Senators on Wednesday heaped praises on street educator Efren Penaflorida for bringing honor to the country after he was named CNN hero of the year as they also pointed out that his win should also prompt government to do more to better the poor state of education in the Philippines.
The Ampatuans and Mangudadatus have reigned in Maguindanao politics since 1986 when the revolutionary government of then President Corazon Aquino appointed officers-in-charge to local elective posts of mayors, municipal, provincial and village legislators, as well as governors and their deputies.
The National Press Club (NPC) and the Alyansa ng Filipinong Mamamahayag (AFIMA) denounced the abduction and massacre of at least 36 persons, including media men, in Barangay Masalay, Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanao.
Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa has ordered an investigation into reports that some policemen were among those who abducted and killed a group of local politicians and journalists in Maguindanao on Monday.
(UPDATE 3) At around 10 a.m. on Monday, vice mayor Ishmael Mangudadatu of Buluan town in Maguindanao received a call from his wife that at least 100 armed men were holding her and 50 others, including 34 journalists.
As many as 43 relatives and supporters of a gubernatorial bet in Maguindanao as well as journalists who were supposed to cover the filing of his certificate of candidacy were abducted and believed murdered by armed men in Maguindanao, the military said on Monday.
Police on Monday announced massive police and military operations to arrest those responsible behind the gruesome killing of 21 people in Maguindanao province, a police spokesman said.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) legal department accepted seven more candidacies for presidency on the fourth day of filing Monday, including that of Ang Kapatiran’s John Carlos Delos Reyes.
