October 2014 'A' issue

Story on page 24

Connecting Global News & Views For The Community

GMA Primetime Queen Marian Rivera extends her gratitude to her loyal fans for their unwavering love and support by mounting her first-ever Kapuso Fans’ Day in Pampanga happening at SM City Clark on Sunday, September 28.

Beginning at 6: 00 p.m., Kapuso supporters in the Clark area will be treated to a night of pure entertainment through various exciting games and not to mention thrilling performances from Marian herself. Joining her as event host is comedian Boobay.

Pampanga already counts as Marian’s 11th stop after her

successful shows in eight cities and two towns namely Naga City, Baguio City, Dagupan City, Cebu City and Consolacion, Roxas City, Bacolod City, Davao City, General Santos City and Daraga in Albay.

In addition, Marian, who serves as Campaign Ambassadress of the Kapuso Adopt-a-Bangka Project, will also be giving her fans a chance to own some of her pre-loved garments in an auction to be held at the Lewis Grand Hotel.

Marian showcases, this time, some of the favorite ensembles she donned in various TV guestings and regional promo tours.

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October 2014

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Celeb Scoop

Kapuso young actor Miguel Tanfelix gives back

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Marian Rivera holds Kapuso Fans’ Day, auction for Yolanda victims in Pampanga Proceeds will be instrumental to the holistic and transformative rehabilitation of the local communities in Bantayan Island, Northern Cebu by rebuilding the fisher folk’s major tool of livelihood— their bangkas.

“Muli po akong magpapaauction ng ilang mahahalagang damit na bumubuo sa aking makulay na buhay. Pinagdarasal ko na sana’y marami ang mag-participate upang higit nating matulungan ang mga kababayan natin sa Bantayan Island,” said the actress.

Gracing this meaningful activity are GMA Regional TV’s AVP and Head for Integrated

Marketing Services Division Oliver Amoroso, GMA TV Central and Eastern Visayas (Cebu) Station Manager Ann Marie Tan, and President of Bantayan Island Association of Hotels, Resorts, Bars, and Restaurants Inc. Allan Monreal.

“This event marks the culmination of the Kapuso Adopt-A-Bangka Project.

To date, we have built and rehabilitated bangkasas well as provided fishing implements to more than 300 families. We are at a loss for words on how grateful we are for Marian, who dedicated her time and effort as Campaign Ambassadress, and, for our partners and donors,

who extended kindness and generosity for this project. It has been nothing but a fruitful journey so far and we’re looking forward to more partnerships with Marian soon,” shares Amoroso.

Meanwhile, GMA brings StarStruck alumni to Iligan City’s Diyandi Festival. On September 27, Dion Ignacio graces the Sayaw Saulog Street Dancing Showdown at the Anahaw Amphitheater at 11AM. On September 28, Yasmien Kurdi, Steven Silva, Vaness del Moral, and Mike Tan stage a Kapuso Fiesta at the MSU-IIT Gym starting at 6PM. ■ FRJ, GMA

News / September 27, 2014 / 1:48 PM

Former actress Cielito LegaspiSantiago passes away Story on page 24

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Analysis: Top telco serves notice that battlefront has shifted to mobile internet

MANILA - The Philippines’ largest telecom company has raised the ante in the battle for a bigger share of the market after it unveiled its most aggressive promo yet -- free mobile broadband Internet.

Philippine Long Distance Telecom Co (PLDT), which has 61 percent of the prepaid market, today began offering free mobile Internet to prepaid subscribers of Smart, Talk ‘N Text and Sun Cellular in a move that executives said would unlock the value of this segment.

This special offer will be available to the PLDT Group’s 66 million prepaid subscribers until November 30, 2014.

The group has more than 20 million subscribers using smartphones, with a third of that using mobile Internet service.

PLDT’s latest offering comes during what has become a very busy month for the telco’s efforts to market its mobile internet service.

The move to offer free internet topped the company’s most recent promo of making available mobile broadband for only P1 for 10 minutes initially to Talk ‘N Text subscribers in an offering called “PisoNet.”This earlier promo brought down the entry barrier from the then prevailing P5 for 15 minutes -- an offering that PLDT executives described as a ‘holy grail’ for internet users.

“Protect market share”. “It’s a move to protect market share,” Freya Natividad, investment analyst at Papa Securities said, of the PLDT Group’s decision to offer free mobile Internet.

She said competition between the PLDT Group and Globe Telecom Inc has shifted to the broadband Internet segment. A recent report by the United Nations show that mobile internet has a higher penetration rate in the Philippines than fixed-line services.

“They would compete more to get a

larger percentage of data and broadband market. This is their new sunshine segment,” Natividad said.

Globe serves the remaining 39 percent of the prepaid market with 41 million subscribers. The company last October offered free Facebook, an offer that ended April this year.

The Ayala-led telco said the promo doubled mobile browsing adoption and helped drive the company’s subscriber uptake.

Besides its collaboration with Facebook, Globe likewise has partnered with popular message applications such as Vibr, Facebook Messenger, Kakao Talk, WeChat, Whatsapp and Line, allowing many of the telco’s subscribers to communicate through mobile data services and providing alternatives to traditional telephony services.

Jun Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities agreed that Internet broadband is the next battleground for telcos as more consumers shift to social network messaging sites.

Calaycay said this is borne out of the drop in text revenues. Data from PLDT show that text messaging-related services contributed P20.49 billion in revenues in the first half of this year, an 11 percent drop from P23.14 billion a year ago.

Globe’s short messaging service (SMS) revenues in the same period reached P14.24 billion, flat from last year’s P14.31 billion. In contrast, the telco raked in P6.22 billion in mobile browsing and other data revenues in the first half of the year, up from P5.59 billion last year.

The PLDT Group also enjoyed a 77 percent increase in this segment of the business to P3.73 billion this year from P2.11 billion in 2013.

Prepare for congestion. Astro del Castillo of First Grade Investments said the new offering is a “big boost” for PLDT,

but warned of congestion in its network since the telco’s promo will test its ability to handle higher demand for bandwidthheavy data.

“I hope they are prepared with the congestion,” he said, adding however that “overall, the rewards outnumbered the costs.”

PLDT’s move comes days after the Department of Justice (DOJ) warned telcos to disclose the details of their promos, and to notify consumers of their right to be informed about the details with regard to Internet or mobile services offered to subscribers.

The DOJ’s Office for Competition said administrative charges may be filed against erring telcos under the Consumer Act and the Public Telecommunications Policy Act. The government has proposed internet protocol peering as a solution to slow download speeds, but telcos disagree on the matter.

Manny Cruz, market strategist at Asiasec Equities Inc, said the impact of PLDT’s new offering on internet speeds is “minimal,” as the country’s largest telco already had the network to support the service.

Cruz said PLDT had spent about P150 billion in the last five years to expand the capacity of its network, adding that the dominant telco would likely increase its capital expenditure (capex) as the company increases its presence in the digital space.

“Complement media content”. Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT, said the company’s network is ready to handle its latest promo.

“For the past five years, since 2010, our network capex has exceeded P150 billion and I suspect, capex level will grow in the coming years as we transition more into the digital space. Apart from our investment in our fixed and wireless network, we’ve invested substantial

amounts in nationwide digital fiber optic network, international cable linkages and of course our fiber to the home,” Pangilinan said.

He said the company’s latest promo would complement its strategy to deliver media content, such as music and video. To recall, the PLDT Group has ramped up its content offerings, with the launch last year of its music streaming service Spinnr, and thereafter of the bundling of global music streaming service Deezer.

Recently, PLDT announced its venture into e-commerce with an investment in Germany-based Rocket Internet to create such platforms for emerging markets. Rocket is the company behind e-commerce platforms like Zalora and Lazada.

“In line with this, we’ve invested in Rocket Internet recently to focus on e-commerce. We’re now working with this leading global internet company to develop our mobile money services for extensive use in e-commerce here and overseas,” Pangilinan said.

“Attract more people”. Napoleon Nazareno, PLDT president and chief executive said the company’s latest promo may result in foregone revenue.

But “we hope that this will attract more people to try the service,” he said,

adding that the increase in patronage may eventually make up for the initial drop in revenue.

Nazareno said the company is allotting P32 billion capex next year, the same as this year, adding that 60-70 percent would be spent for broadband expansion.

The PLDT Group has far rolled out about 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables all over the country, which provides the transmission facilities needed to support internet service. It also has the most extensive international cable systems needed to connect the Philippines to the rest of the world.

Globe welcomed its main rival’s latest promo, adding that it plans to revive its own free Facebook promo. “We wish them the best of luck. More people on the internet is good for the Philippines and our ecosystem,” said Yolanda Crisanto, spokesperson of the Ayala-led telco.

“In the end, customers will choose the telco provider with the best digital services and the fastest experience possible. Amidst all the hype and promotions, we are happy in the fact that, at Globe, we deliver both,” she added.

InterAksyon.com is the online news portal of TV5, a member of the PLDT Group. ■ Darwin G. Amojelar / InterAksyon.com / September 26, 2014 / 5:56 PM

Filinvest Group building more high-end condos in Cebu

Filinvest’s Crimson Resort in Cebu. Photo from skyscrapercity.com

MANILA - The Filinvest Group is rolling out more high-end residential projects in Cebu this year.

Filinvest Development Corp (FDC) executive vice president Catherine A. Ilagan told reporters on Thursday night that the company is launching a project under the Filinvest Premiere brand near its Crimson Hotel in Mactan. Another project under The Exclusive Collection will be offered in its 50-hectare township in the South Road Properties in Cebu City.

Filinvest Premiere and The Exclusive Collection are two of the most upscale brands of the Filinvest Group of Companies.

“We felt the growth of the market there has accelerated for the last 2-3 years…

Even the high-end [market] of Cebu,

they’re well-travelled. They know there’s a certain kind of convenience out of condo living. That’s the demand we’re trying to meet,” Ilagan said, noting these projects will be launched in a month or two.

The Filinvest Group is looking at Makati and two sites in Bonifacio Global City as the possible locations of its future high-end projects with its inventory in The Beaufort, the first premier development of the Gotianuns, nearly sold out.

FDC has sold 95 percent of the West Tower and 70-80 percent of the East Tower of The Beaufort, situated at the corner of 5th and 23rd streets in BGC. The company expects to sell out the remaining inventory in a couple of months, Ilagan said.

“The market for this type of property

is now ready. This novel venture answers the need of that type of home buyers who put premium on space and aesthetics as well as the conveniences that can be had living in a condominium,” FDC president Josephine Gotianun-Yap said in a statement.

FDC invested P3.5 billion for the two-tower development with total revenues expected to reach P7 billion.

The company turned over the project to homebuyers late last year.

The Beaufort’s East and West Towers have 271 units in total with an average selling price of P160,000 per square meter. A one-bedroom unit with parking space starts at P10 million.

■ Krista Angela M. Montealegre / InterAksyon.com /

September 26, 2014 / 6:28 PM

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Property firms overcome location trauma, apply painful lessons

MANILA – Five years after tropical storm ‘Ondoy’ hit Metro Manila, Philippine real estate sector is back on its feet and local developers are ready than ever to face extreme weather events armed with the painful lessons of the devastation.

‘Ondoy’ submerged the Philippine capital after dumping a record amount of rainfall in a span of six hours, comparable to the average monthly rainfall in Metro Manila. For real estate players, the storm was considered a “great equalizer” because not even the posh villages in Makati and Alabang were able to escape its wrath.

Land values in Provident Village, one of the hardest-hit areas in Metro Manila by ‘Ondoy,’ were halved in the months or quarters following the disaster, but their prices are now back to their peak levels before the storm happened, said Claro Cordero Jr, head of research and valuation at Jones Lang La Salle.

“Of course, the demand is still there.

Once you have very cheap real estate, definitely the buyers will go to you. That primarily drove up the value for real estate in those areas,” Cordero said.

‘Ondoy’ triggered a flight to higher ground especially for the traumatized victims of the storm who feared for their lives should another extreme weather disturbance strike Metro Manila.

In the aftermath of ‘Ondoy,’ KMC Mag Group residential division manager Angela Manese, who was working for a real estate company in 2009, noted a surge in demand for condominium projects, particularly from clients whose houses were swamped by floodwaters.

“Pag fresh pa siya, the idea would be ‘mag-condo na lang ako, hindi pa ako mababaha’. But it’s been five years and I think we’ve gone back to thinking that condos may just be a secondary home,” Manese said.

However, not everyone can afford to move in to condominiums in the central business districts, thus fuelling the development of affordable residential projects in the cities surrounding Marikina and Cainta, areas which suffered the brunt of ‘Ondoy’s’ assault.

“Based on spending power, the most economic choice could be to move to the the closest area that is not so flood-prone -- which means the surrounding areas,” Manese said, citing some areas in Pasig City and Rizal.

