MikeLigalig.com

Bwahaha! The idea of sponsoring chess tournaments calls to mind a few false moves and many, many bad memories...

Bwahaha! How about Pandanggo sa Ilaw?

China has rejected all such criticisms, and a government-backed scholar said a significant sector of the public believes Beijing hasn't gone far enough in challenging Tokyo and the U.S.

"Japan has its own air defense zone, so why shouldn't China? This is something China should have done a long time ago," said Qu Xing, head of the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank affiliated with the Foreign Ministry. (Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.)

However, Japan's Cabinet Secretary Yoshide Suga said Abe was drawing the Britain-Germany analogy as a warning for the two Asian countries not to repeat the same mistake of being drawn into a war despite their extensive trade ties.

Suga also told reporters that he is aware of reports that China had issued warnings to foreign aircraft, but declined to confirm them. "I don't understand what China means by voice-warning," Suga said. Japan's defense ministry has not reported any "abnormal flights" by Chinese military jets since Beijing declared its air zone, he said.

China's announcement about issuing warnings shows Beijing is serious about enforcing the zone and will likely be seen as an escalation by Japan and others, said Huang Jing, a China expert at Singapore National University's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. China has consistently unnerved its neighbors since announcing the air defense zone with no advance warning and little explanation, he said.

China and Japan have been engaged in a heightened war of words since Abe visited the Yasukuni shrine honoring war dead, including commanders executed as war criminals for committing atrocities in China and elsewhere during World War II. China has furiously protested the visit and launched a new round of invective against Japan in international media and diplomatic circles.

Abe says the visits are intended to pay homage to those who died and to show his commitment to pacifism, not to praise war criminals.

China's Foreign Ministry said Abe's World War I comments made Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switerzerland, and his visit to the shrine were signs of belligerence. "The Japanese leader, while paying lip-service to a positive peace policy, is effectively adopting a policy of military expansion and preparation for war," ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Friday.

The zone is seen primarily as targeting Japanese and U.S. military flights over the East China Sea. Its declaration followed more than a year of heightened tensions between China and Japan over control of a series of tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The zone pointedly incorporates the island chain, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, which are controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing.

The zone also incorporates a vast area of international airspace from Taiwan to the Korean Peninsula and overlaps in places with zones enforced by South Korea and Japan.

The zone is a "purely defensive measure that conforms to international practice," Shen said.

The U.S., Japan and other countries denounced the zone's declaration in November as provocative and said they would ignore China's demands that their military aircraft announce flight plans, identify themselves and follow Chinese instructions. China has said it would take unspecified measures against aircraft that disobey.

In a policy address Friday in Tokyo, Abe reiterated Japan's position, saying it would "not tolerate any attempt to change the status quo by force." He said Japan would beef up its defensive capabilities "in order to defend the safety in the southwestern region, as well as the vast sea and airspace around Japan."

Associated Press By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN



In this Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's P-3C Orion surveillance plane flies over the disputed islands in the East China Sea, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. China said Friday, Jan. 24, 2014, it has begun issuing warnings to foreign military planes entering its self-declared air defense zone over the East China Sea, showing its determination to enforce a measure blamed for stoking tensions in the region, especially with Japan. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, File)


BEIJING (AP) â€" China said Friday it has begun issuing warnings to foreign military planes entering its self-declared air defense zone over the East China Sea amid heightened tensions with its neighbors, especially Japan.

Chinese state media quoted air force spokesman Shen Jinke as saying several kinds of Chinese planes recently patrolled the sweeping zone that was declared in November. He said the planes identified several foreign military aircraft, flew alongside them and issued them warnings. He didn't identify the planes or say when the patrol was conducted.

Corrupt legislators dancing tinikling?

Etiam atque meus puer! Nil bastardum carborundum!

Pikoy is just lolling around...

Na hala, ikog na lay putlon, aron mahisama ani nia kakyut...

Hmm, nakaideya ko. Kortehaan nako ang dunggan ni Botoyitot...

Quote from: islander on January 21, 2014, 08:46:41 PM
hehe.  serves you right, billionaire.

Luoy tawon, Ondoy, purdoy.
Sigi lang, sinaw man pikoy...

Amg motuo pasmo
Ug malagmit, gago!

Hmm, basin sa kainosente wa masayod nga mao na diay to...

Di na madutlan og kahinuklog ning mga tawhana...

