*Today’s Random Thoughts

On the assumption that P-Noy would have done even a halfway decent job of running the country after 5 years and everything looks even just a tad better than at any time during Gloria Arroyo’s regime, Kris Aquino would quite likely emerge as the frontrunner for the 2016 presidential election.

While there are those who would tend to doubt that Kris would actually be the Aquino administration’s top choice to run for president in 2016, let us not forget that it was her . . . not Noynoy . . . who seemed to be the public’s natural preference in the aftermath of former president Cory’s death. It was only when it quickly became known that Kris was still below the minimum age requirement for presidential candidates that the focus shifted to Noynoy.

Now, how can Kris win against all other presidential contenders in 2016? First off, she already has a huge following as a media celebrity. And she can use every opportunity all throughout Noynoy’s presidency . . . as de facto First Lady . . . to overshadow everyone else in visibility.

Cardinal Schoenborn had also accused Cardinal Sodano, who is currently the dean of the College of Cardinals, of causing “massive harm” to victims when he dismissed claims of clerical abuse as “petty gossip” last Easter Sunday.

For manifesting a rare common sense approach to addressing two pressing issues that have morphed into a monumental headache for the Vatican, Cardinal Schoenborn, who is said to be close to Pope Benedict, his onetime professor, may no longer be seen as a papal contender. But he may just spring a major surprise if enough cardinals have enough common sense like him.

*Today’s Random Thoughts

*Today’s Random Thoughts

However, as one of his first acts in office, Aquino would be well-advised to issue a hold departure order that would preclude the Arroyos . . . including the immediate past president and her husband Mike, her sons Mikey and Dato, and brother-in-law Iggy . . . from fleeing the country before a thorough probe on all of the above can be conducted.

Binay’s looming upset win would certainly be super-upsetting to Mrs. Korina Sanchez-Roxas, to say the least.  And a cause for further resentment towards Aquino’s sisters, especially TV personality Kris, whom some observers say batted for Binay behind the scenes.

However, Mar Roxas might still emerge as the victor if the recent endorsements of Iglesia ni Cristo leader Eduardo Manalo and “Appointed Son of God” Apollo Quiboloy can really marshal the “command” votes that followers of these religion entrepreneurs are claiming to be in the millions.

God be with you, Mar . . . and I mean the real one . . . whoever That really is.

Meanwhile, it’s good to see that pre-election violence has been spotty, with the latest incident occuring yesterday when suspected New People’s Army rebels burned down a school building with five Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines in a remote village in Miag-ao town in Iloilo.

The reason for the assault: Miami police said the victim and other TSA employees had been making fun of the size of the screener’s genitals.

The conflict started several months ago when screener Rolando Negrin, 44, and his co-workers were trained on the TSA’s controversial full body image scanners at the Miami International Airport.

The body scanners allow TSA staff to view images of the airline passengers’ full bodies . . . private parts and all . . . in a separate room.

According to the police report, during the training exercise the machines revealed that Negrin “had a small manhood and his co-workers made fun of him on a daily basis.”

After several months of constant ridicule, Negrin told police that “he could not take the jokes anymore and lost his mind.”

And so last Tuesday night, when fellow screener Hugo Osorno, 34, arrived at his car at the end of a shift, Negrin was reportedly waiting for him with a police baton. With the batuta, Negrin then allegedly started to beat Osorno on his arms and back.

Negrin was arrested the next day at his post at a TSA checkpoint and charged with aggravated battery.

Although Negrin was released Wednesday night on a $7,500 bail bond, it’s unclear if he was also charged with possession of an unlethal weapon.

But the young man from the Bicol region appears to be in too much of a hurry to occupy Malacañang Palace and in his ill-concealed haste, he may yet alienate a considerable block of voters that could spell the difference between victory and defeat when he does get to run for the top political plum in the Asian country.

While it’s not unusual for voters in the Philippines to cross party lines and actually vote for a president and a vice president from two different political parties, his recent decision to dump Mar Roxas (Liberal Party vice presidential running mate of Noynoy Aquino) and endorse Jojo Binay (Erap Estrada’s running mate under Pwersa Ng Masang Pilipino) could alienate a considerable number of Mar’s supporters twelve years from now when he would be a more viable presidential candidate . . . that’s after Mar completes his own term as president after Noynoy’s.

But given a history of widespread cheating in the counting of votes especially for presidential and senatorial candidates, it’s not impossible that Aquino would end up being an ‘ex-future president’ like Fernando Poe, Jr. who was perceived to have actually won substantially more votes than Gloria Arroyo, the sitting president.

That’s unless more voters realize that despite the presence of quite a few presidential wannabes, it really has become a contest between just two viable contenders: Aquino and the super-wealthy Villar who is generally expected to spend billions of his own pesos to become Arroyo’s successor.

