Northern and southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and thunderstorms. Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will be partly cloudy with isolated rains and thunderstorms, mostly in the afternoon.
Business groups in Mindanao said it would be “business as usual” on Election Day, ignoring the government’s call to shut down their operations for a day to ensure enough power to conduct the midterm elections.
How much is a Filipino’s vote worth these days? According to the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), candidates are offering up to P3,500 for a single vote in Ilocos Norte, P3,000 in neighboring Ilocos Sur, P2,000 in Zamboanga Sibugay, and P100 in Tawi-Tawi.
Public school teachers who will man the elections on Monday may themselves not be able to vote. A teachers’ group posed this ironic scenario to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) based on the teachers’ experience in the last automated elections in 2010.
The police and military have begun to augment their forces on the ground to counter election-related violence less than two weeks before the May 13 midterm elections.
The Philippine National Police launched Tuesday “Oplan Last Two Weeks” in a bid to signify a tightened enforcement of nationwide security operations for the upcoming midterm elections.
Opposition candidates on Thursday said that they were hopeful that deposed President Joseph Estrada will win in his “final battle” for the post of Manila City mayor.
The way to a man’s—or woman’s—heart may be through the stomach but candidates should be forewarned that serving the voting public food and drink on the eve of Election Day may well be construed as vote-buying.
