Family dinners play a significant role in a child’s development. How to start more fun family dinners? By joining Del Monte Philippines #FamilyWednesdates.
Sep 212014
Sep 212014
By Lydia Neff |INQUIRER.net US Bureau 9:56 am | Monday, September 22nd, 2014 Kulintronica’s Ron Quesada at Plural Music’s The GetDowns dance party in Stockton. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO SAN FRANCISCO — Recognized as a San Francisco Bay Area artist who is fusing the “kulintang,” a venerable Filipino instrument, with electronic dance music, Ron Quesada is touring this year to make Kulintronica the next big thing in the EDM genre. Quesada of Kulintronica, a one-man electronic dance music icon, has played several instruments, starting out with the piano. He used to play the keys with “annoying sounds” until he had his formal lessons when he was eight. Five years of learning led him to performances in Los Angeles and Monterey. “Our family has a well-established background in the entertainment industry in the Philippines. It wasn’t long until I realized that I would go that route,” Quesada said. “Among all three siblings he’s the “makata” (poet), and I’ve always supported him to succeed in music,” said his mother, Evangeline Quesada, who was also his first artistic influence. “That was our special bonding together.” As he explored the music world, Quesada eventually became a guitar player and a bass player, influenced by rock and roll uncle, Tim Quesada. He played with several bands in the Bay Area bar gigs. “It was all rock and roll. I used to be known to jump off the stage during guitar solos. The biggest break I had was during the Earth Day Festival in Concord in 1998,” Quesada Read More …
Sep 212014
By Jeannette I. Andrade |Philippine Daily Inquirer 6:54 am | Monday, September 22nd, 2014 Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva. tesda.gov.ph photo MANILA, Philippines–The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) has hooked up with its counterpart in Germany to boost technical-vocational education and training (TVET) in the Philippines. Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva, who joined President Aquino in his four-nation European trip, signed in Berlin a cooperation agreement with the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), an international center of excellence for TVET research, for collaborative research and development. Villanueva witnessed on Sept. 19 the signing of a joint declaration of intent between Germany and the Philippines on “furthering technical-vocational education and training through consultancy, technical assistance, exchange of information, experiences, best practices, joint research, study tours and expert meetings.” Both initiatives, he said, would further improve the TVET so it could provide the skills needed by the graduates and make them eligible for work, reducing unemployment and underemployment. “In Germany, many students take vocational training, and for those not yet ready, an intensive pre-apprenticeship program backs the youth. Their government has been investing massive amounts of talent and money on TVET and it is paying off,” Villanueva said. “The challenge we face in skills development is the need to increase the permeability of the TVET. Since the issues in the TVET are now global in nature, the more we should consider external support in the design of our training programs,” he said. With the cooperation agreement, the Read More …
Sep 212014
GOVERNMENT debt servicing dropped by a fourth in July as both principal and interest payments declined, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.
Sep 212014
TACLOBAN CITY — The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has released P3 million to the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) for the repair of the Tacloban Fish Port.
Sep 212014
(First of two parts) A FEW weeks ago, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued the complete version of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9 Financial Instruments. IFRS 9 is the culmination of the IASB’s project to replace International Accounting Standard (IAS) 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement.
