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President Benigno S. Aquino III presides over the Cabinet Budget Presentation meeting at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room of the Malacañan Palace Monday (July 6). (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) — There are no more cases related to the alleged misuse of Priority Development Assistance Fund left on the Justice Departments’ table, Secretary Leila de Lima said Thursday. After filing the third batch of raps against nine former and current lawmakers last week, the Department of Justice cannot file PDAF-related cases anymore, “unless the Inter-Agency Anti-Graft Council (IAGC) assigns us to pursue other possible PDAF cases, particularly those outside the scope of the Commission Audit’s special audit report on PDAF from 2007 to 2009,” De Lima said. “There’s nothing on our table at the moment,” she added. De Lima made this statement during the budget briefing of the DOJ and its attached agencies before the House appropriations committee. The COA special audit report was among the primary pieces of evidence the Office of the Ombudsman used in filing plunder and graft complaints against former and current lawmakers accused of misusing their PDAF allocations. Last week, the DOJ charged Senator Gregorio Honasan and eight former and incumbent members of the House of Representatives over their alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso PDAF or pork barrel scam. They were the third batch of officials sued over the alleged anomaly. The accused officials, which include administration allies Technical Education and Skills Development Authority head Secretary Joel Villanueva, a former party-list representative; and Cagayan De Oro Read More …

Sprout Pharmaceuticals CEO Cindy Whitehead works in her office in Raleigh, N.C. AP/Allen G. Breed WASHINGTON — A small drugmaker from North Carolina may succeed next week where many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies have failed: in winning approval for the first drug to boost women’s sexual desire. The husband-and-wife team that founded Sprout Pharmaceuticals is not new to the pharmaceutical business or even to marketing drugs to people frustrated with their sex lives. The couple’s previous company, Slate Pharmaceuticals, sold an implantable testosterone pellet to men with low levels of the hormone. But Slate’s marketing push ran afoul of federal rules, making misleading, unsupported statements about the benefits of testosterone therapy while downplaying risks. In fact, when the Food and Drug Administration held a meeting examining the overprescribing of testosterone last year, it played Slate’s commercial as an example of inappropriate marketing. That record worries Sprout’s critics, who see a troubling pattern in the aggressive tactics it has used to urge the FDA to approve the women’s desire drug, which was previously rejected twice because of lackluster effectiveness and side effects such as nausea, dizziness and fainting. The search for a pill to increase women’s libido has been something of a holy grail for the pharmaceutical industry since the blockbuster success of Viagra for men in the late 1990s. Pfizer, Bayer and Procter & Gamble all studied — then abandoned — potential treatments for female sexual desire disorder. Sprout “already has a history of unethical marketing,” said Dr. Read More …

“It’s complicated…” That has to be one of the most famous expressions nowadays. Of course life is complicated and it is our responsibility to put clarity and simplicity into it. I am not naive. You and I may have been collateral damage because of other people’s wrong decisions. And many source of life’s complications today arise out of wrong values and faulty parenting. I once posted this message on my Facebook Page not knowing that it would become one of the most shared posts, eliciting hundreds of comments and earning more than 7,000 likes. The post said: “Many people live dysfunctional lives today because they either are still trying to live up to their parent’s expectations, or are still trying to prove their parents wrong. There were many disagreements, but they were low in percentage to those who agreed with the post. And so people or circumstances that were beyond our control may have complicated our lives. And in many cases, we live in complicated situations because of self-inflicted damages, and then life becomes so difficult. As we all know, there are a lot of creepy people on FB, and there was this guy who kept on attacking me even though I personally do not know him at all. Naturally, I had to tolerate him for the sake of free speech. This person though upped his ploy and began sending comments to others who commented on my posts, complicating the situation. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Read More …

Home Foodie host Drew Arellano with chefs Llena Tan-Arcenas, RJ Garcia and Rene Ruz MANILA, Philippines – Drew Arellano is everywhere, at least in the Kapuso Network shows. He and his co-hosts jumpstart viewers’ days in Unang Hirit. He urges them to go see the Philippines in Byahe ni Drew.   He smiles at EDSA motorists who crawl past his billboard at the height of rush-hour traffic. As if that’s not enough, Drew shows another side of him in San Miguel Pure Foods’ Home Foodie, that airs weekdays after Unang Hirit. Starting tomorrow, Aug. 15, it will also air within GMA News TV’s Balitanghali on Saturdays and Sundays. You’d think Drew the cooking show host is a kitchen whiz. Actually, the guy admits, he’s average in the kitchen. True, he used to cook when he was living solo, or before he married Iya Villania. But that was out of necessity, not out of passion. That’s why Drew believes men who are not exactly kitchen kings can learn a lot from his new show. They’re foodies like him.  Entertainment ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 And like Drew, this doesn’t stop them from becoming more than food consumers. They can — lack of experience notwithstanding — be creators of yummy dishes. Drew plans to show them how to do it by whipping up dishes that are “masarap, masustansiya at kayang-kaya” every single morning, on air. After he tucks away his apron somewhere in the studio,  Drew plans to rush straight Read More …

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