November 2012 Issue

PHILIPPINES Connecting Global News & Views For The Community

UK & Europe Edition

November 2012

INSIDE

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1st Reel Gate International Film Festival • Business & Finance • Celebrity, Showbiz & Entertainment • Events Diary • Global News • HP News • Lifestyle News • Philippine Tourism • Politics • Social Issues • Special Feature Volume 3 - Number 20

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OBAMA HUG, MAKES FACEBOOK HISTORY

A MOVING MOMENT 17

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HELLO PHILIPPINES

SPECIAL FEATURE

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November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

Obama hugs Michelle, and makes Facebook history Marianne Barriaux, AFP IT was a moving photo like countless others on Facebook, but the caption “four more years” said it all – US President Barack Obama had won re-election, and was about to make social media history.

After a months-long, gruelling presidential campaign fought both off- and online, Obama sealed his tech-savvy reputation late Tuesday by announcing his victory over Republican foe Mitt Romney on Twitter and Facebook with the photo.

By early Wednesday, November 7, the shot of a smiling Obama holding his wife Michelle in a loving embrace had already broken records on both social networks – bringing to a climax a hard-fought online campaign for supporters and votes.

“This Barack Obama photo is the most-liked Facebook photo of all time,” the social network announced Wednesday, as it clocked up more than 3.5 million “likes”.

The picture was actually taken in August in Iowa, at a time when a weary president seemed to lack the necessary spark to win re-election.

Wearing a simple red-and-white checked dress with a blue belt, the First Lady had joined her husband at the end of an exhausting threeday bus tour of the Midwest, giving his battered political brand a timely jolt of energy.

Not only had she appeared to reinvigorate the president, but her dress also drew countless comments, reportedly purchased for just under $90 on online fashion store ASOS.com.

On Twitter, the photo of the 44th US president hugging his wife had been retweeted 714,800 times midWednesday, far outpacing singer Justin Bieber whose tribute to a fan who died of cancer held the previous record in popularity.

The president’s emotional announcements on Twitter and Facebook mark the culmination of a sophisticated, months-long social media campaign that has seen Obama’s team work the popular platforms hard to garner supporters and votes.

Social networks emerged as key tools in the US presidential campaign, with both Obama and his Republican foe Mitt Romney staging major pushes on the platforms.

But while Romney has increased his presence hugely on social media compared to 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Obama is seen as having retained the upper hand from his successful online campaign four years ago.

Zach Green, head of Twitter political consultants 140Elect, said the president’s 2012 campaign “broke new ground.”

“The picture said it all – it made everyone feel closer to the campaign in a way that hasn’t been done before,” he said.

Obama’s team blanketed many platforms, from the better-known Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, to blogging platform Tumblr and Pinterest – the latest phenomenon that allows users to post and share photos put together by theme.

They also carried out innovative initiatives, such as Twitter town halls with the president or his top advisors that allowed anyone on the social network to ask them questions.

Obama also checked in on social news site Reddit in August to have a live chat with the public on issues as varied as hurricane relief efforts, the space program and Internet freedom.

And just hours before polls began to close in states around the country Tuesday, November 6, he took to Reddit again to appeal for votes, and kept tweeting through the evening to remind people to cast their ballots.

“It’s really about a connected relationship with him, it doesn’t feel like he’s just someone out there, there is connectedness,” said Green, pointing out that the Obama camp tweeted far more often than Romney’s team.

“It shows that the model of very active engagement, having a loud voice seems to be effective,” he added.

“But it’s hard to prove that he wouldn’t have won without this.”

©AFP, Jewel Samad

■ (©AFP – Washington, USA – November 7, 2012)

US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama acknowledge supporters.

©AFP, Lionel Bonaventure

A view of Barack Obama’s victory tweet.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

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Stephen Collinson, AFP BARACK Obama’s re-election for another term in the White House opens a new chapter in the already historic tale of the first black president of a nation scarred at birth by a deep racial fault line.

But for Obama partisans his reelection was essential. Only with a full eight years at the helm of the US presidency will he be remembered for the change he wrought and not just for the change he represented.

Though it was key to the euphoria that greeted his first election in 2008, Obama’s race has rarely been a dominant political theme since.

Quickly, the same political dynamics faced by many of his predecessors: divided, vicious, partisan politics threatened to swamp the 44th US president.

All presidents crave the validation of a second term but for Obama that desire may have been even more keen, as his Republican foe Mitt Romney had vowed to quickly reverse much of his legacy.

Obama’s whole political project, the idea that America is not as divided as it seems, that a grass roots movement can change a nation from the bottom up, and that hope has tangible political power, was on the line.

“Our destiny is not written for us; it’s written by us,” Obama told a crowd at

a recent New Hampshire rally, seeking to revive the sense of possibility that powered his first election win, but has since dissolved.

“We look forward to that distant horizon, to that new frontier. We imagine a better America and then we work hard to make it happen.”

Now, much of Obama’s second term will be devoted to cementing the legacy of his first.

He will enshrine his health care reform — the most sweeping social legislation for 50 years, which Romney promises to end on his first day in the Oval Office — deep into American life.

Obama may get several more chances to reshape the Supreme Court for a generation, after adding two women, including the first Hispanic justice in his first term.

And the president, 51, will solidify his reforms on gay rights, women’s rights, student loans and financial reform and may yet even seek ways to tackle global warming and immigration reform.

Obama, now a graying, sometimes terse and wizened figure is a changed man from the beaming young dreamer who bounced onstage in early 2007, on a bitterly chill day in Illinois, and announced his presidential bid.

“You have seen the scars on me to prove it. You’ve seen the gray hair on my head to show you what it means for fight for change, and you have been

©AFP, Nicholas Kamm

People celebrate in front of the White House in Washington.

there with me,” he told a crowd on Monday in Madison, Wisconsin.

Rocketing from political obscurity, Obama, a senator for only two years, promised to use “the power of hope” to transform a nation – a message he belted out to massive 2008 crowds, often moving his audience to tears.

He invoked a politics where people could “disagree without being disagreeable.”

But the hope and optimism of his win over Republican John McCain barely survived the first contact with polarized Washington politics.

Obama the president emerged as an elusive figure of many contradictions.

A Nobel Peace laureate who got US troops out of Iraq, Obama ruthlessly applied lethal force in a drone war and the mission to kill Osama bin Laden.

Candidate Obama chided political leaders who feuded over “small things” yet lambasted his 2012 foe for a flip flopping condition he calls “Romnesia.”

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

©AFP/File

Re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama.

Obama inspired a generation to get into politics for the first time: but once president, appeared to disdain the grubby business of getting things done in Washington.

He was devoted to the grand gesture on the world stage — for example his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in 2009 — but despite some success, his presidency hardly transformed America’s place in the world.

And the hope that exploded in 2008 soon fizzled.

Four years on, Obama is locked in a grim grind to the finish with the joy of four years ago but a memory.

Some things have not changed.

Obama retains the burning self confidence, — foes call it arrogance — and a fierce will to win.

In its way, victory on Tuesday night could be historic in its own right, as Obama defied a level of economic blight that made other presidents one termers.

Busting convention is written in

Obama’s political DNA – not for him a political apprenticeship in the Senate: he left to slay the mighty Hillary Clinton machine in the 2008 Democratic primary.

Matching dazzling oratory with a formidable grass roots network, Obama, along with cerebral aides like David Plouffe, re-invented how US elections are won in 2008.

His massive operation will redefine re-election races if he wins next week.

Obama, despite the claims of conservative conspiracy theorists, was born in Hawaii in 1961 to a black Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas. His father abandoned the family when “Barry” Obama was just two.

His mother Ann, an anthropologist who died in 1995, took her son with his new stepfather to Indonesia and he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii in his restless teens.

After attending an elite Hawaii academy and two colleges including Columbia University in New York, Obama went to the elite Harvard Law School and was the first AfricanAmerican to edit the Harvard Law Review.

Married in 1992 to Michelle, a fellow lawyer, Obama rose through bare-knuckle world of Illinois politics then announced himself to the world at the 2004 Democratic convention.

■ (©AFP – Washington, USA – November 7, 2012)

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HELLO PHILIPPINES

POLITICS

www.hello-philippines.com

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

Arroyo refuses to enter plea to fight corruption and prosecute Arroyo.

Government prosecutors charged Arroyo with vote fraud in November last year for allegedly rigging the 2007 senatorial vote.

She spent most of the next eight months under detention at a military hospital, where she was treated for a spinal disease that requires her to wear the neck brace.

However Arroyo won bail in July this year, with the court saying the case against her was weak.

She was re-arrested early this month on the charge of conspiring to defraud the state lottery to finance an election campaign, and could face life in jail if found guilty.

Arroyo has been allowed to remain at the same military hospital since being hit with the vote fraud charge.

She was placed on intensive care this month to clear a blockage that prevented oxygen supply to her heart.

She is now recovering from that condition.

Arroyo is also facing a third graft charge involving a deal with a Chinese telecom firm in which her husband allegedly received kickbacks in exchange for her approving a national Internet broadband network.

Court resolutions to these cases are expected to drag for years in the country’s slow justice system. ■ (AFP –

October 29, 2012)

©AFP/HO, Ernesto Lasig

Gloria Arroyo ended her time in power as one of the country’s most unpopular presidents.

Original Creation and Copyright Reserved By: Hello Philippines 2012

FORMER president Gloria Arroyo refused to enter a plea on Monday, October 29, on a graft charge that could see her jailed for life, as she appeared in court wheelchair-bound and wearing a neck brace.

Arroyo sat quietly as judge Efren de la Cruz read the charge that she had plundered 8.8 million dollars in state lottery funds during her time as president from 2001-2010.

One of Arroyo’s lawyers, Ferdinand Topacio, said no plea was entered because her legal team had questioned the legality of charge with the Supreme Court, which had yet to issue a ruling on the motion.

“This arrest, as we have said before, is illegal and baseless,” Topacio told AFP. “It is a right of anyone accused not to enter a plea.”

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in the country.

However de la Cruz entered a “not guilty” on Arroyo’s behalf and asked the defence and prosecution to return on December 3 for a preliminary session during which both sides will present their list of witnesses.

Arroyo ended her time in power as one of the country’s most unpopular presidents, amid allegations she had cheated to win elections, embraced feared warlords as allies and was involved in widespread corruption.

Her successor, Benigno Aquino, won a landslide election after vowing

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HELLO PHILIPPINES

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ISSUES

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November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

Laws that criminalize gays ‘hurt HIV treatment’ Kerry Sheridan, AFP LAWS that criminalize gay behavior create a a host of legal tangles that waste resources and hinder an effective response to HIV/ AIDS worldwide, an independent commission reported.

The report by the Global Commission on HIV and the Law also pointed to laws that make sex work a crime, laws that prevent interventions with injecting drug workers, and legislation that denies youths access to sex education.

“Too many countries waste vital resources by enforcing archaic laws that ignore science and perpetuate stigma,” said a statement by former president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who serves as chair of the commission.

“We have a chance to free future generations from the threat of HIV. We cannot allow injustice and intolerance to undercut this progress.”

The commission is made up of former heads of state and top global experts in the human immunodeficiency virus. The panel is supported by the United Nations Development Program.

Its report is based on “extensive research and first-hand accounts from more than 1,000 people in 140 countries,” the commission said in a statement.

