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Part 2 Of My Lamentation:

sumpay sa akong column nga napatik sa The Bohol Standard Newspaper

Asa Ang Hustisya Sa Guindulman?

Niadtong unang semana sa September, atong nahisgutan dinhi ang subo nga palandongon nga gidangatan sa mga higanteng kahoy sa Guindulman nga nagbarog atubangan sa merkado kapin na sa usa ka gatos ka tuig ang milabay.

Kanang mga opisyales sa local government sa Guindulman, nga way mga kasing-kasing alang sa kinaiyahan, tungod sa naghingapin nilang garbo, miputol sa mga kahoy nga himsog kaayo sa tumang kasayon ug walay pagtagad sa pagbati sa mga tawo.

Ang pangutana karon: kinsa man ang nabulahan sa mga lumber adtong mga kahoy nga gipanamastamasan sa LGU sa Guindulman? Maayo seguro ug susihon ang mga balay ug nataran sa mga namunuan sa Guindulman kay matod pa sa mga huhungihong adunay nabulahan sa mga kahoy. Seguro bag-o na ug furniture set ang mga mapangahason.

Naghisgot ta ug balik niining nahitabo sa mga kahoy sa Guindulman tungod sa padayon nga pagbangotan sa mga tawo sa Guindulman, kaliboan nga katawhan nga nahisagmuyo sa lampingasan nga desisyon sa LGU, mga katawhan nga nasuko ug naguol sa gidangatan sa mga kahoy.

Ug dili lang mga taga Guindulman ang gisayangan sa mga kahoy ug gingil-aran sa binuhatan sa mga opisyales sa Guindulman, ang mga lumolupyo sa lain-laing mga lungsod sa Bohol ang gianugnan sa mga kahoy ug misaway sa balasobas nga pagbati sa nagpaluyo sa pagpamutol sa mga kahoy sa Guindulman.

Atong balikon nga ang giingon sa mga tigpaniid sa Guindulman nga ang bugtong tumong ug tinguha sa LGU sa pagpamatol sa mga higanteng kahoy mao aron maladlad sa mga molabay nga bag-o ang ilang merkado. Pagka-mabaw ba pud ug paminsar kung mao na. Ang buot ba ipasabot nga garbo lang ang nagtukmod nila aron payagon tong mga kahoy nga kapin na sa usa ka gatos ka tuig naghatag ug landong sa maong lungsod? Pagkabarato ra pud nga garbo.

Tinuod nga bag-o nga mibarog ang merkado sa Guindulman. Ug tungod lagi kay natagaw o nabag-ohan ang LGU nga bag-o ang ilang merkado, buot nila nga mapasundayag sa tanan, maila sa tanan, mahibaw-an sa tanang lumalabay sa Guindulman nga bag-o ang merkado, ug tungod niini daygon kintahay sila sa ilang proyekto, ug ilang gipanamastamasan ang mga inosenteng kahoy aron matuman ang linoog nila nga tinguha. Pamolitika lang gihapon.

Ang nakaapan niini kay way mga taga Guindulman nga midemanda sa korte ug nakigbatok sa dautan nga buhat sa LGU. Wala pay katinoan ang balita nga walay tukmang pagtugot gikan sa DENR ang maong pagputol. Kung mitugot man ugaling ang provincial DENR, nakahibawo ba kaha sila sa balaod nga nagdili sa pagputol sa mga kahoy? Bisan man gani lubi karon, dili na ipaputol sa gobyerno kung walay permit.

Dili matukib ang kayugot sa mga tawo. Dili madungog ang ilang mga yangongo sa kahanginan apan kung imong estoryahon sila sa hilom, diha nimo mabati ang ilang pagsaway sa pangagamhanan sa Guindulman. Gani pa man, daghan nang mga tigulang sa Guindulman ang nakatulo ang luha sa dihang ilang nadiskobrehan nga wala na ang karaang acacia nga diha na nabuhi bisan wala pa sila mangatawo ning kalibotana.

Nahinabi ning pamantalaan kausa si Ali Amoguis nga lunod-patay taga-Guindulman. Siya mismo mitaho nga way tawo sa maong lungsod ang nalipay sa linoog ug lampingasan nga binuhatan sa LGU. “Wa ko kasabot unsay nasulod sa utok nang among mga kadagkoan sa munisipyo,” panghupaw ni Ali Amoguis.

Ang gikabaniog sa maong lungsod mao ang kalit nga kamatayon sa mingputol (chainsaw owner) sa karaang acacia. Bata pa ug wala idungog nga masakiton ang maong tawo. Kalit nga gihilantan human ug putol sa acacia ug mao ray hinungdan sa misteryoso niyang kamatayon.

Matod pa sa mga tawo sa Guindulman nga nahinabi sa The Bohol Standard, ang hinungdan nga aduna pay usa ka kahoy nga nahibilin nagbarog atbang sa merkado mao nga wala nay misugot nga moputol sa kataposang kahoy nga nagbarog.

Pasangil sa LGU nga kadto ra konong dakong kahoy ang putlon. Apan ang tinuod giapil ug hagbas ang mga gagmayng kahoy nga murag kapin na pud to sila ug napulo ka tuig ang panuigon. Pagkamatay sa mamutolay, naluwas ang kataposang kahoy kay lagi wala namay motugatuga ug putol karon bisan pila pay isweldo sa munisipyo.

Niingon tong mga tawo sa Guindulman ngano ang nag-chainsaw man ang gipareglahan sa mga dili-ingon-nato. Dili ba kaha pud isunod ug tulisok sa tanlag ang mga opisyales sa Guindulman?

Dili na angay maghulat ang mga katawhan sa Guindulman ug dili-ingon-nato nga mao ang maningil sa hustisya sa kamatayon sa mga kahoy. Sila na mismo ang makapanaog sa maong hustisya karong Mayo 2010.

Part 1 of My Lamentation Over the Guindulman Tree Massacre:

Adyos, Mga Kahoy Sa Guindulman
as it appeared in Tumoy Sa Bangaw column
in the Bohol Standard

Daw gikumoskumos ang akong kasingkasing nga nagsud-ong sa mga bantugan-higanteng kahoy atbang sa merkado sa Guindulman nga giputol sa way puangod nga local government sa maong lungsod.

Moingon ko nga way puangod ug way kasingkasing ug way kaluoy kay ngano man gyud nga putlon ang duha ka karaang kahoy nga seguro hapit na usa ka gatos ka tuig nga naghatag ug landong sa mga lumolupyo ug dumoduong sa Guindulman.

Pila na ka libo nga mga tawo ang nabulahan sa landong ug kabugnaw sa maong mga kahoy. Ug karon, tungod kay gusto sa local government sa maong lungsod ipagarpar nga bag-o ang ilang merkado, gipamutol ang mga kahoy. Daghang gianugnan. Daghang nasuko. Daghang nagsubo.

Sa pagkapukan sa pinakadako ug pinakalayog nga acacia, diha ko nakasaksi. Ang tapad nga kahoy gisugdan pa pagpuong. Sa akong paghibalik, nahawan na tanan. Kung tiglabyanan ka sa dalan sa Guindulman, lingia ang dapit sa merkado. Wala na ang mga higanteng kahoy. Wala na ang mga kahoy nga tipik na ug kabahin sa atong kinabuhi.

Nahinabi ko ang usa ka taga-Guindulman nga nagpanglingolingo nga nagtan-aw sa higanteng kahoy nga nagbuy-od na. “Pagkaanugon sa kahoy! Kanus-a pa kaha ta makakita ug kahoy nga sama ani,” panghupaw nga may pagmahay ang miguwa sa baba adtong tawo nga akong nahinabi. Gimahayan niya ang mayor ug opisyales sa iyang lungsod nga maoy nagmando sa pagpaputol sa maong mga kahoy.

Dihay miingon nga posible gipamutol ang mga kahoy atbang sa bag-ong gipabarog nga merkado sa Guindulman kay lagi nagkaduol naman ang piniliay ug dili unya makita sa mga tawo ang karatola nga magbansiwag kung kinsa ang nangusog sa maong proyekto. Kung mao man na ang hinungdan sa pagputol sa mga kahoy, pagkaalaot natong mga katawhan nga nakabaton ug mga lampingasang politiko.

Dihay mga nagkanayon nga gitudas ang maong mga kahoy kay gusto sa mga opisyales sa Guindulman nga dili masalipdan ang bag-ong merkado. Kung tinuod man ang maong katarongan, pagkaalot natong mga katawhan nga nakabaton ug mga opisyales nga lapsaw ug mga hunahuna.

Dihay mga nag-ingon nga ang maong mga kahoy makadisgrasya kono tungod sa pagpangatagak sa iyang mga sanga. Kung tinuod man kini nga katarungan, pagputol ba sa kahoy ang sulbad ana? Dili ba diay mahimo nga puongan? Ngano nga ang tibuok punoan sa kahoy man ang putlon kung sanga lang ang gikahadlokan nga matagak?

Dili ko kasabot unsa nga klase nga pangutok ang naa sa bagolbagol sa local government sa Guindulman. Ambot kung ang Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) aduna bay pagtugot sa maong pagputol sa mga kahoy. Kung aduna man, ngano kaha pud nga miuyon ang DENR nga pamutlon tong mga kahoya?

Sa mga nasod sa gawas, buhaton ang tanang paagi sa mga tawo aron dili maputol ang kahoy kung adunay bag-ong structure nga tukoron. Likayan kutob sa mahimo aron padayon nga magbarog ang kahoy. Ang ilang pagpangga ug pag-amping sa gasa sa kinaiyahan, sama sa kahoy, walay paglubad bisan pa sa pag-uswag sa katilingban ug pagdagsang sa mga bag-ong teknolohiya ug kahimanan.
Daghan nang kalamboan ang nahitabo sa gawas, apan pabilin ang ilang pagmatuto sa kinaiyahan.

Dakong sukwahi ang gipakita sa local government sa Guindulman. Wala nila hunahunaa pila ka anyos ang paaboton aron ang mga tawo makatagamtam pag-usab sa kaanindot sa landong ug kabugnaw sa kahoy. Wala gyud sila makatugkad sa kabililhon sa usa ka kahoy kansang kinabuhi dili na gyud mamalik kung kini pasipad-an. Ambot unsa nga klase nga panghunahuna ang anaa sa atong gobyerno.

Sama kini nahitabo sa mga kahoy diha sa Plaza Rizal sa Tagbilaran atbang sa Provincial Capitol. Sa matod pa order sa GSO (General Services Office) nga ubos kanhi ni Engr. Edwin Vallejos, gipamutol tong mga daghang mga kahoy sa Plaza. Ang katarongan sa pagputol pagkataphaw ug pagka-way-hinungdan. Imbes kay mao nalang to ang nahibiling daginotong kahoy nga nagbarog sa dakbayan, sa way paghunahuna ug way puangod nga desisyon, gipuo ang mga karaang kahoy sa Plaza Rizal. Karon, labihang inita sa Plaza.

Hangtud kanus-a makamata ug makaamgo ang mga naa sa gobyerno ug bisan kadtong mga Filipino nga dili managana sa pagputol ug mga kahoy? Hangtud kanus-a.

@kaayohan: Nganong karon pa? No, we've been talking about this issue right after we learned about it. I wrote a column about it last year in September. Please follow this link: http://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22306.0

and a followup column: http://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22306.21

Count me in...
Michael Ortega Ligalig, Davao City, Philippines

Kanang moingon ta nga "naa ma niy approval sa DENR." Kay ngano ang mga taga DENR dili mapalit ug kwarta? In fact, many of those who are working at the DENR wala kaila ug mga kahoy ug wa pa katungas ug bukid kay mga appointed ra man ni sila sa mga politiko.

Busa, dili na ta maglangan ug estorya kay sa tinuod lang ang DENR sa Pilipinas ang hinungdan sa pagkagusbat sa atong kinaiyahan.

diri ni sa among town sa Anda, Topac.
Tungod aning Local Government Code nga tanang lihok nimo moagi ug mayor, bisan malibang ta, mananghid ug mayor, nababagan gyud.

The Local Government Code is a curse for those who are still immature to embrace democracy.

This is specially true to most Pinays in America.

Topac, dili na kahinumdum asa to nako gikuha. More or less sa flickr.com lang ko nagakuha ug mga pictures.

Dato ang among brgy captain. Tag-iya ug resort. Nakabana ug pilot sa Lufthansa. On-hold pa ang project kay gibabagan sa mayor kay nahadlok ang mayor dili maiya ang praise and honor.

Part 8
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Part 9
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Part 10
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Part 5
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Part 6
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Part 7
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Luoy intawon, Topac, ang atong mga kaigsuonan sa Third District, kay sulod sa dose (12) ka tuig nilang paghari sa 3rd District, wala intawoy proyekto nga nabuhat ang mga Jala.

A case in point is the town of Anda. Maayo pa among barangay captain kay naa pay gisugdan ug tukod nga maternity clinic.

Budget ni Congressman Jala kada tuig ni ha: P60 Million. Gone with the Wind!

Hello Everyone,

You might notice that some of the sections had disappeared. No, they didn't disappear; they just evolved. All the threads/topics were moved to another section/board. There were several section mergers that I implemented recently. Meaning, Two to three or four sections had become one section.

For example: Friendship and Singles Only were merged with Relationship Corner; Pinoy Video and Pinoy Music were merged with Wow Philippines; TBTK was merged with Bohol Testimonial; Stopover for Newbies was merged with Tell Us About Yourself; and many others... and more to come...

New sections will be created later. I am thinking of having a section for all things about mobile phones and gadgets.

If you have other suggestions, please feel free to post them here.

Thank you.

Seoul's defence minister on Sunday vowed retaliation over the sinking of a South Korean warship which killed 46 sailors near the disputed sea border with North Korea last month.

"Those responsible for killing our soldiers must pay the price," Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young told a KBS television programme aired nationwide Sunday.

"Retaliation -- in whatever form it is -- must be done."

