"I think the mistake was done on purpose. Now the ERs are more than what should have been printed. Who are going to watch over those extra printouts?" Osmeña said during an ambush interview at the GO campaign sortie in Farmers Market, Cubao, Quezon City.

Osmeña said even if Comelec officials say they will get rid of the excess ERs by burning the copies, public doubts will remain.

"Kailangan bantayan kung talagang sinunog. Kasi pagdating sa probinsiya, doon sa kaloob-looban hindi na nila malalaman kung ang ER ay mali o tama ang gagamitin," said Osmeña.

Osmeña earlier said that the recent fire that gutted the old main building of the Comelec is an apparent indication that the stage is being set for massive cheating in the May 14 polls.

He said the Comelec officials’ recent blunder could only attest that there are indeed plans to rig the results of the elections.

"There is nothing that would stop cheating except vigilance and conscious watching. Even the decision not to disqualify Joselito Peter Cayetano, a namesake of one of our own candidates, is, we think, part of the ‘grand plan’ to make it harder for us and to cheat us," he said.

"Ang mga iyan malaki ang halaga doon sa mga botante doon sa kalooblooban ng mga probinsiya na dumedepende sa sample ballots na ibinibigay sa kanila. Until now the Comelec still has not released official forms of sample ballots," he said.

Osmeña said he had already called the attention of a Comelec commissioner on the issue. He said the commissioner promised to verify the facts, but as of yesterday the official remained silent on the matter.

Pimentel cites

importance of Mindanao

representation

Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel has underscored the importance of increased representation of Mindanao in the 24-man Senate as part of the peace and development process in the country’s second biggest island-group.

Pimentel said even if he and three administration senatorial aspirants from Mindanao – Prospero Pichay, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sultan Jamalul Kiram – will all win in the May elections, Mindanao will still be under-represented in the Upper Chamber.

"I believe that Mindanao is entitled to have more members in the Senate in proportion to its population and contributions to the national economy," he told a dinner-forum organized by the Philippine Business Leaders Forum and the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City.

At present only Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr., Koko’s father, is representing Mindanao in the Senate. Since 1998, the Muslim community has had no representative in the Senate.

The young Pimentel said since Mindanao accounts for more than a fourth of the Philippine population, it should logically have at least six members in the Senate.

Pimentel emphasized that the problem of lack of Muslim representation can be addressed by adopting the old proposal for the election of senators by regions.

He said it is no exaggeration to say that the lack of Muslim voice in the Senate and other decision and policy-making bodies in the national government is one of the reasons why Muslims feel like they are second-class citizens in the republic and why the insurgency problem in Mindanao has persisted for several decades now.

Aquino assures revival

of education program

for poor students

By ELLALYN B. DE VERA

Opposition senatorial candidate Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III has assured the revival of an education program originally introduced by his father, the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., to provide educational opportunities particularly to poor but deserving students in the tertiary level.

He expressed dismay over the government’s slow implementation of education scholarship programs under laws such as Republic Act 6014 which allows poor but deserving students to avail themselves of educational loans to cover matriculation and other school fees and educational expenses for books, subsistence and board and lodging.

Under the Study Now, Pay Later program, an interest of 6 percent per annum shall be charged to the borrower to commence upon the release of the loan. Repayment shall begin two years after graduation and shall be amortized within 10 years.

"It is unfortunate that such a very laudable program, which was once enunciated as among the 10-point agenda of President Arroyo, is now being pushed farther away in the sideline," he said.

"It should now be funded and fully implemented to address the education needs of many poor but deserving Filipino students," he said.

Aquino asked the government not to blame the students-beneficiaries if they are unable to repay the loans within a required period due to the implementation of some of the courses offered under the student loan program that makes finding employment difficult for students after graduation.

"It should not only be about giving students a diploma. Government must also make the labor market and employability of the courses a consideration in implementing this program," he said.

Aquino further cited that a loan non-payment should not be a reason for abandoning the program.

"We should find ways to make loan collection easier by making sure our beneficiaries are ready and capable for a job that pays well," he said.

Likewise, he said priority courses should be offered in the fields of information technology, education and medicine where there is a big demand for labor force.

Escudero hits

GMA denial of

poverty in country

GO senatorial candidate Francis "Chiz" Escudero said yesterday President Arroyo is still in denial of poverty in the country and its root causes when she suggested that people are "poor because they are lazy."

