WITH THE filing deadline for income tax returns (ITRs) looming on Wednesday, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) hopes to see shorter queues due to the expansion of taxpayer categories eligible for online submission.
Apr 122015
Apr 122015
STRONG INTEREST from potential bidders bidders has emerged for the P5.77-billion Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project (AWTIP), according to an official from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
Apr 122015
Changes in business and technology in the financial services industry have opened up new possibilities. With the rapidly growing number of customer interactions through digital banking, there is a huge volume of customer data now available that can provide strategic opportunities for business growth and tremendous prospects for improved management tools.
Apr 122015
Grandmaster Wesley So with former actress Lotis Key, whose family So lives with in Minnesota, at the US Chess Championships. PHOTO BY LENNART OOTES. LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Wesley So exacted a measure of revenge on his rivals, demolishing defending champion Gata Kamsky in the 10th round while Hikaru Nakamura virtually sewed up the US Championships in Saint Louis. Playing precisely with the black pieces, So built up a formidable kingside pawn advantage and was on the verge of capturing a knight when Kamsky, last year’s champion, resigned on the 56th move. Coming off a 9th round forfeit, it was a remarkable display of poise by So, who nevertheless is now out of the running for the $45,000 first prize with just one round left. It looks like Nakamura has it in the bag after disposing off his closest rival, Ray Robson. The two drew after only 30 moves, leaving Nakamura with seven points and Robson with 6.5 points. Nakamura only has to draw with Alexander Onischuk in tomorrow’s final round to regain the championships he last won in 2012. So will face 16-year-old Kayden Troff, but with only 5.5 points in 10 games, the Filipino grandmaster is mired at fourth place, half-a-point behind Onischuk, who is at third with 6/10 record. In the world’s live ratings, both Nakamura and So have slipped. The 27-year-old Nakamura, who at one point climbed as high as No. 2, is now No 4, as of April 11 with 2796.1 points. So is in Read More …
Apr 122015
First of all, let me express my belated thanks to Mrs. Sylvia Palanca Quirino and the Palanca Foundation for responding promptly to our recent appeal for them to reconsider and rescind what many writers thought were rather onerous rules for this year’s Palanca Awards competition. That has happened — we’re basically back to the old rules, which prospective entrants can read on the Palanca website. I do have to remind people to mind the check box on the entry form, where you need to indicate whether you’re giving your express permission for the Foundation to publish your work in full, in case it wins. We can understand the Foundation’s desire not just to give away monetary prizes for literature as it’s done for over 60 years now, but also to develop a readership for good writing. That’s why it’s important to strike a balance between the authors’ rights to their work and the sponsor’s need to share some of that work with the public for whom it’s presumably being written. As someone who’s come to be associated, and happily so, with the Palanca community, I’m relieved that this little tempest was dealt with expeditiously and reasonably by the Palancas and their lawyers — with the personal and gracious intercession, of course, of Mrs. Quirino. I should note that both sides came away with the clear understanding that the rules are a work in progress — as are the Palanca awards themselves — as the literary and publishing environment itself continues Read More …
Apr 122015
A party-list lawmaker has thrown his support behind a parents’ group’s plan to stop the implementation of the controversial K-12 program that extends high school education by two years as he insisted that the Department of Education is still unprepared to roll out the initiative. Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said the Parents for Children’s Education (PACE) has the right to challenge Republic Act 10533, otherwise known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, before the Supreme Court. The group claims parents were not consulted before the Enhanced Basic Education Act, which had to undergo the legislative process at both houses of Congress, was signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III. The legislative process includes public hearings to seek input from stakeholders. “[The lack of consultation] can be a good basis for a challenge as the consultations before and after the enactment of the law were inadequate. More importantly, the commitments for the law’s proper implementation remain inadequate and incomplete,” he said in a text message. PACE founding chair Rey Vargas told GMA News Online that parents were not asked for their opinion on the K-12 program when it was being deliberated in Congress even though they are considered as one of the primary stakeholders. He said his group plans to attach a document containing 10,000 signatures of parents who oppose the program when they file the petition before the Supreme Court on April 20. DepEd: Preparations are on track With barely a year to go before the Read More …
Apr 122015
Although Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is keeping mum on the new allegations of corruption he claims to have against Vice President Jejomar Binay, Makati City Rep. Mar-len Abigail Binay has taken it upon herself to explain what she thinks will be tackled at the resumption of the Senate’s hearing against her father Monday— her parents’ wealth. In a statement, Rep. Binay said her family can fully account for the P254 million in bank deposits that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) claims her father had accumulated from 2007 to 2014. She said a study of the the cash flow statements of the vice president and his wife, former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay, will show they have accumulated P630.9 million over the past 27 years. Of this amount, over P330 million came from JCB Farms, a piggery business which the vice president started in 1994 with a P400,000 capital while P14 million came from his salaries as a public official from 1986 to 2013, Rep. Binay said. In addition, the vice president had collected more than P4 million in professional fees from his law practice while his wife earned more than P49 million from her flower shop business, Blooms and Bouquets. Also included in the cash flow is over P13 million in excess campaign contributions of the vice president, which his daughter said he disclosed in the Statement of Contribution and Expenditures he filed with the Commission on Elections. Rep. Binay said her father had disposed of his business interests for a profit Read More …
Apr 112015
Celia Rodriguez and Cherie Gil, both accomplished actresses, have the same birthday, June 21.
Apr 112015
Kim Kardashian heads to lay flowers at the memorial to the victims of genocide in Yerevan, Armenia, Friday, April 10, 2015. The Kardashian sisters, along with Kim’s husband Kanye West and their daughter North are in Armenia on a high-visibility visit ahead of this month’s observation of the centennial of the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. AP Photo/Hrant Khachatryan, PAN Photo YEREVAN, Armenia — On a visit to Armenia, Kim Kardashian has seen that stardom’s privileges have limits. Kardashian, along with husband Kanye West, their daughter and her sister Khloe on Saturday were in Gyumri, a city 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of the capital Yerevan, where records show some Kardashian ancestors lived. When the entourage went into the Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God, bodyguards tried to close its doors to keep journalists and onlookers away. But the local bishop, Mikayel Adjapagian, sharply objected to obstructing worshippers from the church. The bodyguards relented and the doors stayed open. Afterwards, the Kardashians and cameramen shooting footage for their reality show went to a house where ancestors once lived. The house is currently unoccupied.
Apr 112015
Wesley so appears shocked after forfeiting his 9th round game in the US Chess Championships. PHOTO BY LENNART OOTES LAS VEGAS, Nevada — In a tournament where nothing seems to go right for him, Wesley so suffered the ultimate ignominy, defaulting his 9th round game in what amounts to a rookie mistake in the US Chess Championships in Saint Louis. So was declared to have defaulted his game with Varuszhan Akobian when he wrote on a piece of paper, instead of the official score sheet, in violation of tournament rules. The 21-year-old So, who now has lost more games in a single tournament than at any time other in his career, wrote a seemingly harmless note to himself and left it lying down on his table. He wrote, ” Double check. Triple check. Use your time.” “I have been having trouble concentrating so I wrote a note to myself on a piece of paper (not my score sheet),” So explained in a Facebook posting. According to Chief Arbiter Tony Rich, So wrote “words of general encouragement and advice” to himself on a piece of paper below his score sheet, which FIDE rules forbid. So forfeited the game after only six moves and one hour of play. Rich said he warned So twice earlier about writing notes to himself and it was his third offense. “I mentioned to Wesley twice earlier in the event that using notes or other sources of information is not allowed and strictly forbidden, according to the FIDE Read More …