It echoed South Korean Navy chief Admiral Kim Sung-Chan's reprisal pledge during Thursday's mass funeral for the sailors, attended by President Lee Myung-Bak.

Lee will preside over a scheduled meeting of key military commanders on Tuesday to discuss the sinking of the Cheonan, becoming the first South Korea president to chair such a meeting, his office said Sunday.

"President Lee will check what tasks the Cheonan incident handed to our military and people, and state his position as the supreme commander of the armed forces," presidential spokesman Park Sun-Kyoo said. - AFP

Happy Birthday Ate Lee. God bless you always!

By Bob Velin, USA TODAY
LAS VEGAS â€" Speed was the name of the game Saturday night.

Floyd Mayweather had it, and Sugar Shane Mosley didn't have enough to escape it. And Mayweather easily came away with a unanimous decision victory against Mosley in their welterweight mega-fight before a packed house at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Mayweather, who came into the fight a 4-1 favorite to remain undefeated, improved his record to 41-0, with 25 knockouts, while Mosley fell to 46-6 (39 KOs).

It was pretty much a one-sided fight after the second round, which was the only round Mosley won according to two of the three judges at ringside. Adelaide Byrd and Dave Moretti scored the fight 119-109, while Robert Hoyle scored it 118-110, all for Mayweather.

"I did what the fans came here to see â€" a toe-to-toe battle," said Mayweather. "That's not my style, but I wanted to give them that."

Mayweather said he went over the game plan while sitting around the house with his uncle (trainer Roger Mayweather) and father (Floyd Sr.).

"They wanted me to box, and then lay on the attack," Mayweather said. "We should've pressed the attack earlier."

Mayweather's speed was the difference, and he was in control in all but the second round, when Mosley came out swinging and connected on several power punches, at one point staggering Mayweather, whose knees buckled.

Sayang ni si Cesar Montano. Ang maayo gyud unta midagan ni siya ug congressman sa First District. He could have easily won the congressional seat.

Kung nidagan pud siya in 2007 as governor, mas dako pa ug chance kay one-on-one sila ni Aumentado. Pero nasulod si Cesar sa laang ni Aumentado. Gipasaligan pero wa pakasli.

Karon, lisod kaayo pildihon ni si Julius ug Chatto kay lig-on ang ilang mga network.

I agree with you, Grace. Uncomfortable lang ko about Noynoy. He did nothing as a senator and as a 3-term congressman sa Tarlac. He never spoke against Arroyo's long list of corruption scandals.

He never wanted to become a president of the country in the first place. In a last-minute decision, he finally gave in to the urgings of the "trapos" who just want to use him to advance their interest.

Ang mga tawo man nga behind ni Noynoy ang gusto mahimo siyang presidente. Kung maminaw ta sa mga interviews ni Noynoy, his answers are very vague and impractical. It seems wala siya kahibalo (walay hanaw) sa realities sa Pilipinas.

Noynoy is merely banking on the glories of his iconic parents. Unsa may record ni Noynoy? According to Richard Gordon, Noynoy is a "do-nothing guy." Dapat unta daghan na siya ug nabuhat sa Pilipinas kay he has a lot of spare time kay wala man siyay asawa ug walay mga anak nga atimanon.

Single at 50? What has he done to his life?

Luoy ang Pilipinas, Grace, if the president is not mentally stable.

Well, if you're 50 and you don't want to get married, maybe something is wrong. Luoy ang Pilipinas.

Still basking in the glow of its successful staging of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China is treating the Expo as an equally important showcase for its growing political and economic clout.

From the United States to North Korea, a total of 189 countries will take part in the six-month display of ideas, culture and technology expected to attract at least 70 million visitors -- the vast majority of them Chinese.

"Expo 2010 Shanghai is now open!" Chinese President Hu Jintao declared, after the national anthem rang out in the Expo cultural center and the flags of all participating countries were paraded through the giant hall.

Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan serenaded thousands of guests including 20 world leaders to open the event. - AFP News

It was part of Apple's smart marketing plan. Apple wants to get as much publicity without spending much.

Goldman Sachs is under criminal investigation for the way in which it sold complex mortgage-backed products to clients, reports suggest.

Earlier this month, the US financial regulator brought civil charges against the bank for defrauding investors.

It alleged that Goldman failed to disclose a conflict of interest, in that a firm advising it on a product was betting it would decline in value.

Goldman denies the accusations and said it was "not surprised" by the reports.

"Given the recent focus on the firm, we are not surprised by the report of a [criminal] inquiry. We would fully co-operate with any requests for information," a Goldman spokesperson told the AFP news agency.

from Cebu Pacific Air Newsletter

CEB salutes workers with P382 seat sale on all domestic destinations!

More than 38,200 seats up for grabs

We're taking our cue from the current minimum wage in the Philippines, and offering a P382 seat sale to all CEB domestic destinations. In the Philippines, the minimum wage has been pegged at P382 since June 2008.

The seat sale starts now until May 2, 2010, for travel from September 1 to 30, 2010.

For the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of P382, you can travel from Manila to Cebu, Boracay (Caticlan), Coron (Busuanga), Palawan (Puerto Princesa), Bacolod, Butuan, Cotabato, Cauayan, Dipolog, Laoag, San Jose, Zamboanga, among many others in CEB’s extensive domestic network.

You can also avail of P382 inter-island flights from Cebu to 19 domestic destinations, including Clark, Bacolod, Boracay (Caticlan), Dumaguete and the airline’s newest destination, Pagadian. From Davao, CEB also flies to Iloilo, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Manila and Cebu.

There are more than 38,200 ‘Go Lite’ seats up for grabs in this special Labor Day seat sale!

source: Time Magazine


RISING STAR:  When she was 12, Cullis-Suzuki and three Vancouver schoolmates raised money to go to the Rio Earth Summit. Her speech to delegates, above, had such an impact that she became a frequent invitee to U.N. conferences. Now 22, with a B.S. in biology from Yale University, she will be in Johannesburg as a member of Kofi Annan's World Summit advisory panel

By SEVERN CULLIS-SUZUKI    

Posted Sunday, August 18, 2002; 7:31 a.m. EST
When you are little, it's not hard to believe you can change the world. I remember my enthusiasm when, at the age of 12, I addressed the delegates at the Rio Earth Summit. "I am only a child," I told them. "Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be. In school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? You grownups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words."

I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation. Some of the delegates even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my speech might actually spur action. Now, a decade from Rio, after I've sat through many more conferences, I'm not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual's voice to reach them has been deeply shaken.

Sure, I've seen some improvements since Rio. In my home city of Vancouver, most people put out their recycling boxes. The organic grocery and café on Fourth Avenue is flourishing. Bikes are popular, and there are a few gas-electric hybrid cars gliding around. But as this new century begins, my twentysomething generation is becoming increasingly disconnected from the natural world. We buy our drinking water in bottles. We eat genetically modified organisms. We drive the biggest cars ever. At the same time, we are a generation aware of the worldâ€"of poverty and social imbalance, the loss of biodiversity, climate change and the consequences of globalizationâ€"but many of us feel we have inherited problems too great to do anything about.

When I was little, the world was simple. But as a young adult, I'm learning that as we have to make choicesâ€"education, career, lifestyleâ€"life gets more and more complicated. We are beginning to feel pressure to produce and be successful. We are learning a shortsighted way of looking at the future, focusing on four-year government terms and quarterly business reports. We are taught that economic growth is progress, but we aren't taught how to pursue a happy, healthy or sustainable way of living. And we are learning that what we wanted for our future when we were 12 was idealistic and naive.

   
We are not cleaning up our own mess or facing up to the price of our lifestyles
   

Today I'm no longer a child, but I'm worried about what kind of environment my children will grow up in. In Johannesburg the delegates will discuss the adoption and implementation of documents by governments. Yes, important stuff. But they did that at Rio. What this meeting must really be about is responsibilityâ€"not only government responsibility but personal responsibility. We are not cleaning up our own mess. We are not facing up to the price of our lifestyles. In Canada we know we are wiping out the salmon of the West Coast, just as we wiped out cod from the East Coast, but we continue overfishing. We keep driving our SUVs in the city, even though we are starting to feel the effects of climate changeâ€"a direct result of burning too much fossil fuel.

Real environmental change depends on us. We can't wait for our leaders. We have to focus on what our own responsibilities are and how we can make the change happen.

Before graduating from college last spring I worked with the Yale Student Environmental Coalition to draft a pledge for young people to sign. Called the Recognition of Responsibility, the pledge is a commitment from our generation to be accountable and a challenge to our elders to help us achieve this goal and to lead by example. It includes a list of ways to live more sustainablyâ€"simple but fundamental things like reducing household garbage, consuming less, not relying on cars so much, eating locally grown food, carrying a reusable cup and, most important, getting out into nature. (For the full text, go to www.skyfishproject.org.) Three friends and I will take the Recognition of Responsibility to Johannesburg, where we will meet with South African students and then present the pledge to the World Summit as a demonstration of personal commitment.

But in the 10 years since Rio, I have learned that addressing our leaders is not enough. As Gandhi said many years ago, "We must become the change we want to see." I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make sustainable choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of change.

Severn Suzuki speaking at UN Earth Summit 1992

By Jose Katigbak, STAR Washington bureau   (The Philippine Star)


Valerie Santos is a Filipina in a hurry.

She wants to make a difference as Washington’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development and frets there are not enough hours in a day to get things done to bring growth and prosperity to the district.

Appointed in June 2009, she is one of the most visible and highest ranking Filipino Americans in public office.

Santos, 36, is responsible for implementing Mayor Adrian Fenty’s economic development vision and managing a development pipeline worth more than $13 billion comprising public-private housing, retail, office and parks projects throughout the district.

It’s a big job and she describes it variously as exhilarating, exciting, humbling and, for some perverse reason, fun.

In an interview with The STAR, she said her father Dante Santos was the eldest of nine children, all of whom grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in Pasig with their parents.

The Santoses had a small 10 x 10 ft. shop in a local market which sold sewing, quilting and embroidery supplies, buttons and clasps and threads.

“My grandparents raised the family in a sewing notions store in a local palenke (market),” she said. “That’s how they put their children to school.”

She said her father, originally from Bulacan, emigrated to the United States in the 1960s after college in search of a better life and received his MBA at Santa Clara University in California.

Her mother Milagros was born and raised in Zamboanga, the eldest of five children. She also emigrated to the US in the 1960s, first to Cincinnati and later to California.

“Among the things I learned from my parents is the value of education and hard work,” Santos said.

Like many Filipinos who come to America, she said her parents worked hard to be able to send money home to help their families.

Her mother paid for the education of several of her siblings.

“She put off her life and didn’t get married until she was 40 to be able to help her family,” she said.

Valerie, born and raised in San Francisco, is an only child.

She is a graduate of Santa Clara University and earned her MBA at Harvard Business School and a Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

After finishing college in 1994 at the age of 20 she went to the Philippines for one year to get to know the rest of her family â€" she has 22 first cousins on her father’s side and 15 first cousins on her mother’s side â€" and to give back to the community.

She joined the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines (JVP) Foundation, Inc., a volunteer organization that sends fresh graduates and young professionals to under-resourced communities nationwide for one year.

Volunteers are prepared and assisted by the foundation in developing the skills necessary to address basic community needs whether as teachers, campus ministers, parish or community development workers.

Santos was sent to Ateneo de Zamboanga where she taught three classes of freshmen English and one class of senior literature. She lived in a dorm and received a stipend equivalent to $120 a month.

“I have always been passionate about public service and about using my many privileges in life, whether they be the privilege of education or the privilege of being born in the US to help people,” she said.

Philippine Ambassador Willie Gaa called on her two weeks ago and found her to be a “very decisive and personable lady.”

She is also “substantantive and supportive” and willing to be more active in the Filipino-American community in the area, Gaa said.

Maurice Owens said she and about a dozen other Filipino-American community leaders in the Washington area also met with Santos in October soon after her confirmation as deputy mayor, and described her as “approachable, welcoming, charming and vivacious.“

“It’s nice to see a smart Filipina up there,” Owens said.

Prior to becoming deputy mayor, Santos served as the Planning and Economic Development Office’s chief operating officer. Before joining the district government she worked with real estate groups where she specialized in urban public-private development.

According to the official District of Colombia website, the Office of the Deputy Mayor is charged with bringing federal, nonprofit and private and community partners together to expand the district’s economic base, attract and retain businesses, bring good-paying jobs for residents and promote the city as a competitive, welcoming place to do business.

“The scope of what I do is what gets me excited â€" developing affordable housing for people, looking to improve our waterfront, finding more jobs for our work force â€" there is such a breath of issues and diversity across the city that we have an opportunity to touch all aspects of life while advancing the mayor’s core mission of increasing tax revenue and promoting growth,” she said.

Santos visits the Philippines regularly.

“I was there in 2003 and 2006 and it’s definitely time to pay a visit again,” she said.

Her paternal grandmother, Iluminada or Lola Luming as she calls her, still lives in Pasig on Lopez Jaena street.

Santos speaks emotionally of the sacrifices her grandparents and parents went through to improve the lot of the family and says that “even when I am having the worst possible day, I know how fortunate I am compared with those who came before me.”

“People tell me it’s exciting to see a Filipino-American doing well because of hard work and all that. I feel honored but don’t consciously try to see myself as a role model,” she said.

It is unfortunate Filipinos have to go overseas to make their mark because “with so much energy and intellect in the Philippines all one needs there is a chance,” she said.

Asked what her normal day was like, she replied, “I don’t know if I have one. I typically work 14 hours a day and I find the work fun.”

“But I do make time for friends, for other things that are important to me.”

She relaxes by reading, spending time with friends and cooking for them and hanging out with her dog and her cat.

She says she is a good cook but cooks Filipino food only when her parents visit her.

With White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford and Deputy Mayor Valerie Santos leading the way, Filipinas are making inroads in the capital city of the world’s only superpower.

