Maniolas

INQUIRER.net US Bureau 11:06 am | Saturday, August 16th, 2014 Officials of the Apl.de.ap Foundation and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles receive giant check for $150,000 towards the campaign against childhood blindness. From left to right: Ted Benito, Sonia Delen, apl.de.ap, Thomas Lee, MD, and Bobby Fan, westernunion.com director of marketing in the US. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO LOS ANGELES, California – A major remittance company has joined rap icon Apl.de.ap’s fight against preventable blindness in Filipino babies. Western Union Digital donated  $150,000 to the Apl.de.ap Foundation’s Campaign for Filipino Children, a two-year effort to help in the diagnosis and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity, an eye disease that affects premature babies. This preventable eye disease affects at least 10 percent of all premature births in the Philippines and causes irreversible blindness if left untreated. The Campaign for Filipino Children estimates it can protect and treat 4,380 babies each year by providing education and support to Filipino medical professionals. The Apl.de.ap Foundation has partnered with renowned pediatric eye surgeon Thomas Lee, MD, and his team of experts in The Vision Center at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles with their groundbreaking sight-saving work. Lee has developed methods that allow him to monitor eye exams and surgeries halfway around the world. He’s already tackled retinopathy of prematurity in Armenia, China, Mexico, and Mongolia. Western Union’s donation is a huge step towards the two-year fundraising goal of $650,000.The drive kicked off last June 8 with a benefit concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. A Read More …

By Nestor Corrales |INQUIRER.net 9:11 am | Saturday, August 16th, 2014 MANILA, Philippines – Two Filipinos died in Dubai after accidentally inhaling a toxic pesticide that leaked from their neighbor’s ventilation system, an online report said. In a report by the Emirates 24/7, the two unnamed Filipinos succumbed after sniffing a banned pesticide called Aluminium Phosphide that  leaked from the apartment’s ventilation system of their neighbor. One of the victims died instantly after sniffing the toxic pesticide while the second victim – said to be a three-year-old girl – passed away while being treated in a Dubai hospital, the report said. The report also quoted the police as saying that one of the tenants of the apartment sprayed the pesticide inside his unit and headed for the airport to start his summer vacation abroad. The pesticide, however, leaked into the apartment’s ventilation system. The police have arrested the victim’ neighbor and the three men who sold him the banned pesticide. Follow Us Other Stories: One Filipino evacuee fails to board rescue plane in Malta 2 ‘immoral’ Filipino barbers jailed in Kuwait Western Union gives big to Apl.de.ap drive vs. infant blindness Filipina sexually abused in India – report Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Short URL: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/?p=109467 Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Read More …

Associated Press 8:57 am | Saturday, August 16th, 2014 This picture taken on February 14, 2013 shows tourists on Patong beach in Phuket, southern Thailand. AFP PHOTO / Nicolas ASFOURI BANGKOK – Experiencing a dramatic surge in tourism, Thailand has surpassed the United States in the number of hotels truly set on its beaches, according to a survey of more than 11,000 hotels in 109 countries released Friday. The Southeast Asian country ranked first with more than 1,250 beachfront properties, followed by the United States with 1,016 and Mexico with 943. Spain, with 736, was fourth, trailed by the Philippines, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt and Sri Lanka, said the survey by the Beachfront Club, a website that maps and details seaside hotels around the world. The Bangkok-based website defines true beachfront hotels as those directly on the beach or oceanfront with no road or traffic between the rooms and the water. Thailand also ranked first for total beachfront accommodations within a single beach destination. Its Samui Island has 270, ahead of Riviera Maya in Mexico with 250, Crete with 194 and Mallorca with 187. Despite recent political violence, tourist arrivals in Thailand have soared by 88 percent over the past five years to nearly 27 million in 2013, ranking it among the top 10 most visited countries in the world. Its shores face both the Pacific and Indian oceans with hundreds of islands in each. Follow Us Other Stories: Pullout of PH peacekeepers urged 2 missing Germans held by Abu Read More …

Exchange of views: Officials of the Department of Homeland Security led by Assistant Secretary for International Affairs Alan Bersin exchange views with leaders of the Filipino-American Community during a dialogue on the request of the Philippines to be placed under Temporary Protected Status at the Romulo Hall of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. PHILIPPINE EMBASSY PHOTO/ELMER G. CATO WASHINGTON, DC – Federal officials are seriously studying the proposal to place the Phililppines under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assured Filipino-American community leaders at a meeting on August 13 at the Philippine Embassy. In a dialogue at the Embassy’s Romulo Hall arranged by Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for International Affairs Alan Bersin told Filipino-American community leaders the DHS is still in the process of evaluating Manila’s request to place the Philippines under TPS in the wake of the massive devastation wreaked by Typhoon Haiyan last year. If granted, TPS would allow undocumented Filipinos as well as those holding a temporary visa to work and live legally for a finite period of time in the United States. An estimated 300,000 Filipino immigrants with no legal status would benefit from TPS. “This is a matter that is under consideration by Secretary Jeh Johnson. There are no specific deadlines, but this does require the kind of outreach, time and consideration that it is being given,” Assistant Secretary Bersin told the Embassy’s Radyo Tambuli after the meeting. “I know my colleagues in Read More …

Jeepney Gastropub’s Choriburger (with longganisa, banana ketchup, etc.). SCREENGRABS NEW YORK, New York — It’s been a savory run for Filipino chow in the Big Apple. Filipino eatery Jeepney Gastropub won the golden hamburger trophy at the South Street Seaport 2014 Battle of the Burger on August 7, where throngs of grazers who paid the $29 fee to eat at the festival voted for their favorites. Meanwhile on July 31, a New York Times food critic gushed over the sisig at Lumpia Shack Snackbar in the West Village. Jeepney Gastropub out-grilled the competition with its umami-loaded Chori Burger, a thick patty slathered in Maggi aioli, in banana ketchup and Maggi aioli and topped with longganisa, hence “chori” burger (for chorizo). 
 In the same competition sponsored by Time Out New York, Fil-Am Dale Talde’s entry was a runner-up. Talde’s saloon Pork Slope (a play on Park Slope, a neighborhood in Brooklyn) specializes in pork dishes. At the New York Times, food columnist Ligaya Mishan rhapsodizes over the sisig served at Neil Syham and Angie Roca’s Lumpia Shack Snackbar http://lumpiashack.wordpress.com/ , which has counter-seating only: “Ears, jowls, belly. They come brined, blanched, shattered and fried, each tip blackened and alchemized, each pocket of fat approaching liquefaction. A raw yolk idles on top. Stab it and churn,” writes Mishan. “This is sisig, the greatest pork hash — arguably greatest pork dish — on earth. Say the name with two flicks of the tongue, somewhere between a whisper and a hiss,” she adds. Read More …