Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Alice Dixson can very well relate to her character in When The Love is Gone because she has “loved and lost.” Alice is Audrey, who is fighting to save her troubled marriage for the sake of her daughter’s happiness, in the Viva Films retitled remake of Nagalit ang Buwan sa Haba ng Gabi, the 1983 blockbuster melodrama directed by Danny Zialcita. Opening in theaters on Nov. 27, When The Love is Gone, which also stars Gabby Concepcion, Cristine Reyes, Andi Eigenmann and Jake Cuenca and is helmed by direk Andoy Ranay, explores the many shades of love, whether “lost, gained, betrayed or unbound.” It’s no secret that Alice’s real-life 13-year marriage (which had her living abroad and leaving showbiz for some time) came to an end this year reportedly due to “irreconcilable differences.” They were childless. Though she admitted that the separation was “such a lonely time for me back then,” she would rather not dwell on “what-went-wrong” or “what-could-have-been” but focus instead her energies on coping, healing and learning from that episode in her life. Alice told The STAR, “Anybody copes differently. With me, it was my family (that helped me cope) and my personal beliefs that things will be better. I’ve always had a positive outlook that no matter what bad things happen in our lives. Like the song of Adele, ‘Sometimes it lasts, sometimes it hurts instead.’ It’s very true.” But it doesn’t mean, she has healed completely. “Up to now, honestly, there are Read More …

AFTER breaking up with hunk actor Derek Ramsey, actress Cristine Reyes is keen to take some time off and focus her attention in her blossoming career. In a recent interview with the newest “Honesto” cast member, the 24-year-old actress revealed that she has matured over the years and learned a lot about love. Said she could now prioritize and control one thing over the other. “Before kasi love? Go! Hindi ko na iniisip kahit pangarap ko ito. Pero na realized ko nung nagtagal na baka magsisi ako pagdating ng araw,” she said. “Hindi ako ready kasi hindi ko na nga mahati yung time ko para sa lahat tapos mag commit pa ako sa isang tao. Kahit alam ko na gusto ko siya, mahirap.” “Andito na ako sa time na minsan lang ito darating sa buhay ko, itong trabaho. Ang tagal ko itong inantay kaya mas iniisip ko muna kung ano ang dapat kong priority kahit yung puso ko gusto ay ituloy,” she added. Although her past relationships ended in heartbreaks, the actress clarified that she is still friends with her former boyfriends. Cristine revealed that she almost rekindled the romance with Dennis Trillo back in January but the relationship didn’t push through. Her communication line with Rayver Cruz is also open and they text each other almost every day. When it comes to Derek, she said they are “back to normal” and “best of friends” again after ending their month-long affair. “After ng break-up, nag hang out pa kami. Actually Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – We write in connection with the news article written by Mr. Victor C. Agustin entitled “Cash-strapped Erap targets big-name tax delinquents” published in the Money-Go-Round column of The Philippine STAR yesterday, Nov. 18, 2013. The said article reads in part: “After seizing the Harrison Plaza open carpark in favor of City Hall, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has unleashed his revenue-strapped minions on other bold-faced names for alleged real estate tax delinquencies. Top on the Erap list: the Tutuban shopping center which is leased by Prime Orion Philippines Inc. for allegedly having accumulated a whopping P845 million in unpaid taxes since 2002. xxx” In the spirit of fair play and by way of clarification, please be informed that the alleged real property tax (RPT) delinquency pertains not to Prime Orion Philippines Inc. (POPI) (a listed company), but to the Philippine National Railways (PNR). PNR owns the land where Tutuban Center (which is owned by Tutuban Properties Inc. (TPI), an indirect subsidiary of POPI) is located. We understand that PNR has previously received RPT assessments from the Manila City Government, and PNR has filed a case against the latter questioning the validity of said assessments. However, a Notice of RPT Delinquency and Warrant of Levy were recently served on PNR. Neither TPI nor POPI has received any such notices. Under TPI’s Contract of Lease with PNR, TPI has the obligation to pay the RPT on improvements, which taxes have been paid faithfully by TPI; on the other hand, the Read More …

THE ground works for FTC Group of Companies’ Aeon Tower is already 25 percent complete. Construction manager Buboy D. Espinola, in an interview with Sun.Star Davao, said development works at the project site at present include board filing and the diaphragm wall. They have contracted Advance Construction Specialists to work on Phase 1 of the project. “We are on track with the project and we expect that we finish package 1 by the first quarter of 2014, probably around late January or February,” Espinola said. He said the board filing will be composed of 163 board files placed 45 meters deep in the ground while the diaphragm wall will have a thickness of .7 meters and placed 20 meters deep. “The purpose of the board file is to make the ground stable for the foundation. It will be the one to hold the soft ground so that the soil won’t cave in or set,” Espinola said. He said after the first package is completed, they will proceed to the second package, which is the excavation. This will be done sometime in the first quarter of 2014 and is expected to be done in four months. The foundation is expected to be visible by the second quarter. In addition, they have improved the drainage from the one meter (in diameter) reinforced concrete pipe (RCP) to a 2.3m x 3m rectangular RCP. He said the new design increased the drainage’s capacity by 200 percent. Espinola said the tower will be able to Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is finalizing the terms of reference (TOR) for the rebidding of the P8.2 billion road information technology infrastructure project of the Land Transportation Office (LTO). Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the agency together with LTO are finalizing the TOR and intends to publish the new terms within the year. “We are awaiting the finalization of TOR and we hope to publish that within the year,” Abaya said. Bidding for the multi-billion peso has failed twice. Abaya said the agency declared a failure of bidding last July after the financial proposals submitted by the three bidders failed to meet the agency’s requirement. All the three bidders including Digitext Asia Corp., Fritz and Macziol Asia, and Eurolink Network failed to pass the post-qualification proceedings in line with the provisions of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Act. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Last Nov. 26, the DOTC conducted the bidding for the multi-billion peso project after five out of the nine companies that purchased bid documents participated in the open and transparent procurement process. Digitext Asia submitted the lowest bid of P3.8 billion followed by Fritz and Macziol Asia with P5.3 billion, and Eurolink Network with P5.8 billion.The bids submitted by Kaisa Consulting and Ceragon Network were not opened because of lack of technical requirements. The four other companies which purchased bidding documents but did not participate in the bidding were Stradcom Smartmatic, Oberthur Technologies and Indra Read More …