If you know of any member of Caballero or Arbillon Family living in Panglao Island, please email me at infor@mikeligalig.com. Thank you.

By Bohol Chronicle

A total of 341,515 beneficiaries were catered to in medical missions conducted in the province from 2001 up to the present.

The medical missions, though undertaken for free, can be quantified to cost a total of more than P1.5 billion.
       
Gov. Erico Aumentado and Vice Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera extend their sincerest thanks and deepest gratitude to foundations and associations based in the country and abroad, officers and member-manpower, government agencies, businessmen, donors, philanthropists, supporters and volunteers who made the medical missions successful.

Fancy S. Baluyot, consultant Health and Social Services and president of Gift of Life, who have been in the forefront of continuous humanitarian services for the past 47 years, cited Gov. Aumentado and Vice Gov. Herrera for their unwavering support to the humanitarian endeavor.

Baluyot also expressed gratitude to SP health committee chair Cesar Tomas Lopez, former provincial administrator Tomas Abapo Jr. and Provincial Administrator Handel Lagunay.

Also at the forefront of medical missions are Gift of Life, DOH, Home Reach Foundation, Bohol Medical Surgical Team Committee and participating hospitals, with volunteer doctors, nurses and dentists.

Among the highlights of the missions are heart surgical mission operations done outside the Metro Manila in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009. Part of the mission is the sending of patients to Manila, Canada, USA, and thousands of cataract cases which was done and earned an entry to the Guinness Book of World Record for the most number of patients operated, missions usually done simultaneously in three or more venues.

Donations of hospital equipments and supplies came from foreign countries and the Philippine government.

By Bohol Chronicle

An overwhelming majority of the city residents demanded yesterday for the dismantling of the city task force which is operating directly under the supervision of the city mayor's office.

With election barely 16 days away, well meaning city residents fear the task force will automatically become the "deputized goons" of City Mayor Dan Lim - his brainchild organized under the official name as City Monitoring Team.

During a random survey conducted yesterday by the independent top-rated radio program "Radyo Merkado," 93.6 percent of the respondents echoed their call for the dismantling of the task force.

In connection with the coming election, respondents said the task force will mainly function to "harass voters before and during the May 10 polls."

In fact, independent bet for city kagawad Boy Minoza who was one of the respondents confirmed that tricycle drivers where he placed his propaganda materials were threatened by unidentified persons he believed are members of the task force. The other tricycles where he placed his propaganda tarpaulin were replaced, or if not, covered by tarpaulins of City kagawad Oscar Glovasa who is the mayor's endorsed bet for congressman in the first district.

The same report was confirmed by congressional bet, former Gov. Rene Relampagos who reported that some of the tricycle drivers bearing his propaganda materials were likewise harassed by task force members.

Of the respondents who demanded the dismantling of the task force, 46.8 percent described majority of the task force members as "arrogant and one-sided" in investigating police incident reports.

There were 35.2 percent, including a Tagbilaranon listening to dyRD in Bahrain, who said that the hiring of the task force is a "waste of government funds," saying that most of the feedback from residents showed that the task force is doing "more bad, than good."

Eighteen percent of those who chided the task force said it appears obvious that the mayor's squad "did not undergo training" while some "do not even know the real essence of being members of the task force."

The survey registered a high percentage of respondents who confirmed that majority, if not, all task force members are those known as "tough guys" in the various barangays.

Of the 6.3% who seem to favor the task force, majority of them said "wait if Veloso will become mayor so he can dismantle the task force."

One respondent, who did not join the majority voice defended the mayor's squad by saying "there are very few of the task force members who are abusive."

DRUG PUSHING

The reactions from city residents included reports from survey respondents that some task force members are "planting drugs in the evening."

"Now that the drug personalities are members of the task force, it becomes easier for the drug pushers to operate and peddling the prohibited drugs during night time.

The report was given strength when a task force member identified as Romeo Blanco of Mansasa district was arrested last week for peddling shabu. The suspect, who is the brother of Mansasa Barangay Captain Manolo Blanco, the alleged swertres king in the city, was nabbed during a buy-bust operation conducted by operatives from Camp Dagohoy.

Earlier this year, a card-bearing member of the task force was also cornered at his residence at Lindaville Subdivision in barangay Dao, this city. The suspect, Filbert Ingles, surprisingly, was able to elude arrest even as his residence was already surrounded by elements of the local SWAT team. Until today, Ingles remain free despite assurances from PDEA Asst. Reg'l. Director Yogi Ruiz to arrest the suspect.

MEDIA HARASSMENT

Broadcasters Boyet Requeron and Nestor Daarol earlier reported that the persons who "blocked their way" after hosting their radio programs are top personalities of the dreaded task force.

Requeron identified that among the task force members who recently harassed him after hosting his radio program were Gido Lopena and Jongjong Garcia.

He likewise recalled that after the 2007 elections, his father, Boy Requeron, was mauled at the city port by men identified with Mayor Lim.

By The Bohol Chronicle

Police Senior Supt. Rodolfo Llorca is expected to report tomorrow to his new assignment as PNP provincial director of the province based at Camp Dagohoy.

Llorca officially assumed the new assignment during a turnover of command held at Camp Sergio Osmena in Cebu City last Monday.

PNP Reg'l Director Lane-0 Nerez officiated the turnover of command from Police Senior Supt. Anthony Obenza to Llorca.
         
It maybe noted that Llorca's assumption was earlier blocked by a 72-hour temporary restraining order issued by RTC Executive Judge Fernando Fuentes III.

However, with the expiration of the 72-hour TRO, the turnover of command was done last Monday evening.

RTC Executive Judge Fernando Fuentes III acted on Gov. Aumentado's petition for an injunction order.

When raffled, the petition went to the sala of Judge Arcamo.

Arcamo when interviewed yesterday said there is nothing to restrain when the turnover of command was already done last Monday.

Llorca arrived here Wednesday. However, he left for Manila, but he's expected to be back tomorrow for his formal assumption to office.

By The Bohol Chronicle   

Three former city mayors stood as one to rally on Tagbilaranons to save the city that appears to be "under siege."

The "elders of the city" issued their joint statement yesterday as they expressed alarm on how the cross-section
of the community gets intimidated while election is forthcoming.

The call sounded for the people "not to surrender their right of free choice while asking the electorate "not to be seduced by money nor get intimidated with guns and goons" especially on election day.

The former city mayors, Rolando Butalid, Jose Ma. Rocha and Joe Torralba were unanimous in their observation that the city has lost all sense of "check and balance - essential for any democracy to function."

They cited the city legislature as a mere stump pad while the city police force and the judiciary are both "wanting of independence" in order for the city residents to live under the "rule of law and not of men."

Calling their joint statement as "Saving The City We Help Build," the three former city executives stressed that they stand united fulfilling their "sense of responsibility" as they "close ranks and raise our voices in order to raise the flag of Tagbilaran back to dignity."
        
First and foremost mentioned by the former mayors was the glaring refusal to account public funds even if the public demands it.

"The corruption is already institutionalized in peso amounts with an impunity that shock the sensitivities left in our advanced years," the former mayors said.

Also cited by the "elders of the city" is the rising criminality of drugs and illegal gambling.

The statement cited "corruption as the root of most poverty which can lead to diseases."

FREE MAN

The statement challenged every resident to stand as a "free man, with your city in mind."

The strongly worded call stressed that voters will be the "king" on May 10, 2010 who will write the "destiny of this city for another three years."

The former mayors said they consider Tagbilaran as their "baby" as they rallied they stressed to "stand for reforms and positive changes" that will "build a mansion of a free city which we and all our children will dwell in peace and prosperity."

ONE-ON-ONE MAYORALTY RACE

The May 10 polls will see a one-on-one mayoralty race between re-electionist Mayor Dan Lim identifying himself under presidentiable Erap Estrada and Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso under presidential bet, Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro.

The election is perceived by Lim's propagandists as a fight between "David and Goliath," with Lim serving his second term as city mayor. The chief executive enjoys the advantages of being an incumbent mayor whose supposed popularity came with his pro-people project copied from Makati City Mayor Jojo Binay who is now running for vice president.

Binay's free birthday cakes to the senior citizens as well as medicines and school supplies for the low income citizens have banered Lim's six years in service,

However, his gross negligence on transparency in handling public funds continues to impart a negative image of Lim who is aiming for another three terms in office.

Lim is presently facing four cases before the office of the Ombudsman including three graft cases, namely, the disadvantageous contract for the completion of the City Square, P20M unliquidated cash advances, tax harassment and the recent indiscriminate cutting of electricity to two media personnel which the public perceives as a clear harassment on media.

Veloso, for his part, banners the call for "transparency and public accountability" after becoming a victim of a corrupt governance who closes discussion on public accountability.

The mayoralty bet vowed to implement a total revamp, from a governance filled with corruption to a leadership whose thrust is to have an "open book" of transactions at the city hall.

By The Bohol Chronicle

The Cebu-based Junior Graftwatch Unit of the Office of the Ombudsman recently filed graft charges against the Boholano Sangguniang Kabataan National Federation president, citing issues on transparency, overpricing registration fees, acquisition of expensive vehicle, and lavish lifestyle.

The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas received the complaint on April 23.

The Junior Graftwatch Unit (JGU) addressed its complaint against SK national president Jane Censoria Cajes to Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol, thru Director for Evaluation and Investigation Carla Narvios-Tanco.
   
CAJES

On the question on lack of transparency, the JGU seeks an update on how SK spent the P10-million that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo released as financial assistance for the 2008 SK National Congress.

Two years had passed, but Cajes allegedly failed to submit a single document to the SK National Executive Board to account for the money.

Moreover, JGU also alleged that Cajes "neglected her primary duty to render financial report" to SK National Executive Board immediately after the holding the national congress.

JGU disclosed that SK charged P8,500 as registration fee in the first national congress held on October 28-30, 2008 at Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, Cebu City.

The SK charged P9,500 registration fee for the second congress held on October 27-30, 2009 at the Subic Convention Center .

According to officer of JGU, they received complaints from their colleagues that the registration fees had been the highest imposed in the history of SK national congresses.

This contradicts the Department of Budget and Management policy that sets P1,200 as the maximum registration fees for conferences and congresses, according to JGU.

"It only means that there's an overpricing in the registration fees of more than 100 percent and for almost two years already Ms. Jane Censoria Cajes didn't even bother to provide her Board with corresponding financial statements," the JGU stated in the complaint.         

The JGU also questioned Cajes' capacity to purchase two SUV vehicles which include a Nissan Patrol and an Isuzu Altierra (both registered under her name) in just a matter of two years as a public official , "despite her meagar income as an SK president".

Investigation on the accident that his father, Rep. Roberto Cajes, met on December 30 last year while on board the Nissan Patrol in travelling along barangay Oy in the town of Loboc showed that the vehicle is named under the SK president.

JGU also noted that she is using an Isuzu Altierra in Manila.

JGU also questioned how she afforded the expensive services of Vicki Belo's Clinic "every quarter of the year" and the "high-end items of luxury".

"As a role model of the youth, she should live within her means. A number of SK chairs have been questioning her lavish lifestyle as a public servant and a lifestyle check should be done on her," the JGU pointed out.

The Office of the Ombudsman organized the JGU to serve as its "mechanism for young citizens' effective participation" in campaigning for the prevention of corruption.

JGU is established in schools and communities in Cebu province, acting as junior watchdog of the government which shares the same vision "to have an integrity, efficiency and high ethical standards of public service in the country" which can be summed up as a vision to create a clean, transparent and honest government.

SK PREXY HARASSED

While the political battle ground between Aumentado and Cajes continued to heat-up in the second district, an innocent victim is caught in the middle.

Sangguniang Kabataan Bohol and National Federation president Jane Censoria D. Cajes has been the recipient of several harassments that started when second district power contenders Bohol governor Erico Aumentado and Trinidad mayor Judith Cajes commence in the contest. After Jane Cajes answered the allegations raised by acting commissioner for the Visayas Benjie Oliva last week, a modified form of Oliva's issues that have become more obviously politically orchestrated harassment is being thrown to the young Cajes.

The complaint has cited almost the same issues raised by NYC acting-commissioner for Visayas Benjie Oliva. The only difference is the amount cited P10Million which may have been P20million if only Jane Cajes did not clarify last week on the issue raised by acting commissioner Oliva.

The document that is allegedly filed in the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas has been anonymously peddled among media men in Tagbilaran City.

THE COMPLAINT

The odd and suspicious looking two-page document that bears the receipt seal of the Visayas Ombudsman dated April 23, 2010, contained complaint against the young Cajes accordingly filed by "Junior Graftwatch Unit-Cebu."

The document bear no signatures and without Notarial seal which is unbecoming of a legal and verified complaint.

SKNF consultant Manuel Ferdinand de Erio said that the office is yet to confirm with the Office of the Ombudsman regarding the veracity of the document being circulated by an anonymous individual since the alleged complaint letter is technically faulty.

The letter did not have any attachments or annexes to establish its proof on the allegations cited therein. "The letter may be made from fertile imagination and infamous intention of its author," de Erio said.

"The construction of the sentences, the style of the presentation and the grammatical errors in the letter appeared to be familiar. However, further investigation will be made to unmask the author," de Erio added.

In the research made by the office of SK president on the identity of the complainant, it was discovered "Junior Graftwatch Unit-Cebu" has been non-existent in Cebu.

Hence, this finding only strengthened the assumption that this complaint letter is purely a tool of harassment against the SK president.

ON TRANSPARENCY

The young Cajes clarified that a Financial Statement Report was rendered and presented during the Sangguniang Kabataan National Executive Board (SK-NEB) meeting last March 26-27, 2010 at Bayview Hotel, Manila.

In the spirit of transparency, the young Cajes also admitted to be a fourth-owner of a Nissan Patrol which she paid monthly thru her salary-not a brand new unit as mistakenly reported few months ago.

"I do not own an Isuzu Alterra," Cajes said answering to the accusation embodied in the complaint.

