by magnolia_eic | May 20, 2010 | Announcements, Headlines, National News
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has rejected an offer to be the candidate of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD for Speaker in the House of Representatives, according to Presidential Political Affairs Adviser Prospero Pichay Jr.
In a news briefing last Wednesday in Malacanang, Pichay said the President instead wants to play a role similar to that of Sonia Gandhi who heads a powerful congress party in India but not necessary holding a high position in government.
President Arroyo according to Pichay, would rather let the party choose from among the members of Lakas-Kampi-CMD their candidate for Speaker. Pichay said the President was cool to the party offer, despite the urging of many party members in the House of Representatives.
Arroyo, an incoming Pampanga congresswoman, heads Lakas-Kampi-CMD and has been considered top candidate for Speakership. The party has yet to agree however on who to field for the Speakership.
Pichay expressed confidence that a Lakas candidate would get the Speakership, saying they still have the number. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | May 20, 2010 | Announcements, Election 2010, Headlines, National News
Manila, Philippines — The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) ended its parallel counting yesterday and concluded that although there were some discrepancies in the election returns (ER’s) that the group tallied, no systematic fraud occurred.
According to PPCRV, only .07 percent of the 43,035 ER’s from clustered precincts showed signs of
irregularities.
PPCRV Chairperson and former ambassador to Rome Henriettta de Villa characterized the 2010 Automated Elections as “generally clean”.
PPCRV chair and former ambassador to Rome Henrietta de Villa characterized the automated 2010 polls as “generally clean.”
“In the midst of the state of speculations, all the accusations that are now being thrown against the first fully automated election that was carried out nationwide, we, together with the majority of Filipinos, still believe that the AES (Automated Election System) must be here to stay,” De Villa said.
De Villa also added that if there were indeed attempts, it was not successfully pulled off.
Click here for full article from Philstar.com
by magnolia_eic | May 20, 2010 | Election 2010, Headlines, National News
THE House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms would meet anytime this week to conduct probes on allegations of poll irregularity, reports confirmed.
Speaking for Speaker Prospero Nograles, Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr. invited committee members to investigate and clarify the alleged anomalies of the May 10 automated polls, same quoted reports bared.
The move also earned the support of election watch-dogs who gathered reports of irregularities and anomalies.
Locsin added that the committee would hold its sessions and would not take a break until June 30.
Meanwhile, many people have agreed that the recent automated elections went generally well and eliminated the processes where possible electoral fraud could be done. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | May 19, 2010 | Election 2010, Headlines, National News
The Commission on Elections en banc convening as the National Board of Canvassers proclaimed Senators Sergio Osmena III, Lito Lapid and Teofisto Guingona III as the last of the twelve senators to serve until 2016.
Earlier last Saturday, Comelec has proclaimed Ramon Revilla Jr, Jose Estrada, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Franklin Drilon, Juan Ponce Enrile, Pilar Juliana Cayetano, Ralph Recto and Vicente Sotto III.
Osmena garnered 11,583,854 votes, Lapid earned 10,971,045 while Guingona had 10,200,293 votes.
According to reports, the Comelec tally was based on 121 of the 274 certificates of canvass processed by the board of canvassers.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo however reportedly believes the remaining canvass will not materially affect the votes of the 10th to 12th ranking of winning senators. (PIA-Bohol)
by magnolia_eic | May 19, 2010 | Announcements, Local News / Bohol Balita
BACLAYON’s rare sacred manuscripts for choral music formally called Kirial de esta Yglesia de Baclayon Año de 1826 is the subject of a heritage benchmark book launched recently by the Intramuros Administration.
Written by UST Professor and Musicologist Maria Alexandra Iñigo-Chua, the book discusses the Kirial, which contains mass cycle compositions used in the liturgical service of the Catholic Church in Baclayon during the late 18th to early 19th century.
The rare find, one that remained hidden in the musty cabinets of the 1595 church came out to the open after Inigo-Chua was introduced to it by now Boholano heritage scholar Fr. Milan Ted Torralba sometime in 1997.
Intriguingly enough, the music found in the Baclayon choir books was written in a now-obsolete mensural notation using neumes, characteristic of the Gregorian chanting.
As such, it had to be translated into contemporary notation, if it were to be rendered comprehensible to the modern musician, she admitted to reporters during the launch.
Unfortunately for Chua, she found no reference books to turn to for the task. She had to find her own way of translating the music into a readable score.
With persistence and insight, she eventually found a way to translate the pieces and indeed to perform them.
First heard again during the 400th jubilee of the church years ago, the Chua notations was sang by the famous Loboc Children’s Choir and was accompanied by a Benedictine priest who has to read the score from another songbook providentially uncovered in the archives of nearby Dimiao church.
“Anyone who has felt queasy about singing at Mass the pop version of the “Our Father” would probably wonder what church music used to be like.” Chua narrates.
“Today, a churchgoer is likely to walk into a liturgy where music is accompanied by Casio organs and minus one tapes, along with karaokes, guitars, microphones, and speakers. In the early 19th century, was church music as informal?” she asks.
The music scholar describes the 19th century Baclayon church music as “simple and conservative,” reflective of the kind of plainsong and chant favored in Spain at that time.
She notes, however, that while the melodies were simple and monophonic, like that of typical Philippine folksongs, the choir was accompanied by the majestic pipe organ.
It is a clear and unique evidence of the wealth of our Filipino-Spanish encounter and heritage, says culture worker and baclayon parishioner Lutgardo Labad, when he heard the music interpretation the choir.
In 1999, after probably more than a hundred years, the kirial’s Misa Baclayana was performed by the Loboc Children’s Choir under the baton of Alma Taldo and accompanied on the organ by Fr. Maramba.
With tears in their eyes, the audience sat rapt as the melodies unfolded from the choir, wafted, and soared through the entire church, resonating with a musical modality which is both Western and native, so spiritual, so original, and yet so deeply anchored in local soil, Labad recalls.
Meanwhile, Fr. Torralba said “it is important that an ordinary Boholano can read this book …because the Boholano must not only identify with this work, but must first claim Misa Baclayana and the entire cantorales as his or her own: that the Boholano must say that he or she belongs to these and these are resources that belong to Bohol’s cultural heritage treasury worth preserving, restoring, and perpetuating.”
Heritage, you see, although it speaks of the past, belongs to the future. We in this “now,” in this present, are the stewards of heritage,” Fr. Torralba said. (PIA-Bohol)
