The MILF in Mindanao: Should We Declare War or Continue the Peace Process

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Peace Negotiations Between MILF and The Philippine Government:

With the recent TRO issued by the Supreme court on the MOA between the MILF and The Philippine Government negotiators more people are asking why the government is so eager in signing the agreement. Although we want to have a continuing peace in Mindanao but most lawmakers feel that the government is after something else. They believe that it is a backdoor for creating a federal government, cha-cha, imposing martial law since it is belive that if the MOA will be signed it will create disputes between Christians and Muslims.

What is your opinion on this issue?

Campaigning for 2010 Elections: Early Moves of Philippine Politicians

What can you say about the strategies being made by politicians running for the 2010 Presidential Elections? Most of these politicians are now doing some media and pr campaign. Although their strategies cant be consiered as electioneering, but their actions are really an example of campaigning for the next elections.

Here are some people who are already busy establishing their ground in the possible position that they are running for in 2010 elections.

Manuel Villar - advertisements on television about helping OFW.

Bayani Fernando - posters all around Metro Manila, the metro gwapo campaign.

Loren Legarda - advertisements/endorsement of products on televisions, and taking part in the negotiation for the release of Ces Drilon.

Ping Lacson - endorsement of a product/billboards

Those people who can sustain the high cost of advertising can really have an extra mileage come the 2010 Presidential elections.

GMA's State Visit to the United States in the Midst of a Tragedy

With the recent visit of the President to the US, there are some opposition from her critics. The most vocal critics of the President said that she should have cancelled her state visit to the US because of the problems that she left in the country. the devastion of typhoon Frank is so vast that hundreds of people died and thousands of families left with no shelter. The estimated damages to infrastructure and agriculture already reach 4.5 billion pesos.

Another issue that the president should handled personally was the tragedy met by MV Princess of the Stars, the biggest ship by the Sulpicio Lines. The total passenger of the ship was 800 plus including the crews. As of this moment, there are only 50 plus who were able to survive from the tragedy. Although rescuers from the PCG and Navy still continue to search for possible survivors but according to them the possibility is very nill. The US already sent their help by sending 2 ships to help in the rescue operations. One of the ship is the US Ronald Reagan, a nuclear powered ship which was criticized by some senators especially Senator Biazon. He questioned the presence of the ship since according to him it violates some of the provisions in the constitution.

The number of fatalities is still increasing as more bodies are recovered from the ship. Some were recovered from nearby islands and some from other provinces including Masbate and Quezon Province. The bodies recovered were now moree than 100.

The main issue is why should the President still continue her state visit to the United States when she is badly needed by her people? Although some people may have the point in bringing up this issue. However, state visits are not that easy to cancel. The use of information technology also helped the President to do her obligations even outside of the country. She conducted several video conferencing with her cabinet secretaries to update her of the situation especially the MV Princess of the Stars tragedy. We can say that all of her cabinets and responsible government agencies are working to solve the problem and issues. At least we know that these government officials are working.


WE just hope that President GMA will bring back home more aid from the US to at least help those provinces hit by the typhoon and the families of the victims of the tragedy.