Some property companies have totally abandoned plans to build residential projects in areas which were inundated by ‘Ondoy,’ but there are some real estate firms that are willing to take a second look.

Take the case of 8990 Holdings Inc, a low-cost mass housing developer which

nrecently entered the Metro Manila condominium market through Deca Homes.

Still in flood-prone area, but applying lessons. 8990 Holdings is in the planning and design stage for a mixed-use project on a 130,390 square meter lot situated along Ortigas Avenue Extension in Rosario, Pasig City. Ortigas Avenue Extension was one of the areas adversely affected by ‘Ondoy.’

However, 8990 Holdings just could not pass up on the property, which the company acquired for P2.2 billion last year, amid robust demand for residential products in the area.

8990 Holdings president Januario Jesus Atencio said establishing a presence in the eastern part of Metro Manila was critical to the property company’s expansion plan since it will allow them to cover the four corners of the metropolis.

Aware of the flooding risks in the area, 8990 Holdings is stepping up its flood-mitigating measures and recent storms have helped the company in developing its water containment plan for the Ortigas project.

“Because of ‘Ondoy,’ the strategic importance of water containment like drainage and dike preparations becomes a much more important factor. It was important before but with Metro Manila

Vehicles are seen piled up in Provident Village in Marikina, one of those communities hardest hit

by Ondoy in 2009.

projects, we’re putting more emphasis on water containment,” Atencio said.

With homebuyers becoming more selective in choosing properties to buy in the aftermath of the disaster, the damage caused by ‘Ondoy’ served as a wake up call for developers as it highlighted the need for sustainable solutions and reliable property management.

“Being a country that’s susceptible to extreme weather changes, the Philippine real estate industry, as well as the infrastructure sector, should put prime importance in building a more resilient city. Calamities such as ‘Ondoy’ have put not just

the industry, but also the country to the test as the heavy rains and flood halted operations in different offices, homes, and other establishments for days,” CBRE said.

CBRE noted the efforts of the government and corporations to improve the state of the cities as more disaster preparedness initiatives are being implemented and executed.

“As long as these are addressed, the Philippines will be more resilient and not to mention, become a more appealing investment destination,” CBRE said. ■ Krista Angela M. Montealegre and Darwin G. Amojelar / InterAksyon.com / September 26, 2014 / 12:09 PM

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IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

As Yolanda anniversary draws closer, PHL follows up TPS for undocumented Pinoys in US AS the first anniversary of super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) draws closer, the Philippines urged the United States anew to approve Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for undocumented Filipinos there.

Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario relayed the request in a letter to US State Secretary John Kerry, the Philippine embassy in

Washington D.C. said Thursday.

“I take this opportunity to once again reiterate the Philippine government’s request for the US government’s immediate positive consideration of the request,” a tweet by the embassy quoted del Rosario as saying in his letter.

Del Rosario said many Filipinos in the US were affected by Yolanda, and this humanitarian assistance “would provide

temporary relief for them.”

The secretary said TPS approval would alleviate the plight of some 200,000 undocumented Filipinos in US eligible under the program.

He added TPS approval would ease the strain Yolanda rebuilding efforts would place on Philippine infrastructure and resources.

Last August, US Department of

Homeland Security (DHS) officials indicated the US government was still evaluating whether to place the Philippines under TPS. The US Department of Homeland Security officials also admitted they still have no timetable on when they will arrive at a decision.

“This is a matter that is under consideration by Secretary Jeh Johnson.

There are no specific deadlines but this does require the kind of outreach, time and consideration that it is being given,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for International Affairs Alan Bersin said, according to a news release of the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. Manila had requested that the Philippines be placed under TPS in the wake of Yolanda’s devastation. Yolanda had left more than 6,000 dead.

Filipino community leaders said approval of the TPS request would help the Philippines strengthen its capacity to respond to similar disasters in the future.

They added the ongoing recovery effort in the affected areas is putting a strain on the resources of the Philippines, noting the US Agency for International Development figures show more than two million survivors are still without

durable shelter.

TPS. The US Customs and Immigration Services said the DHS may designate a country for TPS “due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.”

It said TPS may be [given] to eligible nationals of certain countries who are already in the US. The Secretary may designate a country for TPS due to the following temporary conditions including an “environmental disaster” such as earthquake or hurricane.

During a designated period, TPS beneficiaries or those preliminarily eligible for TPS upon initial review of their cases are: • not removable from the United States • [allowed] obtain an employment authorization document (EAD) • [given the chance] to be granted travel authorization But it also said TPS is a temporary benefit “that does not lead to lawful permanent resident status or give any other immigration status.” ■ Joel Locsin / LBG, GMA News / September 25, 2014 / 9:47 AM

From trash to cash: How a Pinay maid in Singapore became her own boss in PHL JEANILYN Bermudez is one of the many Filipino domestic helpers in Singapore, but in the Philippines, she’s her own boss.

“Here in my village, I feel I am the big boss... Here, I’m the one who is telling, do this and that and they call me madam,” Bermudez told Our Better World, a Singaporean organization.

Bermudez, a single mother of three, manages the Lyneth Grace Metal and Boxes Junk Shop in Nueva Vizcaya, employing five adults and 17 students to gather junk from neighboring towns for her recycling shop.

Due to her meticulous business planning, her business prospered. She was able to buy three motorcycles to speed up collection. She even gives a small food and clothing allowance to her employees.

The recycling shop also gave her family a steady income, and lessened the pressure on her as their main breadwinner.

“This is my treasure, all the junk here. I’m very proud to have this junk shop because it makes me very happy, and helping people here in my village, especially these jobless people here and

the children,” said Bermudez.

Help from Aidha. The entrepreneuring mother started working in Singapore IN 1984 at age 19, thinking she would become “famous or very rich in a few months.” But years of employment rendered her “very, very desperate and disappointed.”

She credits part of her success to her studies in Aidha, a Singaporean non-profit organization teaching foreign domestic workers financial and computer literacy, business management, and entrepreneurship skills.

A big game-changer for her was

learning how to say “no” to relatives who asked for money, a challenge which Veronica Gomez, Aidha ambassador, identified as the biggest challenge for all their enrollees.

Gomez said their students generally had “little or no savings” and similar understanding on how they may save their earnings.

Their training, she said, would help them or their family start their own businesses and create sustainable wealth.

Aidha offers two modules to interested domestic workers, asking a modest fee

VALLETTA - Malta has turned away a ship travelling from Guinea with a Filipino passenger with suspected Ebola and seeking medical assistance, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Thursday.

The sick Filipino passenger was taken in by Italy, and an initial medical assessment suggested he has hepatitis, port authorities in Sicily told Agence France-Presse.

Muscat said it was “morally and legally correct” to have prevented the Hong Kong-flagged ship from entering Maltese waters late Wednesday, despite a request from the captain for assistance.

The MV Western Copenhagen, with 21 people on board, was on its way from Guinea -- one of the three countries worst hit by west Africa’s Ebola epidemic -- to Ukraine.

An army patrol boat was dispatched to

make sure the ship did not enter Maltese waters.

“We had no way of ascertaining whether the captain was understating or overstating the situation. We do not even know if there is more than one suspected case,” Muscat said.

He argued that while international conventions state that countries are obliged to help individuals at sea in need of assistance, exceptions can be made if the country’s health system or national security could be at risk.

“We do not know the magnitude of the situation and it could be a false alarm.

But we will not compromise our health system,” he said.

Valletta said the ship was 40 nautical miles (74 kilometres) from Sicily and 83 nautical miles off Malta when it asked for medical assistance.

for nine months of training which may be paid in six month installments.

New applicants may finish the enrolment process at the Aidha campus at United World College South East Asia, Dover Campus, 1207. ■ Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / September 23, 2014 / :07 PM

Malta turns away ship with Filipino possibly sick with Ebola on board After being turned away from Malta, it turned towards Sicily and a coast guard patrol boat was dispatched from Pozzallo to meet it.

An initial medical assessment by radio while he was still on board suggested the man may be suffering from hepatitis, authorities at the port said. The passenger was met by an ambulance on the portside and taken to hospital.

The Western Copenhagen then continued on its way to Ukraine.

The deadliest Ebola outbreak on record began at the start of the year in Guinea before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The epidemic has claimed more than 2,600 lives, according to the UN’s World Health Organization. ■ Agence France-Presse / September 19, 2014 / 1:53 AM

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Over 1,000 Pinoy seafarers in Vancouver register as overseas voters DESPITE being at sea most of the time, over 1,000 Filipino seafarers in Vancouver, Canada, have expressed intention in participating in the 2016 national elections by registering as overseas voters.

According to the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver, a total of 1,150 Filipino seafarers had filed their applications for registration and certification for overseas voting as of September 15.

Members of the Consulate General’s overseas voting mobile team visited 10 cruise ships in August, bringing with them the same electronic registration

equipment used in previous elections to record new applicants.

“Using the same registration equipment issued by the Commission on Elections for the previous elections, the mobile team was able to receive and process a huge number of applicants with the full support of ship companies and port agents,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement Wednesday.

For September, the same team had already visited two more cruise ships so far.

Consul General Neil Frank Ferrer said the consulate may surpass its

target of 8,000 registrants by Oct. 31, 2015, the end of the period of registration, citing its aggressive campaign to register Filipinos during consular outreach missions.

Overseas voter registration, which started May 6, 2014, surpassed the one-million mark in July, the first time the mark was breached in the 11-year electoral history of overseas voting .

A 50-percent increase in the number of applicants for the month of August had boosted confidence in reaching more than two million overseas voters by the 2016 polls. ■ Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA

News / September 24, 2014 / 3:02 PM

Thousands rally behind Pinoy who fled UK to avoid deportation

Fred Buenavista, 32, has been living and working in the UK before he was ordered deported by the Home Office.Photo from Stop Fred’s Deportation Facebook page

OVER 3,000 people had expressed support for a Filipino barman who was forced to return to the Philippines after he was threatened with deportation despite having lived and worked in the United Kingdom for 12 years.

A report on Kent Online said Fred Buenavista, 32, chose to voluntarily return to the Philippines before he was deported by the UK’s Home Office for having an expired visa. His initiative granted him the right to apply for another visa after 12 months instead of 10 years if he was deported.

A separate report on the Daily Mail said around 3,000 people signed a

petition calling for UK immigration officials to change their minds regarding Buenavista’s status.

According to the Daily Mail report, Buenavista was four years old when he left for New Zealand with his mother, Maria, and stepfather Alan Pratt.

The family moved to the UK when Buenavista, armed with a student visa, was 20.

Buenavista studied in Dartford for grammar school before studying at the University for the Creative Arts in Surrey. He tried to apply for a work permit before coming to the UK, but the Home Office said it was never granted.

A Home Office spokesperson told Daily Mail that all applications were “considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules.”

They added that anyone who had “no right” to be in the UK were expected to voluntarily leave, and will be forced to leave if they did not.

Karan Le Quelenec, Buenavista’s boss in the bar he was working in, said he was made “a scapegoat” by the Home Office.

According to Le Quelenec, Buenavista was asked by the immigration office to sign in to a local police station every two weeks.

When he showed up at the station for his sign-up, he was arrested and taken to a detention center in another town without being allowed to contact his parents.

Maria Buenavista said her son’s departure was the “first time in 32 years” that their family will be separated.

Alan Pratt said it “doesn’t seem right” to separate Buenavista from his sisters and mother, who will join her son in the Philippines for four weeks before returning to the UK. ■

Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / September 26, 2014 / 5:39 PM

10

www.hello-philippines.com

IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Pinoys in Singapore advised vs. prolonged outdoor stay due to haze PHILIPPINE officials in Singapore on Monday advised Filipinos there not to stay outdoors too long due to the haze there since last week.

In an advisory, the Philippine Embassy in Singapore said the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) there had exceeded 100 since Sept.

16 due to the haze from Kalimantan, Indonesia.

“Ang mga Pilipino sa Singapore ay pinapayuhan na iwasan ang

matagalang paglalagi sa labas habang nanatili ang PSI index ng lampas ng isang daan para maiwasan ang mga komplikasyon sa kalusugan na dala ng haze,” it said.

But as of Monday evening, the PSI levels as shown on the website of Singapore’s National Environment Agency were below 100.

They were between 81 to 89, meaning “moderate.” ■ Joel Locsin / KBK, GMA News / September 22, 2014 / 7:50 PM

Half-Pinay, half-German makes it to ‘The Voice of Holland’ FILIPINO-GERMAN Isabella Lepping made it to the fifth season of The Voice of Holland by passing the Blind Auditions with her own rendition of “Addicted to You.” Lepping’s mother is of Filipino origin while her father is German.

She currently lives in Enschede, The Netherlands, taking up her Masters of Science in European Studies at the University of Twente. She brought her mother, father and Dutch boyfriend to the show.

