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The innocent tourists are in danger. There is no showing that the elephant is impotent.

Wa na kaantos ang elephant sa sige ug sunod-sunod sa sampot sa laing elephant.

Best Hotels in the World - Name This Hotel

Roro Ship to Talibon Bohol

Talibon to Cebu Boat Trip

Old Church in Talibon Bohol

SALN of CJ Renato Corona and His True Net Worth

lisud pud ug makaigit kay naratol walay answer.

By Ben West | February 16, 2012
Security Weekly

Mexican authorities announced Feb. 8 the largest seizure of methamphetamine in Mexican history -- and possibly the largest ever anywhere -- on a ranch outside of Guadalajara. The total haul was 15 tons of pure methamphetamine along with a laboratory capable of producing all the methamphetamine seized. While authorities are not linking the methamphetamine to any specific criminal group, Guadalajara is a known stronghold of the Sinaloa Federation, and previous seizures there have been connected to the group.

Methamphetamine, a synthetic drug manufactured in personal labs for decades, is nothing new in Mexico or the United States. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has led numerous crusades against the drug, increasing regulations on its ingredients to try to keep it from gaining a foothold in the United States. While the DEA's efforts have succeeded in limiting production of the drug in the United States, consumption has risen steadily over the past two decades. The increasing DEA pressure on U.S. suppliers and the growing demand for methamphetamine have driven large-scale production of the drug outside the borders of the United States. Given Mexico's proximity and the pervasiveness of organized criminal elements seeking new markets, it makes sense that methamphetamine would be produced on an industrial scale there. Indeed, Mexico has provided an environment for a scale of production far greater than anything ever seen in the United States.

But last week's methamphetamine seizure sheds light on a deeper shift in organized criminal activity in Mexico -- one that could mark a breakthrough in the violent stalemate that has existed between the Sinaloa Federation, Los Zetas and the government for the past five years and has led to an estimated 50,000 deaths. It also reveals a pattern in North American organized crime activity that can be seen throughout the 20th century as well as a business opportunity that could transform criminal groups in Mexico from the drug trafficking intermediaries they are today to controllers of an independent and profitable illicit market.

While the trafficking groups in Mexico are commonly called "cartels" (even Stratfor uses the term), they are not really cartels. A cartel is a combination of groups cooperating to control the supply of a commodity. The primary purpose of a cartel is to set the price of a commodity so that buyers cannot negotiate lower prices. The current conflict in Mexico over cocaine and marijuana smuggling routes shows that there are deep rifts between rival groups like the Sinaloa Federation and Los Zetas. There is no sign that they are cooperating with each other to set the price of cocaine or marijuana. Also, since most of the Mexican criminal groups are involved in a diverse array of criminal activities, their interests go beyond drug trafficking. They are perhaps most accurately described as "transnational criminal organizations" (TCOs), the label currently favored by the DEA.

Examples from the Past

While the level of violence in Mexico right now is unprecedented, it is important to remember that the Mexican TCOs are businesses. They do use violence in conducting business, but their top priority is to make profits, not kill people. The history of organized crime shows many examples of groups engaging in violence to control an illegal product. During the early 20th century in North America, to take advantage of Prohibition in the United States, organized criminal empires were built around the bootlegging industry. After the repeal of Prohibition, gambling and casinos became the hot market. Control over Las Vegas and other major gambling hubs was a business both dangerous and profitable. Control over the U.S. heroin market was consolidated and then dismantled during the 1960s and 1970s. Then came cocaine and the rise in power, wealth and violence of Colombian groups like the Medellin and Cali cartels.

But as U.S. and Colombian law enforcement cracked down on the Colombian cartels -- interdicting them in Colombia and closing down their Caribbean smuggling corridors -- Colombian producers had to turn to the Mexicans to traffic cocaine through Mexico to the United States. To this day, however, Colombian criminal groups descended from the Medellin and Cali cartels control the cultivation and production of cocaine in South America, while Mexican groups increasingly oversee the trafficking of the drug to the United States, Europe and Africa.

The Mexican Weakness

While violence has been used in the past to eliminate or coerce competitors and physically take control of an illegal market, it has not proved to be a solution in recent years for Mexican TCOs. The Medellin cartel became infamous for attacking Colombian state officials and competitors who tried to weaken its grasp over the cocaine market. Going back further, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel is thought to have been murdered over disagreements about his handling of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Before that, Prohibition saw numerous murders over control of liquor shipments and territory. In Mexico, we are seeing an escalating level of such violence, but few of the business resolutions that would be expected to come about as a result.

Geography helps explain this. In Mexico, the Sierra Madre mountain range splits the east coast and the west from the center. The Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean coastal plains tend to develop their own power bases separate from each other.

Mexican drug traffickers are also split by market forces. With Colombian criminal groups still largely controlling the production of cocaine in jungle laboratories, Mexican traffickers are essentially middlemen. They must run the gauntlet of U.S.-led international interdiction efforts by using a combination of Central American traffickers, corruption and street-gang enforcers. They also have to move the cocaine across the U.S. border, where it gets distributed by hundreds of street gangs.

Profit is the primary motivation at every step, and each hurdle the Mexican traffickers have to clear cuts into their profit margins. The cocaine producers in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia can play the Sinaloa Federation and Los Zetas (as well as others) off of each other to strengthen their own bargaining position. And even though keeping the traffickers split appears to create massive amounts of violence in Mexico, it benefits the politicians and officials there, who can leverage at least the presence of a competitor for better bribes and payoffs.

For Mexican drug traffickers, competition is bad for the bottom line, since it allows other actors to exploit each side to get a larger share of the market. Essentially, everyone else in the cocaine market benefits by keeping the traffickers split. The more actors involved in cocaine trafficking, the harder it is to control it.

The Solution

Historically, organized criminal groups have relied on control of a market for their source of wealth and power. But the current situation in Mexico, and the cocaine trade in general, prevents the Mexican groups (or anyone) from controlling the market outright. As long as geography and market forces keep the traffickers split, all sides in Mexico will try to use violence to get more control over territory and market access. We assume that Mexico's geography will not change dramatically any time soon, but market forces are much more temporal.

Mexican criminal organizations can overcome their weakness in the cocaine market by investing the money they have earned (billions of dollars, according to the most conservative estimates) into the control of other markets. Ultimately, cocaine is impossible for the Mexicans to control because the coca plant can only grow in sufficient quantity in the foothills of the Andes. It would be prohibitively expensive for the Mexicans to take over control of coca cultivation and cocaine production there. Mexican criminal organizations are increasing their presence in the heroin market, but while they can grow poppies in Mexico and produce black-tar heroin, Afghanistan still controls a dominant share of the white heroin market -- around 90 percent.

What Mexicans can control is the methamphetamine market. What we are seeing in Mexico right now -- unprecedented amounts of the seized drug -- is reminiscent of what we saw over the past century in the infancy of the illegal liquor, gambling, heroin and cocaine markets: an organized criminal group industrializing production in or control of a loosely organized industry and using that control to set prices and increase its power. Again, while illegal methamphetamine has been produced in the United States for decades, regulatory pressure and law enforcement efforts have kept it at a small scale; seizures are typically measured in pounds or kilograms and producers are on the run.

Mexican producers have also been in the market for a long time, but over the past year we have seen seizures go from being measured in kilograms to being measured in metric tons. In other words, we are seeing evidence that methamphetamine production has increased several orders of magnitude and is fast becoming an industrialized process.

In addition to the 15 tons seized last week, we saw a record seizure of 675 tons of methylamine, a key ingredient of methamphetamine, in Mexico in December. From 2010 to 2011, seizures of precursor chemicals like methylamine in Mexico increased 400 percent, from 400 tons to 1,600 tons. These most recent reports are similar to reports in the 1920s of U.S. liquor seizures going from barrels to shiploads, which indicated bootlegging was being conducted on an industrial scale. They are also eerily similar to the record cocaine seizure in 1984 in Tranquilandia, Colombia, when Colombian National Police uncovered a network of jungle cocaine labs along with 13.8 metric tons of cocaine. It was the watershed moment, when authorities moved from measuring cocaine busts in kilograms to measuring them in tons, and it marked the Medellin cartel's rise to power over the cocaine market.

A True Mexican Criminal Industry?

Anyone can make methamphetamine, but it is a huge organizational, financial and legal challenge to make it on the industrial level that appears to be happening in Mexico. The main difference between the U.S. labs and the Mexican labs is the kind of input chemicals they use. The U.S. labs use pseudoephedrine, a pharmaceutical product heavily regulated by the DEA, as a starting material, while Mexican labs use methylamine, a chemical with many industrial applications that is more difficult to regulate. And while pseudoephedrine comes in small individual packages of cold pills, methylamine is bought in 208-liter (55-gallon) barrels. The Mexican process requires experienced chemists who have mastered synthesizing methamphetamine on a large scale, which gives them an advantage over the small-time amateurs working in U.S. methamphetamine labs.

Thus, while methamphetamine consumption has been steadily growing in the United States for the past two decades -- and at roughly $100 per gram, unpure methamphetamine is just as profitable on the street as cocaine -- it is even more profitable for Mexican traffickers. Methamphetamine does not come with the overhead costs of purchasing cocaine from Colombians and trafficking valuable merchandise through some of the most dangerous countries in the Western Hemisphere. Precursor materials such as methylamine used in methamphetamine production are cheap, and East Asian producers appear to be perfectly willing to sell the chemicals to Mexico. And because methamphetamine is a synthetic drug, its production does not depend on agriculture like cocaine and marijuana production does. There is no need to control large swaths of cropland and there is less risk of losing product to adverse weather or eradication efforts.

For the Mexican TCOs, industrializing and controlling the methamphetamine market offers a level of real control over a market that is not possible with cocaine. We expect fighting over the methamphetamine market to maintain violence at its current levels, but once a group comes out on top it will have far more resources to expel or absorb rival TCOs. This process may not sound ideal, but methamphetamine could pick the winner in the Mexican drug war.

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What are the most stressful jobs in the world

in the ancient days, there was no toothbrush, no toothpaste. how did they clean their teeth?

What Are Your Tips on Being Organized?

Mangiyak-ngiyak sa sama ng loob ang isang ginang nang mahold-up ang perang inutang nito upang ipambili ng gamot ng naospital na asawa noong Miyerkules ng madaling araw sa Caloocan City.

Hinang-hina nang magtungo sa police station si Silvana Paragwa, 50, residente ng Sawata St. Maypajo, Barangay 35, ng nasabing lungsod, upang ipagbigay-alam ang nangyari sa kanya.

Kuwento ni Paragwa, kagagaling lang niya ng Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Medical Center sa A. Mabini Street, Caloocan City at dinalaw asawa bandang alas 3:00 ng madaling araw.

Dumiretso siya sa Naval Pahrmacy na halos katabi ng ospital para bumili ng gamot. Ngunit hindi pa man nakukuha sa kanyang bulsa ang P1,000 na inutang sa kapitbahay, isang lalaki ang sumulpot at kaagad siyang tinutukan ng balisong sa tagiliran.

Walang nagawa ang ginang kung hindi ibigay ang nasabing pera pati na ang kanyang cell phone, sa takot na saksakin siya ng holdaper. â€" Orly Barcala.

