MikeLigalig.com

by pna

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Tuesday spotted another low pressure area (LPA) in Mindanao which has the potential to become the first cyclone to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) this year.

According to PAGASA, the LPA may bring rains to Southern Luzon and Visayas.

Boy Soriaga, weather forecaster, said as of 2 a.m. Tuesday, the new LPA was about 680 kilometers east of Mindanao while the LPA spotted Monday in Bicol has dissipated.

Soriano said they are monitoring the new potential cyclone which is expected to enter Philippine territory either Thursday or Friday.

He said if this LPA turns into a cyclone, it will be named “Ambo.”

Soriaga said the southwest monsoon (Habagat) is expected to continue affecting the weather in the country.

PAGASA advisory said Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms.

The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms.

It added light to moderate winds from the northeast to north will prevail over Luzon, and coming from the north to northwest over Visayas, and from the southwest over Mindanao.

muot ra pud ni si willie nepomuceno, a master impersonator.

(Reuters) - In China, surplus capacity and sliding prices are sounding the death knell for half of the companies making light emitting diode (LED) chips used in Samsung television panels and Sharp computer monitors, with only the large, state-backed players likely to pull through.

Sluggish global sales of TVs and computers may further cut LED chip prices by 20 percent this year, and consolidation or closure are the only options for China's smaller LED players, analysts say.

By contrast, Sanan Optoelectronics Co Ltd, China's top LED chipmaker with a market value of $2.8 billion, and Elec-Tech International Co Ltd will be among a handful of large companies that will survive as they continue to receive subsidies and incentives from the government, according to analysts.

Cebu Pacific 2012 Promo P699 All Philippine Flights

Our Pinoy Ancestors

Tourists only visit Jordan , in the north of the island,  because most bangkas from
Iloilo arrive at Hoskyn Port 2km to the west. Nearby  San Miguel , the capital, is
rarely visited at all but is the handiest place hereabouts if you need cash or to make
a phone call. There’s no accommodation in either town and not much in the way
of food â€" numerous no-nonsense  carinderias  ofer little more than  adobo  and rice.
If you do need some sustenance, try Gladys’ Refreshment House  and  Sailor’s , at the
wharf in Jordan while in San Miguel you can select from Victor’s,  Edna’s,  Vangie’s 
and  Gonzaga’s. There’s also a small police outpost at Jordan wharf.

Guimaras has some marvellous waterfalls in its hinterland, the best of which is
Macopo Falls, fifteen minutes to the south of Jordan and ten minutes northwest
of San Miguel by tricycle, where you can pay P5 to swim in a beautifully chilly
mountain pool formed by water gushing through a rocky gorge from high
above. The path to the falls was being renovated at the time of writing but
should reopen soon.

Another place well worth a visit is Our Lady of the Philippines Trappist
Monastery, which lies on the main road southwest from San Miguel and twenty
minutes by jeepney from Macopo Falls; you can easily see the falls and the
monastery in a day-trip. Founded in 1972 by Americans, it’s the only Trappist
monastery in the Philippines. The monks seem to do very nicely, with orchards
that grow assorted tropical fruit and an interesting souvenir shop where banana
fries (P22), cashews (P30), guava jelly (P64), mango jam (P70) and even Holy
Water (P25) are sold under the Trappist Monastic Products brand name. - source: Rough Guide Travel Book

Separated from the Panay mainland by the narrowest slither of ocean, the small
island of  GUIMARAS is best known for producing the tastiest mangoes in the
Philippines. Yet for all its provincial simplicity Guimaras is much more than a
day-trip destination. There are some good, afordable  resorts , exceptional
beaches â€" especially around  Nueva Valencia on the southwest coast â€" and a few
enticing  islands  ofshore. The undulating  interior and its numerous trails have
also made the island a popular destination for mountain bikers. There’s also a
smattering of history, with defiant old Spanish churches and the country’s only
Trappist monastery. During the Filipinoâ€"American War, General Douglas
MacArthur, then a first lieutenant, built the wharf at Buenavista, which is still
being used today by ferries.

Guimaras was badly afected by an oil spill from the the tanker,  Solar 1, which sank of the northern coast of the island in August 2006. Although today there is
little evidence of the spill to the casual observer, and beaches look back to their
pristine best, it will take decades for the island’s mangrove ecosystems (and fish
stocks) to fully recover. - Rough Guide Travel Book

by ABS-CBN

A pro-impeachment lawmaker believes a guilty verdict against Chief Justice Renato Corona in his impeachment trial is inevitable because of the disrespect he showed to the senator-judges and because he admitted he has undeclared wealth.

“It is inevitable that it will be a guilty (verdict) and convicted si Chief Justice,” Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello told ABS-CBN’s “Umagang Kay Ganda.”

“First is the disrespect that he showed last Tuesday but more important is that he became the best witness against himself. Basically, he admitted that the P80 million he did not declare and the $2.4 million in dollar accounts,” he added.

Bello said Corona only declared about P29 million worth of assets in his 2010 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) when his actual net worth was about P211 million or 9 times bigger. “Malaki talaga yung discrepancy,” he said.

He noted that the SALN law is very strict in mandating all public officials to declare all assets in their SALNs.

He also debunked Corona’s argument that he would violate the foreign currency deposits act if he declared his dollar deposits. Both the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Civil Service Commission earlier said Corona should have declared his dollars in his SALNs.

“He could have just translated the $2.4 million at the exchange rate of P43.5, which would have shown the actual peso amount,” he said.

“There was, in fact, an effort to escape the requirements of the SALN law and the Chief Justice should not be doing this. Impeachable yan,” he said.

warning sa mga mahilig ug ginamos ug buwad.

Lying 3km of the southwest coast of Negros and accessible through the small
town of  Bulata  about 10km north of Sipalay, Danjugan  (pronounced
“Danhoogan”)  Island  is a little gem. Managed as a nature reserve by the Philippine
Reef and Rainforest Foundation NGO, it’s fringed completely by vibrant coral
reefs and so well forested that it’s home to such rarities as the white-bellied sea
eagle and the barebacked fruit bat. There are also a number of small islets,
including Manta Island and Manta Rock, and three ofshore reefs that are home to
about 270 species of fish.

Most people visit Danjugan as a day-trip (P1500 including transfers, forest treks
and kayaking) from the mainland but staying overnight  (P2500) is a magical
experience. Accommodation is available in five “eco-cabanas”, made of mud brick.
Facilities are basic (no running water and solar-powered electricity) but perfectly
comfortable and you’ll be lulled to sleep by the sound of lapping waves on the
beach. Meals and drinks as well as scuba diving can be arranged in advance â€" visit
W www.prrcf.org for more information and bookings.

The departure point for the island is the pleasant  Punta Bulata White Beach Resort
(T 034/433-5160,  W www.puntabulata.com; 6), accessed along a 2km dirt road
from Bulata town. The resort has a good range of comfortable huts, rooms, and
family cabins for six, all air-conditioned. There’s also a pleasant bar and a hillside
native-style restaurant with ocean views. - source: Rough Guide Travel Book

You will find some good, surfable beaches west of Virac in the villages of Magnesia, Buenavista and  Palawig, although none is as pretty or as popular as Puraran (see below). Inland from Palawig there are enormous limestone  caves near the village of Lictin. To get there you’ll have to find a guide in Lictin (there are no established rates, but P500 is a reasonable amount to pay); contact the tourist oice in Virac before setting out, or ask at the barangay hall or in any of the village stores. The best known is Luyang Cave, whose waters are said to have healing properties.

Another spot that makes a good short trip from Virac is the Maribina Waterfall  in the barrio of  Maribina , fifteen minutes inland by jeepney. The fall plunges more than 10m and the pool at the base is crystal-clear and good for swimming. A little further east in  Bato it’s worth taking a look at  Batalay Church, an atmospheric Baroque structure built in the sixteenth century following the arrival of Spanish Captain Juan de Salcedo, who had been hunting for pirates on the coast. - Rough Guide Travel Book

The town of Mandaon is 64km west of Masbate City on the opposite coast of the island. The trip by jeepney (P40) takes you along a scenic road that passes through pastureland, paddy fields and a number of isolated barrios inhabited by subsistence farmers. There’s not much in Mandaon itself, but it’s a good base for exploring two
of the island’s most noted natural wonders,  KALANAY   CAVE on the northwest coast 40km from Mandaon, and  BATONGAN CAVE , 20km inland from Mandaon. Both make excellent day-trips, but Batongan is the better of the two, with immense caverns and a large population of bats whose guano is collected and used as fertilizer. About 100m away is an underground river, which you can swim in. It’s easy to get lost in these parts and if you fall and get injured you might not be found for days, so don’t explore the caves or the river without a  local guide (P500). In Mandaon you can ask at the town hall; the mayor or his staf will appoint someone to take you. - source: Rough Guide Travel Book

12300 Las Vegas Blvd S, Henderson T 702/797-1000,  W themresort.com. The Studio

Despite its address on Las Vegas Boulevard â€" and for that matter its swanky appearance â€" the  M Resort, which opened in 2009, is very definitely not on the Strip. Perched on a low bluf ten miles’ drive due south of  Mandalay Bay, the southernmost Strip casino, the  M  is instead a particularly upscale “locals’ casino”. While targeted primarily at the generally prosperous residents of the surrounding suburb of Henderson (technically a town in its own right), it also benefits from being the first casino seen by drivers arriving from California as they enter the Las Vegas Valley. Although MGM Resorts contributed $160 million of the total $1 billion construction costs, the  M was built by the Marnell family, the original owners of the Rio. Their design and construction firm was also responsible for the  Mirage, Bellagio  and  Wynn, and the  M incorporates lessons learned from all those proper-ties. The  Rio’s early years proved how much local customers value good service, attention to detail and, in particular, well-priced eating and drinking, while design elements from the latest Strip casinos permeate the new property. It has nonethe-less struggled in the face of the recession Penn National Gaming bought it in late 2010 for a mere $230 million, though so far little has changed. - Rough Guide

By Jessica Chou, Editor, thedailymeal.com

If you thought world hunger was a big issue, here's another one for your plate: Researchers at World Nutrition Rio2012 announced that the biggest killer in the world is salt.

Considering that the CDC says heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, it's possible. "Salt [added to food] is the major cause of high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is the major cause of death worldwide," Graham MacGregor, a cardiovascular medicine professor, told Live Science.

According to data from the British Medical Journal in 2009, reducing salt intake by 2,000 milligrams could prevent about 4 million deaths from stroke or cardiovascular diseases a year. Current guidelines say Americans should limit salt intake to 2,300 milligrams per day, with recommendations for elderly and other groups to limit intake to 1,500 milligrams a day.

Although potato chips and snacks might be the largest culprit for hiding salt, recent studies show that bread is the number one salt source. But since most of the salt is hidden in retail-prepared foods (restaurants and fast food, since it's an immediate flavor boost), the real trick to getting rid of salt is cooking for yourself.

by PNA

President Benigno S. Aquino III has nominated career diplomat Sonia C. Brady as ambassador to the People’s Republic of China with concurrent jurisdiction over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Mongolia and named three new Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals (CA).

The appointment of Brady was announced by Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte during an interview aired over government-run dzRB Radyo ng Bayan on Saturday.

Brady served as Philippine ambassador to Beijing from April 2006 to January 2010. She also served as ambassador to Thailand from 2002 to 2003, and ambassador to Myanmar from 1995 to 1999.

Previously, Brady served as deputy chief of mission to Indonesia from 1994 to 1995; deputy chief of mission to Thailand (1992-1994); third secretary and vice consul and then second secretary and consul in Beijing, China from 1976 to 1978.

She was also appointed as undersecretary of Foreign Affairs for Policy from July 2003 to 2006; special assistant, then assistant secretary to the Office of the Secretary for Policy and Coordination; director of the Office of Asia-Pacific; assistant, then principal assistant, to the Office of Political Affairs.

She earned her Master of Arts in International Relations degree from the University of Southern California, B.S. Foreign Service degree from the University of the Philippines, and AB Journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.

The Chief Executive also appointed Ma. Luisa Quijano-Padilla, Renato C. Francisco, and Jhosep Y. Lopez as Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals.

by pna

The U.S. and German geologists claim they had discovered the exact date when Christ was crucified, the International Geology Review reported.

According to the report, published in the academic journal this week, the scientists discovered that Christ had been crucified on Friday, April 3, 33 AD.

Jefferson Williams from the U.S. Supersonic Geophysical together with his German colleagues, Markus Schwab and Achim Brauer analyzed seismic activity near the Dead Sea and the earthquakes’ descriptions in the New Testament’s first book, Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew’s Chapter 27 says that as Jesus lay dying on the cross “the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”

The scientists, who had detected the signs of two earthquakes in the soil samples from the Dead Sea, revealed that the latter earthquake had occurred between 26AD and 36AD, at the time when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea and when, as all four canonical gospels say, Jesus was crucified.

By putting together several clues from the Gospel of Matthew, combined with the Jewish calendar and astronomical data, the researchers revealed the date of the crucifixion with a fair degree of precision, the journal said.

Do you know someone with AIDS?

by PNA

The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has ordered Southeast Asia Foods Inc. (SAFI), maker of Golden Fiesta Cooking Oil, to stop airing its commercial for containing "misleading claims."

SAFI may also face legal and administrative sanctions for the violation, the order said.

The FDA’s order resulted from a complaint of San Pablo Manufacturing Corp. (SPMC) that Golden Fiesta’s commercials made unfounded claims -- may be re-used for frying food for seven times without affecting the product’s quality, color, or appearance; and 50 percent less saturated than regular oil.

As such, SAFI was directed "under pain of legal and/or administrative sanctions, to immediately cease and desist from further airing the same violative advertisement."

FDA, in its resolution, also ordered SAFI, pursuant to Section 2, Article 7, Book 3 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9711, to reply/comment within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of the order "as to why no further administrative or legal action should be taken against you and your establishment for the aforesaid violation."

Suzette H. Lazo, acting director IV of FDA, said her office conducted an evaluation of the subject of the complaint and was confirmed to be in violation of the said provision that stated, "no claim in the advertisement, promotion, and sponsorship, and other marketing activities shall be made other than those contained in the approved label or packaging of the health product, or as duly approved by the FDA."

SPMC belongs to the government sequestered CIIF-Oil Mills Group (CIIF-OMG) and is the maker of market leader Minola Cooking Oil.

With the development, advertising practitioners in the edible oil industry urged the Advertising Board (AdBoard) to scrutinize further the claims of advertisers before approving their advertisements to protect the Filipino consumers from "ridiculous claims" and uphold the "truth in advertising."

by PNA

Malacañang defended on Sunday its choice of career diplomat Sonia Brady as the country’s ambassador to China, saying the long-time official of the Department of Foreign Affairs had the training and expertise to handle the high level assignment.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said President Benigno S. Aquino specifically chose Brady as she was “someone who could hit the ground running.”

