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The Liberal Party of former Sen. Franklin Drilon is ready for the
2010 elections. At the top level, it has Sen. Mar Roxas as its
presidential standard bearer. At the local level, a national cadre
of the LP is now going around the country, holding seminars and
preparing its line-up.
He told the journalists at Kapihan sa Sulo on
Saturday, the party has a lineup for candidates for senator. Among
them are Drilon himself, Mr. Florencio Abad, Gov. Grace Padaca,
Mayor Jesse Robredo, Rep. Erin Tanada, Ms. Cory Quirino, Mr. Neric
Acosta, Rep. Ruffy Biazon. Drilon says it would be easy to fill up
the remaining seats.
Drilon assumes that the elections will push
through because the planned maneuvers for Charter change will fail.
The LP believes that if there should be Charter change, it should
come after 2010 in the form of the more democratic constitutional
convention, instead of a constituent assembly. But he has a
condition: that the Con-con be given only one year to craft the new
charter.
Erap’s unity call
In my opinion, it might be too late for
President Erap to convince LP candidate Sen. Mar Roxas to join in a
selection process for a common opposition candidate by 2010. I
cannot imagine Roxas joining a convention that would open the
possibility of him not running for President. Mukhang sigurado na si
Mar na tatakbo in 2010.
What would then happen to the plan of Erap to
find a common candidate for the opposition? I think it would fail
and he would end up running himself, if he is true to his pledge. If
Erap runs, that would spell real trouble for the opposition since
their votes would be divided among the many opposition candidates.
As for Sen. Manny Villar, I also cannot imagine
him reversing his decision to run for President. With high survey
ratings and having done impressive political work in the provinces,
he comes to the negotiating table with very good bargaining chips. I
learned that the alliances he has built in the course of his being
Speaker remains solid. He will definitely run.
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DA, DOH solving
pig virus problem
Here’s the good news about how RP is nipping
in the bud the spread of Ebola-Reston, a virus that, for a while,
threatened our swine industry.
Secretary of Agriculture Arthur Yap has already
mobilized an international team of human and animal health experts
to conduct a preemptive study on the reemer-gence of the
Ebola-Reston virus in local swine. The World Health Organization
(WHO), Office International des Epizooties (OIE) and the Food and
Agriculture (FAO) are in the process of crafting a program to beat
this virus for good. But initial prevention plans are already in
place and are successful in checking the spread of the disease.
The virus was detected late last year among a
few hogs in Bulacan and Pangasinan. No less than Soe Nyunt-U, WHO
country representative in the Philippines, had praised the
government’s “appropriate action” in dealing with this animal
health risk.
DA nipped in the bud the spread of the virus
when it undertook quick measures in response to the reemergence of
this virus. The virus first surfaced in the Ferlite monkey farm in
Calamba, Laguna.
Yap had ordered the quarantine of the farms in
Pangasinan and Bulacan where the virus was detected; directed the
Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to closely monitor the movement or
hogs and pork meat by setting up “hog checkpoints.”
He has ordered the National Meat Inspection
Service to check the presence of any contaminated pork meat in the
market and slaughterhouses and to be strict in the issuance of
health certifications on animal shipments.
As an extra precautionary measure, Yap also
ordered the temporary suspension of the country’s first ever pork
export to Singapore until such time that the Reston problem has been
fully solved.
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BRIEF NOTES. The Santa Ana Park Saddle and Clubs
opened last week its racetrack in Naic, Cavite, with a sprawling
facility to the delight of local officials led by Cavite Gov. Ayong
Maliksi. Its previous location, the 21-hectare Sta. Ana Club in the
border of Makati and Manila will be transformed into a housing
project with a mall . . . Among the inauguration guests on Sunday
were Mr. Ferdinand Rojas 2nd, the chairman of the Philippine Racing
Commission, and Congressman Amado Bagatsing, chairman of the House
committee on games and amusements . . . This new place is the second
in Cavite. The other racetrack located in Carmona, Cavite, is the
San Lazaro track managed by the group of Atty. Alfonso “Boy”
Reyno, a former assemblyman . . . The story of Valley Golf Club
“brawl” should teach all to be very careful with stories coming
from the Internet through so-called blogs. Now, it is clear that the
group of businessman Delfin de la Paz was mainly at fault. It was
his group that started the brawl and the group of DAR Secretary
Nasser Pangan-daman simply reacted to provocation . . . There is no
way that the truth can be suppressed because golfers know who are
the quarrelsome elements in the club . . .
jules42na@yahoo.com
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