Opinion 11/24/15 (Cebu, Maguindanao massacre, wealth, Comelec, ambush)
Inquirer on Maguindanao massacre
The Maguindanao massacre, which marked its sixth anniversary Monday, has been called the worst election-related violence in Philippine history. [full page]
Sun.Star Cebu
Cebu has always been the top province or among the top provinces of the country in terms of wealth. [...] Cebu is the most wealthy among the country's provinces not because of its officials' genius but mainly by the accident of geography and history. [...] What this shows is that Cebu province, with its assets, could have done better in terms of generating income and, in the process, being able to spend more for its constituents. There's a Cebuano description for the province's status in 2014: “dato nga medyo pobre.” [full page]
Manila Bulletin
At the start of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) campaign to record the biometric data of every voter – in the effort to clean up the election rolls – the Comelec had a target of nine million voters without the necessary photos, fingerprints, and signatures. When the campaign ended last month, the Comelec said the number of voters without biometrics was down to two million. [...] The Comelec campaign succeeded in checking the authenticity of most of the listed names, but so many voters were simply negligent. They had ignored the long 15-month period of the biometrics campaign and when deadline time neared, became discouraged when they found the Comelec offices jampacked with other procrastinators like them. [full page]
Philippine Star on judges shot and killed
Less than two weeks after a judge was shot dead in Malolos, Bulacan, another judge was killed Sunday afternoon in Northern Samar. [...] Killers – both the triggermen and the brains – must not only be arrested, they must also be made to face the courts so that their guilt is established and they get appropriate punishment. If the state fails to do this, the unsolved murders will have a chilling effect on the justice system, which is weak enough as it is. The nation cannot afford such brazen assaults on the judiciary to go unpunished. [full page]
