6
April 2016
MVINEWS.COM
MetroVan Independent News
NEWS
Loida Nicolas-Lewis: Mar Roxas is the Real McCoy
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Of the four speakers
representing four Philippine presidential
candidates, businesswoman Loida NicolasLewis emerged as the most applauded
during the “Know Your Candidates" forum
on the Philippine Presidential Elections
at the Kalayaan Hall of the New York
Consulate General of the Philippines.
Nicolas-Lewis insisted that "as
congressman and senator, Mar Roxas has
had no record of corruption whatsoever.
And believe me. It is so easy to ask for
cash-sunduan and commission when one
is in power."
She added: "Mar Roxas has a track
record of success in his 22 years of public
service as cabinet secretary to three
presidents--Erap, GMA and P-noy."
Nicolas-Lewis said "Roxas is an
experienced executive who can deal
with the presidents of the United States,
France, Germany, and other big countries;
he has inborn integrity and loyalty to the
Philippines and to the people."
CANDID
"Of the four speakers, Loida presented
the most candid and most substantive
argument why her bet should be the next
president of the Philippines," commented
Lourdes Constantino-Penn, 70, a Fil-Am
businesswoman, who attended the twohour forum presented by the Filipino
American Press Club of New York, Inc. and
the Consulate General of the Philippines
headed by Ambassador Mario Lopez de
Leon Jr.
Nicolas-Lewis, chair of the US Filipinos
for Good Governance, represented Mar
Roxas of the Liberal Party.
"Loida ably represented Roxas with her
brilliant explanation of the administration
candidate's plans of revitalizing agriculture
and sustaining economic grow th,"
observed Jonji Jalandoni, past president of
the Philippine Independence Day Council
Inc. (PIDCI).
DUTERTE
The second most applauded speaker
was Sani Guillena, who represented
Rodrigo Duterte of PDP Laban.
Guillena, coordinator of GoDuterteUSA/
NY, spoke passionately on the need to
elect an iron-fisted leader like the Davao
City mayor who vowed to eliminate graft
and corruption and criminality.
"Mayor Duterte is both the medium and
the message and he is the only candidate
who lives a modest life and who leads
by example," Guillena, former editor and
publisher of Peryodiko Mindanao Scholar,
asserted.
Los Angeles-based speaker Art Garcia,
a former scholar of Mar's father, the late
Sen. Manuel Roxas, explained why he
ditched Mar for Grace Poe.
"I campaigned for President Benigno
Noynoy Aquino Jr. and I used to support
Mar Roxas, but when I learned that Grace
Poe would run for president, I decided to go
for Grace. I know her father, Fernando Poe
Jr., a courageous man who went against
Marcos during Martial Law," explained
Garcia, lead convener of the Grace Poe
for President Movement in L.A.
Garcia described Poe as "an intelligent
and sincere woman who will reform and
industrialize the Philippines."
'BROTHER'
Jesse Arteche, the first speaker to
give a statement and a "brother" of Vice
President Jejomar Binay in the Alpha Phi
Omega, lamented that "Binay is a victim of
black propaganda ever since he declared
that he would run for president."
"Only the court can declare that he
is guilty of graft and corruption. All the
accusations against him in the senate
are black propaganda. If the senators
believe that Binay is guilty they should
have brought the case against the vice
president in court," said Arteche, who call
Binay "Brod VP".
Binay is the most qualified to become
the next president, insisted Arteche.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago did not
have a representative.
Ricky Rillera, president of the Filipino
American Press Club of New York, Inc.,
moderated the forum.
Duterte, Poe ‘tied’ for top
spot in latest Laylo survey
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and
Senator Grace Poe once again shared
the top spot in the latest presidential
preference survey conducted by Laylo
Research Strategies, an in-house pollster
of The Standard.
The March 26 to April 1 survey showed
that Duterte, numerically, is the top choice
of the respondents after earning 30 percent
of the respondents’ votes.
Duterte, however, was statistically tied
with Poe who has 27 percent of the votes.
The margin of error was placed at +/- 1.8
percent. A candidate must earn more than
twice the margin of error in order to break
a “statistical tie.”
Liberal Party standard bearer Mar
Roxas, meanwhile, has 21 percent,
followed by Vice President Jejomar Binay
with 18 percent, while Senator Miriam
Santiago got 2 percent.
According to The Standard, the survey
Duterte and Poe.
has 3,000 respondents and has covered
79 provinces and 40 highly urbanized cities
which include 17 cities in the National
Capital Region.
It has also noted that the respondents
of the survey are registered voters with
biometrics and are sure to vote in the May
9 elections.
Rising U.S. inflation to force US
dollar exchange rate to go down
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
>>
While expectations for higher inflation
once tended to ramp up bets on a
swifter pace of Fed rate hikes and, in
turn, boost the dollar, strategists say the
perceived improbability of a Fed rate hike
until at least June has reinstated inflation’s
traditional role of eroding the dollar’s value.
"If inflation in the U.S. is relatively high,
but interest rates aren’t expected to move
higher... that doesn’t ultimately bode well
for t