BMI Online Editor

Aquino encourages all government agencies to support ‘Kabisig Expo 2014’

Feb 122014

President Benigno S. Aquino III, accompanied by outgoing Army Chief Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes, inspects the troops during the Philippine Army Change of Command Ceremony at the PA Grandstand in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City on Friday (February 7). Major General Hernando Iriberri, the 56th PA Commanding General replacing Coballes, is the commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division (ID) and a member of the Philippine Military Academy “Matikas” Class of 1983. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – President Benigno S. Aquino III encouraged all government agencies and instrumentalities to extend their support and participate in the “KABISIG Philippine Expo and Trade Fair 2014.″ The directive was issued by virtue of Memorandum Circular No. 62 signed by Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. on Janauary 29. The KABISIG People’s Movement (KABISIG) Program was created by virtue of Proclamation No. 650 (s. 1990) in order to facilitate, coordinate and monitor the implementation of government programs and projects, as well as to provide linkages between and among the private sector groups and the government agencies. In pursuit of the mandate, KABISIG is conducting the “KABISIG Philippine Government Expo and Trade Fair 2014″ which has for its theme “Matuwid na Daan, Susi sa Tagumpay at Kaunlaran.” The project aims to bring together in one venue all government agencies and instrumentalities, including Government-owned or Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) and Local Government Units (LGUs), to feature their profiles, service facilities, programs, projects, products, and accomplishments. It is also an opportunity that will allow the government to promote public Read More …

Palace: Latest PDAF scam witness to undergo usual state witness procedure

Entertainment

Feb 122014

Palace: Latest PDAF scam witness to undergo usual state witness procedure

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, Chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, questions Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala during the inquiry Thursday on the alleged P10-B Priority Development Assistance Fund scam involving the Janet Lim-Napoles group at the Senate Session Hall in Pasay City.(upper photo power point presentation by Senate. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Ruby Tuason, a potential state witness in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam, will undergo normal procedures in the case, Malacañang said Saturday. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said there are requirements Tuason must meet to become a state witness in the case. “Meron tayong batas at standard na tinitingnan (We have laws and standards to observe). Kung pumasok sila sa standard, pwede sila mag-avail of the witness protection program. This does not apply only to Ruby Tuason. For any criminal offense where a person who participated in the crime (and) whose participation is not the most guilty, the law allows them to testify and shed truth to the matter,” he said on state-run dzRB Radyo ng Bayan. He said that even in the United States, the law allows whistleblowers to “help facilitate and expedite the revelation and uncovering of (the) truth” in a judicial proceeding. But Lacierda stressed there are procedures and requirements for one to become a state witness. Tuason returned to the Philippines on Friday and offered to testify on the PDAF mess. For now, Lacierda said the Ombudsman is evaluating Tuason’s testimony. (MNS)

LTFRB issues 30-day preventive suspension on 228 Florida bus units

Entertainment

Feb 122014

LTFRB issues 30-day preventive suspension on 228 Florida bus units

A policeman searches for personal belongings of passengers after a bus fell off an elevated expressway and crashed into a van below in Taguig city, south of Manila December 16, 2013. At least 21 people were killed during the incident, according to the police. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board has issued a 30-day preventive suspension order on a bus firm whose unit figured in an accident that killed 14 people and injured 32 others in Bontoc, Mt. Province early on Feb. 7. LTFRB chairman Atty. Winston Ginez said the preventive suspension is ordered against the Florida Transport, owner of the bus that plunged into a 116-meter-deep ravine in Barangay Talubin. Fourteen people, including comedian Arvin “Tado” Jimenez, musician David Sicam, leader of the Kinaiya Band, and visual artist Gerard Baja, were killed and 32 others hurt. The order came after the LTFRB discovered that the license plate (TXT-872) was issued to a bus from Mountain Province Cable Tours, owned by a certain Norberto Cue, Sr. Ginez said on Saturday, the LTFRB will confiscate the yellow plates of all 228 Florida Transit bus units with Nueva Viscaya, Mountain Province, Cagayan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, and Bataan routes. The Florida bus crash and license-plate fraud came just two months after a horrific fall from the Skyway in Metro Manila of a Don Mariano Transit bus that also had fraudulent identification on its chassis, belonging to another vehicle. After the Skyway crash, the LTFRB vowed to Read More …

Enrile resurrects bill exempting electricity users from VAT

Entertainment

Feb 122014

Enrile resurrects bill exempting electricity users from VAT

(DOE Seal) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile has recently resurrected his pet bill exempting the sale of electricity to residential consumers with consumption not exceeding 250 kWh from the Value Added Tax (VAT). Senate Bill Nos. 2547 and 2159 respectively, pushing the same exemptions, were filed by Enrile during the 14th and 15th Congresses, respectively. During the 2010 senatorial elections, Enrile campaigned under the banner of “Gusto ko Happy Ka!, advocating lower price of electricity. In Senate Bill No. 2101, Enrile said that prior to the enactment of Expanded Value Added Tax Law, the cost of electricity in the Philippines was already one of the highest in Asia and the imposition of VAT on power further increased the cost. “The bill is limited to exempting residential users or households only because households cannot avail of output of VAT to mitigate their VAT liability unlike industries, and business and commercial establishment which could pass on the cost of electricity to the user of their service,” Enrile said. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), residential consumers or household would have to shell out additional 0.592 centavos per kWh due to the imposition of VAT. “If a household consumer an average of 250 kWh per month, household members would be able to save P148 in electricity payment if VAT is removed, a rather substantial amount especially to those who belong to the lower middle income bracket and below,” Enrile said. Lastly, Enrile said, household are also the last Read More …