That said, Aquino’s campaign organization must now focus on converting many of those who intend to vote for Joseph “Erap” Estrada, Richard “Dick” Gordon, Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro and a couple of other unlikely winners into unequivocal Noynoy Aquino supporters. Quite simply because in a very close fight, it would not take rocket science to believe that only a final pre-election survey lead of 15% or more would make it much more difficult for Villar’s “operators” to steal victory from Cory and Ninoy Aquino’s worthy son.

Why should Manuel Villar NOT become the next president of the Philippines? Recent  columns of Malaya’s Lito Banayo and Philippine Star’s Billy Esposo, whose blogs are linked to PinoyPundit.com, provide a plethora of compelling and alarming reasons.

Pope Benedict XVI began this past Holy Week by suggesting in his Palm Sunday address that the Catholic Church “would not be intimidated” by press reports of sex abuse scandals sweeping it. This hubris on the part of the the pope’s PR handlers cannot possibly help in any way to at least send a signal to victims of clergy abuse all over the globe that the Vatican would ever deviate from a long-term pattern of covering up the misdeeds of pedophiles among its priests and bishops.

Today, in another pathetic attempt at damage control, the Vatican issued an apparently heated defense of Pope Benedict XVI, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic “hate” campaign targeting the pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

But why are other individuals like former SEC chair Perfecto Yasay, broadcaster Jay Sonza and former Marikina mayor Bayani Fernando still running for the second highest elected position in the Philippines?

Even if any of these people were in the same league as “Money Villaroyo”, their obviously minimal voter appeal . . . as sadly validated by their single-digit ratings in recent surveys . . . would not justify spending the hundreds of millions that’s required to finance a nationwide multimedia ad blitz and deploy a nationwide campaign organization.

An open letter from the pope to Irish Catholics was read today all over Europe in the wake of a growing multi-nation sexual abuse scandal. The pope finally made it a point to apologize to victims but neglected to impose immediate punishments to those bishops tagged by Irish government investigators as having covered up specific cases involving thousands of Irish children from the 1930s to the 1990s. The pope likewise ordered an investigation of the Irish church, while clearly steering clear of blaming the problem on the Vatican’s long-standing policies of keeping such cases under wraps.

Incidentally, instead of issuing a papal apology much earlier than today, the Vatican caused a major furor among Catholics in Germany a few days ago when a papal spokesman released a statement deploring “a deliberate effort” by certain quarters to try and link the pope to cases of sexual abuse in Germany when he was an archbishop there prior to his elevation to the papacy.

Now, while the very idea of sexual hanky panky by the pope himself may sound absurd, an intriguing bit of news was carried by wire services sometime in the first week of this month and published by The New York Times as well as The Huffington Post among other major media outlets. The news story mentioned a certain Angelo Balducci, a ceremonial papal usher with the official title of “Gentleman of His Holiness”, who was fired after reportedly being caught by Italian police February 10th while arranging for a male prostitute to be brought to him inside the Vatican. Over the past couple of years, the young men whom Balducci reportedly paid around US$2,600 a pop included “two black Cuban lads”, a former male model from Naples, and a soccer player from Rome.

At first glance, the LTO’s main objective appears to be justifiable: Empower its field agents and the PNP to solve car theft and other transport-related cases faster than their so-called old method, since it would facilitate detection of anomalies in vehicle information. But one wonders if LTO chief Arturo Lomibao and the Palace . . . which had said in Ocober last year that it would ask the LTO to reconsider the program due to alleged irregularities that former socioeconomic planning chief Ralph Recto had pointed out . . . had really done their homework before going ahead with this absolutely unnecessary burden on the the driving public. You see, a quick Google check would have pointed out to them that there’s an alternative that would cost vehicle registrants nothing.

That alternative is called Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) from PlateScan, a US-based firm. According to their website, digital license plate images are automatically captured as each vehicle passes a special camera that can be either mobile or fixed. The plate numbers can then be automatically cross-checked in real time against local, regional and, if necessary, national databases to identify vehicles that are of interest to authorities. Needless to say, carnapped vehicles would be spotted instantly, allowing appropriate and immediate action.

So what’s the key difference between ALPR and RFID? Unlike RFID, PlateScan’s technology does not require vehicle owners to install stickers with microchips.

PlateScan claims that it achieves its high level of accuracy through the use of neural networks, an artificial intelligence-like capability that enhances their system’s ability to recognize, interpret and report suspecious plate reads . . . all in a matter of seconds.

In the meantime, Manny might really be serious in talking about suing the Mayweathers for defamation due to their oft-repeated charge that the Filipino boxing idol has been helped along the way to the top of his game by steroids.