June 19, 2013 is the 152nd birth anniversary of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, Philippines’ revered national hero. On that night Filipino poetry and music will fill the hall of the Philippine Consulate, aptly named Rizal Hall after the great hero. In collaboration with the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles and the Filipino American Press Club […]
No Limitation By Ted Laguatan 12:57 pm | Tuesday, June 11th, 2013 A nation can be compared to a train where the citizens are passengers. The leaders are the engineers who direct the train and the speed with which it travels. If the engineers recklessly run the train along tracks beside a cliff at a rate of unsafe speed, it could very well derail and fall hundreds of feet down killing or seriously hurting its helpless passengers. Arrogance of power and false dangerous ego based nationalism can blind a nation’s leaders and many of its people – leading them towards a dangerous path headed for sure disaster. How can leaders of nations and many of its citizens be so irrational or be so blind as not to see that they are bringing their people to hell? The history of mankind is full of stories of charismatic ego driven leaders who impressed upon their people that it is their manifest destiny to rule the world and that their time has come for these glorious moments. Leaders might be labeled by their own people as being “great” especially when they have conquered other nations – but in actuality, they were not only terrible scourges to the people they conquered but also were curses to their own people who eventually suffered much because of their blind ambitions to rule the world. Within human beings are the seeds of good and evil. There is a terrible frightening force within us that operates on a Read More …
The Philippine Navy’s second Hamilton-class warship on Monday night (Philippine time) started its journey to the Philippines from Charleston, South Carolina in the United States. The Philippine Embassy in Washington tweeted that the BRP Ramon Alcaraz began its journey to the Philippines at 10 p.m. Monday. “BRP Ramon Alcaraz gets ready for voyage to the Philippines. Fair winds, blue skies and following seas!” the embassy said. Before their departure, the warship’s Filipino crew got what the embassy called “emotional farewells” from members of the Filipino community in Charleston. “Filipinos in Charleston served as foster families of officers and crew of Alcaraz during (their) 13-month stay in South Carolina,” the embassy explained. Sea trials The BRP Ramon Alcaraz started sea trials last May as part of preparations for its service in the Philippine Navy. Since it was acquired by the Philippines in May 2012, the ship had been refurbished and refitted at a cost of $15.15 million. The BRP Ramon Alcaraz is the second Hamilton-class cutter acquired by the Philippines from the US under the Excess Defense Article and Military Assistance Program. The first ship, the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar (PF15), was turned over to the Philippine Navy in May 2011. The 378-foot-long BRP Ramon Alcaraz was originally commissioned in 1968 and served in the U.S. Coast Guard as the USCGC Dallas. The ship was named after a Philippine Navy officer who commanded a patrol boat that shot down three Japanese aircraft during World War 2. — DVM, GMA News
After a debtor receives a discharge in bankruptcy, creditors whose debts are discharged are required to report that the account has a zero balance. The fact of the filing itself can remain on the credit report for 10 years from the date it was filed. A debtor interested in re-establishing credit after bankruptcy should obtain […]
Various poll watchdogs on Monday filed with the Office of the Ombudsman a complaint against 11 former and current Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials for allegedly “placing in grave peril the sanctity of the ballot” during the May 2010 and 2013 elections. The accused officials are former Comelec chairperson Jose Melo, former commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Nicodemo Ferrer, Armando Velasco and Leonardo Leonida. The other respondents in the complaint are Director Jose Tolentino and Bartolome Sinocruz Jr.; Melo consultant Renato Garcia; Technical Evaluation Committee chairperson Denis Villorente and the committee members Ferdinand De Leon and Reynaldo Sy. Officials of Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp., the provider of the ballot-reading precinct count optical scan machines, were implicated, as well, including Smartmatic Asia president Cesar Flores. “This citizen’s action… being filed to hold into account public officers at the COMELEC who, in collusion with local and foreign business interests, placed in grave peril the sanctity of the ballot in the Philippines by approving the use of a highly-suspect… PCOS [machine] in,the [2010 and 2013] elections,” according to the complainants’ statement. The complainants are: former vice president Teofisto Guingona Jr., Automated Elections System Watch co-convenor Fr. Jose Dizon, NBN-ZTE deal whistleblower Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr., Workers’ Electoral Watch convenor Anna Leah Escresa-Colina, Gregorio Fabros of Kontra Daya, Center for People Empowerment in Governance executive director Evita Jimenez, and a certain Hector Barrios. Among the alleged violations committed by the Comelec and Smartmatic were: – Contract with Smartmatic pushed through despite the fact that Smartmatic’s Read More …
And so to sleep: Dr. Virginia de los Reyes, head of the Lung Center of the Philippines Sleep Lab and Sleep Disorders Clinic, with Philippine Society of Sleep Medicine’s Dr. Boots Instrella and Dr. Jonalyn Ang MANILA, Philippines – Just when you thought you’re off to peaceful slumber and the sweetest of dreams, snoring away your exhaustion you may actually be suffering from a serious sleep disorder. The Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) is ensuring that more Filipinos with sleeping disorders will be diagnosed and treated, as it launches a new sleep laboratory unit equipped with the latest Philips Respironics sleep diagnostic system. The new LCP sleep lab unit is capable of performing diagnostic and titration services for adults and children. It has the latest etCO2 system (End Tidal Carbon Dioxide System) for better detection of respiratory events in children. LCP is only the second sleep lab in the country to acquire this. The sleep lab can also do full video recording for seizure detection and diagnosis of abnormal sleep behavior. One of those sleep disorders is the very common and usually left undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea, which is a disorder where a person’s airway collapses, causing breathing to stop repeatedly while sleeping. “Even if there’s the usual clinical manifestation and we already have high suspicion that someone has obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), we still need a sleep study in order to confirm the diagnosis, and to guide decisions regarding its management,” said Dr. Virginia de los Reyes, Read More …
After enhancing the southwest monsoon, Tropical Storm Dante (international codename Yagi) exited the Philippine area of responsibility Monday night, state weather forecasters said. In its 10:30 p.m. advisory, PAGASA said Tropical Storm Dante maintained its strength as it moved north-northeast at 17 kph. “Tropical Storm Dante will continue to enhance the southwest monsoon that will bring rains and thunderstorms particularly over the western section of southern Luzon and Visayas,” it said. As of 10 p.m., PAGASA estimated Tropical Storm Dante to be 1,280 km northeast of Basco, Batanes or 680 km east-southeast of Okinawa, Japan. By Tuesday morning, it is expected to be 1,350 km northeast of Basco, Batanes or at 690 km east of Okinawa, Japan. It said Dante packed maximum sustained winds of 85 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 100 kph. No public storm warning signals were raised, PAGASA said. — DVM, GMA News
MANILA, June 5 (Mabuhay) – Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has irrevocably resigned his post on the last day of the 15th Congress, citing the backlash he and his son suffered during the 2013 campaign period. In his valedictory speech, Enrile said: “I refuse to lend my hard-earned name as a convenient refuge to those […]
MANILA (Mabuhay) – Ayala Land Inc. has insisted Serendra’s centralized liquefied petroleum gas pipeline is safe. Ayala Land President Tony Aquino said the gas system is currently being used by many establishments in the country and abroad without any untoward incidents. He made the statement as investigators are currently looking at gas leak as the […]
MANILA (Mabuhay) -– Drama actress Judy Ann Santos said she is proud to have made the right choices in picking the cast of her upcoming series “Huwag Ka Lang Mawawala.” Marking her comeback in the world of “teleseryes,” Santos said she is very proud of Sam Milby, who will portray a role far from what […]