The Voice of Holland starts with non-televised auditions. Participants are then chosen to take part in the

Blind Auditions where they get the chance to be chosen to move forward and choose a voice coach in return.

Two coaches turned for Lepping — Marco Borsato and Ali B. She chose for Borsato.

Once the coaches have completed their teams, those who passed through the Blind Auditions will fight their way to the Live Shows by beating a teammate in The Battles level.

Lepping will be seen again on RTL 4, the network that broadcasts The Voice of Holland, at The Battles.

■ Chared Verschuur Ballo / KBK, GMA News /

September 23, 2014 / 1:24 PM

Pinay maid in UAE charged with adultery after giving birth to twins in sponsor’s house AFTER giving birth to twins inside her sponsor’s house in Sharjah last week, a Filipina maid in the United Arab Emirates now finds herself charged with adultery, an online news site reported.

The Filipina, her babies and suspected partner were placed under police custody, according to a report on UAE news site Gulf News.

On Sunday, the Sharjah public prosecution started its interrogation of the housemaid, 35, who gave birth to the twin girls in her sponsor’s house at Al Nouf last Thursday.

Quoting a Sharjah police official, the report said the woman was taken to the Al Gharb police station.

Investigators are verifying information the maid became pregnant

due to an affair with a Bangladeshi worker at a neighboring house. The worker was also charged with adultery, the same online report said.

The housemaid’s employer was surprised that she failed to carry out her morning duties last Thursday. The duties included preparing breakfast for her employer’s children before they went to school.

The Emirati employer’s family found the maid lying in the bathroom of their adjacent house after giving birth. They reported the incident to the police.

While the Filipina and her twins were rushed to Al Qasimi hospital, police arrested her suspected partner who was allegedly planning to flee the country. ■ Joel Locsin / RSJ, GMA News / September 22, 2014 / 8:49 AM

Pinoy found guilty of terror charges in US LOS ANGELES - A Filipino national and an American face life in prison after they were found guilty Thursday in California of plotting to aid jihadists overseas and to kill US soldiers.

A jury convicted Sohiel Omar Kabir, 36, a naturalized US citizen, and Filipino Ralph de Leon, 25, at the conclusion of a six-week trial that comes as the United States leads air strikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic militants.

The trial underlined the threat that homegrown extremists pose to the United States.

De Leon was specifically found guilty of conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda, to receive military-type training from the group and to commit murder, kidnapping, or maiming overseas.

“This case shows that the appeal of extremist ideologies can reach from Afghanistan to America,” said United States Attorney Stephanie Yonekura after the trial in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles.

He added that this demonstrated “the clear need for continued vigilance

in rooting out homegrown violent extremists who plot terrorist acts both here and abroad.”

Two co-conspirators—Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales and Arifeen David Gojali—had already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

Background. De Leon immigrated to the United States in 2003. He enrolled in business administration at the California State University, San Bernardino, seven years ago but withdrew in September 2012, according to a report on Philippine News citing university spokesperson Joe Gutierrez.

Known by his aliases Rafiq Abdul Raheem and Ya Seen, De Leon converted to Islam in 2010. He had reportedly been in contact with Kabir online, where he expressed extremist views, and discussed violent jihad.

He had joined Skype conversations arranging meetings with other terrorists, posting radical content in Facebook where undercover agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were able to join

their online conversations.

De Leon himself told an FBI source that “he wanted to be on the front lines overseas and use C-4 explosive in an attack,” according to FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller in the Philippine News report.

The report further stated that De Leon and his co-defendants ‘were excited about the rewards from being a shaheed,’ Arabic for martyr.

Federal investigators said Kabir met De Leon and Santana, at a bar and introduced them to the writings of US-born radical Muslim cleric and al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed 2011 in an American airstrike in Yemen.

Trial. The trial heard evidence of Kabir’s travel to Afghanistan and his efforts to encourage Santana and De Leon to come with him.

In September 2012, De Leon and Santana recruited Gojali to accompany them to Afghanistan. The three undertook preliminary training in southern California at firearms and paintball facilities.

The trio were arrested in November that year as they prepared to drive south to Mexico, en route to Afghanistan.

FBI Los Angeles agent Bill Lewis said: “The threat posed to America’s security by individuals within the United States who support terrorists is very real.

“This case demonstrates the process by which individuals living in the United States were groomed and radicalized toward an extremist ideology and, ultimately, planned the murder of American and coalition forces.”

Judge Virginia A. Phillips will hand down sentences on February 23. ■

Agence France-Presse and Philippine News / KBK / September 26, 2014 / 10:29 AM

12

IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Pinay nurse faces deportation in Australia due to autistic son A Filipina nurse who is facing deportation in Australia with her nineyear-old son has taken to the Internet to seek intervention in their case.

Maria Cecilia Sevilla and her son Tyrone will soon be deported to the Philippines after Australia’s Immigration Department deemed the boy as a “financial burden on taxpayers.

Tyrone was diagnosed with autism, which slows down his neurological development, six months after they migrated to Australia in 2007.

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison told News. com.au that Sevilla’s application for a 489 or skilled worker visa was denied because Tyrone “did not meet the health requirement.”

Despite her son’s condition, Sevilla completed her studies at TAFE, a vocational university, and was able to secure employment as a clinical nurse at Townsville Hospital.

Following the rejection of her skilled worker visa, Sevilla sought ministerial intervention, creating an online petition on Change.org asking the minister to let them stay as a family in Australia.

“I’ve worked for years, raising my son and studying to be a nurse. Yet all of it could be taken away because the government thinks that children with autism are going to be more of a cost to Australian society than a benefit — but that’s just not true!” she said.

In her petition, Sevilla said her son’s “personal security, human and child

OFW loses job for testifying on hair dye row in UAE

A Filipina worker at a beauty salon in the United Arab Emirates lost her job for testifying in a case where a customer lost her hair due to an expired dye, a UAE news site reported late Tuesday.

But the Filipina’s testimony helped lead to Dh5,000 (PhP 60,643) fines against the salon’s hairstylist and manager for risking the customer’s health, Gulf News reported.

The Filipina and a Moroccan co-worker had testified that the hairstylist did not use the dye requested by the customer and used an expired product instead.

Both also told prosecutors the salon manager asked other staff to get rid of the expired dye shortly after the incident.

On the other hand, the Filipina and her sacked co-worker said they were fired for giving a statement not in their employers’ favor.

“The salon manager and her business partner asked us to allege that the victim was losing her hair before she came to the salon. When they learnt about our testimony, the sacked us,” the Filipina said.

Fined by the court for risking the 27-year-old Moroccan woman’s health were the 36-year-old Tunisian hairstylist and the 29-year-old Syrian salon manager.

Earlier, the hairstylist and manager pleaded not guilty to endangering the victim’s health before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court.

Court records showed the incident occurred at the salon on Jumeirah Beach Road last January.

The Moroccan victim said the hairstylist covered her hair with a cap for an hour.

“When she removed it and started washing my hair, it started falling in big chunks. I screamed at her until another staffer came to help her clean my hair. So much of my hair fell that I even saw my scalp. I immediately called the police,” she said.

After being referred to the Dubai Health Authority for examination, the victim found her hair loss was due to the expired dye.

The ruling is subject to appeal within 15 days. ■ Joel Locsin / LBG, GMA News / September 24, 2014 / 7:36 AM

rights, and dignity” were at stake if they were forced to return to the Philippines.

She said Tyrone had no relatives in the country who could provide long-term care for him.

Most of Sevilla’s relatives reside in Queensland, and their proximity allows her to complete her shifts at Townsville Hospital.

Sevilla told News.com.au that her son was not a burden to Australians, adding that her working status meant she was also a taxpayer.

When asked if she could bear living in the Philippines again, Sevilla said her seven years of working in Australia would be wasted if they were sent back.

■ Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / September 24, 2014 /

5:41 PM

Maria Cecilia Sevilla and son Tyrone. Photo from Change.org

Pinoy rape victim in Saudi Arabia faces added woe: mounting medical bill AN overseas Filipino worker who claimed he was gang-raped by five men in Saudi Arabia last May now faces another problem: mounting medical bills.

The worker is seeking help to defray the costs of his medication, which he said now amount to SR250,000 (PhP2,963,079), Saudi news site Arab News reported Thursday.

“I am not under any medication. I’m being held here, it’s like hospital arrest, because I cannot pay the bill,” he told Arab News, adding he had been in the hospital for nearly six months.

He posted his plight on Facebook

last September 22, claiming no one had come to help him. He asked fellow OFWs around the world, “especially our government or someone else out there, to save me.”

“Actually, I’m forced to come out in the open because I cannot wait for them anymore. My bills are mounting on a daily basis,” the OFW, 31, told Arab News by phone.

He added the Philippine Embassy has not given him any information about his case. The Arab News report described the OFW as a computer science graduate from Mindanao.

The OFW said five young men

attacked him while he was heading home along King Abdullah Road.

But he said his medical insurance company would not shoulder his bill, claiming that he had failed to notify it.

The OFW said he wants to go home soonest, claiming he has recovered from the shock of the assault and now worries about paying his medical bills.

Meanwhile, fellow OFW Maricel Erasga Tunacao, who is based in AlQaseem, has been trying to seek support for the OFW. She also appealed to the embassy to help him. ■ Joel Locsin / LBG, GMA News / September

25, 2014 / 8:24 AM

SSS to launch new contact center for OFWs STARTING October this year, close to one million overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) will have easier means to benefit from the programs and services of the Social Security System (SSS).

In a statement Monday, the SSS said it will launch a newly created OFW Contact Center Unit (OFW-CSU) that will handle direct contact points for OFWs to allow for a more differentiated servicing and faster resolution of their SSS concerns.

For its initial operations, the OFWCSU will provide dedicated e-mail

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support and local call services from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays.

In addition, a special assistance desk will be available at the SSS main office in Diliman, Quezon City, for walk-in transactions of OFWs, such as registration and issuance of SS numbers, enrolment in Flexi-fund Program, and verification of SSS records.

It will also provide OFW members assistance in filing their loans, benefit claims and other SSS applications.

“The creation of a specialized contact unit for OFWs will enable us to identify their distinct needs and address them accordingly,” said SSS senior vice president and international operations division head Judy Frances A. See in a statement Monday.

“It will also help us manage the level of transactions with other member service facilities more effectively,” she added.

OFWs and their families in the

Philippines can reach the OFW-CSU by e-mail at ofw.relations@sss.gov.ph or through their service hotlines, (02) 364-7796 and (02) 374-7798.

See said additional channels and service facilities have been lined up for implementation to fully complement the unit’s operations.

“We will open international toll-free numbers so OFWs across the globe can call us without having charges on their end,” she said. “OFW-CSU’s operating hours will also be extended to 24/7 once the required systems are in place.”

Other services that will be rolled out soon include online contact points that utilize VoIP and instant messaging platforms.

The SSS reported a total of 983,262 OFW members as of June 2014. Based on the 2013 POEA Compendium of OFW Statistics, more than 1.8-million OFWs were deployed in 2013, of which 464,888 were new hires. ■ KBK, GMA News / September 22, 2014 / 8:06 PM

14

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INTERNATIONAL / GLOBAL NEWS

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Volcano erupts in central Japan; hikers reported injured A volcano erupted in central Japan on Saturday, shooting ash and rocks into the air that reportedly left 11 hikers injured, including seven unconscious, and forced 150 people to shelter in cabins near the summit.

The eruption of the 3,067-metre (10,121-foot) Mount Ontake straddling Nagano and Gifu prefecture happened around midday, the meteorological agency said.

Television footage showed huge clouds of smoke billowing from the peak, which is a popular destination for trekkers.

Several cabins near the summit were fully covered with grey ash, while some window glasses appeared shattered.

“There was a thunder-like noise and the sky became dark because of the smoke,” Shuichi Mukai, who runs a mountain lodge near the summit, told Kyodo News.

“There are 15 centimetres (six inches) of ash on the ground,” Mukai said.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe ordered the military to dispatch troops to the peak to rescue hikers.

“We confirmed that there were injuries,” Abe told reporters. “I ordered (government officials) to do their best to secure the safety of mountain climbers.”

Local authorities said they had received reports from people in the mountain that at least 11 hikers were injured, including seven unconscious.

“We are trying to confirm the reports,” said Sohei Hanamura, an official of the Nagano prefectural government.

“We have not received any reports of death but we are afraid that the number of casualties would increase,” Hanamura told AFP by phone.

NHK said some 150 people were forced to stay inside lodges near the summit, while local authorities dispatched rescuers, including doctors, to the site.

NHK also said three people were trapped outside as they could not move due to the ash and rocks falling around them.

Television footage showed dozens of hikers covered with ash hurriedly descending the mountain.

