MikeLigalig.com

Some local government units have earlier announced via Twitter some flooded areas in their cities:

Valenzuela (As of 8 am):

Mabolo Hongkong 10-12inches Dalandanan BDO 7inches
M.H Del Pilar Malanday 6-8inches
T.santiago corner MacArthur - 4inches
G.Lazaro 5inches
Coloong2 4inches
Balangkas deato st.16inches
Polo - 5 inches
Tiwala - 9 inches
Isla - 8 inches
Bisig - 4 inches

Southern

Multinational - gutter deep.
Sucat to Evacom - waist deep.
Malugay Mayapis - knee deep.
Brgy. Yakal - knee deep.
Pasong Tamo - gutter deep.

The MMDA said EDSA and C5 Road are passable as of 7:27 a.m.

Other areas flooded according to the MMDA include:

Taft Kalaw Orosa - waist deep
Quezon blvd Paterno - knee deep.
Quezon blvd Soler - knee deep.
UN ave - 1/2 tire
Manila City hall - knee deep.
Quirino extn./UN - knee deep.
Jose Abad Santos Tayuman lto - waist deep.
Jose Abad Santos Batangas - 1/2 tire deep.
Jose Abad Santos Tayabas - gutter deep.
Recto Avenida WB - tire deep
Recto Avenida EB - gutter deep
Quirino Taft - gutter deep.
Buendia Quirino - 26 inches (as of 3:40 a.m.)
Edsa Taft Rotunda Intersection - knee deep (as of 2:57 a.m.)
Sentosia Macapagal - knee deep
LAGUSNILAD - not passable to light vehicles
Burgos/Victoria - not passable to light vehicles
Taft/Ayala - not passable to light vehicles
Finance Road - not passable to light vehicles
Muralla St. Intramuros- not passable to light vehicles

By Louis Bacani (philstar.com) | Updated August 19, 2013 - 9:30am





MANILA, Philippines - Incessant heavy rains spawned by the storm-enhanced southwest monsoon have caused flooding in some areas in Metro Manila since Sunday evening.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said as of 9:11 a.m., gutter deep floods have been reported in Recto-Morayta and España-Lacson areas in Manila and tire-deep floods in Rizal-Recto area.

Duyog

JEWEL AND JOE VILLAFLORES

Ikaw ang bahandi. Dugay ko nang gihandum
Ikaw ang bituon. Sa ngit ngit kong baybayon
Ikaw lang akong, akong higugmaon
Ikaw lang ako, ako matinud-anon

Ikaw akong hangin. Ikaw akong ulan
Ikaw akong langit. Ug ang akong kalibutan
Ikaw lang akong, akong higugmaon
Ikaw lang ako, ako matinud-anon

CHORUS
Ikaw akong gahapon. Ikaw akong karon
Ikaw akong kanunay. Pulong ko tinud-anay
Kasing-kasing paminawa. Dinuyugan ning gitara
Wa ka nag inusara. Kanimu nahigugma.
Ikaw

Ikaw ang katam-is. Kalipay na walay sama
Ikaw ba nasayod? Sa likod ning pahiyum
Ikaw lang akong, akong higugmaon
Ikaw lang ako, ako matinud anon

CHORUS
Ikaw akong gahapon. Ikaw akong karon
Ikaw akong kanunay. Pulong ko tinud-anay
Kasing-kasing paminawa. Dinuyugan ning gitara
Wa ka nag inusara. Kanimu nahigugma.
Tagohala na gibati sa akong kinabuhi
Ikaw lang ang bulawan na gitipigan sa akong dughan
Mahanaw man ang adlaw. Magsubo man ang buwan
Dili ka gyud talikdan. Ug di gyud pasipad an.
Ikaw

“I was born and raised by music lovers. Both my parents are part of a church choir in our hometown. My mom is also a composer writing songs a lot ever since I was a kid. I started writing songs when I was about six or seven. My elder sisters and my younger brother love music as well.”

Indeed winning VisPop was some sort of validation for Jewel. She gives out her thanks to her family, relatives both from Leyte and Lapu-Lapu, friends, Hilongosnons and Cebuanos who supported the song and the VisPop Family.

“Life is beautiful and short. Writing a song is like taking a picture. You can hold on to it forever.”

“What inspired me was the beauty of life and the feelings revolving around it especially the thing we call love. You see, life is full of stories. I want to capture each story or feeling by writing songs about them. Duyog was actually an English song I wrote when I was about 16 or 17. It was meant to be a harana from a female’s point of view. My brother Joe Edward and I gave it a little twist. So we recorded it in Bisaya and music genius Jad Bantug helped us with the arrangement.”

Even when the contest was held last May, Duyog is still making rounds on the radio and on the internet. The song is still in 97.1 MOR’S top 20 countdown after 12 weeks. The song is also still being played by other radio stations as well.