What an adorable Sphynx kitten!

Hahay, lajo pa jamo ang letter S. Unhan ta lang ka, Madame, sa ahong favorite breed...



The incomparably beautiful Sphynx.

Witness testimony

In some cases against alleged witch-doctors due to come to trial later this year, police will use the testimony of children who managed to survive abduction.

One such witness is a three-year-old boy called Mukisa, who was left for dead after his penis was hacked off by an assailant.

He survived thanks to quick work by surgeons, and later told police he had been mutilated by a neighbour who is known to keep a shrine.

Mukisa's mother told us: "Every time I look at him, I ask myself how his future is going to be - a man without a penis - and how the rest of the community will look at him, with private parts that can neither be attributed to a man or a woman. Every time I recall the normal birth that I had and the way Mukisa is now, it is like the end of the world."

Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo believes that "to punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past."

Child protection activists in organisations such as FAPAD (Facilitation for Peace and Development) and ANPPCAN (African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect) have highlighted recent cases of ritual killing and called for new legislation to regulate so-called "traditional healers".

Activism

Former witch-doctor turned anti-sacrifice campaigner Polino Angela says he has persuaded 2,400 other witch-doctors to give up the trade since he himself repented in 1990.
   
Mr Angela told us he had first been initiated as a witch-doctor at a ceremony in neighbouring Kenya, where a boy of about 13 was sacrificed.

"The child was cut with a knife on the neck and the entire length from the neck down was ripped open, and then the open part was put on me," he said.

When he returned to Uganda he says he was told by those who had initiated him to kill his own son, aged 10.

"I deceived my wife and made sure that everyone else had gone away and I was with my child alone. Once he was placed down on the ground, I used a big knife and brought it down like a guillotine."

Asked if he was afraid he might now be prosecuted as a result of confessing to killing 70 people, he said: "I have been to all the churches… and they know me as a warrior in the drive to end witchcraft that involves human sacrifice, so I think that alone should indemnify me and have me exonerated."

Extortion

The witch-doctor denied any direct involvement in murder or incitement to murder, saying his spirits spoke directly to his clients.

He told us he was paid 500,000 Ugandan shillings (£160 or $260) for a consultation, but that most of that money was handed over to his "boss" in a nationwide network of witch-doctors.
   
Head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice and Trafficking Task Force, assistant commissioner Moses Binoga of the Ugandan police, said he knew of the boss referred to - involved in one of five or six witch-doctor protection rackets operating in the country.

"The senior ones extort money from lower people because they deal in illegal things," he told us.

Mr Binoga said police had opened 26 murder cases in 2009, in which the victim appeared to have been ritually sacrificed, compared with just three cases in 2007.

"We also have about 120 children and adults reported missing whose fate we have not traced. We cannot rule out that they may be victims of human sacrifice," he said.

But child protection campaigners believe the real number is much higher, as some disappearances are not reported to police.

The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.

In the course of our investigation we witnessed the ritual torching of the shrine of a particularly active witch-doctor in northern Uganda by anti-sacrifice campaigners.

The witch-doctor allowed ceremonial items including conch shells and animal skins to be burned in his sacred grove after agreeing to give up sacrifice.

He told us that clients had come to him in search of wealth.

"They capture other people's children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits… They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming," he said.

Asked how often clients brought blood and body parts, the witch-doctor said they came "on average three times a week - with all that the spirits demand from them."

We saw a beaker of blood and what appeared to be a large, raw liver in the shrine before it was destroyed, although it was not possible to determine whether they were human remains.

Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda
Page last updated at 09:45 GMT, Thursday, 7 January 2010
By Tim Whewell
BBC News, Uganda


A BBC investigation into human sacrifice in Uganda has heard first-hand accounts which suggest ritual killings of children may be more common than authorities have acknowledged.

One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits.

Meanwhile, a former witch-doctor who now campaigns to end child sacrifice confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.

Quote from: hubag bohol on January 19, 2014, 02:42:29 PM

Nagpuyo tingali ni sila sa treetops kay hadlok maoy himoong adobo sa ilang mga kaaway...

He he, staple and sago. Ang human fresh for special occasions lang...

Kaluoy. Mao tingali ni ang mga balay daplin sa sapa...

Lucky name...

“If the current rate would persist, then we would have to revisit our assumptions. But our view is this could be temporary,” Mr. Balisacan said.

