Fake Sultan?

From Ernie Maceda:

Fake? Malacañang must explain if it is recognizing Jamalul Kiram as the Sultan of Sulu when GMA introduced him as such when the administration named him its 12th candidate for senator. Sultan Esmael Kiram II has taken out a full-page ad claiming to be the real Sultan of Sulu. Is Malacañang presenting a fake?

In Parañaque City, GMA even introduced Jamalul Kiram as the Sultan of Brunei. It looks like Team GMA is not taking Kiram’s candidacy seriously. He is just a filler to complete its slate. Imagine eight Cabinet members refused to run with Team GMA: Eduardo Ermita, Angelo Reyes, Joseph Ace Durano, Francis Duque III, Rolando Andaya Jr., Ignacio Bunye, Alberto Romulo and Heherson Alvarez.

MORE: He also had nice things to say about Sonia Roco:

Genuine educator. In the air-conditioned Cebu Coliseum, GMA proclaimed Tessie Oreta as “The Champion of Women and Education,” understandable because the erstwhile oppositionist is the only woman in the Team GMA senatorial slate. She served as chairman of the Senate committee on education.

Sen. Serge Osmeña said a look at her Senate record shows that the lack of classrooms and teachers worsened during her term as Senate education committee head. The long-standing formalization of pre-school or early childhood education was not passed. She does not have a bachelor’s degree much less a master’s degree in Education or related fields.

In contrast, the opposition is offering Sonia Roco as its Inang-guro, who will focus on the problems of education and women causes.

Sonia graduated from St. Joseph’s College with a bachelor’s degree in Education, magna cum laude. She earned a master’s degree in Communication Arts and Social Psychology from Ateneo de Manila University. She took post-graduate studies in speech and drama in London.

Roco founded our school, a center for early childhood education at the Ateneo. She established the Live and Learn Pre-school at Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

She is an active leader of civil society and NGOs. She is past president and founding member of WIN (Women in Nation Building). Her campaign slogan is education-focused: Bawat bata ay nag-aral, bawat pamilya ay may graduate.

Sonia’s track record in education and women’s causes is better and bigger than Oreta’s. She’s a genuine educator.

She is a fresh face in the political scene. A survivor of the Baguio earthquake, she is a woman of destiny.

I will strongly campaign for her.