Climbers, reaching bottom points of a trail, shook hands with joy to share relief from the disaster.

“I escaped with my bare life,” a local resident told NHK. “Immediately after I watched the eruption, I rushed away but I was soon covered with ash, which piled up by some 20 centimetres.”

The meteorological agency forecast further eruptions, warning that volcanic debris may settle within four kilometres (2.5 miles) of the peak.

The agency also placed restrictions on access to the mountain, while calling on local residents to remain on alert as an eruption could shatter windows miles away.

Mount Ontake’s last major eruption was in 1979 when it expelled more than 200,000 tonnes of ash, according to local media.

It also produced a minor eruption in 1991 and caused multiple volcanic earthquakes in 2007. ■ AFP / September 27, 2014

Japan, Mexico to join UN peacekeeping JAPAN and Mexico will contribute troops to UN peacekeeping, a top UN official said Friday following a toplevel meeting aimed at shoring up blue-helmet missions worldwide.

Sweden announced plans to send 250 troops to join the UN force in Mali and China said it would send a 700-strong infantry battalion to South Sudan among other pledges at the meeting chaired by US Vice President Joe Biden.

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said the decision by Japan and Mexico was “a first” and that other offers of training and equipment were made to support the missions.

“I think this is very positive,” said Ladsous.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the meeting that Tokyo would be “upgrading its domestic laws and regulations in the field of security” to play a more active role in

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses a High-level Summit on Strengthening International Peace Operations during the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 26, 2014

UN peacekeeping.

Japan is the second largest financial contributor to UN peace missions behind the United States, but its pacifist constitution barred Tokyo from sending troops in peace operations.

Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto announced Wednesday that his country would take part in UN peacekeeping operations, during his speech to the UN General Assembly.

The announcements come after the Philippines pulled its forces from

the UN force serving in the Golan following a standoff with Syrian rebels and the hostage-taking of a fellow Fijian contingent.

France pledged to train 20,000 soldiers every year while Rwanda offered helicopters and police to the peace mission in South Sudan.

A record of 130,000 troops, police and civilian staff are serving in the 16 UN peacekeeping missions worldwide but the demand for the international force remains high. ■ AFP / Pool / September 27, 2014

UAE court sentences clerk to 6 months for filming Pinay in washroom A United Arab Emirates court on Sunday sentenced a Pakistani clerk to six months in jail for secretly filming a Filipina workmate while she’s using the washroom last March.

The clerk, 29, used a phone hidden in a box of tissues to record videos of workmates using the toilet,UAE news site Gulf news reported Sunday evening.

In its decision, the Dubai Court of First Instance said the clerk was guilty of molesting his colleagues and breaching their modesty.

Presiding Judge Mohammad Jamal ordered the clerk deported once he completes serving his jail term. The clerk pleaded guilty to the charges.

Sunday’s ruling is subject to appeal within 15 days.

Earlier, prosecutors said the clerk programmed his mobile phone to record videos of his colleagues using the washroom.

A Syrian engineer discovered the hidden phone and told his boss immediately.

“When confronted, the clerk alleged

that he fixed the phone in the washroom to film women and particularly a Filipina secretary,” the engineer said.

A police corporal added the clerk admitted secretly filming his colleagues for four months “for his personal pleasure.”

The Gulf News report quoted the clerk as admitting to prosecutors that his targets were two women—an Arab and a Filipina—but added he would delete the videos after watching them.

■ Joel Locsin / KBK, GMA News / September 22, 2014

/ 1:30 PM

A TV image shows the eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan’s Nagano prefecture on September 27, 2014. AFP/Jiji Press.

HK democracy protesters hold out after storming govt HQ

MORE than 50 protesters held out at Hong Kong government headquarters Saturday after storming the complex overnight as a week-long protest against Beijing’s refusal to grant the city unfettered democracy turned angry.

Riot police using pepper spray cleared out more than 100 demonstrators in the early hours of Saturday, dragging many away and arresting 13, in the tensest scenes yet in a recent series of protests.

Student groups have been spearheading a civil disobedience campaign this week in response to Beijing’s announcement last month that it would choose who can stand for Hong Kong’s top post of chief executive in elections in 2017.

More than 2,000 protesters, many of them secondary school pupils and university students took part in protests on Friday at the city’s main government headquarters, culminating with around 150 demonstrators breaking through police lines to occupy its forecourt late on Friday night.

By Saturday morning, police pushed hundreds of protesters away from the site into a nearby street, liberally using pepper spray, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

“The use of pepper spray is disgusting,” Mia Chan, an accountant, said. “When you put on that uniform, you have a moral duty to protect,” Chan said.

Police have said the 13 arrested were aged between 16 and 35 and detained for forcible entry into government premises, disorderly conduct in public place and assaulting a police officer.

Among those arrested was a prominent student leader, 17-year-old Joshua Wong.

‘Hope lies with the people’. Protesters who remained in the complex Saturday morning hoisted a sign saying “Hope lies with the people, change starts with resistance,” written in black letters on white cloth.

“This is an amazing turning point.

Hong Kongers usually just lay there and do nothing, this time, we’re really making an impact,” Suki Wong, a recent graduate who works as an accountant, told AFP. Protesters used umbrellas to protect themselves from being pepper-sprayed by police wearing riot gear including helmets and body-length plastic shields.

“We’re disappointed because the police just treated us like an object, like a roadblock that has to be moved,” 20-yearold Lu Yiu, who spent nine hours caught between police lines unable to use the toilet or sleep.

“Everyone was crying as we were pushed onto the street from the extreme use of force,” Lu said, adding that his throat and nose burned from inhaling pepper spray.

In a statement, the government “expressed regret” that protesters had stormed the complex, saying security personnel, police officers and protesters had suffered injuries but without giving details.

Friday’s action was supposed to be the culmination of a week of protests that began on Monday when 13,000 students gathered on a campus in the north of the city, according to organisers.

On Thursday night, more than 2,000 people took their protest to the residence of Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying with the hope of speaking to him. However, Leung has so far refused to speak to the students or meet their leaders.

The series of protests comes after China last month said Hong Kongers would be allowed to vote for their leader for the first time in 2017, but that only candidates approved by a pro-Beijing committee could stand.

A protest in July saw half-a-millionpeople — according to organisers — take to the streets to express their discontent at what they see as China’s increasingly tight grip on the city.

Handed back to China by former colonial ruler Britain in 1997, Hong Kong is governed under a “one country, two systems” agreement that grants civil liberties not seen on the mainland, including free speech and the right to protest. ■ AFP / September 27, 2014

Protesters clash with police during a demonstration at the government headquarters in Hong Kong on September 27, 2014 / AFP

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DON’T (JUST) BLAME IT ON THE RAIN :

NEWS

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

The challenge of flood-proofing Metro Manila 5 years after Ondoy MANILA – “Sa New York, ang kayang makapasok, truck. Pero ‘yong sa atin, ang p’wede na nga lang sigurong pumasok ay aso. [In New York, a truck could fit in. But here, maybe only a dog could enter.].”

Patrick Gatan, director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)’s Unified Project Management Office on Flood Control, is comparing the size of the drainage culverts that he saw in the most populous city in the U.S. to Metro Manila’s concrete drainage pipes.

“Ang layo natin sa kanila [What we have is nowhere near to what they have],” Gatan says.

The National Capital Region (NCR)’s flood control system is indeed far from the flood safeguards of the world’s more advanced cities because it is obsolete and inefficient.

Before Ondoy devastated Metro Manila with floodwaters that reached rooftops on September 26, 2009, the nation’s capital already had every ingredient to cook up a catastrophe and was like a willing victim ready to be gobbled up by a monster storm.

Gatan says before the typhoon dumped one month’s worth of rain in just six hours, claiming the lives of 464 people, the service lives of many of Metro Manila’s flood-pumping stations and drainage systems were either about to expire or had already exceeded their design capacities.

“Nadiskubre namin, lahat ng pumping stations natin ay 30 years ang average age. Umaandar nga, pero hindi na effective…Tsaka ‘yong drainage system was designed only for 10 years… tapos barado na,” he says.

[We discovered that the average age of all of our pumping stations was 30 years.

They were operating but they were no longer effective. And the drainage system was only designed for 10 years and they were already clogged.]

Not only that. Gatan says that before Ondoy, the NCR’s bigger flood control insfrastructure and natural flood reservoirs were also choked with silt and sediments. These include rivers and tributaries that were turned into toilets and dumpsites; riverbanks occupied by shanties and factories; and floodways shallowed and narrowed by encroachment of informal settlers and commercial and industrial establishments.

Flood-proofing Metro Manila: A history of unfinished business. Five years after the typhoon, an urban planner and architect claims nothing much has been

done to make Metro Manila prepared for another Ondoy-like flood hazard.

He says a comprehensive strategy needs to be implemented to be able to disaster-proof the nation’s capital, whose carrying capacity is continuously being overwhelmed by rapid and massive population growth and urbanization.

“If another Ondoy happens tomorrow, Metro Manila is not prepared. I’m sorry to say that,” says renowned architect and urban planner Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr. Palafox says he never got tired of trying to persuade the government to adopt a comprehensive approach to disaster preparedness through sound urban planning, architecture, and engineering. However, his efforts have thus far been fruitless.

In January 2010, four months after Ondoy, he sent 60 recommendations on disaster prevention to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that included the promotion of comprehensive flood control measures.

In July 2010, Palafox again sent the 60 recommendations to then newly elected President Benigno Aquino III, adding 23 post-Ondoy recommendations to address flooding. Again, in November 2013, Palafox submitted his proposals to Aquino, this time containing 103 recommendations.

“We kept sending and very few have been done like hazard mapping,” the frustrated Palafox says, unable to note the irony: he is “better appreciated” as an architect and urban and environmental planner in 38 countries where he worked than in his own country.

It’s not that the government isn’t doing anything to address flooding. Attempts to disaster-proof Metro Manila have in fact been going on for decades.

However, Palafox says the government’s approaches to solving the flooding problem are often “piecemeal” and have thus become a perpetually unfinished business.

“It seems that concept to commitment to completion takes more than a lifetime,” he says.

Palafox claims politics, or lack of political will and visionary leadership, had played a big part in why historically, flood control and disaster prevention projects were never started, delayed, partially completed, or altogether scrapped.

The metropolis could have been like Venice. Palafox says that in 1905 while the Philippines was under U.S. colonial rule and Manila was being designed as the country’s capital, American architect

and urban designer Daniel Burnham had proposed to widen, dredge, and beautify the city’s esteros like the famous canals of Venice that were turned into watertraffic corridors.

According to Palafox, Burnham’s master plan for Manila could have also addressed flooding in the metropolis as the American architect also proposed “interconnecting esteros and improving connections to the Pasig River, Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay, which would “diminish the danger of overflow” in major channels.

However, Burnham’s plan was not implemented. Because of limited government resources, then President Manuel Quezon had to re-allocate Burnham’s project fund for the improvement of irrigation infrastructure in the provinces.

Ondoy disaster could have been mitigated as early as Marcos’ time. In the 1970s, during the Marcos administration, a study on land use plan known as the 1976-1977 Metro Manila Transport Land Use and Development Planning Project or MMetroplan was funded by the World Bank (WB) and finalized by Hong Kong-based consulting firm Freeman Fox and Associates.

According to Palafox, who was part of the WB team that carried out the study, the MMetroplan could have mitigated flooding in Metro Manila and prevented Ondoy-like hazards from becoming disasters.

The study recommended the restriction of development in the Marikina Valley, the western shores of Laguna de Bay, and the Manila Bay coastal area to the north of Manila.

The areas, according to the study, were either low-lying or lacked adequate facilities for the treatment and disposal of sewage and thus could contribute to “longer-term flooding and water pollution.”

Moreover, Palafox says the study recommended that the government monitor the Marikina riverbank - where no structure should be allowed within nine meters from the riverside.

However, MMetroplan was never carried out. Years later, the areas where development should have been kept in control became heavily urbanized, crowded with commercial structures and people in many housing facilities, as thousands of others had settled along waterways.

After more than three decades, Ondoy ravaged these areas. The most devasted was Marikina City, which was submerged in water of up to 10 feet deep.

Also, Marikina River swelled to 23 meters above sea level and broke its banks during the typhoon. Marikina’s streets were transformed into rivers, drowning to death 78 people, the highest recorded fatality in the NCR during the disaster.

Floodway without a spillway. There was one major project that was built during the Marcos administration to address flooding in the metropolis. The

Manggahan Floodway, a fully gated diversion dam completed in 1986, was constructed to reduce flooding along Pasig River and its tributaries by diverting floodwaters from Marikina River to Laguna Bay. But Palafox says that while the floodway was completed, the project did not solve flooding; it merely transferred floodwaters from the river to the lake, affecting communities surrounding Laguna de Bay. He said Manggahan should have been built with the Paranaque spillway so Laguna de Bay could flush out excess water to Manila Bay and prevent flooding along Taguig City and the coastal areas in the provinces of Laguna and Rizal.

