BALANGA CITY, Bataan–The local government of Bataan has come to the aid of its namesake in Mindanao, the disaster-ravaged town of New Bataan in Compostela Valley, by contributing to the relief and rehabilitation efforts of the Philippine Red Cross in the area.

MANILA, Philippines – There’s no doubt about it. The election season is here.

Vice President Jejomar Binay’s opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) begins Tuesday, January 8, its first coalition-organized sorties for its senatorial slate ahead of the May 13 polls. The provincial sorties are timed with the release of the coalition’s first slate ad.

The sorties and ads come a month before the start of the official campaign period for national candidates set by the Commission on Elections, February 12 to May 11.

MANILA, Philippines – At 77, former Senate President Ernesto “Manong Ernie” Maceda is the oldest senatorial candidate in 2013. He is convinced, going by his track record, that he could be among the most brilliant too.

He has been out of the race for nearly a decade -- a has-been, critics say -- but the performance of the so-called “octomaneuvers” in the Corona impeachment trial early last year inspired him to get on the course again.

(UPDATED) MANILA, Philippines – If there's someone who should be happiest about the historic raffle of party-list groups on Friday, January 4, it should be Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr, who initiated the Comelec's unprecedented party-list purge.