Prior to winning, none of Jewel’s ‘hundreds of songs’ made it to radio. That said, she was a writer way before the contest was even announced. Coming off a family with musical roots, Jewel claims to have had a good support system when it comes to her passion in music. Jewel also plays the piano, guitar, drums and harmonica.

Jewel delRio Villaflores, 20, bagged first place and the people’s choice award during the recently held VisPop songwriting festival. VisPop is a songwriting contest and campaign aimed at introducing a more professional and competitive playlist of Cebuano songs on the radio.

“It’s just a stereotype. Maybe they just heard a bisaya song or two which they didn’t like.

But they should listen to bisaya songs and set aside that pre-conceived notion about the dialect.”

Her song Duyog is a simple yet truly infectious modern love song. Interpreted by Jewel herself, her voice easily soars on top of the overdriven guitars and the multiple layers of synth sounds, easily delivering one of the better recorded bisaya pop songs at present.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/
By Luis A. Quibranza III
Sunday, August 18, 2013


IN THE MID-2000s, Bisaya rock more popularly known as bisrock, infiltrated every hour on local radio. What started as a sincere revolution to sing in the mother tongue through raw musical expression, later evolved into a trend that spawned both hitsâ€"and misses. Some songs even gained national airplay.

Of course bisrock wasn’t a bad thing to begin with, but the saturation of songs then allowed critics to point out flaws and assume that bisaya music will never be the type that will be taken seriously and is a genre hopelessly attached to themes of juvenile humor. Kung dili sab binastos; tiniguwang.

“People should stop saying that. Bisaya songs are not baduy,” shared this lady who’s recently achieved something that should make those critics think twice.

What are your current projects?

Badian: Currently I am working on two new projects. One is a trilogy of plays exploring relationships in an urban youth homeless shelter. The other project is inspired by a hostage taking in Manila in 2007.

Have you ever considered doing a project in the Philippines?

Badian: I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to do a project in the Philippines.

Blyth Festival specializes in Canadian plays, with a focus on local issues and adaptations of regional writers' material, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia. Its 2013 season runs from June 11 to September 7, with "Prairie Nurse" running from August 3 to 31. â€" VC, GMA News

How is it faring in the Blyth Festival?

Badian: It's doing very well.

Do you have any plans on bringing it to other stages?

Badian: I hope so. It would be wonderful to bring the play to the prairie provinces here in Canada. I would love for it to go to Saskatchewan. I would love for it to go the Philippines.

All three works are also inspired by real life: Prairie Nurse on the experiences of your mother, St. Jerome with the unfortunate shooting of Jeffrey Reodica, and Novena on your own experiences as a teenager. Do you make it a point to write only what you have personal attachments to?

Badian: Not exclusively. But all the work that I do is ignited or inspired by something in real life, as a point of departure. But it is never with the intention of creating a documentary. Prairie Nurse is an entirely fictional comedy, but it would never have happened if not for the real-life experience of my mother being constantly mistaken for the other nurse at the first hospital she ever worked at in Canada.

In this brief interview, Badian explains how much of her work is fiction, what is real, and discusses her future projects.

For those unable to read the previous article on your works, what is Prairie Nurse about?

Badian: Prairie Nurse is a romantic comedy of mistaken identity set in a prairie hospital in rural Saskatchewan, Canada in 1969. Two Filipino nurses arrive to work at the hospital, and it soon becomes apparent that no one can tell them apart, including the lab technician who falls in love-at-first-sight with one of them.

How much of it is fiction and how much of it is inspiration?

Badian: The entire plot of the play is fiction. However, all the characters are based on real-life people who lived and worked with my mother in Arborfield, Saskatchewan in the late sixties. I wanted to pay tribute to them and the friendship they had with my mother, so I kept their real names; all except for the two nurses. I included little things that were part of my mother’s experience, like her brother sending her an envelope filled with soil from the Philippines because he was afraid there was no soil in Canada, only snow.

By RIE TAKUMI, GMA NewsAugust 17, 2013 6:54pm


Two Pinay nurses are contracted to a small rural village where no one can tell them apart.

This is a brief glance into the play by Marie Beath Badian that is currently being staged at the Blyth Festival in Canada.

The young playwright-cum-actor finds inspiration in her heritage, whether it be through her mother's experiences as a nurse (the mentioned play above), or the changes Filipinos go through in a different country.

Other major differences between chimps and bonobos include their vocalizations, tool use, and territorial nature. For example, bonobos have higher-pitched voices, and chimps tend to hoot, scream, and grunt. Finally, while chimps are known to use tools to crack nuts, collects ants, and clip leaves, bonobos have only rarely used tools in captivity.

