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‘Miss Saigon’ alum to mark 30 years on stage with music, dance, fashion, dinner-show

General

Apr 032014

‘Miss Saigon’ alum to mark 30 years on stage with music, dance, fashion, dinner-show

Miguel Braganza II (front, right) with “Miss Saigon” cast mates NEW YORK, NY – Longtime stage artist and “Miss Saigon” alumnus Miguel Braganza II is celebrating his 30 years in dance and theater by inviting friends and the public to an evening of music, dance and fashion billed as “Salamat, Salamat, New York” on Friday, May 2, 7:30 p.m. at Sheraton La Guardia East Hotel (135-20 39th Ave., Flushing, NY). “Salamat, Salamat, New York,” (Thank You, Thank You, New York) features an international cast and fashion designer Arielle Agasang’s haute couture collection. It is produced by the nonprofit organization Filipinos in the Arts in America, Inc. (FilinArts), in cooperation with Queens Asian Fest. Braganza has conceptualized and choreographed the show and is directing it as well. Lighting design is by Alex Denevers, sound design by Edmundo Quinones and additional choreography is by Qi Min, Rowena Bontor O’Mary and Rolly Postadan. Part of the proceeds from the dinner show will go to various arts programs developed by FilinArts for Filipino American youths in the New York Tri-State area. FilinArts promotes and presents works of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans. It also trains young artists, creates performing opportunities and community development through cultural exchange programs and professional productions in music, dance, theater and fashion. Originally from the Philippines, Braganza was Walter Terry scholar in the dance performance and choreography program at Harvard University in the ‘80s. He was assistant to Tony Award-winning director John Dexter in the original Broadway production of “M. Butterfly” from Read More …

What’s inside BRP Sierra Madre?

News

Mar 312014

By Frances MangosingINQUIRER.net 6:59 pm | Monday, March 31st, 2014 Decay and rust lives inside the belly of the BRP Sierra Madre. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE MANILA, Philippines—The BRP Sierra Madre, a rusty ship aground in one of the possible flash points in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), stands alone but without fear in the high seas to maintain Filipino presence. The ship was previously used by the United States during the World War II in the waters of Vietnam. The US handed it over to Vietnam in 1970 and after a few years it was passed on to the Philippines. In 1999, it was purposely run aground in Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) to keep its Filipino presence there. Ayungin is located 105 nautical miles off Rizal, Palawan. Though it is located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the resource-rich area is also claimed by the Chinese. The Philippines’ claims are based on the United Nations on the Convention of the Law of the Sea, while China’s claims are based on their old maps made several decades ago. China claims most of the West Philippine Sea as its own. Troops in the ship go on rotation for several months. On March 9, China blocked the Philippines’ attempt to reprovision and rotate its soldiers. Because it was unsuccessful, they made an airdrop instead. Last Saturday, the next attempt after the March 9 incident, the Philippines was able to evade the Chinese blockade. Marines who were Read More …

Malaysian PM to attend signing of Bangsamoro pact

News

Mar 252014

Malaysian PM to attend signing of Bangsamoro pact

By Nestor CorralesINQUIRER.net 2:44 pm | Tuesday, March 25th, 2014 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will attend the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Malacañang on this Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday. DFA spokesperson in a text message confirmed to INQUIRER.net the Prime Minister’s attendance to the historic signing this March 27. “As of now, the Malaysian Prime Minister is coming here for the agreement,” Jose said. RELATED STORIES All set for peace deal signing Hundreds invited to signing of Bangsamoro accord Follow Us Other Stories: Tawi-Tawi fishers now banned in Tanjung Labian by Malaysia Filipino-manned ship first in search area Hundreds invited to signing of Bangsamoro accord Ship manned by Filipinos responds to sighting of possible airline debris 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. Tags: Bangsamoro law , Bangsamoro signing , Charles Jose , Malaysia , MILF , Najib Razak Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Advocate. Or write The Readers’ Advocate: c/o Philippine Daily Inquirer Chino Roces Avenue corner Yague and Mascardo Streets, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Or Read More …

