Delos Santos: 5th District special elections
IF THOSE publicly reported as running for Iggy Arroyo’s seat are indeed running, then the 5th Districts will have a very wide field to choose from. Former board member Quito Montilla had indicated his intention to seek the seat which had escaped him twice.
He went for it against the late...
Delos Santos: COA ‘Noynoying’ on Capitol-ALI deal
UNLESS Aquino has infected Commission on Audit (COA) with his illness, now described as “Noynoying”, it defies understanding how it has failed to review on the sale-lease of Negros Occidental’s 7-hectare property to Ayala Land. This contract was submitted for COA’s review July of last year....
Delos Santos: PNoy’s meetings with Corona
MRS. Corona’s problem with her relatives is a private matter that has absolutely nothing to do with Chief Justice Corona’s impeachment case. Granting that Corona may have pulled strings to favor his wife, this is a matter completely foreign to any of the articles of impeachment. This may cast...
Delos Santos: Grace Ibuna and Marilou Arroyo
EVEN if Grace Ibuna may have second thoughts about running for the seat vacated by Iggy Arroyo, I think she will have to ultimately. I have it on good information that Iggy wanted Grace to fill the seat. He had intimated to a number of close friends that Grace is running for the seat he is due...
Delos Santos: Close encounter with Mayor Bing
MAYOR Bing and I met at Iggy Arroyo’s wake. I passed by him and Elsa as Cano Tan was leading me to the dining hall of Father Greg Patino’s convent to meet with former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. I thought the First Gentleman had forgotten me, as I met him only once since Gloria Arroyo become...
Delos Santos: The burden of proof
WALDEN Bello, Akbayan’s representative to Congress, sensing perhaps that they have a very weak case against the Chief justice in the impeachment trial, now proposes that forfeiture proceedings be started on the “ill-gotten” assets of Corona.
Bello represents the Akabayan, which genuine...
Delos Santos: At Cong. Iggy’s wake
WE WERE at the wake of Representative Iggy Arroyo at the Hinigaran Parish Church last Tuesday evening. People from all walks of life passed by his coffin in an endless stream of grieving humanity, giving last honors to the good man who had served them for upwards of six long years.
His...
Delos Santos: Corona and Hacienda Luisita
AQUINO’S relentless attacks against the Chief Justice, no matter how much he denies it, are clearly a misplaced personal vendetta. He is obsessed with running after Gloria Macapagal and he sees Corona’s Supreme Court as the major obstacle against his holy crusade.
Delos Santos: On south terminal and impeachment trial (1st column)
I PITY the south-bound operators. They are now bound to suffer, as in fact they are already suffering, from City Hall’s passion to serve the interest of Yanson’s Ceres Liner. The court decision throwing out their complaint leaves them no choice but to suffer in silence Leonardia’s harsh decision...
Delos Santos: Sayson has edge in 3-cornered fight
CONTRARY to the view of some of Monico's analysts that their mayoralty bet would have a more than better chance if it were a three-cornered fight, I think Monico's chances are better on a one-on-one contest.
De los Santos: Who is best vice-mayor for Monico?
DURING the first few weeks of the impeachment trial, media, particularly ABS-CBN, religiously covered it, especially when the prosecution catalogued every minute detail of Corona’s properties, clearly inferring that the Chief Justice enriched himself while in office.
Delos Santos: Leonardia's revenge on Rocky Lizares
WERE it not for a sinister motivation, I cannot understand Leonardia's compulsion to drive the independent (of Ceres) buses out of the DAALCO parking lot.
We passed by Mabini Street the other day and saw the street clogged with the buses parking on either side of the street waiting for...
Delos Santos: Leonardia-Golez rift getting worse
FIFTEEN months before the 2013 elections, the rupture in the 2010 partnership of Cong. Golez and Mayor Leonardia is getting more acute. Like fishwives, it appears that there is practically nothing under the sun they won't bicker over. The latest in their running sniping was the DECS-sponsored...
De los Santos: Corona and Hda. Luisita
IF SENATOR Franklin Drilon has any amount of delicadeza, he should join the prosecution panel instead of masquerading as a senator-judge. Instead of asking clarificatory questions like the rest of the impeachment court, his questions are meant to corner the witness into revealing information...
Delos Santos: Let Iggy’s daughters decide
ONE cannot help but be touched by Iggy Arroyo’s daughter, Dina Arroyo Tantoco’s poignant piece about her late father. There is a tinge of bitterness at what she calls “a tainted reputation,” although she hastened to add these remain unproven and unjustified.
Come to think of it, I really...
Delos Santos: Monico-Golez is ideal set-up
A YEAR and a half before the 2013 elections, rumors are flying about who are running and for which position. Spurred mainly by political lieutenants according to their respective agenda, these rumors eventually influence the aspirants and, as a consequence, grassroots ward leaders begin to draw...
Delos Santos: Silence is golden
I HOPE news reports are true that Iggy’s remains will be brought to this province, particularly in his district. Many of those who want to view him for the last time but who can’t afford going to Manila for that purpose will be thankful that they can personally bid him farewell. For sure, his...
Delos Santos: Gloria should be allowed to attend Iggy's wake
THE Aquino government must really be very cruel if it denies Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from attending Iggy Arroyo's wake.
I have personally witnessed the affection she had for Iggy in the many instances before she became president that she came to Bacolod. Calling him "Ignacito", she...
De los Santos: Tupas, Drilon shame people of Iloilo
I CANNOT see how Iloilo should be proud of its two sons in Congress. Cong Neil Tupas, the lead prosecutor in Corona’s impeachment trial, has been regaling the media with Corona’s alleged sins, notwithstanding the impeachment courts’ admonition against trying Corona by publicity. In fact, his...
Delos Santos: Legal technicalities by the defense
CONTRARY to claims by some circles that an impeachment trial is to be decided by the public’s perception of guilt or innocence, it is actually a legal proceeding to be decided on the basis of facts. While the requirement of proof beyond reasonable doubt may not apply, nonetheless, the pertinent...
Delos Santos: Parting of ways
I AM not surprised if Leonardia and Golez have come to a parting of the ways. Their need for each other has expired. In 2010, Golez, a relatively newcomer to Bacolod, needed Leonardia's political organization to win. Leonardia, on the other hand, needed Golezs money.
Not that Leonardia...
Delos Santos: ‘CJ’s many properties’
WITH the long list of properties he had acquired, the simple-minded world readily come to the conclusion that SC Chief Justice Corona had really taken advantage of his position as Chief Justice to amass these many properties.
A closer look however would show that the list appears to be...
Delos Santos: The pot calling the kettle black (2nd column)
CORONA’S lead prosecutor in the impeachment trial is Iloilo’s congressman Neil Tupas Jr. He is the son of former Gov. Neil Tupas Sr., who is himself facing graft charges in the Sandiganbayan allegedly because the bidding for filling materials for the construction of the Iloilo airport was...
Delos Santos: Impeachment - Trial by publicity
ONE need not be very bright or even just plain average to see why. The prosecution wants to take up No. 2 of their impeachment complaint ahead of No. 1. No. 2 deals with Corona’s alleged ill-gotten wealth, which the Daily Inquirer had played up nearly for two weeks now.
Delos Santos: Ill-gotten wealth
THE Malacañang-orchestrated campaign against Chief Justice Corona is understandable, in the light of Corona’s allegation that these all stemmed from the Supreme Court decision awarding Hacienda Luisita’s 6,400 hectares sugar estate to the farmer-beneficiaries.
The farmers have fought a...
