Sa Kabila Nito, Sana Ay Matoto Ka Pa Rin...

Pacquiao joins Villar bandwagon
By Hannah L. Torregoza

Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao has finally made up his mind and formally took his oath as the newest member of presidential candidate Senator Manuel Villar Jr.’s Nacionalista Party (NP).

Villar raised the hands of Manny Pacquiao in simple ceremonies at the boxer’s mansion in General Santos City early Friday morning.

The oath-taking coincided with Pacquiao’s celebration of his 31st birthday. Pacquiao is seeking a congressional seat in Saranggani, his wife Jinky Pacquiao’s home province.

Present during the ceremony was Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is running for senator under the NP in the May 2010 polls.

Villar swore in Pacquiao, along with his People’s Champ Movement local party slate, in the boxing icon’s mansion in General Santos following his 31st birthday celebration at the KCC Events and Convention Center attended by over 2,000 guests including Villar.

“Manny Pacquiao, who has thrown his best punches to hoist our country’s pride and honor, is a deeply valued partner in our campaign to help keep our people from being knocked out by extreme hardships,” Villar said. [...]

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In his field of specialization, Manny have learned good strategies and developed great skills with the help of his mentors.

But it is highly doubtful that his learned strategies could work well in another arena under "clever" political game planners.

While he is treated like a son under his good coach in the field of boxing, contrastingly in the arena of politics, he seems being treated like a sacrificial chess piece by his supposed mentors who are trying hard to maximize their own gains from his heroism.

Manny is known to be a good administration ally, yet why is it now that he seems to have "suddenly" switched allegiance? Of course we understand that it is because of politics and we "know" that Manny has political ambitions, but can he not run as an independent and win? How much will he gain in his decision of changing allegiance and being allied with another group? Is it not the other way around? This group he is joining will gain some popularity because of his reputation while his political credibility decreases because of being possibly perceived as "balimbing" practicing TraPo.

I believe in Manny's intention to serve the poor. To the Filipinos he is an inspiration, but it is sad to see his sincere attempts at altruism only being manipulated by the big hairy hands of operators of traditional politics.

Manny, sometimes you must learn to say no to temptations. But you have made a choice, you must live with it for the duration of the season. Stand by what you have decided.

Panahon Na Na Ibalik Ang Parusang Kamatayan Sa Ating Bansa

Maguindanao massacre death toll rises to 46—police
Inquirer.net

Bullet-ridden bodies were pulled out from shallow graves on Tuesday as troops hunted down the gunmen who massacred, according to the Philippine National Police, at least 46 people in one of the Philippines' most brutal explosions of political violence.

Police on Mindanao island pulled bullet-ridden bodies from shallow graves in this remote farming area after gunmen allegedly employed by a local political chief abducted then shot dead a group of rival politicians and journalists.

“Some bodies were strewn on the ground. Most were recovered from under lumps of earth which were stained with blood,” said Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna, the regional police commander.

"They were piled on top of each other. It looked as if they were buried hurriedly," said Cataluna.

Twenty-two bodies had previously been found beside a dirt road nearby following Monday's killings by gunmen allegedly linked to the area's political kingpin.

The group abducted associates of a rival politician and at least 20 journalists from General Santos City and nearby provinces who were covering them.

“But we have yet to finalize our tally as we are still talking with the relatives of the victims,” Cataluna said.

Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said the bodies would be taken to Buluan town, Maguindanao province, after the police have conducted an autopsy on the bodies and conferred with the victims’ relatives.

Most of the victims bore gunshot wounds, Espina said.

National police chief Jesus Verzosa, who flew to the south to supervise the investigation, said he feared the death toll could rise with several other members of the kidnapped party of more than 40 people still missing.

"We still have to check one other suspected mass grave," he added.

"We expect more bodies from other areas," Cataluna said.

Journalists on the scene said a mechanical digger was emblazoned with the name of the Maguindanao provincial governor, Andal Ampatuan, whose bodyguards had been blamed by the military as being behind the massacre.

The victims were among a group of more than 40 people abducted by gunmen Monday linked to Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, head of a Muslim clan who is part of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ruling coalition.

