Religion has always played a powerful role in the Philippines, and is now emerging as a major issue with campaigning under way for forthcoming elections. Filipinos, who will head to the polls in May to elect a new president and legislature, will also consider other familiar election themes, including corruption and family interests. Al Jazeera’s Marga Ortigas reports. (Mar 31, 2010)…

Critics of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippine president, have stepped up claims that she has been cashing in on her position, to add to her growing personal wealth. But Arroyo says she has been falsely accused, and there is no proof she has been plundering state funds. The accusations come ahead of May’s presidential elections, in which a former president – once convicted of plunder himself -…