“Sonia Brady was chosen because, if you remember, the President said he wanted someone who could hit the ground running, someone who is already familiar with the culture of the host country, its politics, essentially the ways of the host country,” Valte said.

“And if you look at the background of Ambassador Brady, she is an old hand at foreign affairs, she formerly was our ambassador to China in 2006 to 2010, and prior to that, her very first posting outside the country was to Beijing, so she is someone who fulfills the requirements for the post,” she said.

Valte expressed confidence that with her credentials, Brady could easily hurdle the Commission of Appointments.

“Ambassador Brady is a career diplomat so we don’t want to sound arrogant and say they will have no problem with her, but with her extensive experience in foreign affairs and foreign relations we are confident that she will ably answer the questions of the members of the Commission on Appointments,” Valte said.

Brady served as Philippine Ambassador to Beijing from April 2006 to January 2010. She also served as Ambassador to Thailand from 2002 to 2003, and Ambassador to Myanmar from 1995 to 1999.

Previously, Brady served as deputy chief of mission to Indonesia from 1994 to 1995; deputy chief of mission to Thailand (1992-1994); third secretary and vice consul and then second secretary and consul in Beijing, China from 1976 to 1978.

She was also appointed as Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs for Policy from July 2003 to 2006; special assistant, then assistant secretary to the Office of the Secretary for Policy and Coordination; director of the Office of Asia Pacific; assistant, then principal assistant, to the Office of Political Affairs.

By Jelly F. Musico

Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III said on Sunday that the oral arguments set on Monday remain crucial as these would help him and other senator-judges to "tie up loose ends" before coming up with their final verdict on the impeachment case of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

”There are some of us who are still contemplating. Like me, I would listen up to the oral arguments before making my decision. All the information should be extracted. It’s like tying up loose ends,” Sotto said in an interview over radio dzBB.

For this reason, Sotto said the Senate, sitting as impeachment court, has decided to set another day on Tuesday for the final verdict to give the senator-judges one night to review their decision after hearing the oral arguments.

“There might be compelling statement or reason that both sides will give. Some of us who have not fully made up their minds unless they have a good picture of the proceedings, cannot really give decision right away. So to be fair to everyone, tomorrow (Tuesday) is the best,” said Sotto,

Sotto said he will propose on Monday to have the vote on the impeachment case on Tuesday.

”That will give us time to explain our votes, write down what we want to explain in our votes,” he said.

While the rules strictly provide only two minutes for the senator-judges to cast and explain their respective vote, Sotto said Senate President and Presiding Judge Juan Ponce Enrile might allow each member of the court a two-minute extension.

”It will depend on the discretion of the presiding officer because there are some senators who might request for an extension to explain their vote. But as much as possible, we will limit it to two minutes,” Sotto said.

Sotto said the senator-judges will cast their votes in alphabetical order, hoping that the public will eventually accept whatever verdict the Senate will render on the case.

He explained that the senators need not vote in all the three remaining impeachment complaints if the prosecution will be able to get 16 votes to convict Corona right in the first article.

The House prosecution originally submitted eight articles of impeachment complaints but midway of the 42 days of trial, these were reduced to only three -- Articles 2, 3 and 7.

”We will decide on the three articles of impeachment complaint individually. If there is no conviction in Article 2, we will proceed to Article 3 and then Article 7 if there is still no conviction. If the verdict in Article 2 is conviction, we will no longer proceed in the next Article,” Sotto explained.

Article 2 refers to the alleged failure of the chief magistrate to disclose all his assets, including his dollar and peso bank deposits, in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth or SALN.

By Eddie G. Alinea

Filipino World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao tapers off his training regimen starting Monday at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.

Pacquiao, who is defending his 147-pound diadem against undefeated world junior-welterweight kingpin Timothy Bradley Jr. on June 9 in Las Vegas, actually completed the most grueling week of his preparations on Saturday under the watchful eyes of Wild Card-owner and chief trainer Freddie Roach.

“We’ve actually completed our preparations,” Pacquiao told this writer in an overseas interview following his Saturday workout at the Hollywood sweat shop.

“Everything is there, power, strength, speed, stamina. Except for some minor improvements, I’m actually ready to fight,” Pacquiao declared. “But as I said, we still have to patch up things a little bit on some things.”

“We’ve also set in place our game plan and strategy. We just need to finalize them,” the fighting Sarangani congressman said.

Like when they pitched camp in Baguio City six weeks ago, Roach described the past seven days of tough grind as “very good” as he proclaimed the 33-year-old ward as "almost ready to make war."

“We’re almost there,” the 52-year-old future Hall of Fame trainer told this writer. “Everything’s going well that it’s time for us to taper off with our fine-tuning program.”

What came as sort of a welcome development was the arrival in Los Angeles of Filipino assistant trainer Marvin Somodio who flew in Friday night and rejoined the team Saturday.

After Saturday’s 10-round sparring, Pacquiao has so far logged some 90 rounds of ring skirmishes with regular sparring mates welterweight prospect Ruslan Provodnikov, lightweight Rustam Nugaev and featherweight Kevin Hoshkins.

Provodnikov has been providing the eight-division champion the power approximating Bradley’s, while Nugaev and Hoshkins the speed and mobility of the challenger.

Pacquiao’s timing and ability to keep his distance from the enemy, which were lacking when the team left Manila three weeks ago, have improved a lot, related Roach.

“Perfect, everything's perfect. We’ll just be trying to maintain all the things we gained the past six weeks since we started the camp and improve a little bit more on things we still lack,” Roach disclosed as the main focus of the last week at Wild Card.

“The power in his left is back and so does his right,” Roach assured. “He’s totally regained his quickness and he moves well. He’s really good.”

“We’ll just be waiting for June 9 and see what Bradley can dish out as he keeps on promising in his press releases and give him what he doesn’t expect,” Roach remarked.

From 10 to 12 rounds of sparring the past three weeks, skirmish schedule will be reduced to eight, seven, six and four rounds the coming week. Doing the mitts will also be lessened.

The plyometric and isometric exercises to increase stamina will continue as well as workouts at the heavy bag, double-end ball and speed ball.

Both Roach and Pacquiao dismissed reports that the Filipino ring icon is being disturbed by the same-sex marriage controversy that cropped up the past two weeks.

“I have already said my piece. I have already apologized. And so had the writer that set off the controversy. Besides, I really didn’t mind it,” Pacquiao said.

by PNA

The Civil Service Commission Bohol Field Office announces that the Career Service Examination (Prof/Sub-Prof) will be on October 21, 2012. Testing centers are Tagbilaran City and Cebu City. Our Office will start accepting applications for this exam on May 28, 2012. Deadline for filing is on September 6, 2012.

SCOPE OF THE EXAMINATIONS

The Examinations shall cover the following subject areas:

1.   For Career Service Professional- In English and Filipino; vocabulary, grammar and correct usage, paragraph organization, reading comprehension, analogy, logic, and numerical reasoning.

2.   For Career Service Sub- Professional- In English and Filipino: vocabulary, grammar and correct usage, paragraph organization, reading comprehension, spelling, clerical operations, and numerical reasoning.

The following are the admission requirements:

1.   Must be at least 18 years of age on the date of filing of application;

-    For October 21, 2012 CSE-PPT, applicants must be born on or before September 6, 1994

2.   Must be Filipino citizen;

3.   Must be of good moral character;

4.   Must have not been convicted by final judgment of an offense or crime involving moral turpitude, or disgraceful or immoral conduct, dishonesty, examination irregularity, drunkenness or addiction to drugs;

5.   Must have not been dishonorably discharged from military service or dismissed for cause from any civilian positions in the government; and

6.   Must have not taken the same level of CS Examination in less than three (3) months.

WHERE TO GET AND FILE APPLICATION FORMS

Application forms are available at any CSC Regional/Field Offices. The same may be downloaded from the CSC website: www.csc.gov.ph

Application forms may be reproduced in legal size bond paper provided the same format is followed. Applicants may file their applications in any of the CSC Regional/Field Offices.

Applicants are advised to be in proper attire. NOT in sando/shorts/slippers.

this is just a lovely place. the beauty of tagbilaran bay viewed from the acacia tree is picture-perfect.

we are all going there and we must age gracefully.

by pna

A high state of alert has been imposed since the early hours of Friday near the Israeli- Lebanese border.

This, as Lebanon celebrates the 12th commemoration of the Israeli withdrawal from its south.

The Israeli forces reinforced their presence on the borders with armored vehicles and Mirkava tanks, while the Lebanese army beefed up their troops along with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in anticipation of any development.

A Lebanese security source told Xinhua "the Israeli army reinforced their positions facing the Shebaa Farms with 15 Mirkava tanks while Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were patrolling the area, violating the Lebanese airspace."

Meanwhile, the UNIFIL was patrolling all the border line known as the "Blue Line" and strengthened their observation points from the Wazzani river to the Shebaa Farms.

The Shebaa Farms have been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Lebanon claims, with the backing of Syria, the ownership of the Shebaa Farms, and does not recognize the Blue Line, a virtual line the United Nations drew in 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal to mark the borders of Lebanon.

Lebanon, dubbed the day as "Resistance and Liberation Day," is organizing a series of official and popular celebrations in its south for the event.

by pna

Two high-profile women politicians strongly supportive of the erstwhile administration party, Lakas, have jumped ship and joined the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) chaired by Vice President Jejomar C. Binay.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay were welcomed on Friday to the PDP-Laban political party, which formed a coalition with the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Joseph Estrada.

Binay announced the duo’s inclusion as senatorial candidates of the UNA coalition.

He said Garcia and Magsaysay are qualified to run as senators in the 2013 mid-term elections.

By Lilybeth G. Ison

After more than three hours on the witness stand, embattled Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona on Friday left the Senate impeachment court gently, though very tired.

Corona left the Senate in the same Medical City ambulance that took him to the Senate in a convoy around 1:18 p.m. Friday.

Senate President and presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile excused an admittedly "very, very tired" chief magistrate.

After being excused from the hearing, Corona was taken briefly to the Senate clinic. Senate Medical and Dental Services chief Mariano Blancia said the chief justice's blood pressure was normal 140/80.

"Okey na siya, walang ibang symptons. Nakauwi siya nang normal ang kanyang blood pressure (He's okay, he has no other symptoms. He left with his blood pressure normal). At least we have done our duty to him," Blancia said.

Meanwhile, at the sidelines of the impeachment trial, Corona's wife Cristina, during a break in the proceedings, walked up to her cousins -- the siblings Ana, Carmen, Isabel, Francheska and Eric Basa -- and embraced them one by one.

Corona’s daughter, Carla, also approached the siblings and hugged them. Most of them were in tears.

Cristina later took the siblings to the witness stand, where the chief justice remained seated during the break. There, Corona also embraced the Basa siblings.

Baby Nebrida, classmate and close friend of Cristina, in an interview with media, said she had advised Mrs. Corona that at this point in their lives "the fastest way to healing is to forgive."

Nebrida was the one who made the Basa-Corona reconciliation possible as both families are close to her.

by pna

The Senate, sitting as impeachment court, submitted on Friday the impeachment case of Chief Justice Renato Corona for final resolution, subject to the oral arguments of both the prosecution and defense panel on Monday.

”This case is now submitted for final resolution by this impeachment court subject to the oral argument of the two sides to be held next Monday at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Is that understood”,” Enrile asked both the defense and prosecution panels.

”Agreed your honor,” lead defense counsel former Justice Serafin Cuevas said.

”Clear your honor,” chief prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas, for his part, said.

Enrile said both the prosecution and the defense panel would be given an equal time of one hour each for the oral argument on Monday.

The presiding officer made the ruling to submit the case for resolution after impeachment court received on Friday the formal offer of documentary evidence from defense and supplementary documentary evidence from the prosecution.

”We are making formal offer of these 39 copies of testimonial and documentary evidence,” Cuevas told the court.

Cuevas initially objected the supplementary documentary evidence of the prosecution but eventually gave way to the request of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III “so as not to prolong our agony.”

The defense made the formal offer of the evidence after Corona was discharged upon the request of Cuevas.

”The Chief Justice is not feeling well anymore. Kindly excuse the witness,” Cuevas asked the court after Senator-judge Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero threw his first clarificatory question.

But Corona requested to allow Escudero to finish his clarificatory question. Escudero lauded Corona for signing unconditional waiver.

Aside from Escudero, other senator-judges who threw clarificatory questions include Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan, Jinggoy Estrada and Franklin Drilon.

As promised by Cuevas, Corona returned to the witness stand against advice of his doctors, who said attending Senate impeachment trial would pose risk to the chief justice.

Corona testified last Tuesday where after reading his opening statement and testimony for almost three hours, immediately left the session hall even without the permission of the presiding officer.

Corona begged for forgiveness for his act, which he claimed was triggered by his health condition as he suffered from hypoglycemia, a sudden drop of blood sugar.

”I’m really humbly ask for forgiveness to the Senate, to the prosecution, the Filipino people and to my defense team because they really have no knowledge that it’s going to happen,” Corona said.

Corona also submitted his unconditional waiver authorizing the bank institutions to open his peso and dollar deposits.

Enrile said the impeachment court will take note of the waiver but “we cannot act on it.”

”Actually, this court is not a producer of evidence. It is a hearer of facts. So therefore, in effect, both sides of this impeachment proceedings is submitting the case for decision,” Enrile said.

”So we take not of this waiver but we cannot subpoena any other persons mentioned here given the fact we are not supposed to produce evidence. I hereby stated for the record that we take note of this waiver of this chief justice but we cannot act on it,” Enrile said.

Corona admitted to the court that he has US$ 2.4 million deposited in four accounts and P80 million deposited in three accounts.

The chief magistrate said that “never at any time” he owned US$ 12 million in 82 dollar accounts. He explained that the P80 million includes the P34.7 million commingled funds of the Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc.

this is good news. i am sure a lot of people in bohol have been waiting for Camella Homes to be developed in bohol.

by pna

Hong Kong stocks rose 0.25 percent Friday along with the external markets.

The benchmark Hang Seng index gained 47.01 points to end at 18, 713.41 points, after trading between a day low of 18,577.09 and a day high of 18,778.44 points.

Turnover totaled 46.01 billion HK dollars (about 5.93 billion U. S. dollars) compared with Thursday's 47.96 billion HK dollars.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 2.04 points, or 0.02 percent, to close at 9,539.29.

Three out of four sub-indices gained ground, with the Properties rising the most by 0.64 percent, followed by the Finance 0.33 percent, and the Commerce & Industry 0.31 percent. The Utility fell 1.40 percent.

Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, gained 0.89 percent to close at 62.7 HK dollars, and its local unit Hang Seng Bank moved up 0.70 percent to 101.4 HK dollars. Bank of East Asia, another Hong Kong's major bank, fell 0.38 percent to 26.3 HK dollars. Local bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing increased 1.19 percent to 110.3 HK dollars.

As for Mainland-based financial stocks, China Construction Bank, the country's second largest bank which accounts for the third largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, rose 0.78 percent to 5.15 HK dollars. ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, went down 0.22 percent at 4.62 HK dollars. Bank of China gained 0.70 percent at 2.86 HK dollars. Bank of Communications, China's fifth biggest lender measured by assets, lost 0.79 percent to 5 HK dollars.

Local developers gained. Henderson Land, one of the major developers in Hong Kong, rose 1.59 percent to 38.45 HK dollars.

Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, went up 0.38 percent to 91.5 HK dollars.

As for energy stocks, China's top refiner Sinopec rose 0.57 percent to 7.1 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, moved up 0.99 percent to 10.18 HK dollars.

by pna

A teacher, an accountant and a business management specialist are among nine passionate young Australians who will begin working with local organizations this month through the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) Program, the Australian embassy in Manila announced.

The AYAD Program is the youth stream of the Australian Volunteers for International Development Program, an initiative of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) that deploys skilled volunteers to live and work in developing countries as part of the Australian government’s overseas aid program.

Newly-arrived Australian volunteer, Marie-Louise Batenburg, is a secondary school teacher who has started work as a Community Education Project Officer based with the Department of Education (DepED) in Tigaon, Camarines Sur.

Marie-Louise will be involved in monitoring and evaluating a pilot program to support people of all ages to experience learning outside the formal education system.

“The program has the potential to reach people who previously would not have been able to access any form of education. I hope to support the program to be successful and sustainable for Camarines Sur,” she says.

“Though I have only been living in the Philippines for a short time, I have been welcomed with open hearts and homes. The kindness of the Filipinos has made my transition here from Australia so much easier.”

The other volunteers and their respective assignments are Tania Groba (Community Education Officer, DepED Calabanga); Kerry Lomas (Education Program Assistant, Gawad Kalinga); Matthew Jones (Financial Support Officer, Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation Inc.); Caroline Duyvestyn (Program Support Officer, Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation Inc.);

Adam Smith (Product Development and Marketing Officer, Negros Island Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Foundation), Claire Holland (Capacity Development Officer, Panaghugpong sa Gagmayng Bayanihang Grupo sa Oriental); Alexandra Pinti (Business Development Services Officer, Simbag sa Pag-Asenso Inc.); Karen Taranto (Policy Development Officer, Local Government Unit of Gubat).

Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell said, “The Australian government’s development cooperation program aims to help improve lives of Filipinos and we work closely with the Philippine government to deliver aid where it is most needed and most effective. Australian volunteers contribute to this goal through the sharing of skills and the building of local capacity of our partner Filipino organizations and communities.”

“Volunteering overseas is one way that Australians can make a positive contribution to poverty reduction, sustainable development and cross cultural understanding. They develop a strong understanding of local and cultural issues and build effective professional and personal relationships that help them to share skills and knowledge.”

In the past 12 years, over 200 Australian volunteers have worked with Filipino organizations in the areas of: sustainable agriculture; community development and sustainable livelihoods; education; youth development; persons with disabilities; environmental sustainability; governance; and human trafficking.

by PNA

A Chinese report claims U.S.-led wars, albeit alleged to be "humanitarian intervention" efforts and for "the rise of a new democratic nation," created humanitarian disasters instead.

The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011 was released by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 issued by the U.S. State Department Thursday.

For Iraqis, the death toll in the U.S.-initiated Iraq war stands at 655,000, the report said, adding that it is estimated that civilian casualties in the military campaign in Afghanistan could exceed 31,000, the report said.

Incomplete statistics revealed the United States has launched more than 60 drone attacks in Pakistan in 2011, killing at least 378 people, the report added.

The report cited an article of the Guardian on March 11, 2012 as saying that an American soldier stationed in Afghanistan burst into three civilian homes in two villages in the small hours of March 11, shot dead 16 sleeping Afghan villagers, injured five others, and burned the dead bodies.

The victims included nine children and three women.

Such "American-style massacre" against innocent civilians has once again pierced the veil of the United States proclaiming itself "a country under the rule of law" and "a human rights defender," the report said.

The report noted that the United States does not support the right to development, which is a concern of most of the developing countries.

In September 2011, the 18th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on "the right to development."

Except an abstention vote from the United States, all the HRC members voted for the resolution.

The report said the United States continues its conducts that seriously violate the right of subsistence and right of development of Cuban people.

The United States has been pursuing hegemony in the world, grossly trampling upon the sovereignty of other countries and capriciously violating human rights against other nations.

by pna

China welcomed Friday the announcement Sudan and South Sudan will resume talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia next week.

"We welcome the positive attitudes of both sides in resuming negotiations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a press conference.

China hopes that the two sides will properly resolve pending issues through negotiations and in accordance with African Union guidelines and relevant resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, he said.

Tensions have increased over recent weeks after South Sudanese forces moved into the oil-producing region of Heglig in Sudan's South Kordofan state, and Sudanese forces bombed South Sudanese territory.

The AU Peace and Security Council on April 24 issued a resolution asking the UNSC to support its demands for Sudan and South Sudan to cease fire within 48 hours, resume negotiations within two weeks and complete the peace agreement in three months.

by PNA

With the onset of the southwest monsoon or “habagat”, expect rain showers and thunderstorms to prevail all over the country, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said on Sunday.

Aldczar Aurelio, weather forecaster, said light to moderate southwesterly surface wind-flow is prevailing over the western section of the country.

He said habagat is slowly moving in the country as it brings isolated rain showers expected in the afternoon or evening in Luzon, including Metro Manila, while scattered rain showers will be experienced over Mindanao.

Aurelio said the weather agency may soon formally announce the onset of the rainy season.

In past weeks, PAGASA said the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) was causing rain mostly in the afternoon or evening.

It said the southwest monsoon is expected to continue affecting the weather in the country.

In its advisory, PAGASA said the western section of Southern Luzon and Eastern Visayas and Southern Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms.

The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms.

Light to moderate winds blowing from the southwest to south will prevail over Northern and Central Luzon and coming from southwest to west over the rest of the country.

The coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be slight to moderate, it added.

Si Bong Revilla naman karon ang head/leader sa Lakas-CMD Party. Ug modaug na simbako, una buhaton anang korokongho mao ang pagpagaw ni Gloria Arroyo sa prisohan.

unsa bay baho anang panty oroy nga akawaton man gajud. maka-addict seguro ang amoy ana?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRF-U-iZW_Q#ws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mVd6jw-uOE#ws
Pacquiao vs Bradley on HBA 24/7 Episode 1

By The Philippines News Agency

Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona on Friday, despite his health condition, returned to the witness stand on Friday to pursue his testimony, which he himself abruptly curtailed last Tuesday.

Corona, aboard a blue Medical City ambulance that traveled from Pasig with a convoy of vehicles that included his security detail, doctors and his family members -- wife Cristina and children Francis and Carla -- arrived at around 1:18 p.m. Friday at the Senate Building in Pasay City.

The chief justice was admitted in the hospital late Tuesday after delivering a three-hour opening statement at the Senate, sitting as impeachment court.

”I humbly ask for apology for what has happened last Tuesday. It was totally unexpected and I became disoriented due to the extreme situation I have gone through,” Corona said as he returned to the impeachment court.

”I’m really humbly asking for forgiveness to the Senate, to the prosecution, the Filipino people and to my defense team because they really have no knowledge that it’s going to happen,” he added.

Corona, a diabetic, explained that he suffered from hypoglycemia, a sudden drop of blood sugar that made him dizzy and prompted him to leave the session hall without the permission of Senate President and Presiding Officer Juan Ponce Enrile.

He denied his action was a walkout, adding “I still have to read two pages of my statement.”

”The heartaches that I have experienced for the almost six months cannot be described and I have sleepless nights for almost a week before I took the witness stand. I could not eat and was nervous before Tuesday’s hearing. So please forgive me,” said Corona.

The prosecution team accepted the apology of Corona as it decided not to cross-examine the chief magistrate who has to sign a waiver on his health condition just to meet the 48-hour deadline given to him to return to the witness stand.

”Due to fragile situation of the chief justice, the prosecution will no longer cross-examine him. We wish for the chief justice, your speedy recovery,” said prosecution private lawyer Mario Bautista.

”Thank you!,” Corona responded.

The prosecution’s decision not to cross-examine the chief magistrate was also in response to the promise of the House lead prosecutor, Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. that they will no longer conduct cross-examination if the defense will not conduct direct examination to the chief justice.

”The defense will no longer conduct direct examination,” said defense lead counsel former Justice Serafin Cuevas.

Corona then submitted to the presiding officer his unconditional waiver that would give permission to the impeachment court, the banks, and other concerned institutions to scrutinize his bank deposits, including foreign currency deposits.

”I’m submitting this (waiver) without condition. I will no longer ask others to sign the waiver,” he said.

At the sidelines of the impeachment trial, Corona's wife Cristina, during a break in the proceedings, walked up to her cousins -- the siblings Ana, Carmen, Isabel, Francheska and Eric Basa -- and embraced them one by one.

Corona’s daughter, Carla, also approached the siblings and hugged them. Most of them were in tears.

Cristina later took the siblings to the witness stand, where the chief justice remained seated during the break. There, Corona also embraced the Basa siblings.

The feud between the two families, triggered by a property dispute between Cristina and her uncle, the late Jose Basa, has stretched for three decades, and was even dragged into the impeachment trial of the chief justice.

Meanwhile, Corona, during clarificatory question by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, admitted to owning US$ 2.4 million but "never at any time" having US$ 10-12 million deposit in only four and not 82 dollar bank accounts.

”Never at any time had US$ 10 or US$ 11 or US$ 12 million. I have only US$ 2.4 million. That’s already my biggest dollar deposit,” he said.

Corona also admitted he has also peso deposit amounting to P80 million, including the P34 million funds that the Basa-Guidote Enterprises, a company owned by the family of his wife Cristina, has entrusted to him.

”My peso accounts have P80 million in co-mingled funds because it includes funds from the Basa-Guidote property sale,” he said.

The chief magistrate said that he did not declare his dollar deposit in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) due to the "absolute confidentiality" as provided by Republic Act 6426 or Foreign Currency Deposit Act.

Corona also said he would not resign amid what he claimed as pressures for him to quit as chief magistrate of the land.

Corona also admitted that he withdrew millions of funds deposited in banks after he was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 12, saying he had received a tip that authorities would move to freeze his accounts.

Corona, upon questioning by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, said "friends from Malacanang" called him up and told him that his bank accounts would be frozen.

"I still have friends working in Malacanang. Some of them called to warn me that my accounts will be frozen," he told Pangilinan.

The chief justice said he just wanted to protect what was his and what he earned throughout his career.

Corona also said he started depositing in dollars between 1972 and 1973.

After more than three hours on the witness stand, the embattled chief justice was allowed to leave the Senate impeachment court due to his health condition.

The Senate then submitted Corona's impeachment case for final resolution, subject to the oral arguments of both the prosecution and defense panel on Monday. '

”This case is now submitted for final resolution by this impeachment court subject to the oral argument of the two sides to be held next Monday at 2 o’clock in the afternoon," Enrile said.

Enrile said both the prosecution and the defense panels would be given an equal time of one hour each for the oral argument.

By Lilybeth G. Ison

Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, at the ongoing impeachment trial at the Senate, admitted on Friday that he withdrew millions of funds deposited in banks after he was impeached by the House of Representatives on Dec. 12, saying he had received a tip that authorities would move to freeze his accounts.

Corona, upon questioning by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, said "friends from Malacanang" called him up and told him that his bank accounts would be frozen.

"I still have friends working in Malacanang. Some of them called to warn me that my accounts will be frozen," he told Pangilinan.

The chief justice said he just wanted to protect what was his and what he earned throughout his career.

Corona also said he started depositing in dollars between 1972 and 1973.

"Kung tinatago ko yun bakit ko ilalagay sa pangalan ko?" he told the impeachment court.

Pangilinan, however, questioned the chief magistrate saying, "if earned legitimately, why not declare?"

Meanwhile, congressmen-prosecutors said they were not surprised at all by the chief justice's admission that he owned peso and dollar deposits totaling to about P183 million because it merely confirmed what they thought all along.

"Although we were not certain of the exact amount, we knew from the start that the chief justice has bank deposits way beyond the amount he declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN)," said prosecution spokesman and Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara.

Angara said Corona’s confession before the Senate impeachment court that he had US$ 2.4 million in foreign currency deposits and another P80 million in his peso accounts "further reinforced the prosecution’s contention that he lied in his SALN when he excluded a huge chunk of his assets to avoid public scrutiny."

He said the prosecution was not biting the top magistrate’s alibi that the money in his peso accounts was "co-mingled funds" he (Corona) shared with his children thus he excluded it in his annual net worth declaration.

Angara also noted that the chief magistrate's admission in open court that he deliberately omitted in his filing SALN his dollar deposits in four banks on grounds that the provision on confidentiality of Republic Act 6426, or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act, prohibited him from declaring foreign currency accounts.

"Does he (Corona) think the public is that gullible? He is the chief justice, he must be the best person to know the law," the Aurora solon said, noting that the Constitution, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard for Public Officials and Employees mandate all people in government to declare all their assets and liabilities to ensure that they do not enrich themselves while in office.

Corona only declared P3.5 million as cash and investment in his SALN for 2010.

For his part, Marikina City Rep. Romero Federico "Miro" Quimbo, another prosecution spokesman, said the chief justice's explanations were "hard to believe and quite absurd."

"How can he (Corona) justify P80 million in his name and only declare P3.5 million? He was holding P76.5 million for his children and family? That’s absurd," Quimbo said.

"Also, I am amazed of the chief justice’s financial skills. He should have become a fund manager. Perhaps he would have made the best secretary of finance our country could have had," he said.

How to Avoid Investigations: It's More Fun in the Philippines

na-train ko nga paspas mo type pinaagi sa typewriter. all the keys of the typewriter were covered with black masking tape. we were forced to memorize the keys and we were reprimanded if we used one or two fingers only. tungod sa kaestrikto sa among maestro, nakakat-on ko nga motype nga all fingers gyud with considerable speed.

nagpahungaw lang sa gibati, Padz. pasagdi nalang ni. hehehe

by PNA

This city northwest of Manila still considers Jessica Sanchez as Bataan’s ambassadress to the world despite her failure to bag the American Idol title in the finale Thursday.

City Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia III even invited Jessica to do her first concert in Bataan, preferably on top of historic Mt. Samat, when she visits the Philippines.

