Maniolas

By Ronnel W. DomingoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:44 am | Saturday, July 6th, 2013 ON AUG. 1 last year, Tailings Storage Facility No. 3 of Philex Mining Corp. in Itogon, Benguet, leaked and spilled 20 million metric tons of silt into the Balog Creek and Agno River. As of late April, Philex officials said cleanup in the creek was 98-percent complete. RICHARD BALONGLONG MANILA, Philippines—The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has allowed Philex Mining Corp. to operate the Padcal mine in Benguet beyond July 7 or when the four-month temporary resumption of operations ends following the breach of a tailings pond in August last year. In a notice issued on Friday and addressed to Philex president and chief executive Eulalio B. Austin Jr., MGB Acting Director Leo L. Jasareno said the mining company was authorized to continue remediation works on Tailings Storage Facility No. 3 (TSF3). But Jasareno said the go-ahead was only temporary in that Padcal’s continued operation was allowed while the MGB “is thoroughly reviewing the pertinent technical details” of the repair works. He added that Philex’s request for permission to continue the production and storage of fresh tailings at TSF3 would be referred to the interagency and Cabinet-level Mineral Industry Coordinating Council. Jasereno also said that Philex should continue complying with requirements on the “submission of weekly reports by the third-party monitoring team regarding the structural integrity of TSF3 and the status of the remediation measures being implemented.” Excessive rainfall spawned by a typhoon in August 2012 caused Read More …

By Amy BesaINQUIRER.net U.S. Bureau 6:39 am | Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013 If you’re one of those Filipinos who constantly ask why Filipino food has not made it anywhere in the world, perhaps you missed the boat.  People can be so blind to their theories and beliefs that they’re likely to miss all the signs that Filipino flavors have slowly crept onto the American table, starting from the moment Filipinos set foot on American soil as farm workers and slaved to put vegetables and fruits on the table of every American home in the past century. Even today, I field so many questions from documentary filmmakers, students, diners and so forth asking why Filipino food is invisible in the United States. Instead of looking at the cup half full or empty, how about looking at a plate filled with adobo?  Adobo is our signature dish and the most prominently featured dish in our cuisine. Adobo is the darling of the American media, and not by accident. It’s because enough restaurants make adobo that enough editors, food writers and diners have taken notice of this. When we first opened Purple Yam in 2009, the New York Times, New York Sunday Times Magazine and Time Out New York (along with a number of cable TV shows) featured our adobo.  Even Martha Stewart on her February 2006 show on Presidents’ Week had Chef Romy Dorotan showing her viewers his secret to making a good adobo. And the secret is coconut milk. Last year, Read More …

Philippine Daily Inquirer 9:14 pm | Friday, June 14th, 2013 The transportation department is postponing the bidding for the P60-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite extension and operation project to the end of next month from June 17 to give participating groups additional time, a regulatory filing Friday showed. The decision followed recent discussions with the private sector made during one-on-one sessions with the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). “Please be notified that the bid proposal submission date is hereby extended to July 30, 2013,” the filing, signed by Transportation Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla, showed. There are four qualified bidders for the project, which aims to extend the LRT Line 1 from the Baclaran terminal to the Niyog station in Bacoor, Cavite. This will also increase average weekday ridership from 560,000 passengers to 820,000 passengers by 2015. The bidders are Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc., the Light Rail Manila consortium (Metro Pacific Investments and Ayala Corp.), the consortium of SMC Infra Resources Inc. led by San Miguel Corp.) and the MTD Samsung consortium headed by Malaysia’s MTD Group and South Korea’s Samsung. Two other local groups, Romero-led EcoRail and Light Rail Transit Systems, also submitted documents but were disqualified for being late. Lotilla told reporters early this week that the transportation department was mulling over the postponement of the bidding, citing several unsettled “issues.” He declined to elaborate. “The bidders needed more time,” he said, noting that a project like the LRT Line 1 extension could be complicated given its “highly Read More …

MANILA, Philippines –  Just because the summer is over, it doesn’t mean one has to postpone traveling until the next long break. This month, Drew Arellano (photo) goes on a series of road trips to destinations no more than three to four hours away from Metro Manila. Tonight, he visits eight towns in Pangasinan and samples the best of what they have to offer. He starts in Rosales, his mother’s hometown and then goes on hilltop adventure in Balungao. He then tries the different types of tupig in Villasis before paying his respects at the shrine of our Lady of Manaoag. From here, he heads to Calasiao where the famous white, sticky puto is made. His sixth stop is Dagupan where the milkfish is king. Finally, he hits the beaches of Lingayen and Alaminos, famous for the World War II memorial park and Hundred Islands, respectively. The following week, June 14, Drew goes on a mouth-watering food trip in Pampanga to discover the province’s “originals” — from sisig, to halo-halo, to the very first pizzeria. Drew also tries a bit of Korean cuisine as he visits Korea Town, an area near Clark Airfield, now home to many Koreans who have set up shops, restaurants, churches and schools there. On June 21, Drew heads to Subic to try various adventures on land, on water and even in the air. An adrenaline and nature-tripping combo awaits those who take a 48-hour trip to the former US naval base. Watch Biyahe ni Drew Read More …

Los ANgeles (PHilippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) – The Philippine Embassy has joined the Filipino-American community in questioning the use of “disproportionate force” in subduing a Filipino-American woman who was fatally shot by police after reportedly creating a disturbance inside a wholesale store in Virginia. Mylene de Leon Scott, 38, was shot dead on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) by one of two police officers who responded to a reported disturbance at Costco Wholesale Store in Sterling, Virginia. In a statement released yesterday (Friday in Manila), Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia Jr. said “we share the concerns” expressed by the family of the victim and the Filipino-American community that police officers “may have responded with disproportionate force.” Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman told NBC News that at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, the store employees noticed Scott acting strangely after running out of the pizza samples she was handing out. Witnesses said she became upset and started waving a knife and scissors, threatening employees. Chapman said that when the police officers arrived to handle the disturbance, Scott approached the officers with the sharp items. One deputy tried to use a stun gun on Scott, but the stun gun “did not work,” and another deputy fatally shot her, he added. ‘Expeditious investigation’ In its statement, the Philippine Embassy offered its condolences to the family of the victim and requested authorities to conduct “a thorough, impartial and expeditious investigation of the incident.” Cuisia added that the embassy “stands ready to extend its assistance to the family of Read More …