PAG-IBIG Fund

Not Fun in Manila: Go to the Visayas

Effect of Philippine Typhoon

Footprints of Ondoy

Manila: An Urban Jungle

Sakayan nga Walay Bugsay

Manila Flood: It's Never Fun

Typhoon Philippines: The Aftermath

It's Never Fun in Manila

Helping Hand During a Flood
Location: Manila, Philippines

Luoy Pud Tawon ning Bataas
Event: Manila Flood

by PIA

Two airline companies in the country will start to service Samar Island in two weeks’ time.

The first commercial flight at the Guiuan Airport in Eastern Samar will take off on February 20 as the Mid-Sea Express will conduct is maiden flight for the Cebu-Guiuan route on that day.

Meanwhile, Eagle Trans Asia Airways Corp. (ETA Air) will serve the Catarman-Cebu and Catarman-Tacloban routes starting February 22.

Northern Samar Governor Paul Daza said that ETA Air will field a 29-seater aircraft to serve Catarman, capital town of Northern Samar.

"The 29-seater aircraft will both load passengers and cargo. There will be additional economic trade between Tacloban and direct link between Catarman and Cebu," Northern Samar Governor Paul R. Daza told the local media.

Governor Daza said that the introduction of this link will shorten travel time between Cebu and Catarman and the travel time between Catarman and Tacloban.

Currently, travelers from Catarman have to go to Tacloban which is five hours away by land, or to Manila to get to Cebu.

The aircraft will depart from Cebu for Catarman at 8:00 a.m. and is estimated to arrive at 8:35 a.m.  The plan will leave for Tacloban at 9 a.m. and from Tacloban, it will leave for Catarman at 9:40 a.m. From Catarman, it will fly back to Cebu at 10:20 a.m.

The airline added that they will operate with the route every Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Meanwhile, Guiuan Analiza Gonzales Kwan confirmed that the launching of the Mid-Sea Express service in Guiuan is on February 20.

Mayor Kwan said the Mid-Sea Express service will greatly help boost tourism in Guiuan, the jump-off point to surfing destination Calicoan Island.

Guiuan is 109 kilometers south of the provincial capital of Borongan City and 154 kilometers from Tacloban City.

On its website, the airline company said its 19-seater Jetstream 32 aircraft will serve the Cebu-Guiuan route at 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Mondays, and the Guiuan-Cebu route at 12:00 noon on Saturdays and Mondays.

CLARK FREEPORT ZONE, Pampanga, Feb. 9 (PIA) -- A total of 86 writers from all over the country will converge here as they aim to highlight the importance of history and culture in Philippine literature.

Dubbed as “Taboan: Philippine Writers Festival,” the event will be held starting today until Saturday (February 9-11) where the country’s poets, playwrights, essayists, and fictionists will merge and share their expertise.

The conference, according to Festival director Dr. Juliet Mallari of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and National Committee on Literary Arts (NCLA) head Dr. Priscilla Macansantos, “will feature panel discussions, lectures, literary readings, performances, and a book fair.”

This year’s Taboan is inspired by the National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary celebration.

Delegates will come from Bicol, Central Luzon, the Cordilleras, Ilocos, NCR, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao, and Western Mindanao.

The Taboan, which literary means the marketplace in Bisaya, seeks to serve as an avenue for the academic exchange of ideas among the country’s writers that will help hone their respective crafts and address issues currently affecting their field.

Aside from the main event in Clark, satellite events will also be held in various parts of the country including: Panagbenga: Baguio Poetry Reading for Arts Month 2012; Ilokano Oral Reading Competition in Ilocos Norte; Edith/Kerima: A Tribute-Exhibit on the Lives and Works of Two Icons of Philippine Literature in UP Diliman; A jointly-sponsored activity by Taboan 2012 and Ateneo de Manila University. All form part of this year's National Arts Month celebration this February.

Also included in the line up of activities for the Arts Month are: Pintakasi kan Literaturang Bikolnon: An Ikaduwang Kabtang; Katig han Sinirangan Bisayas: A writers’ conference and literary performances; Taboan 2012 Satellite Activity in Tagbilaran, Bohol; Performance Poetry in Bacolod City; A Performance of Traditional Poetry in Central & Northern Mindanao; and Cosechas: A Harvest of Poems and Stories from Western Mindanao.

The festival is one of the seven flagship projects of Philippine Arts Festival (PAF).

PAF is held every February in celebration of the National Arts Month in accordance with Presidential Proclamation No. 683 signed in 1991. The month-long festival is spearheaded by the NCCA, led by its Chairman Felipe de Leon Jr. and OIC-executive director Adelina Suemith, with Marichu Tellano as head of the Planning, Policy Formulation, and Programming Division. - PIA

by PIA

Three national artists will grace the Fourth Philippine Writers' Festival dubbed as “Taboan,” a yearly writers’ conference spearheaded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

These artists are Virgilio Almario, Bienvenido Lumbera, and F. Sionil Jose, together with 86 poets, playwrights, fictionists and novelists from all parts of the country who will converge at the Fontana Leisure Park in Clark Freeport Zone on February 9 to 11 for the festival.

The event will hold a literary exchange and book bazaar, panel discussions, lectures, literary readings, performances and for the first time in the history of Taboan, a food-and-culture tour.

‘Taboan’ which literary means the marketplace in Bisaya, seeks to serve as an avenue for the academic exchange of ideas among the country’s writers that will help hone their respective crafts and address issues currently affecting their field.

Almario will serve as the keynote speaker for the said event taking on the theme, “Rizal and the Filipino Imagination,” in which he will take a look at Jose Rizal as a writer and a cultural icon and how he has influenced Filipinos and artists across generations through his writings.

Lumbera and Jose will lead the discussions on how literature from Central Luzon reflects the connection between the region’s geography and agricultural production and its long and colorful history.

According to NCCA, this three-day conference aims to exchange the views on various topics including what writers under the age of 35 are doing and thinking and how they see themselves virtually vis-à-vis Rizal and the nation, literary criticism and literary standards, historical fiction or literature and national memory, writing from the regions, teaching literature, women and writing, writing as a profession, literature and new media and traditional texts in contemporary times.
Almario or better known by his pen name, Rio Alma, is a Filipino artist, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager.

Lumbera, on the other hand, is an awarad-winning poet, critic and dramatist and a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications. He had also won numerous literary awards, including the National Book Awards from the National Book Foundation, and the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards.

Jose, meanwhile, is one of the most widely-read Filipino writers in the English language. His novels and short stories have been translated into 22 languages that include Dutch, Indonesian, Latvian, Korean, and Ukrainian.

The Cebu Port Authority (CPA) eyes a mass transport system to provide safety to disembarking passengers on their way to the airport or in identified designated drop-off areas in Cebu City.

According to Director Oscar Lopez, manager of the Port Security Safety and Environmental Management Department of the CPA said they are mulling two options on realizing the plan.

“We could either bid it out to the private sector or we could implement it ourselves,” Lopez disclosed.

Lopez said the mass transport system is part of the new projects of CPA set for implementation this year.

“The budget is already there. We just have to determine which would be the best option in implementing the transport system,” Lopez declared.

The CPA official said they are looking at purchasing four buses that would ferry passengers that just disembarked from commercial vessels

Currently, passengers have the option to ride the queued taxis accredited by the CPA or go outside and walk some distance away for public jeepneys.

“Not all disembarking passengers can afford to pay for taxi. Also during peak season, the number of accredited taxis may not be enough. So we are giving the passengers the option to choose for their own safety,” Lopez added. - PIA

Cuban Women Soldiers

Amerkano Nagdaro Ginamit ang Kabaw
source: lovingthechallenge.blogspot.com

by Rey Anthony Chiu
PIA Bohol

The local seismology monitors recorded as much as 900 mild aftershocks as of noontime today after the 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit Central Visayas on Feb. 6.

According to the local Philippine Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), through Engineer Nolan Evangelista, aftershocks are just ordinary incidents after a major earth movement.

Evangelista also shared that the most noticeable aftershocks reached intensity 3 that was recorded at around 6:10 p.m. yesterday and another one at 7:32 p.m., which reached intensity 2.

“There have been numerous aftershocks but most of them were so mild, Boholanos did not seem to notice them. Since these are aftershocks, these are never stronger than the major earthquake, unless another movement is caused by another or a similar fault,” Evangelista added.

He also explained that the Phivolcs has earlier issued intensity reference charts. These charts help ordinary people measure the intensity of the earthquake while looking at the objects shaken by the tremor.

On the other hand, a magnitude scale usually issued by the Phivolcs uses the equipment recorded data which are available in their office.

It means that a magnitude scale reading is a more accurate measurement of the tremor than an intensity scale which can be subjective of one’s personal experience, he said.

Surviving with reports of very mild damages in cracked buildings, Bohol has also shuddered at the tremors that came after.

Over this, school authorities have suspended classes in kindergarten to secondary levels so building officials and Department of Education (DepEd) authorities can inspect the integrity of school structures.

Dr. Lorna Rances, schools division superintendent, urged local and school officials to help assess the damages in school buildings in their areas of responsibility and subsequently issue certifications of safe occupancy of school buildings to DepEd so that classes can resume.

Yesterday, some residents felt worried when text messages about an impending tsunami circulated, after a Phivolcs-issued tsunami warning number 2.

Engineer Evangelista explained that Phivolcs tsunami alert 2 means that there is a certainty that meter high waves do come and that residents in coastal areas are advised to move away from the 20-meter zones from the sea levels for their safety.

It means there is a real possibility that water may rise a meter high, but in yesterday’s case, it should have come to Bohol an hour after the major quake, he said.

He informed that Bohol can only be vulnerable to tsunami if Western Negros fault is the source, and he added that it can only happen when the quake generates a magnitude 7.

In that case, Tagbilaran City and some southern Bohol towns can be affected by meter-high waves.

by PIA

The Katig han Sinirangan Bisayas Waray writers who gathered on Saturday at the Leyte Normal University (LNU) were asked to resuscitate Waray literature by Prof. Merle Alunan, a well known writer and a professor of the UP System.

As if to challenge the budding writers, Alunan quoted a statement from Dr Bienvenido Lumbera that said , “Not much is produced in some regional literatures; in fact some are moribound or dying, as in the case of Waray literature and to some extent, Cebuano literature.”

With the little Waray literature available, Alunan, in her talk on “Latitudes of Intimacy: Modern waray Literature,” presented her dissection of some opus of the Waray poets that figured in Lamiraw, Waray Writing Workshop usually held at the Northwest Samar State University in Calbayog City (Samar) and the Iligan Writers Workshop.

The UP professor who stands as a critic to the Waray writing workshops with Dr. Dave Genotiva and Vic Sugbu drew out the themes in the poems that talked of simple and humble pleasures, the verdant farms and the seas and the rural folks’ pre occupation.

Alunan talked about poets who were mostly males as only one woman writer made it to her dissection.

“Except for Victor N. Sugbo, the new Waray writers found their voices first in their own mother tongues. However, they are all university-trained. It is evident in the styles and poetic techniques they have adopted, and the way they have brought the traditional forms of native Waray poetry closer to contemporary modes of writing.”

“From these new poets of Waray, speaking in the new language of modern poetry, we discover how the Filipino thrives in latitudes of intimacy.”

The speaker mentioned Waray stalwarts like Eduardo Makabenta Sr., Iluminado Lucente, and Casiano Trinchera, whom she said wrote in rhymed quatrains, the lines balanced in strict syllabic measure by a caesura.

Organizers believe that the activity has elicited somehow a flicker of hope for the writers to write more in Waray, Inabaknon, or Sebuano in whatever form of literature that will perpetuate Waray and the other languages spoken in the region.

“Slowly but surely, the Waray writer is coming back to his/her culture, ” Alunan stated.

The activity in Eastern Visayas was initiated by the National Committee on Literary Arts (NCLA), the Katig Writers Network Inc., and Leyte Normal University (LNU) to celebrate the National Arts Month this February. (PIA 8-Samar)

DUMAGUETE CITY, Feb. 6 (PIA) --- A tricycle driver in Dumaguete City was awarded for his honesty after he turned over a cell phone a passenger left inside his pedicab to the Traffic Management Office on Feb. 2, 2012.

Driver Miller Rio Janayan, who drives pedicab number body 1026, received a P1,000 cash award from the owner of said cell phone, Carminda Arevalo.

Arevalo is the Acting Deputy Executive Director of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).

The NHCP official rode in Janayan’s pedicab  when she visited Dumaguete for the unveiling and turnover to the city government of the historical marker of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

Janayan only noticed the mobile phone, a Blackberry, that Arevalo left inside his tricycle when it rang.

“I did not answer it but I immediately went to the TMO to turn the cellphone over to them so they can return it to the owner,” said Janayan.

TMO personnel returned Arevalo’s cellphone to her. Before leaving Dumaguete for Manila on Feb. 3, the NHCP official left with the TMO staff a cash reward for Janayan placed inside an envelope.

TMO Chief Danny Atillo said the cash award was handed over to Janayan at the office of Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria who witnessed the turnover along with City Tourism Officer Woodrow Maquiling, Jr.

Mayor Sagarbarria expressed admiration for Janayan’s honesty, saying that he is an example to the other tricycle drivers in the city.

The Dumaguete Information Office quoted the mayor as saying that Janayan proved that ordinary people are capable of doing “extraordinary deeds for the betterment of society.”

To find out your own IP Address, just go to http://www.whatismyip.com/

To establish a core group of writers that will spearhead the preservation of the writings in Waray, Sebuano, and Inabaknon in Eastern Visayas, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in cooperation with Katig Writers Network Inc. and the Leyte Normal University (LNU) - Panrehiyong Sentro will hold Katig Han Sinirangan Bisayas: 2012 Regional Taboan Satellite Activity.

This will be held today, February 4 at the CHED Center for Teaching Excellence, Ledesma Hall, Leyte Normal University, Tacloban City.

This activity is considered a first-of-its-kind where writers in Eastern Visayas are gathered; this is initiated by the National Committee on Literary Arts (NCLA).

It is jointly implemented by Katig Writers Network Inc. and Leyte Normal University (LNU).
Aside from promoting creative writing in the region, it also aims to establish camaraderie among the writers in Samar, Leyte, Biliran, and Capul.

As planned, this activity has two components: the writers’ forum and the literary performances. The writers’ forum will be held in the morning, while the literary performances will be showcased in the afternoon. Activities during the forum include the introduction of representatives from various organizations under the Katig Writers Network Inc., paper presentations, open-forum, and election of the new set of officers of Katig for 2012.

Meanwhile, the literary performances spearheaded by the Sinirangan Culture and Arts Development Center of Leyte Normal University (LNU) will feature local writers from Leyte and Samar in dramatic reading and mini-theatrical performances.

Writers will also be given the chance to read their newly-written poems as part of the said literary showcase. (PIA 8-Samar)

by PIA

Never break the habit of regularly brushing your teeth, at the very least twice a day, because such practice actually prevents the development of heart disease.

This is the advice of Dr. Philip Yray of the Department of Health (DOH) 7 during a PIA Kapihan this morning in observance of the Dental Health Awareness Month every February.

“If one does not brush his or her teeth regularly and tooth decay develops, this will lead to tooth abscess if left untreated. Meaning, there is already an infection and the bacteria can go down to your organs like in the heart. This can result to bacterial endocarditis,” Yray said.

Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart called the endocardium. If left untreated, bacterial endocarditis can damage one’s heart valves and can be life-threatening, this is learned.

Dr. Rodivick Docor, past president of the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) â€" Cebu Chapter in the same forum said bad oral hygiene practices can also lead to lung and kidney disease because the germs can lodge in these organs aside from the heart.

“The bacteria from the tooth infection can go to your major organs like the heart, lungs and kidneys. The bacteria commonly involved is the streptococci type,” according to Docor.

Docor advised the public to brush their teeth especially before going to bed. “When we sleep, we do not produce saliva which has a cleansing action. And in such case, bacteria can feast orally and starts to gradually damage your teeth without you knowing it until such time that pain develops from tooth decay or infection,” Docor bared.

BPO Companies in the Philippines

Change of Address: More Fun in the Philippines

Dating Is More Fun in the Philippines

It's More Fun in the Philippines: Island Hopping
photo by George Tapan

Decimal Day (1971)


Source: Decimal Day (1971)

Israeli Knesset Convenes for the First Time (1949)


Source: Israeli Knesset Convenes for the First Time (1949)

End of the road: Break-up of Dra Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho

Grace Lee born in South Korea


Girlfriend of Pres Noynoy Aquino

Face Massage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P90dKxlsUJo#ws
Happy Birthday from North Pole

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC4gZgdsza8#
Happy Birthday Rap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-SMJtcTBqU#
Sa Mga Nagsaulog Sa Ilang Adlawng Natawhan

Lucy Torres: Model and Congresswoman

Kris Aquino Top Endorser

Beyonce and Blue Ivy

PAWS Founded 1954

Aiko Melendez in Gown

by Inquirer.net

Citing recent developments and issues raised on the secrecy of certain bank accounts and the need to promote transparency and accountability in the government, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada filed on Monday a bill amending the law governing foreign currency deposits in the country.