“We expected a lot of remittances because of the disasters, and I think the November number is historically high. That’s likely to continue until December and January. And then you have the other sectors, like exports of services and manufactured goods, investments, those will have offsetting effects,” he noted.

Mr. Tetangco, meanwhile, said: “The macroeconomic fundamentals of the Philippines remains strong and our external position remains healthy,” which provides enough of a buffer against external shocks.

“In fact, we are projecting another BoP (balance of payments) surplus this year and that surplus is due to a current account surplus, which is good because it shows a real improvement in the position,” he added. -- Bettina Faye V. Roc and Ann Rozainne R. Gregorio

The peso hit P45 per dollar last week as positive US economic data led investors to favor the greenback. It closed at P45:$1 last Wednesday and weakened further to P45.12 on Thursday -- the weakest since Aug. 23, 2010’s P45.13 -- and then recovered slightly on Friday, returning to P45:$1.

It has depreciated by 1.36% from its P44.395 per dollar close at the end of 2013.

The currency’s fall, Mr. Balisacan said, does not signify a weakening economy.

“Our advantage over countries like Indonesia and India is we have very strong fundamentals. Our current accounts position is positive ... Our remittances are very strong,” he noted.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee expects the exchange rate to stay within a range of P41-44:$1 through 2016.

http://www.bworldonline.com/
Posted on January 19, 2014 10:42:43 PM


ECONOMIC managers are not worried over the peso’s weakening, which they said was not unexpected and the impact mitigated by the country’s strong fundamentals.



“When the peso depreciates a bit, it makes the productive sectors more competitive, whether it is exporting or import-substituting,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said at the sidelines of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) annual reception for the banking community last Friday.

Central bank governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., also told reporters that the peso’s drop was “not totally unexpected, just like the weakening of other regional currencies or other emerging market currencies for that matter, because there remains uncertainty about the speed and duration of the [US] Fed’s tapering that is causing market volatility.”

SEVERE FLOODING. Heavy rains from Tropical Depression Agaton submerge houses in Butuan, Agusan del Norte. Photo by Erwin Mascarinas/Agence France-Presse

The results of a study on reproductive health, published in the British Medical Journal, revealed that one in 200 US women claim to have given birth without ever having had sexual intercourse.

The BMJ reports that of the women who took part in the study, 45 (0.5%) reported at least one virgin pregnancy, "unrelated to the use of assisted reproductive technology".

They claim to have conceived without vaginal intercourse or in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

The BMJ article notes that virgin births, or parthenogenesis (from the Greek parthenos for virgin and genesis for birth), can occur in non-humans as a consequence of "asexual reproduction, where growth and development of the embryo occurs without fertilisation".

However, the authors of the study, entitled "Like a virgin (mother)", warn that researchers need to take into account the possibility of fallible memory on the part of respondents.

As news of the nun's pregnancy has spread, the mayor of Rieti, Simone Petrangi, asked local residents and media to give the woman privacy.

Clothes and donations have been collected and sent to the hospital where she gave birth.

"I did not know I was pregnant. I only felt a stomach pain," she told the Ansa news agency.

Other nuns at the convent also expressed shock at the mysterious pregnancy of a holy sister at their order, saying they were "very surprised", according to Italian media reports.

Don Fabrizio Borrelio, a local pastor, says he believes that the nun is telling the truth about being unaware of her pregnancy. He said the nun plans to take care of the baby herself.

Shocked Italian Nun Gives Birth to Baby Boy
IB Times By Fiona Keating
January 18, 2014 4:52 AM


A 31-year-old nun has given birth to a baby boy in Rieti, Italy, after experiencing abdominal pains she thought were stomach cramps.

After she was taken to a hospital, she gave birth to a baby and named him Francis after the current pope. The nun, originally from El Salvador, claims she had no idea she was pregnant.

The sister belongs to a convent which is located near the city of Rieti, which has a population of 47,700.

The nun belongs to the "Little Disciples of Jesus'' convent in Campomoro near Rieti, which manages an old people's home.

Quote from: islander on January 19, 2014, 10:30:31 PM
American Polydactyl    

   

country     United States
origin        Mutation
body type  Moderate
coat          Short/Long
pattern      All

Ah, the quaint Hemingway cat...

H3, H3, H1N4N664W L4N6 B4...

