LuisTeodoro.com

It now seems likely that the May 10 presidential election will be primarily a contest between President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and actor Fernando Poe Jr. The first has all the advantages of incumbency as well as the formidable political machinery of the Lakas Christian- Muslim Democrats. The second has his immense popularity
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The United States has always loomed large in Philippine affairs, despite the supposed end of colonial relations more than 50 years ago.

The country is not much different from many others whose citizens see the United States as a success story they would like to replicate (by aping the capitalist path to development), or to be part of (by immigrating to it). But Filipinos and their leaders are in many ways unique in their often fanatical pro-Americanism.
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For its consequences, whether foreseen or otherwise, the defining event of 2003 was the United States attack on Iraq.

Unilaterally and in violation of international law, for the first time since World War II the US attacked a sovereign country without the fig-leaf of legal fiction. In the process it not only risked (enthusiastically in some of its ruling circles) marginalizing the United Nations. It also antagonized its European allies and undermined the North Atlantic alliance.
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A five-corner fight now appears likely in 2004 with Jesus Is Lord founder Brother Eddie Villanueva’s seeming determination to run for president.
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If President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo intends to issue a “comprehensive” amnesty proclamation by next year, her proposal deserves serious discussion now. And if it is indeed going to be as she and other administration spokespersons have described it, it must be opposed.
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At the time of his death secretary of foreign affairs Blas Ople had reinvented himself more than once. In a past life regarded as a nationalist, his was one of the loudest voices of support for US policies not only in the Philippines but also in Iraq and anywhere else. Once deeply associated with the Marcos dictatorship, and later with the Estrada government, he had assumed the most senior post in the Arroyo Cabinet.
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If the results of the most recent Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations surveys are correct, there is no political reason why Senator Raul Roco should abandon his candidacy for president and instead run as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s vice president in 2004. Neither does he have any ideological cause to do so.
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