She also told the press that there is no truth to the accusation that she spent lavishly at the Vicky Belo medical clinic, "I go there for facial, to treat pimple breakouts due to oily skin and stress from work and school. It costs P1,000+, just like other medical clinics and spas in the country."

"First and foremost, I am earning. I receive a justifiable monthly salary, which I spend for my studies and my own personal expenses." Cajes added.

"If its transparency they want, then they should know that I have received expensive gifts from my suitors and from my ex-boyfriend who is a businessman and a son of an Ilocos Sur politician. And I do not think there is anything wrong in that aspect because I am single and my suitors never had any business transaction and interest directly or indirectly with SK." She added as a matter of fact.

The registration fee

The alleged complaint letter accused Cajes for over-pricing on registration fees in the 2008 and 2009 national congresses of the SK.

"There was never an overpricing of registration fees, the fact is, we have been coordinating and have been duly endorsed by the DILG. People should know that our registration fee is the cheapest and justifiable compared to other leagues, considering the content and venue of our activities" said the young Cajes.

The documents from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) showed that the two national gatherings are duly endorsed by the DILG pursuant to the 2001 Katipunan ng Kabataan and Sangguniang Kabataan Constitution and By-laws under Article XII Meetings and Quorum, Section 7 (paragraph 1) "An SK National Congress shall be called every year for the purpose of a comprehensive Consultation of the SK issues and concerns. For this purpose the Congress shall be composed of all elected SK Officials from the Barangay to the National level."

The 2008 congress held in Waterfront Cebu was validated thru DILG Memorandum Circular NO.2008-136 issued September 5, 2008, while the 2009 congress in Subic Bay was likewise validated and endorsed thru DILG Memorandum Circular NO.2009-107 issued last August 6, 2009.

Both DILG memorandum Circulars were issued by the agency secretary Rolando Puno and both were address to provincial governors, city/municipal mayors, punong barangays, SK federation presidents at all levels, SK chairpersons and members, DILG regional directors and field officers.

"Jane Cajes being a public servant and a public figure hides no skeleton in her closet.

Her life is practically an open book, for which reason, she can easily be a target of malicious issues formulated by people who are desperately seeking for attention," de Erio said.

Amidst all these issues, Jane Cajes maintained that the public must be vigilant as to who are telling the truth and who are lying. Perhaps, when the conflagration brought about by election dies down, the public will know which issue are indeed true and valid.

Witnesses and video recording are to be used in a disqualification case soon to be filed against Lakas party vice gubernatorial candidate Board member Concepcion Lim.

Perla Adecer Cajilog, a registered nurse and chairperson of Brgy. Canmanico, Valencia Eradicate TB Task Force said: “I am willing to testify in any court to the veracity the incident wherein posters of Nacionlsuta gubernatorial candidate Julius Herrera were removed by Lim’s men.”

Aside from this, Cajilog claimed that the lighting of the rally was put off by Lim’s order. A barangay tanod identified as Fulgencio Tapitan approached and told her apologetically “Kagawad, sori kay ipapawong na ang suga guisugo ra ko ni Board.”

She said she had also proceeded to the police station to make the incident recorded.

Lim is the barangay captain of Canmanico and provincial federated president of the Liga ng mga Barangay. She was reportedly irked upon knowing that the Nacionalista Party will hold a rally at barangay Canmanico last April 19, 2010. The barangay is said to be the bailiwick of the Lim’s dynasty.

Lim, who is running for vice-governor under Lakas party, allegedly caused the removal of campaign materials of Vice-Gov. Julius Herrera, who is gunning for governor under the NP even before the rally took place.

An unidentified man believed to be Lim’s security who was in uniform went on to remove the posters just put up in the afternoon of April 19, 2010.

People attending the rally loudly howled “No” when the lights were put off allegedly upon the instruction of BM Lim.

Cajilog said that what Lim has done “was a violation under section 18 (b), Comelec Resolution, which provides that: “any party holding a political rally may put up banners/posters 3 X8 in size 5 days before and can be removed within 24 hours after the rally.”

She said that “I am reporting this incident with my free will” because the political rally is within the bounds of the law, particularly in posting campaign materials in the place where the rally is to be held.

Nobody could tell what caused the fury of Lim to detach Herrera’s posters and campaign materials when they were put up since it was the poster area, said Cajilog in her letter dated April 21, 2010 to the Office of the vice-governor. Cajilog furnished copies of her letter to the police here and Comelec both in her town and in the provincial office in Tagbilaran City. - The Bohol Standard

mdb, okay ra nang hug basta way pakapin nga kuot.

calle, your display name now is TOPAC.

calle is still your login username.

friends, please read this: http://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=27134.0

Dear Friends,

TubagBohol.com is giving you a chance to change your display name. I know some of you have been asking me about this. So, on TB's 3rd Anniversary, you can avail of this opportunity of having your display name changed. I will do it manually.

Once your display name is changed, that is permanent. You can only change it once. So, start thinking now of a memorable display name (which could also be your real name) and send me an email (webdesigner@mikeligalig.com) or you may send me a PM (private message). Or post your new display name on this thread (recommended).

Remember that your username (which you use for login purposes) would still be the same. Continue using it.

Thank you for making TubagBohol a part of your life.

God bless us all!

Texting has become the most popular form of communication among young people in the US, research indicates.

The study, by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, suggests that texting has eclipsed mobile phone calls among teenagers for the first time.

More than 30% of teens send more than 100 texts a day, it shows.

Researchers say more payment plans offering unlimited texts have helped to create the surge in the US, which used to lag other parts of the world.

'Communication hub'

The study found that two-thirds of teenagers are now more likely to text their friends than call them on the phone.

Girls on average send or receive more texts than boys - 80 messages per day compared to 30.

"Texting is now the central hub of communication in the lives of teens today, and it has really skyrocketed in the last 18 months," said Amanda Lenhart, a co-author of the report.

"The widespread availability of unlimited texting plans has transformed communication patterns of American teens."

"This is a shift in the location and style of teens' communication with friends, not necessarily a radical change or expansion of it," she added.

The study's authors said teenagers preferred texting to phone calls because it could be carried out under the noses of parents, teachers or other authority figures. -bbc

We are giving every Juan a chance to go to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou for as low as P999! The seat sale period starts now until April 23, 2010, for travel from June 1 to August 31, 2010.

Explore Hong Kong and fly from Clark for the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of P999, from Manila for P1,499, and from Cebu for P1,999. Shanghai and Guangzhou seats from Manila are also up for grabs for only P1,999.

The travel period for this seat sale allows you to visit the World Expo, which will be held in Shanghai this year, from May 1 to October 31, 2010. The last World Expo was in Aichi, Japan in 2005. Dubbed the Olympic Games of economy, science and technology, the Expo this year has the theme of “Better City, Better Life.”

Meanwhile, our Cebu-Clark flights and Davao-Cagayan flights are also available for the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of P499. Passengers with check-in luggage will just add P100 upon booking.

Microsoft has launched "Fix It" software that keeps an eye on a PC and automatically repairs common faults.

The software basically adds the automatic diagnostics system in Windows 7 to older versions of Microsoft's operating system.

The software, currently available as a trial or beta version, is intended for users of Windows XP and Vista.

The package also tries to anticipate how security updates will affect a PC before they are installed.

Bug watch

Once installed, the software gets updates about known issues with Windows or any connected devices, and regularly checks to see if a host machine has fallen victim. Once fixes become available it will tell users they are ready or attempt to apply them.

The software has onboard fixes for about 300 of the most widely encountered problems that stop Windows working as it should.

The software also maintains a list of the hardware and software on a machine so if the automatic fix does not solve a problem, it will be able to help users supply detailed information to Microsoft's support staff about what has gone wrong.

Those signing up and downloading the Fix It software can use it on several different machines.

The free software can be downloaded from Microsoft's support pages. Windows XP users wanting to use it must have Service Pack 3 for the operating system installed.

The Fix It service began in late 2008, when Microsoft began using the logo to highlight automatic fixes on its support pages that dealt with very common problems.

Anyone clicking on the logo kicked off a download that tried to fix that problem automatically.

Microsoft, like many other software firms, has built a vast database of faults and problems as technology built into Windows reports back about crashes and other bugs that machines encounter. - BBC

for antivirus protection, visit www.norton.com -

One of Australia's most infamous gangland bosses, Carl Williams, has been beaten to death in prison.

Police said Williams, 39, died of a cardiac arrest after sustaining head injuries in a fight with an inmate.

He was serving a minimum of 35 years at a high security prison in Melbourne for the murder of three gang rivals.

Commonly known as "Fat Boy", Williams was a well-known figure in Melbourne whose life of crime had been turned into a hit television series.

In a statement, Victoria police said they believe "an altercation occurred between Williams and another inmate" at Barwon Prison.

"Homicide squad detectives are at the scene and are investigating the circumstances," the statement said.

Williams' lawyer, Rob Stary, said his client had been in solitary confinement at the prison, supervised "every minute of every day" and only meeting other inmates during exercise periods.

"Whatever happened one would expect would have been supervised," Mr Stary told ABC News. -bbc

muot ra pud ka hubs. you make me smile.

By Allison Aubrey

Is bottled water better for you than tap? Or should you choose vitamin-enriched water over sparkling? Experts say, skip it all. None of these products are likely to make you any healthier. Below, we look at five major myths about the benefits of drinking water.

But first, how do you know if you're drinking enough water? Experts say there's an easy way to judge. If you're not thirsty, you're fluid intake is likely "just right."

Myth No. 1: Drink Eight Glasses Each Day

Scientists say there's no clear health benefit to chugging or even sipping water all day. So where does the standard advice of drinking eight glasses each day come from? "Nobody really knows," says Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a kidney expert at the University of Pennsylvania.

Myth No. 2: Drinking Lots of Water Helps Clear Out Toxins

The kidneys filter toxins from our bloodstreams. Then the toxins clear through the urine. The question is, does drinking extra water each day improve the function of the kidneys?

"No," says Goldfarb. "In fact, drinking large amounts of water surprisingly tends to reduce the kidney's ability to function as a filter. It's a subtle decline, but definite."

Myth No. 3: Lots of Water Equals Healthier Skin

The body is already 60 percent water. So, if you take a 200-pound man, he's 120 pounds of water.

Adding a few extra glasses of water each day has limited effect. "It's such a tiny part of what's in the body," says Goldfarb. "It's very unlikely that one's getting any benefit." His full editorial is published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

One study published in 2007 on the cosmetic benefit of drinking water suggests that 500 ml of water increases capillary blood flow in the skin. "But it's unclear whether these changes are clinically significant," says Goldfarb.

Myth No. 4: Drinking Extra Water Leads to Weight Loss

A more accurate statement may be: Drinking water is a helpful tool for dieters.

"Water is a great strategy for dieters because it has no calories," says Madeline Fernstrom of the University of Pittsburgh. "So you can keep your mouth busy without food and get the sense of satisfaction."

But water is not magical, she adds. Other zero-calorie options such as diet sodas are fine, too.

Myth No. 5: It's Easy to Get Dehydrated During a Workout

Dehydration sets in when a person has lost 2 percent of his or her body weight. So for a 200-pound man, this means losing 4 pounds of water.

Marathon runners, bikers and hikers all need to recognize the signs of dehydration. "It is also obvious that individuals in hot, dry climates have increased need for water," says Goldfarb.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that athletes drink 16 ounces of fluids a couple of hours before starting sports practice.

But for a stroll in the park, no water bottle is necessary. Goldfarb's advice: Just drink when you're thirsty.

A golden retriever named "Lady" was a good and loyal dog until the end.

Police and an investigator with the Stark County Coroner's Office believe that Lady stayed by her owner's side in a field just outside of Hartville for almost a week.

Parley Nichols, 81, was found dead there Wednesday night, about a mile from his home.

Nichols had dementia and was reported missing on April 8.

Even though family members passed out fliers and searched for Nichols, his body was only discovered after Lady barked at a passerby.

"This dog would not leave his side," said Stark County Coroner's Investigator Harry Campbell. "No question, she stayed out there on her own volition.

"(Lady) saw another human and started barking and wailing," said Campbell.

The preliminary findings of an autopsy lead the Stark County Coroner to believe that Nichols suffered a natural death due to heart and lung disease.

Campbell said the dog likely drank water from a nearby drainage ditch. But there were no signs of food near Nichols.

Campbell also said that a local newspaper dated April 7 was found with Nichols.

Family members are now caring for Lady. - wkyc.com

A 30-year-old man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of stabbing five members of his family, killing two, at a house in Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture, and setting the building on fire.

Takayuki Iwase is suspected of stabbing his father, Kazumi, 58, around 2:15 a.m. Saturday while he was sleeping in a bedroom, the police said. He was later confirmed dead.

Tomomi Kanemaru, the 1-year-old daughter of Iwase's younger brother, Fumihiko, was also confirmed dead.

Iwase, who is unemployed, was taken into custody at a funeral hall near the house after admitting that he stabbed the five with a kitchen knife and set fire to the house, the police said.

Iwase reportedly told police under questioning that he was angry that his account with an Internet service provider had been canceled by his father. - source: Japan Times

We need details about this news. The DOT has declared the century-old church in Calape, Bohol as heritage church.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

People who are enthusiastic and content are less likely to develop heart disease than less happy people, researchers from Columbia University report.

In this prospective study of the relationship between happiness and heart disease, researchers concluded that if everyone did more of the things that made them happy, they could significantly reduce their risk of heart attack and angina.

"We were excited to discover in a large population-based sample of adults that the tendency to express positive emotion predicted fewer heart attacks across a period of 10 years," said lead researcher Karina Davidson, director of Columbia's Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health.

"The study suggests that those people who are happier have heart-protective outcomes," she added.

Davidson speculated that several factors may combine to producing this effect. Happier people tend to sleep better and to practice more heart-healthy behaviors, she said.

"But they may also be physiologically different than those of us who are more unhappy," Davidson said.

In addition, these people tend to have less stress in their lives and handle the stress they do have better than less happy people, she added.

The report is published in the Feb. 18 issue of the European Heart Journal.

For the study, Davidson's team followed 1,739 men and women for 10 years. These people all participated in the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey. At the start of the study, everyone had their risk for heart disease assessed.

In addition, researchers looked for symptoms of depression, hostility, anxiety and the expression of positive emotions -- known as "positive affect." This is defined as the experience of pleasurable emotions, such as joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm and contentment, according to Davidson.

The researchers found that over the study period the happier someone was, the less likely he or she was to develop heart disease. In fact, for every point on a five-point scale that measured positive affect, the risk of heart disease dropped 22 percent.

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

NASA warned space shuttle Discovery's astronauts Sunday to expect rain delays as they wrapped up their two-week mission and got ready to come home.

Discovery and its crew of seven were scheduled to land Monday morning at NASA's Florida spaceport.

Shuttle commander Alan Poindexter said Sunday that he enjoys spending extra time in orbit and doesn't mind if Discovery can't make it back to Earth until Tuesday.

Mission Control promised to keep monitoring the weather in case the forecast improved. In the worst case, Discovery could always aim for the backup landing site in Southern California on Tuesday.

Poindexter and his crew are returning from the International Space Station after stockpiling it with supplies, science experiments and extra spare parts, including a tank full of ammonia coolant. It took three spacewalks to install the tank.

Providing Florida's weather cooperates, Discovery will crisscross much of the United States during re-entry, zooming in from the Pacific Northwest. For safety reasons, NASA typically prefers to bring a space shuttle home from the southwest, up over the South Pacific, Central America and the Gulf of Mexico.

It's a lesson NASA learned the hard way in 2003, when Columbia shattered over Texas during re-entry. All seven astronauts were killed, but remarkably, no one was hurt on the ground by the wreckage.

Since then, only one other shuttle mission has ended with a continental flyover, back in 2007.

Before Discovery's April 5 liftoff, NASA altered the flight path to maximize the astronauts' work time in orbit without wearing them down.

The rare U.S. flyover - weather permitting - was going to provide a streaking light show for those beneath the flight path. For Monday's first landing opportunity at 8:48 a.m., Discovery would zoom over British Columbia and Alberta, swing down over Montana and the Dakotas, and pass over Sioux City, Iowa, and the middle of Missouri. Then it would come down over the eastern border of Arkansas and Tennessee, then over northeastern Mississippi and Alabama, southwestern Georgia and almost directly over Jacksonville.

By PAUL ELIAS and TERRY COLLINS
Associated Press Writers

The tape recorder started rolling as two police investigators sat in their car in a hospital parking lot with Deborah Madden on Feb. 26. "You're causing a huge nightmare for the city," said one officer.

Now the 60-year-old technician and the obscure police crime lab where she worked for 29 years stand at the center of a scandal that has led to the dismissal of hundreds of criminal cases and jeopardized thousands more. Police have accused Madden of skimming cocaine evidence from the lab, but she hasn't been criminally charged in the case.

Forensics experts say Madden is not the first crime lab worker suspected of stealing drugs or other illegality, and San Francisco's lab joins several other cities in suffering a loss of credibility.

A Houston man was awarded $5 million last year after spending 17 years in prison on rape charges overturned because of a discredited criminal lab.

Detroit shut down its crime lab in 2008 after outside auditors uncovered serious errors in the way evidence was handled.

By Associated Press

Former lightweight champion Edwin Valero was detained Sunday on suspicion of killing his wife, the gravest in a string of problems that have threatened to derail his career.

Venezuelan Federal Police Chief Wilmer Flores said Valero was arrested after police found the body of his 20-year-old wife in a hotel in Valencia. Valero left the hotel room around dawn on Sunday and allegedly told security that he had killed Jennifer Viera, Flores said.

Flores told state television that police found three stab wounds on Viera's body. He said Valero was transferred a local police precinct, "where we are headed to take samples needed for the investigation of the case" and to question the boxer.

Valero's lawyer, Milda Mora, did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.

The 28-year-old fighter is a household name in Venezuela and he has a huge image of President Hugo Chavez tattooed on his chest, along with the country's yellow, blue and red flag.

His all-action style and 27-0 record - all by knockouts - earned him a reputation as a tough, explosive crowd-pleaser. Venezuelans call him "Inca," alluding to an Indian warrior, while elsewhere he has been called "Dinamita," or dynamite.

His promoter, Top Rank, had just learned about the incident Sunday and said Valero was not scheduled to fight any time soon. He had been having difficulty obtaining a visa to fight in the United States, basically ruling him out of the most lucrative opportunities.

Associated Press: An Ohio woman who became youngest person to row across the Atlantic Ocean alone says she got through the journey with four iPods, 300 chocolate bars and 100 audiobooks.

Katie Spotz spent more than two months alone at sea before completing her feat in March. The 22-year-old athlete spoke about the adventure at a welcome-home party Saturday in suburban Cleveland.

Spotz says her training included more than 100 hours meditating to help cope with the loneliness of rowing for 10 hours a day. She said the hardest part was sleeping in cramped quarters and battling sleep deprivation. She split the rowing into two-hour shifts and spent time sending e-mails and Twitter messages.

Spotz, from Mentor, set out from Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 3 and finished March 14 in Georgetown, Guyana.

By CHRIS TALBOTT
AP Entertainment Writer

With all due respect to the leading men of country, this year's Academy of Country Music Awards looks like it's going to the gals.

Carrie Underwood can make history as the first woman to win two entertainer of the year awards when the stars turn out at the MGM Grand on Sunday night in Las Vegas.

Also up for the fan-voted award is Taylor Swift, the 20-year-old sensation who brought her country music to a huge mainstream audience, making her one of pop music's biggest stars.

Men have long dominated the award. But ACM host Reba McEntire says while most of Sunday's awards are still voted on by members of the music industry, technology may give Underwood and Swift an advantage over the guys.

"Whoever's the most active on the Internet and stuff, to me that's the person who would have the advantage," said McEntire, hosting the show for the 12th time. "So we'll see how it turns out."

Also up for the award are Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band.

Underwood, who shut down juggernaut Kenny Chesney's four-year reign as ACM entertainer of the year in 2009, says she hasn't yet cleared space on her mantle for another entertainer trophy.

"Probably the chances of a repeat are pretty thin, but it's great to even have that opportunity," she said. "I know how blessed I am to have that opportunity."

By HARRY R. WEBER
AP Airlines Writer

Five major carriers on Sunday agreed not to follow the lead of a small Florida airline that plans to charge for carryon bags. Their commitment comes just in time to keep travelers from running for the exits during the peak summer flying season, but it is doubtful that it marks a change in strategy.

Airlines are going to tack on every fee they feel they can get away with because it bolsters their revenue stream while allowing them to keep base fares lower. They just don't feel like passengers will tolerate losing their sacred free carryons - at least not right now.

The promise to New York Sen. Charles Schumer from American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways and JetBlue Airways comes despite the fact that some of those same airlines are expected to report first-quarter losses next week. They were stung by higher fuel prices and the heavy February snowstorms.

Ancillary fees for air travel - including baggage fees, reservation change fees and other miscellaneous operating revenue - have been piling up.

For U.S. carriers they totaled $1.95 billion in the third quarter of 2009, roughly 36 percent higher than for the same period a year earlier. For 26 large U.S. airlines, those fees made up 6.9 percent of their total operating revenue in the third quarter of last year, according to the most recent government data available.

But major carriers risk alienating customers if they follow Spirit Airlines' lead and impose a fee on carryon bags. In August, Spirit will begin charging customers up to $45 to place a bag in an overhead bin.

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press Writer

Tens of thousands of Poles bade farewell to President Lech Kaczynski on Sunday at a state funeral filled with pomp, pride and an outpouring of patriotism that his divisive and unpopular leadership had never generated.

Mourners applauded and chanted "We thank you!" as the caskets bearing Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, were carried slowly past pale-toned Renaissance buildings for burial among kings and poets in the ancient Wawel Cathedral.

"Poles finally appreciate him," said Ryszard Stolarski, 56, one of many weeping mourners. "I never imagined that Poland would honor Kaczynski in this way."

Many world leaders, including President Barack Obama, could not be there because their travel plans were wrecked by the enormous plume of volcanic ash that blanketed Europe.

The funeral came eight days after the Polish air force Tupolev 154 crashed on approach to Smolensk, Russia. The worst tragedy to strike Poland since World War II killed the first couple and 94 other people, including top civilian and military leaders.

In some ways the tragedy, and Russia's response to it, appear to have begun the long process of finally healing wounds that have soured the two nations' relations for decades.

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press Writer

A few hundred yards from Louis Matoushek's farmhouse is a well that could soon produce not only natural gas, but a drilling boom in the wild and scenic Delaware River watershed.

Energy companies have leased thousands of acres of land in Pennsylvania's unspoiled northeastern tip, hoping to tap vast stores of gas in a sprawling rock formation - the Marcellus shale - that some experts believe could become the nation's most productive gas field.

Plenty of folks like Matoushek are eager for the gas, and the royalty checks, to start flowing - including farmers who see Marcellus money as a way to keep their struggling operations afloat.

"It's a depressed area," Matoushek said. "This is going to mean new jobs, real jobs, not government jobs."

Standing in the way is a loose coalition of sporting groups, conservationists and anti-drilling neighbors. They contend that large-scale gas exploration so close to crucial waterways will threaten drinking water, ruin a renowned wild trout fishery, wreck property values, and transform a rural area popular with tourists into an industrial zone with constant noise and truck traffic.

Both sides are furiously lobbying the Delaware River Basin Commission, the powerful federal-interstate compact agency that monitors water supplies for 15 million people, including half the population of New York City. The commission has jurisdiction because the drilling process will require withdrawing huge amounts of water from the watershed's streams and rivers and because of the potential for groundwater pollution.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is disputing the characterization of a memo he wrote in January suggesting the U.S. needed to advance a long-term plan for dealing with Iran's nuclear program.

Gates said Sunday allies and foes should have no doubt the U.S. is prepared to act "across a broad range of contingencies" in support of its interests with Iran. He said the memo identified steps to be taken in defense planning after Washington decided to increase pressure against Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Government sources told The New York Times the memo prompted a scramble to come up with new options, including military ones. But Gates says he was merely laying out an orderly and timely decision-making process. - Associated Press

By STEVENSON JACOBS
AP Business Writer

While Goldman Sachs contends with the government's civil fraud charges, an equally serious problem looms: a damaged reputation that may cost it clients.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's bombshell civil fraud charge against Goldman has tarnished the Wall Street bank's already bruised image, analysts say. It could also hurt its ability to do business in an industry based largely on trust.

Damage from the case could hit other big banks as well. The SEC charges are expected to help the Obama administration as it seeks to more tightly police lucrative investment banking activities.

Goldman has denied the SEC's allegation that it sold risky mortgage investments without telling buyers that the securities were crafted in part by a billionaire hedge fund manager who was betting on them to fail. A 31-year-old Goldman employee is also accused in the civil suit that was announced Friday.

The charges could result in fines and restitution of more than $700 million, predicted Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein. Yet, even if Goldman beats the charge, the hit to its reputation could carry a greater cost.

The company, founded in 1869, grew from a one-man outfit trading promissory notes in New York to the world's most powerful, most profitable and arguably most envied securities and investment firm. From its 43-story glass-and-steel headquarters in Lower Manhattan, Goldman oversees a financial empire that spans more than 30 countries and includes more than 30,000 employees.

By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press Writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- The Taliban are moving fighters into Kandahar, planting bombs and plotting attacks as NATO and Afghan forces prepare for a summer showdown with insurgents, according to a Taliban commander with close ties to senior insurgent leaders.

NATO and Afghan forces are stepping up operations to push Taliban fighters out of the city, which was the Islamist movement's headquarters during the years it ruled most of Afghanistan. The goal is to bolster the capability of the local government so that it can keep the Taliban from coming back.

The Taliban commander, who uses the pseudonym Mubeen, told The Associated Press that if military pressure on the insurgents becomes too great "we will just leave and come back after" the foreign forces leave.

Despite nightly raids by NATO and Afghan troops, Mubeen said his movements have not been restricted. He was interviewed last week in the center of Kandahar, seated with his legs crossed on a cushion in a room. His only concession to security was to lock the door.

He made no attempt to hide his face and said he felt comfortable because of widespread support among Kandahar's 500,000 residents, who like the Taliban are mostly Pashtuns, Afghanistan's biggest ethnic community.

"Because of the American attitude to the people, they are sympathetic to us," Mubeen said. "Every day we are getting more support. We are not strangers. We are not foreigners. We are from the people."

By ARTHUR MAX
Associated Press Writer

AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Major airlines that sent test flights into European air space found no damage Sunday from the volcanic ash that has paralyzed aviation over the continent, raising pressure on governments to ease restrictions that have thrown global travel and commerce into chaos.

Is it safe to fly yet? Airline officials and some pilots say the passengerless test flights show that it is. Meteorologists warn that the skies over Europe remain unstable from an Icelandic volcano that continues to spew ash capable of knocking out jet engines.

European Union officials said air traffic could return to half its normal level on Monday if the dense cloud begins to dissipate. Germany allowed some flights to resume.

Eighty percent of European airspace remained closed for a devastating fourth day on Sunday, with only 4,000 of the normal 20,000-flight schedule in the air, said Brian Flynn, deputy head of operations for Eurocontrol, which supports the air traffic control network across the European Union's 27 states.

"Today it has been, I would say, the worst situation so far," Flynn said.

The test flights highlighted a lack of consensus on when to reopen the skies. The microscopic but potentially menacing volcanic grit began closing airports from Ireland to Bulgaria on Thursday, stranding countless passengers and leaving cargo rotting in warehouses.

"It is clear that this is not sustainable. We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told reporters at the European capital in Brussels.

KLM Royal Dutch airlines, the national German carrier Lufthansa, Air France and several regional airlines sent up test flights, probing altitudes where the cloud of ash has wafted over Europe since the volcano turned active on Wednesday. British Airways planned an evening flight over the Atlantic from Heathrow, one of Europe's busiest hubs.

None of the pilots reported problems, and the aircraft underwent detailed inspections for damage to the engines and frame.

"Not the slightest scratch was found" on any of the 10 empty long-haul planes Lufthansa flew Saturday to Frankfurt from Munich, spokesman Wolfgang Weber said. The planes flew at low altitude, between 3,000 and 8,000 meters (9800 and 26000 feet), under so-called visual flight rules, in which pilots don't have to rely on their instruments.

@GEC348

"them" - here's the flashback:
TB Slideshow1

By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The country’s next president will face the daunting task of running an economy with near-empty government coffers while pushing for crucial and unpopular reform programs, according to some of the country’s leading economic minds.

More importantly, whoever the next president will be must ram these reform measures through Congress early in his term if he is to avoid having to contend with populist lawmakers, professors at the UP School of Economics said on Wednesday.

“The next president will inherit a system that is nearing fiscal collapse,” economist Benjamin Diokno said at an Ayala Corp.-sponsored forum, titled “Elections 2010: The Morning After (Economic Issues for the Next President).

“He will have to make some choices that are hard, and some that are harder,” he added.

Diokno, who served as budget secretary under the abbreviated Estrada presidency, said the next administration would also have to broaden the tax base and increase tax revenues to support economic growth.

He pointed out that the recent years’ underspending in infrastructureâ€"an area that could boost state coffers through economic growthâ€"meant that resources would have to come from higher taxes.

Cut taxes, raise VAT

Diokno stopped short, however, of proposing an outright tax hike, suggesting instead that the next administration implement a mix of tax-rate adjustments that would see lower corporate and personal income taxes, while raising easy-to-collect levies like the value-added tax (VAT).

“We can reduce corporate income tax from 30 to 18 percent, but has to be accompanied by rationalizing fiscal incentives,” he said.

He added that the personal income tax rate should also be brought down to an average of 18 percent.

In general, lower tax rates tend to boost consumption as people’s disposable incomes increase.

However, the next president will almost certainly have to compensate for the reduced income taxes with an increase in the unpopular VAT from 12 to 15 percent, Diokno said.

Taxes in first 100 days

He said the next president should also press Congress to reform excise taxes on cigarettes and tobacco or the so-called “sin taxes,” which met significant opposition from lobbyists during past attempts to reform them.

“The next taxes must be approved by the new Congress within the first 100 days,” Diokno said. “Postponing tax reforms would be wrong. People should see it as part of a package of reforms that will benefit everyone eventually.”

UP economics professor Felipe Medallaâ€"another Estrada administration Cabinet official, who served as socioeconomic planning secretaryâ€"laid out a menu of priority investment programs that the next administration must implement to jump start economic growth.

Invest in power

The former chief of the National Economic and Development Authority said the government should focus on bringing in investments to the power sector, regardless of the controversies that such deals often entail.

In particular, Medalla noted that a lack of state resources would almost certainly mean that the government would have to guarantee a certain level of return for any prospective power-plant builder.

“What we have to agree on is not to punish utilities when we use 20/20 hindsight on [power-demand] forecasts that were made using available assumptions at present,” Medalla said. “We need at least one [new] major power plant in Luzon.”

Toll roads, LRT lines

Medalla also said the incoming president must prioritize more build-operate-transfer deals for toll roads around the country and new light rail transit lines that will crisscross Metro Manila. The new leader should also prioritize investments in new sources of potable water.

These big-ticket projects, Medalla said, would have the benefit of creating new jobs and spurring other industries that support them.

For his part, economist Arsenio Balisacan pointed out that the next administration should focus on improving the agricultural sector where two-thirds of the country’s poorest earn their living.

Food security

Government policies, however, should move away from some antiquated concepts like achieving self-sufficiency in rice, and instead focus on the broader goal of food security.

The next president should focus state resources on improving agricultural productivity because the development that flows from this sector is crucial to sustaining economic growth, Balisacan added.

As for balancing the national budget, Diokno said this elusive goal may have to be pushed back even further than the 2013 goal being envisioned by the Arroyo administration.

“The next president may want to balance budget by the end of his term” to have enough flexibility to invest in infrastructure and spend funds on socially important programs, he said.

Yes, kuya Lindy, you were registered on (September 03, 2007, 10:21:49 AM)
Salamat sa imong pakig-uban kanato diri bisan nagkalagyo ang mga pinuy-anan apan ang tubagbohol maoy nahimong tulay alang kanatong mga Bol-anon ug Pilipinhon.

Els, kumusta ka na. I just read this thread.
Please do keep us updated of your situation. I hope this isn't so serious.

@jas4: ajaw lang pag-sir kay maulaw ko. just call me mike. that's my name. im not comfortable when people call me sir and they were not my students before.

when tb pages began to rank high in search engine results, i abandoned the plan to migrate to a new domain. as is nalang na. it does no harm anyway.

@lorenzo:
salamat Bran. and thank you for your continued support and relentless effort to keep the site clean and organized and readable. you are a precious jewel to us in tubagbohol.

Anna: Date Registered:     June 14, 2007, 10:00:29 AM
You can see this info when you go to your profile.

@jas4: the subdomain has been used since tb was launched. when the site became huge, i decided to buy the tubagbohol domain and redirect it to the original URL. tubagbohol.com is easier to type in the browser. i did not expect that the site would grow this big. so, to save money, i just used a subdomain in the beginning.

3 years na ang tubagbohol.com...

Toyota has suspended sales of its 2010 Lexus GX 460 worldwide after a US consumer magazine warning and said it would test all of its other SUV models.

The move came a day after it halted Lexus deliveries to the US and Canada in response to concerns by Consumer Reports that it could roll over.

The last time it judged a vehicle's performance unacceptable was in 2001.

Announcing roll-over tests on its other SUV models, the Japanese carmaker said it would not suspend their sales.

The other models include the Land Cruiser, Land Cruiser Prado and Rav4.

Outside the US and Canada, the 2010 Lexus GX 460 is sold only in the Middle East and Russia.

Toyota spokeswoman Mieko Iwasaki announced the suspension of all 2010 Lexus GX 460 sales in Tokyo.

Earlier, the company said it remained confident its vehicle was safe.

The carmaker has recalled over 8m cars globally due to safety fears over faulty accelerators, floor pedals that stuck in mats and braking issues.

A Dutch nurse who was jailed for life in 2003 for the murders of seven patients and the attempted murders of another three has been acquitted.

An appeals court in Arnhem ruled that there was no evidence that Lucy de Berk had committed a crime in all 10 cases.

The Supreme Court called for a review in 2008 after evidence came to light suggesting that all the deaths could in fact be explained by natural causes.

The prosecution service said a senior official had apologised to Ms De Berk.

"This judgment means that Lucy de Berk has spent six-and-a-half years in jail as an innocent person," it added. "It is important that Lucy de Berk is financially compensated as soon as possible."

The acquittal marks one of the biggest miscarriages of Dutch justice.

Bogus statistics

"I'll have to let it sink in a little while," Ms De Berk told reporters after the Arnhem Appeals Court cleared her of all charges on Wednesday.

During last month's retrial, prosecutors conceded that the evidence they had used to build their original case was flawed, and that they had not been flexible enough after they became convinced of her guilt when investigating the deaths. - BBC

Japanese carmaker Toyota has announced that it will suspend sales in the US of one of its luxury vehicles.

The move came after a US consumer organisation warned customers not to buy the Lexus GX 460 four-wheel drive because of fears it could roll over.

The last time it judged a vehicle's performance unacceptable was in 2001.

Toyota said it remained confident that the vehicle was safe, but would suspend its sale to identify and correct the safety issues identified.

The carmaker has recalled over eight million cars globally due to safety fears over faulty accelerators, floor pedals that stuck in mats and braking issues.

'Injury risk'

Consumer Reports said it had judged the Lexus GX 460 a "Don't Buy: Safety Risk" because of a problem experienced during its standard emergency-handling tests.

"When pushed to its limits on our track's handling course, the rear of the GX we bought slid out until the vehicle was almost sideways before the electronic stability control system was able to regain control," it said.

By Mike Ligalig
published by the Bohol Standard

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA â€" Sa akong pagbisita sa Angkor Wat, ang usa sa mga Seven Wonders of the World, didto sa Siem Reap, Cambodia, akong nahibaloan nga ang mga Cambodian walay bayad kung mosulod sila sa mga touristic place nila.

Una ko kini nga nahibaloan sa pagbisita nako sa S-21, ang torture prison cell nga gigamit sa panahon sa Pol Pot regime. Two U.S. dollars ang bayad sa matag foreigner nga mosulod sa maong lugar. Apan libre kini alang sa mga Cambodian.

Sa Angkor Wat, 20 U.S. dollars (900 pesos) ang entrance alang sa mga foreigner. Apan libre kini sa bisan kinsa nga Cambodian nga mosulod didto. Ug makasulod sila sa bisan unsang adlawa sa tuig. Ug lifetime kini nga libre.

Sa paghatag ug libre nga entrance sa mga Cambodian sa ilang mga tourist site, nakatabang kini ug dako sa ilang turismo. Ang among gipuy-an sa Pnom Penh madasigon nga misuroy sa iyang mga bisita sa mga talan-awon sa ilang syudad sanglit libre man siya.

Para nako, angayan kini nga sundon sa turismo sa Pilipinas. Pananglit diri sa Bohol, maayo unta ug libre ang mga Bol-anon kung sila moadto sa Chocolate Hills labina na gyud ang mga tour guide ug mga drayber.

Didto sa Cambodia, kung ang driver sa tuk-tuk (motorcycle) mohatod ug turista sa usa ka restaurant, automatic nga libre ang driver sa panihapon o paniudto o pamahaw. Wala kiniy apil sa charge sa imong gikaon. Gibuhat kini sa mga tag-iya sa restaurant isip “act of goodwill” o pang-PR alang sa mga drayber. Kung mohatod usab sila ug turista sa hotel o guesthouse, automatic ang mga drayber may pahinungod usab nga madawat.

Kung ang mga Bol-anon libre moadto sa Chocolate Hills, mas madasig ta nga modala ug bisita didto. Ug bisan asa nga tourist spot nato, kitang mga Bol-anon angayan unta libre na. Mas ganahan ta mohatod sa atong mga bisita sa Chocolate Hills o kaha sa museum sa Baclayon Church kay libre man ta.

Daghan ra ba sa ato sa Bohol ang gitawag ug “dayohan sa sariling bayan.” Ako mismo nakaadto sa Chocolate Hills pagkahuman na nako ug college sa Silliman. Kung mas daghang Bol-anon ang makasuroy sa atong mga talan-awon, mas daghan usab nga mga Bol-anon ang mopromote ug mopasigarbo sa atong lugar ngadto sa ilang mga kaila ug higala.

Pwede usab nga libre ang mga Bol-anon mosakay sa river cruise sa Loboc River bisan walay libre nga pagkaon basta lang maka-experience ang tanan sa kanindot sa lugar. Mahimo man seguro nga ang provincial government magbaton ug free boat sa Loboc River alang sa tanang Bol-anon. Mahimo usab nga adunay libre boat alang sa dolphin watching sa Pamilacan Island.

Nakita nimo ang epekto niini? Kita mismo mga Bol-anon ang mahimong marketer sa atong mga lugar ug dugang modagsa ang mga turista. Segurado ako nga daghang Bol-anon ang wala pa maka-experience sa Loboc River cruise ug dolphin watching. Daghan ganing mga Bol-anon ang wala pa makaadto sa mga makabibihag baybayon sa Anda ug Panglao.

Akong gidasig ang ni si bisan kinsa nga provincial board member nga mopasa ug ordinansa nga magpahiluna sa mga pamaagi nga malibre ang mga Bol-anon sa mga lugar sama pananglit sa Chocolate Hills ug Baclayon Museum.

Please avoid posting same stuff over and over again. It is not nice. Let's keep our forum site clean and organized.

By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon

Streamers of congratulations still hang in Barangay San Vicente here for its instant celebrity-daughter, Maria Venus Raj, who would have represented the country in the Miss Universe pageant in August after winning the most coveted Binibining Pilipinas title.

But her reign had been cut short by organizers less than a month ago.

“My fight is now more than just chasing a dream. It is about clearing my soiled reputation. It is about standing up for people who are poor and born out of wedlock. It is a fight for acceptance,” Raj said in an interview at her house made of wood, bamboo and “anahaw” leaves.

She has been living in the house without electricity for 21 years.

Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI) took back her crown when it discovered false information in her birth certificateâ€"that she was born in San Vicente, Bato, Camarines Sur, when she and her mother said she was actually born in Doha, Qatar; that her father is a Catholic Filipino when, in fact, he is an Indian; and that her parents were married when they were actually not.

Mother is OFW

During the pre-pageant’s panel and individual interviews in November last year, Raj had said she was born in Qatar, where her mother, Ester Bayonito, had worked as a domestic helper from 1986 to 1988, and was brought to the Philippines a month later.

Raj has professed her innocence, saying she had nothing to do with the information her aunt put in the document when her birth was registered three years after. She discovered the inconsistency when she applied for a college scholarship at the Francis Papica Foundation, which had not been corrected until she was dethroned.

Raj said she and her mother had no idea that she would someday be joining a national beauty pageant and that they were not able to correct the errors in her birth certificate because this would entail extra expenses.

Local contests

The youngest in a brood of five children, Raj started joining local beauty pageants when she was 17 years old, as well as oratorical contests at San Vicente High School.

“Whenever I won, I would give the prize money to my mother, who saved it up to buy seeds for the planting season,” she said. Her mother, now 59, is a tenant farmer, dressmaker and “hilot” in their village.

“My dream, more than to be a beauty queen or a model, is to just really give my family a comfortable life,” said Raj, who graduated, cum laude, with a journalism degree at Bicol University.

Raj was Miss Bicolandia in 2007 and Miss Philippines-Ecotourism in the Miss Philippines Earth pageant in 2008. With her winnings, she started buying land on installment basis for her mother.

“We moved from one place to another … about four times. It was hard not to have your own place. When there were conflicts we were always forced to leave,” Raj said in Bicol.

Ma. Lourdes Pili, Raj’s English teacher at San Vicente High School, said she used to coach Raj for oratorical contests.

“What always amazed me about Venus was her determination to succeed. Whenever she joined contests, we would borrow uniform and shoes because hers were old and faded. But she was never discouraged,” Pili said.

Resign or be dethroned

In a press conference in Naga City on Wednesday, Raj recalled how hard she cried when she was told about the decision of BPCI officials to strip her of her title.

Her predicament, she said, started a day after she was crowned on March 6 when Stella Marquez de Araneta, pageant head, supposedly expressed shock when she learned that she was born in Doha.

Raj said she was given two optionsâ€"resign or be dethroned.

She said she was coaxed to sign a letter of resignation and was advised not to talk about the reason for it to protect her and her family from “judgmental people who would belittle them because of her past.”

When she told the organizers that she could not just sign a document without the presence of a lawyer, they met again for several hours only to tell her that she would be dethroned, she said.

Raj’s replacement will be the contest’s second runner-up, Helen Nicolette Henson, as the first runner-up, Dianne Necio was only 17 years old then.

According to Miss Universe pageant rules, the winner of the title must be 18 years old.

Poor girls’ dreams

Anjo Santos, Raj’s talent manager and mentor, said he was shocked at the sudden decision of BPCI. “It killed the dreams of poor beautiful girls like her who came from poor families to pursue their ambitions to succeed.”

She was never given due process, he added.

Because of embarrassment over her dethronement less than a month after she was crowned and the fear of being the talk of the town, Raj and her mother would not go out of their house.

Raj’s name is now all over the blogosphere. Fan pages on the social networking site Facebook were created to petition her reinstatement as the “country’s rightful candidate in the Miss Universe pageant.”

Free legal support

Lawyer Francis Padua Papica, who sponsored Raj’s college education, and another counsel volunteered to defend her for free.

A netizen, who requested to be identified only as King and a student of Bicol University, said his fan page would average around 300 interactions a day and had more than a thousand members.

One of Raj’s friends, Christian Jay Millena, 21, of Daraga town in Albay, believes BPCI has not dealt with Raj’s case with tact and decency.

“Take note that the BPCI even failed to properly inform the public and even the persons concerned of the real issue why Venus was dethroned,” he said.

Even Dante Jimenez, chair of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and also a Bicolano, pledged his group’s full legal support during the press conference held at Avenue Plaza Hotel in Naga.

‘Handiwork of losers’

“I think this is the handiwork of losers who wanted to dethrone a legitimate winner,” Jimenez said.

Some 50 children from poor communities welcomed Raj with flowers to dramatize her roots and support from fellow Bicolanos. Before leaving, she told them not to give up on their dreams even though how poor they were.

“She is an inspiration to ordinary girls with beauty and brains who are just daughters of poor farmers or fisherfolk. She is a perfect inspiration to ordinary Filipinos who can tell the whole world that economic status is not a hindrance to fulfill a career using their God-given talent,” said Santos, Raj’s talent manager. With a report from Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon

Quote from: axcel on April 09, 2010, 05:16:11 PM
I don't care if magpost ko kapila... It's non of your business...gusto lang ko makahibaw ang tanan nga moopen ug thread!

I do care. It's not nice to do that. We have rules here.

I'm in Singapore right now. Naa ra sa pikas eskina ning Duxton pub from the place where I am staying.

She was too young to pass away. May our God comfort her family.
Condolences to all friends and relatives of Mrs. Itac-Clarin.

2009 Top 10 Philippine Bar Examinees Released in 2010

1] YEBRA, REINIER, 84.800, San Beda
2] TAPIC, CHARLENE MAY, 84.600, San Beda
3] LIM, JOHN PAUL , 84.500, Ateneo Law
4] LAGOS, CAROLINE, 84.400, UP Law
5] TAN, ERIC DAVID, 84.050, Ateneo Law
6] GONZALEZ, YVI RANDOLF, 83.900, Ateneo Law
7] TO, JOAN MAE, 83.650, Ateneo Law
8] BAGRO, HERMINIO III, 83.400, UP LAw
9] LUMAUIG, TIMOTHY JOSEPH, 83.200, Ateneo Law
10] BAINTO, NAELLA ROSE, 83.100, Ateneo Law
10] GO, SHIELA ABIGAIL, 83.100, Ateneo Law

By Miko L. Morelos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao hinted he might retire any time soon, dashing hopes for a mega-buck fight with the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr., who faces Shane Mosley in May.

The Filipino, who held court in the New World Hotel in Makati, said his mother Dionesia has been asking him not to fight anymore considering the dangers of the sport.

“She [Dionesia] told me that she would be on her knees just to make me stop fighting. I don’t want to see my mother like that,” he told reporters at a brief talk in the hotel lobby where he was accompanied by his family and posse.

Among the familiar faces in the welcoming crowd was Nacionalista standard-bearer Manuel Villar, whose hand Pacquiao raised after his talk. Former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis Chavit Singson and former environment secretary Lito Atienza, the come-backing mayoral hopeful in Manila, stood beside Pacquiao.

By the Bohol Chronicle

Some 120 students from a university in Calamba, Laguna were stranded at the city port after they were victimized by a "tour operator" who escorted them for a four-day Bohol educational tour.

The students from the Philippine Women's University (PWU) ended up their supposed to be learning experience with an unfortunate ordeal which they discovered only when they were billeted at JJs Seafood Village.

The 120 PWU students together with faculty members of the university's Hotel & Restaurant Management department were shocked to learn last Friday that their tour organizer was not able to pay their hotel and transportation expenses thereby preventing them to take a Weesam Express trip to Cebu.

Among the faculties were Jenel Magana, HRM coordinator; Susana Vanguardia, HCS coordinator; Fritz Callanta, dean for academic affairs; Jose Fernando Tabuzo, support services officer; Pedro Tandang, gen-ed instructor; Mernita Bandoy, OSA head and Betsaida De Ramos, school director.
         
The suspect identified as Luzminda M. Montelcaro, 46, a resident of Maryland Subdivision, San Pedro, Laguna, was arrested by the city police last Friday after the engaged establishments were not paid of their accounts.

According to Jun Caturza, owner of the place where the group was billeted, he was forced to block the departure of the group after learning that it was not only the board and lodging left unpaid but the tour and transportation bills incurred by the group.

Monteclaro who is now detained at the city police reportedly collected some P725,000 from the group at (P7,110 per student) for the Bohol educational trip.

The suspect's unsettled accounts included the one-way airfare (Cebu-Manila) via Zestair amounting to P250,000; P60,000 for Weesam Express, P60,000 for Harmony Resort, P49,500 for JJs Seafood Village, P15,000 for Dinorog Transit and almost P100,000 for Travel Village.

'RESCUE OPERATION"

The stranded students sent their representative to Gov. Erico Aumentado last Friday evening to seek assistance on how they could end the ordeal of staying for another night or two in the province.

The governor accommodated the students at the Governor's Mansion where they slept Friday evening.

While the fund mess will further be investigated by the court and the university administration, the governor requested late Friday evening the stranded students be accommodated on board "M/S San Paolo" of Negros Navigation which left direct to Manila past 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

By PIA Bohol

SKILLFULLY steering the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council to avert a drought devastated food basket in the Visayas dream, Governor Erico Aumentado succeeded in generating crucial resolutions to support a plea for cloud seeding operations for Bohol.

The resolution would formalize Bohol request to the national government through the Department of Agriculture for cloud seeding operations to regain the cracked farmlands in time for the regular planting season a few months from now. 

During an emergency meeting convened last Monday, the governor claimed that he has seen the beginnings of the undesirable effects of the El Nino as he travels all over the province.

The governor aired his alarm over the receding levels of the water of Bohol dams and the decreased ricelands planted this cropping season as telltale signs of a possible problem of food supply in the near future.

Despite attaining a 114% rice sufficiency levels with the implementation of Rice Accelerated Emergency Response (RACER) program in 2009, the governor pointed out that a low water level in the dams men fewer farmers maximizing on the irrigation which is a major factor for a better harvest.

Earlier in reports, the governor claimed he has already talked to Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla on the possibility of co-financing cloud seeding operations all over Bohol.

Aumentado said that the National Irrigation Administration through Regional Director Modesto Membreve has recommended for the cloud seeding operations in the Malinao Dam watershed to replenish the low water levels.   

But even then, Agricultural promotion Center manager Engr Eugene Cahiles reported to the council that their office has so far received positive feedbacks from farmers who simultaneously used the regular planting season.

“These farmers are now preparing for harvest and the the drought came just in time when rice was already in the later stage prior to harvest, Cahiles said.

He however admitted that if the drought continues and without the cloud seeding operations, Bohol  agriculture would be drastically affected. (PIA)

By PIA

A RESOUNDING MAJORITY of Boholanos has confirmed the declined presence of armed men here.

At least, data from the Bohol Poll of the Holy Name University Research Center showed that 96% of 400 survey respondents said “they have not seen any armed men or rebels in [our] place”.

The survey, which was conducted between February 13 to March 8, also showed that only 4% or the respondents agreed that the presence of armed men or rebels in our place is again felt by us.

The survey result also elates Vice Governor Julius Caesar Herrera who said the job of sustaining the effort to keep people off armed struggle becomes even more imperative for the next leaders of Bohol.

“The whole country has seen the Bohol model for peace; it is not by using force to subdue but digging the roots of the problem that pushes people to be discontented,” the vice governor stated.

By the way things are moving, I have every reason to believe that our reclaiming peace in Bohol has worked well, Herrera said.

But, there should be no stoppping now, he said as he signed the financial assistance to barangays in time for the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) Civic Action in Hinlayagan Ilaud, Trinidad town.

There is something good to hope for, Herrera said citing the recent survey results.

He said the survey proved that there are still a 26% of our people who see a better quality of life in the next twelve months, posting +1 net optimism as over the 25 pessimists.

There is still poverty, presses the survey results. And there is still the problem of unemployment at 11%, he pointed out.

If the next leaders would fail to deliver the promised sustainability, especially if they are blinded with personal ambition, there is so much to lose, Herrera said.

The vice govenor, who has believed that if government would be giving a decent motivation to the agriculture sector, said he could not see why the sector could not put up enough jobs for everyone.

With the government giving the way out of poverty, and itself becoming a model for transparency and accountability, “I could not see any reason why insurgency would be an option for our people”, he pointed out. (PIA-Bohol)

By PIA Bohol

The gifts did come with ribbons, but there was no need for wrappers.

Unwrapped as the gifts were, farmers were still evidently thrilled upon receiving the certificate of recognition signifying their families are now beneficiaries of a carabao as pass-on-gift to help them in their farm tasks.

The carabao, which the family would have to care while using it to till their small patches of farm is part of the many poverty alleviation schemes Bohol adopted to actively empower and engage farmers to work out of poverty.

The beneficiary, and at least nine other farmers from Trinidad town went home that day towing a carabao, one that they have dreamt of to increase agricultural productivity and household incomes.

The carabao pass-on-gift is a unique roll-over animal dispersal project of the Provincial Government,  Heifer Project International, LIFFE and the a US based confederation of Boholanos managed by the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian, explains Daisy Evasco.

At a turn-over rites in time for the Civic Action in Hinlayagan Ilaud, Trinidad town last March 17, carabao recipient families eagerly anticipated getting the gift from earlier dispersal beneficiaries who, by agreement were to pass on calves from their own gifts years back.

Provincial Veterianrain Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz revealed that according to their records, the animal dispersal project in Trinidad alone is already worth P1.75 million, way too much since the dispersal expansion area was adopted in 2004.

“One thing about this project is that farmer families are getting responsible,” Dr. Lapiz added as she reiterated that a beneficiary has to be a member of a famer group, one whose members work closely with each other to help monitor and look up to the dispersed livestock’s condition.

In Trinidad that day, ten farmer beneficiaries: Francisco Loreto, Felix Orevillo of KAMMTAN in Tagum Norte, Restituto Baay, Ursenio Cornesio and Francisco Bayonas of NIHI Hinlayagan Ilaya walked home with their new dispersal livestock.

Also towing calves already capable of plowing are Zenaida Mejorada, Eutiquia Barbarona of TIMGAS San Isidro, Diosdada Caparoso, Mario Austria of San Vicente and Josefina Otara of LAVTRIM â€"La Victoria. (PIA-Bohol)

original title changed.

reason: presumptous, conclusive, too judgmental

HBO Boxing: Manny Pacquiao's Greatest Hits (HBO)
The Best of Manny Pacquiao

HBO Boxing: Pacquiao vs. Clottey - Face-Off w/ Max Kellerman (HBO)
Pacquiao and Clottey Interviewed by HBO 24/7

Pacquiao Vs Clottey - Road To Dallas (Part 3 of 3)
Pacquiao vs Joshua Clottey Road to Dallas Texas

Pacquiao Vs Clottey - Road To Dallas (Part 2 of 3)
Clottey vs Pacquiao HBO Payper view

Pacquiao Vs Clottey - Road To Dallas (Part 1 of 3)
Pacquiao vs Clottey Road to Dallas Texas

Philippine Daily Inquirer

The families of mall magnate Henry Sy ranked 201st and tobacco king Lucio Tan 582nd on a list of the world’s billionaires, which was topped by a frugal Mexican who prefers to use paper notebooks rather than the computers he sells.

Mexico’s telco tycoon Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, jumped past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the first person from a developing nation to top the list, according to Forbes magazine. The list has long been dominated by Americans and Europeans.

The 70-year-old Slim amassed a $53.5 billion fortune.

The 2010 Forbes list has 1,011 billionaires.