Other key woes include laws and customs that deny the rights of women and girls, from genital mutilation to denial of property rights to allowing marital rape, because

such practices can undermine their ability to negotiate safe sex.

More than 60 countries make it a crime to expose another person to HIV, which can discourage people who think they may be infected from getting tested to find out their status.

“There have been over 600 HIV positive cases of convictions in some 24 countries over the last number of years for transmission and nondisclosure and the majority of those lie in the United States and Canada,” said Stephen Lewis, co-founder of AIDS-Free World.

California Congresswoman Barbara Lee said that 34 US states have laws on the books that make it a crime to expose another person to HIV, and as many as 39 states have prosecuted people for exposure, non-disclosure, and/or transmission of HIV. Such legal practices can impede access to testing and treatment among critical populations like African-American gay and bisexual men, and African-American women who make up 60 percent of new infections in the US, said Lee who has authored a bill seeking to remove those laws.

“When a country such as the United States – and many countries throughout the world -- has punitive laws or practices directed to these populations they directly impact and undermine the prevention and treatment efforts from these communities,” said Lee. She also lamented the stance taken by the US President’s

Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) that any organization receiving funds must explicitly oppose prostitution and sex trafficking.

PEPFAR’s anti-prostitution pledge “doesn’t make any sense. It impedes the global HIV response by preventing international health organizations from providing evidence-based services to at-risk groups,” she said.

In addition, complicated intellectual property restrictions can make it impossible to provide lowcost AIDS drugs to people in need, the report said.

The commission singled out several countries by name, including Iran and Yemen which impose the death penalty for homosexual acts; and Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Malaysia and the Philippines for criminalizing interventions for drug users.

Some better approaches are seen in Switzerland and Australia, where programs to provide clean needles to injecting drug users have “almost completely stopped new HIV infections” in that group, the report said.

Lee also praised for South Africa, Botswana, Malawi and Indonesia for “moving in the right direction.”

Almost 60 million people have been infected by HIV, while 25 million people have been killed by causes related to the virus since the epidemic started some three decades ago, according to data published by UNAIDS. ■ (©AFP – Washington, USA – July 2012)

©AFP/File, Sergei Supinsky

A nurse takes a blood sample at an HIV/AIDS clinic in Kiev. ©AFP/File, Lakruwan Wanniarachchi

Almost 60 million people have been infected by HIV. ©AFP/File, Peter Kohalmi

A participant holds a rainbow flag during a Gay Pride parade in Budapest.

Discrimination fuels rise of HIV in Philippines DISCRIMINATION against homosexuals and people infected with HIV is contributing to the rapid rise of the incurable disease in the ©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

A vendor sits next to a world AIDS day poster.

Philippines, officials and health activists.

Despite the country’s tolerant image, people with HIV are being

ostracised by their communities and even by doctors, the officials said at a forum on the rights of infected people.

Among the forms of discrimination are people being tested without their knowledge, test results being leaked and infected people being detained, quarantined and even forced to leave their homes.

“AIDS is the modern day leprosy,” said Edu Razon, head of Pinoy Plus, an association of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. As a result, many people hide the fact that they are infected or even avoid testing outright, making it harder to prevent the spread of the disease.

“People don’t want to be tested because of the stigma. There is this fatalistic notion – they’d rather not know,” Razon told the forum.

The number of HIV/AIDS cases detected in the Philippines, which has a population of 94 million people, is still relatively small with only 9,669 cases recorded since 1984, health department figures show.

But the Philippines is one of only seven countries listed by UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) to have suffered rising infection rates in 2010.

Susan Gregorio, executive director of the government’s AIDS council, said there were an estimated 27,840 cases of HIV/ AIDS in the Philippines this year, with that figure expected to climb to 35,940 by 2015.

Infection rates are rising particularly among homosexual men and are spreading outside of the highly-urbanised areas where the virus used to be concentrated, she warned.

Discrimination against homosexuals and transsexuals is further deterring them from being tested, the health activists said.

“Society embraces homosexuals as long as we make you laugh (and) as long as we don’t demand special rights,” said Jonas Bagas, executive director of TLF-Share, a gay rights group.

He told the forum that police in Manila routinely raided establishments frequented by gay men so they could extort money from them. ■ (©AFP – Manila, Philippines – July 2012)

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POLITICS & SOCIAL ISSUES

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November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

Philippine peace plan offers economic hope JOEY Peneza plants palm trees on his farm in the southern Philippines with fresh optimism, buoyed by a peace pact he hopes will finally see the violence-plagued region prosper.

Peneza spent the past two decades working abroad as a sailor, safe from the Muslim separatist rebellion that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and left large tracts of the country’s south mired in deep poverty and corruption.

But he returned to the Mindanao region recently to establish a small palm oil farm, hoping that an imminent peace deal between the government and the rebels would finally allow him to make a living at home.

“I am taking a big risk here,” Peneza, 38 and a father-of-two, told AFP on a recent visit to his farm.

“But I’m hoping to get a return on my investment soon.”

The peace deal that helped to lure Peneza home was signed on October 15 in Manila at a nationally televised ceremony overseen by President Benigno Aquino and Murad Ebrahim, the chief of 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The MILF has been fighting since the 1970s for independence in Mindanao, the southern third of the mainly Catholic Philippines that the

country’s Muslim minority claim as their ancestral homeland.

The peace pact spells out broad details on how to end the rebellion by 2016, chiefly the creation of an autonomous Muslim homeland on parts of Mindanao.

It also outlines plans to disarm the guerrillas and make them partners in unlocking Mindanao’s vast economic potential.

The government has been quick to claim the new deal will draw foreign investors into Mindanao even before a final peace is achieved.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo boasted last week of “hundreds of millions of dollars” in planned investments for Mindanao over the next 12 to 18 months.

He said diplomats from Japan, Malaysia, India and France had also approached the government inquiring about investing in the mining, power, manufacturing and agribusiness sectors.

Mindanao is believed to have a large chunk of the nation’s estimated $840 billion in gold, copper and other mineral reserves.

It also has vast, fertile plains ripe for farming that have been left uncultivated because of the conflict and general lawlessness of the area.

Domingo said tourism could also play a major role, with Mindanao having a range of natural wonders,

©AFP/File

©AFP/File

Joey Peneza talks to AFP in his farm in Datu Abdullah Sangki in southern Philippines on October 11. Peneza plants palm trees on his farm in the southern Philippines with fresh optimism, buoyed by a peace pact he hopes will finally see the violence-plagued region prosper.

including stretches of pristine whitesand beaches.

But security and business analysts said that expectations of a quick turnaround in fortunes for Mindanao were optimistic at best, and potentially completely unrealistic.

For a start, there is no guarantee that the pact, which consists of only broad commitments from both sides and very few details, will actually lead to a final peace, they said.

The conflict has also led to a proliferation of high-powered guns in the hands of Al-Qaeda-linked militants and other Muslim groups opposed to the deal, any of which could seek to sabotage peace hopes with attacks of their own.

Farmers unload palm oil tree seedlings to be planted in a farm in Datu Abdullah Sangki in southern Philippines on October 11.

Those groups are well known to be behind kidnappings of foreigners and Filipinos, as well as bombings and extortion targeting business people.

“There are no absolute guarantees that this agreement will bring any immediate or even midterm stability to Mindanao,” Richard Jacobson, director of operations at Manilabased political risk consultancy Pacific Strategies and Assessment, told AFP. “Indeed, over the immediate term there could actually be some increased instability in parts of the region.”

Jacobson said small foreign investments might be made in the danger zones soon as a quick response to the deal, primarily from

Malaysia and other Muslim countries looking to exploit agriculture.

“However, at this point in time we expect to see most foreign investors adopt a wait-and-see attitude,” Jacobson said.

John Forbes, a top official of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, also cautioned that foreign business people would not invest until their safety was assured.

“Rule of law and peace and order have to be demonstrated for a period of time before you can get really robust foreign investments,” Forbes said.

“Ultimately there is potential for these investments but it will take a long time.” ■ (©AFP – Manila, Philippines – October 22, 2012)

Original Creation and Copyright Reserved By: Hello Philippines 2012

Jason Gutierrez, AFP

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DATE / TIME

EVENT

2012 CALENDAR OF EVENTS VENUE

2, 3 and 4 November 2012 – Friday, Saturday and Sunday

1st Reel Gate International Film Festival in London and Manila (1st RGIFF) 3 November 2012 Thanksgiving Mass – Saturday for the Canonization 2:00pm of San Pedro Calungsod 17 November 2012 Eat Bulaga! Live in – Saturday London, United Kingdom

23 November to 1 December 2012

Okay Fine, Todo Na’To! – Ms Rufa Mae Quinto

24 November 2012 Little Miss and Mr – Saturday Philippines UK 2012 5:00pm 8 December 2012 – Saturday 6:00pm 9 December 2012 – Sunday 5:00pm to 11:30pm

15 December 2012 – Saturday 4:00pm to 12:00am 16 December 2012 – Sunday 5:00pm to 11:00pm

22 December 2012 - Saturday

EVENTS DIARY

www.hello-philippines.com

19th Annual Christmas Dinner & Dance featuring a Fashion Show Christmas Charity Party for Cancer Research

Pambansang Musiklaban UK Battle of the Bands 2012 – Pinoy Rock Challenge!!! – Battle of the Bands Night Pambansang Musiklaban UK Battle of the Bands 2012 – Pinoy Rock Challenge!!! – Tour Gig with the Champion Band MFBA Thanksgiving / Christmas Party

ORGANISER

Riverside Studio in London

Westminster Cathedral

www.reelgate.com

The Filipino Club Flora Cayaban 07875 867 at Westminster 739 / Eleanor Dayawon Cathedral 07877 027 667

ExCel London, ICC OSN and Hello Auditorium, One Philippines Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, London E16 1XL

23 November – Port Talbot 24 November – Swindon 25 November – Newcastle 30 November – Belfast 1 December – Sussex Baden Powell, 65 – 67 Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5JS

Star Dragon Events UK Limited

Ibis Hotel

Aguman Kapampangan UK

York Sports Club, Clifton Park, Shipton Road, York YO30 5RE

Pinoy Faces Entertainment

Hello Philippines TV Connect 020 3174 1894 07944 026 968 / 07577 813 104 / hptvconnect@hellophilippines.com / www.hptvconnect.com / www.hellophilippines.com / Ticket Prices: £35.00 / £45.00 / £55.00 / £65.00 / £75.00 Premium / £85.00 VIP Port Talbot 07769 273 618 / Swindon 07897 753 064 / Newcastle 07886 742 417 / Belfast 07850 151 678 / Sussex 07827 965 478 Jojo Serra Tseng 07515 475 780 / uk.philippines@yahoo.co. uk

Cancer Research Kim Hawker 07871 446 UK – Filipino 135 / 01904 691 308 / Les Beat Cancer Bright 07758 356 639 / Admission: £10.00 Adult / £5.00 Tennagers / Under 10s Free

The Harrow Club W10, 187 Preston Road, London W10 6TH

Ron Albano 07827 965 478 / Ticket: £20.00

Beaumont Leys, Beaumont Leys School, Ansty Lane, Leicester, LE4 0FL

Colliers Wood Community Centre, 66 – 72 Colliers Wood High Street, London SW19 2BY

CONTACTS / REMARKS

Randy Mana-ay 07967 191 176 / £20.00

Mitcham Filipino British Association (MFBA)

Roger Ferreol 07771 892 997

FREE LISTING of your events on the Hello Philippines newspaper and if you know of any Events do not hesitate to contact us. Please kindly contact us and submit your event via email or text to the following at info@hello-philippines.com / 07553 767 059.