Ayala unit considers IPO

General

Mar 092014

By Doris C. DumlaoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:18 am | Monday, March 10th, 2014 Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI) of the Ayala group is warming up to a potential initial public offering (IPO) to comply with the requirement of the local bourse where it listed by way of introduction four years ago. IMI also expected to exceed the strong results it chalked up in 2013, during which the company nearly doubled its net profit to $10.5 million. Business expansion in Europe and the Philippines allowed it to defy the global downturn last year. “We’re open now (to the IPO) because, compared with previous years, our story is a bit more attractive,” IMI chief finance officer Jerome Tan said in a telephone interview. IMI is even more upbeat now that the world is in a much better shape with the recovery of most Western economies, he said. “When we look at the global economy, we expect our performance this year to be better than last year,” Tan said. IMI is now waiting for its growth figures and favorable market conditions before it complies with the IPO requirement. To date, it has opted to pay fines for its delay in complying with the IPO requirement. In a memorandum dated March 6, the Philippine Stock Exchange said IMI had paid the corresponding penalties for failure to comply with the IPO requirement after it listed without selling shares to the public. IMI listed by way of introduction on Jan. 21, 2010 under the 2009 rules on Read More …

2 Coast Guard ships ready to guard Panatag Shoal on gov’t go-signal

News

Mar 032014

2 Coast Guard ships ready to guard Panatag Shoal on gov’t go-signal

AFP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — Not a single Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel has been deployed to Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) since PCG ships and their Chinese counterparts faced off in the West Philippine Sea rock formation for two weeks in mid-2012. But Commander Armand Balilo, PCG spokesperson and chief of the public affairs office, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday, that at least two Coast Guard ships—the search-and-rescue vessel BRP Corregidor (001) and the buoy tender BRP San Juan (AE-391)—were “on standby” at the PCG headquarters in Port Area, Manila and could be sent to the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) rock formation “if ordered by the higher-ups.” Balilo was referring to “Malacañang through the DOTC,” not the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, tasked by the government to oversee security in the West Philippine Sea. The 540-ton Corregidor is 56 meters long, has a cruising speed of 26 knots and a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles. Built by the Australian shipbuilding firm Tenix, the multi-role vessel was commissioned by the PCG in June 2002. In November, it was one of several PCG vessels that ferried relief goods to Eastern Visayas provinces ravaged by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan). The 730-ton San Juan, nearly 57 meters long, was built by Niigata Engineering, a Japanese shipbuilding company. It runs at a slow 12 knots but has a cruising range of over 2,000 nautical miles. The ship was commissioned in February 1998 by the Read More …

Chinese caught with shabu-making instruments charged in court

News

Mar 032014

Chinese caught with shabu-making instruments charged in court

By Julie M. AurelioPhilippine Daily Inquirer 8:49 pm | Monday, March 3rd, 2014 MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese national arrested over the weekend has been charged before the Quezon City courts for allegedly smuggling instruments used in manufacturing illegal drugs. A case of possessing equipment, apparatus and other paraphernalia has been filed against Zhang Youhou, 46 of Jianxi, China, after he was caught with boxes of glassware with illegal drug residue. Chief Superintendent Richard Albano, the Quezon City Police District director, said they have been checking with the Chinese Embassy and the Bureau of Immigration the suspect’s real name, his background, immigration status, and his criminal record. Zhang was arrested at 3 p.m. Friday after a security guard at the Araneta Center Bus Terminal inspected his packages, which yielded the glass equipment. Senior Inspector Roberto Razon, head of the District Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Task Group, said the foreigner was subjected to inquest proceedings for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. Inquest prosecutor Rogelio Antero recommended a P40,000 bail for the suspect. Razon said two 25-ml volumetric pipettes were found to have traces of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu. Zhang’s contraband included beakers, petri dish, glass flasks, test tubes, exhaust fan, and electric stove stashed inside a styrofoam box initially declared to be mining equipment. The Chinese national was supposed to board a bus bound for Masbate when security guard Alxander Bayle accosted him for the equipment. Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Read More …

The Fab Four Live!

News

Feb 162014

NEW YORK— The first sign was hair. Not the Broadway musical, with its trademark nudity on stage, psychedelic light show, and celebration of the Age of Aquarius, but one’s own hair. You might say our rebellion had its roots, forgive the pun, in the simple act of allowing one’s locks to grow to lengths frowned upon at school and polite society. Nothing of course compared to our more radical confreres at the University of the Philippines, for whom demonstrations were part and parcel of student life. In contrast, in the staid precincts of Ateneo’s Loyola Heights campus, we had a Prefect of Discipline patrolling the halls on the lookout for infractions of the dress code: neckties and regulation haircuts. The fact that he was a balding ex-Marine added a frisson of irony to his search-and-destroy missions. The administration was afraid that even a slight loosening of the code would lead to us students letting our hair down, literally and figuratively, so best not to have too much of it. As editor of Heights, the literary magazine, I remember wanting to publish an editorial railing against this curtailment of our right, but the moderator (a professor who had oversight) nixed it, saying the university was acting in loco parentis. To us, it was simply loco. The agents provocateur were the English lads, the Fab Four: John, George, Paul and Ringo. My introduction to the Beatles was when my oldest brother, Henry, who had been living in New York, returned for a Read More …