PHL thanks world for typhoon aid with billboards, tweets

Entertainment

Feb 112014

PHL thanks world for typhoon aid with billboards, tweets

Electronic billboards lit up with “Thank you” signs at New York’s Times Square (shown above), Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing, London’s Piccadilly Circus and five other cities at 2040 GMT Friday, exactly three months after Super Typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines. MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Philippines took to social media and bought ad space in the world’s most prominent strips Saturday to thank the global community for its help three months after a devastating typhoon that killed 8,000 people. Electronic billboards lit up simultaneously at New York’s Times Square, Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing, and London’s Piccadilly Circus early Saturday, at the exact time Super Typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines on November 8, 2013. “The number of lives lost and affected is unprecedented. But ever since then, the world has been one with the Philippines in helping rebuild the nation,” the tourism ministry behind the ad campaign said on its website. “This February 8… exactly three months after the typhoon, we want to be one in expressing our gratitude,” the ministry said on its Twitter account, where it also posted pictures of the billboards. Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever to hit land, smashed across 171 towns and cities in the central islands with a combined land area the size of Portugal, wrecking the homes of more than four million people. The government is still collecting corpses and looking for nearly 2,000 missing people after the deaths of 6,201 victims were confirmed, many Read More …

Handog Ng Pechanga Resort & Casino ang asian media showcase para sa multi milyong dolyar na renobasyon at mga bagong restawran

Entertainment

Feb 112014

Handog Ng Pechanga Resort & Casino ang asian media showcase para sa multi milyong dolyar na renobasyon at mga bagong restawran

Mr. Dennis Khanh VP of F&B interview with Vietnamese Media TEMECULA, Calif.– Pechanga Resort & Casino, ang pinaka malaking resort/casino ng estado, ay nagbukas kamakailan lamang ng kanilang bagong hotel lobby na pumailalim sa isang multi milyong dolyar na renobasyon. Kasama rin ang renobasyon ng dalawang restawran at ang pagbubukas ng dalawang bagong kainan. Para ipakita ang walang kupas at eleganteng espasyo, ang mga opisyal ng resort ay nag-imbita ng mga miyembro ng Asian Media para sa isang araw ng kaganapan kung saan nakilala nila ang mga opisyal ng resort, nakita ang mga binagong bahagi nito, natikman ang mga tradisyonal na pagkaing Intsik, at nakahalubilo ang ambasador ng resort na sanay sa ibat-ibang salita at kultura. Makikita sa paligid ng resort mga kultural at masasayang dekorasyon na kabilang sa selebrasyon ng Lunar New Year. May mga 100 na miyembro ng Asian Media ang dumalo sa Media Tour na ito na ginanap sa unang bahagi ng Pebrero. Kasunod ng malaking renobasyon, makikita ng mga panauhin ng Pechanga Resort & Casino ang panibagong Blazing Noodles Asian restaurant. Tampok ng panibagong menu ng Blazing Noodles ang mas maraming tradisyonal na pagkaing Intsik, kasama pa rin ang mga nakagawiang paborito at mga Westernized na seleksiyon. Ang mga ulam na tulad ng Roasted Duck Noodle Soup, Oxtail with Red Wine Sauce, Poached Duck Wings, Duck Tongue, Tofu at Pork Belly ay kasama sa menu. Para sa mga panauhin na mas sanay sa Western Asian cuisine, ang menu ay binabalanse ng mga kilala at nakasanayang putahe, Read More …

Five dead in new bus crash

Entertainment

Feb 112014

Pedestrians walk beside an overturned bus lying along a busy street at Bicutan after the bus fell off an elevated expressway and crashed into a van below in Taguig city, south of Manila December 16, 2013. At least 21 people were killed during the incident, according to the police. (MNS photo) MANILA (AFP) – Five people have been killed in a bus crash in the northern Philippines, the second deadly bus accident in two days, authorities said Sunday. The bus was carrying more than 30 people when its brakes malfunctioned and it toppled into a ditch in the northern province of Abra Saturday, police said. One person died on the spot and four others in hospital, said regional military spokesman Superintendent Davy Vicente Limmong. Twenty-eight others were injured in the crash, which came a day after a tourist bus plunged into a deep ravine in a remote northern mountain pass on Friday. Fourteen people were killed in that accident, including a Canadian man and Dutch woman. The bus which crashed Friday was headed to the mountain town of Bontoc, a popular tourist jumping-off point to a rustic mountain town famed for hanging coffins embedded on the sides of a cliff. Also among the dead was a popular Filipino comedian and his artist friends who were supposed to visit a tribal area. Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said that in the wake of the accidents, a nationwide safety audit of all public transport had been ordered. “We are investigating the roadworthiness of Read More …

