Array
(
    [results] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 341544
                    [Title] => Survey: People’s initiative is favored Cha-cha mode
                    [Summary] => Half of Filipinos now prefer the people’s initiative mode of amending the 1987 Constitution, according to The Center for Issues and Advocacy (The Center) May 2006 survey. 


The Center, an independent research group, also bared that only 30 percent of respondents favor the constituent assembly (con-ass) mode while 20 percent approve of the constitutional convention (con-con) mode in rewriting Constitution. 


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-06-12 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1165072
                    [AuthorName] => Bebot Sison Jr.
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 319951
                    [Title] => Gordon tourism bill cited as urgent
                    [Summary] => President Arroyo has certified as urgent Sen. Richard Gordon’s bill seeking to reorganize the Department of Tourism (DOT) and its attached agencies to boost tourism and attract investments in the tourism industry.


In a communiqué to Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President underscored the "necessity of the immediate enactment" of Senate Bill No. 1238, of which Gordon is the principal author.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-02-04 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1096615
                    [AuthorName] =>  Christina Mendez
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 288587
                    [Title] => State of Nation Address an outstanding success
                    [Summary] => It was a 23-minute speech highlighted by 33 applauses and six standing ovations. If you ask me, I would say that it was the most outstanding SONA we had ever heard. No one had any inkling what the President would say. Many assumed that she would talk about the Garci tapes or the jueteng controversy. Instead, she went through the true problems of the nation and the role that the general public should assume under our present predicament. She had her audience totally captivated.
                    [DatePublished] => 2005-07-28 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 135432
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1115213
                    [AuthorName] => Alejandro R. Roces
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [3] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 288118
                    [Title] => Digging in
                    [Summary] => She’s digging in, and she’s determined to forge ahead with her reform agenda.


That’s the gist of the State of the Nation Address (SONA). It will be delivered as scheduled, and it will be applauded by the allies of President Arroyo. 


The question is whether she can pull off crucial reforms. She will remain in office, but can she govern?


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-07-25 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133252
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1807094
                    [AuthorName] => Ana Marie Pamintuan
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [4] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 275738
                    [Title] => Congressmen oppose giving GMA stand-by authority on VAT
                    [Summary] => Administration and opposition congressmen opposed yesterday the proposal by some senators to give President Arroyo stand-by authority to adjust the 10 percent value-added tax (VAT) to 12 percent.


The senators floated the idea as a possible compromise to break the deadlock between the Senate and the House on the controversial VAT reform bill. The Senate wants to keep the present rate but lift all exemptions, while the House is proposing to increase it to 12 percent. Congressmen are also for lifting some exemptions.


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-04-29 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1097047
                    [AuthorName] =>  Jess Diaz
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [5] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 270569
                    [Title] => Senate agrees to speed up work on VAT bill
                    [Summary] => Members of the Senate agreed yesterday to speed up the passage of the proposed value-added tax (VAT) bill by putting its most contentious provisions to a vote.


Senate President Franklin Drilon said the second all-Senate caucus held yesterday turned out to be more fruitful than last Monday’s since Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, the most vocal of the bill’s critics, agreed to put amendments to the proposed measure to a vote on the floor.


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-03-16 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1500820
                    [AuthorName] => Marvin Sy

                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [6] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 269759
                    [Title] => Drilon, De Venecia declare truce
                    [Summary] => Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. buried the hatchet yesterday, ending a week-long word war between senators and congressmen brought about by the Senate’s hasty passage of the 2005 national budget.


After a week of bitter accusations by their colleagues, Drilon and De Venecia have now vowed to prioritize the passage of the value-added tax (VAT) reform bill, the anti-terrorism bill and other important measures pending in their chambers.


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-03-10 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1096615
                    [AuthorName] =>  Christina Mendez
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [7] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 269425
                    [Title] => House leaders see no VAT deadlock over ‘pork’ war
                    [Summary] => Leaders of the House of Representatives do not see a stalemate developing with senators on the value added tax (VAT) bill even in the wake of their bitter word war on the Senate’s approval of the congressmen’s version of the 2005 budget.


"The VAT bill should not be a casualty of this word war," Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said yesterday.


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-03-07 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1097047
                    [AuthorName] =>  Jess Diaz
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [8] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 262910
                    [Title] => Governors back Ping on pork abolition
                    [Summary] => Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson has expressed full support for the proposal of Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson for the total abolition of the pork barrel.


Singson, national chairman of the League of Governors of the Philippines, said he will strongly urge fellow governors to talk to their congressmen and to their senator-friends and persuade them to give up their pork barrel allocations, if not permanently, then at least until the current fiscal crisis is over.


                    [DatePublished] => 2004-08-28 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [9] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 254279
                    [Title] => Arroyo won’t call for Congress special session
                    [Summary] => President Arroyo refused yesterday to call a special session of Congress despite opposition claims that the legislature’s adjournment last June 11 could put in question the authority of the joint committee to continue canvassing the votes for president and vice president.


Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo made her stand in consultation with her advisers and based on the precedents set by Congress in the 1992 and 1998 presidential elections.


"The President has definitely said no special session (of Congress) would be called," he said.

