Daniel Matsunaga finally got his moment as ringmaster of Cosmo Carnival 2015.
Sep 082015
Sep 082015
Real estate developer Deca Homes gives home buyers important housing loan tips. MANILA, Philippines – A recent Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) report reveals that more Filipinos are optimistic about the country’s real estate sector. In the Consumer Expectation Survey for the second quarter of the year, 30.3 percent of households see this quarter as a favorable time to buy high-priced items like housing, motor vehicles and consumer durables. This optimism is largely driven by the improved outlook of consumers on real estate which people in the Metro consider as “a good investment and a means to avoid house rental fees”. But a house purchase always begins with facing critical money issues like your budget and financing source. While a lot of home loan providers these days have made the interest rates more competitive and the process simpler and easier, you still need to be on your guard while shopping around. Deca Homes gives you some tips on how you can be sure of your financing choice. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 READ MORE: How not to buy and get trapped in a bad house INFOGRAPHIC: Smart–and even smarter–ways to use your extra money INFOGRAPHIC: Did you know that your P30,000 salary can buy you a home? INFOGRAPHIC: What type of home buyer are you? TIMELINE: Deca homes through the years
Sep 082015
INQUIRER.net U.S. Bureau September 9th, 2015 01:33 AM Toronto airline fraud suspect Lorna Natalie Arcega. TORONTO POLICE PHOTO SAN FRANCISCO – Police in Toronto, Canada, arrested a Filipina on fraud charges after she pretended to be an authorized travel agent, sold flights to the Philippines, but never gave clients the tickets they paid for. Lorna Natalie Arcega, 38, allegedly promised customers low fares on flights to the Philippines and took customers’ credit card information, according to CTV News Toronto. Arcega allegedly used the credit card information to make unauthorized purchases totaling approximately $150,000. She was arrested in Toronto on Thursday, August 27, facing a total of 18 charges including multiple counts of fraud over $5,000, unauthorized use of credit card data, and false pretense over $5,000. The Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) has also laid charges under the Travel Industry Act of Ontario. Arcega is expected to appear in court at the end of September. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2433, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477). Like us on Facebook Latest Filipina arrested in Toronto for alleged airline ticket fraud Golf, wine fundraiser reaps $150K for PH development education Unique Filipino orchestra in L.A. to perform pop, OPM in Nov. Early goals foiled Azkals’ gameplan, says Schrock Recommended Golf, wine fundraiser reaps $150K for PH development education Unique Filipino orchestra in L.A. to perform pop, OPM in Nov. PH Red Cross to buy Alaska borough’s idled ferry for $1.75M Groups urge immigrants to naturalize as U.S. Read More …
Sep 082015
INQUIRER.net U.S. Bureau By: Esther Misa Chavez, September 9th, 2015 01:32 AM Over-All Champions, father and son, Jaden Dumdumaya (9 years old) and his dad, Stan Dumdumaya, with their trophies. Behind are Chito Desuasido, Maria Banatao and Sonny Manuel at the PhilDev golf-wine fundraiser. PHOTO BY ESTHER CHAVEZ SAN FRANCISCO — Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev), a Menlo Park, California-based nonprofit, raised $75,000 at its successful Inaugural Golf Tournament on August 29 at wine country’s Chardonnay Golf Club in American Canyon, California. The amount will be matched by the group’s founder, Dado Banatao. In addition to welcoming 114 golfers, PhilDev also hosted a sold-out wine tour and a dinner-dance affair, attended by over 300 guests. Supported by over 30 volunteers, it was the first time that such a 3-in-1 event was held, with rave reviews from all the attendees. Golfers were delighted to find their custom goodie bags overflowing with gifts and snack items. Winning opportunities ran the gamut from “nearest to the pin” in all Par 3 holes to two “Hole-in-one” prizes: a brand-new Toyota Camry and a one-week get-away in Kauai (no one made a whole-in-one though.) Drinks were available including complimentary beers at the 10th hole hosted by Morgan Stanley. A full house at Grove Ballroom. PHOTO BY TOM NELSON The wine tour was a huge success, with PhilDev arranging exclusive wine tasting and cellar tour stops at premium wineries Silver Oak Winery and Whitehall Winery in Napa. A final stop at Cellar Collections introduced attendees to a variety of new wines. Read More …
Sep 082015