The abducted group was made up of relatives and associates of Esmael Mangudadatu, the head of a rival Muslim clan in Maguindanao, plus a group of journalists, the military and police said.

The group was traveling in a convoy to accompany or report on Mangudadatu's wife as she went to an electoral office to register her husband to run for governor against Ampatuan's son in next year's national polls.

Authorities warned the death toll would climb higher as they sought to deal with the incident.

"It's a big area where these bodies were found. They are finding a couple of bodies every a couple of hours or so," Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said as he described a farming area covered in hastily dug graves.

Puno said the extra bodies being recovered were on top of the the official death toll, but he would not speculate on how many people in total had been murdered.

"They are still looking for some missing persons. A number of other bodies were found. I can't really reveal the details now. It's a large number," Puno said in a television interview.

Espina said Verzosa and other senior police officials flew to Maguindanao early Tuesday to personally check on the area and supervise the manhunt against the perpetrators of the killings.

He said Verzosa ordered the relief of Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, the deputy provincial police chief of Maguindanao, after he was supposedly seen with the armed men who abducted and killed the victims.

Additional police troops were also deployed in the area to prevent a possible rise of hostilities in the area.

Political violence is common in the Philippines – where more than one million unlicensed guns proliferate – and dozens of people are murdered each election season.

But the scale of Monday's massacre, as well as the targeting of apparently unrelated people, has shocked the country.

Fourteen of the victims were women and some of them were journalists with no apparent links to the clan war, the police and military said.

Military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Romeo Brawner said the Ampatuans and their associates were believed to have been responsible for the massacre.

"The suspects are bodyguards of Ampatuan, local police aides and certain lawless elements," Brawner said.

As thousands of soldiers fanned out across the Ampatuans' stronghold in search of the gunmen on Tuesday, sickening details of the massacre emerged.

The military said about 100 armed men stopped the convoy of vehicles on a remote section of highway near the town of Ampatuan, which bears the same name as the political kingpin.

Police said the bodies of the victims were found a few kilometers (miles) away, with a bulldozer apparently used to dig the graves still on the scene.

Police said 15 of the victims appeared to have been shot inside their vehicles while one was believed to have been cut down by gunfire while fleeing.

"All were shot at close range," said one of the investigators on the scene, Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu.

Asked about the allegations by some of the victims' relatives that the murdered women were also raped, Khu said: "We cannot confirm that although all the women had their pants unzipped."

The Ampatuan clan is the longtime political kingpin of Maguindanao, a mainly Muslim section of Mindanao Island which has been wracked by a Muslim separatist rebellion for decades.

The Ampatuan patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., has been governor for the past nine years and wants his son and namesake to succeed him.

The Ampatuan clan has been important in delivering votes to Arroyo's ruling Lakas Kampi-CMD coalition in recent elections. The Ampatuan father is the provincial chair of the coalition in Maguindanao.

Puno vowed the government would be impartial as it pursued justice.

"I just want to assure everybody that we are doing everything necessary here, that there will be no sacred cows," Puno said.

"This is going to be a direct investigation of the crimes that have been committed and we are going to hold the persons responsible for this."

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Panahon na na ibalik ang parusang kamatayan sa ating bansa para sa ganitong klaseng krimen. Hindi matatahimik ang Mindanao kung ang pamahalaang Pilipinas ay walang kakayahang magpapatupad ng ating batas doon. Umaaboso na ng husto ang mga taong may hawak na baril doon na hindi naman otorisado ng pamahalaan. Panahon na at kinakailangan na talaga na ipakita ng pamahalaan ang kanyang kamay na bakal sa lugar na iyon.

At any cost, dapat disarmahan na ang lahat na may "illegal weapons" doon. Babantayan ng militar ng maigi ang lahat ng mga "backdoors" na dinadaanan ng mga "illegal weapons" doon.

Totoo Ba Ang Lahat Na Ito?

Why Chiz Left The Nationalist People’s Coalition: The Inside Story
by Fernando Gagelonia

[...] The "unprincipled deal-making left Seneator Escudero troubled and seriously disgusted", a 5th NPC source told this writer further.

Chiz believed Senator Legarda would abide by the earlier decision of the party that whoever was leading in the survey would be the standard bearer while the other one would slide down to VP. [...]

