The Philippines held elections yesterday seen as crucial for President Benigno Aquino III’s bold reform agenda, as deadly violence and graft-tainted candidates underlined the nation’s deep-rooted problems.
Aquino called for the mid-term polls, in which thousands of local leaders plus national legislators will be elected, to be a referendum on his efforts to transform a corrupt political system and an underperforming economy.
“The president is asking voters to put their confidence in those on the administration slate to help him carry out the rest of his reform agenda,” presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said.
Photo: AFP
Aquino swept into power in 2010 on a promise to fight corruption that he blames for the country’s crushing poverty.
Opinion polls show he remains one of the country’s most popular presidents, with the Philippines enjoying faster economic growth than every other nation in the Asia-Pacific except for China.
However, with presidents only allowed to serve one term of six years, Aquino is in a rush to implement more ambitious reforms and make an enduring impact on graft.
Yesterday’s elections — in which more than 18,000 positions, from town councillors up to provincial governors and members of the legislature, were being contested — are vital to shore up support for his efforts.
Most crucial is control of both houses of Congress.
Aquino is confident of securing big majorities in both houses from an alliance of a wide range of parties, enabling him to pass legislation much more easily than his first three years when he did not have control of the Philippine Senate.
One of Aquino’s biggest reforms is a planned peace deal with Muslim rebels to end an insurgency in the south of the country that has claimed an estimated 150,000 lives.
The peace accord would require parliamentary endorsement.
Aquino’s aides have also said he is focused on passing legislation that would expand the tax base, including from the mining sector, to pay for more social security services.
Nevertheless, amid the hope, the elections highlighted the enduring nature of many of the darkest traditions that affect Philippine politics.
Yesterday, seven people were killed in the south as politicians’ security forces battled each other or launched attacks on voters. More than 60 people were killed in pre-poll violence.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique