Pre-Hispanic PH traditions to be ‘revived’ at Chicago museum

 News
Nov 222016
 
Pre-Hispanic PH traditions to be ‘revived’ at Chicago museum

Philippine tattoo expert Lane Wilcken demonstrates the ancient art that almost was lost during Spanish and American colonial regimes. FIELD MUSEUM CHICAGO—The nearly lost arts of Philippine traditional tattoos and script writing will be resurrected at the “Pamanang Pinoy” event on Saturday, Dec.3, at this city’s Field Museum, coupled with another free adobo tasting sponsored by the museum’s “Friends of Co-Curation.” Lane Wilcken of San Francisco and Kristian Kabuay of Las Vegas will lecture and do hands-on demonstrations for these pre-Hispanic traditions that were almost banished during the 300 years of Spanish colonization followed by 48 years of American occupation of the Philippines. A Question & Answer will follow both presentations. Friends of the Field Museum Co-Curation will also bring back their popular sampling of pork and chicken adobo made from the recipes in the booklet, “Co-Curating Adobo,” which was originally launched in October. Steamed rice will also be available free. Copies of the booklet are available for sale –in time for the holiday gift-giving. A new batch of adobo chefs will be present to sign copies of the booklet. Additional copies are available online: http//friendsofcocuration.com/. The Field Museum has been working in partnership with the local Filipino American community in a series of cultural events these past years in curating some 10,000 Philippine cultural items in its collection. Co-Curating Adobo is available for sale in time for the holiday gift shopping. FIELD MUSEUM The collaboration has opened an opportunity especially to younger members of the community to volunteer and Read More …

Fil-Canadian marching band plays on at 36

 News
Nov 222016
 
Fil-Canadian marching band plays on at 36

WATCH: Philippine Heritage Band Homecoming    INQUIRER/Marisa Roque TORONTO, Ontario–For its 36th anniversary, the Philippine Heritage Band trumpeted an invite to past and present members to grace the band’s “homecoming.”  And those who could–barring geographical distance or death–came in droves. On the evening of Oct. 15, dozens of PHB alumni trooped to the Holiday Inn Select on Dixon Road in Toronto to enjoy the dinner-dance, a PHB mini-concert, and a nonstop nostalgia fest. Among the dignitaries at the event were Philippine Consul General Rosalita Prospero; Michael DiBiase, deputy mayor of the City of Vaughan; Sandra Yeung Racco, councillor Ward 4, City of Vaughan; and Alan Shefman, councillor Ward 5, City of Vaughan. Kenneth Villaseñor claims PHB brought him out of his shell. INQUIRER/Marisa Roque Founder and Executive Director Oscar Fariñas welcomed the guests, gave a history of the organization, and segued to introduce Major Sixto “Cap” Gimena, guest conductor for the mini-concert and a PHB alumnus (1994).A retired major from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and a graduate of the University of the East’s School of Music and Arts, “Cap” is a well known commanding officer of the Philippine military bands. He became commanding officer of the General Headquarters Band in Quezon City, the Presidential Security Group Band in Malacanang, and the 5th Infantry Division Band in Tarlac.   His last tenure was as commanding officer of the Philippine Military Academy Band in Baguio City.  After his retirement, he emigrated to Canada in 1994 with his family and joined PHB Read More …

London’s Romulo Café named ‘Most Loved Restaurant’

 News
Nov 222016
 
London’s Romulo Café named ‘Most Loved Restaurant’

Dinner-time patrons at the award-winning Romulo Cafe in London. WEBSITE LONDON – Filipino-owned and operated Romulo Café was named the “Most Loved Restaurant in Kensington” at the third annual Time Out Love London Awards held on Thursday, Nov. 14 at The Bloomsbury Ballroom here. Romulo Café has provided a showcase for fine Filipino cuisine in London, serving “archly presented heirloom Filipino recipes lovingly preserved by scions of the late General Carlos P. Romulo, the Philippines’ longest serving foreign secretary,” and his wife Virginia Llamas. The 70-seater Filipino restaurant, which opened its doors only eight months ago in Kensington High Street, edged out competition from other, more established haunts in the neighbourhood, carrying off an award for London’s best restaurants, shops, bars and cultural venues as voted by the public. Owned and operated by former senior banker Rowena Romulo and co-director Chris Joseph, Romulo Café garnered the most votes among nine short-listed restaurants in Kensington, a district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, hub of many of the capital’s iconic museums, embassies and the new Design Museum. Among the other restaurant winners were Coya for Mayfair; Dishoom for Covent Garden and The Strand, and The Ivy Chelsea Garden for Chelsea. The award is a testament to Romulo Café’s popularity among UK-based Filipinos and local residents of Kensington, where it stays open seven days a week including holidays. Among its regular customers are diplomats from the Philippine Embassy, businessmen and professionals including bankers, teachers, nurses, families with children, students, visiting Read More …

Fil-Ams support protests vs. Marcos sneak burial in PH

 News
Nov 222016
 
Fil-Ams support protests vs. Marcos sneak burial in PH

San Francisco Bay Area Filipino Americans stage a die-in to express their anger in a rally against the Marcos burial of remains at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum SAN FRANCISCO – Filipino Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area may be literally tens of thousands of miles away from their Motherland, but they keep abreast of the happenings there, such as the secretive burial of the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the National Heroes Cemetery. Like the throngs that went out in protest in Metro Manila and several cities in the Philippines, they held a protest rally of their own in front of the Philippine Consulate here. As in the past rallies, speakers took turns in lambasting the Marcoses for the and even President Duterte for making the Libingan ng mga Bayani burial happen. They carried placards, sang the protest song Bayan Ko and staged a die-in to show their indignation at the “connivance” between the Marcoses and Duterte. Martial Law victim Susan Araneta admitted that she felt anger when she heard of the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. “Nevertheless, I think this is not surprising because this is the way Marcos had operated in the past. I remember when I was in prison, there would be a complete blackout inside the prison camp because the soldiers that were killed in Mindanao were being brought in by helicopters. It has been very symbolic that the helicopter bringing Marcos remains to Libingan ng Read More …

Et tu, Duterte?

 News
Nov 222016
 
Et tu, Duterte?

Pres. Duterte and friend Bongbong Marcos. INQUIRER FILE   NEW YORK CITY — They came like thieves in the night, furtive, uneasy, like vampires not wishing to be seen in the clear light of day, burying the corpse of the unlamented Ferdinand Marcos. But perhaps it was the wax model that was laid to rest. Persistent rumor has long held that what was on view in the family mausoleum up north was a replica, showing a man who seemed to have died in good health and in his forties, not a man who passed away in his early seventies with a body and appearance ravaged by disease. The thought did cross my mind, wax model or not, that the piercing rays of the sun would have melted this being who for so long sucked the life out of the nation. The burial was an act rife with irony. It didn’t bury the past, it resurrected it. It hasn’t healed any wounds but deepened them. The Marcos family and their ever-loyal band of followers have said that this was necessary to erase the divisions that have afflicted the nation. And yet it is so obviously having the opposite effect, putting salt rather than salve on the wounds, and in effect reviving—perhaps resurrecting is a more apt term—memories of state-sanctioned violence and the indignities suffered by the nation when the Marcos regime was in power. Rather than a step forward into a brighter future, the stealthy burial—approved by a Supreme Court that Read More …

AMLC files charges vs. 6 RCBC execs for ‘money laundering’

 News
Nov 222016
 
AMLC files charges vs. 6 RCBC execs for ‘money laundering’

Money turned over by casino junket operator Kim Wong to the Anti-Money Laundering Council after the $81-million money laundering scandal at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. erupted. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA — The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has filed criminal charges against the former treasurer of the Yuchenco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and five other officials for alleged money laundering in connection with the entry of money stolen from Bangladesh’s central bank last February. In its 97-page complaint filed before the Department of Justice on Nov. 18, the AMLC supported the filing of criminal cases for money laundering under Section 4(f) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), as amended, against former RCBC retail banking group head Raul Victor B. Tan, as well as Ismael S. Reyes, Brigitte R. Capiña, Nestor O. Pineda, Romualdo S. Agarrado and Angela Ruth S. Torres. Section 4(f) of Republic Act No. 10365 or the amended AMLA provides that money laundering is committed by any person who performs or fails to perform any act as a result of which he facilitates the offense of money laundering. Tan, brother of National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan, resigned from the RCBC last April, at the height of the Senate investigation on the $81-million money laundering scandal that shook the domestic financial system as well as gaming industry. At the time of the money laundering transaction, Reyes was national sales director of RCBC’s retail banking group; Capiña was retail banking group regional sales director; Pineda was district sales director; Read More …