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Sana maipaliwanag ng maayos ng mga kinaukolan ang lahat ng ito. Maraming mga tao ang naniniwala sa integridad ng mga kinaukolang mga lider na ito ng ating bansa, dahilang sila'y nangunguna sa pagka-senador noong nakaraang eleksyon.

Haaay... ang politika talaga. Ang daming magandang relasyon ang nasusubokan at winawasak. Ang daming integridad ang nayoyogyog at bumibigay.

Bout against Cotto was a hard fight - Pacquiao

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Cotto hails Pacquiao as one of the best

Manny Pacquiao admitted that he was pushed to the limit when he went against Miguel Cotto in their “Firepower” bout Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena (Sunday in Manila).

“It was a hard fight,” Pacquiao said in a televised ringside interview as quoted by Reuters. “This is the last weight division for me. This is history for me and more importantly a Filipino did it.”

Pacquiao became the first boxer to win seven world titles in seven different weight divisions after referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight in the 12th round.

The pound-for-pound king prevailed over Cotto via technical knockout to become the new WBO welterweight champion. In addition, he claimed the WBC diamond belt.

Pacquiao (50-3-2, with 38 knockouts) went the distance against Cotto (34-2 with 27 KOs), This is in contrast to his second round knockout win over Briton Ricky Hatton on May 2.

Wanted KO

The Filipino boxing sensation revealed that he was looking to score a KO punch, to no avail. He was able to show his edge early on as he knocked down Cotto in the 3rd and 4th rounds.

Pacquiao also disclosed that his team’s strategy was not to hurry because they knew that Cotto would counter.

“We were very careful in the early rounds because we don't know what will happen. I tried to test his power in the early rounds. That's why I wanted to get hit in the body and the head,” he explained as quoted by FightHype.com.

He said he wanted to try Cotto’s power because according to him, everybody was saying that the natural welterweight was bigger and stronger and stronger than him.

“When I control the fight, I got aggressive in the fight and make him pressure. In the early rounds, I was looking for a knockout shot that's why I didn't throw too many punches,” he added.

‘Manny too much for Miguel’

“I thought we were going to break him down, which we did. Early in the fight, he was kind of testing Miguel's power and laying on the ropes too much,” said Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach.

“Manny had to make the adjustments and once Manny used his feints and his movements, it was too much for him,” he stated.

Pacquiao said he was taken aback when the fight reached Round 12: “In the 11th round, I thought they were going to stop the fight. I was surprised he continued.”

“Manny dictated the fight and they should have stopped it three rounds sooner than they did after he (Cotto) began to run,” added Roach.

The American trainer also mentioned in an Associated Press (AP) report that he knew the bout was over “when Cotto started backing up.” [...]

One of the best

Cotto’s trainer, Joe Santiago, acknowledged that Pacquiao was the better fighter. “He hit harder than we expected and he was a lot stronger than we expected,” AP quoted Santiago.

Cotto, for his part, stated that he was not able to guard himself from Pacquiao’s flurry of punches.

“He jabs and throws. I didn't know from where the punches were coming and I didn't protect myself from the punches,” Cotto said in an Agence France-Presse article.

Cotto, who took a beating from the pound-for-pound king, declared: “I fought everybody and Manny is one of the best all time.”

Meantime, he assured his fans that he will continue fighting. “My health comes first. I just want to make sure I'm fine, but I feel great. I'm swollen but that's all.”

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Tribute to Manny Pacquiao and to his whole team. In some way, Manny's humble beginnings may be likened to Michael Oher's story. Manny's coaches, trainers, guardians, family, and friends helped "The Pacman" become who he is today. Manny's whole team are not only grooming a hero, they are in a way taking care of our nation's honor too.

With Manny's remarkable determination and discipline teaming up with the dedication and discipline of his whole team to coach, train, guide and support him in his endeavors, victory is almost always inevitable. The teamwork, dedication, and discipline they showed bring great inspiration and hope to the entire nation. It carries a message that our country can resume and continue to change for the better any time if there is real change in our hearts and minds that brings teamwork, dedication, and discipline into our common goal of nation building.