Maniolas

TITOY FRANCISCO presenting to Hakuho Sho the championship certificate of the Sumo winter league tournament, on behalf of Coca-Cola (Japan) Company Ltd., a sponsor of the competition. HE could have become another Gary Valenciano or Ogie Alcasid but big business prevailed. Like the two singers, he was also a member of Kundirana, a singing group that often held concerts outside the school (La Salle Green Hills). The group required that no member had failing marks despite the rigid, almost daily practices. Evaristo Sanchez Francisco Jr. or Titoy for short, had the highest grade point average of his graduating year in the early ’80s. Francisco finished Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Philippines Diliman. He graduated cum laude. “At one point during my childhood, I wanted to be a professional band member. That was the time of the Minstrels, Circus band, etc.” “The closest I got to it was having a one-year stint in Kundirana.” After a series of jobs in major international firms that included Unilever Philippines, Kraft Foods Inc., Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. and Interphil Laboratories, Francisco is now the executive vice president and general manager of Coca-Cola (Japan) Co. Ltd. Below is a Q&A with one of the country’s successful expatriates: Global Pinoy (GP): Please describe a typical day for you. Francisco: It’s been exciting working for a global company like Coca-Cola. We operate in more than 200 countries and we have more than 100,000 employees worldwide. One of the strengths of the Coca-Cola Company is we Read More …

President Barack Obama. AP FILE PHOTO KINGSTON, Jamaica—US President Barack Obama said Washington is concerned China is using its “sheer size and muscle” to push around smaller nations in the South China Sea, just hours after Beijing gave a detailed defense of its creation of artificial islands in the contested waterway. China’s rapid reclamation around seven reefs in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea has alarmed other claimants, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, and drawn growing criticism from US government officials and the military. While the new islands will not overturn US military superiority in the region, workers are building ports and fuel storage depots and possibly two airstrips that experts have said would allow Beijing to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. “Where we get concerned with China is where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms and rules, and is using its sheer size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions,” Obama told a town-hall event in Jamaica on Thursday ahead of a Caribbean summit in Panama. “We think this can be solved diplomatically, but just because the Philippines or Vietnam are not as large as China doesn’t mean that they can just be elbowed aside,” he said. The United States has no claim of its own, but broadly supports its Asian allies against Chinese pressure and has asserted that freedom of navigation is in its national interest. China rejoinder Beijing immediately rejected Obama’s comments, saying it only seeks Read More …

WATCH: Rep. Leni Robredo speaking in San Francisco/Video By Vic Valbuena Bareng SAN FRANCISCO –- Commenting on the efforts of some Philippine civic groups to make her run for president next year, Rep. Leni Robredo told more than a hundred Filipinos who came to see her March 20 at the Philippine Center, “I’ve learned never to say ‘never.’” The congresswoman from Camarines Norte’s 3rd District, recalled having to retract — at the last minute — her vow not to run for office after the untimely death of her highly respected husband, Jesse Robredo; the pressure from local residents was overwhelming, she said. She won by a landslide, defeating an opponent from a powerful local political dynasty. “But I would really like to finish the work I started in my district because lot more needs to be done,” Robredo qualified. While Naga may be a model city where a lot of reforms have borne fruit, she reported that poverty, malnutrition, bad governance and inefficient social services still haunt the surrounding towns in her district. Not done with her district Mayor Joe Esteves of Milpitas giving Rep. Leni Robredo the key to his city. INQUIRER.NET PHOTO Robredo had spoken to “200 Bicolanos” in San Leandro, across the San Francisco Bay, and her public appearances here were among her first as a visiting elected government official of the Philippines. The UP Alumni Association of San Francisco hosted her speech at the Philippine Center. Robredo related the many challenges her district faces, describing the poverty and deprivation Read More …