MANILA, Philippines – “Let them declare martial law in Isabela.”

This was what Isabela Governor Grace Padaca said yesterday after she claimed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will remove her from her post today.

Padaca and Pampanga Governor Eddie “Among Ed” Panlilio held a press conference yesterday in Quezon City and warned that, based on information they got, the Comelec will remove several opposition local government officials, particularly those from the Liberal Party (LP), who are facing election protest cases.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—On the advice of Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio has asked permission from the Roman Catholic Church to leave the priesthood to seek reelection.

Panlilio, Liberal Party candidate, said he submitted a petition to the office of Aniceto at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Hours after, Panlilio and his running mate Marco Lazatin, a businessman, filed their certificates of candidacy (CoCs) at 9 p.m.

Panlilio will again face former Board Member Lilia Pineda, who has a pending recount case against the governor contesting the results of the 2007 elections.

A country still reeling from shock is beginning to shift its attention from the killing fields of Ampatuan, Maguindanao, to that vast no-man’s-land called the government’s prosecutorial service. Make no mistake: some—many—of the government’s underpaid, overworked prosecutors (the old title of fiscal still clings to them, like nostalgia) have done or are doing good work. But the Department of Justice has always been vulnerable to the politics of incumbency, and the four years or so under Raul Gonzalez saw the service at its most politicized. It is too early to tell whether the DoJ, under Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, has recovered from the trauma, but we are not hopeful.

MANILA, Philippines—This is what Francisco Lara Jr., writing for MindaNews, calls political families—like the Ampatuans. He says that causes of violence and conflict in Muslim Mindanao are going through some changes. There is a new breed of warlords, he says, “whose powers depend upon their control of a vast, illegal and shadow economy and an ever-growing slice of internal revenue allotments,” and their insatiable hunger for wealth induces “a violent addiction to political office.”

Regular meeting, Nov. 28, 2009 @2:oopm Pax Office Rm 204 reza Building 1318 Quezon Ave., QC. Agenda:Finalization of the Bagsakan Project, Updates on pending matters,  Dec 5 walk-with-God, Urdaneta, Pangasinan, Newspaper Project and other matters. Thank you.

The Philippine Alliance of Xseminarians, Inc. (PAX) spearheaded a simultaneous nationwide Mass at 12 o’clock noon today, November 27, 2009 for the eternal repose of the souls of the victims of the Maguidanao Massacre and for peace in our land. Among the churches which participated were:

MANILA, Philippines — Leaders of the Catholic Church and other sectors Thursday called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to swiftly act against the perpetrators of the unprecedented election-related carnage in Maguindanao.

It took the government three days to take custody of Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. of Datu Unsay town, a prime suspect in the massacre. The mayor, a son of Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., a political ally of Ms Arroyo, was flown to Manila under the custody of presidential adviser Jesus Dureza.