Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino today said that the Department of Education’s memorandum banning campaign materials in schools is “understandable” since most public elementary schools also serve as polling centers during election time.

However, the youth solon said that the DepEd should implement the memo “without bias.”

“Dapat walang pinipili ang Deped, if it will seriously implement the memo, it should cover all local to national candidates, even corporate ads and other promotional materials.”

Palatino pointed out that DepEd Sec. Jesli Lapus himself has ads scattered in school premises with the …

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino today expressed dismay over the temporary restraining order granted by the Court of Appeals following the complaint filed by Globe Telecoms etal vs. the National Telecommunications Commission on the per-pulse rate billing of cellphone calls.
Palatino, also a convenor of TXTPower, said that the TRO further aggravates the deregulated industry of telcos.
“It basically strips the NTC of its regulatory powers and allows big telcos to control prices at the expense of consumers. Worse, any progress achieved by …

Press Statement
Feb. 19, 2010
TXTPower assails granting of a TRO vs. per-pulse charging
Mobile phone users nationwide are shocked by the issuance by the Court
of Appeals of a TRO against the implementation of per-pulse charging.
The CA’s interpretation of Section 17 is obviously favorable to the
telcos and negates the letter and spirit of the law which mandates
that government, through the NTC, should set the rates to be charged
by the telcos. This is to protect the rights and interests of
consumers vis-a-vis profit-driven telcos.
The TRO empowers the telcos to continue charging excessive rates,
which are …

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Greetings!
The latest Pulse Asia survey shows that seven out of ten Filipinos lack knowledge about the AES (Automated Election System) and the partylist system.
This is bothersome: should this hold true on Election Day, it will mean millions will be unable to vote, or have their votes invalidated, simply because of their lack of information. This is a serious blow to our efforts to advance the new politics of change for the 2010 elections.
KABATAAN Partylist is calling on all young …

Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond ‘Mong’ Palatino today said that they will conduct mock polls to help in educating voters about the party-list system and automated election system (AES).
Palatino said that this would be their action to address low partylist and AES awareness as shown by the latest Pulse Asia survey.
In the Pulse Asia survey dated January 22-26 this year, only 7 out of 10 Filipinos are aware of the party-list system, while 7 out of 10 have a little to no knowledge at all on how to vote using the …

*Rep. Mong Palatino’s speech at the Yahoo! Philippines forum on social media last Tuesday
I prepared a speech because sometimes politicians talk too much, sometimes bloggers rant too much, and sometimes activists are carried away by their emotions. Since I’m an activist, blogger, and politician, I’m worried that I might speak for more than an hour….
I started blogging in October 2004, although my first online column was written and published in 2001. Why did I decide to blog? For so many years I convinced myself and others that I became a blogger …

Signature drive launched in campuses

Representative Raymond ‘Mong’ Palatino today condemned the alleged harassment and sexual molestation of detained female health workers by their military guards in Camp Capinpin.
“It’s despicable, a very, very serious allegation. What bothers me most is that the AFP is easily dismissing it as ‘black propaganda’ instead of investigating the matter.”
“If they do not investigate immediately, the AFP would then be coddling and protecting the perpetrators. If this is true, it is are a clear violation of all humanitarian, criminal and moral laws and perpetrators should be …

February 9, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Old meets new
Youth party-list kicks off campaign with ‘Balagtasan’
LIWASANG BONIFACIO, MANILA- Unlike the traditional campaigning during election season, KABATAAN Party-list kicked off its campaign today with an ‘old but new’ form. Hailed as ‘Makabagong Balagtasan ng KABATAAN: Ito ang Dapat Pag-usapan Ngayong Halalan,’ nominees and members did the ‘rap-balagtasan’ to convey E4ALL:
1. Education and employment;
2. End tyranny and corruption;
3. Environment and national patrimony; and
4. Empowerment and equality
The said issues, according to the youth group, are the topics that should be discussed during elections (below is the …

Kabataan Party-list Representative Mong Palatino today slammed the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) announcement that they would not be printing additional ballots for the more than 250,000 new voters who registered during the extended voter registration period.

“Their announcement is clear-cut disenfranchisement.  It virtually  disregards the success and significance of the voter registration extension to thousands of youth and first-time voters. Binalewala lang ng Comelec, pinarehistro nga sila pero hindi naman sila makakaboto,” said Palatino.
December last year, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, approved the petition filed by Kabataan Party-list declaring illegal …