Enchong, Erich reunite in ‘Once A Princess’ movie

Entertainment

Feb 062014

Enchong, Erich reunite in ‘Once A Princess’ movie

Enchong Dee and Erich Gonzales (MNS photo) Enchong Dee and Erich Gonzales are set to reunite on the big screen in the upcoming romantic-drama “Once A Princess,” a movie adaptation of the best-selling Precious Hearts Romances book. Dee said he is elated to be paired with Gonzales again three years after they last teamed up in the movie “I Do.” “The last time I did a romantic film was also with Erich, yung ‘I Do.’ So ang tagal na rin kasi lahat ng pelikula ko either barkada film, family film, comedy film. Now it’s time for me to do a romantic film again so it’s exciting,” he said. Dee said he will be playing the role of the class geek who will eventually turn out to be a successful scientist. “Ako si Leonard. He’s a scientist. Matalino kasi siya so outcast siya. As he grows older, naging mayaman siya kasi scientist siya eh,” he said. Gonzales, on the other hand, will take on the role of a “princess,” who played around with Leonard’s heart when they were younger. “Once A Princess” is directed by the award-winning Laurice Guillen. “Naku dapat attentive ka. Dapat tutok ka sa ginagawa mo because ganun siya eh. She’s focused on what she’s doing,” he said of Guillen, whose previous works include the ensemble drama “Tanging Yaman” and “I Love You, Goodbye.” But Dee is confident that he and Gonzales will be able to deliver since they have grown individually as actors since “I Do.” “Buti Read More …

PHL, New Zealand to launch working holiday scheme

Entertainment

Feb 062014

PHL, New Zealand to launch working holiday scheme

President Benigno S. Aquino III welcomes the non-resident Ambassadors from Different countries during their Presentation of Credentials held at the Rizal Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Monday (June 10) in photo is Department Of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario. (MNS photo) Another significant milestone in Philippines-New Zealand bilateral relations has been reached with the launch of the Working Holiday Scheme (WHS). Effective 05 February 2014, Filipinos and New Zealanders, ages 18 to 30 years, will be able to apply for the WHS visa allowing them the opportunity to stay for one year in New Zealand and the Philippines, respectively, for leisure, holiday or temporary work. WHS participants may enroll in training or study for a maximum period of three months or work for one year with a limit of three months per employer. They will have to leave the country at the end of the temporary 12-month entry visa. A quota of 100 WHS visas per year will be issued to successful Filipino applicants and the same number to successful New Zealand applicants. The arrangement on the WHS, the first of its kind for the Philippines and one of 34 arrangements with other countries for New Zealand, was signed between Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. Del Rosario and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully and witnessed by President Benigno S. Aquino III and Prime Minister John Key in Wellington on 23 October 2012. The implementation of the WHS is expected to generate closer people-to-people understanding and goodwill Read More …

Gov’t is hiring professionals for 4,000 teaching positions

Entertainment

Feb 062014

Gov’t is hiring professionals for 4,000 teaching positions

President Benigno S. Aquino III presides over the Cabinet Meeting at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room of the Malacañan Palace on Tuesday (December 10). (MNS photo) CARMONA, Cavite (Mabuhay) – President Benigno S. Aquino III said on Monday that the Department of Education (DepEd) is presently hiring professionals for 4,000 teaching positions to address the backlogs in teachers in public schools. In his speech during the ceremonial turn-over of the 66,813 classrooms at the CarmonaNationalHigh School here, the Chief Executive said the DepEd has yet to fill up all the 103,000 new teaching positions created under his administration. “Mula 2010 hanggang 2013 naman, nagdagdag tayo ng halos 103 libong posisyon para sa mga guro. Baka pansinin po n’yo, “posisyon.” Sabi ko, “Bakit ‘posisyon?’” May kulang pa raw ho kasi na apat na libong maha-hire,” the President said. “Dati nag-e-export tayo ng teacher, ngayon naghahanap tayo ng teacher – apat na libo, mga specialized po ito, baka may kakilala kayong naghahanap ng trabaho, kulang pa ho tayo ng apat na libo,” he said. The DepEd has hastened the recruitment and hiring process to fill up the positions. The government finally achieved a zero backlog in classrooms with the construction of 66,813 classrooms, the President said. “Mulat po tayong hindi pa tapos ang ating misyon, at mayroon pa rin tayong mga pagsubok na dapat lampasan. Marami po ang winasak na paaralan ng mga nagdaang kalamidad, at bawat taon ay nadadagdagan ang mga mag-aaral,” he said. “Sa abot ng ating makakaya, titiyakin nating Read More …

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