Mga Panghitabo (News)

Obama storms into Republican stronghold

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 11:40am (Mla time) 06/06/2008

BRISTOW — White House hopeful Barack Obama forayed into Republican territory Thursday, calling on Virginia to make him the first Democrat to win the southern state in four decades in the November presidential vote.

Two days after securing the Democratic nomination, Obama barnstormed into Virginia’s southern border with Tennessee, seeking to woo wary white, rural voters who had backed his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Later, he traveled to northern Virginia, whose urban voters helped him beat Clinton during the state’s primary, to address a crowd of jubilant supporters at a 25,000-seat concert pavilion that normally hosts rock acts, like Tom Petty on Sunday.

"Who would have thought this?" Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, an early Obama supporter, said before the freshly minted de facto nominee addressed the crowd of thousands, many fanning themselves with "Change We Can Believe In" signs in the punishing heat.

"The opening day of the campaign in 2008 and the Democratic presidential nominee starts the campaign in the commonwealth of Virginia," Kaine said.

Democrats believe Virginia could surprise the nation in November and pick Obama over Republican standard bearer John McCain after their party won the state’s 2005 gubernatorial election and a Senate seat in 2006.

"Barack Obama is going to win Virginia this fall, and he’s going to win the presidency," Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat who defied expectations by winning over a Republican in 2006, predicted at the same rally.

Obama heaped praised on Webb, a Vietnam War hero seen as potential running mate who could burnish his national security credentials and help him make up for Republican charges that he is too inexperienced.

"If you’re in a fight and we’re going to be in a fight, you want Jim Webb to have your back," the senator from Illinois said.

Obama, removing his suit jacket as he heated up the increasingly louder crowd with his trademark soaring oratory, urged Virginians to help hand him the keys to the White House come fall.

"This is our moment, this is our time, and if you will vote for me, I will win Virginia, we will win this election, and we will change the course of history," he said.

Analysts say Obama likely feels he has a shot at becoming the first Democrat to win Virginia since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, but has his work cut out for him.

By going to Virginia only two days after winning the nomination, Obama is sending two signals, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

"He’s trying to send the signal that he’s going to contest Virginia strongly, that McCain cannot count on Virginia the way that all the Republicans have since Nixon in ‘68," Sabato told Agence France-Presse.

"The second signal he’s sending is that he’s going to try to do something about his problem with lower middle-class white voters," he said.

To win Virginia, Obama must sway voters such as Beth Miller Augerinos, a white woman over 50 who usually votes Republican.

Braving the sweltering heat to attend Obama’s rally, Miller Augerinos admitted that she was not the prototypical Obama backer.

"I hope that he can unite the country a bit," she said as she quenched her thirst with a sip of water.

Obama, Clinton meet as she denies VP interest

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 12:45pm (Mla time) 06/06/2008

WASHINGTON — Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton held a hush-hush meeting late Thursday as Obama kicked off his presidential campaign and amid speculation over his vice presidential pick, US media reported.

There was no information on what they discussed at the meeting in Washington, which some reports said took place at Clinton’s house, after Obama skipped a planned flight from Virginia home to Chicago to be there, CNN said.

But Clinton, defeated by Obama this week in the marathon race for the Democratic Party’s White House nomination, denied earlier Thursday she was agitating to be picked as his vice president.

After promising to throw the full weight of her formidable support behind Obama at a farewell event on Saturday, Clinton disowned an orchestrated drive by some of her followers to force her onto Obama’s November ticket.

"While Senator Clinton has made clear throughout this process that she will do whatever she can to elect a Democrat to the White House, she is not seeking the vice presidency, and no one speaks for her but her," said her campaign.

"The choice here is Senator Obama’s and his alone."

The brief statement made no mention of whether the New York senator would be willing to accept the job if it were offered by the Democratic Party’s new standard-bearer.

On Tuesday, as Obama clinched enough delegates to represent the party at November’s election, Clinton told New York lawmakers that she was open to the idea of serving as his vice president.

Since then, some of her backers have been lobbying to get her on Obama’s ticket, arguing that her support among working-class voters and women would guarantee a November sweep against Republican John McCain.

Noting Clinton’s 18 million primary votes and victories in swing states, New York Representative Charlie Rangel told CBS that "we should expect a landslide if they had this dream ticket."