(The above image is of two bonobos.)

Homosexual acts are especially common among female bonobos, which they use to create strong emotional bonds and maintain social dominance over the males. In fact, bonobos have peaceful, matriarchal societies. Chimps are led by an alpha male and occasionally kill each other. Chimp groups keep very strict boundaries, which they viciously defend. In contrast, bonobos allow for overlap in their territories and will even mate across community lines.

Although the physical variations between chimps and bonobos are interesting, what’s even more fascinating is their behavioral and social differences. Overall, bonobos have a “make love, not war” mentality, which is in stark contrast to the often aggressive and violent manner of chimps. For bonobos, sex is used for almost everything, including avoiding conflict, showing affection, reducing stress, solidifying social status, and simply saying “hello.” Bonobos are much more likely to keep the peace by offering a sexual favor, whereas a chimpanzee’s first instinct is to secure dominance through battle. In chimp groups, the highest-ranking male is the only one allowed to mate with the females, but in bonobo cultures, everyone has sexual freedom, and sex acts occur between all combinations of ages and genders.

Chimpanzees, (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) are the only two species in the genus Pan, and it’s believed they diverged from each other around two million years ago. Their genome is about 99.6 percent identical, and while they look very similar, there are a few physical differences that make them easy to tell apart. For one, bonobos are small and slender when compared to the taller, stockier chimps. Also bonobos have pink lips and black faces, while chimps have brown lips and faces that change color as they age. Another notable distinction is the bonobo’s longer head hair, which tends to part stylishly down the middle.

The Whole Bushel

It’s commonly known that chimpanzees are humans’ closest living relatives, but what many don’t realize is that another great ape, the bonobo, also shares 98.7% of its genome with humans. Bonobos live exclusively in the Congo, and because of the long-term instability in the country, it’s been incredibly difficult to study them in the wild. Thus, bonobos remain the lesser known of the two apes and are often confused with chimps or are considered the same animal. In reality, they are two separate species with unique physical characteristics and dynamically different social behaviors.

KnowledgeNuts
By S. Grant on Sunday, August 18, 2013



“A man has no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandfather. If there was an ancestor whom I should feel shame in recalling it would rather be a man.” â€"Thomas Huxley


In A Nutshell

Although often mistaken as the same animal, chimpanzees and bonobos are two separate species within the same genus. They are 99.6 percent genetically similar to each other, but have different appearances and vastly unique social behaviors. The biggest differences between the two are in how they govern their societies: Chimps are led by an alpha male and tend to maintain order through aggression, while bonobos are dominated by females and keep the peace through sex.

"Medyo mabagal ito, pabago-bago ang direksyon ng bagyong ito. Dati southeast, tapos east, ngayon north-northeast (Maring is moving very slowly, and keeps changing direction. It was moving southeast, then east, then north-northeast)," Mendoza said in an interview on dzBB radio.

When asked when Maring will exit the Philippine area of responsibility, Mendoza said their models show it may do so on August 22, Thursday.

However, he said there is also a chance Maring may exit the PAR on Friday.

Mendoza said their models show Maring appears headed for the southern islands of Japan but may change direction until it heads for Taiwan. -- http://www.gmanetwork.com/

Taga Tigbotoy reporting...


Maring to linger in PHL until Thursday; rains to continue, worsening floods
August 19, 2013 5:50am
 

After enhancing the southwest monsoon that has dumped rain over a wide swath of Luzon in the past several days, Tropical Storm Maring (Trami) is moving erratically and may linger inside the Philippine area of responsibility until Thursday.

Large parts of Metro Manila are already flooded, with classes suspended in most areas.

PAGASA forecaster Manny Mendoza said Maring is interacting with another weather system outside the Philippine area of responsibility and has repeatedly changed direction.

as of 6:20 a.m. of August 19

 
Heavy rain and floods have forced some local government and schools in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon to suspend classes and work on Monday, August 19, 2013. Work in government offices in Metro Manila was also suspended, according to Malacañang and the NDRRMC.

"Upon the recommendation of PAGASA, the Executive Secretary has ordered the suspension of classes in ALL levels over Pangasinan, Benguet, Bataan, Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Occidental Mindoro and Metro Manila. Likewise, the Executive Secretary has also ordered the suspension of work in the Government Offices in Metro Manila except those involved in disaster risk reduction and management," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/322600/news/regions/update-on-walangpasok-as-of-6-20-a-m-of-august-19

Hala, wa lagi ibutyag kinsay ika-unom!

Quote from: hubag bohol on August 19, 2013, 07:10:09 AM
Former senator Edgardo Angara was the fifth legislator identified by the special audit report who gave P14.4 million of his PDAF to the Kalusugan ng Bata, Karunungan ng Bayan Inc. of which he is an incorporator, member of the board of directors, and stockholder.

