If they’re not adding rays to the sun, it’s renaming streets. Presidential son Rep “Dato” Arroyo leading congressmen in HB 6785 to rename Commonwealth Avenue to “Ka Erdy” Manalo of INC runs into opposition from a Catholic bishop.

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The Commission on Audit reported that MMDA spent nearly P1 million on tarpaulins bearing Chairman Bayani Fernando’s face in 2008. Metro Gwapo.

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Fernando said the tarpaulins promoted order in the metropolis, adding that his picture is free of charge, but if MMDA contracted Marian Rivera it would have spent P5 million. The public will pay for a good-looking actress, but does it want a politician’s mug for free?

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Presidential hopeful Sen Manny Villar eyes “Ate Vi” for his VP. He wants it all... Villar, Vilma, Villame… and one more “V” for “victory.”

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Another much-courted girl in town is Senator Loren Legarda Leviste. Five presidentiables seek her hand for their VP.

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Only (not) in the Philippines dep’t: British auditors billed Prime Minister Gordon Brown £12,415 – about $19,670 – for cleaning, gardening, and maintenance expenses at a London apartment and a home in Scotland. Officials at 10 Downing Street said he will issue a check.

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The top UN official in Afghanistan on Sunday acknowledged “widespread fraud’’ in the disputed presidential election and rejected allegations from a former deputy that he covered up cheating to smooth the path to victory for President Hamid Karzai.

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Barbra Streisand topped the US and British album charts with her latest record “Love Is The Answer.” The 67-year-old singer-actress topped the British charts for the first time since 2002 and the US chart in five consecutive decades. The vote and purchasing power of senior citizens!

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James Kracht of Texas A&M College said people don’t use ‘Columbus discovers America’ anymore “because there were already people living there.’’ Fourth-grade students at Fort Cherry Elementary in MacDonald, Pennsylvnia, put Columbus on trial this year, found him guilty of misrepresenting the Spanish crown and thievery, and sentenced him to life in prison. Columbus Day is no longer celebrated in places with larger native American populations.

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Yu Su-mei, scientist of Institute of Molecular Biology at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, said her research team has discovered the gene C1PK15 that allows rice to grow under water – a breakthrough to help develop other flood-resistant crops. Hope for submerged Central Luzon rice fields.

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Sports. Coach Yeng Guiao confirmed that Burger King will trade-off its first draft choice 6’10 Japeth Aguilar with pterodactyl wingspan. They are still trying to decide what Burger King gets in return to be able to catch up. Maybe, ketchup?

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Diplomatic front. UN Undersecretary General John Holmes said a “flash appeal” for RP calamity victims raised $20 million in pledges. Holmes met with President Arroyo attended by secretaries Gilbert Teodoro (defense), Francisco Duque III (health), Arthur Yap (agriculture), Climate Change Adviser Heherson Alvarez, and UN Resident Coordinator Jacqueline Badcock. Foreign Secretary Alberto G. Romulo is in Paris to get more assistance from UNESCO.

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Filipino-Canadian architect Gonzalo “Jun” Raymundo Jr. is in the running for the prestigious Guggenheim Shelter Contest. So are 100,000 others made homeless by Ondoy and Pepeng.

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Italian Ambassador Ana Rubens Fedele decried the Time Magazine story that in Italy “Filippina” is synonymous with ‘cleaning lady.” The Italian envoy said that the late Pontif John Paul II said “Filipinos are today’s evangelizers who fill the churches, teach catechism and bring families back to the faith.”

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RP is caught in tug-of-war between US and China for custody Miao Qun Huang, a Chinese national who faces trial in US for counterfeit sex enhancement medicines viagra and cialis and slimming treatments Xenical and Reductil. She faces trial in district court in Texas where they make everything big. Feedback: jaz@mb.com.ph