Maniolas

AFTER Jamie Herrell’s success at the recently concluded Miss Earth 2014, another Cebuana beauty has made waves in the international beauty competition. Miss Intercontinental 2nd runner-up Kris Tiffany Janson (Source: Binibining Pilipinas Facebook account) Bb. Pilipinas Intercontinental Kris Tiffany Janson placed 2nd runner-up in the Miss Intercontinental 2014 pageant held Friday morning (Manila time) at the Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg, Germany. The 25-year-old was also hailed Miss Photogenic. Miss Thailand Phataraporn Wang bagged the title while Jeslie Mergal from Cuba was 1st runner-up. Miss Argentina Nadina Vallina, South Africa’s Donique Leonard and Portuguese beauty Joana Martins rounded out the top 6. Other winners of special awards are Miss South Africa (Best in Swimsuit), Miss Puerto Rico (Best in Evening Gown), Miss Panama (Best in National Costume), Miss Turkey (Miss Fashion and Style), and Miss Canada as Miss Congeniality. (Sunnex) DISCLAIMER: Sun.Star website welcomes friendly debate, but comments posted on this site do not necessary reflect the views of the Sun.Star management and its affiliates. Sun.Star reserves the right to delete, reproduce or modify comments posted here without notice. Posts that are inappropriate will automatically be deleted. Forum rules: Do not use obscenity. Some words have been banned. Stick to the topic. Do not veer away from the discussion. Be coherent and respectful. Do not shout or use CAPITAL LETTERS!

popular ‘Ruby’ roaring toward PH Pagasa’s color-coded warnings SC math on Napocor back pay questioned Ayala, MPIC turn to Paris Metro operator for LRT PNP: Purisima suspension not penalty Pagasa: ‘Ruby’ likely to hit Eastern Visayas Church: Pope banners with biz firms’ logos fund-raisers Aiko: Jom is the reason I don’t have suitors videos Time-warped with Lemonheads at Whitespace Filipino peacekeepers granted holiday break, exempted from ‘Ruby’ red alert Tablet shopping: ‘More cores aren’t always better’ Ombudsman suspends PNP officials Ombudsman seeks to transfer Revilla to regular jail DFA spokesman and assistant secretary Charles Jose AFP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The first day of the two-day Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting (Isom), the first event to be hosted by the Philippines for next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (Apec) summit, will be held at Shangrila Makati hotel while the venue for Day 2 was still being determined. This was stated on Thursday by Foreign Assistant Secretary Charles Jose, spokesperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), who added that the decision to transfer the venue for the Dec. 8-9 event came only after news of typhoon Ruby’s expected onslaught into the country. “They haven’t decided on the venue (for the second day),” he said, adding the DFA will make the announcement as soon as the venue was determined. According to the DFA, the Isom will have two key events. On the first day, a symposium on Apec 2015 priorities will be held while on the second day, it will be the consultative dialogue Read More …

Rizal Park Management personnel install colorful native lanterns, or parols, at the park on Wednesday. Less than a month before Christmas, establishments are busy beautifying and adding Christmas decorations for the Yuletide season. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – Senate President Franklin Drilon said on Tuesday that Congressional leaders have agreed to tackle and pass a host of key measures before the Christmas break, including laws to purge unfair business practices, and to increase the take-home pay of workers in the private and public sectors. “After our monthly meeting, we reached a consensus with the House of Representatives to enact at least eight or nine proposed measures before Congress takes a break on December 17,” said Drilon. “We resolved to finish the priority measures, in recognition of their immense benefits to the public and the urgency needed to properly effect such legislation,” he added. “For instance, we are bound to enact the bill that will raise the tax exemption ceiling of the 13th-month pay and other benefits from P30,000 to P82,000, so that the President will be able to sign it before the year ends,” said Drilon, noting that the House agreed to adopt the Senate’s version of the bill. In the House version, the limit was pegged at P75,000. Drilon said Congress will pass the Fair Competition Act “in order to promote economic efficiency in trade, industry and commerce through the prohibition of anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position, and anti-competitive mergers that distort and restrict competition.” “Having a competition Read More …

Cavite-Laguna Expressway Route Map www.dpwh.gov.ph The government is implementing a “shorter” single-stage bidding process for the re-auction of the 45-kilometer Cavite Laguna Expressway (Calax) public private partnership (PPP) deal, according to Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson. Singson said Wednesday that those guidelines, along with a P20.1-billion “floor price,” would be part of the new terms, which will likely be published within the month. The bid submission, as previously reported, was still slated for May 2015, he said. A single-stage process means qualification, technical and financial bids will be submitted and evaluated at the same time versus a two-stage process, when these are separately submitted. The Department of Public Works and Highways is waiting for the “final and executory decision from the Office of the President on the President’s directive to rebid Calax.” This would signal the start of the rebid process, Singson said. The P20.1-billion floor price matches the offer of a unit of San Miguel Corp., which was disqualified by the DPWH bids and awards committee last June because of a technical error. That decision was appealed by SMC and the disqualification, in an order by President Aquino last Nov. 19, was reversed. Apart from the SMC subsidiary, the three other original bidders were the tandem between Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc., which was the original frontrunner although its bid was P8.4-billion short of SMC’s offer, a unit of Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Malaysia’s AlloyMTD Group. Malacañang ordered a rebid because of Read More …

The steak-lover’s steak: Outback Steakhouse’s rib eye steak is well-marbled, juicy and savory. While some entrepreneurs need to hunt for the right business idea that would set them on the path to success, there are those who luckily get theirs just by watching TV.  “Crocodile Dundee to be exact,” says Outback Steakhouse Southeast Asia chairman Prasoon Mukherjee with an impish grin over lunch at the newly opened Outback Steakhouse in BluebayWalk, Pasay City. Prasoon is referring to Chris Sullivan, one of the founders of the largest steakhouse chain in the world, who at 48 took an early retirement to start his own restaurant named after the vast remote Australian outback. Contrary to popular belief, Outback Steakhouse is actually a popular American brand that originated in Florida where Sullivan comes from. An avid fan of Crocodile Dundee, Sullivan was inspired to put up a restaurant similar to the local pub owned by Dundee’s business partner Walter “Wally” Reilly. And so, he immediately called his friend, chef Tim Gannon — who was working somewhere else — and asked him to fly over to Florida to conceptualize the menu and get things started. “Unfortunately, Tim didn’t have enough money to buy a plane ticket. An ardent polo player, he sold his saddle for US$200 and booked a flight to Florida the next day. Tim and Chris are good friends. They trusted each other. I guess that’s the secret to the brand’s success. It’s built on trust and hard work,” adds Prasoon, who bought Read More …