$4.2B for Sys

With their net worth swelling to $4.2 billion, the Sys were 201st on the list, up from 234th last year, when their net worth was at $2.7 billion.

The Sys are at the helm of the Philippines’ largest mall chain SM, which has 36 malls nationwide, and Banco de Oro Unibank. SM Investment, the family’s listed holding company, has expanded into gaming and is set to open a “Las Vegas-style casino complex” near Manila Bay this year.

Tan and his family slipped to 582nd this year, from 522nd last year, even as their net worth increased to $1.7 billion, from $1.4 billion in 2009.

Tan owns the Philippines’ largest cigarette maker Fortune Tobacco, Asia Brewery and Philippine Airlines, as well as mines and banks. He also owns real estate in Hong Kong.

The Sys and the Tans were also the only Filipinos to make it to the 2009 and 2008 Forbes lists of the world’s billionaires. In 2007, the family of Jaime Zobel de Ayala was ranked 349th with a net worth of $2.6 billion.

By PIA Bohol

Now clearly feeling the impact of the dry spell in Bohol’s farm areas, Governor Erico Aumentado insists that upgrding the Malinao Dam in Pilar town by doubling its water holding capacity would keep Bohol food production safe from droughts.

At the weekly Govenor’s Reports at the Mansion, the governor said upping Malinao Dam’s water holding capacity to 10 million cubic meters could add another 2,700 hectares of irrigated farmlands in Bohol’s five towns.

He said the  Korean government has initially granted a $1M fund for the feasibility study and engineering design for the P800 million upgrading project.

The project woulkd entail raising the level of the dam capacity by a few feet, thereby enlarging its coverage areas.

The upgrade would effectively reach farmlands in Pilar, Dagohoy, San Miguel, Trinidad and Bien Unido, the last term governor told his listeners and the media.

At present, the Malinao dam has a maximum coverage of 4,720 hectares and another 2,700 could be expected after the upgrade project is completed.

The upgrade could also boost Malinao Dams calima s the biggest dam in Bohol, with a total irration coverage capacity of 7,400 to 7,500 hectares.

Bohol has already proposed the P800 million upgrade for funding by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KoICA) of the Korean Government.

Other than Malinao, Bohol also has Capayas Dam in Ubay which can irrigate an estimated 4,100 hectares and Bayongan Dam in San Miguel town, which can irrigate 5,300 hectares.

All in all, the three Bohol dams can have a maximum irrigated lands capacity of 14,100 hectartes, however, due to some factors, only about 10,900 hectares has been served, NIA reports said.

Now suffering from receding water levels due to the dry season, NIA has recommended immediate cloud seeding operations, a move which also earned the governor’s support.

Over the development, Aumenatdo has accordingly told Membreve that e would immdiately convene the disaster council to make the necessary assessment. (PIA)

By PIA Bohol

The coalition between Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) invoked upon by the Lakas Bohol Provincial Directorate exists only in 1995, revealed former Lakas Provincial Chairman Erico Aumentado.

Reacting to the insinuations that he knew all along that ex-Governor Rene Relampagos was Lakas choice candidate for Bohol’s first Congressional District over Catigbian Mayor Salinas, Aumentado vehemently denied he had the information ahead.

Showing his evidence, Aumentado, who sat as the Regional Lakas Chairman showed a letter from the Lakas National directorate dated November 24.

It said “with a solid determination to hand in the win for the administration”, Lakas told the governor of its “opening its doors to flexible avenues including the coalition agreement”.

The letter also bared that signatories: Congressmen Edgar Chatto, Roberto Cajes, Adam Relson Jala, former Congressman Eladio Jala and Secretary Arthur Yap, collectively supports the coalition with ex-Governor Rene Relampagos as coalition candidate for Congress in Bohol’s First District.

Himself the former party chairman, Aumentado said he initially run a survey before he relinquished the seat to Chatto for possible Lakas candidates, one he would likely push for adoption by the national directorate.

He also admitted to the media during his weekly media forum at the Mansion that the survey produced Salinas, Aumentado and Yap as leading candidates.

Short of admitting he was shocked upon learning of the possible problems the coalition might create, he said the possible injustice with the neglect of the equity of the incumbent rule.

On this, Aumentado was a bit short in calling the tale spinners, liars.

The issue has already defined a rift in the party, which has resulted in at least three pubic statements from the opposite camps.

The graduating governor also added he would have wanted Lakas Provincial Chairman to call for a meeting to mend the problem. This has yet to happen. (PIA)

By PIA Bohol

The dry season brought about by the El Niño is now visible in the receding water of Bohol’s dams, including the gigantic Malinao Dam, reports irrigation regional director Engr. Modesto Membreve recently.

Membreve, who has been closely monitoring the levels of three major dams here has said water has neared the critical levels in Malinao.

Over this, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has recommended the immediate cloud seeding operations for the dam watershed catchment to regain the water to sustainable levels in the dams to be able to assist farmers.

NIA, who has started water rationing operations to equitably serve its irrigators organizations have prioritized Malinao dam watersheds in the proposed cloud seeding operations, Malinao having the largest irrigation served area in Bohol at 4,700 hectares.

Even then, the dry spell has forced farmers to be selective in planting only about 4,000 hectares he said.

Governor Erico Aumentado, on the other hand has other things in mind.

Asked if he would put Bohol under a state of calamity with the drought being felt, Gov. Aumentado said he would first convenene the Provincial Disaster Coordinating  Council (PDCC) on Monday.

He assures that the meeting would generate a collegial decision on what to do to dampen the effects of the long dry spell here.

While supporting the NIA recommendation for cloud seeding, Aumentado added he would want entire Bohol to be included in the coverage.

Last week, news reports have said that several farmers in Catigbian and Sierra Bullones have started processing their crop insurance claims after the El Nino has ruined their farms.

At the Governor’s Reports, Gov. Aumentado said he has met with Agriculture acting secretary Bernie Fondevilla, who used to be the El Nino task force coordinator and now Secretary Arthur Yap replacement.

Fondevilla has accordingly vowed to look into the NIA recommendation and added he would consider the governor’s cloud seeding concerns. (PIA)

Amid looming power crisis and the possible power rationing in the Visayas Grid, local officials here are now jump-starting the Cantakoy Falls hydro-power development at the Wahig-Pamacsalan River into Bohol’s newest clean-energy source.

Speaking to the local media at the weekly Mansion news engagement, Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado divulged the possibility of the effect of the planned power rationing in the Visayas grid as an effect of the reduced power outputs due to critical water levels to run the country’s hydro-electric plants.

This as possible shutdown for 40 days of the country’s major hydro power plans loom, reports said.

He hinted that since the Visayas Grid shares a common power source, there is a possibility of making sure that important power requirements of major industrial and commercial centers would be prioritized. That scenario leaves some areas with decreased power, which may result to rotating brown-outs or power rationing.

The governor, who revealed his intention to meet Bohol power providers and the officials of the National Grid Corporation (formerly National Power Corporation), said he wants to be assessed of the local situation by the players themselves.

He also insists he has made it a policy to come up with consultations to come up with any decision.

The governor also revealed he has met Dennis Villareal and Sta. Clara Development Corporation, who has initially shown interest in developing hydro power in Cantakoy Falls.

At present, Bohol power requirement is largely coming from the upgraded 138 KV Leyte Bohol Power Interconnection Project.

That is also complemented by three Bohol based hydro-electric power plants, each capable of at least 2.5 KV of power, separate sources revealed.

The additional capability of another 2.5 KV in Cantakoy would also increase Bohol’s power significantly.

The governor has also earlier revealed the plan to hook Bohol into the Palinpinon Geothermal Facility in Negros, to assure the needed power province’s requirements especially with the operation of the Panglao Island International Airport and the full agro-industrialization dream of Bohol. (PIA-Bohol)

Governor Erico Aumentado vows to unhitch the snag which has kept the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project III ineligible for foreign funding.

Aumentado, who bewailed with the failure of Bohol second and third district representatives to legislate for the immediate conversion of the roads in the Anda peninsula from provincial to national property.

Representatives Roberto Cajes and Adam Relson Jala, Aumentado told the media, have failed in ironing the kinks in the legal impediment within their terms.

International funding for the project can only be used as soon as the subject proposal is converted to a national road and thus becomes eligible for national government funding.

The graduating governor and political giant in Bohol also promised he and soon-to-be third district representative Arthur Yap would make the legislation as their first official acts in the next congress.

That is, if Aumentado wins over rival and Congressman Roberto Cajes’ wife Judith in Bohol’s second District.

Former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, runs unopposed in Bohol’s third District and is a sure winner.

Earlier, provincial government officials have submitted the proposed project for foreign funding.

The project entails major road works including the standard Panglao Island Circumferential Road Improvement, Tagbilaran By-pass Road, Baclayon Diversion Road and the Anda Peninsula Road from Candijay-Anda-Mabini-and then off to Ubay.

The project would add more standard concrete national roads in Bohol and is expected to facilitate the flow of traffic in the tourism highways.

Anda, Bohol’s next in line tourism ace on the sleeve has been identified by the Provincial officials as the next biggest thing to Panglao, Aumentado revealed. (PIA-Bohol)

The Bohol Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) transfers a government vehicle without any cost to Bohol Island State University (BISU) in simple ceremonies last week. 

Provincial Director Ma. Elena Arbon said the office came up with the decision as they are confident that their SAX 764, a Toyota Corolla 1982 would be in better hands with BISU. 

She added that the office also believes the transfer goes a long way to help BISU auto-mechanic students upgrade their practical skills in the industry.

The government car, bearing plate number SAX 764 has been in good running until the government austerity measures prevented the office from costly repairs citing that it would even be more cost efficient to transfer the ownership of the vehicle.

Arbon added that the turn-over also makes BISU agree to rehabilitate and recondition the engine while the vehicle would be in their keep. 

At the simple turn over ceremonies at the FCB carpark, BISU Tagbilaran, through Professor Fernando Restificar accepted the keys and the task of rehabilitate and recondition the vehicle through their auto mechanics students.

Aside from Arbon, also present during the turn over were Mercy Matalines, DTI Administrative Officer -Designate, Marisol Balistoy, BDD DIvision Chief, Lucille Autentico - HR Designate and Concordia Erano - Property Inspector.

Prof. Restificar, BISU - Main Campus Administrator represented BISU SUC president Dr. Elpidio Magante, who earlier met PD Arbon at DTI-Bohol. (PIA)

from Cebu Pacific Air News

Sun, Sea and Sale! Enjoy our low seat sales to Malaysia and Roxas!

42% off Malaysia fares and Manila-Roxas for only P688!

We're slashing 42% off the lowest year-round fare for Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in a seat sale starting now until March 13, 2010, for travel June 1-August 31, 2010.

You can avail of the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of P1,099 for flights from Manila to Kota Kinabalu; and if you are headed to the Truly Asia Capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur get the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of P1,999.

We fly every Monday and Friday to Kota Kinabalu, and daily to Kuala Lumpur, both key cities in Malaysia. Be on your way to Kota Kinabalu, a resort city in Sabah, is the gateway to Mount Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur, on the other hand, is home to the Petronas Towers and is the capital city of Malaysia.

Grab the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of P688 on CEB’s nine times weekly Manila-Roxas flights.

By Sunday Post

At least for Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, she will have to look elsewhere in her bid to become Speaker because Bohol ’s first district is not going for her.           

Asked to answer a question on whether they will vote for Speaker GMA in case they win, both Councilor Oscar Glovasa and ex-Gov. Rene Relampagos said no.           

The two disclosed their stand during a forum hosted by the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Holy Name University gym Friday.           

Glovasa and Relampagos are the front-runners in the first district congressional race which also features Tagbilaran Councilor Edgar Kapirig. Kapirig was not present at the forum.           

Speaking to reporters after the forum, Glovasa said that Pres. Arroyo has already served in the highest position of the land.           

“She should give others a chance,” the 1969 bar topnotcher explained.           

Glovasa, who answered “no” four times during the forum, said that this is not yet even about the President’s performance in her nine years in office.           

Arroyo is the country’s longest-tenured president in the post-Marcos years.           

In spite of her length of service, Arroyo is suffering from a negative acceptability rating among Filipinos.           

According to Glovasa, the country needs new leaders who enjoy the trust and confidence of the people.           

“It is difficult to demand sacrifices from the people if they do not trust the people at the helm,” he added.           

The speaker is fourth in the order of succession behind the president, vice-president and senate president.           

Glovasa’s negative reply was expected, but Relampagos was a surprise.           

Running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition and a guest candidate of the Nacionalista Party, Glovasa is aligned with Team Dan Lim in Tagbilaran whose titular head, Mayor Dan Lim, is supporting ex-Pres. Erap Estrada.           

Relampagos, on the other hand, is a guest candidate of the Lakas-Kampi and was expected to support Pres. Arroyo.           

His adoption has been one of the issues raised by a Lakas faction which resented his choice over that of Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas.           

Reacting to Relampagos’ refusal to support GMA as speaker, Salinas said this only proves that Lakas made a mistake in adopting an outsider. 

Sunday Post

Moral governance and nothing else that propelled businessman Angelo Balili to throw his lot behind the tandem of Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas in the coming presidential polls.

In an interview, Balili was emphatic in his support of the  LP candidates saying  they do have the moral ascendancy to rule the country.
The Loboc businessman who is now going big time in Manila said he was one of the “early birds” who flocked to Nonynoy’s side as soon as he decided to run for President.

Without equivocation, Balili said, he was convinced that the country needed a leader like Aquino who was not tainted of any tinge of corruption.
To emphasize his support of the Aquino-Roxas pair, Balili said he was willing to chip in a part of his hard-earned money  to any financial assistance that the tandem will incur in their campaign.

He said during the recent visit of the two standard bearers in Bohol last Thursday, he offered to bankroll the expenses for a press conference but the millionaire-businessman was politely turned. The press can never materialized after Noynoy and Mar begged off due to the hectic schedule that saddled their Bohol whirlwind sortie. (With report from Sen Guingguing)