Et tu, EJ?

Quote from: hubag bohol on August 19, 2013, 07:10:09 AM
Isabela 4th District Rep. Anthony Miranda and Malabon Rep. Federico Sandoval II likewise gave P20 million each of their pork barrel to the Pamalakaya Foundation Inc and the Aksyon Makamasa Foundation Inc. where they or their relatives are officers.

Charity begins at home.

Quote from: hubag bohol on August 19, 2013, 07:10:09 AM
Incumbent Manila 5th District Rep. Amado Bagatsing allocated the second biggest amount of PDAF worth P21.7 million to the KABAKA Foundation Inc. where the congressman is an incorporator, member of the board of directors, and stockholder.

Agoi, incumbent pa ra ba!

Quote from: hubag bohol on August 19, 2013, 07:09:26 AM
Records showed that former Quezon City 3rd District Rep. Matias Defensor Jr. gave P99.5 million of his pork barrel to the Matias Defensor Foundation Sr. Inc. where he is an incorporator, member of the board of trustees, and stockholder.

What a pity its an expression of filial piety. 

Kon tinuod man ugaling, kabaga na lang jud sa mga nawong!

COA Chairperson Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan, in her press briefing last Friday, said the release of pork barrel funds to NGOs, which had connections to sponsoring legislators or their relatives, is among the evidence they found on how government money is being spent without necessary safeguards.

According to her, such releases, like those given by some 12 senators and more than 180 congressmen to around 82 bogus or questionable foundations and groups, did not go through public bidding. This means lawmakers are given a free hand to choose who will use their PDAF allocations for their projects.

The COA report recommended among others that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) issue “specific and stringent guidelines on the utilization of PDAF and the participation of NGOs.”

Tan said the special audit also recommended that legislators limit their participation to identification of projects and ensure that these are eligible under the terms and provisions of the General Appropriations Act.

Incumbent Manila 5th District Rep. Amado Bagatsing allocated the second biggest amount of PDAF worth P21.7 million to the KABAKA Foundation Inc. where the congressman is an incorporator, member of the board of directors, and stockholder.

Isabela 4th District Rep. Anthony Miranda and Malabon Rep. Federico Sandoval II likewise gave P20 million each of their pork barrel to the Pamalakaya Foundation Inc and the Aksyon Makamasa Foundation Inc. where they or their relatives are officers.

Former senator Edgardo Angara was the fifth legislator identified by the special audit report who gave P14.4 million of his PDAF to the Kalusugan ng Bata, Karunungan ng Bayan Inc. of which he is an incorporator, member of the board of directors, and stockholder.

(The Philippine Star) | Updated August 19, 2013 - 12:00am


MANILA, Philippines - Of the 200 senators and congressmen who gave P6.156 billion worth of their pork barrel to bogus non-government organizations (NGOs), six practically allocated government funds for themselves through foundations that they themselves managed.

The Commission on Audit (COA) report released last Friday showed how a handful of legislators channeled their pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to their own organizations totaling P188.6 million.

Records showed that former Quezon City 3rd District Rep. Matias Defensor Jr. gave P99.5 million of his pork barrel to the Matias Defensor Foundation Sr. Inc. where he is an incorporator, member of the board of trustees, and stockholder.

Conclusion

Taking corrective action before your losses worsen is always a good strategy. In investing, avoiding losses entirely may not be possible; successful investors accept this and try to minimize their losses rather than avoid them. Selling a stock at a loss and receiving a tax credit is one benefit you will receive. Selling these "dogs" has another advantage too - you will not be reminded of your past mistake every time you look at your investment statement.

Set Stop Losses

Having a stop-loss order on shares that you own, particularly the more volatile stocks, has been a mainstay of advice on this subject. The stop-loss order prevents your emotions from taking over and will limit your losses.

Would You Buy the Stock Now?

On a regular basis, review every stock you hold and ask yourself the simple question: "If I did not own this stock, would I buy it today?" If the answer is a resounding "No", then it should be sold.

Tax-Loss Harvesting Strategies

A tax-loss harvesting strategy is used to realize capital losses on a regular basis and provides some discipline against holding losing stocks for extended time periods. To put your stock sales in a more positive light, remember that you receive tax credits that can be used to offset taxes on your capital gains.

Let's look at a few ways of assuring a small loss does not become "dead" money or turn into a much larger loss.

Have an Investment Strategy

Having a written investment strategy with a set of rules both for buying and selling stocks will provide the discipline to sell stocks before the losses blossom. The strategy could be based on fundamental, technical or quantitative factors.