“She will not only be performing in front of her kababayan but she is the ambassadress of Bataan to the world,” the mayor said.

“We in Balanga City are very proud of you, Jessica,” he added.

Garcia said Jessica is considered as the best singer in AI Season 11.

The Balanga City mayor congratulated the Filipino-American-Mexican singing sensation.

Garcia said it was a popularity contest and losing in it does not mean that she will not be successful.

The city government of Balanga is the first local government unit in Bataan to give tribute to Jessica when she was still among the Top 7.

The city is 10 kms away from Samal, hometown of Jessica’s mother Editha Bugay Sanchez.

Jessica Sanchez was born in Chula Vista, California on Aug. 4, 1995 to parents Gilbert and Editha Sanchez.

She was raised in Eastlake, Chula Vista, along with two younger brothers.

Her father, a Mexican American originally from Texas, is a U.S. Navy veteran who fought in the Iraq War and served in Afghanistan

Viewers of the American Idol finale in Balanga City, like on a cue, shouted “Ay!” when they heard the announcement that Phillip Phillips, the 21-year-old Georgia-born country soul and jazz singer, was the winner.

Some remained motionless for a few seconds as if pondering why their 16-year-old kababayan did not win when expectations were so high.

The spectators led by Garcia watched the last minutes of the AI finale at the Plaza Mayor de Balanga under blue tents because of the rains.

They clapped heavily, especially when Jessica had a duet prior to the awaited result.

A businesswoman paying her taxes to the city government temporarily left the taxpayers’ lounge and watched the AI proceedings.

kaingon ko ug loboton.

As predicted: American Idol Voted by Face and Race, not by Voice
Jessica Sanchez has a voice, unfortunately she doesn't have a face and she is not white. That's American Idol. It's business after all, remember.

Cebu Pacific Promo: Cebu to Hongkong P488 Fare

Quote from: chicogon on May 24, 2012, 01:34:08 PM


Baby back ribs (baka) with kamonggay, tanglad, sili, etc... perteng lamia, wa ko magmahay nagluto ko pagmata 

i miss it so much. maayo lang maka-timing ta ug bata pa nga baka pero kung landay na ang naihaw, perteng gahia sa unod bisan kapila pa gipabukalan.

Quote from: hubag bohol on May 24, 2012, 05:13:09 PM
Gipahuman na lang unta antes gibadlong...

bitaw, gipatiwas nalang gud unta to. very inconsiderate pud ning mga police. mura pud ug others.

by Sunstar Superbalita

USA ka lalaki ang giluba kagahapon mga alas 2:30 sa kadlawon sa dalan Rizal/Cruz Taal ning siyudad sa Cagayan de Oro.

Giila ang biktima nga Joseph Rapona, 30, minyo nga usa ka embalmer sa SOMO Funeral Homes.

Usa ka nagpakabanang molupyo ang nitawag sa Police Station 1 sa Divisoria ug mitaho sa maong panghitabo.

Daling nirespondi sila Senior Police Officer (SPO) 1 Jay Labis ug si PO3 Frederick Yamis sa maong hitabo.

Atol sa imbestigasyon nahibaw-an nga rambol o pagsinukmagay ang nahitabo sa usa ka Perlas Vedioke bar sa susamang lugar.

Gidala ang biktima sa Northern Mindanao Medical Center para matambalan ug matagaan ug saktong pag-atiman.

murag mao niy nagpaluyong katarungan. hapit na unta siya moabot sa pungkay sa kalipay, apan kalit kini nga gisanta sa mga otoridad.

basin pud ang doctor mahilig ug human anatomy nga subject.

Ni Stephanie Viovicente-Berganio
Sunstar Superbalita

GIREKLAMO sa usa ka sakop sa Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Northern Mindanao ang babaye ug lalaki nga nasapon sa akto nga nag-sex sa parking area sa kagahapon mga alas 12:15 sa kaadlawon sa Corrales-Velez St., ning siyudad sa Cagayan de Oro.

Mitawag pinaagi sa telepono ang personahe sa PDEA nga mao si Carlito Gutteriez nga aduna siyay nakita nga nag-sex ug sa parking lot mismo.

Dihang gisita ang duha nganong gihimo sa publikong lugar nasuko pag-ayo ang babaye ug nagyawyaw.

Girespondehan sa kapolisan sa Police Station 1 (PS1) sa Divisoria ang hitabo ug nailhan ang duha ka nga nasapon nga mao sila si Sandy (bansagon gipugngan), 26, taga Montalvan-Velez ug Delmar (bansagon gipugngan), 56, taga Soldiers Hills Bulua.

Gidala sa presintuhan ang duha ug gitambagan sa kapolisan nga unta dili kini himuon sa publikong lugar nga bisan tuod ngitngit apan aduna man makakita.

basin busy na kaayo ang senador ug wala na niya mahiling ang angay utingkayon sa matag gabii.

by Visayan Daily Star

Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez yesterday categorically denied having anything to do with the break-up of the relationship between Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel and his wife Jewel May Lobaton.

Golez was reacting to insinuations in a national newspaper linking him to Jewel May and the break-up.

“Let's respect the privacy of the two, who are undergoing a difficult time. Let's pray for them and wish them the very best as they go on their separate ways," Golez said.

Golez said what he has been doing is working with Jewel May in the implementation of common advocacies.

“We have been implementing different advocacies that are very important to the people of Bacolod, most especially the children and the needy," he said.

Senator Pimentel on Wednesday issued an official statement saying "I confirm my separation from my wife of close to 12 years, Jewel May Lobaton. We have been living separately since November 2011."

please, don't make duplicate posts. we're going to delete the two other same posts. thank you.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has told the Iloilo press, replying to a reporter's question, that she will run for the Senate in the 2013 elections.

“After much deliberation, I think I could help on the national level so I am now offering myself as a senatorial candidate,” said Garcia.

Garcia said she is now in talks with the United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay, Former Pres. Erap Estrada and Senate Pres. Juan Ponce Enrile.

She also said she really needs more exposure to the public and that the media will be a big help for her. - pna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLxTmhcgbsE#
An Attack on Basa Family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJXaA2I-rPA#ws
Reasons to Invest in the Philippines

we hope walay usa nga nagduwa ug laing team.

napangag intawon ug pumang-it.

By Rodrigo Campos

(Reuters) - In its three days of trading, Facebook's stock has dropped 18 percent from its $38 issue price. For the thousands of investors that bought at the IPO, that's bad enough, but one analysis of its earnings prospects suggests it could get a lot worse - more like $10 a share.

Setting aside the hype and the cultural phenomenon that is the online networking site, Facebook Inc would be fairly priced at $9.59, according to the smattering of Wall Street estimates analyzed and modeled by Thomson Reuters StarMine.

Data from six brokerages modeled by StarMine forecast the company's estimated annualized earnings growth over the next 10 years at 10.8 percent. That's almost exactly the mean for the technology sector and far below the 24 percent growth rate implied by the current stock price.

Some analysts, however, see the stock returning to the $40 per share level it traded at last week.

"Investors are looking for much more growth than the analysts covering the company," said Greg Harrison, corporate earnings research analyst at Thomson Reuters.

Starmine's intrinsic value estimate incorporates analyst estimates for the next five years of growth and then models another five years of steadily slower growth trends based on industry averages.

It is possible that its data will change as more analyst estimates become available. Underwriters are restricted from issuing research on a company for 40 days, and Facebook has a number of underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley.

Investor confidence in the shares has been damaged after Reuters reported lead underwriter Morgan Stanley cut its revenue forecasts for Facebook in the days before the offering, in part because of comments from Facebook on mobile usage.

After pricing at $38, far more than the first estimate of $28 the company gave investors, shares have been sliding - at one point as much as 31 percent from the $45 peak hit shortly after it started trading Friday.

"Facebook right now is going for far more than what it's worth, it's like buying $1 for $1.98, it just doesn't make sense at this price," said Eddy Elfenbein, widely followed blogger and editor at Crossing Wall Street.

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By Jelly F. Musico

Senate President and presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile on Tuesday warned that he would order the two hour-long testimony of Chief Justice Renato Corona stricken off the record and render verdict on the impeachment case should the chief magistrate evade being cross-examined by the prosecution and the senator-judges.

Enrile made this warning after Corona suddenly walked out and left the witness stand without asking permission from the court after signing a waiver authorizing government entities to open peso and dollar bank accounts as well as his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth provided that the 188 complainants from the House and Senator Franklin Drilon will also sign the same waiver.

”We will give Corona until tomorrow (Wednesday) to return. If he does not return, we will consider this case submitted for resolution. If corona does not want to be cross-examined, I will order his statement stricken off the record,” Enrile said.

The decision of Enrile was supported by all the 23 senators present during the 40th day of the impeachment trial on Tuesday.

Defense lead counsel Justice Serafin Cuevas apologized for Corona’s sudden departure from the session hall even as he got boos from the gallery.

Corona returned to the session hall on a wheelchair, forcing Cuevas to ask for suspension of the trial hearing to give the chief magistrate enough time to recover from sudden attack of hypoglycemia until Wednesday.

”He is not physically able and not mentally suited to carry on the direct examination. Corona will continue his testimony but not today,” Cuevas said.

Enrile granted the request of the defense and, at the same time, demanded respect from Corona.

”I have high respect for the chief justice and Supreme Court but I demand respect for the institution I represent. I will not allow any abuse of authority against this court for as long as I am presiding officer,” Enrile said.

In his testimony, Corona denied the claims of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales that he has 82 dollar accounts amounting to US$ 10 to 12 million and 31 peso bank deposits.

Editorial, Philippine Daily Inquirer

The first time Miriam Defensor-Santiago appeared at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, she immediately grabbed the spotlight by offering, with trademark aplomb, her two cents’ worth on a number of legal issues.

One, she said, the trial is both quasi-judicial and quasi-political, hence sui generisâ€"a class of its own. Two, it being a political process, “the public should understand what’s going on,” because the issue at the heart of Corona’s trial is good governance. Three, the impeachment court is not strictly bound by the rules of evidence, hence, it should be liberal in accepting them or else “baka isipin na naman ng mga tao na may tinatago tayo dito” (alluding to her vilified role in the suppression of the “second envelope” during the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada). And, fourth, the trial should be conducted in a way that should not turn it into “a triumph of technicalities.”

Someone should furnish the woman a copy of her inaugural remarks to the court, if only to refresh her memory. Because, as has become obvious to anyone watching the trial on TV, Santiago’s conduct pretty much throws mud at all the lofty insights she had proffered and to which she is presumably boundâ€"especially the reminder that the political nature of the trial required the citizenry’s active involvement in it.

How, for instance, did she treat Harvey Keh, an ordinary citizen who came under withering fire for supposedly trying to “influence the court” when he sent Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile an envelope containing the alleged transaction records of Corona’s foreign and peso accounts? Keh was perhaps misguided in terms of protocol, but his action appeared to be motivated by the same search for truth and transparency that the trial is purportedly all about. Also, who else should have the most interest inâ€"and the power to look intoâ€"Corona’s records at this time if not the body precisely tasked to weigh his fitness for his high office?

But the way Santiago browbeat Keh on the witness stand was an act of petulance and extreme arrogance. Only the most rabid Corona supporters would have taken delight at the spectacle of an ordinary taxpayerâ€"whose fault perhaps was to passionately engage in a process supposedly being conducted in his name and those of the rest of his countrymenâ€"being at the receiving end of the senator’s spleen and spittle.

Voters are forewarned: This is the way elected officials like Santiago treat members of the public with a sincere desire to do their share for a better government. Expect to be harangued, upbraided, verbally abusedâ€"not because they deserve it, but only because the vainglorious inquisitor before them feels like doing it.

After all, how different is Keh’s case from the reported lobbying by the Iglesia ni Cristo for Corona’s acquittal? To a report that names names, the Senate has reacted with a collective nonchalance. “In a political exercise such as this … lobbying for or against any particular issue is normal,” said Sen. Tito Sotto. But of course. The INC has millions of votes, while the likes of Keh and his civil-society pals have none. Where, then, is Santiago’s fire-breathing rebuke of this attempt to “influence the court?”

Recall, too, the defense panel’s earlier bombshell of a charge that Malacañang was buying off the senator-judges. That one involved anonymous sourcesâ€"Santiago’s vein-popping beef against Keh (“You’re acting on anonymous sources! You didn’t even bother to examine whether the complaints are fair or not?”)â€"and was aimed directly at the senators’ much-vaunted integrity. Did the nation hear a peep of protest from Santiago, vociferous or otherwise? No.

How about when the defense also began stuffing the trial with witnesses that Enrile himself decried as “irrelevant, immaterial and impertinent”â€"a tack for which Santiago had repeatedly attacked the prosecution? The senator’s lips were primly pursed.

Long after this trial is over, the nation should credit Keh’s suit, along with several other citizens’ complaints against Corona at the Office of the Ombudsman, for having prodded Conchita Carpio Morales to investigate and bring into the light of public scrutiny the Chief Justice’s dollar deposits. But that such participation by the citizenry was also so shabbily treated in this trial should give voters much to ponder in the next elections. Those who held them in contempt, like the sui generis Santiago, deserve to reap the same.

BATANGAS CITY, May 22 (PNA) -- A teenage girl drowned while three of her friends were hospitalized after they were swept by the waters of Taal Lake in Talisay town on Monday afternoon, police said.

In a report to Senior Supt. Rosauro Acio, Batangas police provincial director, Talisay police chief Sr. Insp. Manuel Maligaya, identified the drowning victim as Janela Marie Dagelio, 14.

Maligaya said the victims, namely Janela Marie Dogelia, Catherine Setiles, 16; Janet Satiles, 14; and Hohn Andrew Catapang, 3, were immediately brought to St. Andrew Hospital in Tumaway, Talisay, but Dagelio was declared dead on arrival by attending physician.

He said all of the victims were residents of Barangay Zone II in Talisay town.

Maligaya said the victims were swimming in the coastal area of the barangay when Catapang was swept by strong waters, bringing him to a deep portion of the lake at around 2 p.m.

He said witnesses told police that Dogelio drowned while she and her friends were trying to save three-year old Catapang.

by PNA

A plan to privatize the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Cebu’s largest government-run hospital, has drawn opposition from the province’s top officials.

”If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said, referring to the VSMMC.

Garcia said Cebu “would lose a public regional hospital that is now so well-managed and efficiently run, and that is an important point.”

She pointed out the hospital has become capable of procedures like heart bypass surgery, at a fraction of what private hospital would charge.

”I speak for and in behalf of our constituents that are now enjoying the top-level services of Vicente Sotto, at a fraction of the price that they would otherwise have paid had they gone to a private hospital,” Garcia said.