Sep 212014
Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:54 am | Monday, September 22nd, 2014 Philippine Armed Forces Chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, left, salutes to welcome Philippine troops, who were deployed in the Golan Heights as UN peacekeepers and recently battled Syrian rebels, upon arrival late Sunday, Sept 21, 2014 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. President Aquino is expected to lead the welcome party for the Philippine contingent upon his return from his trip to Europe and the United States. AP PHOTO/BULLIT MARQUEZ MANILA, Philippines–A heroes’ welcome awaits the Filipino soldiers who have returned from the Golan Heights after serving in the United Nations peacekeeping mission there. President Aquino is expected to lead the welcome party for the Philippine contingent upon his return from his trip to Europe and the United States. The festive homecoming is tentatively set for Sept. 26 in Malacañang. “The President will lead in welcoming them home. Details are still being worked out but, definitely, they will call on the President,” said Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, Public Affairs Office chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The first batch of 244 Filipino soldiers arrived on Friday night at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City as Tropical Storm “Mario” battered the country. Zagala said the second batch of 84 troops was expected to arrive late Sunday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport via a commercial flight. The military is also planning a motorcade for the soldiers. The country pulled out the 7th Philippine Contingent, led by Lt. Col. Read More …
Sep 212014
By Nikko Dizon |Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:10 am | Monday, September 22nd, 2014 President Aquino is welcomed by Defense and Armed Forces Attache Capt. Elson Aguilar upon his arrival at Boston Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. RYAN LIM/ Malacanang Photo Bureau SUDBURY, Massachusetts—Dr. Mario Bucal used to tell his late friend Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. that the Filipino opposition leader would one day be the President of the Philippines. Ninoy never made it to Malacañang. He was assassinated as he stepped off a plane on his return in 1983 from three years of self-exile in the United States. Instead it was Ninoy’s wife, Corazon, and son, Noynoy, who both became leaders of the country. On Saturday night, the son arrived in Boston for a four-day personal and working visit in the United States following a four-nation tour of Europe the past week. He will stop by the Bucal home on Sunday. Needless to say, it was an indescribable feeling for Bucal and his wife, Norma, to host a private lunch for President Aquino at their home in Sudbury, 28 kilometers from Boston. A handful of others had been invited to the lunch, which had been kept under wraps because the President wanted to have a private time with his parents’ dear friends while in exile. They included mostly doctors, which led them to tease Ninoy that he had a personal team of physicians who would attend to him while he recuperated from his heart Read More …
Sep 212014
How do we ensure better personal security, which is a foremost priority for successful businesspeople, top professionals, bankers, and even more so for high-profile politicians and celebrities worldwide? One of the Philippines’ top billionaires told me: “Please write in your column that crime is a bigger and more serious threat to foreign and domestic investments for any nation than corruption or other problems.” I urge government to secure better peace and order as well as have the political will to reform and modernize our entire police organization nationwide. To be fair to the many honest policemen and policewomen, the need for high-level political will and quick action to reform the police force can also salvage the badly battered reputation of the whole PNP. NO FOREIGN INVESTMENT BOOM WITHOUT BETTER PEACE AND ORDER Much better peace and order — not promises, “praise releases” in the mass media, excuses, bureaucratic inertia, blaming others or eloquent speeches — is demanded by all of us taxpayers, ordinary citizens, foreign investors and tourists. Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: Stable peace and order is also a must if we seriously want to encourage more domestic and foreign investments to boost the Philippine economy and translate the feel-good international goodwill of “tuwid na daan” or “straight path” politics into sustainable and inclusive economic growth. There can be no real foreign investment boom in our country if there is no perceptible improvement in peace and order here in the Philippines. We need it in Read More …
Sep 212014
Associated Press 10:24 pm | Sunday, September 21st, 2014 In this handout photo taken on October 2013 and released by Philippine Armed Forces public affairs office (AFP-PAO) on August 29, 2014 shows officers and men of the 7th Philippine peacekeeping force bound for the Golan Heights posing for photos during their send-off ceremony at the army heradquarters in Manila. Heavily armed Philippine peacekeepers defied Syrian rebels on August 29 in a Golan Heights standoff hours after the gunmen disarmed and took hostage 43 Fijian soldiers there, Filipino authorities said. AP MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said he’s been told security threats on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights are not expected to ease soon, dimming hopes that UN peacekeepers can be deployed back to the region in the near future. A group of 244 Philippine peacekeepers flew back to Manila on Friday after being recalled, while 84 more were due home Sunday, ending a five-year presence in the increasingly volatile Golan. There have been no signs suggesting the Philippines will resume its mission in the Golan. Filipino forces continue to help a UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Aquino said his government was informed in a letter from the UN assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Edmond Mulet, that “there is no expectation” that UN peacekeepers could be deployed back to the Syrian side of the Golan “in the short or midterm.” Aquino’s comments, made Friday during a just concluded trip to Germany, were released to the media Read More …