Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The 13th Israeli Film Festival will start a journey of laughter from the Holy Land to the Philippines, with Manila as its first stop. The Israeli Film Festival will be launched on Nov. 5 and 6 in Greenbelt 3 Cinema, Makati City. And it will travel up north to Baguio, then to Iloilo, and down south to Davao and Zamboanga in the regional cinematheques of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).   In partnership with the FDCP through its Film Cultural Exchange Program, Ayala Malls, and Greenbelt Cinema, the 13th Israeli Film Festival will feature eight films of heartwarming comedy. Admission is free.     Israeli Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau said that humor is one of the strongest trademarks of the Israeli society and the Jewish world. “Humor is the best universal language that we all understand. The film festival is an opportunity for all of us, Israelis and Filipinos, to laugh together,” said Ambassador Matityau. Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: One of the highlights of the festival is the screening of Hunting Elephants, which features seasoned British actor Patrick Stewart who is known for his role as Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard and X-Men’s Professor Charles Xavier. This 2013 film revolves around the adventures and misadventures behind a bank robbery for revenge.   Two films mix the mysteries of the human heart and changes in society. The 2013 film Up the Wrong Tree of eminent Israeli filmmaker Gur Bentwich centers on a personal and Read More …

Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima said that he will answer questions about his wealth before the Office of the Ombudsman following Senator Grace Poe’s recommendation that the alleged inconsistencies in his testimony be further scrutinized. In a post on his Twitter account Friday, Purisima said: “We respect the recommendation of Sen. Poe and we will answer charges once required by the Ombudsman to do so,” he said. “Since news report has said that Senate resolution will be referred to Ombudsman, then I will answer issues to be raised by Ombudsman,” Purisima added. On the same day Purisima tweeted his statement, the Senate panel on public order and dangerous drugs urged the Office of the Ombudsman in its report to expedite the resolution of the complaints filed against the PNP chief. Poe, who heads the Senate panel, earlier said she would recommend to the Ombudsman to look into how the PNP chief obtained his wealth, noting there were “certain questions” Purisima needs to answer regarding his Statement of Asset, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN). Purisima is facing graft and plunder charges over his supposed mansion in Nueva Ecija and the renovation of the “White House,” the PNP chief’s official quarters inside the police’s main headquarters in Camp Crame. Last September, the Ombudsman created a panel to probe Purisima over a supposed anomalous contract the PNP entered into with a courier service in 2011. Despite the allegations of corruption hounding Purisima, PNP spokesman Sr. Supt. Wilben Mayor said Sunday Read More …

popular 1,700 flee attacks, killings, arson MP Hotel five stuns Wangs; Cagayan, JP repulse foes Mercado shows proof Mrs. Binay owns Batangas property Gilas selection group formed Flying out? MMDA clears route to airport SPD officer faces rape, trafficking raps Sueselbeck pleads: Send me home or I’ll lose my job in Germany Pork barrel still alive in 2015 budget videos Assistant Ombudsman explains why Revilla’s wealth must be seized Binay allies ‘gatecrash’ Senate probe Binay daughter’s Instagram post: ‘Our place in Batangas’ Audio recording of Binay interview‎ on Batangas property bared 100 buried alive in Sri Lanka tea region mudslide–minister Transgender woman Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude poses with fiancé Marc Sueselbeck. PHOTO TAKEN FROM LAUDE’S FACEBOOK ACCOUNT/LYN RILLON OLONGAPO CITY, Zambales—The German fiancé of slain transgender woman Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude visited her grave Friday morning, on the eve of his scheduled departure for Germany. Marc Sueselbeck’s request for voluntary deportation was granted by the Bureau of Immigration on Thursday, according to the Laude family’s lawyer Virgie Suarez. But being placed on an immigration blacklist, as a result of his deportation, has deprived Sueselbeck the chance to visit his girlfriend’s tomb in the future. “I’ve suffered long enough, and until now I don’t understand why the Philippine government has done this to me and Jennifer’s family,” Sueselbeck complained to the Inquirer. Sueselbeck said he would have wanted to return next year on their anniversary and again on their supposed wedding day that was planned for 2015. The German joined Laude’s sister Michelle Read More …

Philippine President Benigno Aquino approved Thursday a 160-billion-peso ($3.6 billion) plan to rebuild areas ravaged by Super Typhoon Haiyan one year after the disaster, his spokesman said. The plan includes reconstruction timetables demanded by Aquino who last week criticised the pace of rebuilding, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. Haiyan, the strongest storm ever to make landfall, packed winds of 315 kilometres (195 miles) per hour when it slammed the central Philippines in November last year, bringing tsunami-like storm surges that wiped out entire villages and left more than 7,350 people dead or missing. “The work programmes, all the details have been inputted into the detailed rehabilitation plan,” Lacierda told reporters. An initial 52 billion pesos of the total rehabilitation budget had been released by the budget department, he added. Aquino earlier this month said he wanted the rehabilitation programme “substantially completed” by the time his term ends in mid-2016, as ten of thousands of typhoon survivors remain without homes and vital infrastructure. One year after the deluge, the mayor of one of the worst-hit cities said housing remained a problem with only 50 families in his area moved to permanent dwellings. “Our priority is really shelter,” Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez told reporters this week. The government needs to build “transitional” homes for storm survivors while permanent ones, which should be able to withstand typhoon winds, are being built, he said. “They have to be relocated to safer zones. We cannot say safe zones because there are no safe zones,” Read More …

The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has allowed with finality the opening of the bank accounts of pork barrel scam primary whistleblower Benhur Luy and the other witnesses in the supposed multi-billion anomaly. In a resolution issued on October 24, made available to the media only on Wednesday, the court upheld its earlier ruling dated August 22, granting the motion filed by the lawyers of Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the multi-billion pork barrel fund scam, to issue subpoena on the bank accounts of Luy, his mother Gertrudes Luy, as well as those of whistleblowers Merlina Suñas and Marina Sula. The Fifth Division refused to heed to the motion for reconsideration filed by the prosecution last month asking the court to overturn its original ruling, for “lack of merit”. “The motion for reconsideration and to quash/recall the subpoena duces tecum… on the bank account transactions and all other bank records of Benhur K. Luy, Gertrudes Luy, Merlina Suñas and Marina Sula is hereby DENIED for lack of merit,” the court said in its ruling.   The court retained the power of the subpoena earlier issued to the following banks where Luy, Gertrudes, Suñas and Sula are deemed to have accounts: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metro Bank & TCO)United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB)Metrobank Card Corp.Banco De Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO)Land Bank of the PhilippinesPhilippine Savings Bank (PS Bank)Citibank  The court likewise reaffirmed the granting of Napoles’ request to issue subpoena on the Land Registration Authority (LRA) Read More …