“Until now, the government has not yet built the spillway. The Manggahan Floodway diverts floodwaters from Metro Manila to Laguna Lake and there are already about 22 or 23 rivers flowing to the lake. That’s why I said the lake has 22 bathtubs that do not have drainage,” says Palafox.

Nearly three decades after Manggahan was built without the spillway, the 10-kilometer floodway’s effective width has narrowed by 40 meters to 220 meters from its designed width of 260 meters - this, due to encroachment by informal settlers and commercial extablishments.

Meanwhile, Paranaque, which used to be a municipality in Rizal in the 1970s, is now largely urbanized following its conversion into a Metro Manila City in 1998 during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos.

Paranaque is now a heavily populated area and is home to hundreds of subidvisions, shopping malls, supermarkets, and other commercial establishments. Critics say this will make it difficult and costly for the government to build a spillway in the city as it is expected to face relocation and right-of -way issues.

More unfinished, rejected flood projects after Marcos, FVR, Erap, GMA. During the post-Marcos era, the government again embarked on several flood -control measures for Metro Manila. However, no major project was completed, while some were thumbed down.

In 1998, the Estrada administration started the Camanava Flood Control Project Plan that aimed to stop floodwaters coming from the Marikina and Tullahan rivers.

However, the project, which received an initial P1.9 billion from the Obuchi Fund of Japan but whose cost grew to P10 billion, was discontinued after the Arroyo administration questioned its effectivity and refused to release funds for its completion.

During the Arroyo administration, the government again embarked on another flood control project, only to be rejected later by its successor.

The P18.7-billion Laguna Lake Restoration Project (LLRP) with Belgian firm Baggerwerken Decloedt en Zoon

was supposed to address flooding in Metro Manila by deepening Laguna de Bay, which is among NCR’s major flood reservoirs. The lake’s depth has decreased to 2.8 meters from 10 meters due to the wanton dumping of effluents and debris, which block the flow of water from the lake to Manila Bay. In June 2011, President Aquino cancelled the LLRP on the basis of alleged irregularities and on suspicion that it was a midnight deal of the Arroyo administration because it was signed in February 2010, a few months before the May presidential polls. This prompted the Belgian company to file a P6-billon recovery case against the Philippine government.

And yet, before the project’s cancellation, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima issued a legal opinion in August 2010, saying the LLRP “cannot be construed as a midnight deal since it is covered by official development assistance from the Belgian government.”

In June 2014, the Aquino administration launched its own Laguna de Bay flood control project. The P123billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike Project will build a 47-kilometer dike along the lake to prevent flooding in coastal towns in southern Metro Manila and Laguna. It will be bidded out before the year ends, according to the DPWH. Still, some critics contend this won’t lick the flooding.

But not all of Metro Manila’s flood control projects are delayed by politics.

The implementation of other flood projects has been stalled simply because these had to comply with technical and bureaucratic requirements.

DPWH’s Gatan cites the case of the Pasig-Marikina River Improvement Project, which was based on the 1990 master plan for flood control and drainage project in Metro Manila done through technical assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

He says the four-phase project’s detailed design only started to be implemented 10 years after the 1990 master plan because it had to be first presented to the DPWH; secure an endorsement from the National Economic Development Authority’s Regional Development Council; undergo review by the NEDA’s Investment Committee under two levels – technical board and Cabinet level – before the project was finally screened by the NEDA board.

The project’s construction only started in 2009, according to Gatan. “It is still on-going kasi mayroon siyang pre-stage, mahabang masyado [because it has a prestage, it’s too long].” ■ Annie Ruth C. Sabangan / InterAksyon.com / September 26, 2014 / 2:07 PM

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October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

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2014 CALENDAR OF EVENTS – UK & EUROPE DATE / TIME

EVENT

Saturday 18th October 2014

Present - 25 October 2014

Saturday 25 October 2014 Sunday 2nd November 2014 Doors open: 5:00pm Show Starts: 6:00pm

VENUE

Batangas Association UK 21st Annual Charity Dinner and Dance Miss Saigon

Hawak Kamay UK (Fundraiser) Reo Brothers in Belfast UK tour 2014

Friday 7th November 2014

Mocha Girls UK Tour

Saturday 29th November 2014

Miss Pearl Of Asia UK

Saturday 13th December 2014 6pm until 1am

Fil Mo Christmas Party

Saturday 13th December 2014 6pm to 12pm

Philippine Centre Dinner and Dance

Millennium Gloucester Hotel 4-18 Harrington Gardens London SW7 4LH Prince Edward Theatre. Old Compton Street London W1D 4HS TBC The Devenish complex 33-37 37 Finaghy Road North Belfast BT10 OJB, Belfast, UK FM Bar 4th Press Conference, London Camden Centre Jude Street, King's Cross, London, WC1H 9JE Mazenod Community Centre, Quex Rd, kilburn NW6 4PS.Off Kilburn High Road Park Inn Hotel Heathrow Bath Road, Middlesex, UB7 0DU

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MONTHLY FILIPINO COMMUNITY MASSES IN GREATER LONDON 1 Saturday

5:00pm

1st Sunday

2:00pm

1st Sunday

5:00pm

2nd Saturday

4:00pm

2nd Sunday

2:00pm

2nd Sunday

2:00pm

2nd Sunday

4:00pm

3rd Sunday

3:00pm

3rd Sunday

3:00pm

Last Saturday

6:00pm

Last Sunday

12:00pm

Last Sunday

2:00pm

Every Sunday

5:00pm

First Wednesdays

6:30pm

st

Devotion in Honour of Our Lady of Fatima (Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament / Rosary / Benediction / Mass) St Pius X Catholic Church, 108 Orme Road, Kingston Upon Thames KT1 3SB – Oliver Abasolo – 07782 661 922 Five Precious Wounds Parish, Brentfield Road, Stonebridge Park, London NW10 8ER Mervic Monocillo – 07894 636 140 Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, Friary Road, Peckham, London SE15 1RH Allen Abeleda – 07713 625 888 St Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, 103 Woolwich New Road, London SE18 6EF Moises Espanola – 07894 648 639 English Martyrs Church, Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park, Wembley HA9 9EW Becky Sarinas – 07949 857 699 / 07425 761 519 / Lina B – 07579 418 510 St Dominic Catholic Church, 243 Violet Lane, Waddon, Croydon CR0 4HN Merlie Mirto – 07722 216 462 St. Anselm and St. Cecilia, 70 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3JA Feliciano Ramirez – 07733 680 748 Sacred Heart of Jesus, New Priory, Quex Road, Kilburn, London NW6 4PS Sheidrick de Leon – 07738 210 202 Blessed Sacrament Parish, 157 Copenhagen Street, Islington N1 0SR Christy Sangalang – 07709 119 969 Our Lady of Dolours, Servite Parish Church, 264 Fulham Road, London SW10 4EL Fr Allan Satur – 020 7352 6965 / fulhamroad@rcdow.org.uk / Roland Adap – r_adap@hotmail.com St Pius X Catholic Church, 108 Orme Road, Kingston Upon Thames KT1 3SB Oliver Abasolo – 07782 661 922 St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 218 Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4LE Rafael Santiago – 07795 254 451 Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 20 Brixton Road, Oval, London SW9 6BU Ben Ortiz – 07723 318 486 Filipino Mass and Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Farm Street Church of the Immaculate Conception (Jesuit House Chapel), access on 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AY – Josie Ramos – 07723 024 591

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HEALTH and Lifestyle

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

“My diet and lack of exercise contributed greatly to my stroke” ANDY Jones liked to eat a lot of salt with his food. Whatever he ate, whether it was a Chinese takeaway or fish and chips, Andy would always add plenty of seasoning.

Although he didn’t consider himself unhealthy, Andy didn’t exercise and was overweight, which earned him the nickname Chunky.

The excessive salt Andy was adding to his food had raised his blood pressure to dangerous levels. High blood pressure caused his arteries to fur up and put extra strain on his heart.

Most people with high blood pressure don’t have any symptoms, but the condition sharply increases the risk of having a stroke.

In December 2003, Andy, who ran a courier business in Warwick, collapsed at someone’s doorstep during a delivery.

“I had a feeling like vertigo and I felt

dizzy,” he says. “I knocked on the door and I told the person who answered that I was feeling unwell. I collapsed moments later.”

He had lost the use of his right side and his speech was slurred. Hospital tests confirmed he had had a stroke caused by a blood clot.

Cholesterol control. Andy was in hospital for a week, where he was given physiotherapy and speech therapy. He took medication to control his blood pressure and cholesterol.

“I was home for Christmas Eve,” he says. “I was walking again by then, but it took me three months to regain the use of my hand and arm.

“My speech and my ability to swallow came back within 24 hours.

However, even now I struggle with tying shoelaces and using keys.”

He says his family were crucial in his recovery. “They helped with my

determination to get better,” he says.

“My mother walked with me every day.”

Having a stroke at 40 was a big shock for Andy. “I thought strokes didn’t happen to people my age,” he says.

In fact, out of the 150,000 people who have a stroke in the UK each year, 31,000 are under 60.

“It took me a long time to come to terms with my stroke,” Andy says.

“I still suffer bouts of anxiety and depression.”

Returning to work. Andy says the stroke has left few traces, but its less obvious effects include moments of extreme tiredness.

“It’s a hidden disability that’s hard to explain,” he says. “It’s a fatigue I’ve never experienced before and it’s quite debilitating.”

He lost his business soon after the stroke, but was keen to get back to work

as soon as possible, to rebuild his selfesteem. After working as a driver in the voluntary sector, Andy now works parttime in a betting shop.

Cutting out salt. He is now a lot more careful about what he eats, has cut down on takeaways and greatly

reduced the amount of salt in his diet.

“I don’t add salt to my food,” he says.

“If I feel like a snack, I’ll have fruit.”

He says he eats his meals more slowly, which leaves him more satisfied.

“I always aim to be the last to finish,” he says. “It means I eat less but feel fuller.”

Andy believes his excessive consumption of salt helped lead to his stroke. “My diet and lack of exercise contributed greatly to my stroke,” he says.

“I wish I had known I had high blood pressure. I would have done something about it and would probably have prevented the stroke.”

Some good has come out of Andy’s experience: he may have saved his younger brother from a stroke.

“After my stroke, he went to have his blood pressure checked and found it was too high. Now he’s addressing that.” ■ NHS Choices

High blood pressure Preventing high blood pressure (hypertension) Introduction KNOWN as the “silent killer”, high blood pressure (hypertension) rarely has obvious symptoms.

Around 30% of people in England have high blood pressure but many don’t know it. If left untreated, high blood pressure increases your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

The only way of knowing there is a problem is to have your blood pressure measured.

All adults should have their blood pressure checked at least every five years. If you haven’t had yours measured, or you don’t know what your blood pressure reading is, ask your GP to check it for you.

What is high blood pressure? Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg) and is recorded as two figures: • systolic pressure – the pressure of the blood when your heart beats to pump blood out • diastolic pressure – the pressure of the blood when your heart rests in between beats, which reflects how strongly your arteries are resisting blood flow For example, if your GP says your blood pressure is “140 over 90”, or 140/90mmHg, it means you have a systolic pressure of 140mmHg and a diastolic pressure of 90mmHg. You are said to have high blood pressure (medically known as hypertension) if readings on separate occasions consistently show your blood pressure to be 140/90mmHg or higher.

A blood pressure reading below 130/80mmHg is considered to be normal.

Who is most at risk? Your chances

of having high blood pressure increase as you get older. There is often no clear cause of high blood pressure but you are at increased risk if you: • are overweight • have a relative with high blood pressure • smoke • are of African or Caribbean descent • eat too much salt • don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables • don’t do enough exercise • drink too much coffee (or other caffeine-based drinks) • drink too much alcohol • are aged over 65 If you fall into any of the groups listed above, consider making changes to your lifestyle to lower your risk of high blood pressure. Also consider having your blood pressure checked more often, ideally about once a year.

Prevention and treatment. You can take steps to prevent high blood pressure by: • losing weight if you need to • reducing the amount of salt you eat • exercising regularly • eating a healthy diet • cutting back if you drink too much alcohol • stopping smoking • cutting down on caffeine If your blood pressure is found to be high, it will need to be closely monitored until it is brought under control. Your doctor will usually suggest changes to your lifestyle and, sometimes, medication to achieve this.

■ NHS Choices

HAVING high blood pressure can be prevented by eating heathily, maintaining a healthy weight, taking regular exercise, drinking alcohol in moderation and not smoking.

