off his campaign in his home province of Tarlac, at his family’s old house in Concepcion.

He and his running mate Sen. Manuel Roxas II, as well as LP senatorial candidates, will hold a motorcade to the Aquino Museum and then to the municipalities of Bamban, Capas and Tarlac City.

The Nacionalista Party led by its standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. kicks off its “90-day journey to a better Philippines” in Calamba, Laguna, the birthplace of national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, with visits to public markets.

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Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile blasts Sen. Manny Villar while Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano defends his partymate during deliberations on the C-5 report yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines - Allies and critics of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. squared off yesterday over the ethics case against him during an emotional and tension-filled floor debate. Villar snubbed the session.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile lashed out at the absent Villar, standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party, for not facing his colleagues to explain the ethics case against him in connection with alleged road project anomalies, particularly the C-5 road extension.

In a report, the Senate Committee of the Whole chaired by Enrile said Villar should be censured for failing to divulge his real estate companies’ interests in the Las Piñas-Parañaque link road and the C-5 road extension projects.

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