First Filipino-Canadian senator recounts rise through the ranks

News

Jan 272014

First Filipino-Canadian senator recounts rise through the ranks

Loading the player… Senator Tobias Enverga Jr. MANILA, Philippines – Canada’s first senator of Filipino descent was once a struggling overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who left the Philippines seeking adventure. “I went to Canada for adventure, I took a chance,” Senator Tobias Enverga Jr. shared with INQUIRER.net in an interview January 24, while he was in the country leading a Filipino delegation of “winter escapees” from Canada. “I never realized I will be a Canadian Senator,” he told the 240-strong delegation, mostly composed of Canadians of Filipino descent, that toured Kalibo, Boracay, Roxas City, Iloilo City, and Guimaras from January 18 to 23 as part of the first “Winter Escapade” tour. Filipino roots Enverga was born to a middle-class family in Lucena City. He shared that there were two clans of Envergas in Lucena, one was mostly composed of politicians and the other was mostly educators. “I’m part of the educators,” he said. During college, he went to the Letran College in Manila where he graduated with a degree in Economics. He worked for less than a year in two banks in the country after he graduated. He met his wife there in the bank, Enverga recalled. He however said that he felt “tired” about being in the Philippines. “I got so tired about being here in the Philippines,” Enverga said. “When you are a young man you have so many things going on in your life.” It was then that he decided to go to Canada to stay with Read More …

POEA bans deployment of workers to parts of Thailand

General

Jan 272014

POEA bans deployment of workers to parts of Thailand

Anti-government protesters make their way on a street during a rally opposing an advance voting, in Bangkok, Thailand ,Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration imposed a ban Monday on the deployment of newly hired Filipino workers to three places in Thailand in light of the declaration of a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas. Thai capital Bangkok has been reeling from protests calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. “The POEA Board, in a meeting after consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs, has approved a resolution to this effect,” Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, chair of the POEA governing board, said at a news release. The members of the board who signed the resolution were Hans Leo J. Cacdac, POEA administrator and governing board vice-chair; Felix M. Oca; Estrelita S. Hizon; Alexander E. Asuncion; Milagros Isabel A. Cristobal, members. Baldoz said R.A. 10022, which amended RA 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, authorizes the POEA board, after consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs, to impose a ban on the deployment of Filipino migrant workers in pursuit of national interest or when public welfare so requires. On January 23, 2014, the DFA raised Crisis Alert Level 2 (restriction phase) in Bangkok, Nonthaburi Province; Lad Lum Kaew District (Pathumthani Province); and Bang Phli District (Samutprakan Province), in light of the declaration of a 60-day state of emergency due to the escalating civil unrest and insecurity Read More …

Peace, journalism and the Coronel sisters

News

Jan 262014

Peace, journalism and the Coronel sisters

Sheila Coronel PHOTO/COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY JOURNALISM SCHOOL Peace and journalism were in the spotlight last week with news involving two Filipino women. They’re also sisters. The first came from New York where veteran journalist Sheila Coronel was named academic dean of the Columbia Journalism School, considered the top J-School in the US. It was wonderful news that made many of us who’ve known Sheila for years proud. Then a few days later, it was her sister’s turn. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, known as Iye, is head of the Philippine government panel that’s been negotiating a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. It’s one of the toughest jobs in government. But last week, Iye’s team helped the country take an important step toward ending the war in the south. The final set of documents signed by both sides made official the comprehensive peace agreement the government and the MILF have been hammering out for months. Finally, peace may finally reign in a Muslim Mindanao, a region that many Filipinos have long associated with insurgency and violence. Of course, the Coronel sisters each face big challenges, perhaps the toughest of their careers. Let’s start with Sheila, whom I worked with when she was still head of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Journalism is still reeling from a painful transition in the US that has also forced US J-Schools to seek new directions. The Web dramatically changed the US and global media, opening up new ways to tell stories and reach broader audiences. Read More …

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