Have Reasons to Sell a Stock

An investor generally has quite a few reasons why he or she bought a stock, but typically no set boundaries for when to sell it. Don't let this happen to you. Set reasons to sell stocks, and sell them when these things occur. The reason could be as simple as: "Sell if bad news is released about corporate developments or a price target."

Realizing Capital Losses

Often you just have to bite the bullet and sell your stock at a loss before those losses get bigger. The first thing to understand is that hope is not a strategy. An investor has to have a logical reason to hold a losing position. The second point is, what you paid for a stock is irrelevant to its future direction. The stock will go up or down based on forces in the stock market, the stock's underlying fundamentals and its future prospects.

Hope Springs Eternal

Hope is the belief in the possibility of a positive outcome, even though there is some evidence to the contrary. Hope is also one of the primary theological virtues in various religious traditions. Although hope has its place in theology, it does not belong in the cold hard reality of the stock market. In spite of continuing bad news, investors will steadfastly hold onto their losing stocks, based only on the faint hope that they will at least return to the purchase price. The decision to hold is not based on rational analysis or a well-thought-out strategy; and unfortunately, wishing and hoping that a stock will go up does not make it happen.

Neglect

When stock portfolios are doing well, investors often tend to them like well-maintained gardens. They show great interest in managing their investments and harvesting the fruits of their labor. However, when their stocks are holding steady or are dropping in value, especially for long time periods, many investors lose interest. As a result, these well-maintained stock portfolios start showing signs of neglect. Rather than weeding out the losers, many investors do nothing at all. Inertia takes over and, instead of pruning their losses, they often let them grow out of control.

Investors Do Not Like Admitting They've Made a Mistake

By avoiding selling a stock at a loss, many investors do not have to admit to themselves that they've made a judgment error. Under the false illusion that it is not a loss until the stock is sold, they elect to continue to hold a losing position. In doing so, they avoid the regret of a bad choice. After a stock suffers a loss, many investors plan to hold onto it until it returns to its purchase price. They intend to sell the stock once they recover this paper loss. This means they will break even, and "erase" their mistake. Unfortunately, many of these same stocks will continue to slide.

Let's look at a few of these biases:

Stocks Always Bounce Back - Don't They?

A glance at a long-term chart of any major stock index will see a line that moves from the lower-left corner to the upper right. The stock market, over any long time period, will always make new highs. Knowing that the stock market will go higher, investors mistakenly assume that their stocks will eventually bounce back. However, a stock index is made up of successful companies. It is an index of winners. Those less successful stocks may have been part of an index at one time, but if they've dropped significantly in value, they will eventually be replaced by more successful companies. The indexes are always being replenished by dropping the losers and replacing them with winners. Looking at the major indexes tends to overstate the resiliency of the average stock, which does not necessarily bounce back. In fact, many companies never regain their past highs and some go bankrupt.

Reasons Investors Hold Stocks With Large Unrealized Losses

In spite of the logic for cutting losses short, many small investors are still left holding the proverbial bag. They inevitably end up with a number of stock positions with large unrealized capital losses. At best, it's "dead" money; at worst, it drops further in value and never recovers. Typically, investors believe that the reason they have so many large, unrealized losses is because they bought the stock at the wrong time or it was a matter of bad luck. Rarely do they believe it is because of their own behavioral biases.

The Art Of Getting Rich: Cutting Your Losses
By Ken Hawkins | Investopedia â€" 3 hours ago


One of the most enduring sayings on Wall Street is "Cut your losses short and let your winners run." Sage advice, but many investors still appear to do the opposite, selling stocks after a small gain only to watch them head higher, or holding a stock with a small loss, only to see it worsen.

No one will deliberately buy a stock they believe will go down in price and be worth less than what they paid for it. However, buying stocks that drop in value is inherent to the nature of investing. The objective, therefore, is not to avoid losses, but to minimize the losses. Realizing a capital loss before it gets out of hand separates successful investors from the rest. In this article, we'll help you stand out from the crowd and show you how to identify when you should make your move.

Quote from: hubag bohol on August 19, 2013, 02:40:50 AM
There’s a P25-million contract out for the assassination of the Secretary of Justice, the chief of the National Bureau of Investigation and the lawyer of the whistle-blowers in the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by fugitive businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

Hmm, P25-million para ibayad og assassins? Hinuon, milyonir gud...

A Makati court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Napoles and her brother Reynald Lim on charges of serious illegal detention involving the principal witness in the pork barrel scam.

The court recommended no bail for Napoles and Lim.

But Napoles and Lim received advanced information about their impending arrest and disappeared before NBI agents could serve the warrant of arrest on them.

The NBI and the police have launched a nationwide manhunt for the two fugitives.

Hit man talks

Baligod said he had learned that he was a target from one of the recruited hit men, and asked fellow members of the fraternity Vanguards and friends in the military to verify the information.