INQUIRER.net U.S. Bureau September 9th, 2015 01:31 AM LOS ANGELES — The Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO) is returning to the iconic Alex Theatre in Glendale, California, where it earned cheers and praises for its very successful “FASO Goes Broadway” last April. It will be tackling pop music this time. “FASO Goes Pops!” on November 14 continues the orchestra’s tradition of presenting quality, entertaining concerts. “If the audience enjoyed ‘FASO Goes Broadway,’ this one will bring them to another level of fun and excitement,” promised Robert “Bob” Shroder, the musical director and conductor of the only Filipino symphony orchestra outside of the Philippines. “We auditioned a set of incredibly talented young singers to join FASO for this concert. You will be amazed to see young Pinoy kids perform covers of Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars and some of our favorite OPM (Original Pilipino Music) numbers,” Shroder added. “We are very excited about this show because it is the first time that we are featuring pop music – both mainstream and OPM,” added Luis “Louie” Ramos, FASO board vice president and arranger-in-residence. “We will be honoring iconic OPM composers in the show.” Shroder shared what’s in store for the audience: “We are opening the concert with the old-school ‘William Tell’ overture by Rossini. Then, we’ll kick it right off with mainstream pop music of the 1970s and 1980s. Wear your jersey shirts and blouses, bell-bottom pants and platform shoes to dance to ‘70s tunes like those of the TSOP.” The acclaimed Read More …
Sep 082015
Don’t get too excited over a Malacañang press release announcing NEDA approval of some P131-B worth of mass transport and energy projects. There is no time to complete bidding documents, much less actually implement these projects. Worse, the next administration is likely to put these projects on hold until they can complete their own studies. That was why I was nagging DOTC to get these projects done before P-Noy leaves office. It’s back to square one every time an administration’s term expires and a new one steps up. That LRT1 extension project, for instance, went through the mill under four administrations. While it has now been awarded to the Ayala-MPIC consortium, it has not broken ground because of many technical and legal problems. The standard reply I get when I nag is that DOTC lawyers are carefully vetting all contracts to make sure everything is in order. Unfortunately, despite the delay, the vetting has not been any better. They seem to have serious problems writing the projects’ Terms of Reference, stalling implementation. Indeed, I just found out the LRT-1 Extension to Cavite project is going nowhere. The “winner” discovered the right of way or ROW offered by DOTC and LRTA is not the same as the stipulated alignment. So, they could not start construction. My source told me the Ayala consortium is only responsible for track infrastructure (viaducts and stations). The electromechanical (new depot, signaling, and additional trains) are government-funded via JICA loan. However, drawdown is delayed – we are Read More …
Sep 082015
The so-called catastrophe bond may have its maiden issue this year, amounting to “between $100 million and $300 million,” Purisima told The STAR in a roundtable discussion yesterday. Philstar.com/File MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is in the final stages of discussions on an investment product that would allow the government to eliminate obligations when a natural disaster hits the country, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said. The so-called catastrophe bond may have its maiden issue this year, amounting to “between $100 million and $300 million,” Purisima told The STAR in a roundtable discussion yesterday. “The idea is that if a certain type of catastrophe hits, the bond will be extinguish of the debt, and thus, will open up the financial capability of the government,” he explained. In turn, this would allow the government to allocate more funds as response to the calamity. The government is now working with the World Bank on the mechanisms of the bond, one of which is the rate of return an investor may get from availing of the security. Since the investment product could be riskier than regular bonds issued by the government, Purisima said it would have higher rates. Prevailing concessional loan rates of the multilateral lender would also be considered. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 At present, the World Bank charges around one percent for its concessional loans, while a 25-year benchmark bond issued by the government yields around four percent. “If we can pay a little more than that Read More …
Sep 082015