Diet. Cut down on the amount of salt in your food and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.

Salt raises your blood pressure.

The more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure. Aim to eat less than 6g (0.2oz) of salt a day, which is about a teaspoonful.

Eating a low-fat diet that includes lots of fibre (for example, wholegrain rice, bread and pasta) and plenty of fruit and vegetables helps lower blood pressure. Fruit and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals and fibre that keep your body in good condition. Aim

to eat five 80g portions of fruit and vegetables every day.

Alcohol. Regularly drinking alcohol above what the NHS recommends will raise your blood pressure over time.

Staying within the recommended levels is the best way to reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure.

The NHS recommends: • men should not regularly drink more than three to four units a day • women should not regularly drink more than two to three units a day Alcohol is also high in calories, which will make you gain weight. This will also increase your blood pressure.

Caffeine. Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day may increase your blood pressure. If you are a big fan of coffee, tea or other caffeine-rich drinks (such as cola and some energy drinks), consider cutting down.

It is fine to drink tea and coffee as part of a balanced diet but it is important that these drinks are not your only source of fluid.

Weight. Being overweight forces your heart to work harder to pump blood around your body, which can raise your blood pressure.

If you do need to shed some weight, it is worth remembering that just losing

a few pounds will make a big difference to your blood pressure and overall health.

Exercise. Being active and taking regular exercise lowers blood pressure by keeping your heart and blood vessels in good condition. Regular exercise can also help you lose weight, which will also help lower your blood pressure.

Adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as cycling or fast walking) every week. For it to count, the activity should make you feel warm and slightly out of breath. Someone who is overweight may only have to walk up a slope to get this feeling.

Physical activity can include anything from sport to walking and gardening.

Smoking. Smoking doesn’t directly cause high blood pressure but it puts you at much higher risk of a heart attack and stroke. Smoking, like high blood pressure, will cause your arteries to narrow. If you smoke and have high blood pressure, your arteries will narrow much more quickly and your risk of heart or lung disease in the future is dramatically increased. ■ NHS

Choices

Symptoms of high blood pressure HIGH blood pressure (hypertension) usually has no obvious symptoms and many people have it without knowing.

Untreated high blood pressure can lead to serious diseases, including stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.

The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to have your blood pressure measured. All adults should get their blood pressure checked at least once every five years.

In some rare cases, where a person

has very high blood pressure, they can experience symptoms, including: • a persistent headache • blurred or double vision • nosebleeds • shortness of breath Pregnancy. If you are pregnant, it’s important to have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis, even if it isn’t high.

Watching your blood pressure while you are pregnant reduces your risk of developing pregnancyinduced hypertension.

This can lead to a serious condition called pre-eclampsia where there is a problem with the placenta (the organ that links the baby’s blood supply to the mother’s). ■ NHS Choices

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HEALTH and Lifestyle food

Eating processed foods PROCESSED foods aren’t just microwave meals and other ready meals. The term ‘processed food’ applies to any food that has been altered from its natural state in some way, either for safety reasons or convenience. This means you may be eating more processed food than you realise.

Processed foods aren’t necessarily unhealthy, but anything that’s been processed may contain added salt, sugar and fat.

One advantage of cooking food from scratch at home is that you know exactly what is going into it, including the amount of added salt or sugar.

However, even homemade food sometimes uses processed ingredients.

Read on to find out how you can eat processed foods as part of a healthy diet.

• meat products, such as bacon • “convenience foods”, such as microwave meals or ready meals • drinks, such as milk or soft drinks Food processing techniques include freezing, canning, baking, drying and pasteurising products.

Dietitian Sian Porter says: “Not all processed food is a bad choice.

Some foods need processing to make them safe, such as milk, which needs to be pasteurised to remove harmful bacteria. Other foods need processing to make them suitable for use, such as pressing seeds to make oil.

“Freezing fruit and veg preserves most vitamins, while tinned produce (choose those without added sugar and salt) can mean convenient storage, cooking and choice to eat all year round, with less waste and cost than fresh.”

What counts as processed food?

What makes some processed foods less healthy? Ingredients such as salt,

Most shop-bought foods will have been processed in some way.

Examples of common processed foods include: • breakfast cereals • cheese • tinned vegetables • bread • savoury snacks, such as crisps

sugar and fat are sometimes added to processed foods to make their flavour more appealing and to prolong their shelf life, or in some cases to contribute to the food’s structure, such as salt in bread or sugar in cakes.

This can lead to people eating more than the recommended amounts for

these additives, as they may not be aware of how much has been added to the food they are buying and eating.

These foods can also be higher in calories due to the high amounts of added sugar or fat in them.

Furthermore, a diet high in red and processed meat (regularly eating more than 90g a day) has also been linked to an increased risk of bowel cancer.

Some studies have also shown that eating a large amount of processed meat may be linked to a higher risk of cancer or heart disease.

What is processed meat? Processed meat refers to meat that has been preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding preservatives. This includes sausages, bacon, ham, salami and pâtés.

The Department of Health recommends that if you currently eat more than 90g (cooked weight) of red and processed meat a day, that you cut down to 70g a day. This is equivalent to two or three rashers of bacon, or a little over two slices of roast lamb, beef or pork, with each about the size of half a slice of bread.

However, it’s important to remember that the term “processed” applies to a very broad range of foods, many of which can be eaten as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

way to boost your 5 a day. They can also be stored for longer and cost less than fresh tomatoes – just check the label to make sure there’s no added salt or sugar.

Most pre-packed foods have a nutrition label on the back or side of the packaging.

These labels include information on protein, carbohydrate and fat. They may provide additional information on saturated fat, sugars, sodium and salt.

All nutrition information is provided per 100 grams and sometimes per portion.

How do I know if a processed food is high in fat, saturated fat, sugar or salt?

labels can help you choose between processed products and keep a check on the amount of processed foods you’re eating that are high in fat, salt and added sugars.

Adding tinned tomatoes to your shopping basket, for example, is a great

There are guidelines to tell you if a food is high or low in fat, saturated fat, salt or sugar. These are: • Total fat High: more than 17.5g of fat per 100g Low: 3g of fat or less per 100g • Saturated fat High: more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g Low: 1.5g of saturated fat or less per 100g • Sugars

• Add fresh herbs and spices to pasta dishes, vegetables and meat. Try garlic, ginger, chilli and lime in stir fries.

• Make your own stock and gravy instead of using cubes or granules, or look out for reduced-salt products.

• Try baking or roasting vegetables such as red peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, fennel, parsnips and squash to bring out their flavour.

• Make sauces using ripe flavourful tomatoes and garlic.

Eating out: salt tips. If you’re eating in a restaurant or cafe, or ordering a takeaway, you can still eat less salt by making smart choices of low-salt foods.

Pizza: choose vegetable or chicken toppings instead of pepperoni, bacon or extra cheese.

Pasta dishes: choose one with a tomato sauce with vegetables or chicken, rather than bacon, cheese or sausage.

Burgers: avoid toppings that can be high in salt, such as bacon, cheese and barbecue sauce, and opt for salad instead.

Chinese or Indian meal: go for plain rice. It’s lower in salt than pilau or egg fried rice.

Sandwiches: instead of ham or cheddar cheese, go for fillings such as chicken, egg, mozzarella, or vegetables such as avocado or roasted peppers.

And try having salad and reducedfat mayonnaise instead of pickle or mustard, which are usually higher in salt.

Breakfasts: instead of a full English

How can I eat processed foods as part of a healthy diet? Reading nutrition

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

High: more than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g Low: 5g of total sugars or less per 100g • Salt High: more than 1.5g of salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium) Low: 0.3g of salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium) For example, if you are trying to cut down on saturated fat, try to limit the amount of foods you eat that have more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g.

If the processed food you want to buy has a nutrition label that uses colour-coding, you will often find a mixture of red, amber and green. So, when you’re choosing between similar products, try to go for more greens and ambers, and fewer reds, if you want to make a healthier choice.

However, even healthier ready meals may be higher in fat and other additives than a homemade equivalent. That’s not to say that homemade foods can’t also be high in calories, fat, salt and sugar, but if you make the meal yourself, you’ll have a much better idea of what’s gone into it. You could even save yourself some money, too. ■ NHS Choices

Tips for a lower-salt diet

IF you’ve read up on salt facts, you’ll know that too much salt can cause raised blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. The following tips can help you to cut down on salt.

You don’t have to add salt to your food to eat too much of it – around 75% of the salt we eat is already in everyday foods such as bread, breakfast cereal and ready meals.

Remember, whether you’re eating at home, cooking or eating out, don’t add salt to your food automatically – taste it first. Many people add salt out of habit, but it’s often unnecessary, and your food will taste good without it.

Shop for low salt foods. When shopping for food, you can take steps to cut your salt intake: • Compare nutrition labels on food packaging when buying everyday items. You can really cut your salt intake by checking the label and choosing the pizza, ketchup or breakfast cereal that’s lower in salt. Try choosing one food a week to check and swap when you’re food shopping.

• Go for reduced-salt, unsmoked back bacon. Cured meats and fish can be high in salt, so try to eat these less often.

• Buy tinned vegetables without added salt. Do the same with tinned pulses.

• Watch out for the salt content in ready-made pasta sauces. Tomatobased sauces are often lower in salt than cheesy sauces or those containing olives, bacon or ham.

• For healthier snacks, choose fruit or vegetables such as carrot or celery sticks. If you are going to have crisps or crackers, check the label and choose the ones lower in salt.

• Go easy on soy sauce, mustard, pickles, mayonnaise and other table sauces, as these can all be high in salt.

Cook with less salt. Many people add salt to food when cooking. But there are lots of ways to add flavour to your cooking without using any salt. Check out these salt alternatives: • Use black pepper as seasoning instead of salt. Try it on pasta, scrambled egg, pizzas, fish and soups.

breakfast, go for a poached egg on toast with mushrooms and grilled tomatoes.

If you do have meat, have either bacon or a sausage but not both.

Salads: ask for dressings or sauces on the side, so you only have as much as you need. Some dressings and sauces can be high in salt and fat.

Soluble vitamin supplements or painkillers If you routinely take an effervescent (dissolvable) vitamin supplement, or take effervescent painkillers when necessary, it’s worth remembering that these can contain up to 1g salt per tablet.

You may therefore wish to consider changing to a non-effervescent tablet, particularly if you have been advised to watch or reduce your salt intake. ■ NHS Choices

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October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Kapuso young actor Miguel Tanfelix gives back MIGUEL Tanfelix, who played the lead character of the recently concluded top-rating family drama series Niño, continues to inspire and bring joy to his supporters. Last September 18, the GMA Artist Center star celebrated his birthday in advance with persons with disabilities of Dr. Jose P. Rizal Elementary School in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Loud cheers and applause welcomed Miguel, who brought along his Niño co-star and good friend Renz Valerio. The special event got even livelier with Tess Bomb as the host.

Also present was Miguel’s family who came in full force.

Miguel made every moment count, making sure his fans enjoyed the afternoon celebration. The birthday celebrant presented a dance and song number which delighted the audience.

He even joined the games while being in character as Niño.

The 16-year-old was a darling to his fans as he approached the kids, took selfies with them, and signed autographs.

The kids for their part surprised Miguel with a dance number and

both Miguel and Renz joined their performance.

Just as Miguel was about to distribute snacks, he received a phone call from Bianca Umali that brought kilig to their fans because they heard the conversation of both tween stars.

“Hi, Miguel! Nami-miss ko na ‘yung araw-araw kitang nakakasama. I’ll see you very soon,” said Bianca. Miguel and Bianca’s loveteam in Niñoendeared them to their fans. Both Bianca and Miguel could still be seen on Ismol Family and Sunday All Stars.

Before Bianca said goodbye to Miguel, she took time to greet and thank the supporters of their team-up. Miguel later admitted that he was touched with Bianca’s effort to call him despite the latter’s busy schedule.

Miguel also shared that he couldn’t be more grateful for the chance he’d been given to bond with some of his fans. According to the StarStruck Kids alum, he personally picked to celebrate his birthday with the special kids of Dr. Jose P. Rizal Elementary School. It was made possible with the help of GMA Artist Center, his family, and sponsors.

“Dahil po sa ginampanan kong

role ni Niño, naintindihan ko ‘yung kalagayan nila, na kailangan nila ng atensyon, na ‘yung treatment sa kanila dapat parang normal na tao din kasi mayroon din silang feelings na pwedeng masaktan,” shared Miguel.

The school administrators expressed their gratitude for having been chosen by Miguel. According to them, the fun-filled celebration was a first—and will go down as one of the most memorable events held in the school.