Under the Senate Bill 3120, Sen. Estrada introduced an amendment to the four-decades-old Republic Act 6426 to include the “order of an impeachment court or any competent court on cases involving public officials charged with the violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act” as exception to the confidentiality clause of the law.

The amendment further provides that probable cause be established that the foreign currency deposit involved is directly related to the cause of action in the complaint.

RA 6426, otherwise known as “An Act Instituting a Foreign Currency Deposit System in the Philippines,” declares that all foreign currency deposits are considered of absolutely confidential nature except upon the written permission of the depositor.

by PNA

After the bankruptcy of Prudential Life Plans, do you still trust life insurance companies in the Philippines?

Life insurers sees continued growth of the industry this year amid the negative external environment as well as the current issues being faced by the pre-need industry.

Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA) President Gregorio Mercado, in a briefing Tuesday, said unaudited premium income for 2011 shows a growth of about 21 percent to P85.5 billion over year-ago’s P70.7 billion.

“Assuming the economic issues affecting Europe and the USA do not get any worse, we project a double-digit growth of about 16 percent this year or about P100 million premium level income,” he said.

Mercado stressed that the life insurance industry in the Philippines is still strong as compliance among the 21 active players on the rules remains high.

He said “absence of undue distractions enables players to focus on professionalism, product innovation and service excellence.

He explained that life insurance companies in the country have enjoyed extreme longevity due to among others longer-term investments that have better returns and liabilities that have longer terms also.

He said the industry welcomes very much the decision of the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) to issue more longer-term notes like 10-year and 20-year debt paper as these are good-yielding investments because these are good match for the industry’s liabilities.

Relatively, the industry is grateful for the developments of the country’s micro-insurance industry as this is a good vehicle to further increase the number of Filipinos that have insurance.

pwede man seguro pud hire-ron si hubag bohol nga stage director or voice director ba kaha ron. labing klaro nga pagkaestorya, at this point sa akong kinabuhi, i've lost interest watching hollywood movies. puro recycled. nothing new.

i am more interested sa mga estorya sa kabaryohan ug sa mga filipino sa gawas. diha bitaw toy indie film nga gihimo sa Cebu entitled "Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria", babae ang scripter adto, labihang nindota paminawon sa conversation. nangita ko sa DVD ani wala pa ko kakita ug asa ko kapalit ani.

Happy Yipee Yehey Rest in Peace (RIP)

Judge Ingles was the only RTC Judge in Cebu who refused to receive allowances from the Cebu Provincial Government. He did it so he could maintain his integrity and independence.

Update: Now Married

Excerpt from Boingo Website:
Boingo Wi-Fi service makes it easy to find and get online at free and paid Wi-Fi hotspots. We have a huge network of paid hotspots all over the world, which include airports, coffee shops, stadiums, shopping malls, restaurants, retail shops, conventions centers, hotels and more.

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Boheco has a list of accredited electricians in your town. So call or visit their office today. Don't go to just any electrician available. Trust Boheco's recommendation.

He's very humble and brilliant. He lectured at HNU College of Law on the subject of Academic Freedom. It was intellectually enriching to listen to a true professor of laws.

All About Movie Posters

Batman The Dark Knight


War starring Christian Bale


Transformers

Lifted from Tumblr Website
What is Tumblr?
Millions of people sharing the things they do, find, love, think, or create.
How are people using Tumblr?
The average Tumblr user creates 14 original posts each month, and reblogs 3. Half of those posts are photos. The rest are split between text, links, quotes, music, and video.
What is reblogging?
The same way YouTube embeds make it easy for a video to become a viral hit, the "reblog" button on all Tumblr posts allows a meme to spread rapidly across thousands of blogs with just a click.

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About LivePerson
LivePerson (NSDQ LPSN) is the premiere online marketplace for the exchange of live advice. Featuring over 30,000 experts in more than 600 categories, ranging from Spirituality and Professional Counseling to Health and Education, live Experts are waiting to provide those in need with real-time, personalized advice when and where they need it.

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Bisan Pagsuwat ug Valentines Card Sayop

this is really funny...

Panakip Butas Lang Diay, luoy pud intawon just for fun

Valentines Day Proposal

For Lack of Romantic Words

Excuse from a Fat Boyfriend

Don't Make Videos

Mao Diay Buhat

Sobra Ra Pud Ka Honest

A Short Letter for Gina

Our Story of Love: Fill in the Blank

Unsay Buot Ipaibot?

Love Coupon from a Poor Lover

Expensive Valentines Day Gift

Pinugsanay Diay Ning Magminyo?

Really funny card I came across today. Enjoy.

Marrying For Citizenship's Sake?

Security of Your Facebook Photos

Nangandoy man gani ang kadaghanan nga lugwayan pa ang ilang katuigan sa kinabuhi, naay uban mao pay ihikog ug otsintay-singko na hinuon. Wa na laman gyud kahuwat ug lima ka tuig.

Trend Microâ,,¢ Online Guardian for Families helps you protect children against Internet dangers, including cyberbullying and online predators. This parental control software lets you monitor your kids’ Internet activity 24/7 from anywhere and take action to keep them safe.

In one easy-to-read report, Online Guardian shows web browsing history, wall postings, messages, photos, chats, and more. You’ll get a clear view of what your kids are doing on websites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube, regardless of their privacy settings.

With Internet monitoring and filtering, Online Guardian helps you safeguard your children and prevent damage to their online reputations. Also, it lets you set age appropriate rules for your kids’ Internet activities that includes filtering out adult content and limiting their time online.