DISCLAIMER: The Events Diary Listing does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by Hello Philippines newspaper. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Hello Philippines newspaper. This is merely an Events Diary Listing of what is happening within the Filipino Communities in Europe. This is for general information only.

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November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

SIMBANG SIMBANG GABIGABI 2012 – SCHEDULE OF MASSES 2012 – SCHEDULE OF MASSES Date / Time

Sponsoring Organization/s

15 December 2012 Saturday 3:00 pm

Filipino Club at Westminster Cathedral Friends of Our Lady of Peñafrancia Filipino Community of Servite Parish Church Filipino Parishioners of St. Mary’s Church, Cadogan Sto. Niño Group of Our Lady of Victories Church Light of Jesus Christ Catholic Community Couples for Christ Greater London Unit Aguman Kapampangan UK Bicol Association UK Carmelite Church Filipino Choir Filipino Women’s Association Ilocano Club-UK

16 December 2012 Sunday 2:00 pm

Contact Person/s Ms. Flora Cayaban Kingscote 07875867739 flora_k78@yahoo.co.uk Ms. Adela Caguimbal 07717493541 adellecag@yahoo.com

Westminster Cathedral Clergy House, 42 Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW

Ms. Zanie del Mundo 078868814232 zaniedelmundo@hotmail.com Mr. Julius Maristela julius_maristela@yahoo.com 07832336085 Ms. Remy Villacruel 07901352381 remediosvillacruel@yahoo.com Mr. Sheidrick de Leon 07738210202 master.sedy@yahoo.co.uk Ms. Christy Sangalang 07709119969 christycortezsangalang@yahoo.co.uk

Carmelite Priory 41 Kensington Church Street, London W8 4BB

16 December 2012 Sunday 3:00 pm

Filchamp Kilburn

16 December 2012 Sunday 3:00 pm

Filipino Community of Blessed Sacrament Parish

16 December 2012 Sunday 6:00 pm

St. Dominic Filipino Community of Waddon

16 December 2012 Sunday 6:00 pm

El Shaddai DWXI-PPFI London Chapter

17 December 2012 Monday 7:00 pm

Filipino Community of St. Patrick in West Hendon

17 December 2012 Monday 7:00 pm

Couples for Christ- Maidenhead

Mr. Rene Garcia tirenebev@aol.com

18 December 2012 Tuesday 8:00 pm

Filipino Community of Roehampton

19 December 2012 Wednesday 7:00 pm

Batangas Association UK Farm Street Filipino Community Order of the Knights of Rizal and Kababaihang Rizalista, London Chapter

19 December 2012 Wednesday 7:00 pm

Filipino Community in Wembley

Ms. Rose Obille 07737389980 robinross1010@hotmail.com Mr. Raff Santiago 07909444340 Ms. Gloria Diaz 02085992630 gloriadiaz44@hotmail.com Ms. Josie Ramos 07723024591 jmramos_13@yahoo.com Ms. Aurea Taguiang 02077247332 taguiang.alfonsoaurea@gmail.com Ms. Lilian Owen 07957550729 lilianowen1@msn.com

20 December 2012 Thursday 6:00 pm

Couples for Christ West London Filipino Prayer Crusade

21 December 2012 Friday 6:00 pm

Couples for Christ

21 December 2012 Friday 6:30 pm

Mitcham Filipino British Association Tooting Filipino Association Carshalton Filipino Association

21 December 2012 Friday 7:00 pm

St. Pius X Filipino Association

21 December 2012 Friday 7:30 pm

Filipino Community in Acton

21 December 2012 Friday 5:00 pm

Couples for Christ Andover

21 December 2012 Friday 7:00 pm 22 December 2012 Saturday 4:00 pm

Magnificat Choir

Mr. Edgar Bautista 07824885553

The Philippine Centre

Ms. Ester Limot Limot 07824375870 ester17limot@aol.com Ms. Nona Tomelden 02085727105 bentomelden@aol.com Fr. Gideon Wagay holloway@rcdow.org.uk

22 December 2012 Saturday 6:00 pm

North London Filipino Group

22 December 2012 Saturday 6:00 pm

Couples for Christ- Guildford

22 December 2012 Saturday 7:30 pm

Kapa-Mill Hill

22 December 2012 Saturday 7:30 pm

Oval Filipino Community

23 December 2012 Sunday 3:00 pm

Couples for Christ Divine Mercy Group of Kensal Filipino Community Filipino Catholic Community in Our Lady of the Holy Souls Couples for Christ Reading Filipino Community

23 December Sunday 6:00 pm

23 December 2012 Sunday 7:00 pm

Share Hope Outreach Stonebridge Filipino Community

Venue

Ms. Merlie Mirto 07722216462 merlie.mirto@gmail.com Ms. Yolanda Livelo 07772353228 yoldan2509@gmail.com Ms. Cecilia Bas 07578368272 Ms. Analita Bash 07553791944 elshaddai.yahweh@yahoo.com Ms. Lilian Owen 07957550729 lilianowen1@msn.com

Mr. Felicito Simon 07795324859 bradmonsi@yahoo.com Mr. Mario Gumogda 07818021874 mariobg73@hotmail.com Mr. Jeck Paler 07717493541 Mr. Ben Mr. Roger 0777189299 Jess Magdaong 07891604638 jessmaguk@yahoo.co.uk Mr. Ronald Cabrera 07799893692 Ms. Tina May

Ms. Maria “Ning” de Zoysa 07886210883 maribeldz19@hotmail.com Ms. Corazon Gonzales 02083541068 07585229006 corazongonzales63@yahoo.com Mr. Jeff Fabrigaras 07403347209

Sr. Oneng Mendoza 01483413980 07871479978 onengmendoza.fmdm@yahoo.co.uk Mr. Sande Gutierrez 07584575411 sjgutierrez@yahoo.com Mr. Arnel Maddalora 07518579420 Mr. Ben Ortiz 07723318486 ben.ortiz@hotmail.co.uk Mr. Ian Alejandro 07912173913 ian78_london@yahoo.co.uk Mr. Agui and Ms. Lita Galang 07892475127 / 07754659580 Mr. Chris Mautsi 07951064688 Mr. Joseph Lontok 07902395741

Presider / Co-celebrants & Choir Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M. Fr. Ari Dy, S.J. Choir: Friends of Our Lady of Peñafrancia Choir and Couples for Christ

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M. Choir: Carmelite Church Filipino Choir

Sacred Heart Church New Priory, Quex Road, Kilburn London NW6 4PS

Presider: Fr. Irvin Morastil, O.M.I.

Blessed Sacrament Parish Church 157 Copenhagen St. Islington, London N1 0SR St. Dominic’s Catholic Church Violet Lane Waddon, Croydon, Surrey CR0 4HN

Presider: Fr. Allan Sator

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel & St. Joseph Church 8A Battersea Park Road, London SW8 4BH St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church 167 The Broadway West Hendon NW9 7EB St. Edmund Campion Roman Catholic Parish 40a Altwood Road Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 4PY St. Joseph’s Catholic Church 218 Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4LE

Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, C.S.

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M.

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M.

Presider: Fr. Claro Conde

Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, C.S.

Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception (Farm Street) 114 Mount St., London W1K 3AH

Presider: Fr. Ari Dy, S.J.

Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph’s Wembley 339 High Road, Wembley, Middlesex HA9 6AG The Holy Cross Chapel, Charring Cross Hospital Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9NT

Presider: Fr. Agustin Paunon

Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church 111 Portsmouth Rd., Frimley, Surrey, GU16 7AA St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church 185 Mitcham Road Tooting, London SW17 9PG Roman Catholic Church of St. Pius X 79 St. Charles Square Ladbroke W10 6EB Our Lady of Lourdes Church Acton High Street London W3 8AA

St. John the Baptist Church Alexandra Road Andover, Hampshire SP10 3AD St. James Church Abbott Walk Reading RG1 3HW Parish of St. Michael and St. Martin 94 Bath Road, Hounslow, Middlesex TW3 3EH

Sacred Heart Of Jesus 62 Eden Grove, Holloway N7 8EN off Holloway Road, opposite Metropolitan University St. Joseph’s Church 12 Eastgate Gardens, Guildford, Surrey GU1 4AZ Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate Church 2 Flower Lane, Mill Hill NW7 2JB

Presider: Fr. Nigel Griffin Fr. Ari Dy, S.J.

Presider: TBC

Presider:

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, S.J.

Presider: Fr. Ari Dy S.J.

Presider: Fr. Norlan Julia, S.J.

Presider: TBC

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M.

Presider: Fr. Gideon Wagay Choir: The Filipino Nurses Group of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church Presider: Fr. Aaron Espenelli

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M.

Church of the Holy Redeemer 20 Brixton Road, London SW9 6BU

Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, C.S.

Our Lady of the Holy Souls 68 Hazelwood Crescent, Kensal Road, W10 5DJ Kensal Road, London

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M.

Christ the King Roman Catholic Church 408 Northumberland Avenue, Reading Berkshire RG2 8NR English Martyrs Church Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park HA9 9EW

Presider: Fr. Pat Madden

Ms. Becky Sarinas Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M. 07949857699 sharehopeoutreach@hotmail.co.uk Ms. Mervic Monocillo 07894636140 olibaf@aol.com ***NOTE: The Oval Filipino Community of the Holy Redeemer Church (RC), Scalabrini Centre, and the Filipino Community of Roehampton, both under the Archidiocese of Southwark and entrusted to the Scalabrini Fathers, are hosting a novena of masses from 15 to 23 December 2012. Following are details of their Simbang Gabi Masses: 15 - 23 December Oval Filipino Community Mr. Ben Ortiz Church of the Holy Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, 2012 07723318486 Redeemer C.S./Scalabrini Fathers 7:30 pm Ms. Anne Rebano 20 Brixton Road, London 07860165596 SW9 6BU anamaryrebano@btinternet.com 15 - 23 December Filipino Community of Roehampton Ms. Rose Obille Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, St. Joseph’s Catholic 2012 07737389980 C.S./Scalabrini Fathers Church 8:00 pm robinross1010@hotmail.com 218 Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4LE

DOT and Jollibee partner for ‘More Fun’ tourism campaign THE Department of Tourism (DOT) inks partnership agreement with the country’s fastfood giant, Jollibee Foods Corporation, in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on October 11, 2012 at the DOT Office in Manila.

“We are most grateful to Jollibee for expressing its support to the country’s tourism campaign. Jollibee is one of the country’s most iconic brands, which have helped define the Filipino way of life and culture. It is one of the most successful Filipino brands that have gained international acclaim. Jollibee’s wide network of stores across the country is seen to help the DOT in amplifying our tourism initiatives. With a brand close to the hearts of Pinoys supporting the campaign, we hope to encourage more people to take an active role and be a part of this exciting and fun endeavor for the tourism industry,” Tourism Secretary Jimenez beamed.

Under the partnership agreement, 239 Jollibee stores out of the 750 branches nationwide will act as tourism information centers where tourists can find maps and brochures provided by DOT. Jollibee will launch an advertising campaign in the form of viral videos, micro sites, press releases, print, and outof-home materials to serve as a seamless tie-in with the current tourism campaign. It will also be able to participate in major Philippine festivals.