“They recruited a group from Basilan and negotiations started from P25 million,” Baligod said.

“I know they have the capability, but it will not stop me from helping the whistle-blowers,” Baligod said.

The NBI source said De Lima had offered security for Baligod.

Validated

They said they had validated the information and they received positive returns.

“All validation came back fast and positive. But we cannot confirm it 100 percent,” one of the sources said.

Contacted by the Inquirer for comment, Rojas said he had received a report about the assassination plot.

But he shrugged off the threat to him, saying threats to his life were part of his job as head of an investigative agency.

“We will not be deterred or threatened. This is not the first time for us to get a threat. We know we did it right,” Rojas said.

The sources did not say who had put out the contract, but said that among those who would carry out the hits were former members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) who took part in the 1989 coup against then President Corazon Aquino.

“They feel neglected after the coup plot failed and it was only Jimmy (Jaime Napoles, husband of Janet Lim-Napoles) who helped and supported them,” one of the sources said.

Jaime “Jimmy” Napoles is a retired Marine officer who took part in the 1989 coup. He was a member of RAM and is reportedly part of his wife’s business operations.

The former putschists make up the first team of assassins, the sources said.

The second team is made up of former members of the Civil Home Defense Force, a military-supported militia, who are now members of the police force, they said.

Soft targets

The contract includes hitting “soft targets,” which the sources identified as journalists.

A source from the NBI told the Inquirer that De Lima had been informed about the plot.

The sources, who asked not to be named “so as not to burn” their “contacts,” said they began to receive information about the plot four days ago.

“We would like to be updated on the progress of the plot. We might scare them and they may not talk to us if they learn we have been talking to reporters,” one of the sources said.

By Nancy C. Carvajal
Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:20 am | Sunday, August 18th, 2013


There’s a P25-million contract out for the assassination of the Secretary of Justice, the chief of the National Bureau of Investigation and the lawyer of the whistle-blowers in the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by fugitive businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

Three sourcesâ€"a former Marine officer, an NBI agent and a Philippine National Police officialâ€"told the Inquirer about the plot to kill Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, NBI Director Nonnatus Rojas and lawyer Levito Baligod.

The hits are to be carried out by two teams of former Marines and policemen from Basilan province, the sources said.

De Lima, Rojas and Baligod are designated as “hard targets,” the sources said.

Agoi, mao diay tingali wa katunga kay gibahaan na pud ang vicinity nila ni TB Weatherman.

If so, Bay Tigs, do snap flood pictures and post some here sa TB...

Oi, wa man gihapon si Bay Tigs. Na hala, patuga na pud og pitch in si Taga Tigbotoy...


Pagasa re-issues red rainfall alert in Metro Manila, several Luzon provinces
By Frances Mangosing
INQUIRER.net
12:46 am | Monday, August 19th, 2013


MANILA, Philippinesâ€"The state weather bureau re-issued a red rainfall alert in Metro Manila and several provinces in Luzon at the first hour of Monday.

With the red alert, severe flooding is expected as heavy to intense rains continued to affect Metro Manila, Bataan, Zambales, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Northern Quezon for the next three hours, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said at 12:10 a.m.

Moderate to heavy rains were also monitored over Nueva Ecija and the rest of Quezon.

The incessant heavy rains were caused by the southwest monsoon (hanging habagat) enhanced by tropical storm Maring (international name: Trami).

Earlier at 9 p.m. Sunday, Pagasa issued the red rainfall alert in Metro Manila and the provinces of Bataan, Zambales, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and Batangas.

Quote from: islander on August 18, 2013, 10:43:47 PM
why are you laughing?  abi kay nasulod ko sa laang?  hey, mine was just academic curiosity...

Sorry, my bad. Thing is, as Homer aptly put it--and here, we have a case of a rather curiously apt coincidence--, "a fit of helpless laughter seized the happy gods".

I guess you were a teenager when this movie was first shown...

Hmm, unsa man diayng tuiga ning sineha, Ms. Isle? And what's speacial about it for you? Being pierced by a "sword"?

Quote from: islander on August 19, 2013, 12:45:27 AM
interesting.  now pa ko.

Hmm, color-blind tingali ka, Ms. Isle...

Quote from: taga tigbao on August 18, 2013, 10:13:00 AM
Ug nganong nagsige man ug uwan pud dire sa Luzon specially sa Manila?

Tungod nis habagat.

Hmm, any updates, Bay Tigs?

Meryl Streep riding the New York City subway in August 1981.

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jessica Lange in 1982.

Bon Jovi performing at Farm Aid 1985.

Charlie Sheen and Kelly Preston in 1989.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey, Jr. at a Michael Dukakis Benefit Cocktail Party in 1988.

Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray in 1985.