Miguel will be part of the “Kapusong Pinoy sa L.A.” concert, organized

by GMA Pinoy TV, the flagship international channel of GMA Network, in cooperation with Polaris Media and Marketing. It will be held on September 27 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center in Redondo Beach, California. The show starts at 6:30 PM. ■

GMA Network wins at 2014 NAMIC Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards NEW York City - GMA Network (EMMA) for its outstanding marketing in the Print and Social Media category, GMA Vice President and Head of through its global arm, GMA International, was recognized at the 2014 NAMIC Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards

efforts across different platforms.

The “Manny Pacquiao T-Shirts Gift-with-Purchase” and the “Celebrity Shout Out” promos won second place

Joseph Francia, GMA Vice President and Head of International Operations, and Grace Labaguis, GMA marketing consultant receiving the awards for GMA Network

respectively, while the “Balikbayan/ Repatriate Box Discount Card Gift-withPurchase” promo finished third in the Grassroots category.

Created in partnership with Verizon, the “Manny Pacquiao T-Shirts Giftwith-Purchase” promo was launched to further ignite the Filipino spirit among Filipino-Americans in the US East Coast as it celebrates the unmatched victories of Manny Pacquiao. In turn, the “Celebrity Shout Out Promo” was activated to strengthen the engagement between Kapuso artists and viewers abroad through social media. Lastly, the “Balikbayan/Repatriate Box” promo, an entry submitted by Comcast, utilized the traditional balikbayan box to bring Filipino Americans in the East Coast closer to home during the Christmas season.

Receiving the award for GMA at ceremonies held on September 17 at the Marriott Marquis in Time Square, New York were Joseph Francia (left),

International Operations, and Grace Labaguis (right), GMA marketing consultant.

“We thank NAMIC for once again recognizing our efforts to reach out to our existing and potential subscribers,” said Francia. “Needless to say, we are also grateful to our Kapuso viewers in all parts of the world for their continuous support.”

GMA won alongside some of the world’s biggest pay TV distributors and industry suppliers such as Comcast Xfinity, HBO, BET Networks, ESPN Deportes and Univision Communications Inc, among others, adding to its long history of winning at the NAMIC Awards.

NAMIC is an international organization that recognizes superior multicultural marketing practices in the cable industry. Established in 1980 as non-profit trade organization, it has over 2,700 professionals belonging to a network of 16 chapters worldwide. ■

John Legend arrives in Manila for Friday’s concert AMERICAN singer John Legend arrived in Manila shortly after 2 p.m.

Wednesday for his concert at Araneta Coliseum later this week.

Legend arrived aboard a Malaysian Airlines flight shortly at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1, GMA News stringer Ariel Fernandez reported on dzBB radio.

He said this was his second time in Manila.

Security personnel prevented media from getting near Legend, Fernandez reported.

The singer, who is behind the popular song “All of Me,” will have a concert at the Araneta Coliseum at 8 p.m. Friday. ■ Joel Locsin / JST, GMA News / September 24, 2014 / 5:47 PM

Former actress Cielito Legaspi-Santiago passes away

PUMANAW na nitong Biyernes ng umaga, September 26, ang dating aktres na si Cielito Legaspi-Santiago. Si Gng. Cielito ay ang butihing ina ng Santiago brothers na sina Randy, Rowell, Reily, at Raymart.

Ibinalita ni Raymart ang pagpanaw ng kaniyang ina sa pamamagitan ng isang post sa kaniyang Instagram account.

Nakalagay sa naturang post ang larawan ng ina na may kasamang caption na:

“Dear family and friends, it is with a very heavy heart that we wish to share the very sad news that our dearest mother – Cielito Legaspi-Santiago has joined our creator. During this very difficult time, the outpouring prayers, love, and support of family and friends is absolutely invaluable. We are relieved that her passing was peaceful.”

Si Gng. Cielito ay bumida sa ilang pelikula noong dekada 60’s tulad ng “Sumpa at Pangako,” “Walang Daigdig”

at “Mahal Kita Inay.” Kabiyak siya ng yumaong direktor na si Pablo Santiago.

Sa isang ulat ni Rose Garcia sa PEP. ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal), sinabing napag-alaman na mahigit isang buwan daw na-confine sa Cardinal Santos Hospital ang Santiago matriarch bago siya bawian ng buhay.

Hindi pa umano malinaw kung ano ang eksaktong dahilan ng pagkamatay ni Gng. Cielito pero ayon sa ilang nakausap ng PEP ay nagkaroon daw ito ng lung infection.

Ipapa-cremate ang mga labi ni Gng. Cielito at hiniling umano ng pamilya Santiago na ang unang gabi ng pagpanaw ng kanilang ina ay maging eksklusibo para sa kanilang pamilya.

Sa mga kaibigan naman ng pamilya Santiago, maaari umanong makiramay at bisitahin ang abo ng namayapa sa La Salle Greenhills Chapel simula sa Sabado, September 27, hanggang sa Linggo, September 28. ■ FRJ, GMA News / September 27, 2014 / 1:47 AM

Scoop & Brides-to-be Marian Rivera, Heart Evangelista pose in wedding dresses October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

THEIR respective weddings are months away, but fans of Marian Rivera and Heart Evangelista have gotten a sneak peek at what the two brides-to-be could look like on their special day.

Marian, who will wed Dingdong Dantes on December 30, recently posed for a spread for a wedding special in

Photos ©manilabulletinlifestyle.

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the Lifestyle section of Manila Bulletin.

Heart, who will get married to Sen. Chiz Escudero next year, also had a recent photoshoot featuring her in different gowns.

Check out the two blushing brides-tobe. ■ JST, GMA News / September 22, 2014 / 6:49 PM

Photos ©iamhearte

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October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Alma Concepcion: ‘I wish we could do more when disasters like Ondoy strike’ JUST as Ondoy left a good number of celebrities trapped in their own homes, there were also those who risked their own personal safety and well-being to rescue not just their industry colleagues but others who needed assistance when the typhoon struck five years ago.

Jericho Rosales, Gerald Anderson, Richard Gutierrez, Cesar Montano, Bayani Agbayani, Ryan Agoncillo and wife Judy Ann Santos, Tintin Bersola and husband Julius Babao and Donita

Rose and husband Eric Villarama were among those who braved the non-stop rains and rising floods.

There were others like actress and former beauty queen Alma Concepcion who came to the aid of their less fortunate friends in the aftermath of the disaster.

“What I remember about Ondoy is that I was in bed the whole day and was savoring the time off from my studies since I was still taking up Interior Design

Alma Concepcion. Photo from her Twitter account.

Alma Concepcion and her batchmates from St. Scholastica’s Academy in Marikina.

Photo from her Twitter account.

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in UP back then,” she recalled.

The actress was awakened from her sleep by a phone call from a friend who told her to watch the news. That’s when she realized how bad the situation really was.

“Fortunately, me and my family were safe in our house in Quezon City. We also learned that our place in the Timberland area of San Mateo was also safe. But since I studied from grade school to high school in St. Scho in Marikina, all

of my friends were from there so I was worried about them,” she added.

Alma became even more concerned when she didn’t hear from one of her friends who resided in Provident Village, one of the most flood-prone areas in Marikina.

“We only heard from her the day after she and her family were rescued. We were glad to learn they were unharmed but still felt bad that they had to stay on their roof overnight and she and her then infant child were drenched because of the non-stop rains,” she lamented.

That’s when Alma and her other Kulasa friends realized how much of an eye opener Ondoy was for them and decided to do what they could not just for this particular friend but also for others who could use their help.

“We brought my friend whatever spare clothes we could. We also tried to pacify her and her family from what they just went through.”

Over the next two days, Alma volunteered to help clean the houses of two more of her friends who are also from Marikina.

“I was barefoot and used both my hands and a rag to squeeze all the mud from the floors. At first I tried washing

the mud out with water but later discovered that squeezing it with my hands in a pail was faster,” she further remembered.

“It was my first time to clean mud and it was physically taxing. But for all of us volunteers, it was a unifying experience.

I didn’t mind it at all. My sacrifice was nothing compared to those who had to endure being stuck in their homes.”

The charitable gestures and generosity did not end there. Alma and her barkada found themselves cooking food which they gave to the typhoonstricken victims in the city. She also bought some medicines and donated it to Boys Town.

Although Alma is very thankful that she herself did not have a first-hand taste of the wrath of Ondoy, the actress admitted that she can’t help but be concerned with those who are not likely to be as lucky in the future.

“Whenever it rains very hard these days, typhoons like Ondoy and Yolanda always cross my mind. I think about homeless people and those who live in unstable environments and wonder how they will survive. I just wish we could do more.” ■ Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com /

September 26, 2014 / 8:20 AM

‘Dementia’ packs a solid emotional wallop

NORA Aunor and Chynna Ortaleza in a scene from ‘Dementia’.

“Dementia” is that rare Filipino horror drama that packs a solid emotional wallop. You won’t forget it soon after leaving the theater.

A lot of it has to do with debuting filmmaker Perci Intalan’s mostly firm grip on his material and his relatively sophisticated approach in presenting it. The former TV5 executive does not reinvent the horror wheel by any means. Rather he spins it very deftly and very efficiently all around.

So that when the all-too familiar scares, or scare tactics, come, and there are plenty (candles blowing out by themselves, doors shutting on their own, ghosts appearing from

behind, ghosts coming at people very deliberately, menacingly), each serves its purpose of providing genuine jolts.

But jolts alone do not an effective horror movie make. Environment and atmosphere are the real keys. And here is where Intalan’s bigger achievement lies.

With excellent work by his cinematographer, production designer, and musical scorer, he was able to provide the kind of space of building mystery and escalating dread that the tale his writers gave him required.

This is fully captured in the main friction that drives and ignites the movie — its vision of Batanes, where the story is set, as a place of terrifying wintry beauty and the fiery

psychological wounds that consume the heart and mind of the story’s central character.

That would be Mara, an elderly woman grappling with an early onset of dementia that leaves her unable to remember much. But when a (literal and figurative) ghost from her traumatic distant past comes to haunt her and the only living family she has, the memories come crashing violently like strong waves hitting the jagged rocks along Batanes’ seaside cliffs.

Nora Aunor totally matches the swirling forces of nature on display throughout the movie with a dervish of a performance that involves very little spoken dialogue.

It’s mostly ferociously internal

until the devastating climax where, still wordless, her face erupts into a panorama of heartbreak, anguish, sorrow, guilt, regret, terror, and, finally, resignation and surrender. It’s unforgettable.

The movie is far from perfect and the epilogue, which either affirms

the story’s vision or turns it on its head, may be too ambiguous for its own good. No matter. “Dementia,” anchored by another genius turn from Aunor under Intalan’s surefooted, confident direction, will stay with you. ■ Eric T. Cabahug / InterAksyon. com / September 27, 2014 / 8:38 AM

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke uses BitTorrent to sell new album LOS ANGELES – Radiohead singer Thom Yorke on Friday released an album via BitTorrent, the British rocker said, marking the first time the online file transfer system often associated with piracy has been used to sell music.

“Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes,” Yorke’s first solo album in eight years, features eight songs and was produced by longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich.

Users will be charged $6 to have access through software company BitTorrent to a “paygated” bundle of files known as a torrent, which breaks the files up into small pieces which are downloaded from one or more peer-topeer sources, Yorke and Godrich said.

Torrents have been touted as a more efficient way to download large amounts of data using less bandwidth, but some torrent-hosting sites have been targeted by authorities as the means to illegally distribute copyrighted material.

“It’s an experiment to see if the mechanics of the system are something that the general public can get its head around,” Yorke and Godrich said in a statement.

“If it works well, it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to the people who are creating the work,” the statement added.

Yorke and his band Radiohead

have experimented with alternative distribution models in the past, releasing their 2007 album “In Rainbows” first as a download on their website where customers could pay whatever price they wanted.

Radiohead’s 2011 album “The King of Limbs” was also self-released online before physical copies were released.

The music industry has suffered a steep drop in album sales since the beginning of file sharing and online sales in the late 1990s. Year-to-date album sales are down 15 percent compared with last year, according to music magazine Billboard. ■ September 27, 2014 / 9:05 AM

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Scoop Kapuso men heat up the Cosmo Bachelor Bash 2014 28

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October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

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SEVEN Kapuso men, Benjamin Alves, Geoff Eigenmann, Pancho Magno, Jeric Gonzales, Jak Roberto, Bryan Benedict and Vince Velasco together with the hottest hunks in the country heated up the runway at the Cosmopolitan Bachelor Bash held September 24 at the World Trade Center.

This year’s show dubbed “Cosmo Tower 69’’ made every woman’s office fantasies come true with its sexy workplace theme.

READ: Kapuso hunks, rumampa sa Cosmo bash; James Reid, nalaglag sa stage Kapuso heartthrobs Jeric Gonzales and Jak Roberto were among the first batch of Cosmo Bachelors to heat up the runway.