Si Bay Tigs? Gimingaw sa iyang frenemy...

Diner: See you, see me...
Mr. Froggy: Here's looking at you, kid.

Dayon pakapinan ani. Soriso, folks...

It is excruciatingly painful and for the most part avoidable. Some people have a genetic predisposition and it is more common in men, but it is mostly your lifestyle that makes the difference. It is increasing with obesity and heavier drinking.

Gout, the most common form of inflammatory arthritis, is caused by a build-up of uric acid, which is produced when the body breaks down chemicals in foods called purines. The kidneys should get rid of it, but if they are not working well, or there is too much uric acid for them to cope with, the excess can turn into crystals that lodge particularly in toe and finger joints, causing swelling and serious pain.

So to avoid it, watch your weight and be wary of food and drinks that are high in purines. Beer is a particular problem (a Nottingham University study found the highest rates in the north-east of England). Spirits and red wine are bad; white wine is slightly less so.

Just to make things difficult, some of the foods we are told are healthy are a problem for those with gout. Oily fish, such as herring and mackerel, are otherwise extremely good for us, but increase the risk. Shellfish is a problem. Yeast extracts are bad. So is offal, such as liver, sweetbreads and tripe. Soft drinks containing fructose, which have been implicated in obesity, are also thought by some scientists to be better avoided.

Arthritis Research UK, which offers help and advice, says the best strategy is to keep your weight down, be active and drink lots of water.

Gout's on the rise â€" so how can you avoid it?
http://www.theguardian.com/
Posted by Sarah Boseley
Wednesday 15 January 2014 17.32 GMT


This excruciatingly painful condition now affects 1.6 million people in the UK. Beer can bring it on, but so can wine and even some 'healthy' foods



The Gout: an 18th-century cartoon by James Gillray depicts the agony induced by the condition. Photograph: Lordprice Collection/Alamy


My first encounter with gout was in the pages of Little Lord Fauntleroy, the tale of an American boy from a humble background who turns out to be the heir of a crusty English earl. But gout is no longer a privilege of the port-swigging aristocracy, if it ever was. New research suggests 1.6 million people in the UK have it and the numbers are rising fast, at a rate of about 4% a year.

Kaon nga pinobre...

Dead tree chair...

Opponents objected to provisions that would authorise heavy prison terms for online libel, and give the state the power to shut down websites and monitor online activities.

"Under that law, telcos (telecommunications firms) are required to retain their data or log files within a period of six months. Since there is a temporary restraining order, there is no legal basis for them to comply," Sosa said.

Ronald Aguto, cybercrime division chief of the justice department's National Bureau of Investigation, said Filipino law enforcers are making do with other laws to go after offenders, including one against child pornography.

However, he said these were not enough.

"In these matters, time is of the essence. We need to swiftly get the data from Internet providers," he said in an interview over local DZBB radio.

Video streaming earned them at least $100 an hour, and photo sessions were worth up to 3,000 pesos (about $66), he added.

Sosa said most people who pay to view the activity are from the United States and Europe.

"There is no interest in child pornography in our culture. So it is mostly production."

Sosa said the crime had spread through the help of wireless technology where users cannot be effectively tracked by law enforcers.

The Philippine passed a law in September 2012 meant to stamp out cybercrimes including fraud, identity theft, spamming, and child pornography.

But the Supreme Court blocked the statute before it could take effect amid a legal challenge that it has yet to rule on.

The victims are mostly younger than 18, he said, recounting how he took part in some police raids in the northern city of Angeles, where boys and girls aged between 10 and 14 performed "lewd acts" in front of cameras.

Some of the suspects arrested are Americans or Europeans, with Filipino "cohorts", he said.

In Manila, he said the streaming is done inside hotel rooms. It is also done in 31 of the Philippines' 81 provinces, with Angeles, the central city of Cebu and the southern city of Cagayan de Oro being the other main sites.

The police official said some of the streaming is done inside shanties in the sprawling slums of the Philippines, a country of 100 million where one in four people live on less than a dollar a day, according to government data.

"The parents themselves facilitate the children's participation," Sosa said, adding their earnings help support the families.

Police in Britain, Australia and the Philippines announced on Thursday that they had jointly dismantled a paedophile ring that streamed live sexual abuse of Filipino children as young as six over the Internet. In some cases, the victims' parents were involved.