Moreover, Jollibee is exploring the possibility of offering discounts to foreign tourists and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Jollibee is set to launch The Happy Filipino website (www.thehappyfilipino.com) this month,

At the MOA Signing rites held at the DOT Auditorium: (L-R) Jollibee Vice-President for Marketing Albert Cuadrante, Jollibee President Jose Miñana, DOT Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr., and DOT Assistant Secretary / Chief-of-Staff Atty. Eugene T. Kaw. At the back are Bogart the Explorer and Jollibee.

which features fun facts about the Philippines and the travel videos of YouTube sensation Bogart the Explorer titled The Happy Filipino, where he is seen touring a foreign guest around the Philippines and showcasing the Filipinos’ jolly nature. Travel enthusiasts will also get a chance to travel the country via the launch of a videomaking contest.

“The characteristics of Jollibee that make it a well-loved brand are the same qualities of Filipinos that make traveling to the Philippines more fun: happiness, hospitality and friendliness.

What keeps us consistently on top is also what sets the Filipino apart from the rest of the world, that beneath the hardwork and tenacity is the fun and happy character that Jollibee exemplifies.

It has always been part of Jollibee’s mission to promote Filipino pride” Jollibee President Jose Miñana expressed.

The DOT, on the other hand, will provide general tourism training to Jollibee store frontliners in select branches located in close proximity to the country’s tourist spots. The DOT will also grant accreditation to Jollibee as an official but non-exclusive DOT partner establishment to further boost tourism awareness in the country.

Secretary Jimenez adds, “For many years, Jollibee has been an advocate of FUN to people of all ages, and this partnership serves to validate our campaign. This partnership also signifies DOT’s openness to working and creating more fun partnerships with the private sector. As I have always underscored, the success of tourism is everyone’s business. We wish to draw more support from the business community akin to Jollibee’s commitment, as we keep the momentum building upward towards our goal of 10 million foreign tourists by 2016.”

From January to August this year, the country welcomed a total of 2.85 million foreign visitors, registering 9.8% growth over the same period last year and reflecting 62% achievement of the 2012 target. All key markets continue to register a positive growth, with Korea, USA, Japan, China, and Taiwan maintain ing their positions as the country’s top 5 tourist generators. Korea remains to be the biggest source, contributing 679,123 visitors for a share of 23.76% of the total volume and posting a 10.39% growth. ■ (DOT – October 15,

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Philippines Department of Tourism offers six “Magical” holidays to the Philippines

THE Philippines Department of Tourism (PDOT) has partnered with Magic 105.4 FM and Cathay Pacific Airways for a two-week campaign of breakfast promotions from 31 October to 11 November, where listeners will have the chance to win one of six dream holidays to the Philippines.

Made up of over 7,000 islands, PDOT will be enticing Magic listeners to find out why ‘It is more fun in the Philippines’. They will be offering themed holidays, live on the radio each morning or by entering an online competition on the Magic 105.4 FM website. Listeners can visit the website and enter the competition to get a chance to win tickets from today.

During the morning breakfast show, presenters Neil Fox and Verity Geere will ask listeners to call-in and answer questions, to win a trip to the Philippines for two people. Catering for all holiday needs, they will be offering trips along the following themes: •Diving – It hosts the largest variety of sea life in the world •Paradise Beaches – It offers 28 degree crystal clear water and white sandy beaches •Health and Wellbeing – Featuring the Philippines ‘Hilot’ (traditional massage)

•Urban breaks for couples – Philippines offers a combination of beach and city break to urban lovers •Cultural Break – Home to many natural wonders including the famous rice terraces of Cordilleras Ms. Marie Venus Q. Tan, Director of Philippines Department of Tourism commented “We are delighted to work with Magic 105.4 FM on this promotion, which allows us to offer listeners the opportunity to discover the Philippines on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. We are certain that they will come back for more!”

For more information on the Magic 105.4 FM promotion, please visit http://my.magic.co.uk/_ creative/philippines/. ■ (PDOT – October 31, 2012)

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16

HELLO PHILIPPINES

BUSINESS & FINANCE

www.hello-philippines.com

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

“Hapag-Yaman” Brussels: Filipino products on gourmet centerstage BRUSSELS’ Tour and Taxis Royal Depot brimmed with the best of Filipino food exports that made their way into gourmet creations by eight Belgian chefs and one Filipino chef from Michelin-starred restaurants in Belgium last October 22.

Bangus (milkfish) and other seafood, fresh fruits such as the calamansi and the Philippine mango and other preserved tropical fruit products, specialty food sauces and mixes, coconut water, Philippine confections and snacks and even San Miguel Beer took centerstage in epicurean dishes such as “Surf and Turf Cuttlefish and Lechon de Leche with Philippine Relish,” “Philippine Octopus with Misua in Calamansi, Bagoong Chips and Okra” and “Ube Rice Pudding in Coco Mousse and Calamansi Coulis,” to name some of the crowd-pleasers.

The chefs, Kenny Bernaerts of Seagrill-Yves Mattagne, Maarten Bouckaert of Hof Van Cleve, Axel Colonna Cesari of Restaurant Centpourcent, Michiel de Bruyn of ‘t Zilte, Victor Magsaysay of Sakebar Restaurant, Ryan Stevenson of Le Saint Aulaye, Villem Vandeven of

C-Jean and chef Michael Vrijmoed all took the challenge of incorporating Philippine products and ingredients into masterfully prepared delights.

Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Antonio A. Fleta, together with the Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg Victoria S. Bataclan, opened the doors to the event with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Fleta said “the event introduces, in a very gastronomic way, Philippine food products and flavors to the European market and to European consumers.”

The event was attended by Belgian food importers, buyers from large Belgian supermarket and food retail establishments, representatives of chambers of commerce, representatives from the European Commission, small- and mediumforeign investors, food and culture enthusiasts, and members of the Filipino community.

“Hapag-Yaman” is a promotional food event that is part of the DA’s Food Circuit Tour in Europe aimed at mainstreaming Philippine food export winners into the European market. ■

Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Antonio Fleta and Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg Victoria S. Bataclan cut the ribbon to open the Royal Depot for the night of gourmet cuisine featuring Philippine food products.

(DFA – October 31, 2012)

Belgian chefs at work to incorporate Philippine food products into their gourmet creations. ©AFP/File, Jay Directo

Moody’s Investors Service has raised the Philippines’ sovereign credit rating to one notch below investment grade.

Moody’s raises Philippine credit rating MOODY’S Investors Service on Monday raised the Philippines’ sovereign credit rating to one notch below investment grade, citing the country’s strong economic prospects and stable financial system.

The international ratings service also said a recent breakthrough in peace talks, aimed at ending a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the south of the country, had improved the country’s long-term economic potential.

Moody’s raised the Philippines to Ba1 from Ba2, while maintaining the ratings outlook at “stable”.

“Despite the headwinds from softening external demand, the Philippines has demonstrated considerable economic strength and fiscal resilience,” Moody’s said in a statement.

“The country is poised to record a combination of faster growth, lower

inflation, exchange rate appreciation and an increase in foreign exchange reserves, while maintaining trend debt consolidation.”

Over the longer term, Moody’s said the peace pact between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed on October 15 could eventually spur economic growth in the resource-rich conflict zone.

The MILF has been struggling since the 1970s for an independent homeland on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines. The accord signed this month aims for a final peace deal by 2016, with the MILF controlling an autonomous region.

The upgrade comes after Standard & Poor’s raised the Philippines’ longterm foreign currency credit rating to within one rung of investment grade in July, citing the government’s improving finances.

Moody’s upgraded the Philippines’ credit rating to Ba2 in June last year.

Central bank governor Amando Tetangco said he was “delighted” by the upgrade.

“With the government’s concerted efforts and with the support of the private sector, the Philippines should achieve an investment grade credit rating sooner rather than later,” he said in a statement.

The Philippine economy grew by 6.1 percent in the first half of this year and the government is hopeful of maintaining that expansion pace throughout 2012.

Inflation averaged 3.2 percent in the first nine months of the year, allowing the central bank to cut interest rates four times.

The benchmark overnight borrowing rate now stands at 3.50 percent, with the overnight lending rate at 5.50 percent. ■ (AFP – Manila, Philippines – October 29, 2012)

DA Undersecretary Fleta and the Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg Victoria S. Bataclan are flanked by the Belgian chefs in front of the Royal Depot before the gastronomic show featuring Philippine food products in gourmet cuisine.

Central Bank trims key interest rates again THE Central Bank trimmed its key interest rates by a further 25 basis points on Thursday, October 25, saying the domestic economy needs a further boost to override weak global demand.

The fourth rate cut this year brought the cumulative reduction over the period to one percentage point, said bank governor Amando Tetangco.

“World economic conditions are likely to remain tepid as fiscal and financial-sector stresses in advanced economies continue to dampen market confidence,” he said.

“The domestic underpinnings of Philippine economic growth remain firm. However, additional policy support could help ward off risks associated with weaker external demand by encouraging investment and consumption.”

While impending electricity rate increases and rising global prices for some grains could upset the inflation outlook, subdued global demand should temper the overall picture by easing price pressures on oil imports, he added.

The latest central bank action brought its overnight borrowing rate to 3.50 percent, and its overnight lending rate to 5.50 percent.

Rate cuts of 25 basis points each were put into effect in January, March and July.

Last month the central bank raised its inflation forecasts to 3.4 percent this year and 4.1 percent in 2013, from 3.1 and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Inflation rose 3.6 percent yearon-year last month, bringing the average for the first eight months to 3.2 percent.

The government expects the economy to grow by nearly six percent this year after a 6.1 percent expansion in the first six months, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said last month.

However exports are up by only 5.4 percent in the first eight months of 2012 amid a slump in August in shipments of electronics, the country’s main export, to the United States, China and other key markets.

August imports also slipped 0.4 percent overall, to $5.06 billion, Economic Planning Undersecretary Rolando Tungpalan said Thursday.

“It is therefore important to continue to stimulate the domestic sources of growth and promote trade with other countries,” he said in a statement. ■ (©AFP – Manila, Philippines – October 25, 2012) ©AFP/File, Romeo Gacad

A customer holds Philippine peso notes during a bank transaction in Manila.

18

HELLO PHILIPPINES

HP NEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

Philippines to get five French patrol boats

THE Philippines will buy five patrol boats from France for about 90 million euros ($116 million), partly to guard disputed areas in the South China Sea, the coastguard said Tuesday, October 30.

Rear Admiral Luis Tuason, the chief of the poorly-equipped coastguard, said one 82-metre (271foot) ship and four 24-metre (79foot) patrol craft would be delivered by 2014.

Tuason cited the need for such ships to patrol the rough waters of the South China Sea, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea. “When we patrol the West

Philippine Sea, we encounter huge waves, turbulent waters so it will be better if we will use bigger ships,” Tuason said in a statement.

Coastguard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo said the larger ship was a “heavy endurance vessel that can be deployed even in bad weather”.

This is the first such ship to be acquired by the coastguard, he added.

The Philippines and China began a stand-off in April over the Scarborough Shoal, a group of islets in the South China Sea. China claims the shoal as well as

nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighbouring countries. The Philippines says the shoal is well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

Balilo denied that the new French ships were being acquired due to the territorial dispute and said the coastguard, which currently has only nine operating ships, needed new vessels to perform their duties.

