Maniolas

Seventeen Filipina-Americans will compete for the Binibining Pilipinas USA 2014 title. The grand winner will be chosen on coronation night, Saturday, July 19, at the Centinela Valley Center for the Arts, in Lawndale, CA. After months of intense preparation, 17 of the most beautiful Filipina-Americans from around the country are set to compete for the coveted crown of  Binibining Pilipinas USA 2014. “Binibining Pilipinas USA – Your Destiny Awaits!” will stage its Preliminary Competition this Sunday, July 13, at The Banquet Hall, 3255 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA  90010.  Scheduled events include the Swimsuit Competition, Talent Competition, and Voting for Binibining Photogenic, the latter being voted on by members of the press and photographic organizations. The grand winner will be decided in front of a packed house on coronation night, Saturday, July 19, at the Centinela Valley Center for the Arts, in Lawndale, CA. These young women have undergone a strict screening process to determine whether they met the minimum requirements to be selected as an Official Candidate. Once selected, each candidate met an important individual requirement: to select a tourism destination in the Philippines to promote. This is one of the pageant’s main objectives: supporting the Philippine Department of Tourism’s “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” promotional campaign.   Each candidate has adopted a tourism destination to promote, often with a familial connection. This event will benefit the Apl.de.Ap Foundation’s many worthwhile projects in the Philippines.  Apl.de.ap is a member of the multiple-Grammy-award winning Black Eyed Peas, and is scheduled to Read More …

Cebu Pacific says they are banning shark fin carriage effective immediately because of its “unsustainable shark fishing and our carriage of shark fin is not aligned with (our) position on sustainable development.” MANILA (AFP) – The Philippines’ largest airline Cebu Pacific said Wednesday it has ceased carrying shark fins, becoming the latest carrier to impose a ban as part of global conservation efforts. “We are banning shark fin carriage effective immediately as we learned that unsustainable shark fishing and our carriage of shark fin is not aligned with (our) position on sustainable development,” the airline said in a statement. The carrier, controlled by the Gokongwei family, an ethnic Chinese clan with interests in food processing, real estate and banking, also it would no longer serve shark fin soup in its corporate events. Cebu Pacific, the country’s largest airline in terms of number of passengers carried, becomes the second Filipino carrier to ban shark fin shipments following a similar decision by rival Philippine Airlines in April. Several airlines have announced they would no longer transport shark fins in recent years, following a global campaign to stop the consumption of the controversial foodstuff. The fins are traditionally used in expensive Chinese soups and served at important events. Conservationists warn that the demand for shark fins has led to overfishing, with many shark species now considered endangered.

Patricia Evangelista (Photo courtesy of Patricia Evangelista Facebook page) MANILA (AFP) – Multimedia journalist Patricia Evangelista has won the Agence France-Presse Kate Webb Prize for her compelling reporting on conflict and disaster in her native Philippines, AFP announced Friday. The award recognizes exceptional journalism in dangerous or difficult conditions, and Evangelista, 28, produced an impressive body of work on two of the Southeast Asian nation’s most brutal events of 2013. Evangelista spent a month reporting from fishing and farming communities devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm ever recorded on land that killed more than 7,000 people in November. She travelled to the disaster zones of the central Philippines only weeks after returning from covering a 21-day stand-off between the military and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga in the south of the country in which more than 200 people died. “Patricia is deserving of this award because, like Kate Webb, she has made it her mission to cover dangerous and difficult stories with a balanced, nuanced eye and astonishing courage,” said Gilles Campion, AFP’s regional director for the Asia-Pacific. “This was exemplified by her coverage of Haiyan’s destruction and the Zamboanga conflict.” Evangelista, who works for Philippine news portal Rappler and Esquire magazine, will receive a 3,000-euro ($4,100) prize. The award will be formally presented at a ceremony later this year. The prize is named after New Zealander Kate Webb, one of AFP’s finest correspondents, who died in 2007 at the age of 64. Webb earned a reputation as Read More …