NOYNOY TO DISCLOSE CAMPAIGN DONORS / MAR URGED TO DETRACT LIES IN ADS
MARILAO, BULACAN, FEBRUARY 23, 2010 (STAR) By AUREA CALICA - Liberal Party standard bearer Benigno Aquino III admitted yesterday that he had put only P3 million to P4 million of his personal funds into his campaign so far and that he would disclose all his campaign donors at the appropriate time.Aquino said these were his liquid funds that could be spent and these came from his shares of stocks. He also revealed that it was his sister, actress and television host Kris Aquino-Yap, who had contributed much to his campaign kitty.
Aquino-Yap had announced she had sold her house in Pasig City and allocated portions of her talent fees for the campaign of her brother.
The LP standard-bearer dismissed allegations that he was not really running a people’s campaign and relying on contributions from big businessmen with interests to protect.
He said the law requires candidates to disclose the names of the people who made donations to their campaign and he said he would abide by it.
He conceded his money would not be enough but contributions, especially from ordinary people and even students, gave them sufficient funding for the campaign and the guarding of votes during the counting.
Aquino said the law did not require him to identify the contributors to his campaign at this time and that he would also like to protect them from harassment by the administration and its allies.
He bared that some of his businessmen-supporters were already being targeted by various agencies like the Optical Media Board and the Bureau of Internal Revenue and were being subjected to various kinds of inspection and auditing.
Villar had dared Aquino to disclose his campaign donors to prove that the LP was running a people’s campaign.
He said he even got schoolchildren for supporters and that he made sure he did not accept funds from those who were asking for something in return as far as businesses were concerned.
Aquino said he did not like “bribers” or leeches who would not want a level playing field for everyone. He, however, refused to name them.
Roxas urged to pull out 'misleading' ads on cheaper medicine By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated February 23, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Mar Roxas should apologize to the Filipinos and pull out the “misleading and untruthful” advertisements that portrayed him as the father of the cheaper medicine law, two government officials said yesterday.
“He (Roxas) should pull out his misleading and lying ads. He should also say sorry for what he did. This guy from Capiz is a snatcher, he snatches the credit from us again,” Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico, original author of the Cheaper Medicine Law, told The STAR.
Suplico, a former congressman, and incumbent Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron condemned what they deemed as a “credit-grabbing scheme” of Roxas, the vice presidential candidate of the Liberal Party.
Biron, a doctor, chided Roxas who he said was even instrumental in “categorically blocking” the creation of the seven-man Drug Price Regulatory Board that could have brought down the prices of medicine by as much as 80 percent.
“He (Roxas) lied because he claims something that he even opposed vigorously in all our four bicameral conference committee meetings. He didn’t want any form of regulation. All he wanted was parallel importation,” Biron said.
Roxas, who was then eyeing the presidency until he gave way to Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as LP standard-bearer, wanted a deregulated industry wherein free market forces would determine the price of medicine.
Suplico said Roxas, a former trade secretary of deposed President Joseph Estrada and in the initial stage of the Arroyo administration, “was trying to soften the blows for the pharmaceuticals or multinationals.”
“Nine years ago, these multinationals even offered a measly P1-billion lobby money of the P100-billion industry,” Suplico disclosed, in reference to the alleged bribe offer during the time of former Health secretary Alberto Romualdez, a member of Estrada’s Cabinet.
Biron, under whose term the bill was passed, also brought documents to show the difference between the House version and the Senate version of the law, which, according to Suplico, was “castrated” by Roxas himself.
“He killed the heart and soul of the bill I authored. He castrated it. How can he now say that he was the author of the cheaper medicine law? All he wanted was an amendment to the intellectual property law,” Suplico said.
If only Roxas acceded to their bill, the exorbitant prices of drugs could have been down by as much as 80 to 90 percent, because a multi-sectoral drug price regulatory board would have carried out uniform, reasonable rates for all types of medicine.
The board would have included the health secretary, the trade secretary, the Food and Drug Administration (formerly BFAD), a representative from a consumer group, from PhilHealth, faculty from health and science and one from academe.
LP looking into poll fraud plot - Noynoy (The Philippine Star) Updated February 23, 2010 12:00 AM
MARILAO, Bulacan , Philippines - The Liberal Party is looking into a reported plot to cheat in the May 10 elections.
Speaking to reporters, LP standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said reports indicate a plan to “influence the outcome of the elections,” but he declined to elaborate.
He said they were gathering evidence of the alleged plot, but declined to give details.
Speaking at a rally, Aquino asked his supporters to campaign for him and his running mate, Sen. Manuel Roxas II, to widen their lead and make cheating impossible.
His 11 percent lead over Nacionalista Party standard bearer Manuel Villar Jr. based on the latest survey should be “20 percent or better, 30 percent,” he added.
Aquino said the LP would rely on volunteers to help protect their votes.
The LP does not have the money to buy votes and perpetrate fraud, he added.
Aquino met over 100 volunteers, including 18 provincial coordinators of the newly organized PiNoy Lawyers, which held its first general assembly in Pasig last Saturday.
Former defense secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. Cruz heads the LP vote protection efforts, Aquino said.
He expressed concern over reports quoting poll watchdog Kontra-Daya that at least two million ballots for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao were printed without security features.
“The security marks have been a constant feature for so many past elections,” he said.
“They should take responsibility for that, to send a message that they (Comelec) will not tolerate such actions.”
Roxas said it was highly unusual how the printing machines bogged down when printing the ARMM ballots from Feb. 7 to 15, and then started working again in printing the next batch of ballots.
The LP would not tolerate any cheating in the elections, he added.
Roxas chided the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for its indifference to the blunder.
It should have insisted on the reprinting of the ballots instead of allowing Smartmatic-TIM to simply put ultraviolet signs on the ballots as security marks, he added.
Roxas said without the necessary security markings, it would now be easy to duplicate the ARMM ballots by simply using the right printer and paper.
“We all have to be vigilant,” he said.
“This administration will do everything to prevent the forces of change from prevailing in the elections.”
In previous elections, fake ballots were given to voters and those with security markings were filled up by flying voters and used in the counting of votes in some ARMM provinces, Roxas said.
The ARMM has 1,731,199 voters, or 3.4 percent of the country’s total of 50,723,734 million registered voters.
Meanwhile, Aquino said if elected president, he would make public the Mayuga report, which refers to the findings of a panel tasked to look into alleged cheating in the 2004 elections. – Aurea Calica
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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