He said the new vessels would be deployed throughout the archipelago and not concentrate just on the disputed areas. ■ (©AFP – Manila,

Philippines – October 30, 2012)

Canada’s Harper to travel to Hong Kong, Philippines

CANADIAN Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Trade Minister Ed Fast will travel to the Philippines and Hong Kong November 10-11, officials said Wednesday, October 31.

While in Manila on November 10, Harper will meet with President Benigno Simeon Aquino to discuss bilateral trade and investment, security cooperation and regional issues.

The next day, the prime minister will travel to Hong Kong where he

will meet with Hong Kong chief Chun-ying Leung “with a view to further strengthening an already deep and historical relationship,” said a statement.

The Philippines is the top source of immigrants to Canada, with nearly 500,000 people of Filipino origin residing in the country.

Canada is also home to half a million individuals of Hong Kong descent, second in numbers only to the United States. ■ (AFP – October

©AFP/File, Ezequiel Becerra

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

31, 2012)

©AFP/File, David Bayarong

©AFP/File, Noel Celis

The Philippines and China began a stand-off in April over the Scarborough Shoal.

Government lifts ban on workers to Jordan

THE government announced on Wednesday, October 24, it had lifted a five-year-old ban on its nationals working in Jordan that was imposed amid concerns over poor labour conditions.

The ban was lifted after the Philippine and Jordanian governments forged two agreements this year aimed at protecting the workers, including a minimum monthly salary of $400, the overseas workers administration said.

The ban on Jordan was imposed in 2007 due to “the growing number of distressed Filipino workers” who were seeking help from Philippine diplomatic offices there, the administration said.

“There were a whole variety of issues. Some of them (were) abused.

Some were beaten. The point was, because some of these workers had run away, the deployment was stopped,” administration vice chair Hans Cacdac told AFP. Wednesday’s announcement came after the Philippines said last month it had won a long battle with Saudi Arabia and secured a minimum monthly wage of $400 for

Filipino workers there.

About 10 percent of the Philippine population of almost 100 million have gone abroad to work in betterpaying jobs than they can get in their largely impoverished homeland.

Many of the Filipinos in Middle East countries work as maids, labourers, janitors and other menial professions.

The government also announced on Wednesday it had partially lifted a ban on working in Lebanon that was imposed after fighting erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

The ban on Lebanon was only removed for Filipinos already working there illegally, but talks are going on to have it completely lifted, Cacdac said.

There are more than 24,000 Filipinos working illegally in Lebanon, according to government estimates.

The Philippine government requires its citizens to obtain permits through labour agencies to work overseas, in an effort to keep track of them and ensure they are not abused abroad. ■ (©AFP – October

24, 2012) ©AFP/File

An albino Philippine crocodile swims at an enclosure at the Manila Zoo.

half-eaten man found at philippine crocodile farm

THE body of a man half-eaten by saltwater crocodiles has been found at a Philippine breeding farm for the giant reptiles, police said Tuesday, November 6.

Employees found the 57-yearold victim in a pond used by the crocodiles, which can grow up to 4.3 metres (14 feet) long, on Friday, police officer Lowell Neniza said.

Authorities had no idea how the man, named by police as jobless Sorbelo Sajona, entered the privately-owned farm, Neniza said.

While there was no sign of any other injuries, police have yet to

officially conclude he was killed by crocodile bites, Neniza told AFP by telephone.

“There was no evidence of foul play, but the farm security guards told us they were clueless on how he got into the pond.”

Sajona lived in a village about five kilometres (three miles) from the crocodile farm, Neniza said.

He was last seen drunk the previous day at the local cemetery, visiting the graves of his relatives like many other residents on All Saints’ Day, he added.

Lerio Gaceta, administrative

officer of J.K. Mercado and Sons Agricultural Enterprises, which runs the farm, said the company planned to issue a statement on the discovery of the body but refused to elaborate on the issue.

She said there were 2,800 Crocodylus porosus – more commonly known as saltwater crocodiles – on the farm, which exports the creatures’ skins and sells the meat to local restaurants offering exotic cuisine.

The farm is in Santo Tomas, a rural town on the large southern island of Mindanao. ■ (©AFP – November 6, 2012)

The Awajan district, east of the Jordanian capital in 2010.

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22

HELLO PHILIPPINES

HP NEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

Millions across the Philippines visited cemeteries Thursday to pay respects to their dead.

A worker places miniature national flags next to soldiers’ graves at the heroes’ cemetery in Manila.

Millions across Philippines visit their dead

MILLIONS across the Philippines visited cemeteries Thursday, November 1, to pay respects to their dead, in an annual tradition that combines Catholic religious rites with the country’s penchant for festivity.

At Manila’s Loyola Memorial Park, one of the city’s biggest private cemeteries, families had camped overnight, pitched up tents and brought in food for a day-long All

Saint’s Day picnic by the graves and tombs of their dead.

In crowded public cemeteries elsewhere across the city of 15 million, police confiscated alcoholic beverages and banned gambling to maintain peace and order.

Hundreds of medics and volunteers also set up field clinics to provide medical assistance. Radio reports said many had fainted due to

the extreme heat in densely packed cemeteries.

“This occasion serves as our family reunion,” said Fely de Leon, a retired 80-year-old businesswoman as she laid out an assortment of food on small tables around the plots of her late father and brother.

“We will be here for the rest of the day, and we expect more or less 30 family members to arrive.”

Nearby, loud music blared from a portable karaoke machine – singing is a national past time – as a family ignored appeals from the Catholic church to keep the occasion solemn.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) meanwhile warned the public against fake priests roaming the cemeteries and reciting prayers for unsuspecting families in exchange for monetary donations.

Vietnam sentences Filipina drug mule to death

VIETNAM has sentenced a 61-year-old Filipina to death after she was caught smuggling methamphetamine into the country, a court clerk said on Wednesday, October 31.

Amodia Teresita Palacio was arrested for possession of more than five kilogrammes (11 pounds) of the drug in April at a Hanoi airport, the clerk told AFP. She was found guilty of repeatedly entering the country from Thailand to smuggle drugs, the clerk said following Tuesday’s trial, October 30.

A spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila confirmed the death sentence, adding that Palacio has 15 days to appeal.

“We will exhaust all avenues of appeal to save her life,” said Raul Hernandez.

Communist Vietnam’s drug

laws are among the toughest in the world and anyone found guilty of possessing more than around half a kilogramme of heroin faces the death penalty.

In June, Vietnam sentenced a 23-year-old Thai design student to death for trafficking three kilogrammes of amphetamines.

At present, there are more than 400 prisoners on death row in the country, mostly for cases involving drugs or murder, but executions have declined in recent years.

Since July 2011, when Vietnam replaced execution by firing squads with lethal injections, no prisoners have been put to death as the country failed to import the lethal drugs needed to carry out the penalty.

Forty-three people have received death sentences since the start of this year, mainly for murder and drug charges. ■ (©AFP – October 31, 2012)

And for millions of Catholic Filipinos overseas who could not come home to visit their dead, the CBCP said it had put up a special portal (www.undasonline.com) where they could log on and request special prayers and masses.

The site also offers podcasts on the significance and liturgical meanings of All Saint’s Day, it said. ■

(AFP – Manila, Philippines – November 1, 2012)

©AFP/File, Jay Directo

Police patrol the streets of Manila in September 2012.

Police probing 60 “private armies” POLICE have identified about 60 suspected “private armies” that could use violence to influence national elections next year, an official said Monday, November 5.

Armed followers of politicians have long been a major problem during elections, carrying out crimes like the 2009 massacre of 58 people to protect the interests of powerful clans.

National police spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo said police intelligence had found about 60 suspected “private armed groups” in different parts of the country.

“Once we have completely validated this, all of our units will go after these groups,” he told reporters.

The initiative would be part of national police efforts to safeguard local and legislative elections in May 2013, Cerbo added.

A previous national police study in 2010 found 112 private armed groups all over the archipelago with numbers ranging from a handful of men to hundreds.

Cerbo said police were conducting a new count because some of these groups had already been broken up while others had voluntarily disbanded.

The groups consist of government-supported militiamen, insurgents, rogue police or soldiers or armed thugs who do the bidding of politicians to help them stay in power.

This can include intimidating

rival candidates or voters or spoiling the counting of ballots.

In the worst case of violence involving private armies, followers of a powerful clan in 2009 killed 58 people in the southern Philippines to prevent a rival from running against one of the clan members.

A government study in 2010 said private armies exist because of widespread disregard for the law in settling disputes and a feudal power structure in which many poor people find themselves relying on a few powerful men.

President Benigno Aquino, who was elected on a reform platform in 2010, has ordered the police to break up all such groups. ■ (©AFP – Manila, Philippines – November 5, 2012)

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HELLO PHILIPPINES

Lifestyle News

www.hello-philippines.com

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

The Philippines’ mortician to the stars Cecil Morella, AFP BEFORE dictator Ferdinand Marcos and a host of other famous Philippine figures met their Maker, they met Frank Malabed.

An assassinated democracy hero, a soft-porn star, high-profile socialites and political statesmen are others to have been sent to the afterlife by the country’s most prominent – and arguably passionate – mortician.

“I make people beautiful even in death,” the bespectacled 62-yearold grandfather with a sparse walrus moustache told AFP from his home office in a working-class Manila neighbourhood.

“Embalming is either 100 percent or zero. It cannot be 99 percent. A dirty carpet or scratched casket can be changed, but if you botch the job you cannot tell the family you’re going to replace the body.”

Malabed dreamed as a child of becoming an engineer, but his father was a mortician and his teenage years were spent learning the art of caring for the dead.

He tagged along in the 1960s when his father went to work each day at Clark, a then-huge US air base in the Philippines that played a key role in the Vietnam War. The father retired as the war escalated, leaving the 18-year-old son to take over on the embalming frontline as thousands of dead US soldiers were brought back from Vietnam to be prepared for their journey home.

“We had 30-40 casualties a day,” Malabed said, recounting how Filipino and American morticians worked at a hangar on bodies wheeled out on gurneys from the nearby runway.

Malabed later married the daughter of a family that ran a chain of provincial mortuaries, and found life caring for the dead was very comfortable.

“It was not my first choice, but when I got into it I found out I was good at it,” he said, adding the pay was also reasonable.

Malabed is a devout Catholic and he prays before he starts work.

But he said he never believed in ghosts, witches or evil spirits.

Neither did he suffer nightmares from being with the dead alone for hours at a time in a room, armed with with hypodermic syringes and make-up kits.

Malabed’s most famous client was Marcos, the dictator whose twodecade rule of the country ended in 1986 when millions of protesters took to the streets in a “people power” revolution.

After Malabed moved to Manila in the 1970s to work for a large mortuary, he embalmed a brother and a sister of Imelda Marcos, the president’s wife.

The family noted his good work and he was later tasked with looking after the bodies of other Marcos relatives, including the president’s mother.

In 1987, a year after Ferdinand Marcos was toppled and sent to exile in Hawaii, Malabed set up his own business that offered luxury US-made bronze caskets and personalised mortuary services.

Business really kicked off when Marcos died in exile 1989 and the family wanted his body preserved for an eventual return to the Philippines.