The VSMMC, which the Department of Health (DOH) runs, is one of 26 hospitals nationwide considered for privatization in House Bill 6099 authored by Bacolod City Rep. Anthony Golez and Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Maranon lll.

Rep. Benhur Salimbangon (Cebu, 4th district) earlier said he will lobby before the Senate to reject the bill.

He was a member of the committee on health in the Lower House, but was outvoted during the deliberation of the bill last week.

The Cebu Provincial Board (PB), in its regular session Monday, deferred a resolution opposing the proposal.

They want a copy of the bill before they consider whether or not to pass their resolution, said Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, the presiding officer.

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) â€" Facebook just joined a “troubled club,” warns the Economist. Now it’s just another “endangered public company.”

Yes, endangered. The number of public companies has declined 37% since 1997. The number of IPOs has dropped from 311 annually before 2000 to 99 the past decade. Meanwhile, the smart CEOs and the Super Rich are “going private,” to avoid government red tape restricting capitalism.

Over at BusinessWeek they’re warning investors that the growing number of “cutesy mascots” is a dangerous reminder “of the dot-com boom’s irrational exuberance.” They’re also red flagging new reports that “more Chinese investors are betting on U.S. start-ups.” And feeding the flames.

What’s going on? Facebook’s in trouble, that’s what. Now in the crosshairs of public scrutiny, everybody’s taking potshots. And the warnings are just beginning:

Everything from Facebook  (NASDAQ:FB)   being “too big to fail or succeed” to a Chicago attorney warning that the stock could “crater” if Facebook can’t grow revenues 41% annually for five years to “sustain its value” to a warning that Facebook’s one of the “Black Swans” that could eventually bring down the global economy.

Let’s begin, shining the bright light of behavioral science and psychology on what’s going on:
Facebook’s billion ‘friends’ in denial â€" deja vu the 1999 bubble mania

Behavioral economics is the new “psychology of denial.” Yes, it’s like falling in love. You can’t hear, can’t see the warning signs. Till after. After months of hype building up to this IPO, you’re convinced Facebook is your soul mate, that not getting shares in that IPO would leave you devastated, rejected by your true love. And nothing anyone says about the risks will change your mind. That’s the “psychology of denial.”

There are four main reasons for this pervasive psychology of denial among Main Street’s 95 million investors: First, investors hate admitting we’re irrational and ill-informed, cling to the fiction they’re rational. Second, optimism is the investor’s worst nightmare, but Americans still act optimistic no matter the odds. Third, Wall Street loves investors who are irrational, uninformed and optimistic, they’re easy to manipulate. Fourth, American investors are by nature trusting folks, want to believe Wall Street’s telling the truth, even though most of the time they aren’t.

The Facebook mystique is so powerful today that in our minds Facebook truly is too big to fail. Facebook will never fail, Facebook will just keep growing indefinitely at rates that would remind us of the old dot-com mindset of 1999, hail Facebook, you are too big to fail and nothing will change our minds.

And paradoxically, that’s exactly why Facebook is the ultimate economy-killer.
Could our friendly Facebook really bring down the economy?

Global economy-killer? Yes, Facebook has now been added to my list of global macroeconomic triggers (deadly unpredictable Black Swans like the dot-coms in 2000, subprimes in 2008) that the denial system driving the collective brain of American investors will simply tune out, till it’s too late. Till a crash takes the economy down again.

And, yes, it may take years, or trigger in 2012. We watched the same kind of buildup to the 2008 crash for a few years in advance, as credible warnings were ignored. Yes folks, Facebook is that dangerous to our economy and to the global economy.

You think I’m kidding? Not one bit. In fact Facebook is now one of my top-12 economy-killing triggers, any one of which could ignite a firestorm.

These include: euro zone ills, overpopulation, China, climate crisis, Peak Oil, Fed’s cheap money, 2012 elections, austerity vs growth, high-frequency trading, extreme capitalism, and the Black Swan nobody ever sees coming till it hits, you know, a trigger like the 1914 assassination of an unknown archduke that ignited a world war.
Facebook’s user success is a classic example of investor denial

In today’s new age of behavioral economics all this extreme denial creates an illusion that misleads us by minimizing risk in our brains.  Remember Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s classic remark before the 2008 meltdown, “best economy in my career.”

Seriously, you keep asking, does our beloved too-big-to-fail Facebook really have that kind of economy-killing power? You bet. At least one of our too-big-to-fail banks like J.P. Morgan has trillions in hard assets, hundreds of billions in capital, and huge leverage with the Fed and Treasury.

But Facebook is just the opposite, it is too big to succeed. The cash value is now in the pockets of the insiders who are cashing out with the IPO. The real “value” is in the minds of a billion friends, which is still a collective illusion that must be kept alive with future cash.

There’s a huge possibility Facebook will lose big in the aftermarket and eventually our love affair with the stock will evaporate. That’s short-term thinking, like a day-trader.

Here we’re more concerned with the big picture long-term issues, where American investors are blowing a newer, bigger bubble, a Black Swan that truly can bring down the economy, bigger than 2000 and 2008 combined.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Oh … I almost forgot, you can’t see or hear any warnings, you’re still in love with Facebook.
Is Facebook the sock puppet of today’s new dot-com bubble?

When the honeymoon euphoria wears off (remember Kim Kardasian’s 57 days of bliss), and reality sets in, please remember the following remarks we just got from Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago attorney and investor advocate. And remember that 93% of the time Wall Street insiders and their pundits are happy talking and can’t be trusted, so listen to some facts and perspective from the other side:

The “Facebook IPO poses huge risks for retail investors. Facebook may have millions of users worldwide and plenty of investment sex appeal, but beyond the sizzle … I can virtually promise you there will be thousands of small investors that get burned bad on Facebook and lose money on the investment. How? Market orders like the ones so many investors made back “in the early 2000s “ by “people who made that error in … hot tech stocks at the time.”

Yes, another 2000 crash triggered by Facebook, 2012’s new sock puppet.

But Stoltmann sees through the dark veil of denial that shields most of America:

“Virtually any slip up in performance by Facebook and the stock will crater.” Yes, “crater,” as in bottom, crash, meltdown. “If Facebook is valued at $100 billion, its valuation would be 33 times its advertising revenue, compared with 5.5 times for Google. To sustain its value, Facebook would need to grow its revenues by 41% percent per year for the next five years. That is very hard to do for any company, especially one of Facebook’s size. … Even a minor hiccup in the business model could lead to significant losses for purchasers.”

More risks: Facebook “operates in an extremely competitive industry with many major, deep-pocketed rivals, including experienced, well-financed rivals like Google.” The fact is, investors forget “most of the gains people hear about when it comes to IPOs are not enjoyed by the retail investor buying the shares in the secondary market but rather the company founders and angel investors.”

Remember 2012’s hot dot-coms, Groupon and Pandora. Their shares fell “48% and 41%, respectively, from their IPO prices.”
Investors in denial about Facebook’s future as a public company

Now that $16 billion changed hands and Facebook has a thousand new millionaires, Stoltmann’s counting the days expecting “thousands of retail clients with significant losses in Facebook in the next three months even though the IPO will be a resounding success for the company. … This could get very ugly.”

Remember, behavioral economics is the “psychology of denial,” but at some point reality will set in.

by PIA

An “Isumbong Mo Kay TSIP” text program han Philippine National Police ha Sinirangan Bisayas in nakadakop hin usa nga hi Benjie Cabilen Olmo, 37, residente han Brgy. Cambahanon, Alangalang, Leyte han maaktohan nga nangungulekta hin mga taya para han illegal nga huygo nga swertres.

Ini in nahibaruan tikang kan Police Senior Superintendent Elizar P. Egloso, chief han regional police community relations division dida hin usa nga press release.

Hi Olmo in na-aresto dida han Enero 15 pinaagi hin usa nga text messsage tikang hin usa nga mulopyo kun diin ginpasabot an mga awtoridad han pulis parti han pagsarang han nasabi nga illegal nga huwego didto ha Brgy. Catoogan, Sta. Fe, Leyte.

Hi Police Chief Superintendent Arnold R. Revilla, PNP-8 regional director, in nananawagan han padayon nga kooperasyon han publiko pakigkoordinar ngan pakigsumpayan han PNP pinaagi han text o tawag ngadto ha cellphone number 0917-847-5757 para hin dayon nga pagresponde han kapulisan lab-i na gud ha oras hin emergency nga mga situwasyon sugad hin pagpahibaro hin natatabo nga krimen, wanted nga tawo, pagpasabot hin nagpipinasaway nga mga pulis, nga iba pa nga mga reklamo o mga palihog.

Gin-aaghat gihapon ni PSSupt Egloso an mga mulopyo ha kumunidad nga magkig-urosa han nahitutungdan nga kapulisan pinaagi hin paghahatag in impormasyon nga magtutudlok ngadto hin pag-aresto han mga nasupak han balaud.

by Wikipedia

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (/ˈstÉ›fÉ™niː dÊ'ÊŒrməˈnÉ'ːtÉ™/; born March 28, 1986), known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and was signed with Streamline Records by the end of 2007. During her employment as a songwriter for the record company, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". After embarking on the The Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with The Fame Monster (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro". The album's success allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her most recent album Born This Way (2011) topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles, including "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory". Besides her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Influenced by David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Queen, Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances and music videos. She has sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time and her singles are some of the best selling worldwide.[1] Her achievements include five Grammy Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on Billboard magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), ranked fourth in VH1's list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, is regularly placed on lists composed by Forbes magazine and was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine.[2][3] In 2012, Gaga was ranked at number four on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than $25 million.[4]

by Ven Arigo

The nation honors an exceptional Boholana beackon of home and humanity as an outstanding Filipino mother in fitting celebration of the Mother’s Day today.

The National Mother’s Day & Father’s Day Foundation, Inc. confers the prestigious, highest national “Ulirang Ina” Award for 2012 to Francisca S. Baluyot at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel this morning.

Baluyot has seven children, four of them abroad, who are all successful in their lives and careers, but she keeps her mercy mission as the top woman of the Philippine Gift of Life even if she could have long retired in the comfort of any of her kids.

She has been chosen with few other winners from some 2,000 nominees across the country without her being even aware of a nomination, much less the background check and verification done by the foundation.

The Mother’s Day Awards Committee is led by the foundation’s honorary chair, Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, the first female member of the Supreme Court who rose from the ranks, with committee chairperson Leticia M. Talag. Santiago was the Ulirang Ina awardee for law and judiciary in 1997.

Also in the awards committee are foundation executive committee members Justice Angelina S. Gutierrez, Justice Normandie B. Pizarro and the foundation president himself, Wilfredo M. Talag.

Gutierrez was the first winner of the prestigious Cayetano Arellano Award for Outstanding RTC Judge of the Philippines given for the first time in 1991 by the Foundation for Judicial Excellence. She was an Ulirang Ina awardee in 2000.

Baluyot only learned of the award for her “significant achievements in her field and as a mother” when the foundation’s director for special projects, Baby O’Brien, wrote her last week.

As a model mother, she is the busiest person who has all the time for her children. As a steadfast humanitarian, she is the busiest person who has all the time for her afflicted fellowmen. This makes Baluyot an even greater mother and human person.

She is a modest Boholana contribution to the fulfillment and empowerment of Filipina mothers and women.

Baluyot is a nurse by schooling but who entered the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) service after graduation.

Between the prestige of her profession and its promise of gold in overseas job, Baluyot, also a stunning varsity muse and model at age of bloom, chose volunteerism and sacrifice for the homeland suffering and needy.

Her saga of mercy works in Red Cross alone spanning 43 years from 1960 until retiring as PNRC-Bohol administrator in 2003 had raised her degree of selflessness towards her very own seven children.

Her husband, the late lawyer Manuel M. Baluyot, was a retired military colonel who had himself become a humanitarian work volunteer.

Baluyot instilled in her children the virtues of useful life and unconditional love so that they grew by the values of faith, honest hardwork, perseverance, generosity, and respect for human rights and life itself.

Her children are Judith, a graduate of the Provincial Hospital School of Nursing, is now the assistant director for nursing services/MDS coordinator at Wayne Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, Bronx, New York; Alphonse, also a PHSN product, now staff nurse at North Shore Long Island University Hospital, New York; Joseph, nursing graduate of the Holy Name University, now in California as Napa State Hospital staff nurse; Mary Ann, medicine graduate of the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center, now consultant to leading hospitals in Bohol; Catherine, nurse, graduate of HNU, now nurse supervisor at New York Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Hospital, New York; Kazan Benigno, doctor of internal medicine, cardiologist, graduate of the University of the Philippines, also consultants to Bohol’s leading hospitals while running his own clinic; and Mercedes Fama, UP law graduate who has master of laws at the National University of Singapore, is now a senior associate of the Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose law firm in Makati City.

Not necessarily for their material gains, the professional achievements and personal joy of her chilldren for what and where they are today can alone attest to Baluyot being a fulfilled mother.

But there is more extraordinary in the mother that she has motivated her children’s unconditional total support and commitment to her lifetime cause for the wounded, sick poor and misery-stricken---the last, lest and lost.

She used to tell them this: “Whatever God has given you much, it is because others need you.”

Recognized by the Department of Health as a “legend” in Philippine surgical-medical mission, Baluyot has become president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Gift of Life since leaving Red Cross.

She is also presently the medical mission consultant to the provincial government under Gov. Edgar M. Chatto. Fellow Boholanos regard her as their icon of humanitarian mission.

To her prouder children, Baluyot is a “big sister” who has mothered humanity itself.

In her Red Cross time, Baluyot collected over 25 million cc of blood which had saved more than 20,000 lives. She had gone to where disasters struck, aiding and nursing the suffering, biting in pain.

She was the “very impulsive heart” of the five biggest free heart operations done outside Metro Manila in Tagbilaran City, Bohol in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011.

These supreme selfless acts breathed new lives into the ill hearts of over 300 patients, apart from those she sent to the US and Canada for free crucial surgeries.

She has conducted over 350 surgical-medical missions in the country, particularly in her home province, in tie-up with different groups and foundations here and abroad.

The multi-awarded Baluyot has served in top official capacities several essential institutions and leading groups in her province such as the Medical Mission Group Hospital and Health Services Cooperative Hospital or Bohol Cooperative Hospital, Philippine Nurses Association â€" Bohol Chapter, Tagbilaran Maternity and Children’s Hospital, Bohol Medical Care Institute, and Association of Bohol Executives of National Agencies. She is a pillar of different civic clubs like the Jaycees and Rotary.

Just among the gem beads in her litany of honors are the highest Datu Sikatuna Award given by the provincial government of Bohol, international Paul Harris Humanitarian Award sponsored by the Rotary Club of New York and Humanitarian Golden Award from the Home Reach Foundation in the US and Canada.