Madonna at the 1985 Live Aid concert.

New Kids on the Block in 1989.

Cyndi Lauper performing in St. Paul, Minn., in 1984.

Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise and Emilio Estevez at the premiere of "In The Custody of Strangers" in 1982.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/



Winona Ryder at the premiere of "Great Balls of Fire" in 1989.

Zhang, the veteran defense lawyer, said authorities appeared to be avoiding mentioning this charge even though Bo might be to blame in order to skirt larger questions about political factions and party infighting.

"There is no question that Wang Lijun was not acting on his own accord," Zhang said, adding that acknowledging that would lead to too many uncomfortable questions.

"If they were wiretapping phones, whose phones were they tapping? Why do they want to eavesdrop?" Zhang said. "It would definitely involve many relationships and problems. And right now they are not willing to raise these questions and magnify the problem." -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/18/bo-xilai-trial_n_3775381.html

Questions that appear to have been left unaddressed include whether Bo should be held accountable for waging an anti-gang crackdown in Chongqing that ran roughshod over the legal system.

The crackdown resulted in 2,000 arrests, 500 prosecutions and 13 executions, including the former director of the city's judicial bureau. Allegations of torture and shakedowns by law enforcement officials were common.

Bo also appears to have been spared some of the more serious accusations faced by his former police chief and right-hand man, Wang, including carrying out illegal surveillance.

Wang was convicted of putting people under electronic surveillance, which suggested he used bugging, wiretapping or computer monitoring. Websites abroad that follow Chinese politics said Wang was helping Bo gather information on other leaders.

The abuse of power allegation is related to the cover-up of the murder by his wife in late 2011 and the defection attempt by his former police chief, Wang Lijun, said the person. He asked not to be identified further due to the case's sensitivity.

Analysts say the charges underscore the party's attempt to keep the scope of allegations against Bo limited in order to prevent his case from undermining confidence in party leaders or their political system.

"It's almost like open heart surgery, or laser surgery," said Kerry Brown, a former British diplomat in Beijing and head of the China Studies Center at the University of Sydney. "You want to do the operation with as little collateral damage as possible."

Song Yangbiao, a Beijing reporter in Beijing known as a supporter of Bo, was detained in early August after he posted a call online for people to protest outside the courthouse. A writer who uses the pen name Lu Qi and describes himself as a close friend of Song said the reporter was released on bail after about a week.

Official announcements about the charges against Bo have given no details.

But a person with direct knowledge of the case said Bo is accused of accepting bribes amounting to more than 20 million yuan ($3.3 million) and embezzling 5 million yuan ($820,000) while he was in a previous post in the eastern city of Dalian.

The party also wants to present a spectacle of justice for the Chinese public and a warning to ambitious politicians not to defy the central leadership.

"They want to say "you have to obey the central leadership'," said Dali Yang, head of the University of Chicago Center in Beijing. "It's not simply about corruption. It's also about central-local relations, about the need for senior local officials ... to pay heed to the central government's guidelines and not try to build independent kingdoms."

Authorities are trying to minimize potential disruption during the trial.

Fang Hong, a Chongqing forestry official who was put in a labor camp for a year for criticizing Bo, was taken by police to a lodge in the mountains where he was told to stay until the trial is completed. Fang had said last month on a microblog that he wanted to attend the proceeding.

The outcomes of criminal cases against senior figures such as Bo are usually decided in advance in secret negotiations aimed at securing the defendant's cooperation. Bo is only the third politician at Politburo level to be tried on graft charges in recent decades.

"When the indictment was finally announced, it meant that some sort of agreement was reached between the Politburo's Central Committee and Bo Xilai," said Zhang Sizhi, an eminent lawyer who has represented many defendants in high-profile political cases.

Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, received a suspended death sentence last year after confessing to poisoning a British businessman, Neil Heywood. Such sentences usually are converted to long prison terms if a convict is deemed to have repented.

"These charges were tailor-made for Bo Xilai in view of the sentence that they want him to get," said Zhang Lifan, a historian and political analyst in Beijing.

"They decided how long they wanted to have Bo Xilai locked up for, and then according to that sentence, they made the appropriate charges," Zhang said. "But these charges have left out a lot of things that he is responsible for."

Bo's case was the last major unfinished business from the once-a-decade handover of power that began last November. Holding his trial now means the new leadership can wrap up the scandal before they head into a party meeting later this year that is meant to produce a blueprint for China's economic development.

Bo, the son of a revolutionary leader, was a member of the party's 25-member Politburo. But he alienated other party leaders by aggressively promoting his personal image and launched campaigns in Chongqing that invoked the radical era of the 1960s and `70s.

The charges against Bo appeared to be crafted to make him look like a rogue leader brought down by hubris and immorality. That would allow Chinese authorities to avoid questions about how the party's unchecked power enabled Bo's misconduct.

