Maniolas

Rx for colored hair: Tresemmé’s Keratin Smooth line has a shine spray that incorporates heat/UV protection. HI, REGINA! I use conditioner, but my hair still feels brittle and dry afterwards. What’s going on?                                                       ALLIE Is your hair colored? Because coloring — especially when there is bleach involved — sucks the life out of hair. (And hair is already dead to begin with!) I just got a dye job fairly recently, too, and my hair’s texture now is a lot drier and more damaged than it was when it was still virgin black, so I’m taking extra good care of it with the right products. If your hair is colored, too, you should be using hair products specifically designed for colored hair. They’re typically made with gentler ingredients so that they don’t strip color, and most of the time, they have components that help nourish dry, damaged hair. They also don’t include ingredients (like sulfates) that fade your color. I’m currently going through Pureology’s Pure Volume shampoo and conditioner; the brand’s specifically designed to maintain colored hair. If your hair’s not colored, do you heat-style a lot? You need to be using a heat- and/or UV-protecting product if you frequently use a flat iron or curling iron. (Tresemmé’s Keratin line has a shine spray that incorporates heat/UV protection.) If you blow-dry daily, don’t blow-dry straight out of the shower. Towel-dry first, then air-dry, and only when it’s just a little damp and mostly dry should you hit it with the blow Read More …

Experience learning: In the Coordinates for Life program, third-grade children are encouraged to learn through interactive activities. Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. —John Dewey MANILA, Philippines – Some 23 million Filipino students have started a new school year, but more than the usual exams and pop quizzes, young pupils face challenges like peer pressure, bullying, and unforeseen life choices that could greatly impact their future. Global beverage giant Coca-Cola is taking the necessary steps to enhance their schooling in the hopes of a lighter and brighter tomorrow.  “As a company, we believe in developing all the communities where we are present,” said Coca-Cola FEMSA communications manager Cat Avelino. “As our corporate philosophy, we believe in the simultaneous generation of economic, social, and environmental values for everyone who comes across our business. Anything that we are able to do to improve the lives of the Filipino people, in the end, is going to be beneficial for our consumers.” While it has always been underlined in every CSR rulebook that investing in the consumer and its general sustainability constitute the greatest rewards, be it in business or societal impact, Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines’ recent P13-million endowment for its newest social responsibility program in the country turns to an often overlooked but urgent need: that of the education system. Taking a cue from its mother company, FEMSA (Fomento Economico Mexicano), the largest franchise bottler of the legendary brand all over the world, operating in nine Latin American countries, Coca-Cola Read More …

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur – The Department of Education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DepEd-Armm) signed today a supplement memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to finally settle the P1 billion unpaid remittances of teachers in the region. The DBM will pay state pension fund GSIS almost P1 billion in unpaid premiums, effectively adjusting the GSIS benefits of almost 26,000 teaching and non-teaching workers in Armm. DBM will pay GSIS about P900 million in cash, 30 days after the signing of the supplemental MOA, with the remaining P100 million to be paid over a period of one year. Armm Education Secretary Jamar Kulayan said the MoA supplements an earlier agreement signed in March 2004 to settle the unpaid premiums of 15,715 DepEd-Armm employees. With the payment, around 26,000 DepEd-ARMM employees can now expect higher loanable amounts and retirement benefits. “We have freed our teachers in service as well as those who already retired from the uncertainty of the full entitlement of their retirement benefit,” said ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman. Hataman said the teachers can now look forward to a more comfortable retirement package from the GSIS. “We have made clear to the teachers that this administration is fully dedicated to the promotion of their welfare with the expectation that this will increase their drive and determination to enlighten every Abdul and Fatima in every classroom in the region,” the region’s chief executive added. (PIA-10) Read More …

On September 6, 2013, President Noynoy Aquino signed Republic Act 10672 or the “Anti-Bullying Act of 2013,” which requires all elementary and secondary schools in the Philippines to adopt policies to prevent and address bullying in their institutions. The law defines bullying as “any severe or repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof, directed at another student, that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to his property; creating a hostile environment at school for the other students.” Under the law, bullying acts include cyber-bullying, inflicting physical harm to the child, and utterance of slanderous statements or accusations, such as the use of profanities, name-calling, and commenting negatively on the victims’ looks, clothes, and body, which causes the victim undue emotional distress.  Physical contact like punching, pushing, shoving, kicking, slapping, tickling, headlocks, and teasing are prohibited. Also included are social bullying — which refers to any deliberate, repetitive, and aggressive social behavior intended to hurt others or belittle any individual or group — and gender-based bullying, or humiliation of a person on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. But whatever the law’s definition of bullying is, today’s experts agree on this: If mean behavior is intentional and the child being targeted feels powerless to stop it, it’s a serious problem. Effects of bullying A 2008 study of Read More …

Thai soldiers walk after being deployed to guard in Bangkok’s Victory Monument, Thailand, Sunday, June 8, 2014. Markets have largely taken May’s military takeover in their stride, but there is still nervousness about a regime that has put the air force chief in charge of the economy and appointed the navy commander to oversee tourism. AP BANGKOK– The last time Thailand had a coup, the stock market crashed when the kingdom imposed draconian capital controls. This time around, investors hope the generals have learned their lesson. Markets have largely taken May’s military takeover in their stride, but there is still nervousness about a regime that has put the air force chief in charge of the economy and appointed the navy commander to oversee tourism. Experts say the last putsch, in 2006, showed that soldiers lack the expertise to run Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. “The military government struggled to manage the economy, reflecting the lack of technocratic skills in economic management and administration,” recalled Rajiv Biswas, chief Asia economist at the IHS consultancy firm. The regime was also unable to move ahead with significant reforms because of its caretaker status, he added. After the 2006 coup, markets were particularly frightened by drastic foreign capital controls introduced several months later to try to curb the rise of the baht, noted Ryan Aherin, Asia analyst at risk advisory company Maplecroft. “The measure was very unpopular with investors, he said. The Thai stock market suffered a plunge of 15 percent in just one day Read More …