Fifteen victims aged between six and 15 have been rescued, Britain's National Crime Agency said on Thursday, adding that 29 people had been arrested, including 11 in the Philippines.

Three other ongoing investigations have identified 733 suspects, the agency added.

Sosa said the Philippines is a "top 10" purveyor of what he described as a global "cottage industry (worth) billions of dollars".

AFP News â€" Fri, Jan 17, 2014



A computer-generated 10-year-old Filipino girl called Sweetie helped identify over 1,000 paedophiles around the world


The Philippines has rapidly become a key hub of the billion-dollar global child cybersex industry, with operators aided by widespread poverty and legal loopholes that allow them to remain anonymous, police said on Friday.

Paying subscribers anywhere in the world can log in to sites operated from Manila and across the archipelago that stream the abuse of Filipino children on the Internet, Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa said.

"We are the origin, the source," Sosa, head of the Philippine National Police's anti-cybercrime unit, told a news conference, adding the industry spread rapidly across the country last year.

Kanindot. Di angay lingkoran aron di mapanggos. (Ang kahoy, di ang lubot. Bahala na lang ang lubot.)

Hiroo Onoda (March 19, 1922 â€" January 16, 2014)

Mr Onoda surrendered to the Philippine president in March 1974


http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Archive footage showed Hiroo Onoda returning from the Philippines in 1974

Mr Onoda refused to surrender until his former commanding officer rescinded his orders

Hiroo Onoda, speaking in 2001: "I've never regretted anything"

Quote from: chicogon on January 11, 2014, 12:14:51 AM


Kining duha pang pritohay ni

Kini prito pood...

Quote from: islander on January 17, 2014, 04:38:01 PM

Star Wars No Pants Subway Ride, Mexico City, January 2013

Gasalig uroy ning paratrooper nga di siya ilhan...

Hmm, I'd say those 30 years were not really wasted at all...

Quote from: islander on January 17, 2014, 10:33:59 PM

A chromatist's dream...

Bwahaha! Author: "Secret" 

The son of a teacher, Onoda worked for a Japanese trading firm in Shanghai after finishing high school in 1939. Three years later, he was drafted and trained at a military academy.

In December 1944, he was sent to Lubang, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Manila. Most other Japanese soldiers surrendered when U.S. troops landed on Lubang in February 1945, though hundreds remained missing for years after the war.

As he struggled to feed himself, Onoda's mission became one of survival. He stole rice and bananas from local people down the hill, and shot their cows to make dried beef, triggering occasional skirmishes.

The turning point came on Feb. 20, 1974, when he met a young globe-trotter, Norio Suzuki, who ventured to Lubang in pursuit of Onoda.

Suzuki quietly pitched camp in lonely jungle clearings and waited. "Oi," Onoda eventually called out, and eventually began speaking with him.

Suzuki returned to Japan and contacted the government, which located Onoda's superior - Maj. Yoshimi Taniguchi - and flew him to Lubang to deliver his surrender order in person.

In his formal surrender to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Onoda wore his 30-year-old imperial army uniform, cap and sword, all still in good condition.

After the initial sensation of his return home wore off, Onoda bought a ranch in Brazil. He later was head of a children's nature school in northern Japan.

"I don't consider those 30 years a waste of time," Onoda said in a 1995 interview with The Associated Press. "Without that experience, I wouldn't have my life today."

Still, he showed a great zeal for making up for years lost.

"I do everything twice as fast so I can make up for the 30 years," Onoda said. "I wish someone could eat and sleep for me so I can work 24 hours a day."

Onoda was an intelligence officer who came out of hiding, erect but emaciated, in fatigues patched many times over, on Lubang island in the Philippines in March 1974, on his 52nd birthday. He surrendered only when his former commander flew there to reverse his 1945 orders to stay behind and spy on American troops.

Onoda and another World War II holdout, Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi, who emerged from the jungle in 1972, received massive heroes' welcomes upon returning home.

Before and during the war, Japanese were taught absolute loyalty to the nation and the emperor. Soldiers in the Imperial Army observed a code that said death was preferable to surrender.

Onoda refused to give up, despite at least four searches during which family members appealed to him over loudspeakers and flights dropped leaflets urging him to surrender.

AP
January 17, 2014, 9: 40 AM


TOKYO -- Hiroo Onoda, the last Japanese imperial soldier to emerge from hiding in a jungle in the Philippines and surrender, 29 years after the end of World War II, has died. He was 91.

