MY BUSINESSMAN FRIEND IN General Santos City, Mike Calixto, has sold his house to support the presidential candidacy of Gibo Teodoro in that part of Mindanao.

Calixto has been campaigning hard for Teodoro, who is neither his close friend nor benefactor.

?I don?t care whether he wins or loses, but I believe in his platform of government,? Calixto said when ribbed about Teodoro not having a fighting chance in the May 10 election.

How many people are like Calixto?

You can count them on your fingers.

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I?ve asked hundreds of people who they think is the most qualified presidential candidate based on experience, competence, intelligence and integrity. Most of them said Dick Gordon.
But most said they will not vote for Gordon because he?s a tailender in the popularity surveys.
It?s a pity Filipino voters select their candidates based on ?winnability,? popularity or money, and not on principle.
That?s the reason why we should never complain about our government.
We deserve what we get.

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Let?s do away with popularity surveys during the election season, or at least during the campaign period.

True, it?s unconstitutional to prevent the publication of survey results because that would be violating the freedom of the press.

But publishing survey results is also undemocratic as it tends to influence the great mass of naïve voters.

If discussing the merits of a criminal or civil case in public is prohibited by the courts as it might influence the decision of the judge hearing the case, why can?t we do the same with the results of popularity surveys?

If judges, supposedly men and women of letters, could be influenced by the discussion of the pros and cons of a criminal or civil case in media, more so the ignorant voters who are easily swayed.

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There?s a party-list composed of parents whose investments with pre-need plan companies have gone down the drain.
It?s called PEP, short for Parents Enabling Parents coalition.
There are hundreds of thousands of parents who invested in pre-need firms, like CAP and PPI, that went bankrupt.
We?that includes me?may soon have a voice in the House of Representatives after the May 10 election.

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Is Director Nestor Mantaring of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) coddling corrupt and abusive members?

It seems to be that way since complaints against some of his erring subordinates go unheeded.

One example of Mantaring looking the other way is the NBI Cavite District Office (Cavido).

No less than Cavite Provincial Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco has complained to the NBI director about the shenanigans of his men at the Cavido.

Velasco said most members of the Cavido were engaged in extortion.

One must remember that both the NBI and the Prosecution Service are sister agencies; both are under the Department of Justice.

When an agency complains against its sister office, there must be something to the complaint.

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Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno celebrates his birthday Sunday, April 25, which is also his wife Pinky?s birthday, as well as that of their daughter, Tami.
It's also their wedding anniversary.

One for Ripley?s, huh!