With Online Guardian, you’ll have the Internet content filter software you need to spot a problem before your children get in trouble. Online Guardian for Families will give you peace of mind whenever your kids use the Internet.

source: Trendmicro.com

REVIEW:
Trend Microâ,,¢ Online Guardian for Families helps you protect your kids against Internet dangers, including cyberbullying and online predators, by letting you monitor their Internet activity and take action to keep them safe. In one easy-to-read report, you'll get a clear view of what your kids are doing on websites like Facebook and Twitter regardless of their privacy settings. With Online Guardian, you can check anytime from anywhere your children's browsing history, wall postings, messages, photos, chat logs, and more.

Young Claudine Barretto

I become more alert if I drink more than 8 glasses of water in a day.

I agree. And people who sleep less than 6 hours have a tendency to be irritable and impatient.

Yahoo really regrets it refused to be bought by Microsoft. When Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo, the stock price per share was $40 plus. As of 2012, the stock price of Yahoo per share is only $20 plus.

It would be embarrassing to send emails to different persons but with the same salutation. So be careful when you use templates.

Jihadist Opportunities in Syria
By Kamran Bokhari

In an eight-minute video clip titled "Onward, Lions of Syria" disseminated on the Internet Feb. 12, al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri expressed al Qaeda's support for the popular unrest in Syria. In it, al-Zawahiri urged Muslims in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan to aid the Syrian rebels battling Damascus. The statement comes just days after a McClatchy report quoted unnamed American intelligence officials as saying that the Iraqi node of the global jihadist network carried out two attacks against Syrian intelligence facilities in Damascus, while Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi said in a recent interview with AFP that Iraqi jihadists were moving fighters and weapons into neighboring Syria.

Al Qaeda's long-term goal has been to oust Arab governments to facilitate the return of a transnational caliphate. Its tactics have involved mainly terrorism intended to cause U.S. intervention in the region. Al Qaeda has hoped such interventions would in turn incite popular uprisings that would bring down the Arab regimes, opening the way for the jihadists to eventually take power. But the jihadist network's efforts have failed and they have remained a marginal player in the Arab world. By addressing Syria, al Qaeda hopes to tap into the past year of Arab unrest, a movement in which it played little to no part.

The region's regimes have been on the defensive due to the rise of political Islamism, growing public disillusionment and the sectarian Sunni-Shiite split, though foreign military intervention has been required to actually topple them, as we saw in Libya. Growing uncertainty in the region and the gradual weakening of these regimes gives jihadists an opportunity to reassert their relevance. Al-Zawahiri's statement, however, represents a continuation of the central leadership's inability to do more than issue taped statements from its Pakistani hideouts, much less engage in strategic planning.

Jihadists and the Middle East Unrest

Al Qaeda's extreme transnational agenda always has had limited appeal to the Arab masses. Popular unrest in Arab countries and the empowerment of political Islamists via elections in Egypt and Tunisia have underscored the jihadists' irrelevance to societies in the Islamic world. The jihadists have failed to oust a sitting government anywhere in the Islamic world, even in Afghanistan, where the Taliban's rise to power in the mid-1990s occurred in a power vacuum. Recognizing their limitations, jihadists have focused on conducting attacks intended to create crises within target countries and in those countries' external relations -- as is the case in Pakistan and Yemen. The jihadist hope has been to create enough disorder that they would eventually be able to seize power.

This approach has proved difficult because Arab governments (despite their weaknesses) have been resilient and societal fragmentation has not worked to the advantage of jihadists. A second option has been to try to take advantage of power vacuums that were created by other forces. Iraq presented one such opportunity when U.S. forces ousted the Baathist regime in 2003, allowing for the emergence of al Qaeda's then-most active node. In Iraq, the country's Shiite majority posed a daunting obstacle to the jihadists even before the jihadists alienated their Iraqi Sunni allies to the point that they began siding with the Americans, which led to a degradation of the jihadist network in Iraq. By contrast, post-Gadhafi Libya, with its proliferation of militias -- some of which have both Islamist and jihadist tendencies -- could become a more welcoming place for jihadists. But even if Libya were to descend into Islamist militancy, geography would most likely prevent it from spreading too far beyond Libya's borders.

However, given Syria's strategic location at the crossroads of so many key geopolitical fault lines, the meltdown of the Syrian state could easily result in a regional conflict. Most stakeholders oppose foreign military intervention in Syria for this very reason. Many states are eyeing the strategic goal of weakening Iran geopolitically through the ouster of the Alawite regime in Syria, but even that prospect may not be enough to offset the potential costs.

Jihadists' Prospects in Syria

With or without foreign intervention, jihadists in the region have ample room for maneuver in Syria. The most significant regional jihadist presence lies across the Syrian border in Iraq. These forces benefited from Damascus' decision to back Sunni insurgents from 2003 to 2007. The consolidation of Shiite power in Iraq greatly weakened these forces. Now that Syria is unraveling and armed resistance to the regime is shaping up, the jihadist flow is reversing direction, with jihadists now entering Syria from Iraq.

Al Qaeda in Iraq sought to channel Sunni disenfranchisement at the hands of the Shia, but now the group is looking to help Syrian Sunnis empower themselves at the expense of the Iranian-backed Alawites. Jihadist forces within striking distance of Syria are likely trying to exploit the unpopularity of the Alawite regime among Sunnis as a way to gain a foothold in Syria.

The level of factionalization among the Syrian rebels works to the advantage of jihadists. Just as Iraq's Sunni tribal forces, Islamists and Baathists cooperated with the jihadists against U.S troops and the country's new Shia-dominated security forces, many elements within Syria's Sunni population would be willing to align with jihadists given the constraints they face in battling the well-armed Alawite-dominated Syrian military.

