Van Vugt: A plea to our new Mayor Oscar Moreno

I CONGRATULATE Oscar Moreno for his winning as mayor of Cagayan de Oro City.

Finally we got rid in our city of a political kingpin and a notorious vote-buyer. I myself could not cast my vote in the elections because I am still considered to be a foreigner despite my having worked in the Philippines for over 50 years for the welfare of our nation.

Sun.star essay: More cleaning up

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources is urging electoral winners to clean up the after-election mess, and clean up intelligently.

That is, prevent the clogging of the drainage, don’t just throw the messy stack into canals. The mess of ballot-like sheets was all over the hundreds of school rooms used as precincts, besides the tarpaulins in street walls swinging on electric wires in the roadside, and leaflets pasted in electric posts.

Mercado: Letter to his honor

WE VOTED for you Monday as the “lesser evil.” Thus, congratulations still stick in our craw. Sorry. One hosanna less shouldn’t matter when cheers hem you in.

“Victory has a thousand fathers,” John Kennedy noted after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. “But defeat is an orphan.” Rep. Tomas Osmeña reels from the trouncing you gave. He never lost an election since 1988. Now, he’s discovering that the sun rises without fail, even if he is not mayor.

Wenceslao: More poll surprises

Rep. Tomas Osmeña, who lost to reelectionist Mayor Michael Rama in the May 13 polls, said it well: when you keep on running, there’s always the possibility that you lose. Indeed, it wasn’t only the big guns like Osmeña and Reps. Eduardo Gullas and Pablo Garcia who suffered defeat in the recent political exercise. Lesser political lights got dimmed, too.

Daanbantayan Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot was finally defeated by perennial challenger Augusto Corro, ending her long-time control of the town’s politics.

Lim: The fallen

THE mighty have fallen. The stalwarts of traditional politics have been defeated. Even the bishops have been rejected by the electorate. Will they now stop harping on the myth of the Catholic vote?

Are the people finally practicing true patriotism? Frankly, I am shocked. I never thought I’d live to see the day the general population decided to vote according to their conscience. Are we finally thinking?

Oledan: Investment hype

DESPITE the upgrade in the Philippines' credit rating, it seems that whatever is the country's economic growth has failed to improve the lives of the people. The recent National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) report shows that the percentage of Filipinos living below the poverty line remained practically the same between 2006 and 2012.

Extreme poverty was pegged at 10 percent, or almost the same as the rate since 2006. Those considered as suffering from "extreme poverty" are families earning P5,458 monthly and are hard put to meet their basic food needs.

Tabada: The empty shelf

I ALWAYS have the same rite to mark the closing of summer: I go through my boxes of books.

It starts with a pretext: my sons are required to read the classics. I have yet to meet a teenager who will spend time with Homer and Shakespeare without demanding pizza, cappuccino with extra whipped cream or some emergency measure of resuscitation. Asking teen boys to search for my 30-year-old copy of “Hamlet” is sending them on a heroic quest without any expectation of an epic end.

Estremera: Parenting, parenthood and all that jazz

IT’S not easy to be bullied. Anyone who has been will know that.

Many adults who have forgotten their childhood would always prattle on that anyone bullied should just go to an elder to reveal what is being done to him or her. As if a child can easily do that. Even a nation can’t.

The life and times of an amateur emcee

SAN FRANCISCO, California - A few years back I wrote a piece for Sun.Star Davao entitled “So, You Wanna Be An Emcee.” I recounted how for a time I got into “emceeing” as a hobby of sort and had fun doing it, as well.

In this piece, I’m including some “incidents” I’ve encountered in the course of “emceeing” events.

Gueco: Free your Mind

UNLEASH the power of your mind. Be awake, stay alert and become aware.

Sparking off the lantern of enlightenment, you and I can choose to reach the heights of summum bonum (highest good) for our humanity/womanity.

Ombion: Can Monico make a big difference?

CAN mayor-elect Monico Puentevella be different from congressman-elect Evelio Leonardia, the person he dreamed of defeating in five electoral encounters until the last polls but faced and defeated instead a lightweight vice mayor Thaddy Sayson?

The bigger question is what difference can he make?

Editorial: Adequate explanation needed

RELIEF was obviously what lawyer Edgardo Labella and his supporters felt Thursday night when the Cebu City Board of Canvassers finally proclaimed him as winner over Joy Augustus Young of the post of vice mayor in the May 13 elections. The count went down the wire and had Labella winning by only 184 votes over his rival.

Libre: Serging and Tomas

SO IT happened: Mike Rama beat Tomas Osmeña for Cebu City mayor. If there was someone who was most surprised, it must have been Tomas, who could not believe that one of his former underlings would defeat him.

Wenceslao: Congressional winners

ONE of the noisiest sites on Facebook in the last elections was Maghisgot Kitag Politika, Bay created by Anol Mongaya and Bino Guerrero. While the noise mostly came from alias-using supporters of opposing political groups, some identifiable names also posted opinions, like the now Manila-based Jesse E.L. Bacon II, formerly with The Freeman.