Despite the demands of her career and calling, Baluyot has managed time for her children, guided their dreams to fairest achievements and sustained their strong family bond by these secrets: Constant prayers, love and communication.

In nurturing her children to their full personal growth and attainment of aspirations, Baluyot applied her own view of how mercy works can do miracles.

“I believe that humanitarian gesture is not between patients and me but between God and us.” Her duty to her children is a covenant with God.

The jewel woman of the Gift of Life is a mother who treasures her children---and her children’s children---as her greatest gifts of life.

For her lifetime humanitarian cause already benefitting countless Boholanos and other Filipinos, Baluyot has been regarded here, in the country and abroad as one of the useful Boholanos around the world in her generation. (Ven rebo Arigo)

By Ben Cal

Christian groups in the Philippines, including a Catholic parish church have strongly denounced the upcoming concert of controversial American pop singer Lady Gaga branding her songs as blasphemous and immoral contrary to the Christian faith.

A priest in the St. Tolentino Parish Church in Tandang Sora, Quezon City in his Sunday homily accused Lady Gaga of promoting Satan and using him as an instrument to promote immorality and the work of the devil in the world.

Christian organizations also aired their vehement protest of Lady Gaga’s two-day concert at the Mall of Asia in suburban Pasay City on May 21-22.

They said Lady Gaga’s song “Judas” mocks Jesus Christ.

Romy Makalintal, a noted lawyer, also aired his protest on the songs of Lady Gaga.

In an interview over a local radio, Makalintal said lyrics of Lady Gaga’s songs are espousing immorality and are therefore unchristian in a country such as the Philippines which is a Christian nation, more than 80 percent of which are Catholics.

He asked that authorities to monitor closely Lady Gaga’s concert.

But other Christian groups are asking authorities to stop Lady Gaga’s concert.

The American singer arrived in Manila aboard a private jet Saturday night. She came from Taipei where she also performed a series of concerts as part of her world tour.

Security was tight because of protests by various Christian groups who wanted Lady Gaga’s concert cancelled or boycott her show.

From the airport, she headed straight to her hotel at Makati Shangri-La.

No press briefing was conducted as burly bodyguards watched intently as Lady Gaga signed autographs for her screaming fans waiting at the hotel lobby.

Pagkagwapa sa mga Boholanas. Thanks Padz for posting their photos.

by PNA

Filipino basketball enthusiasts are fortunate to be able to witness Chinese basketball star players like Yao Ming play in Philippine soil.

Filipino basketball star legend Alvin Patrimonio said Ming is planning to join his ballclub, Shanghai Sharks, for a couple of goodwill matches against the selection of PBA stars coached by Tim Cone and the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team on June 28 at the newly-built SM Mall of Asia Arena.

Patrimonio, who graced the opening of a meat shop here over the weekend, said that he had played against Chinese basketball players many times in the past and found them to be highly professional.

"Chinese basketball players are professionals. They are good," said Patrimonio.

Yao, who was born in Shanghai, started playing for the Shanghai Sharks as a teenager before playing as the dominant center for the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He eventually bought the Shanghai Sharks team in 2009.

"Filipinos should consider this a big opportunity to see Yao Ming in action. I support the team of Coach Tim Cone in this endeavor," said Patrimonio.

Earlier, Malacanang welcomed the Chinese team's visit and described the games as a sign of goodwill amid recent tensions in the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

by PNA

The Cabinet Committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-Cabcom) has approved five projects on transportation, infrastructure and health worth P32.67 billion.

These projects aim to build and rehabilitate vital infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and hospitals to improve the delivery of basic services and movement of trade.

First of these five projects is the Light Railway Transit (LRT) Line 2 East Extension Project that involves the design and construction of a 4.19-kilometer extension from the existing Santolan Station to Masinag Junction (intersection of Marcos Highway and Sumulong Highway). Two stations will be located at Emerald Drive, Cainta, Rizal (in front of Robinson’s Place Metro East) and Masinag Junction, Antipolo City, Rizal.

“The project will provide rapid and reliable mode of transit to the east of Manila and to various strategic commercial, industrial and educational districts in Metro Manila,” NEDA Deputy Director-General Rolando G. Tungpalan said.

The total length of the LRT Line 2 will be around 16.75 kilometers upon completion of the extension. The project’s total approved cost is P9.76 billion, an amount to be entirely financed by its proponent, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

“This project aims to reduce the use of motorized vehicles that contribute to both air and noise pollution,” he added.

Also, a public-private partnership (PPP) project, the Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) was approved by the ICC CabCom. This project involves construction of 700-bed capacity tertiary orthopedic hospital within the National Kidney and Transplant Institute Complex along East Avenue, Quezon City.

“There is a need to upgrade the facilities and enhance the operational efficiency of the POC. This addresses the challenge of transforming it into the country’s primary center for bone and joints disease that will be at par with global standards,” Tungpalan said.

The project, with an approved cost of P5.69 billion, also comprises the supply, installation, operations and management of modern diagnostics equipment and IT facilities, as well as the operation and maintenance of the entire facility. The project’s proponent is the Department of Health (DOH).

Another ICC CabCom-approved project is the Upgrading and Rehabilitation Project of the Navotas Fish Port Complex (NFPC) that will improve the port’s facilities and services and facilitate unloading, handling and distribution of fish and fishery products. The NFPC is one of the National Capital Region’s (NCR) major fish landing facility that contributes an annual average of 80 percent to the region’s total fish supply.

“The project fulfills the government’s goal of raising productivity and incomes of fishery-based household through improving infrastructure. This also increases investments and employment in the region,” the NEDA official said.

Specifically, the project covers the upgrading of the landing quay and market halls; establishment of cold storage facilities; conversion of piers to wharf landing; installation of a waste water treatment facility, among others. It has an approved cost of P2.70 billion, which will be implemented by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Furthermore, the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Bridge Construction Acceleration Project for Calamity-Stricken Areas Phase II was also approved. The project, which will be continually funded by the Government of Austria, involves the construction and replacement of 66 temporary bridges with steel structures across the country’s 15 regions.

“This project will provide reliable, safe, and continuous transport service that will reduce travel distance and time, and transport costs of passengers and goods,” Tungpalan said. “Most importantly, municipalities that are often hit by natural calamities will directly benefit from the replacement and construction of these bridges,” he added.

This project, with an approved cost of P6.12 billion, will aid the government’s target of building 7,958 permanent bridges by the end of 2016.

Adding to the bridge projects approved by the ICC CabCom is the National Roads Bridge Placement Project (NRBRP) that will be funded by the Government of United Kingdom (GUK). This also involves the construction and replacement of 133 bridges across the country and will utilize pre-fabricated double lane modular steel bridges from the UK.

“The NBRBP is responsive to the infrastructure goals of the Plan and is expected to increase transport access to basic services and economic opportunities,” said Tungpalan.

press release

NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) announced on May 21 that it reached an agreement on May 19 with Brunei International Gateway (BIG), a joint venture of government and telecommunications companies in Brunei, to collaborate in providing local Internet service providers (ISPs) with IPv4/IPv6 dual stack global access via NTT Com's Tier-1 global IP network.

Direct connections to NTT Com's Tier-1 network will be provided via BIG's local infrastructure. The result will give ISPs highly reliable global infrastructure for providing customers with high-performance, low-latency, cost-effective global access with IPv6 capability.

BIG builds and operates communication infrastructure for connections to global telecom carriers. NTT Com was selected as its first partner to establish an International Internet Gateway (IIG) for ISPs in Brunei and nearby regions of neighboring countries. Several local ISPs already connect separately to global ISPs, but the IIG will unify connections for greater efficiency.

The partnership expands NTT Com's global Internet service in Southeast Asia, following similar partnerships formed in Vietnam last year and in Laos this past February. NTT Com looks forward to continue strengthening Internet access and ICT environments throughout Asia in cooperation with government agencies and other entities.

About NTT Communications Corporation NTT Communications provides consultancy, architecture, security and cloud services to optimize the information and communications technology (ICT) environments of enterprises. These offerings are backed by the company's worldwide infrastructure, including IPv4/IPv6 Global Tier-1 IP Network, Arcstar Universal One(TM) VPN network reaching over 150 countries, and over 120 secure data centers. NTT Communications' solutions leverage the global resources of NTT Group companies including Dimension Data, NTT DOCOMO and NTT DATA.

By Dexter Roberts

A wave of anti-foreigner sentiment is washing over China. On May 15, the Beijing public security bureau launched a 100-day crackdown on illegal foreigners in China that will extend through August. The campaign will clean out the “three illegals,” the Beijing public security bureau announced on its official blog, with an accompanying clenched fist, an image used regularly for anti-crime campaigns. Foreigners that illegally enter, live, or work in China will be targeted, the notice explained, providing a tip hotline. “All citizens are encouraged to provide leads or report cases,” the notice said.

And top Chinese Internet sites Baidu (BIDU) and the Twitter-like microblogging site Sina Weibo (“weibo” is the Chinese word used for microblog) launched a campaign “calling on Internet users to expose bad behavior by foreigners in China,” according to a report on the People’s Daily Online English website on May 18. “Foreign scumbags should go back to their countries. China is not the place for them to do everything they want,” the report quoted microblogger “yuxiaole” as writing.

The foreign-directed ill will seems in part due to a recent attempted sexual assault. On the night of May 8, a British national, in China on a tourist visa, was caught on a mobile phone camera in what appeared to be an attempt to molest a Chinese woman on a busy Beijing street. News of the incident went viral after it was posted on the Chinese Web. Separately, Chinese netizens’ anger flared when a Russian cellist who has played with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra was shown cursing a Chinese woman on a train, after she asked him to remove his feet from her seat. (He apologized for the incident on the orchestra’s Weibo account.)

The anti-foreign feeling and associated campaigns may be more than a reaction to illegal or boorish behavior, however. Last week, a top host for CCTV, China’s state-owned national television station, weighed in with comments on his blog that appear to support the public security campaign against law-breaking foreigners, but also referred to “foreign trash”; without citing specific examples, accused foreign residents of spying; and attacked an American journalist, Melissa Chan, who works for Qatar-based Al Jazeera and was recently kicked out of China, where she was a foreign correspondent.

That was the first time Beijing has expelled an accredited foreign reporter since 1998. China’s foreign ministry has refused to specify what Chan, who is now entering a journalism fellowship program at Stanford University, has done wrong despite repeated queries from other foreign journalists. Chan reported extensively on sensitive topics including land seizures and secret “black prisons” for those Chinese who travel to Beijing to petition the government about their grievances.

by Stratfor

The most interesting thing about the NATO summit, apart from the demonstrations in Chicago, was the clear tension between NATO and Russia and its allies. For example, no Central Asian leaders attended the summit, and the leaders of Armenia and Belarus were notably absent. Although not part of NATO, these country's leaders were invited and chose not to come. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev had been in the United States the day before the summit started, but instead of attending the meeting he returned to Russia.

On the other side, it was announced that NATO air patrols in Baltic airspace would be made permanent. Lithuania followed this announcement by calling for increased NATO military presence for deterrence in the face of Russian militarization. While Lithuania does not drive NATO, the decision to make air patrols permanent and the unease on the frontier between the Russian sphere of influence and NATO is significant.

The world is not heading toward another Cold War, and those who argue that all this is simply a throwback to a Cold War mentality are missing the point. The Cold War was a struggle between two global powers, and the battle was fought from Latin America to Asia. Russia is no longer capable of global influence; it is a regional power. However, within its region it has become powerful. It has tremendous influence over many countries of the former Soviet Union, and its military is growing increasingly capable. Obviously, given the low state of its military 10 years ago, it is not difficult for Russia to increase it military proficiency. But still, the closer you get to the frontier between NATO and Russian influence, the more apparent that growth becomes.

There are clearly disputes between Russia and NATO. One dispute is over ballistic missile defense, but another deeper one is the expansion of NATO into the Baltics, so that Saint Petersburg is less than 100 miles away from NATO. The Russians had expected, or at least hoped for, limited expansion after the Cold War, a buffer zone rather than the movement of the line east into the former Soviet Union.  When that didn't happen, and the colored revolutions broke out -- sponsored, from the Russian point of view by the West -- Russian fears were ignited.

NATO did not believe it was being aggressive in moving eastward. It saw itself as a stabilizing and democratizing force. Its move to incorporate Eastern Europe and the Baltics was not intended to alarm Russia, but in fact to reassure Russia that NATO was making certain that the region remained stable and unthreatening. What NATO intended to project, though, was not what the Russians saw. At the same time, NATO perceives Russian moves in the area of the former Soviet Union as being problematic, even though they were not intended to be hostile.

Thus Russian allied leaders boycotted the summit and NATO announced permanent air patrols in Baltic air space. This is tension; it is not the Cold War. The tension is limited by the fact that Russia is not strong enough to pose a real threat beyond the current line, and Europe is far too preoccupied with its internal economic and political crisis to divert attention to the Russian threat. Indeed, whatever NATO does in the Baltic skies, many European nations -- particularly Germany -- do not perceive Russia as a significant issue.

This is what is strange about the meeting and the times. Russia is growing stronger and that alarms some. But most of Europe sees the Russian-Baltic relationship as being completely irrelevant to the real issues, even as the officials dealing with NATO are approving measures that the Russians will perceive as hostile. The Russians will continue to make gestures, even though they are far more concerned with internal economic matters and economic relations with Europe to really be concerned.

And that is why NATO is simply not that interesting any longer. It is not only an alliance whose mission -- at least in Europe -- is unclear, it is an alliance perched on top of profound economic, political and social processes that render its concerns irrelevant for the moment.

By GEOFFREY T. SMITH And WILLIAM HOROBIN

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Tuesday slashed its forecasts for growth across the euro zone for this year and next, and warned that the area's debt crisis could pull it into a vicious downward spiral without the right policy action.

The OECD sees euro-zone gross domestic product shrinking by 0.1% this year, down from its previous forecast of growth of 0.2%. It sees growth of 0.9% in 2013, down from its previous outlook of 1.4%. The organization said it expects the jobless rate to rise to 11.1% by the end of next year as a result, from just over 10% now.

The cut is due largely to sharp recessions in Spain and Italy, where the OECD sees GDP shrinking by more than 1.5% in both countries this year. It forecast even sharper contractions of 5.3% in Greece and 3.2% in Portugal this year, but says both will start growing again in the second half of 2013. It has a rosier outlook for the 'core' economies of France and Germany, both of which it expects to grow for the next two years.

by PNA

The Filipino vocal cord is truly world-class. Again and again, Philippine choral teams grab the grand prizes wherever the competitions may be held.

This time, the Ateneo de Manila University College Glee Club (ACGC) received the prestigious Fleischmann International Trophy in the recently-concluded 58th Cork International Choral Festival held in Ireland on May 5.