The court could avoid allegations of wiretapping conducted by his former top aide and the use of torture in an anti-crime crackdown. Judges could avoid asking about asset seizures from Chongqing entrepreneurs.

The former party secretary of the major city of Chongqing fell from power last year in China's messiest scandal in decades. It exposed the murder of a British businessman by Bo's wife and a thwarted defection bid by his former police chief.

Bo will stand trial in the Intermediate People's Court of the eastern city of Jinan on charges of taking bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power, said a one-sentence announcement on the court's microblog account. The announcement was also carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Most trials in China last less than one day and Bo, 64, is almost certain to be convicted.

Bo's downfall followed a failed defection attempt by his police chief at a U.S. consulate, which embarrassed Chinese leaders. The chief exposed a litany of complaints against Bo that gave political rivals ammunition to attack him.

By GILLIAN WONG 08/18/13 06:12 AM ET EDT   
AP



Bo Xilai in 2012.


BEIJING -- Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai goes on trial Thursday on corruption charges in a case crafted to minimize damage to the Communist Party and avoid exposure of party infighting or human rights abuses.

Sunday's announcement of a trial date for the former rising political star puts China's new leaders on track to wrap up a festering scandal as they try to cement their authority.

Kalami with bahal. Labi na kay tugnaw2x...

Quote from: taga tigbao on August 18, 2013, 03:07:23 PM

He he, sexy ang mga kunot...

Every year the people of Lop Buri hold a party for the hundreds of macaques that live around the Khmer temple- Prang Sam Yot. The annual monkey festival takes place in the last weekend of November and is a major attraction for locals and tourists
Picture: REX FEATURES

Quote from: chicogon on May 28, 2012, 11:25:16 AM
I wish there are pics to follow... I heard Masbate is beautiful (untouched) 

One place in the Philippines I also want to visit myself. I wonder if Kalangay Cave is home to a colony of Philippine cockatoos...

It's a must for all of us who are always on the move.

Quote from: Mike Ortega Ligalig on March 29, 2008, 05:24:30 PM
The Associated Press

A Texas woman who claims she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

"I wouldn't wish this experience upon anyone," Mandi Hamlin, 37, said at a news conference in Los Angeles. "My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. No one deserves to be treated this way."

Nahadlok ang TSA nga pabuthon unya...





Bwahaha!

Perfectly perfect...

Naay angay maminaw sa yano nga mensahe ni Cardinal...

SeekingArrangement appears to be the Google of sugar-daddy dating websites, claiming over two million registered members.

It’s the same website where New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner’s sexting buddy trolled for older men online. The woman, Sydney Leathers, was active on the site for eight months, from August 2012 to April 2013 and “was very popular on the site and found success as a Sugar Baby.”

The site is also popular with college students looking for extra cash.

Data is self-reported by the women who use the site when they initially sign up.

“Based on the occupation field ‘teacher,’ we polled members to see which school districts they worked in,” explained Jennifer Gwynn, SeekingArrangement’s public relations manager, in an email to The Daily Caller.

Further digging into the treasure trove that is SeekingArrangement’s sugar-baby data set reveals that the average public school teacher who uses the site is between the ages of 28 and 33. She (or, certainly, he) seeks about $3,000 in pampering and financial assistance each month from the benefactor on the other side of the bargain.

“You can’t expect a teacher to accept less pay for more work than their peers, and then reach into their pockets to fund your child’s classroom,” declared Brandon Wade, the website’s founder and CEO. “But that’s what’s happening. If those are the expectations and pressures we are putting on our teachers in America, than they can’t possibly be judged for whatever extracurricular activities they choose to pursue to stay afloat.”

According to SeekingArrangement, the top five school districts in the country for sugar-baby teachers are (in order): the School District of Philadelphia, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District, the Clark County School District (in the Las Vegas area) and the New York City public schools.

SeekingArrangement.com, which bills itself as “the #1 online dating website for sugar babies and generous men,” is now boasting that some 40,000 public school teachers of a certain moral caliber have joined the website in an attempt to sell sexual services seek wealthy, older men for “mutually beneficial relationships.”

In a press release, SeekingArrangement’s CEO suggests that teachers on the website are responding conventionally to diminished budgets, overcrowded classrooms and, of course, the perpetual need for school supplies.

15 hours ago


Believe it when The Daily Caller tells you: If you find any fault with public school teachers, you will definitely hear about how very hard they work, and how they care so much about making the world a better place.

The Daily Caller now has evidence that the many spirited defenders of the old profession of teaching are right in many exciting, stimulating ways.

What, me worry?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29tqoj7Q7Po#noexternalembed-ws

Will you love us? Please?