                    [DatePublished] => 2004-06-17 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

        )

)

DRILON AND SPEAKER JOSE

Array
(
    [results] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 341544
                    [Title] => Survey: People’s initiative is favored Cha-cha mode
                    [Summary] => Half of Filipinos now prefer the people’s initiative mode of amending the 1987 Constitution, according to The Center for Issues and Advocacy (The Center) May 2006 survey. 


The Center, an independent research group, also bared that only 30 percent of respondents favor the constituent assembly (con-ass) mode while 20 percent approve of the constitutional convention (con-con) mode in rewriting Constitution. 


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-06-12 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1165072
                    [AuthorName] => Bebot Sison Jr.
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 319951
                    [Title] => Gordon tourism bill cited as urgent
                    [Summary] => President Arroyo has certified as urgent Sen. Richard Gordon’s bill seeking to reorganize the Department of Tourism (DOT) and its attached agencies to boost tourism and attract investments in the tourism industry.


In a communiqué to Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President underscored the "necessity of the immediate enactment" of Senate Bill No. 1238, of which Gordon is the principal author.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-02-04 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1096615
                    [AuthorName] =>  Christina Mendez
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 288587
                    [Title] => State of Nation Address an outstanding success
                    [Summary] => It was a 23-minute speech highlighted by 33 applauses and six standing ovations. If you ask me, I would say that it was the most outstanding SONA we had ever heard. No one had any inkling what the President would say. Many assumed that she would talk about the Garci tapes or the jueteng controversy. Instead, she went through the true problems of the nation and the role that the general public should assume under our present predicament. She had her audience totally captivated.
                    [DatePublished] => 2005-07-28 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 135432
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1115213
                    [AuthorName] => Alejandro R. Roces
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [3] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 288118
                    [Title] => Digging in
                    [Summary] => She’s digging in, and she’s determined to forge ahead with her reform agenda.


That’s the gist of the State of the Nation Address (SONA). It will be delivered as scheduled, and it will be applauded by the allies of President Arroyo. 


The question is whether she can pull off crucial reforms. She will remain in office, but can she govern?


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-07-25 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133252
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1807094
                    [AuthorName] => Ana Marie Pamintuan
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [4] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 275738
                    [Title] => Congressmen oppose giving GMA stand-by authority on VAT
                    [Summary] => Administration and opposition congressmen opposed yesterday the proposal by some senators to give President Arroyo stand-by authority to adjust the 10 percent value-added tax (VAT) to 12 percent.


The senators floated the idea as a possible compromise to break the deadlock between the Senate and the House on the controversial VAT reform bill. The Senate wants to keep the present rate but lift all exemptions, while the House is proposing to increase it to 12 percent. Congressmen are also for lifting some exemptions.


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-04-29 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1097047
                    [AuthorName] =>  Jess Diaz
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [5] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 270569
                    [Title] => Senate agrees to speed up work on VAT bill
                    [Summary] => Members of the Senate agreed yesterday to speed up the passage of the proposed value-added tax (VAT) bill by putting its most contentious provisions to a vote.


Senate President Franklin Drilon said the second all-Senate caucus held yesterday turned out to be more fruitful than last Monday’s since Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, the most vocal of the bill’s critics, agreed to put amendments to the proposed measure to a vote on the floor.


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-03-16 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1500820
                    [AuthorName] => Marvin Sy

                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [6] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 269759
                    [Title] => Drilon, De Venecia declare truce
                    [Summary] => Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. buried the hatchet yesterday, ending a week-long word war between senators and congressmen brought about by the Senate’s hasty passage of the 2005 national budget.


After a week of bitter accusations by their colleagues, Drilon and De Venecia have now vowed to prioritize the passage of the value-added tax (VAT) reform bill, the anti-terrorism bill and other important measures pending in their chambers.


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-03-10 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1096615
                    [AuthorName] =>  Christina Mendez
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [7] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 269425
                    [Title] => House leaders see no VAT deadlock over ‘pork’ war
                    [Summary] => Leaders of the House of Representatives do not see a stalemate developing with senators on the value added tax (VAT) bill even in the wake of their bitter word war on the Senate’s approval of the congressmen’s version of the 2005 budget.


"The VAT bill should not be a casualty of this word war," Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said yesterday.


                    [DatePublished] => 2005-03-07 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1097047
                    [AuthorName] =>  Jess Diaz
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [8] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 262910
                    [Title] => Governors back Ping on pork abolition
                    [Summary] => Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson has expressed full support for the proposal of Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson for the total abolition of the pork barrel.


Singson, national chairman of the League of Governors of the Philippines, said he will strongly urge fellow governors to talk to their congressmen and to their senator-friends and persuade them to give up their pork barrel allocations, if not permanently, then at least until the current fiscal crisis is over.


                    [DatePublished] => 2004-08-28 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [9] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 254279
                    [Title] => Arroyo won’t call for Congress special session
                    [Summary] => President Arroyo refused yesterday to call a special session of Congress despite opposition claims that the legislature’s adjournment last June 11 could put in question the authority of the joint committee to continue canvassing the votes for president and vice president.


Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo made her stand in consultation with her advisers and based on the precedents set by Congress in the 1992 and 1998 presidential elections.


"The President has definitely said no special session (of Congress) would be called," he said.

                    [DatePublished] => 2004-06-17 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 
                    [AuthorName] => 
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

        )

)

abtest