They bested top choirs from Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Slovenia, Singapore, England, and Wales.

Aside from the first prize, ACGC was also awarded the Heinrich Schütz Perpetual Trophy Special Award and PEACE Trophy for the choir that best embraced the spirit of the festival and fulfilled the intentions of the trophy’s benefactors, the P. E. A. C. E. Movement, in Cork, Ireland.

Philippine embassy official, Hjayceelyn Quintana, hailed ACGC for being outstanding cultural ambassadors and for continuing what is becoming a tradition of Filipino chorale groups of representing the Philippines in one of Europe’s best-known chorale competitions.

The Fleischmann International Trophy Competition consistently features top class adult choirs from many countries singing a historically-balanced and coherent range of styles that include a piece composed before 1750, an original work by a living composer, and a work by a composer of the choir’s native country.

The ACGC were stars in Ireland’s leading national newspapers, The Irish Times and the Irish Independent, featured prominently and making the Philippines proud.

The 39-member ACGC delegation headed by the conductor, Professor Maria Lourdes Venida-Hermo, also received stunning reviews for their concert at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin on May 9.

The concert, entitled “Two Worlds, One Voice,” featured the ACGC back-to-back with one of the finest Irish choirs, the New Dublin Voices.

Next week, will the solo voice of Jessica Sanchez, whose mother is from the town of Samal in the province of Bataan, earn her the much-coveted “American idol" road to fame?

By Priam F. Nepomuceno

MANILA, May 21 (PNA) -- The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Monday the country's "maritime domain awareness" will be greatly boosted with the turnover of the frigate USS Dallas (BRP Ramon Alcaraz) to the Philippine Navy this week.

To be present in the turnover ceremony at Charleston, South Carolina on May 22 (U.S. time) are AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Jessie Dellosa and Philippine Fleet commander Rear Admiral Jose Luis Alano.

"This will provide us with more maritime assets to patrol our borders. This will allow us to go after poachers, pirates, drug smugglers and other elements who may violate our sovereignty in going about their unlawful business," AFP spokesperson Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said.

Burgos also said that a third Hamilton-class cutter is also in the works as Filipino and U.S. officials are in the midst of talks regarding the ship's possible transfer to the PN.

"The crewmen who will be manning our ship are now at the U.S. undergoing training on how to efficiently operate our newest frigate," he added.

The AFP spokesperson explained that the new ships for the PN, aircraft and helicopters for the Philippine Air Force and modern weaponry and communication equipment for the Philippine Army are part of the country's gradual shift to territorial defense.

This is in line with the AFP's efforts to build a credible defense force whose sole task is to protect the country from internal and external attack, he said.

"BRP Ramon Alcaraz" was named after after the World War II hero who commanded one of the country's three motor torpedo boats.

Incidentally, his command was named "Abra" (Q-112), a British-built naval craft measuring 55 feet long and armed with two torpedo tubes and four .50 caliber machines guns.

Together with his "Abra" crewmen, Alcaraz shot down three of the nine attacking Japanese Zero fighters in the middle of Manila Bay sometime in April of 1942.

When Corregidor fell on May 6, 1942, Alcaraz became a prisoner-of-war in Japanese-controlled camp in Malolos, Bulacan, where he gained much renown and respect for doing the best he could for his fellow captives.

Alcaraz survived Japanese captivity and resumed his career at the PN and eventually became its ranking officer, reaching the rank of commodore in 1966.

The BRP Ramon Alcaraz has a displacement of 3,250 tons, a length of 378 feet, a beam of 43 feet, and draft of 15 feet.

Its propulsion system consists of two diesel engines and two gas turbines, giving it a top speed of 29 knots.

BRP Ramon Alcaraz has a range of 14,000 miles and capability of patrolling for 45 days.

It has a complement of 167 personnel and is armed with a 76mm Oto Melara automatic cannon and various closed-in weapon systems.

By George Friedman

Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, ranked in the top 10 in gross domestic product per capita. It is one of the most isolated major countries in the world; it occupies an entire united continent, is difficult to invade and rarely is threatened. Normally, we would not expect a relatively well-off and isolated country to have been involved in many wars. This has not been the case for Australia and, more interesting, it has persistently not been the case, even under a variety of governments. Ideology does not explain the phenomenon in this instance.

Since 1900, Australia has engaged in several wars and other military or security interventions (including the Boer War, World War I, World War II and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq) lasting about 40 years total. Put another way, Australia has been at war for more than one-third of the time since the Commonwealth of Australia was established in 1901. In only one of these wars, World War II, was its national security directly threatened, and even then a great deal of its fighting was done in places such as Greece and North Africa rather than in direct defense of Australia. This leaves us to wonder why a country as wealthy and seemingly secure as Australia would have participated in so many conflicts.
Importance of Sea-Lanes

To understand Australia, we must begin by noting that its isolation does not necessarily make it secure. Exports, particularly of primary commodities, have been essential to Australia. From wool exported to Britain in 1901 to iron ore exported to China today, Australia has had to export commodities to finance the import of industrial products and services in excess of what its population could produce for itself. Without this trade, Australia could not have sustained its economic development and reached the extraordinarily high standard of living that it has.

This leads to Australia's strategic problem. In order to sustain its economy it must trade, and given its location, its trade must go by sea. Australia is not in a position, by itself, to guarantee the security of its sea-lanes, due to its population size and geographic location. Australia therefore encounters two obstacles. First, it must remain competitive in world markets for its exports. Second, it must guarantee that its goods will reach those markets. If its sea-lanes are cut or disrupted, the foundations of Australia's economy are at risk.

Think of Australia as a creature whose primary circulatory system is outside of its body. Such a creature would be extraordinarily vulnerable and would have to develop unique defense mechanisms. This challenge has guided Australian strategy.

First, Australia must be aligned with -- or at least not hostile to -- the leading global maritime power. In the first part of Australia's history, this was Britain. More recently, it has been the United States. Australia's dependence on maritime trade means that it can never simply oppose countries that control or guarantee the sea-lanes upon which it depends; Australia cannot afford to give the global maritime power any reason to interfere with its access to sea-lanes.

Second, and more difficult, Australia needs to induce the major maritime powers to protect Australia's interests more actively. For example, assume that the particular route Australia depends on to deliver goods to a customer has choke points far outside Australia's ability to influence. Assume further that the major power has no direct interest in that choke point. Australia must be able to convince the major power of the need to keep that route open. Merely having amiable relations will not achieve that. Australia must make the major power dependent upon it so that Australia has something to offer or withdraw in order to shape the major power's behavior.
Creating Dependency

Global maritime powers are continually involved in conflict -- frequently regional and at times global. Global interests increase the probability of friction, and global power spawns fear. There is always a country somewhere that has an interest in reshaping the regional balance of power, whether to protect itself or to exact concessions from the global power.

Another characteristic of global powers is that they always seek allies. This is partly for political reasons, in order to create frameworks for managing their interests peacefully. This is also for military reasons. Given the propensity for major powers to engage in war, they are always in need of additional forces, bases and resources. A nation that is in a position to contribute to the global power's wars is in a position to secure concessions and guarantees. For a country such as Australia that is dependent on sea-lanes for its survival, the ability to have commitments from a major power to protect its interests is vital.

Deployment in the Boer War was partly based on Australian ideology as a British colony, but in fact Australia had little direct interest in the outcome of the war. It also was based on Australia's recognition that it needed Britain's support as a customer and a guarantor of its security. The same can be said for the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Australia might have had some ideological interest in these wars, but its direct national security was only marginally at stake in them. However, Australian participation in these wars helped to make the United States dependent on Australia to an extent, which in turn induced the United States to guarantee Australian interests.

There were also wars that could have concluded with a transformation of the global system. World War I and World War II were attempts by some powers to overthrow the existing global order and replace it with a different one. Australia emerged from the old political order, and it viewed the prospect of a new order as both unpredictable and potentially dangerous. Australia's participation in those wars was still in part about making other powers dependent upon it, but it also had to do with the preservation of an international system that served Australia. (In World War II there was also an element of self-defense: Australia needed to protect itself from Japan and certainly from a Japanese-controlled Pacific Ocean and potentially the Indian Ocean.)
Alternative Strategy

Australia frequently has been tempted by the idea of drawing away from the global power and moving closer to its customers. This especially has been the case since the United States replaced Britain as the global maritime power. In the post-World War II period, as Asian economic activity increased, Asian demand increased for Australian raw materials, from food to industrial minerals. First Japan and then China became major customers of Australia.

The Australian alternative (aside from isolation, which would be economically unsustainable) was to break or limit its ties to the United States and increasingly base its national security on Japan or, later, on China. The theory was that China, for example, was the rising power and was essential to Australian interests because of its imports, imports that it might secure from other countries. The price of the relationship with the United States -- involvement in American conflicts -- was high. Therefore, this alternative strategy would have limited Australia's exposure to U.S. demands while cementing its relationship with its primary customer, China.

This strategy makes sense on the surface, but there are two reasons that Australia, though it has toyed with the strategy, has not pursued it. The first is the example of Japan. Japan appeared to be a permanent, dynamic economic power. But during the 1990s, Japan shifted its behavior, and its appetite for Australian goods stagnated. Economic relationships depend on the ability of the customer to buy, and that depends on the business cycle, political stability and so on. A strategy that would have created a unique relationship between Australia and Japan would have quickly become unsatisfactory. If, as we believe, China is in the midst of an economic slowdown, entering into a strategic relationship with China would also be a mistake, or at the very least, a gamble.

The second reason Australia has not changed its strategy is that, no matter what relationship it has with China or Japan, the sea-lanes are under the control of the United States. In the event of friction with China, the United States, rather than guaranteeing the sea-lanes for Australia, might choose to block them. In the end, Australia can sell to many countries, but it must always use maritime routes. Thus, it has consistently chosen its relationship with Britain or the United States rather than commit to any single customer or region.

Australia is in a high-risk situation, even though superficially it appears secure. Its options are to align with the United States and accept the military burdens that entails, or to commit to Asia in general and China in particular. Until that time when an Asian power can guarantee the sea-lanes against the United States -- a time that is far in the future -- taking the latter route would involve pyramiding risks. Add to this that the relationship would depend on the uncertain future of Asian economies -- and all economic futures are now uncertain -- and Australia has chosen a lower-risk approach.

This approach has three components. The first is deepening economic relations with the United States to balance its economic dependencies in Asia. The second is participating in American wars in order to extract guarantees from the United States on sea-lanes. The final component is creating regional forces able to handle events in Australia's near abroad, from the Solomon Islands through the Indonesian archipelago. But even here, Australian forces would depend on U.S. cooperation to manage threats.

The Australian strategy therefore involves alignment with the leading maritime power, first Britain and then the United States, and participation in their wars. We began by asking why a country as wealthy and secure as Australia would be involved in so many wars. The answer is that its wealth is not as secure as it seems.

There are so many unpromoted and undiscovered amazing spots in the Philippines.

St. Petersburg is Russia’s principal port, and its geography and history make it immediately distinguishable from Moscow. St. Petersburg did not grow gradually from provincial
backwater to major metropolis like its southern rivalâ€"this city was built up from the
bogs, fast and furious, to be an imperial capital. Museums, palaces, and ballet and opera
houses are where St. Petersburg’s strengths lie. - Frommer's

by PNA

Local government units (LGUs) topped the list of government agencies with the most number of cases filed before the Office of the Ombudsman in 2011.

In a report by the Ombudsman's Finance and Management Information Office (FMIO), a total of 3,852 cases were filed against local government officials last year.

Of the number, 2,075 were filed before the Ombudsman-Central; 633 â€" Ombudsman-Luzon; 600 â€" Ombudsman-Visayas; and 544 â€" Ombudsman-Mindanao.

Here's the list of top 20 agencies with the most number of cases filed at Ombudsman in 2011:

-- LGUs - 3,852; Philippine National Police (PNP) - 1,128; Department of Education (DepEd) - 562; Philippine Information Agency (PIA) - 490; Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) - 416; Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) - 304; Bureau of Customs (BOC) - 177; Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) - 155; Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) - 148; Department of Justice (DOJ) - 98;

-- Department of Finance (DOF) - 92; Department of Health (DOH) - 87; Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) - 86; Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) - 81; Commission on Higher Education (CHED) - 57; Commission on Elections (Comelec) - 54; National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) - 48; Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) - 47; National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) - 45; and National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) - 45.

On the other hand, 14 agencies have the least number of cases filed in 2011, namely: Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR); Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF); Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP); Commission on Human Rights (CHR); Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT); Cooperative Development Authority (CDA); Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB), Malolos City; Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA); Government Service Insurance System (GSIS); Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA); Local Civil Registrar (LCR); Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC); Senate of the Philippines; and the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA).

Only one case has been filed against officials of the said agencies in 2011.

There were only two cases filed against officials of the Department of Tourism (DOT), Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), National Statistics Office (NSO), Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

Three cases were filed against officials of the Metro Iloilo Water District, while four cases were filed against officials of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), National Food Authority (NFA), National Police Commission (Napolcom) and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

by PNA

Education ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meet in Gyeongju, South Korea from May 22 to 23 to encourage greater innovation and cooperation in the region’s diverse education systems, organizers of the 5th meeting said.

Ministers responsible for education, together with academics, from APEC’s 21 member economies will gather under the theme “Future Challenges and Educational Responses: Fostering Global, Innovative and Cooperative Education.”

Hosted by Korea’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the APEC ministers will review progress on collaborative education projects and focus on deepening educational cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.

Cultivating APEC’s vast human capital through education is also a critical component to ensuring a long-term economic recovery, since APEC economies account for 40 percent of the world’s population -- or 2.7 billion people.

Supporting the region’s teachers at every stage of their development from preparation to recruiting to in-service training, as well as enhancing the use of information and communications technology in education are also key focus areas for member economies.

“The direction of future educational cooperation efforts should be shifted from simple information exchanges to projects that emphasize real action,” says Ju-Ho Lee, Korea’s Minister of Education, Science and Technology.

“Only then can we meet APEC’s educational goals and achieve inclusive growth,” as he explains how education plays a key role in realizing the APEC Leaders’ Growth Strategy for prosperity in the region.

Minister Lee, the Russian Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Sergei Ivanets, and the APEC Secretariat Executive Director, Ambassador Muhamad Noor, are scheduled to deliver opening remarks at the meeting.

Cebu Pacific Promo: Cebu to Bacolod 88 Pesos Only

ang luy-a dali ra kaayo, islander. salabat tea or salabat powdered lami kaayo after taking a bath.

Just days after wrapping up the biggest initial public offering in Silicon Valley history, shares of Facebook (FB: 35.02, -3.21, -8.40%) slumped 6% and tumbled below their issue price on Monday, a troubling signal for the newly-public social network.

