Posts Tagged ‘News Clips’
Comelec denies Magdalo bid for party status
By Gerard Naval
Malaya; 28 Oct 2009
THE Commission on Elections yesterday denied the bid of Magdalo Para sa Pagbabago (Magdalo) for accreditation as a regional political party based in the National Capital Region.
“The Magdalo Party remains unrepentant and they still harbor the propensity to engage in another illegal adventure similar to the failed 2003 Oakwood Mutiny, should they fail to achieve their goal – this time with the use of the political party that they are now applying for accreditation and which may very well be used by them to recruit and indoctrinate disciplined followers who may become their blind followers,” the Comelec Second Division said a six-page decision set to be promulgated by the Comelec secretariat.
The Second Division said its findings contradict the group’s claim that “the party does not advocate the use of force or violence or other unlawful means to achieve its goals.”
It noted the testimony of former Air Force 1Lt. Ashley Acedillo, the party’s secretary general and spokesman, during the September 3 hearing that the Oakwood incident was not illegal.
Some 300 junior officers and men calling themselves the Magdalo group staged the mutiny in July 2003 to protest what they said was rampant graft and corruption in the military and the government as a whole.
Acedillo said they have not received a copy of the decision but it did not come as a surprise.
“As much as we were hopeful, since we complied with the substantial requirements of Comelec, we were also expecting the decision to be unfavorable to us. We recognize that adverse political forces are at play here,” he said.
Acedillo said his group will file a motion for reconsideration.
The Second Division invoked the Omnibus Election Code denying accreditation to any political party which seeks to achieve its goal through violence.
It also noted that the party’s chairman, detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, were among the officers who did not plead guilty before a Makati court hearing their coup case.
Trillanes was among the six core leaders of the Magdalo during the mutiny.
Last Sunday, the group endorsed the presidential bid of Sen. Francis Escudero as well as the senatorial candidacy of former Scout Ranger chief Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Marines Col. Ariel Querubin.
Lim and Querubin, a Medal of Valor awardee, are among 28 officers facing court martial for an alleged plot to overthrow the Arroyo government in February 2006.
The group also endorsed the candidacies of four others participated in the mutiny, including Acedillo who is running for congressman at Cebu City’s second district.
The three others are Navy Lt. (s.g.) James Layug, for the second district of Taguig City; Army Capt. Dante Langkit, for the lone district of Kalinga province; and Marines Capt. Gary Alejano, for mayor of Sipalay City in Negros Occidental. – With Ashzel Hachero
Magdalo remind first-time voters to register amid deadline
23 days to deadline
October 8, 2009
THE Samahang Magdalo yesterday encouraged voters particularly those who will vote for the first time to register at their nearest Comelec office before registration ends on October 31.
For some to be reminded of this and regardless of whom they will vote, the Samahang Magdalo Taguig City chapter has organized bands of volunteer musicians to stage a one-night concert tomorrow, Saturday with a core message of encouraging first-time voters to register.
“If we desire genuine changes and reforms from crooked governance, we must begin these steps at making sure we are legitimate voters before the Comelec,” said Lt. Senior Grade James Layug, head of the Samahang Magdalo in the city that organized the concert.
The eldest child of a retired AFP enlisted personnel, Layug is currently detained in the PNP Custodial Center as one of the junior military officers who denounced the alleged corrupt leadership of Mrs. Arroyo in July 2003 in Oakwood and in November 2007 in Manila Peninsula in Makati City.
Aside from the concert, the chapter’s motorcycle riders club disseminated flyers that taught new voters the easy procedures in completing registration.
Beside reminding first-time voters, the concert though free admission also aims to persuade its audience to donate in cash or in kind with the proceeds be given to Taguig residents who were displaced by floods and are now sheltered in evacuation centers.
The concert dubbed as “Rock the Vote” will be held on Saturday, October 10 in multi-purpose hall in Barangay Central Bicutan which will start at 4p.m. through 10p.m.###
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For more information, please contact Mr. Alan A. Tanjusay 0920.669.9187, atanjusay@yahoo.com
6 Magdalo men to seek elective posts in 2010
SOME members of the Magdalo Group, which consists of former soldiers who staged a mutiny against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003, are now seeking elective posts come 2010.
Instead of using violent means to air their grievances against the politicization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the former soldiers are now planning to seek legislative seats.
Ashley Acedillo, spokesperson of the Magdalo Group, told the press Wednesday that at least six of them are running in the 2010 elections, five of whom are in legislative bodies.
“General Danilo Lim and Colonel Ariel Querubin will be running for the Senate, while four other will seek local positions,” Acedillo said.
Acedillo himself will be running for Congress in the First District of Cebu City, together with Captain Dante Langkit who will run for Congress in the sole district of Kalinga Province, and Lieutenant Senior Grade James Layug, who will seek congressional post for Taguig City.
Captain Gary Alejano will be running for mayor of Sipalay City.
During the 2007 elections, Oakwood mutiny leader Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV ran under the Genuine Opposition banner and eventually made it to the Senate, although he never had the chance to join his colleagues in the Senate Hall as he is still in prison.
Acedillo said that further announcements will be made by the Magdalo Group on October 25 during their national convention, wherein members of 227 chapters are expected to attend. (CPM)
Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on September 24, 2009.