INFLATION could continue crawling upward in the next two years after hitting a seven-month high in December, ING Bank said yesterday, though it sees price growth settling at the low end of the central bank’s medium-term target range of 2%-4%.
No rest for the wicked. This expression finds its origin in the book of Isaiah 48:22 “There is no peace for the wicked.” Today, stripped from its Biblical context, it’s a modern idiom to mean continuing with the work despite weariness. In the corporate world, it has associations with productivity.
Kris Bernal (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) — KRIS Bernal is ecstatic over the good feedback she is getting for her persuasive portrayal of Tinay, an intellectually challenged young woman fighting for her own place in the sun in “Little Nanay”. Regular viewers are now even imitating her in saying her favorite expression: “Happy lang.” If you don’t really know her, you’d think she’s really mentally disabled as she looks so natural in her interpretation of the role. “Naku, laking pasasalamat ko talaga na sa akin napunta ang role na ito,” says Kris. “It’s really so different from any role that I’ve played before. Na-challenge talaga ang buong pagkatao ko. But I don’t want to claim the credit alone kasi malaki ang tulong ng co-stars ko rito, lalo na ang gumaganap na grandparents ko, sina Nora Aunor at Bembol Roco, na very supportive talaga kapag kasama ko sila sa eksena. Magaling lahat ng kasama ko rito, pati sina Mark Herras, Hiro Peralta, Juancho Triviño and even ang kontrabidang ina ni Hiro, si Gladys Reyes. Hindi ko maitatawid nang maayos ang role ko kung hindi dahil sa tulong nila. Mai-inspire ka to give your best when you have co-stars like them.” When it comes to her love life, she denies that she’s now playing beautiful music with Kapuso co-actor Lucho Ayala? “Nagkasama kami sa isang play ng PETA pero hindi kami. Sobrang busy ako ngayon sa ‘Little Nanay’ so trabaho lang talaga ang focus ko sa ngayon.” What can she say now Read More …
Senator Grace Poe (MNS photo) MANILA, Jan 5 (Mabuhay) — Did President Aquino pressure Solicitor General Florin Hilbay to back the Senate Electoral Tribunal in the case of the disqualification of presidential aspirant Grace Poe? “Sa tingin ko wala,” said former Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes, noting that Solicitor General Florin Hilbay is a very intelligent lawyer. Brillantes said Hilbay’s position is to “protect his client”, which in this case is the Senate Electoral Tribunal. The SET majority earlier ruled that Poe is a natural-born Filipino and is thus qualified to run for president in 2016. This runs counter to the Commission on Elections’ ruling that Poe cannot run for president because she lacked the 10-year residency requirement and is not a natural born Filipino The Solicitor General earlier wrote to the Commission on Elections, saying he cannot represent the Comelec before the Supreme Court since his position is opposite that of the poll body. Brillantes, a former poll chief, said it was not the first time that the SolGen did not side with Comelec on an issue. “That really happens. When I was in the Comelec, there are times when SolGen said our position is opposite yours so kayo na ang bahala,” he said. He said the Comelec can tap its own law department to represent the poll body in the oral arguments before the Supreme Court later this month. Brillantes said Comelec Chairman Andy Bautista and Senior Commissioner Christian Robert Lim cannot represent the poll body before the SC Read More …
Fellow Senators Grace Poe Llamanzares and Francisco Escudero recently declared their intent to run for president and vice president, respectively. Escudero, in his announcement, stressed that ideal contenders for public office should only be beholden to the Filipino people. MANILA, Jan 5 (Mabuhay) – The position of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) that Senator Grace Poe was a natural-born Filipino citizen bolstered claims that the Commission of Elections’ (Comelec) decision to cancel her certificate of candidacy (CoC) for president was “wrong and unfair,” Senator Francis Escudero said on Tuesday. Escudero, running mate of Poe, said this was also a “vindication” for the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) that junked a quo warranto petition filed by defeated senatorial bet Rizalito David that seeks to unseat Poe as senator over her citizenship. “The Solicitor General, the statutorily appointed lawyer of the Philippine government, and 10 other solicitors are of the firm belief that Sen. Grace Poe is a natural-born Filipino,” he said in a statement. “This is vindication for the majority of the SET, who were criticized by some sectors for deciding supposedly based on political and emotional considerations.” “No less than the OSG recognizes that the Constitution and its framers never wanted to discriminate against foundlings and that foundlings were always meant to be natural-born Filipinos—which is what Sen. Grace has been saying all along,” Escudero added. Escudero said the OSG’s comment submitted to the Supreme Court runs contrary to the decision of the Comelec to cancel Poe’s CoC on Read More …
Rep. Imelda Marcos sits with a book in her hands during the launch of their product, “Imeldifique” cooking wines, at a restaurant in Quezon City on Tuesday. The Marcoses are trying to solidify their return to power, with Sen. Bongbong Marcos running for vice president in the May 2016 elections.(MNS photo) MANILA, Jan 5 (Mabuhay) — Malacañang on Tuesday welcomed the decision of a Sandiganbayan division ordering the Marcoses and the family of alleged Marcos crony Alfonso Lim to return all properties claimed by the government. The decision on the 28-year civil case – filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in 1987 – was a “significant win for the Filipino people,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement. “The judgment rendered by the Sandiganbayan is a significant win for the Filipino people in the long-term effort to recover assets that had been illegally acquired during the dictatorship by known cronies of then President Ferdinand Marcos,” he said. In a 35-page decision, the Sandiganbayan Second Division ordered the Marcos and Lim families to return various properties which were found to be illegally obtained through timber concessions and management contracts which “unjustly enriched” both families. The PCGG will implement the decision once it attains finality, Coloma noted. The Lims are owners of the logging companies Taggat Industries Inc. and Pamplona Redwood Veneer Co. Inc. According to the Sandiganbayan, the remaining assets registered to Alfonso Lim which may be considered for possible compromise settlements are parcels of land Read More …