Facebook broke below its $38-a-share issue IPO price in the wake of a highly-anticipated offering that raised more than $16 billion, the second-largest domestic IPO after Visa’s (V: 113.07, +0.43, +0.38%) 2008 debut.

Shares of Facebook were recently off 6.44% to $35.72.

source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2012/05/21/facebook-shares-retreat-below-ipo-price/#ixzz1vVqK7uqz

Wikipedia - Mohamed Bouazizi (29 March 1984 â€" 4 January 2011; Arabic: Ù...Ø­Ù...د اÙ,,بوعزيزي‎) was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on 17 December 2010, in protest of the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation that he reported was inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides. His act became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring, inciting demonstrations and riots throughout Tunisia in protest of social and political issues in the country. The public's anger and violence intensified following Bouazizi's death, leading then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down on 14 January 2011, after 23 years in power.

The success of the Tunisian protests inspired protests in several other Arab countries, plus several non-Arab countries. The protests included several men who emulated Bouazizi's act of self-immolation, in an attempt to bring an end to their own autocratic governments. Those men and Bouazizi were hailed by some Arab commentators as "heroic martyrs of a new Middle Eastern revolution."[2]

In 2011, Bouazizi was posthumously awarded the Sakharov Prize jointly along with four others for his and their contributions to "historic changes in the Arab world".[3] The Tunisian government honored him with a postal stamp.[4] The Times of the United Kingdom named Bouazizi as person of the year 2011.[5][6]

By Jaime Laude Home, Phil Star

A soldier due for retirement single-handedly fought off a five-man robbery gang believed to be headed by a policeman.

For answering the call beyond his tour of duty last Friday, M/Sgt. Eleno Leopoldo of 58th Infantry Battalion based in Misamis oriental, will be honored for his heroism, Maj. Julio Eugene Osias IV, spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division said.

On leave prior to retirement, Leopoldo, a native of Surigao del Sur, was returning home after following up his Army exit schooling when he chanced upon an ongoing robbery near his place at Purok Kalipay, Sitio Banuison, Barangay Burgos, Cortes town in Surigao del Sur at about 5:30 p.m. last Friday.

Leopoldo’s attention was caught by a loud commotion while walking home and when he checked to verify, he came across five armed robbery suspects.

“Without hesitation and beyond the call of duty, M/Sgt. Leopoldo, engaged the robbers, killing one and injuring the other who was later arrested by the responding local policemen,” Osias said.

Local police investigators later identified the slain suspect as Police Officer 1 Arnold Valinten Olveda, assigned at the Mati City Police in Davao del Sur.

Olveda was identified through an identification card recovered from his pocket by the local police. Police also retrieved a cal. 9mm and a cal .45 pistols from the slain suspect's possession.

Leopoldo, using a caliber .22 rifle, also hit and wounded another suspect identified as Tomie Vainten Olveda, believed to be a relative of the slain policeman-suspect.

Three remaining suspects, however, were able to escape with P400,000 cash and P14,000 worth of jewelry and a cellphone from the grocery store raided by the gang.

Island Paradise

When Will Love Become Wrong?

by PNA

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 83 has set on May 23 (Wednesday) the hearing on the petition for mandamus filed by businessman Jose de Venecia III against the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and major telecommunication companies over the non-implementation of NTC's memorandum slashing the interconection fees for short messaging systems (SMS) by 20 centavos.

De Venecia said here on Monday that he is asking the RTC under Judge Ralph Lee to issue Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against continuous charging by telecommunication companies of P0.35 interconnection fees which is detrimental to cellphone users.

The son and namesake of former five-time Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr. was invited during the launching and opening Monday of the Brigada Eskwela in Bayambang town.

In his petition filed before the Quezon City RTC, De Venecia last May 17 criticized the inability of the NTC to enforce its own order and protect the Filipino consumers.

He asserted that the suit will also help the agency perform its duty as the public continues to pay the old rates seven months after the memorandum was signed.

Other respondents in the suit are Digital Telecommunications Phils Inc., Globe Telecommunications Inc. and Smart Communications Inc.

De Venecia, who was instrumental in stopping the anomalous broadband deal of NBN-ZTE during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said that the two telecom giants -- Globe and Smart -- should not employ delaying tactics in cutting the text rates because they can afford to offer the reduced rates as Smart earned P37 billion with Globe earning P10 billion last year.

Tagai Daw Ko ug Idea Kung Makahimo Pa Ba Sila Sa Butang nga Dili Ikapangagda

Giant Baby

British Prime Minister David Cameron Thursday warned about the critical situation of the eurozone, and called on European leaders to sort out the present crisis.

Cameron said in a speech to British business leaders that "The eurozone is at a crossroads. It either has to make up or it is looking at a potential break-up."

"Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an effective firewall, well capitalized and regulated banks, a system of fiscal burden sharing, and supportive monetary policy across the eurozone." Cameron warned.

"Or we are in unchartered territory which carries huge risks for everybody."

The warning came ahead of a video conference by Cameron and the new French president Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti later, on which the four European leaders will discuss the eurozone crisis together for the first time.

Financial Times said the remarks could possibly infuriate European leaders, who believe that comments from the sidelines are unhelpful.

Francois Hollande, France's new president, has accused Britain of treating the EU like a "self-service restaurant."

Hollande and Cameron are expected to meet in Washington this weekend, before a G8 summit.

Cameron also said in the speech that it is in Britain's interest for the eurozone to sort out its problems, and declared he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect Britain's economy and financial system. - PNA

I have a collection of all Bee Gees songs. The group is probably one of the best the world has ever heard. Rest in Peace.

by Bohol Standard

Lifeless marine mammals drifting in Bohol’s shorelines have become a storied one as another dolphin and a turtle were found dead in separate occasions in the municipalities of Garcia-Hernandez and Duero, respectively.

Both towns are 22 kms. apart along the eastern coast of this tourism island province.

A beak dolphin was beached and found floating dead that alarmed the coastal residents of Barangay Ulbujan, Garcia-Hernandez, said a source. The residents and rescuers have no other options but to bury immediately the dolphin after documentation. The said dolphin is about 14 feet long with multiple wounds and bloodied all over its body and a big wound believed to be hit by a harpoon, said the source.

Just last week, a notice e-mailed to this writer “calling everyone’s attention and help especially those who are in Panglao, Balicasag Island, and nearby areas to be alert reported a dolphin seen floating off the waters of Panglao one morning after getting ran over by a boat (fishing boat as believed by those who saw the incident).”

Kristina A. Pahang, Information, Education, and Communication Campaign Coordinator of the Large Marine Vertebrates (LAMAVE) Project-Philippines and member of the Bohol Rescue Unit for Marine Mammals (BRUMM) sent the notice to inform the concerned people.

She said that early on last week of April 2012 “at around 7:20am, a dolphin got ran over by a boat (believed to be a fishing boat) off the waters of Panglao (the area where usual dolphin watching is done). This incident was seen from a distance by guests on a boat going to Balicasag for a dive. The dive boat went near the dolphin (which was observed to be floating most of the time) to check on it while the boat which ran over on the dolphin was already moving fast away from the area. One fisherman on a banca who went close to check on the dolphin, too, confirmed that it was ran over by another banca. The species was not confirmed but according to the guest we have contacted, its length is equivalent to 5’2”, has a distinct melon, with snout but not as long as of spinner dolphins, and the same type/kind that will bow ride,” she said in her e-mail.

“The dolphin was seen being accompanied by a bigger dolphin of the same species. The guest did not see any cut on the dolphin and could still blow, but he noticed it was floating bit on its side, would sometimes sink then up again. The dive boat couldn’t stay any longer in the area and not sure anymore if the dolphin is still there,” she added based on her information she got.

Another e-mail received by this writer said “within a mere 48 hours of each other, two separate turtles of different species' became stranded in Duero and Jagna, respectively,” said Dominic Clarke, a Physalus member.

Clarke said that a leatherback turtle species washed ashore in Duero and “was sadly dead.” It is being kept by Physalus, a research group, for necropsy “to shed light on the possible cause of death.”

A DATE WITH DESTINY
By Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago
(Commencement speech before the U.P. College of Medicine graduates
on 20 May 2012 at the U.P. Theater in Diliman campus.)

Allow me to introduce myself. I am the UP graduate who has, in a modest way, focused national attention on the political malady known as logopaedics, the branch of medicine that deals with speech disabilities and their treatment. Kasi ang ibang tao sa impeachment trial, hindi marunong magsabi ng totoo, kaya binibigyan ko sila ng speech therapy.

For politicians like me, commencement speeches are a regular feature of the calendar year. But when the invitation comes from U.P. graduates, I consider the invitation to be more powerful than a subpoena, above any "Objection!" It is not only a professional honor; it is an invitation to return to the sublime cradle of the most intellectual and the most idealistic leaders of the professions in our country. I love this school which has the highest standard of academic excellence and the most unforgiving standard of moral excellence - the great University of the Philippines.

Today, you stand at the cusp of your medical career. You bid goodbye to the distant past - when your parents struggled, emotionally and perhaps financially, to send you to the best medical school in the country. You also bid goodbye to the recent past - when your professors audaciously took the clay of your undergraduate studies and molded you into the 159 youth I see before me now - each one of you a young, godlike person, trembling on the edge of an entirely new and dazzling universe, or perhaps of many universes. Whatever astrophysics may conclude, each one of you stands as a master of the universe.

At this point, let me share with you what the wise man said:

The adventure of life is to learn.

The nature of life is to change.

The purpose of life is to grow.

The challenge of life is to overcome.

The Adventure of Life is to Learn.

Your graduation is not an end point in your education. Now that your proud professors have done their best, you must start the adventure of learning from life itself. Michelangelo said that genius is eternal patience. And Gandhi put it in another way, by saying that there is more to life than increasing its speed. I will simply say that life is what you make it. Dare beyond your strength, hazard beyond your judgment, and in extremities, proceed in excellent hope. Bear the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

To paraphrase the advice of a wise man, you should live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws. You should be led by permanent ideals. If you do that, you will be patient when the world ignores you, and you will be calm and unspoiled when the world praises you.

You are trained doctors - heal yourselves. The wise man said that we should seek elegance rather than luxury, refinement rather than fashion, worth rather than respectability, and wealth rather than riches. You have studied hard. Now think quietly, talk gently with your patients, and act frankly. In addition, listen to stars and birds, leaders and sages, with open heart. Await occasions and never hurry. Your most important lesson is that in the common, mundane things in life, the spiritual, the hidden, and even the unconscious will slowly enlighten you.

The Nature of Life is to Change.

You will live and work in circumstances far different from today. The changes in the medical profession will be dictated by at least ten medical breakthroughs:

1. Scientists now use cloning to create stem cells. One day, stem cells may treat diseases such as spinal cord injury and Parkinson's.

2. There has never been a vaccine against a human parasite before, or against malaria, which infects millions of children each year. But a first-ever malaria vaccine - which cut the risk of infection by half - has been tested in children in sub-Saharan Africa.

3. HIV treatment can also serve as prevention, by protecting HIV-free people from becoming infected.

4. The food pyramid is now presented as a food plate. It has four sections: fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein.

5. In a new world of regenerative medicine, healthy body tissues can be created to replace diseased ones. Scientists have already created in the laboratory a real functioning urethra, but right now it costs US$5,000.

6. Colon cancer could likely be caused by bacteria. Two research groups have reported that a bacteria called Fusobacteria seem to flourish in colon cancer cells.

7. In the world of weight loss, researchers reported that obese patients taking an experimental drug called Qnexa lost 10 percent of their body weight in a year. The pill combines two existing drugs: the weight-loss drug phentermine, and the anti-epilepsy medication topiramate.

8. German researchers have found that if trained, dogs can detect the presence of cancer on a person's breath.

9. Researchers from UCLA have reported that it may now be possible for scientists to glean the age of a dead body from genetic material. They work with saliva samples.

10. At Uppsala University in Sweden, researchers reported that a simple blood test may be able to predict who is most likely to die of heart disease or cancer. They found that people with higher levels of an enzyme called cathepsin S were more likely to die.

The Purpose of Life is to Grow.

What is the meaning of life? This meaning is not for you to find, but for you to define. The meaning of life is found in the purposes that we pursue as we grow older. Each one must interpret individually the meaning of life. You must read meaning into the situations you find yourselves in, case by case.

From my book, Philosophy of Religion, let me read for you:

Even if life is meaningless, we have to go on living, as a form of rebellion against cosmic meaninglessness. Your slogan should be: "Dare to become what you are." If there is no God, and no other world than this one, then we are the creators of our own values. The supreme value is life-assertion. And the next highest value is the will to power over evil. We must confront the most difficult truth about ourselves. In a godless world, we have no alternative but to choose - and in that sense to create - our own values. In other words, we create the meaning of our life.

Perhaps life has no meaning, but perhaps those who are religious can find meaning in the four categories of human experience: suffering, hope, effort, and grace. The various religions are responses to the realization of the agony of life. Religion seeks to transform the underlying agony and anxiety of life into the joy and gratitude we can feel for the gift of love.

The Challenge of Life is to Overcome.

Now, allow me to read the conclusion of my book, Philosophy of Religion:

If we want to build earth pyramids pointing to the stars, the best procedure is not the infliction of selfish cruelty on those we wish to make our subjects, but to enlist their free commitment to the human enterprise. You should struggle for freedom from selfishness, from hatred, and from slavery to pleasure and instant gratification. We should find inspiration in our Third World circumstances, and thus empower ourselves in the pursuit of excellence in creativity, compassion in poverty, and happiness in serving others.

Life is not a race among the vain. Vanity merely yields the prize of material riches, which endanger the spiritual outlook. Life is a journey to the absolute truth, in the course of which we develop the ability to communicate with God.

Nothing that any person does, no matter how rich or famous, really matters. All that matters is the faith to believe that something is better than nothing. If this something contains evil, it is conscious and constant revolt against evil that gives life its value.

In the final analysis, life is a kaleidoscopic process of education sourced from the infinite intelligence, the dazzling supermind.

Class of 2012: You have received more than others in health, in talents, and in education. Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury - all these will come to you. But you have to pay the price. Like all UP alumni, be prepared to render an unusually great sacrifice of your life for other life.

During this, your date with destiny, I quote the famous poem "Ode to Duty," by William Wordsworth:

Oh, let my weakness have an end!

Give unto me, made lowly wise,

The spirit of self-sacrifice;

The confidence of reason give;

And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live!

Class of 2012: Like all true UP alumni, embrace the spirit of self-sacrifice, of reason, and of truth! Never forget that I - together with millions of our fellow alumni - are marching in lockstep, on your transport into the beckoning future. On that journey, you have our highest respect and all of our love.

wala pa gyud intawon same as people in luzon nga kadaghanan sa ila wala pa kakita ug chocolate hills ug bisan dagat.