Sentro ng Katotohanan sa Internet

While trying to look for sponsors and a radio station for our new home, Sentro ng Katotohanan wants to maintain its presence on the internet.

Here it is then, our first Sentro ng Katotohanan sa Internet webcast wherein I explain what Sentro is all about. Just click on the play button to listen.

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I also prepared a slideshow of the same webcast and am trying to upload on youtube. However, I can't as youtube allows to post only 10min or less videos. Anyway, I will try to split the video next time...

Mr. Nicanor Perlas Interview

Mr. Nick Perlas had two websites. It seems one is the official website as said on the website itself. The other, we can just call as the 2nd website, I am not sure if is officially sanctioned by Mr. Perlas. In any case, the second website had our interview with Mr. Perlas prominently posted.

Nick Perlas 2nd Website

Another Leader Gone

Early this year, Lead Philippines conducted a small survey asking: Who are the three most respected Filipinos in the country today? For those who care to remember, the answer that came out at the top is no other than President Corazon C. Aquino. Sadly, last August 1, the most respected Filipino died after more than a year-long battle with cancer. There goes another leader.

Surely, most Filipinos would miss her. We feel sad about her death. Sadder though is the realization that rather than find new leaders to add to our roster, we lose the old ones.

Immediately after President Aquino’s death, many extolled her virtues. It can be remembered it was not so when she was still President. Then, she lacks the intelligence, she lacks leadership, she’s weak (she hides under the bed – not true), and she is subservient to her relatives (so called Kamag-anak Inc.). She survived a number of coup attempts. And as if it was part her fault, the coup leader became and is still senator.

Even recently, she with her weaknesses is supposedly the one who fumbled the chance to rebuild the country, to restore true democracy. We are supposed to have came from the pan where we jumped to the fire.

Next in the Lead Philippines survey comes Sen. Jovito Salonga. Indeed he is not bad of a Filipino, but has anyone heard of his accomplishments? Shall we now wait for him to die first before we can extol his virtues?

With these in mind we can further ask ourselves: Do we have a chance to find new leaders? Are we even really looking? Perhaps true leaders are just around us, but we do not recognize them. Perhaps it is that person called “Trapo”, or that unwinnable candidate, or perhaps that one whom we say just lost his mind. Perhaps leadership even calls us ourselves, but we just would not respond. We rather simply wait for miracles rather than make them.

Yesterday it was said, that with the number of people joining the procession to President Aquino’s burial, and that with erstwhile enemies shaking hands during the last rites for her, there is proof of “Cory Magic” at work. But come to think of it, the beloved leader is gone. What is left is her voice in our hearts, the voice that is already there even before Cory made her way through it. It is also the voice of Ninoy, even of Bonifacio and Rizal. It is merely love of country and righteousness, the urge to think, do or say what is right. It is with us all the while, it is in our Conscience. And if all of us listen to it, surely, we could relive “Cory Magic” everyday for the rest of our lives.

Here Come the "People's Primaries"

In the past few weeks, there were some buzz goin' 'round Philippine advocacy circles that a group of people are gathering to create what they call the "People's Primaries". As we know in the US, the Democratic and Republican parties select their Presidential candidates via Primaries wherein different candidates of their own parties are voted upon by party members. The local version, although not by a political party, plans to do just that: give the people a chance to select the "People's" Presidential candidate for 2010. Apparently, they will choose only among Non-Trapo candidates. Among the names floated around for consideration are Gov. Eddie Panlilio, Gov. Grace Padaca and Environmentalist Nicanor Perlas.

Tomorrow, at Sentro ng Katotohanan, we will talk with one of the proponents of the movement, Mr. Ricky Xavier (of the Movement for Good Governance, one of the groups helping to steamroll the initiative). We will ask him more details about the People's Primaries, how they plan to do it, the method they will use on the selection of the People's candidate, and how they will encourage the participation of the people and the Presidential candidates themselves. We will also ask him how they will choose the candidates and how they define the word Trapo.

To help us better in our search for the definition of a Trapo, Sentro ng Katotohanan will again interview Mr. Tony Abaya, who coined the term way back in 1989. For all we know, the word Trapo itself could make or break a Presidential candidate and therefore could very well affect our country's future.

Sentro ng Katotohanan is more and more becoming the central conversation point on the essential issues for the coming elections in 2010. People who are immersed in their love, and doing what they think is best, for country are finding themselves tuned in to Sentro ng Katotohanan, Sundays 6-7PM DZXL 558KHz in Metro Manila. Sentro ng Katotohanan is jointly produced by Lead Philippines and diduwagangpilipino.com, in cooperation with Radio Mindanao Network (RMN).

www.leadphil.blogspot.com

Who is Nic Perlas?

About a month ago, Mr. Nicanor Perlas joined the political fray by declaring himself available for the 2010 Presidential elections. Unfortunately, from then up to now, the vast majority of Filipinos still have not even heard about him. If nobody knows him, how can he win an election? And if it continues until May 2010, it is as if he never joined the elections in the first place.