Escudero cited a news item reporting that the President described a woman from a barangay near Malacañang as smart for saying that "only the lazy people are poor."

The exchange reportedly took place in Malacañang when Mrs. Arroyo presided over a meeting of the National Nutrition Council to discuss reports on the spread of hunger in the Philippines .

The President’s assertion was "a wholesale slur against Filipinos who go abroad and take from two to three jobs just to be able to send money to their starving families at home," he said. "Why is it that the 10 million Filipinos abroad have suddenly become hard-working, while at home they are lazy?"

Escudero said the reason is that even if a Filipino wants to work in the Philippines, he couldn’t find any work.

He cited a Central Bank report, stating that unemployment is still "double digit," while underemployment is about 25 percent. He also said that Filipinos are discouraged by the "spreading culture of corruption and fear, caused by extrajudicial killings" in the country.

"Clearly unemployment and underemployment in our country is about 35 percent which bolsters the estimate of the World CIA Factbook and the Asian Development Bank that ratio of population below poverty line is around 40 percent, the highest in East Asia," said Escudero.

He pointed out that rural poverty where the majority of the population resides is over 80 percent. "Tens of thousands of our farmers are still landless. Even the farmers who own small-sized farms are suffering from poverty because of backward farming practices and the unfair competition of foreign agricultural commodities. The catch of marginal fishermen is also dwindling. When they go to the cities to look for jobs, they find nothing because of lack of manufacturing establishments. Thus they crowd the slums were crime and drug addiction flourish," he said.

Escudero warned that the "dole-out of R1 billion by the administration to provide food for the poor as announced by the President will not solve the problem of poverty. Poverty might even worsen in the future because money that could have been used for self-sustaining projects is poured down the drain, including the black hole of corruption."

He accused the administration of having no program for the modernization of the Philippine economy, such as promoting industrialization in order to provide jobs and produce commodities for local consumption.

Rift between Lakas

and Kampi to lead

to self-destruction -- GO

Officials of the Genuine Opposition (GO) said yesterday the widening rift in the administration’s Team Unity following the feud between Lakas and Kampi will eventually lead the administration team into the inevitable path of self-destruction.

Sen. Serge Osmena III, GO campaign manager, said despite ample resources at the disposal of the administration, the latter’s penchant for cheating and persecution has finally burnt whatever vestiges of unity left for Team Unity.

"The rift betrays that the Arroyo alliance, contrary to its posturings, is nothing more than a house of cards glued together by corruption and broken promises," Osmeña said in a statement.

Reelectionist Senator and GO senatorial candidate Panfilo Lacson on Thursday said that emissaries of Lakas chairman emeritus former President Fidel V. Ramos had started "backroom negotiations" with opposition officials for an unlikely alliance borne out of Lakas’ ongoing dispute with the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), the political party of President Arroyo.

Osmeña said this and the recent surveys on hunger, corruption, extra-judicial killings and the large lead of GO senatorial candidates over their counterparts in the Pulse Asia and SWS surveys merely confirmed that the opposition is gaining ground with the masses.

"The SWS and Pulse Asia Political Polling Surveys, showing a big lead by the Genuine Opposition in the senatorial race, are merely confirmation of what the GO senatorial candidates have experienced on the ground: the huge crowds of bonafide supporters at their sorties, rallies, and caravans. Naturally, Team-GMA spin doctors will attempt to discredit or undermine the reliability of the surveys but the spin is belied by the warm support of the public for the GO," said Osmeña.

Stalwarts of the group also said that the surveys are a resounding message that people are unhappy with the direction the country is going, and the public is expressing this by gravitating their supporting towards GO candidates.

"The reason why there are no genuine economic gains is because of poor governance, which is rooted in corruption. Naturally, Filipinos will gravitate to the GO, which has a strong anti-corruption platform," he added.

Osmeña said contrary to what the public assumes, the May 14 elections will not actually be a battleground for the senatoriables but a chance for the public to decide whether or not life has improved under Mrs. Arroyo’s governance.

"Team-GMA keeps saying that she is not a candidate, which technically she is not, but her senatorial team supports her policies and seeks to protect her against impeachment, so, in the end, the elections are about her," said the senator. (Hannah L. Torregoza)