Arrest warrant out for suspects in Sabah kidnapping—PH embassy

 News
Nov 222016
 
Arrest warrant out for suspects in Sabah kidnapping—PH embassy

The Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur confirmed that six of the 23 suspects in the kidnappings cases in the waters off Sabah already have arrest warrants. The Filipino suspects are reportedly being pursued in “the hinterlands of Sulu and Basilan provinces.” Earlier this month, President Rodrigo Duterte went to Malaysia to meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and the two agreed to work together to solve the kidnapping incidents in the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas. “Philippine authorities welcomes any information their Malaysian counterparts may have that would lead to the arrest of these wanted individuals,” the Embassy said. The six suspects with arrest warrants are Apo Mike (also known as Majan Sahidjuan), Hatib Hayan (aka Sawadjaan), Alden Bagde (aka Sayning), Muamar Askali (aka Abu Rami), Idang Susukan and Alhabsy Misaya. Philippine forces have been able to arrest and kill other suspects earlier named by Malaysian authorities. One of them is Khadafy, who is now detained in the Zamboanga Del Norte Provincial Jail. The list of 23 kidnapping suspects were from Malaysia’s Eastern Sabah Security Command. There have been several reports in the past of fishermen and foreign tourists abducted by armed men in Sabah waters. KS/RAM RELATED STORIES 3 Malaysian fishermen kidnapped in Sabah waters 2 more Indonesian fishermen abducted off Malaysian state 5 foreigners missing in Tawi-Tawi, Sabah waters TAGS: arrest warrant, Kidnapping, PH Embassy, Sabah, suspects For feedback, complaints, or inquiries, contact us.

Duterte’s success at APEC not hinged on socials – Palace

 News
Nov 222016
 
Duterte’s success at APEC not hinged on socials – Palace

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, left, listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) MANILA — The success of President Duterte’s debut at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit was not hinged on his appearance at the gala dinner and photo opportunity with fellow world leaders, Malacañng said on Tuesday. Assistant Communications Secretary Ana Marie Banaag said the palace respected the opinion of former President Fidel V. Ramos, who was disappointed at Mr. Duterte’s absence at the photo call and said it was his duty to be there even if he was not feeling well. “The non-attendance of the President to the gala dinner and picture-taking should not be a barometer to measure whether the participation of the Philippines is successful or not,” Banaag said in a press briefing. Mr. Duterte said he had skipped the gala dinner and picture taking due to jet lag, with the events coinciding with his sleeping hours in the Philippines. Ramos had said this was no excuse and Mr. Duterte should have joined the traditional group photo with world leaders to represent the Philippines. The President sent Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay in his stead.  SFM TAGS: Ana Marie Banaag, APEC Summit in Lima Peru, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Department of Foreign Affairs, Diplomacy, Fidel V. Ramos, Foreign affairs, former presidents, International relations, Lima, Malacañang, Office of the President, Perfecto Yasay, Peru, Philippine president, Read More …

DFA: No reports of Filipinos affected by Japan quake so far

 News
Nov 212016
 
DFA: No reports of Filipinos affected by Japan quake so far

Firefighters and others watch the port to check the water level as a tsunami warning is issued following an earthquake in Soma, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. Coastal residents in Japan were ordered to flee to higher ground on Tuesday after a strong earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture. AP The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said it had not received reports of any Filipino affected by the strong 6.9 magnitude earthquake that hit northeastern Japan and triggered a 3-foot-high tsunami. In a text message, DFA assistant secretary Charles Jose said the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo continues to monitor the situation of Filipinos in Japan, following the quake that struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture, site of the crippled Fukushima Daiishi nuclear power plant.READ: 3-foot-high tsunami recorded after strong quake in Japan “So far there are no reports of any Filipino affected by the earthquake in Japan. Our Embassy in Tokyo continues to monitor the situation closely,” Jose told INQUIRER.net In 2011, a massive undersea quake that sent a tsunami killed more than 18,000 people and sent three reactors into meltdown, in what was considered as one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters. Japan’s meteorological agency initially estimated the quake’s magnitude at 7.3. The quake was felt in the capital of Tokyo, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damages. There are about 240,000 registered Filipinos in Japan. CBB TAGS: DFA, Earthquake, Fukushima, Japan, ofws For feedback, complaints, or inquiries, contact us.

Obama sees Duterte hitting it off with Trump

 News
Nov 212016
 
Obama sees Duterte hitting it off with Trump

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left) and US President-elect Donald Trump. AFP PHOTOS LIMA, Peru — President Barack Obama believes a friendlier relationship is in store for his successor-in-waiting Donald Trump and President Rodrigo Duterte due to their similar personalities, according to Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay. The two presidents never got to talk in the concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit here, after a jet-lagged Mr. Duterte skipped the gala dinner and the customary family photo event of world leaders. READ: Duterte ‘falls ill,’ skips Apec gala dinner for world leaders But Yasay, who stood in for Mr. Duterte in both events, said the US president told him during a conversation in one of the side meetings that he was optimistic about the future of the US-Philippines bilateral ties under Trump’s helm. It was Mr. Duterte’s first appearance at the Apec and the last one of Obama, who will relinquish the presidency to Trump in January. “Well, he told me he is expecting a better and stronger relationship between the Philippines and the United States under the new administration of President-elect Trump, as they seem to have the same kind of temperament,” the country’s top diplomat recalled in a DZRH radio interview. READ: Duterte softens stance on US, tells Trump: ‘Mabuhay ka’ Yasay said he only replied: “Well, I hope so.” “I did not mention to him that whatever trouble afflicting us as a result of our existing relationship is more fundamental than the personalities involved,” he said. “We want to Read More …

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