This Sunday, Sentro ng Katotohanan aims to answer the question: Who is Nic Perlas? In a one-hour live interview, Sentro ng Katotohanan will focus on the person, his life, his past, his achievements and his failures. We will ask him about his stand on different national issues. We will ask him his views on the country's problems and his solutions to them. We also will ask him about his support base and how he intends to win in 2010. In the end, our listeners will decide: Is Mr. Nic Perlas just a nuisance, or is he worth our time and even our future?

Sentro ng Katotohanan is a fresh new program on AM Radio jointly produced by Lead Philippines and diduwagangpilipino.com in cooperation with Radio Mindanao Network (RMN). The program aims to be one with the people in their desire for a better country, and in their search for Leaders come 2010 and beyond. The program features fresh insights and discussion of issues from different angles. Often, the program also feature live and incisive interviews with various resource persons, including newspaper columnists, educators, and even Presidential aspirants.

The program is aired live every Sunday, from 6-7PM at DZXL 558KHz in Metro Manila and may also be heard online at www.rmn.ph. Archived broadcast of Sentro ng Katotohanan may also be heard online at www.leadphil.blogspot.com.

Is BF a Trapo?

The opposition has no love for him. His own party may not even endorse him. The poor seem to hate him while the rich mostly ignore him.

Bayani Fernando, chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), is one of the few Filipino politicians known to have been doing his job with little consideration for political consequences. He has been largely credited with the transformation of Marikina City, arguably the most orderly and most internationally awarded city in Metro Manila, if not the whole of the country. Under his helm, Metro Manila had been most improved.

He has dealt with Metro Manila problems with an even hand. He has removed illegal settlements as well as drove away street vendors in many parts of the metropolis. He has also removed illegal structures even by commercial establishments. Some of his solutions are simple, but effective, like the U-turn slots, the pink urinals and the MMDA art. His time at the MMDA is the most productive, never have we seen MMDA with so many project happening all at the same time. There are the pink fences and foot bridges, there are more MMDA vehicles now and there are better equipped emergency reaction teams. In his term, and for the first time, political posters during campaign periods were greatly reduced in Metro Manila.

Ironically however, he seems to be like an ordinary politician that is bent to break his own rule for self-gain. For a time, his face marks the MRT and LRT posts in Metro Manila, with Tarpaulins supposedly advertising Order or Kaayusan. At the helm now in Marikina is his wife as mayor, a sign of dynastic rule. He seems to hug the limelight with his participation in Celebrity Duets. All marks of a traditional politician.

Listen on Sunday, 6-7PM, DZXL 558KHz in Metro Manila, as Sentro ng Katotohanan talks to Chairman Bayani Fernando in a freshly direct and incisive manner and as we try to answer the question: Is MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando a Traditional Politician, or is he an exception? Is he worth considering for 2010 or is he just another self-serving government official of the land?

COMELEC's Jimenez answers all Poll Automation issues at Sentro

Dir. James Jimenez, spokesperson of the Commission on Election (COMELEC), last Sunday answered all issues hurled against the commission regarding its bidding process on election automation.

The COMELEC has awarded the 2010 Election Automation project to SMARTMATIC-TIM last week and the contract is set to be signed by the parties this week. In an interview with DZXL radio program Sentro ng Katotohanan, Dir. Jimenez said that the losing bidders are the ones hurling the issues and the same were picked up by some Senators questioning the bidding process.

According to Dir. Jimenez, the bidding process was open to the public and to the mass media and that all issues currently being hurled were already discussed and concluded during the proceedings. He also said that the losing bidders were all present in the pre-bid conference conducted and they all accepted the bidding reqiurements set by the Commission. Moreso, he said that some of senators questioning the results of the bidding has not even sent any representative during the bidding process even while the COMELEC has constantly issued them invitation.

Sentro ng Katotohanan is a radio program aired Sundays, 6-7PM, over at DZXL 558KHz in Metro Manila. The radio program sets itself apart by discussing in-depth real issues concerning the country today. Sentro ng Katotohanan conducts interviews with resource persons via direct incisive yet respectful questions to get to the bottom of the issues at hand, doing away with propaganda or spin that usually gets through other radio programs. Last Sunday, Sentro ng Katotohanan also had a very lively interview with known author, columnist and Charter Change advocate Carmen Navarro Pedrosa. A link to the Jimenez and Pedrosa interviews will be posted at www.leadphil.blogpost.com soon.

Yesterday's show was anchored by Arnel Endrinal, and supported by Lead Philippines volunteers Wins Casio and Linette Gepte, and TETP's (Transform Education, Transform Philippines) Philip Tangco. Sentro ng Katotohanan is produced jointly by Lead Philippines and diduwagangpilipino.com in cooperation with Radio Mindanao Network (RMN).