Maniolas

There was a time when our family would go on long weekend getaways a week before Labor Day weekend in order to avoid the rush in flying or driving to our “destinations of choice.” Flying an hour to nearby Sacramento, San Francisco, Phoenix or Las Vegas were popular choices but quite pricey when there’s six of us, so we would research various attractive destinations to go to, at least once a year particularly on a Labor Day weekend before the kids go back to school. One of the places we discovered was driving through the various towns of Napa Valley, which currently is in the news due to the recent 6.0 magnitude earthquake that struck at around 3:30 in the morning on Sunday, August 24th centered in the American Canyon area of Napa Valley. Though the Sunday earthquake “sent more than 100 people to the hospital and some wineries had experiened loss of some of their vintage and treasured wine barrles” according to a CNN Report, a majority of the the region’s vineyards will be opened to visitors because tourists are the key to Napa Valley’s thiriving economy with almost 3 million visitors a year generating around $1.4 billion in revenue, according to the Napa Valley Impact Study. Napa County was established in 1850 with a current population of 136,484 according to the 2011 Census. The County has nine wine-producing towns namely: Calistoga, St. Helena, Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, American Canyon, Angwin, Lake Berryessa and the City of Napa. In the fifteen years that we’ve trekked to the Napa Valley, we always find new wineries to see due Read More …

President Benigno S. Aquino III seen here being greeted by Rev. Fr. Othello Bartolome, Our Lady of Piat parish priest, during his visit to the Our Lady of Piat Basilica Menore in Piat, Cagayan last August 18 says he has colds when asked to comment if he will take the Ice Bucket Challenge. (MNS Photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Pass. That was President Benigno Aquino III’s response when asked about the ice bucket challenge that has been trending on the Internet. “Huwag na muna nating pag-usapan dahil una kong ivo-volunteer (icha-challenge) si (Media Relations Undersecretary) Rey Marfil,” Aquino said in jest during an interview with Bombo Radyo on Thursday. The President added that he was also feeling a bit under the weather. “Lalo ngayon may sipon ako medyo… (Especially now I have a cold),” he said. His answer was no different from Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda’s response on Wednesday to a radio reporter. “May lagnat ako ngayon at may ubo (I have fever and cough),” he said laughing during a Palace press briefing. Lacierda, who kept coughing during the interview, said he would just donate money to the cause. The ice bucket challenge first became popular in the United States to help promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Participants are filmed while having a bucket of ice water poured on them. They would then have to nominate others to do the same challenge. Those nominated should do the challenge within 24 hours or donate to the ALS Association. According to Read More …

HIV cases up 500% in PHL: The new HIV cases has increased by 532 percent from 2008 to 2013 and for January to June this year alone, recent reports from Manila said. Out of the 19,330 reported cases from 1984 to June 2014, a total of 1,766 are AIDS cases. File photo shows applicants line up at Mall Event Center of SM Manila. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Two lawmakers have proposed to establish an employment assistance program to help jobseekers from poor communities. Reps. Christopher S. Co (Party-list, Ako Bicol) and Rodel M. Batocabe (Party-list, Ako Bicol) filed House Bill 4333, which seeks to create the Rural Employment Assistance Program for the benefit of qualified head of family or single adult member of poor households in the rural areas. Co said the proposed measure is patterned after the National Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, which was enacted by the Parliament of India. He said under the National Employment Guarantee Act of India, every household whose adult member volunteered to do unskilled manual work is guaranteed employment of not less than 100 days in every year. “Under that same law, if the adult member is not provided with employment within 15 days from receipt of his application for employment, the adult member shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance,” Co explained. For his part, Batocabe said the Rural Employment Assistance Program, however, is aimed at providing temporary employment to qualified heads of family or single adult members of poor households Read More …

Philippines sports legend Manny Pacquiao MANILA (AFP) – Philippines sports legend Manny Pacquiao said Wednesday he is to open a Chinese government-backed chain of boxing academies across China to train potential future world champions. The Chinese government will embark on the first “Manny Pacquiao Boxing Education Institute” in Beijing, with others to be built elsewhere in China later, Pacquiao announced on Manila’s ABS-CBN television in a telephone call from Shanghai. “The plan is to share with them my boxing knowledge,” said the 35-year-old World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion, who has held world titles in eight weight divisions. “With a population of 1.4 billion, they have so many boxers. So I think they would be able to produce good fighters, like world champions,” he added. “The important thing is to teach them the basics.” Pacquiao was in China this week as part of a global promotional tour ahead of his November 23 WBO welterweight title defence in Macau against unbeaten American challenger Chris Algieri. He said he had held talks with the Chinese authorities in the past two days for the “inauguration” of a company to undertake the project. “They (Chinese government) will put up the facilities, and if I have the time, I will visit them like once a month or once in three months to supervise them,” Pacquiao said. Pacquiao did not reveal the project’s timetable or costs but added he believed the partnership could help thaw frosty ties between the Philippines and China, who are engaged in a Read More …

Police Deputy Director General Ager P Ontog Jr, Deputy Chief PNP for Operation/ Commander National Task Force SAFE 2013 gives out guidance regarding the deployment of PNP personnel in the field especially in areas vulnerable to attacks of lawless elements in response to the call for Secure and Fair Election (SAFE 2013). MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Philippine National Police needs 80,000 more personnel to meet the ideal police-to-citizen ratio of 1:500 for a country whose population is now 100 million, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II said Wednesday. “1:500 is the rule of thumb …and to arrive at this, we need an additional 80,000.  We need this to improve police presence and visibility,” Roxas told the hearing for the Department of Interior and Local Government’s proposed 2015 budget at the House of Representatives. The PNP’s current strength of 153,000 personnel makes for a police-to-citizen ratio of 1:700.  It could actually be worse since 30,000 personnel are engaged in administrative work, Roxas pointed out. “We really need more people,” he said, adding that there are 900 local government units without police stations and 300 municipalities without fire stations or fire trucks. Next year, the DILG will get a budget to hire 10,000 more police personnel, the same number it was supposed to hire this year. Director General Alan Purisima and National Police Commission executive director Eduardo Escueta, for their part, said the PNP is having difficulty recruiting new personnel because of the stringent process. Applicants to the police force need to be Read More …