But Obama said he would not be bounced into a choice as a three-member team, including assassinated president John F. Kennedy’s daughter Caroline, began to vet vice presidential contenders on his behalf.

Interviewed by CNN Thursday, the Illinois senator reiterated a line he used repeatedly on the primary campaign trial: "Senator Clinton would be on anybody’s shortlist."

He stressed, however: "What I’ve also said is, the vice presidency is the most important decision that I’ll make before I’m president.

"I’m a big believer in making decisions well, not making them fast and not responding to pressure."

At a rally in Virginia Thursday, Obama paid tribute to Clinton and vowed to unify the party for the general election.

"I know we won’t be divided because whatever differences between me and Hillary Clinton, they pale in comparison to the differences we have with the other side," he said.

Following concerted pressure from some of her own backers frustrated at her refusal so far to bow out, Clinton announced she would end her dogged quest to be America’s first female president at the weekend event in Washington.

"I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama," the former first lady said in a message to supporters.

"I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party’s nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise."

As tearful staff at Clinton’s campaign headquarters outside Washington dismantled their operations, there was some frustration at the belated nature of her concession.

Clinton had refused to concede even as Obama crossed the winning line of 2,118 delegates needed to win the nominating race.

Hitting the campaign trail on Thursday, Obama challenged voters in Virginia — who have not backed a Democrat in the presidential elections since 1964 — to break the mold and support him over McCain.

"This is our moment, this is our time, and if you will vote for me, I will win Virginia, we will win this election, and we will change the course of history," he said.

VIOLENCE OVER GOLD
Vizcaya town becoming new Diwalwal, says solon
By Melvin Gascon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:37:00 06/06/2008

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – The spate of violence in the upland village of Didipio in Kasibu town is a clear indication that the ore-rich area is now “becoming a Diwalwal,” Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said Thursday.

Padila said he feared the recent murder of Paulino Baguilat, Didipio village chief, could trigger a wave of unsolved killings due to the unrest that was caused by the mining controversy in the area, similar to what happened in the Diwalwal mining community on Mt. Diwata in Monkayo, Compostela Valley.

“With the latest events that are happening right now in Didipio, there is little doubt that it would soon become the Diwalwal of the north, so to speak, if we do not do something about it,” he said.

Baguilat, 52, was shot and killed last week. His body was found the next morning by his daughter, Tennesy, on a cliff side near a foot trail, about 70 meters from their house in the sub-village of Pimmadek.

While police have not linked Baguilat’s murder to the controversy surrounding the planned operation of Australian firm OceanaGold Phils. Inc., many villagers in Didipio think the murder was mining-related, Padilla said.

“We deplore these unfortunate incidents among our people. Notwithstanding the promised benefits that mining will bring to our economy, since the mining company has arrived, what the people of Didipio have experienced so far are miseries, problems and tragedies,” he said.

Ramoncito Gozar, OceanaGold vice president for communications and external affairs, disagreed with Padilla.

“We do not concur with Congressman Padilla’s opinion and in fact, we believe that it is a bit far-fetched. The Mt. Diwalwal situation has nothing at all in common with the Didipio project,” he said.

“The police have expressed their views on several possible angles on the death [of Baguilat] which they are looking at and we would rather limit our comments and views to such,” Gozar said.

The Didipio experience, Padilla said, has also exposed the flaws in the country’s mining law. He said this bolsters the need for a review, including the financial and technical assistance agreement (FTTA) issued to OceanaGold.

The House committee on cultural communities is investigating the cases of alleged abuses committed by two foreign mining companies in Nueva Vizcaya. It is scheduled to conduct public hearings in Didipio and Pa-o village, also in Kasibu, on Friday and Saturday.

Padilla also blamed Department of Environment and Natural Resources officials for being “overzealous” in promoting the interests of large-scale mining companies, and being “over-protective” of erring foreign firms.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, however, denied this.

“We [in the DENR] are not siding with the foreign investors; we are protecting the rule of law. When an investment is done according to the law, it should be protected by government,” Atienza told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

He urged provincial officials to refrain from issuing statements that “could add fuel to the raging controversy” in Didipio.

“The sad fate of Baguilat is a direct byproduct of the inflammatory statements that Gov. Luisa Cuaresma has been saying so that she can have her way without following the rule of law,” Atienza said.

Pesos continues slide; economists see higher interest rates
By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 15:38:00 06/06/2008