Nalzaro: Blaming the PCOS machines

BEFORE losing candidates, especially the “giants,” blame the precinct count optical scan (Pcos) machines for their debacle in last Monday’s elections, I would suggest that they go back to their “war rooms” and assess their campaign strategy and performance.

Barrita: Denial stage

DAGHANG mga higante sa politika sa Sugbo, ang uban kanila wa pa gyud makatilaw og pildi sa eleksyon, nga ngangapukan sa piniliay niadtong Mayo 13.

Usa na niini si Kongresista Tomas Osmeña sa habagatang distrito sa syudad sa Sugbo nga wa pa gyud mapildi sukad sa iyang pagsugod sa politika niadtong tuig 1988.

Carvajal: C-D crowd

A MATURING electorate was in evidence in some places in the last elections. Generally, however, the signs of maturity have been at best telltale and at worst conflicting and inconclusive. Sure we are pleased with computerization allowing people to vote for their own choice of candidates. But in the same breath we despair about the ambivalent quality of the choices.

Seares: What they complained about media in the last elections

RESOLUTION #9615, as amended, that implemented the Fair Election Act for the 2013 elections, enjoined media:

(1) “to scrupulously report and interpret the news, taking care not to suppress essential facts or distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis”:

Dacawi: Roberta’s blind courage (Continued from last week)

THE multi-titled Baguio Cinderellas took me in as team manager in 1991, a year after the July 16 killer quake. Never mind that I didn’t know what an off-side rule is and the fact that pro bono family Doctor Julie Camdas-Cabato had just confirmed then that I was a sugar magnate without a hacienda, translated to being a football team manager without money and experience.

Cariño: Last Night

IT IS Friday as I write of last night, when my brother Matt came home in an urn. A lovely one no doubt, its size a humbling reminder of what the mortal self is, the proverbial handful of ashes we are all reduced to when all is said and done. Tonight as last night and many more nights, we gather at sunset to offer prayers that Matty’s soul rest in peace. This is our Catholic self talking.

Bautista: I won

FINALLY I am victorious. Victorious I say is because for the last three years since the last elections I have been haunted and hounded; haunted because of the memory of my "past" political career.

Don't get me wrong here, all I wish to convey to every Juan was that ever since the 2010 elections, I have not felt any peace and quiet.  Allow me to explain.

Editorial: What tiger? Where?

TAIWANESE poachers threaten to ram Philippine Coast Guard and when the coast guard fires back, hitting one illegal fisherman in the process, the almost 100,000 overseas Filipino workers are mistreated in Taiwan, while Taiwan demands that the Philippine grovel for forgiveness for killing that one Taiwanese poacher.

Valle: Back to ‘normal’

THAT uneasy feeling of endless waits, anticipation, and restlessness can cause so much anxiety and even stress. One thing’s sure, and that is too much stress can kill. As to why we need to undergo these kinds of emotions is, well, as natural as we breathe in air into our lungs.

It is part and parcel of being alive and taking part in the whole activity of God’s creation. But then some things are just a waste of time and energy... engaging in politics is one such futile endeavor.

Maglana: Dear Mama

MOTHER’S Day, or at least the American-inspired version of it, occurred back to back with Election Day this year.

As you and I are wont to discuss current events over breakfast, let us review election highlights. And the first comment we would likely make would be that there were a few things starkly mother-related this election.

Alamon: Survey says

NOW that the elections are over and we have the official results for the city's mayoralty race, it would be timely to go back to the Xavier University survey released just several days before the elections.

Montalvan: Writings on the wall

THE story amazed me for its candor. An old acquaintance from an urban poor community in the city admitted that he voted for Oscar Moreno. What was unusual was that he was one of the community leaders for Vicente Emano in his neighborhood. He was buying votes in behalf of his master the mayor. It makes us more curios to ask - how many of Emano’s leaders did the same?

Sanchez: Eugenics

ONE would think the Philippines is secretly apartheid South Africa, or worse, under Adolf Hitler's Aryan populated Germany the way many Filipinos in social media treated Nancy Binay.

No, I skipped my vote for her. I refuse to be a party for the perpetuation of a Binay dynasty and for her being an "OJT for 20 years," her words.

Pacete:A walk away from the precinct

I CAST my vote at 7:30am. I was one of the early birds to arrive at Adela Elementary School. Some of my neighbors were ahead of me: a school teacher, a fish vendor, a carpenter, a government employee and hacienda workers. I also recognized purok leaders working for both political camps. They are all my friends because we dwell in a common stamping ground.

Editorial: High hopes for the new senators

SO much for the election results of the 2013 midterm polls. Since the start of the canvassing of votes late Monday evening, netizens have been plaguing social networking site, Facebook, and microblogging site, Twitter, with criticisms targeted at some underserving senatorial candidates who made it to the Magic 12 based on the partial and unofficial results.

Uyboco: The failure of grades (Part 1 of 2)

EVERY year, around March, many parents all over the Philippines get extremely anxious and nervous. What is this time of the year? It’s report card distribution day! Of course, there are a few who look forward to this day. They are mostly those who can’t wait to take photos of their children's report cards and post them on Facebook.