Full Text of the Melo Report

The full text of the Report of the Independent Commission to Adress Media and and Activist Killings created under Administrative Order 157 can now be read and/or downloaded here.

The Legislative Department according to the 1987 Philippine Constitution

Here’s something to ponder on while choosing who to vote on May 2007:

Section 1. The legislative power shall be vested in the Congress of the Philippines which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, except to the extent reserved to the people by the provision on initiative and referendum.

Section 2. The Senate shall be composed of twenty-four Senators who shall be elected at large by the qualified voters of the Philippines, as may be provided by law.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines and, on the day of the election, is at least thirty-five years of age, able to read and write, a registered voter, and a resident of the Philippines for not less than two years immediately preceding the day of the election.

Section 4. The term of office of the Senators shall be six years and shall commence, unless otherwise provided by law, at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following their election. No Senator shall serve for more than two consecutive terms. Voluntary renunciation of the office for any length of time shall not be considered as an interruption in the continuity of his service for the full term of which he was elected.

Section 5. (1) The House of Representatives shall be composed of not more than two hundred and fifty members, unless otherwise fixed by law, who shall be elected from legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities, and the Metropolitan Manila area in accordance with the number of their respective inhabitants, and on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio, and those who, as provided by law, shall be elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations.

(2) The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number of representatives including those under the party list. For three consecutive terms after the ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to party-list representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector.

(3) Each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory. Each city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand, or each province, shall have at least one representative.

(4) Within three years following the return of every census, the Congress shall make a reapportionment of legislative districts based on the standards provided in this section.

(more…)

Desperate!

What a joke!!! The administration must really, really, really be desperate. After testing the water if desperate wannabe politician Richard Gomez can be an administration senatorial candidate, they are now fielding Senator Lito Lapid as Makati mayoral candidate against incumbent Mayor Jejomar Binay. The upcoming elections is quickly going the direction of a badly-made comedy movie, that’s not funny at all. What’s next???

Dear Richard Gomez…

ASAN ANG IYONG PANININDIGAN?

After all your hullabaloo declaring Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a fake president, you are now running for Senator with the administration’s coalition. After this desperate move, do you still expect people to respect and believe in you?