Maniolas

Julia Barretto (MNS Photo) Julia Barretto on Wednesday signed a multi-picture contract with Star Cinema, which includes her movie debut, “Para sa Hopeless Romantic.” Barretto said it is a dream come true for her to finally join the Star Cinema family. “I am so excited. This has been a dream of mine, to sign under Star Cinema and it’s a multi-picture contract so I’m really really excited,” she said. “My dream projects – as an artist, I have a lot – one of them, siguro I want to do a rom-com since I’m very young also pa. But of course drama also. I want to get to that point as well.” Barretto also said she is fortunate to be working with Iñigo Pascual in her very first movie. “We are almost done actually, we’ve been shooting since last month. Inigo is my partner here and we are almost done with the film… Very fun, sobrang bait ni Iñigo. Madali siyang makasama. Magaan ‘yung loob ko sa kanya. For a first timer, he’s really good.” she said. Since both their parents come from show business, Barretto said she and Pascual immediately had something in common. “We get to talk about [the pressure of having showbiz parents] because we are under the same pressure. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why we really get along. We understand each other. By that, we know how we feel, we have each other’s backs and we are able to help each other and make each Read More …

Gazmin cites enhanced military ties with US in calmer but disputed waters In this photo taken Feb. 25, 2014 by surveillance planes and released Thursday, May 15, 2014, by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, a Chinese vessel, top center, is used to expand structures and land on the Johnson Reef, called Mabini by the Philippines and Chigua by China, at the Spratly Islands at South China Sea, Philippines. The Philippines has protested China’s reclamation of land in the disputed reef in the South China Sea that can be used to build an airstrip or an offshore military base in the increasingly volatile region, the country’s top diplomat and other officials said Wednesday, May 14, 2014. The white arrow was added by the source. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Chinese vessels stopped harassing Filipino ships en route to the disputed Ayungin Shoal after the Philippines and the United States signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement in April, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told a Senate committee on Monday. Gazmin claimed that the EDCA—which provides for increased US military presence in the country and US access to Philippine military bases—was “a deterrent” against external security threats such as those presented by China. “Right now, we use EDCA as a deterrent to threats to our security. As we continue using the EDCA, we continue to fill the gap [of our Armed Forces] through our modernization program,” Gazmin said during the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on the EDCA. Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Read More …

The controversial resthouse owned by PNP chief Dir. Gen. Alan Purisima in Barangay Magpapalayok, San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija was opened to the media on Monday, October 6. Purisima is facing plunder complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman over alleged ill-gotten wealth. He has denied the charges. (MNS photo) Manila, Philippines | AFP  – Torture of suspected criminals by police in the Philippines has thrived under the administration of President Benigno Aquino, human rights monitor Amnesty International said Thursday. Dozens of beatings, rapes and electrocutions are being recorded by the country’s human rights commission every year, with many other cases going unreported, Amnesty secretary general Salil Shetty told reporters. “Torture by the police is very widespread and routine,” Shetty said. Shetty said ending torture could be a “very important legacy” for Aquino, whose six-year term will end in 2016, but he accused the president of not doing enough to reform the police force. “If you don’t acknowledge the problem, there can be no solution,” Shetty said. Quoting data from the Philippine human rights commission, Amnesty said 457 torture cases were reported from 2001 to the middle of this year. The 75 cases recorded in 2013 was the highest in a single year. But, five years after the Philippines passed landmark anti-torture legislation under previous president Gloria Arroyo, there have been no convictions, Shetty said. “The single, most important reason why there is torture in the Philippines is they (police) get away with it,” he said. He said low salaries also Read More …

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago announces during a press conference on Wednesday (July 2, 2014) that she has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. “God never asks us for an opinion. God just goes ahead and does whatever is in His hands. I just say okay,” Santiago says. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) — Just a day after her colleagues approved the proposed P2.6 trillion 2015 national budget on 3rd and final reading, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago maintained that next year’s appropriations is not pork-free and is an election budget meant to influence the outcome of the presidential elections. “It is meant to give more money to the President’s allies and departments of government which are viewed as crucial to the end result of the elections. One example is the [Department of the Interior and Local Government]. There is no more grassroot agency closer than the DILG,” she said. She questioned the huge budget of the agency headed by presumptive Liberal Party standard-bearer, Mar Roxas. The House version of the budget allots P141.1 billion to the DILG in 2015. Santiago questioned the DILG’s projects to put up water systems, a function that should be within the scope of the National Irrigation Administration. “The DILG is one of the most glaring examples of lopsided budgeting,” she said. She earlier claimed there is as much as P37 billion in pork barrel funds in the budget. Santiago expressed satisfaction at the deletion of the phrase “at any time” in the provision that allows the Read More …

RJ Ledesma explains how Chris Tiu and Ty Tang inspired his book, Blue Babble Gang Green.