Maniolas

Want some knowhow with that wine?: The wine and food-pairing exercises the WSET program offers at Wine Story Academy. MANILA, Philippines – This January, those keen on embarking or continuing a career in the hotel and restaurant industry and/or who simply consider wines a source of immense pleasure can deepen their knowledge on grape varieties, food-and-wine pairings, label terminologies, and other wine-related matters. Wine Story Academy (WSA) will offer professionals representing diverse industries and serious wine enthusiasts in Manila a chance to further their careers and rekindle their passion for wine with a Wine and Sprit Education Trust (WSET) course. The WSET Level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits will take place on Jan. 22-24 at the G/F of Wine Story in Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Students will learn about the prominent wine regions of the world and taste 47 wines and spirits. The course will tackle the factors that influence wine, key grape varieties in wine-producing regions across the world, different types of wines, spirits and liqueurs, plus the WSET Level 2 Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine. Successful students will be given a certificate and the WSET Level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits lapel pin. There is no prerequisite for attending, though prior knowledge of wine basics is recommended. At present, WSA has a passing rate of 97 percent with 75 percent of all graduates achieving above-average ratings of “Pass with Distinction” and “Pass with Merit.” WSA conducts four levels of WSET Read More …

“On Heaven and Earth”Image (Division of Random House)English Translation, 2015 By Dante M. VelascoContributor BISHOP Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, has been in the world’s headlines since he was chosen Bishop of Rome and leader of Catholicism around the world. Last Friday, the Pontiff made a state visit to the President of the Philippines, and we saw first hand that it was no ordinary visit. The “radical Pope,” according to an article in the latest issue of the Reader’s Digest, was in Tacloban, Leyte, to be with the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” It is very much in character that this Pope would be with suffering people, people who have admirably shown the “triumph of the human spirit.” He was also set to meet leaders of diverse faiths in the Philippines—Protestants, Evangelicals, Muslims, Jews, et al.—and deliver a clear message that interfaith dialogue leading to unity is a possibility devoutly to be wished. Pope Francis has captured the imagination of the world and has opened possibilities of dialogue due to his openness with various faiths and religions. The English language translation of the book “On Heaven and Earth” is recently off the press, and has thus made available an interesting dialogue—or “encounter”—between the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires Bergoglio and Argentine rabbi Abraham Skorka. The first edition was published in Spanish in 2010. The conversation between the two religious leaders in Argentina in this book may be dated. And yet the more recent pronouncements of now Pope Francis have been Read More …

Only seven days after four groups filed separate cases against the fare increases in all three light rail line in the metropolis, the Supreme Court ordered the DOTC to explain what seemed to be its hurried move to increase the fare. Well and good. It is just that the fare increase now seems to be the wrong target of public dismay. It is now clear, at least based on talk in business circles, the real culprit is the “concession agreement” forged by the DOTC with a private group. In September last year, the DOTC awarded the much-delayed P65-billion LRT-1 “extension project” to a consortium called Light Rail Manila Corp. or LRMC, which is owned by the group of Manuel V. Pangilinan with 55 percent, the Ayala group with 35 percent and the foreign group Macquarie with 10 percent. Under the agreement, LRMC was supposed to use its own funding to construct the 11-kilometer “extension” of LRT-1 from Baclaran to Bacoor (Cavite), plus operate the existing line between Baclaran and Roosevelt on Edsa in Quezon—for all of 30 years. Originally, by the way, the government set the “extension project” to start by June last year, with the first phase (Baclaran to Sucat) already operating by June 2016, or toward to the end of the term of our dear leader Benigno Simeon, a.k.a. BS. For some unknown reasons, the project hit some snag and nobody in the Aquino (Part II) administration can even dare say when the trains on the additional LRT-1 Read More …

DAVAO CITY — New investment here amounted to P6.3 billion in 2014, almost half of which came from the P3-billion mill set up by Steel Asia Manufacturing, Inc. and the rest coming mainly from real estate development ventures, according to data from the Davao City Investment Promotion Center (DCIPC).

MANILA, Philippines – GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George S.K. Ty is in talks with two other conglomerates for a possible partnership in bidding for the P122.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project. GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said discussions are going on with two firms, one local and the other a foreign company, for a potential joint venture. “You can consider them conglomerates, both the onshore and the offshore one,” Bautista said. GT Capital and 23 other groups have bought bid documents for the government’s largest Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project. Bautista said GT Capital is keen on securing a partner for the Laguna Lakeshore project given its scale. He said both firms they are currently in talks with would be able to provide financial muscle and technical know-how to the group. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Nothing has been signed yet. We’re still in the process of meeting and trying to find if there’s a match,” Bautista said. The Laguna Lakeshore project is seen to mitigate flooding in the Laguna Lake coastal towns, particularly in southern Metro Manila and Laguna, improve the environmental condition of the lake, and promote economic activities through the efficient transport of goods and people. GT Capital is into banking (Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.), property (Federal Land), power generation (Global Business Power Corp.), automotive assembly and imports (Toyota Motor Philippines), life insurance (Philippine AXA Life Insurance), non-life insurance (Charter Ping An Corp.) and automotive distribution (Toyota Manila Bay Read More …