Last month, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) announced two companies submitted bids for the operations and maintenance service contract of the 650 megawatt (MW) Malaya thermal power plant (MTPP) in Pililla, Rizal. PSALM president and chief executive officer Lourdes Alzona said local firm SPC Malaya Power Corp. and STX Marine Services Co. Ltd. of Korea have already submitted bids for the contract, but these are still subject to post-qualification of the bidders. The 40-year-old Malaya thermal power plant, composed of two units with a dependable capacity of 290 MW and 340 MW each, is now being operated by STX whose current contract ends on Sept. 25. The operations and maintenance contract of the Malaya thermal power plant has an approved budget of P457.27 million. But employees of MTPP want the current operator STX to be disqualified from participating in the bid for a new O&M contract for the period Oct. 26, 2015 to Oct. 25, 2016. They claim STX Marine has no experience and is not competent to operate and maintain a power plant as big as the 650-MW MTPP as the company’s core business consists of ship building and maintenance. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 It is also alleged STX Marine is already bankrupt, that the mother company has already applied for bankruptcy in South Korea, and that this fact was on the Internet and known to PSALM when STX won the bid in September 2014. Reports also revealed that while Read More …
Sep 082015
9 Philippine government officials are currently in Washington D.C. to attend the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on disaster risk management WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a development expected to promote greater Philippines-US cooperation on disaster risk reduction issues, nine (9) Philippine government officials are currently in Washington D.C. to attend the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on disaster risk management (DRM). The participants, coming from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Department of National Defense, the Philippine National Police, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the city governments of Pasay, Pasig and Tacloban, are meeting with US government and non-government officials to exchange views and knowledge on DRM. The program, which commenced on 30 August and will conclude on 19 September, takes the Filipino officials to interactive sessions with their American counterparts in the capital and five (5) other US cities. Leading the group is Philippine Navy Captain Roy Vincent Trinidad, recipient of the 2015 Aquino Fellowship Award for Public Service. Currently serving as Chief of Staff of Naval Forces Western Mindanao in Zamboanga City, Captain Trinidad is widely recognized for his effective leadership as commander in charge of coordinating the civil-military relief operations in Tacloban Airport following the November 2013 onslaught of Typhoon Haiyan. Also part of the group is Pasay City Administrator Dennis Bernard Acorda. Atty. Acorda earned praises for the timely establishment of a ‘Tent City’ in Manila for Filipinos from Samar and Leyte displaced by Typhoon Haiyan. The operation involved the Read More …
Sep 082015
The presidential candidacy of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte appears to be gaining ground as support from people from all sectors of society, as well as from disgruntled political leaders, continue to swell everyday. A few days ago, the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP-Laban) bolted from their coalition with the Liberal Party (LP) of President Aquino to form an alliance to support the presidential bid of Mayor Duterte. The NP is headed by former Senate President Manny Villar and his Senator wife, Cynthia Villar. PDP-Laban, on the other hand, is led by former Senator Aquilino Pimentel and his Senator Son, Koko Pimentel. The Villars and Pimentels said that they have decided to throw their support to Duterte because they found the controversial mayor to be the strongest contender that can do more for the country in the fields of economics and peace and order. Mayor Duterte, who was present when the NP and PDP-Laban alliance was formed in a hotel in Metro Manila, was overjoyed and grateful for the support the political leaders of both parties have have extended to him. He said he is comfortable running under the NP banner since his father, former Governor Vicente Duterte was has been an NP throughout his political life. NP and PDP-Laban leaders also gave Mayor Duterte a free hand to choose his vice presidential running mate. As of this writing, they are saying that it is a toss-up between Senator Bongbong Marcos or Senator Alan Cayetano. Mayor Read More …