Malabed shuttled between Manila and Honolulu every month

©AFP/Frank Malabed/File, Franck Malabed

Frank Malabed’s most famous client was Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator whose two-decade rule of the country ended in 1986.

©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

Many Philippines politicians and celebrities are sent to the afterlife by the country’s most prominent mortician. ©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

Frank Malabed boasts his reputation has some wealthy clients signing him up for services while they are still alive. ©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

Frank Malabed’s father was a mortician and his teenage years were spent learning the art of caring for the dead.

to take care of the body until 1993, when the Philippine government finally allowed it to be flown to the dictator’s northern Philippine hometown of Batac.

The widow demanded a hero’s burial in Manila, but when that was rejected Malabed pumped in special cavity fluid to make sure the body remained intact for 25 years.

He put the corpse in a glass case for public exhibit at a mausoleum built at the family’s provincial home, where the body remains today.

Even now Malabed remains on good terms with the family, and attended an 82nd birthday party for Imelda Marcos last year.

But unknown to many, Malabed also embalmed Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, the Marcos family’s arch-political foe whose shooting assassination at Manila airport by government forces in 1983 altered Philippine history.

“I don’t care about political affiliations. If anyone needs my service they just have to dial my number. I am on call 24 hours a day,” Malabed said.

Filipino mortician Frank Malabed shows some of the makeup he uses during embalmment at his residence in Manila on October 24, 2012.

Dressed by Malabed in the same bloodstained jacket the democracy champion had worn on his fatal homecoming from US exile, the Aquino corpse became the rallying point for street protests that later led to Marcos’s downfall.

The murdered politician’s wife, Corazon, would lead the “people power” revolution and assume the presidency from Marcos. Aquino’s son and namesake is the country’s current president.

Other famous clients include recent plane-crash victim Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, both parents of ex-president Fidel Ramos, and local soft-porn actress Claudia Zobel, a 1984 car-crash victim.

Malabed boasts his reputation for attention to detail has some wealthy clients signing him up for future services while they are still alive.

“I am a perfectionist... I cannot be rushed,” he said.

Bodies must be washed and disinfected by hand, he said, and blood thoroughly squeezed out from their veins through massage.

Otherwise, the injected chemicals could lead to grotesque skin discolouration.

He accused some fellow Filipino embalmers of taking dubious shortcuts so they could earn more money working on more corpses.

“I am probably the only mortician in the Philippines who does not snip a dead person’s funeral clothes down the back to make them fit.

Those are the last clothes they will ever wear on earth, so they must be intact,” he said.

He said he worked on just five corpses a month and charges only “about half” the 550,000-1.8 million pesos ($13,300 - $43,500) in professional fees quoted by top Manila funeral homes.

Malabed was reminded of his own mortality when he suffered a mild stroke last year, but this has not slowed him down. And he is content knowing he will be in good hands when called by his Creator.

“My two daughters are also licensed embalmers. They will know what to do,” he said. ■ (©AFP – Manila, Philippines – November 7, 2012)

30

HELLO PHILIPPINES

www.hello-philippines.com

Pinoy

Celebrity, Showbiz & Entertainment

version

THE Koreanovela that dramatically hooked Filipino viewers to their TV screens makes a big comeback as GMA Pinoy TV brings the Pinoy adaptation of the top-rating drama, TEMPTATION OF WIFE. Started October 30, Temptation of Wife, which scored phenomenal ratings success when it was aired twice locally on GMA, gets a “Filipinized” version with the most bankable Kapuso actors portraying the well-loved roles in the original Korean series.

Leading the star-studded cast is no less than Primetime Queen Marian Rivera as she breathes life to the character of Angeline Santos, the main protagonist of the series who will transform from a timid and submissive wife to a feisty and reformed woman to avenge herself against her husband and her best friend.

Playing the role of Angeline’s unfaithful husband Marcel Salcedo is award-winning dramatic actor Dennis Trillo. Dennis has clearly established himself as one of the most talented and versatile leading men in the industry and with his

latest TV endeavour, he is set to show a new dimension to his acting ability and charm the hearts of millions of Filipinos.

Tasked to reprise the equally popular character of Angeline’s hardhearted best friend Heidi Fernandez is multitalented actress Glaiza de Castro. With her new role as the ruthless Heidi, Glaiza will deliver another exceptional performance as the woman who will do anything to get what she wants even to the point of forsaking her family, betraying and even conspiring to kill her childhood best friend.

Set to portray the role of warm and caring Nigel Armada is newest Kapuso Rafael Rosell. Rafael feels very honoured and excited as he dabbles on his first primetime lead role which will surely make even more female fans swooning over him.

GMA Network is proud to present a stellar cast of the country’s most respected artists in film and television: Rio Locsin as Minda; Raymond Bagatsing as Romeo; Michelle Madrigal as Chantal Armada; Antonio Aquitania as Leo; Ayen MunjiLaurel as Lady Armada; Bettina

of

Temptation

Carlos as Madel; Rez Cortez as Abner and Ms. Cherie Gil as Stella.

Angeline and Heidi share a deep bond of friendship ever since Heidi was orphaned and was taken under the custody of Angeline’s parents, Abner and Minda. Angeline grows up responsible and compassionate while Heidi, fuelled by ambition and envy, secretly detests Angeline and always feels inferior next to her.

Many boys are attracted to Angeline but she falls in love with Marcel. It doesn’t take long before Angeline becomes pregnant and gives up on her dreams of becoming a make up artist in order to marry Marcel.

Although their marriage is void of happiness, Angeline tries to be an excellent wife to her husband, and takes good care of her in-laws, Romeo and Stella. However, she soon learns that the life she chose is full of lies and betrayals. Adding to her woes is her unexpected miscarriage.

She soon discovers that Marcel is cheating on her and shocked to learn of Heidi’s treachery. Angeline is devastated by the thought of being betrayed by the two people closest to her heart.

Marcel decides to end his affair with Heidi but Heidi is already pregnant with his child. He chooses to live with her as Angeline is forced to go back and stay with her parents.

But Angeline finds out that she, too, is pregnant with Marcel’s child.

Marcel and Heidi plot to kill Angeline and disguise her death as suicide. But by a twist of fate,

Vin Abrenica and Sophie Albert bag TV5’s Artista Academy Best Actor and Best Actress awards

ARTISTA Academy Honor Students Vin Abrenica and Sophie Albert became the richest of all talent search winners in the country when they bagged the coveted titles of Best Actor and Best Actress, which came with ₱20 Million worth of total prizes, in the successful Artista Academy Awards Night held at the jam-packed Smart Araneta Coliseum last October 27.

Vin and Sophie each won P1 Million cash, a condo unit in Presidio at The

Lakefront, Parañaque City from Vista Land, a Toyota Innova, P5 Million minimum guaranteed management contract from TV5 Talent Center, and an artistically designed trophy by renowned sculptor Leeroy New. As Artista Academy winners, they both became Close-Up ambassadors.

They will also be given lead roles in an upcoming TV5 teleserye.

Their fellow Artista Academy students (Akihiro Blanco, Chanel Morales, Mark Neumann, Shaira

Mae, Benjo Leoncio, Brent Manzano, Chris Leonardo, Jon Orlando, Malak So Shdifat, Marvelous Alejo, Nicole Estrada and Stephanie Rowe) were also granted exclusive management contracts with TV5 Talent Center.

All 14 Artista Academy students will be reunited in a TV5 youth series titled Forever Barkada.

TV5 also announced that it will open the next season of Artista Academy for tweens aged 12 to 15 years old in 2013. ■

Angeline survives and is back for revenge. She assumes the identity of another woman and seeks out vengeance against Marcel and Heidi.

Now, it’s time for pay back and Angeline will do everything to taste the bittersweet part of her revenge.

How will Marcel react to a woman who looks exactly like his supposed dead wife, Angeline? And when fate begins to favor the once oppressed Angeline, how will she turn the tables on Marcel and Heidi who once betrayed and punished her?

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

of

Wife

Temptation of Wife will definitely make TV viewing more intense with its intriguing and absorbing storyline and interesting characters.

Temptation of Wife on GMA Pinoy TV. For more details, visit [www. gmanetwork.com/international] or [www.facebook.com/GMAPinoyTV].

To subscribe to GMA Pinoy TV contact HELLO PHILIPPINES TV CONNECT on 020 3174 1894 / 07944 026 968 / 07989 403 904 / 07577 813 104 or visit www. hptvconnect.com. ■

“Wash down Pure Foods Corned Beef with Red Horse Beer.”

32

HELLO

www.hello-philippines.com

Celebrity, Showbiz & Entertainment

Grand finals of Protégé PHILIPPINES

AFTER weeks of live performances and nerve-wracking elimination nights, GMA Pinoy TV’s Protégé: The Battle for the Big Artista Break crowned Kilig Cutie Jeric Gonzales and Super Sweetheart Thea Tolentino as this season’s male and female battle champs during the spectacular finale held last October 21.

Jeric and Thea were the protégés of multimedia icon Jolina Magdangal and seasoned actress and TV director Gina Alajar, respectively.

The two protégés, who both hailed from Laguna, received the highest number of votes from the judges and the viewers.

Both Jeric and Thea came home with the incredible grand prize worth ₱12 million which includes ₱1 million each from SM Supermalls, a 2-bedroom unit from Suntrust Properties, Inc and a 5-year management contract with GMA Artist Center. They were also awarded with a 4-year scholarship grant from STI College together with the four other protégés Ruru Madrid, Elle Ramirez, Mikoy Morales and Zandra Summer.

Jeric received the Texter’s Choice Award with ₱20,000 cash from GMA New Media, Inc. Mentors

Gina and Jolina each received ₱500,000 cash.

And for their first TV project in the Kapuso Network, Gala Presenter Dingdong Dantes announced that Jeric and Thea will be part of GMA’s upcoming youth-oriented series, T.G.I.S. Making the finals night even grander were the special performances of the Top 20 protégés with Inside Protégé host Jennylyn Mercado. The five celebrity mentors also invaded the dance floor as they moved to the beat of the Protégé Dance Craze, Cupid Shuffle.

During the finale, the Final 6 protégés faced their last test in their ticket to stardom – The Drama Challenge where they acted alongside the GMA’s leading superstars via the network’s afternoon and primetime soaps: Thea Tolentino with Heart Evangelista (Luna Blanca), Jeric Gonzales with Kris Bernal (Coffee Prince), Ruru Madrid with Barbie Forteza (Paroa: Ang Kuwento ni Mariposa), Mikoy Morales with Andrea Torres (Sana Ay Ikaw Na Nga), Zandra Summer with Ryan Eigenmann (Magdalena) and a solo performance by Elle Ramirez (Aso ni San Roque). ■

Protégé’s Final 6 Mikoy Morales, Ruru Madrid, Jeric Gonzales, Zandra Summer, Elle Ramirez, Thea Tolentino

Protégé Male Battle Champ Jeric Gonzales and Female Battle Champ Thea Tolentino

Carla Abellana, Gala Presenter Dingdong Dantes, Protégé Webjock Maxene Magalona and Inside Protégé Host Jennylyn Mercado

Network Films President Atty. Annette Gozon-Abrogar, Jeric Gonzales, Thea Tolentino, GMA Artist Center Head for Talent Management Arsi Baltazar

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

Protégé Male Battle Champ Jeric Gonzales

Jeric Gonzales and Thea Tolentino with SM Supermalls Executives

Jeric Gonzales and Thea Tolentino with the Top 20 protégés

Thea Tolentino with Mentor Gina Alajar

Protégé Female Battle Champ Thea Tolentino

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HELLO PHILIPPINES

www.hello-philippines.com

Celebrity, Showbiz & Entertainment

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

Tale of old, gay man brightens Philippine film Mynardo Macaraig, AFP

A Philippine movie about a grumpy, old, gay man and his faithful dog has become an unlikely hit abroad while shaking the belief that local independent films have to focus on the darker side of life.