Members of a religious group rally outside the Senate while the inquiry on the Mamasapano clash is ongoing on Monday. The group called for the scrapping of the Bangsamoro Basic Law in light of the clash that claimed the lives of 44 SAF policemen in the hands of Muslim rebels. (MNS photo) MANILA Jan 5 (Mabuhay) — The Senate will reopen its hearing on the Mamasapano incident on January 25, exactly a year after the bloody police operation which resulted in the deaths of over 60 people, including 44 elite police officers and at least 17 fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Sen. Grace Poe, head of the public order and dangerous drugs committee conducting the probe, said the hearing will be held at the Senate session hall at 10 in the morning. The hearing will commence following the Senate Rules committee’s decision to return the Mamasapano report to Poe’s committee upon the request of Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile. “It’s good that the Rules Committee gave a go signal that additional hearing/s can be called, in response to Minority Leader Enrile’s request to call such, citing his personal information, and possibly new evidence,” Poe said in a statement. “Let it be stated as I manifested before, the new hearing/s will not affect or void our earlier findings. Our Committee Report has been signed by 21 members. Lagi namang may puwang kung may bagong ebidensya,” she added. The committee report stated that President Benigno Aquino III is responsible for Read More …
By Abner Galino Lakers Hall of Fame Kareem Abdul-Jabbar waves to the crowd as the team’s “Every Second Is An Adventure” float rolls along Colorado Boulevard. Photo: Odette Galino First, the news: Skywriters benefitted from a cloudless blue sky off the scenic town of Pasadena to trash Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Five planes circled the skies and wrote: America is great. Trump is disgusting. Anybody but Trump. The letters that formed out of white smoke spewed out from the planes frittered away almost as fast they were written in the sky. But the buzz that was created by the messages lingered in all of social media channels. It turned out that the skywriters were paid by someone from Alabama who was identified by mainstream news sources as Stan Pate. The same sources disclosed that Pate was actually someone who has a lot of similarities with Trump, among them: he is also a Republican, also a millionaire (or a billionaire), also involved in real estate business, also active in politics and also somewhat raucous. Apparently, the skywriting was meant for the Iowans – who were from a state that conducts its party candidates’ nominations ahead of the other US states – who flew in to Los Angeles in droves to support their football team known as the Hawkeyes. The Iowa Hawkeyes were routed by the Stanford Cardinals in a subsequent football showdown in a related event known as the Rose Bowl to a blowout score of 45-16. A lost that Read More …
Misfit Ray activity tracker©Photo: Business Wire (Relaxnews) – Fitness monitoring device maker Misfit has introduced its latest wearable fitness and sleep monitor. Its modular design and customizable cylindrical aluminum body makes it Misfit’s most versatile tracker to date. It can be worn on the wrist or as a necklace. The Misfit Ray it is only 12 mm in diameter and 38 mm long. It tracks activity and sleep with a 3-axis accelerometer. It has a single multicolored LED eye and offers inactivity nudges, as well as text, call notifications and a silent alarm. Misfit Ray never requires charging. It has a user-replaceable battery that last up to 6 months. It is also water resistant up to 50 meters. Misfit Ray is on display at the CES electronics trade fare. It is now available for pre-order at misfit.com and will be in retail stores worldwide in spring. lk/cm
A Porsche 911 S 2,7 from 1974©Porsche (Relaxnews) – In recent years the classic car market has gone into overdrive to the point where a classic Ferrari built between 1955 and 1965 is literally worth more than its weight in gold. But while vintage cars with a prancing horse on their hoods continue to command the highest premiums at public and private sales, trends and tastes are starting to change. According to US-based classic car valuations and insurance company Hagerty, the market is starting to slow down, but that’s hardly surprising. In the US alone, a new record — $1.45 billion—for classic car spending was set over the course of 2015. And, $28,050,000 of that was spent on just one car, a 1956 Ferrari 290 MM Spider. That made it the most expensive car to fall under the hammer this calendar year, and the entire top 10 for 2015 are also classic Ferraris, accounting for over 10% of all money paid for classics and collectables over the period. The world is running out of Ferraris to sell, and as a new generation of car collector comes of age, a noticeable change is starting to occur. “The market is still growing, but at a slower rate than we have witnessed in the past three years,” said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty. “The notable exception is rapid growth among younger buyers who have entered the market and are exercising their buying power by spending on the poster cars of their youth.” As Read More …