A Precinct Counting Optical Scanner (PCOS) machine failed to transmit the data to the servers during the filed test conducted at Aguho Elementary School in Pateros on Wednesday. The COMELEC blames the defective SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) for the failure.

“The concern there was not actually the system but the use of the mobile network,” Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal clarified. “We changed the SIM card and it was able to transmit, which is to say that the system works,” he added. However, Commissioner Larrazabal refused to identify the telecommunications company that provided the SIM card.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday read the report of the Senate Committee of the whole regarding the alleged C5 Road extension project controversy involving presidential aspirant Senator Manny Villar.

In the report, Senator Villar violated Section 15, Article VI of the constitution by intervening in the project for his own benefit. The Senate report seeks to censure the Senator for allegedly earning millions in the said project. Aside from censuring, the committee wanted Villar to return to the government the P6.22 billion his company allegedly “gained” through illegal means from the construction of the C-5 road extension.

The city government of Manila unveiled today in the City of Manila in time for the late president’s 77th birthday. The monument depicting a smiling Cory flashing a Laban sign in one hand and holding the 1987 Constitution in the other was erected besides her late husband Ninoy Aquino’s monument at the Rizal Park corners of P. Burgos and Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim lead the unveiling ceremony together with the former president’s son (and now presidential candidate) Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Thousands of farmers from different parts of the country converge in Manila to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the infamous Mendiola Massacre that claimed the life of 13 farmers in 1987.

The march was lead by the militant peasant group, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), on the eve of the protest, an estimated 2,000 protesters gathered in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) office in Quezon City demanding the government for a genuine reform in the agrarian sector.

Senator and presidential aspirant Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aguino III still tops the presidential race according to the survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) from December 27 to 28 last year.

Aquino tops all the 5 survey scenarios that was conducted during the test where the respondent’s were asked, “Sa mga sumusunod na pangalan sa listahang ito, sino po ang malamang ninyong iboboto bilang PRESIDENTE ng Pilipinas, kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngayon?” (Among the names found on this list, who will you probably vote for as PRESIDENT of the Philippines, if elections were held now?).

The Commission on Election (COMELEC) Second Division junks the three (3) petitions to disqualify former president Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada from running in the 2010 Presidential election. The poll body ruled to junk the 2 petitions filed by Evilio Pormento and Mary Lou Estrada for lack of merit.

“The better policy approach is to let the people decide who will be the next president. For on political questions, this Court may err but the sovereign people will not,” COMELEC’s Second Division said in a decision junking the petition filed against former president Estrada last December.

Voters will have to to choose from 150 party-list group in the coming May 2010 elections, this is after ruled on the petition of 6 more party list group.

The six (6) party-list group that will be added to the 144 party-list group are:

1. Alliance for Rural and Agrarian Reconstruction, Inc. (ARARO)
2. LPG Marketers Association, Inc. (LPGMA)
3. Alyansa Lumad Mindanao, Inc. (ALLUMAD)
4. Alyansa ng OFW Party (Alyansa)
5. Ang National Coalition on Indigenous People’s Action (Ang NCIP)
6. Bagong Koalison ng Nagkakaisang Samahan sa Sektor ng Transpostasyon (Bangon Transport)

Press Secretary Cerge M. Remonded passed away Tuesday morning after suffering from major heart attack, doctors at the Makati Medical Center (MMC) pronounced him dead at 11:51AM.

Remonde was found unconscious inside the bathroom of his Bel-Air residence by on of his staff, he was immediately brought to the hospital.

In a press briefing, Dr. Eric Nubla, head of the MMC’s patient relations office said, “Secretary Cerge Remonde was brought to the emergency department of the MMC at about 11:20 this morning. He was unconscious, he was not breathing, no heartbeat. We were there to resuscitate him. Despite heroic measures, he expired at 11:51,”