Complicating matters, the Syrian intelligence apparatus has long cultivated ties with jihadists to insulate Damascus from jihadist attacks and to use jihadists in proxy wars with Syria's neighbors. As the state gets more and more embroiled in the internal conflict and the intelligence apparatus gets bogged down with rising distractions at home, these jihadist elements who have been on the payroll of Syrian intelligence can turn against their former handlers along the lines of what has happened in Pakistan and Yemen.

In addition to the jihadists based in Iraq and those who have long worked with the Syrian regime, neighboring Jordan and Lebanon host jihadist forces that also see opportunities in the Syrian unrest. Saudi Arabia also has Sunni militants angered by the killing of Sunnis at the hands of what they call the "infidel" Alawite regime. Just as the Saudis redirected their own jihadists toward fighting in Iraq instead of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh could encourage jihadist non-state actors to fight in Syria. A recent fatwa from a number of top Sunni religious scholars (including some prominent Saudis) forbidding membership in the Syrian security forces would help in this regard.

Regional stakeholders are reluctant to see foreign military intervention, leaving the option of covert support in the form of supplying weapons to the Syrian rebels. Jihadists can be expected to make use of such covert support as they work to insert themselves in Syria. Even if weapons aren't intended for jihadists, the increased flow of weapons and training into Syria provide an additional opportunity for jihadists to build on this support by offering more battle-hardened experience to a still disorganized armed resistance.

But while neither the domestic opponents of the Syrian regime nor the international stakeholders have an interest in seeing Syria collapse into sectarian conflict, jihadists want just that. As in Iraq, we could see bombings against Alawites and other non-Sunni groups, including Iranian and Hezbollah targets. This could be extended to attacks in Lebanon in an attempt to stoke a regional sectarian conflict.

The jihadists could well succeed in sparking a regional sectarian conflict that would involve multiple state and non-state actors and would see Iran and Saudi Arabia locked in an intense proxy war. Western or Israeli involvement in the conflict would please the jihadists even more.

It is therefore in the jihadists' interest to thwart a negotiated settlement in Syria. Though it is still unclear who was responsible for the Dec. 23, 2011, and Jan. 6 suicide attacks targeting Syrian intelligence, they served the jihadists' purpose as they forced the regime to crack down even harder on opponents (both armed and unarmed).

As the rebels and their supporters respond in kind, the jihadists can thus instigate a cycle of violence leading to an intensely polarized environment. The net result of such a process could be a meltdown of the Syrian state and the rise of multiple armed factions, including jihadists.

The collapse of the Syrian state in turn would allow the jihadists a wide arena in which to operate, stretching from Lebanon to Iraq and putting them very close to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories -- the best theater a jihadist could ask for. However, the nature of their capabilities, which will determine the extent of damage they can cause in the Levant and the surrounding area, remains unclear.

It is by no means inevitable that jihadists will flourish in Syria and use it as a launching pad to undermine regional security. The Syrian state is still very much holding, and rebel forces remain divided and do not appear capable of serious advances against the government.

The Risk of Regional Sectarian War

The Syrian upheaval takes place at a time of heightened geopolitical and sectarian tensions in the region, where Iran and its largely Arab Shiite allies are seeking to make inroads into the largely Sunni Arab countries.

For Tehran and its main non-state proxy, the Lebanese Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah, the survival of an Alawite regime in Syria that owes its survival to Iran is critical. Tehran and Hezbollah both have a military presence in Syria, which is assisting Damascus in its efforts to contain the uprising. This is a major cause of concern for international stakeholders, especially Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is the regional player most enthusiastic about seeing regime change in Syria to counter the threat from Iran.

For its part, the Iranian-aligned government in Iraq has a strong incentive to make sure that jihadists in Iraq are not able to relocate to Syria. Baghdad knows all too well that a collapse of the Syrian regime would lead to a revival of Sunni resistance against the Shia, the last thing the Iraqi Shia wish to see.

The United States and Turkey want to ensure that al Qaeda is unable to hijack the Syrian uprising. But neither Washington nor Ankara has the tools to ensure that jihadists don't make their way through Syria's borders with Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. The Saudis share this viewpoint, but because they are somewhat insulated they would not mind just enough chaos to bring down the Syrian regime, the closest Arab ally of Iran.

Jordan is already deeply fearful of the fallout from Syria while it deals with growing unrest at home, and has a strong interest in making sure Islamist militants on its soil do not use enter the Syrian conflict. Meanwhile, Lebanon could descend into sectarian strife, especially as the Syrian state's ability to maintain control there erodes, the Saudis see an opportunity and the Iranians feel their position becoming vulnerable.

Just how the many moving parts in this dynamic interact will determine the extent to which Syria and its environs become a jihadist playground. A potential collapse of the Syrian state greatly increases the risk of a regional sectarian war that al Qaeda could greatly benefit from. The challenge for those seeking regime change in Syria is thus how to rid the country of Iranian influence while not opening the door to transnational jihadism.

Lito Lapid and Nora Aunor

Beautiful Hair to Behold

Former Senator Freddie Webb Meets Atty Serafin Cuevas

Father buys a lie  detector Robot that slaps you when you lie.

    He decides to test it out on his son at supper table.

    Father asked the son, "where were you last night?"

    Son replies, "I was at the library" The robot slaps the son.

    "OK  I was at a friend's house, watching a movie" the son says!

    "What movie?"  the father says.

    "Toy story",  Robot slaps the son, "OK it was porn", cried the son.

    Father yells, "what? When I was your age I did not know what porn
was." Robot slaps the father.

    The mother laughs and says , "He certainly is your son." Robot slaps
the mother.

Pwede pud ingnon nato nga Happy VD (vad day).