Onoda died Thursday at a Tokyo hospital after a brief stay there. Chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga on Friday expressed his condolences, praising Onoda for his strong will to live and indomitable spirit.

"After World War II, Mr. Onoda lived in the jungle for many years and when he returned to Japan, I felt that finally, the war was finished. That's how I felt," Suga said.

No mercy!

Kalami, Red Horse below zero...

Diplomacy at its best...

Agoi, kalami! Aron dili puol, usahay humba na pud, o kaha kare-kare, o lansiao, patatim, adobo, lechon, chicharon bulaklak, paklay, dinuguan...

"The Tree Church" â€" Kanimo, Ghana

Le Chêne Chapelle â€" Allouville-Bellefosse, France

Quote from: islander on January 13, 2014, 02:26:45 AM
laing pangutana:  mga hitsuraan ba pod ang gipangkuotan?  bilib na gyod ko sa pulis kun ang tubag ani oo.

Tubag: Dili, kana kon ang kuoton kwarta...

Hmm, you must have ultraviolated pupils...

Hala, gauna man ang hangin ug ulan sa Deep South karong tuiga.

Little is known publicly concerning the discovery but a July 18, 2013 service contract for Malolos 1, provides the following description: “The Malolos Oil Field is located some eight kilometers by road from the Cebu’s western coast.

Oil transportation options from the Malolos Oil Field include road transport by a new, all weather, concrete road from the well site to coastal port options at nearby Aloguinsan (8 kms â€" less than 10 minutes by road) or the larger, established port of Toledo (32 kms â€" 30 minutes by road).

One option would be to load the oil onto marine transport for sale either to one of two oil refineries located in Batangas, Philippines (approximately 500 kms north) or in Singapore.”

Although there had been gas finds in the Philippines, most of the wells are located offshore and require considerable investments to extract. (Reuters)

Although measurements and testing in Malolos-1 proved that the well can produce oil at rates between 100 to 200 barrels per day, “initial assessment of the oil volume potential within the Malolos oilfield is a ‘Contingent Resource’ oil in place in the two oil productive sandstones in the range of between a ‘Low Estimate’ (1C) of 4 million barrels and a ‘High Estimate’ (3C) of 42 million barrels, with a ‘Best Estimate’ (2C) of 12 million barrels of ‘Total Oil Initially in Place’.”

Another advantage of the onshore Malolos oilfield is its proximity to land which makes transporting its products and establishing a pipeline highly feasible and commercially viable. Most of the oilfields in the country are located far offshore and required relatively bigger investments in terms of infrastructure.

Gas2Grid successfully perforated and flow tested two oil bearing sandstones in Malolos-1.

“Oil was produced on short term test at indicative production rates of between 100 to 200 barrels of oil per day (bopd) … Previously drilled wells, Malolos-1 and Malolos-4, recorded oil bearing sandstones over a 496 metre (1,627 feet) vertical interval. The recent oil test production rates (between 100 â€" 200 bopd) confirm Malolos-1 as an oil discovery well.

“We are confident that further testing of Malolos-1 will result in commercial oil production from a much larger Malolos oilfield than currently assessed,” Gas2Grid said.

Earlier Gas2Grid managing director Dennis Morton said application for declaration of an oil discovery is the first step in appraising and developing the Malolos oilfield.

“When approved by the DOE it will provide an additional minimum period of 12 months to flow test the well and establish commercial production. Following the completion of that work and with the DOE’s approval of commercial status, the Malolos oilfield will enter a 25 year production phase.

Morton added that available technical data also indicated the possibly that Service Contract 44 “is much larger Malolos oilfield than initially assessed.”

Service Contract 44, covers 750 square kilometers in central Cebu.

http://www.tempo.com.ph/
Jan 10th, 2014


A new oil discovery in Cebu declared by the Department of Energy (DoE) is expected to augur well for the Philippines, which is heavily dependent on imported oil.

Australian firm Gas2Grid formally announced the approval by the Energy Department of its application to declare the Malolos-1 oil well on the shore of Cebu as an “oil discovery.”

“The company advises (announces) that the Philippine Department of Energy has formally recognized Malolos-1 as an oil discovery and approved an extension of SC [Service Contract] 44 in order to conduct oil production with the aim of establishing a commercial oilfield,” Gas2Grid said in an announcement.