The film “Bwakaw”, named after the dog in the movie, is the Philippines’ submission for an Academy Award for best foreign film. While standing little chance of being shortlisted, its heartwarming story is winning rave reviews overseas.

It tells the story of Rene, 70, a villager who only recently realised he was homosexual. Embittered and lonely, he looks forward to his death, only to have Bwakaw, the dog, teach him the value of life.

It premiered at a Philippine independent film festival in July, garnering a best actor prize for its star, Filipino movie star Eddie Garcia, as well as the “audience’s choice” award.

It hit the international circuit and Time magazine chose “Bwakaw” as one of 10 films to watch in the prestigious New York Film Festival held in September and October.

Prominent US industry film journalist Nathaniel Rogers also hailed it as “a true gem... and an absolutely worthy Oscar submission”, while Slant magazine called it “effervescently original”.

In recent years Philippine independent cinema has carved out a reputation overseas for powerful, gritty films that often focus on the darker aspects of a country where corruption, poverty and conflict dominate society.

The director and writer of “Bwakaw”, Jun Robles Lana, said he did not want to make a movie dealing with the darker side of Philippine life.

“I didn’t want this movie to depress people. I wanted it to be enjoyable.

You go to movies to be entertained and I wanted to retain that appeal. I wanted it to be fun,” he told AFP. The movie is a tribute to Lana’s mentor, respected playwright Rene Villanueva, who died in 2007 and whom the movie’s lead character is named after.

“I wrote it to honour my mentor so I wanted it to be a celebration of life.

In order to balance the tone, it was important for me to include a lot of humour in the storytelling,” he said.

©AFP/File, Noel Celis

The director and writer of “Bwakaw”, Jun Robles Lana, poses during an interview in Manila in October 2012.

Lana credits both Garcia, who ironically is best known for playing skirt-chasing lotharios, and the dog, a two-year-old mixed breed named Princess, for much of the movie’s success.

It has led to Princess, the dog, getting a starring role in her own fantasy TV soap opera, “Aso ni San Roque” (the Dog of Saint Roch), which now has a huge local following.

Although Lana, 40, has won many literary awards, he is well-versed in the commercial side of entertainment,

having written many popular movies and serving as creative director of GMA, a major Philippine broadcaster.

In that position, he oversees the production of many soap operas aimed at the masses.

Lana said that his commercial background had helped “Bwakaw” stand out.

“It is an independent film but my sensibility as a commercial director also came into play while I was directing this film. I wasn’t just making this film for myself. I was also thinking about entertaining my audience,” he said.

The best known of the Filipino indie directors, Brillante Mendoza, won a Cannes best director prize in 2009 for his film, “Kinatay” (Butchered), in which a prostitute is murdered and chopped to pieces by a crime syndicate.

His latest movie to win international acclaim was “Captive”, which focused on kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of Islamic militants in the south of the country designated by the United States as terrorists.

Independent film-maker Pepe Diokno, who won a 2009 Venice Film

Festival prize for “Engkwentro” (Clash), a film about street gangs and death squads, said many movie-makers were drawn to the social problems in their country.

But the stereotype that Philippine independent films were just about crime and poverty is no longer true, and “Bwakaw” is just one movie demonstrating their greater scope, according to Diokno. “’Bwakaw’ is an example that you can make a film that is not about prostitution and violence and it can find an international audience because it had a good story that really came from the heart,” he said.

The head of the Film Academy of the Philippines, actor-director Leo Martinez said “Bwakaw” would in all likelihood not have the financial backing for a marketing campaign to get a final nomination for the Oscars.

He said a campaign to secure a nomination would involve sending out at least 1,000 DVDs of the movie to the academy members and putting costly advertisements in US magazines. “(But) if it is seen, it can be a contender,” he said. ■ (©AFP – Manila,

Philippines – November 5, 2012)

Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid shows off cooking skills via SARAP DIVA JOIN Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid as she shows off her culinary expertise and whips up delightful dishes via her newest cooking talk show, Sarap Diva on GMA Life TV. While Regine displays her singing prowess in GMA Pinoy TV’s Party Pilipinas and dabbles in hosting her first magazine talk show HOT T.V., she now takes a new challenge as a homemaker

©Photo By Jojit Lorenzo

©Photo By Jojit Lorenzo

©Photo By Jojit Lorenzo

©Photo By Jojit Lorenzo

and food lover thru her latest TV endeavour, Sarap Diva.

Thru cooking, Regine will form a bond with her celebrity guests and viewers – a bond among mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, and friends. She will allow her guests to engage in entertaining and interesting discussions as they share stories about their lives, careers, families, etc.

Sarap Diva is likewise Regine’s newest nest, where she will cherish and share her love for food, music, and family.

Making this program extraordinarily special is the participation of her son Nathaniel James a.k.a. Baby Nate and her dear pet dog, George. They will add spice to the weekly episodes.

Music will certainly be a part of the program and Regine will be joined by her brother-in-law and musical director Raul Mitra in piano. Sarap Diva is directed by Treb Monteras II. Sarap Diva airs on GMA Life TV, the second international channel of GMA Network.

For more details, visit the GMA International website [www.

GMANetwork.com/international] and Facebook page [www. facebook.com/GMAPinoyTV].

To subscribe to GMA Pinoy TV contact HELLO PHILIPPINES TV CONNECT on 020 3174 1894 / 07944 026 968 / 07989 403 904 / 07577 813 104 or visit www. hptvconnect.com. ■

“Harana” wins Hiff 2012’s Halekulani Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

“Harana,” a documentary on the lost art of serenade directed

by Benito Bautista, won the Halekulani Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature in this year’s Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF).

The film was also nominated for Halekulani Golden Orchid Award for Best Documentary Feature, the festival’s highest jury awards.

The other two Audience Awards were given to “The Thieves” (South Korea) for Best Narrative Film and “One Team” (United States) for Best Short Film.

The Audience Awards is based on the votes cast by the movie-going public after each film showing. They are awarded at the end of the festival.

The Audience Award for “Harana,” together with the NETPAC Award for “Aparisyon,” capped the Philippines’ participation in HIFF 2012.

HIFF executives believe that the success of Filipino films at the HIFF would spur an even greater interest from the Philippines in next year’s festival.

Additional screenings of “Harana” have been scheduled at the Hilo Palace Theater in Hilo, Hawaii. ■ (DFA – October 30, 2012)

36

HELLO

CELEBRITY, SHOWBIZ & ENTERTAINMENT

www.hello-philippines.com

Weekends get extra exciting with EXTRA PHILIPPINES

VIEWERS are set to be blown away with the exciting premiere of Extra Challenge on GMA Pinoy TV. Every week, EXTRA CHALLENGE promises a pulse-racing, heartstopping and adrenaline-pumping series as challengers are confronted with three tasks. In each task, they must place a wager from the initial capital of ₱100,000 given them.

The challenger who completes the task fast enough earns EXTRA money. Those who fail to complete the challenge lose their wager. The game gets even better with the third and last challenge. All challengers, regardless of their performance in the first two tasks, still have the chance to take home the pot money if they succeed in conquering the third task. Creepy crawlies, slimy creatures, towering heights, haunting expeditions and extreme physical activities make up the challenges.

Every round will test the contestants’ limits. To give EXTRA CHALLENGE an extra edge, Richard Gutierrez, the face of reality and adventure shows, and primetime queen Marian Rivera reunite after the success of their team up in GMA Films’ My Best Friend’s Girlfriend. Viewers have witnessed their on-screen chemistry, the same appeal displayed in their recent project together, Pinoy Adventures, which was also hosted by Richard.

“First hosting project ko ang EXTRA

CHALLENGE at talaga namang excited ako. Kinakabahan ako siyempre ngayon ko lang ‘to gagawin pero game ako sa kahit anong challenge. Magiging extra masaya ito, promise,” shares Marian. Richard has loosened up a bit compared to his other hosting gigs. “Coming from Survivor where I was a very strict host, this time the viewers will see me get more relaxed especially with the challengers. But it doesn’t mean the challenges will be less intense. In fact, this time, they’re bigger and definitely better,” Richard says. Richard and Marian will be joined by public affairs TV personality and stand up comedian Boobay. With Boobay’s natural comic self, each episode promises to be more fun and outrageous.

EXTRA CHALLENGE will dare viewers, scare them, make them cry and make them laugh.

A roller coaster of emotions with grander sets, level-up adventures, shocking twists, intensified intrigues and dramas is set to unfold.

For more details, visit the GMA International website [www.

GMANetwork.com/international] and Facebook page [www.facebook. com/GMAPinoyTV].

To subscribe to GMA Pinoy TV contact HELLO PHILIPPINES TV CONNECT on 020 3174 1894 / 07944 026 968 / 07989 403 904 / 07577 813 104 or visit www. hptvconnect.com. ■

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

CHALLENGE

Richard Gutierrez and Marian Rivera

Marian Rivera

Boobay

Richard Gutierrez

Award-winning actress Lovi Poe takes on a challenging role via GMA Pinoy TV’s Yesterday’s Bride

Lovi Poe and Luis Alandy

Karel Marquez

Lovi Poe and Rocco Nacino

Lovi Poe

Award-winning actress Lovi Poe takes on a challenging role via GMA Pinoy TV’s Yesterday’s Bride A mother gives birth to her child while in deep coma.

This is the premise of YESTERDAY’S BRIDE; the newest GMA Pinoy TV drama where in multiawarded actress Lovi Poe takes on a new and challenging role. Compared to her previous TV roles that required a strong-willed and daring character, Lovi plays a totally different persona in Yesterday’s Bride as Andrea Manalo.

Playing opposite her in the series are Kapuso actors Rocco Nacino as Justin Ramirez and Luis Alandy as Dr. Celso Agustin. Lovi, Rocco and Luis once teamed up in GMA’s drama series Mistaken Identity and this time anticipation is high as they relive their love triangle onscreen which promises to enthrall viewers with their stellar performances.

In Yesterday’s Bride, Lovi will have to decide if she will go for the man she was supposed to marry (Rocco) or the man whom fate seemed to choose for her (Luis).

The series tells the story of Andrea (Lovi), a hardworking, kind and loving woman who became an orphan early in life. Despite growing up poor, Andrea remained kind, caring and helpful towards other people and these traits make Justin (Rocco) fall

in love with her even more. Justin, on the other hand, is the son of a rich owner of a furniture factory where Andrea works. Justin’s parents are opposed to their relationship but because of Justin’s love for Andrea, he fights for her and their relationship.

However, a tragedy will shake their relationship and destroy their dreams of having a simple and happy family life together. On her way to the wedding, Andrea will figure in a car accident and will end up in a coma at a hospital where it was found out that she is pregnant. Justin will stick it out with Andrea; caring for her; but fate will turn out for the worse when fire breaks out in the hospital.

During the ruckus, Andrea wakes up from coma and escapes from the fire. Everyone thought Andrea died in the fire but she will find refuge in a house where Celso (Luis), a rich and kind-hearted doctor lives.

Because she was in deep coma for a long time, Andrea was scared and confused when Celso found her, she was at a loss as to her identity. Celso promised that he will help her and will let her stay at his place; thereby giving her a new name, Loraine.

Celso took care of Andrea as Loraine; and they started to fall in love with each other.

Justin on the other hand, was slowly trying to move on with his life, with the help of another woman, Dr.

Sabrina Torres (Karel Marquez).

What if Andrea meets Justin again?

What will happen when Andrea finds out that Justin is her first love and the father of her child? What if Justin sees Andrea again, during the time he is already preparing for his own wedding with Sabrina? Can Andrea leave Celso after everything he did for her? Who will Yesterday’s Bride choose in the end? The man she vowed to marry or the man destiny seemed to choose for her?

Yesterday’s Bride is directed by Gil Tejada, Jr., and with original concept

by Liberty Trinidad. The creative team is composed of Creative Director, Jun Lana; Afternoon Prime Head, Roy Iglesias; Creative Consultant, Des Garbes – Severino; Headwriter, Maribel Ilag; writers, Ana AletaNadela and Liberty Trinidad; and Brainstormers, Paul Sta. Ana, Karen Lustica and Tin Novicio. The theme song, Tunay Na Mahal is interpreted by the Soul Diva, Jaya.

Yesterday’s Bride premieres October 31 on GMA Pinoy TV. For more details, please visit [www. gmanetwork.com/International] or [www.facebook.com/GMAPinoyTV].

To subscribe to GMA Pinoy TV contact HELLO PHILIPPINES TV CONNECT on 020 3174 1894 / 07944 026 968 / 07989 403 904 / 07577 813 104 or visit www. hptvconnect.com. ■

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1st Reel Gate International Film Festival in London, UK

November 2012 – No. 20 • UK & Europe Edition

www.hello-philippines.com

HELLO PHILIPPINES

39

A glimpse on the participating filmmakers to the 2012 Reel Gate International Film Festival in London Senility

The Passenger

The Dusk

Boy Villasanta THE composition of the participating filmmakers to the 1st Annual Reel Gate International Film Festival in London is as varied as the films they fielded in the event.

One thing that sums them up, though, is the independent spirit, commonly known, as indie filmmaking sense.

Most of them have endured the challenges and pitfalls of the film industry that made them more tenacious yet readily flexible in working with other people and making decisions for the common good.

In the full-length category, most of the directors are Filipinos who are ideal, persuasive and enterprising in the business.

Take for instance Jeffrey Jeturian who has been in the film business for the last thirty two years.

This writer has known Jeffrey since he was a fresh Mass Communications graduate from the University of the Philippines.

He was art director, costume designer, script continuity and other odd jobs an honor student in college could muster.

JJ, as he is fondly called by his friends and kin, is a very hardworking person who has made his mark in the entertainment industry by slowly but surely climbing the ladder of success in life.

A compleat artist as he is, Jeffrey is an award-winning film director in the Philippines.

When he did his second masterpiece, “Pila-Balde” in 1999 which starred sexy actress Ana Capri and a host of young male performers, it showered him the accolades from various award-giving bodies here and abroad.

“Pila-Balde,” “Fetch a Pail of Water” as international title, won Gold Prize at the 2000 Houston-Worldfest (Texas, USA) International Film Festival and NETPAC Jury Prize in the 1999 Cinemanila International Film Festival.

The film was also exhibited at the Lincoln Center in the United States as well as in other countries like Sweden, Germany, France, Bangladesh, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Italy.

Jeturian’s initial crack to film directing was Regal Films’ “Sana Pagibig Na (Enter Love)” (1998) which won critical acclaim from well-meaning people in and outside the industry.

His “Tuhog (Larger than Life)” (2001) also made good in the boxoffice and elicited positive reviews along with his subsequent mainstream films “Bridal Shower” and “Minsan Pa (Once More),” both done in 2004; “Bikini Open” (2005) and “Kubrador (The Bet Collector)” (2009).

JJ and this writer were classmates in the pioneering scriptwriting seminar-workshop conducted by award-winning screenwriter and literary writer Ricardo Lee, also known as Ricky Lee. Together with today’s hottest and awarded film artists Boots Agbayani-Pastor (scriptwriter of internationally acclaimed filmmaker Brillante Mendoza’s “Masahista (The Masseur),” Kaleldo (Summer Heat),” “Serbis (Service) and “Kinatay (The Execution of P),” both co-written with award-winning screenwriter and now director Armando “Bing” Lao, another classmate at Ricky Lee’s writing lab and “Captive”); Lynda Casimiro (scriptwriter of Dante Mendoza’s prizewinning film, “Lola”); Leo Abaya (awarded art director and production designer); Jose Almojuela, Jr. (assistant director to veterans and masters Mike de Leon, Gil Portes, Laurice Guillen); Eric Reyes, expat writer; Benjie Tan, migrant worker-writer; Loretta Medina, academician and literary critic; Vincent Benjamin Kua, Jr., the late prolific komiks writer; Buddy Palad, freelance actor and writer; Phillip Garcia, Jr., an erstwhile entertainment writer now based abroad and Emmie G. Velarde, Philippine Daily Inquirer’s entertainment editor, we had lots of fun and precious lessons learned from Ricky about screenplay writing which Jeturian all took to his heart.

Jeturian’s recent work is Quantum Films’ “Bisperas” (2011) which competed at the Directors Showcase of the 7th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and showing at the 2012 Reel Gate International Film Festival in London.

When Lino Brocka, one of the progressive, if not the only progressive, directors, died in 1991, Jeffrey was touted as the heir apparent to the

Secret

throne of the National Artist for Film.

But JJ humbly said: “Lino Brocka is a tough act to follow. Hindi ko mapapantayan si Brocka.”

But then again, many filmmakers are treading the path Brocka had conquered giving a new lease social realism art of the man even in his absence.

One of them is Jim Libiran who was a former newsman so he has the tendency to bring forth the detailed and the naturalistic bearings of stories much like a graphic news report.

When Libiran submitted his “Tribu” script to the 2007 Cinemalaya, it was his first try at a competition but it was chosen unanimously and eventually won Best Picture, Best Actors (Ensemble), Best Sound and other awards at the contest.

Because of his journalist sensibilities, Jim is able to come across a real to goodness presentation of his theme, characters, settings, conflicts, intramurals etc in the story.

“I am particular about the effects of environment to a character or to a person,” exclaimed Libiran so his Tondo as society has many interwoven intricacies in struggles among the downtrodden members of a godforsaken place.

“Tribu” is the milieu he grew up in and so it took only a minor injection of makeshift realities in its social design.

“I grew up in Tondo. I am familiar with youth gangsterism so I employed it in my film,” he admitted.

“Tribu” won in the 2007 Cinemanila International Film Festival for Best Actor Ensemlve and Best Actress Ensemble.

In Festival Paris Cinema, it took home the Pari de l’Avenir (Bet for the Future Award).

It was nominated at the 2007 Gawad Urian of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino for Best Picture but won Best Music for Francis de Veyra.

Meanwhile, it won Best Film and Best Director in Gawad Tanglaw 2007.

Notably, “Tribu” was the only nonEuropean work to win at the Festival Paris Cinema.

It competed with films from France, Japan, China, Haiti, Mexico, Great Britain and Hungary-Germany.

Libiran’s current work “Happyland” (2011) is again, a foray on the slums of Tondon and how a group of poor boys

Can’t Get Past

Choices

of the district organized themselves as football team under the auspices of a Spanish priest.

Marlon Rivera’s initial entry to film directing was an opportune time to show his mastery of the film language using the experimental mode of mixing song and dance sequence and traditional drama with a twist.

“Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (The Woman in Septic Tank)” is a parody on poverty films but it extends to its unique attack on the subject matter.

Written by Rivera’s creative teammate Chris Matrinez, the film is making waves in many festivals, international as well as local and in theatre circuits all over the world.

At the 2012 Asian Film Festival in Hong Kong, Eugene Domingo, the lead actress of the project won Best Actress.

Likewise, “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank (The Woman in Septic Tank)” goes to many competitive contests here and abroad.

Marlon, who graduated from the Far Eastern University also worked as writer and producer for Nation Broadcasting Network (NBN) Channel 4.

Paul Soriano needs no intro this side of the festival.

Son of creative director and commercial as well as film productions, Paul is the grandson of the late veteran actor Nestor de Villa.

The younger Soriano is following the steps of his dad, Jeric Soriano who had a crack at pop entertainment via “Bagets 2 (Hotshots)” of Viva Films.

Paul is currently involved in advertising and graphic arts.

Soriano’s “Thelma,” produced in 2011, about a young sprinter, which stars Maja Salvador and Tetchie Agbayani has been winning awards in both local and international competitions.

It recently won awards at the Urian, Famas and Luna Awards.

Meanwhile, Noriel Jarito’s “Rindido (Rage)” is also an award-winning piece when it was chosen as one of the finalists to the 2010 Metro Manila Film Festival Philippines digital section.

“Rindido” stars Jarito himself, action star Vic Tiro and actress Chanel Latorre.

Noriel is a graduate of Fine Arts at FEU, worked abroad as a graphic

Hidden Thoughts

Underwear

artist but went back to the country and tried his luck in the movies.

He has organized a yearly film festival in his hometown, Pambujan, Northern Samar and has been producing relatively impressive films for national exhibition.

Aggressive filmmaker Sigfreid Barros-Sanchez, whose recent film “Ang Mga Kidnappers ni Ronnie Lazaro” won national acclaim at the recent Sineng Pambansa of the Film Development Council of the Philippines in Davao City, has been very busy working on indies one after the other.

He has just finished “Ang Bangka Ha Ut Si Duwah Sapah/The Boat Between Two Rivers” and will be shown at this year’s Reel Gate.

“Ang Bangka ha Ut Si Duwah Sapah” is a story of a mother who pieces together banana stalks as raft to send her two kids to school in Mindanao but they are caught in the conflict of the warring government soldiers and Muslim rebels camped on both sides of the riverbanks.

Emerson Reyes is so controversial an artist when he resigned from the master list of the 2012 Cinemalaya New Breed division when his casting for “MNL 143” was co-opted by one of the prime movers of the fest he revolted and retained Alan Paule, Joy Viado and Gardo Versoza as main leads of the project.

Reyes is a first-time full-length director who teaches arts and filmmaking at the De La Salle UniversityCollege of St. Benilde in Manila.

Meanwhile, in the short film category, many are Filipinos while some are multinationals.

Mario Celeda, a Filipino, shares his artistic vision in “Pasahero”; Chuck Gutierrez shows his mastery of the film language in “Ulian”; Sigrid Andrea Bernardo tells a gripping modern drama in “Ang Paghihintay ng Bulong”; Ronald Batallones expresses his angst in “Sikreto”; Thop Nazareno leads the audience to an inspirational tale in “Mang Roger’s Balut”; Silver Belen gives us an impressionist painting in “Kanluran”; Mustafa Boga is a master in “Hidden Thoughts”; Djonny Chen goes documentary-type in his “Choices” and Ivan Madeira exposes his multicultural self in “Can’t Get Past” and “Underwear.” ■