This was followed by a sexy dance number of men in uniform, police uniform that is. The star of the production number is the sizzling hot SPO2 Neil Perez, who is also the reigning Mister International Philippines 2014.

It was definitely a visual treat as Cosmo trainees in preppy outfits were stripped off their shirts by lucky ladies from the audience.

Kapuso hunk Bryan Benedict had his moment on stage. The crowd was pleasantly surprised when Aljur Abrenica joined his brother, Vin on the runway.

Former Cosmo Centerfold, Daniel Matsunaga made the crowd scream with a steamy video that culminated in a sexy strut down the runway.

GMA Artist Center hottie, Vince Velasco was outstanding in the hotness department when he strutted shirtless on the runway.

Dance group, G-Force energized the crowd even more as they pumped it up and beat the rhythm in a blazing hot number.

Among the male models and celebrities

eliciting screams from the crowd of 5,000 that night were former Cosmo Centerfolds Rafael Rosell, Vince Ferraren, John Spainhour, as well as Mauro Lumba, Miko Raval, Sam Ajadani, and JC Tiuseco.

Adding “expat’’ flavor to Cosmo Tower 69 were Los Viajeros, Diego Biancatti, Pedro Fernandez, and Eduardo Lara, who brought the house down with their sexy Latin moves, as well as Juan Directions’ Henry Edwards, Daniel Marsch, Charlie Sutcliffe, Brian Wilson, and Michael McDonell.

Cosmo Men 2014 cover guy Paulo Avelino, led the “Board of Centerfolds’’ which also includes Kapuso hotties Geoff Eigenmann, Benjamin Alves, and Pancho Magno, all featured in the always-awaited mini-mag that comes with the magazine’s September issue.

“Director of Internal Affairs” Geoff Eigenmann revealed his noticeably more toned bod and sprayed some whipped cream on his chest. He also picked a girl from the audience whom he later kissed on the cheek.

“Director of Engineering” Pancho Magno playfully teased the audience and threw confetti from his sexy undies. The crowd went wild.

“Chief Experience Officer” Benjamin Alves showed a different side of himself as he grooved to the audience’s delight, blindfolded himself and revealed more than a little bit of skin.

The roster of preppy trainees, men in uniform, expat hotties and board of centerfolds left the ladies cheering for more. They asked for it, and they got what they wanted. It was definitely an epic event that was both naughty and nice. ■ Samantha

Portillo and Elisa Aquino / GMANetwork.com / September 25, 2014 / 3:54 PM

Valerie Weigmann: From Eat Bulaga! dabarkads to Miss World Philippines candidate

FROM being part of the Sugod Bahay Gang in Eat Bulaga, Valerie Weigmann now takes on a different challenge as she makes it as one of the official candidates of Miss World 2014 Philippines.

As this is an entirely new experience for her, Valerie is excited about this chapter in her life.

“It is such an amazing experience for me since it’s my first time to join a beauty pageant. Nag-e-enjoy naman ako sa lahat ng nakikilala ko, ‘yung mga kasama ko.

Natutuwa ako na meron akong bagong mga kaibigan” she said.

Most importantly, she is driven by her desire to spread the word about the cause she supports.

“Excited din ako to raise awareness about my advocacy which is playing street music for our indigenous brothers and sisters. ‘Yung advocacy ko ‘yung nagpush sa akin to join,” she shared.

For Valerie, the pageant can help give her a wider audience who will listen to her and hopefully help with the cause she is representing.

“Miss World 2014 Philippines espouses beauty in giving so for me,

nung nakita ko ‘yung impact ng Miss World, dun ako nag-decide. Gusto ko talaga sumali para mag-create ng awareness para sa aking advocacy na helping indigenous communities in the Philippines,” she added.

A natural on stage and in front of people, being a candidate for the prestigious pageant is not difficult for Valerie.

“Nag-e-enjoy ako sa mga bagong experience. Alam [niyo] naman ako, very open sa lahat,” she said.

The Miss World 2014 Philippines coronation night will be held on October 12 in the Mall of Asia Arena. ■ Mary Louise Ligunas and Bochic Estrada / GMANetwork.com / September

23, 2014 / 3:07 PM

Marian Rivera to spend first bridal shower at Hong Kong Disneyland ©therealmarian

©bambbifuentes

LUMIPAD na papuntang Hongkong ang bride-to-be na si Marian Rivera kasama ang kanyang ina, lola at ilan sa malalapit na kaibigan para sa kanyang unang bridal shower.

Lunes ng umaga nang magpost si Marian sa Instagram ng larawan ng cartoon character na

si Bubblegum Princess na nakawedding gown.

Aniya sa caption ng post, “#1stBridalShowerNiYan at the Happiest Place On Earth...”

Ilan sa mga kasama ni Marian sa kanyang unang bridal shower sina Bambbi Fuentes, Boobay, Ana Feleo, Paolo Luciano, Perry Lansigan,

John Paul Dizon, at iba pang mga kaibigan sa industriya.

Samantala, lumipad naman kahapon ang soon-to-be groom na si Dingdong Dantes kasama ang ilang kaibigan papuntang Germany.

Inaasahang dito magaganap ang stag party ng aktor. ■ Bianca Rose Dabu /

JST, GMA News September 22, 2014 4:06 PM

Scoop & Alma Concepcion returns to the big screen with Cinemalaya entry ‘Babagwa’ 30

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ACTRESS Alma Concepcion knows a thing or two about being scammed online.

She herself has been victimized by this increasingly alarming crime on several occasions.

“I have a lot of stories about being swindled, not just from my friends but from personal experience. I called them ‘tuition fee’ to make me feel better about them,” she admitted to InterAksyon in a recent interview. “Some of them I sued, some of them I just forgave. I actually won a case versus this scammer who swindled me for around P600K but I am

still currently trying to collect.”

This explains why she did not hesitate in accepting her latest project, the Cinemalaya indie feature “Babagwa (The Spider’s Lair)” which tackles the very timely subject.

“I got attracted when I read the script.

It is indeed timely and relevant since some people’s initial meeting ground these days is cyberspace. I felt this is a movie that can help educate people to be more cautious when it comes to dealing with strangers, whether online or not,” she noted.

In her first major film role since

Lies Love Alma Concepcion in a scene from ‘Babagwa’.

THE award-winning New York production of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s musical HERE LIES LOVE will open the new Dorfman Theatre (formerly the Cottesloe), following its complete refurbishment as part of the NT Future project. HERE LIES LOVE plays from 30 September to 8 January, with a press night on 13 October. With concept and lyrics by David Byrne, music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, and additional music by Tom Gandey and J Pardo; it is directed by Alex Timbers, with choreography by Annie-B Parson, set design by David Korins, costume design by Clint Ramos, lighting

by Justin Townsend, sound by M. L. Dogg and Cody Spencer, and projection design

by Peter Nigrini. The music supervisor is Kimberly Grigsby; Justin Levine is the collaborating music producer, and the music editor is Matt Stine. The cast is Christine Allado, Gia Macuja Atchison, Mark Bautista (Ferdinand Marcos), Lauren Chia, Christopher Chung, Julius Ebreo, Jim Andrew Ferrer, Li-Tong Hsu, Dean John-Wilson (Ninoy Aquino), Maria Lawson, Kok-Hwa Lie, Frances Mayli McCann, Natalie Mendoza (Imelda Marcos), Aaron Jan Mercado, Martin Sarreal, Julie Yammanee and Sunny Yeo. The Public Theater’s production of HERE LIES LOVE, which premiered in New York in 2013 to critical and popular acclaim, traces the astonishing journey of Imelda Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines, from her meteoric rise to power to descent into infamy and

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disgrace. The new Dorfman Theatre is transformed into a pulsating club for an immersive theatrical event which combines heart-pounding beats with adrenaline-fuelled choreography and 360-degree staging.

Audiences are advised to dress comfortably and those in the pit performance area will stand and dance with the actors. There will be seating in the galleries; the performance length is 90 minutes. In addition to places bookable in advance, 20 tickets at £20 in the pit will be made available every Friday at 12 midday for the week ahead for every performance, bookable online.

David Byrne is a founding member of the band Talking Heads and creator of the record label Luaka Pop. His works include Playing the Building, an interactive sound installation at the Battery Maritime Building, New York and the Roundhouse in London; contributions to the score of The Last Emperor, for which he won an Oscar; Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, a collaboration with Brian Eno; This Must be the Place, a collaboration with Will Oldham for the soundtrack to the Sean Penn film; and Love This Giant, his collaboration with musician St. Vincent. David Byrne’s books include Bicycle Diaries and How Music Works; he also publishes and exhibits visual art, including photography and filmmaking.

Fatboy Slim, also known as Norman Cook, is a Grammy Award-winning

2004 and after appearing in a string of teleseryes, the former Binibining Pilipinas-International portrays a wealthy and beautiful spinster that the scammer (Alex Vincent Medina) intended to victimize but instead ended up falling in love with.

Director Jason Paul Laxamana calls Alma a “hot mama” and said she was the right actress for the role.

“She had her own input on the character. I didn’t expect her to be so down-to-earth. She listens very well and is very light to work with,” Laxamana noted.

Alma said her early theater training (she and co-star Joey Paras were actually classmates at a PETA acting workshop when they were kids) helped her in immersing herself in every role that she plays.

Coming from a family of actors and singers (among her grandparents were Monang, Alfonso and Jose Carvajal who pioneered the zarzuela in the country) also didn’t hurt.

“It’s in the blood. My kuya is a dancer who won some titles in Japan while my younger brother acts and sings outstandingly. Kuya won some titles in dancing in Japan. My mom used to act too before she got married and her sister is Florence Carvajal, the Dabyana,” she revealed.

It also allowed her to be more openminded in dealing with different directors, including young newbies like Laxamana.

“I never felt that Direk was a rookie.

He worked fast and intelligently and we were able to finish all my scenes in less than 12 hours. He was certain in his ideas and I like it when people know what they want. At the end of the day, a project is a team effort, reaching the highest possible quality in the shortest time is the goal and I think we achieved that in this film,” she pointed out.

Asked why it took her a long time to do a

film again and settled for doing teleseryes, Alma said she was a hands-on mom who also had to deal with the demands of both her young son and her ex.

“As a mom, madaming bawal noon. My son was demanding and my ex was strict,” she confessed. “But at least now no rules na. Dati I didn’t know what would offend him. With this movie, I was even asked if it’s okay for me to do love scenes just in case. Of course, I asked my son, pumayag naman siya pero hindi naman nagkaroon ng love scene.”

Alma is particularly happy that her screen comeback is on an indie film where she gets to flex her artistic juices.

“With the emergence of indies, actors have more avenues to express freely, wildly, crazily, without bound the different facets they still have to explore in indie films. it is a great and a perfect exercise, workshop and training ground that leaves plenty of room for growth.”

Now that her son is in his teens and no longer hampered by personal matters, Alma hopes to do more challenging projects after “Babagwa”.

“It’s hard to work as an actor with so many rules and limitations. At least now, I’m free to make my own career decisions,” she declared. ■ Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com /

June 22, 2013 / 1:16 PM

Dorfman Theatre Previews from 30 September, press night 13 October, playing until 8 January 2015 DJ, musician and record producer. He first rose to prominence in the 1980s as bassist of the indie rock band The Housemartins, and went on to form the band, Beats International. In 1996, as Fatboy Slim, he released Better Living Through Chemistry, and his follow-up successes include You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby and Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. In 2008 he collaborated with David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal on The Brighton Port Authority.

Alex Timbers’ credits include Rocky, Peter and the Starcatcher (codirector, Obie Award Best Director, Tony nomination Best Director), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (also book writer; Drama Desk Award Best Book, Tony nomination Best Book), and The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway.

He is the Artistic Director of the company Les Freres Corbusier.

HERE LIES LOVE is presented by special arrangement with Joey Parnes and EMURSIVE. The original cast recording of HERE LIES LOVE from Nonesuch records is now available to buy.

The Dorfman Partner: Neptune Investment Management The National Theatre’s Airline Partner: American Airlines Press night: Monday 13 October at 7pm Contact: Susie Newbery on 020 7452 3061 / snewbery@nationaltheatre.org.uk ■

& WowieScoop de Guzman, sinurpresa ng

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staff ng ‘Yagit’ sa kaniyang kaarawan SINORPRESA ng staff ng programang ‘Yagit’ ang aktor na si Wowie de Guzman para sa kaniyang birthday noong September 22.

Pinangunahan ni Direk Gina Alajar ang mga kasamahan ng aktor sa nasabing GMA soap opera. Tuwangtuwa naman ang aktor pero hindi pa ri nito maalis ang lungkot dahil ito ang unang pagkakataon na magbi-birthday siya na wala ang namayapang asawa na si Sheryl.

“First time kong magbi-birthday na wala si Sheryl and marami pang darating na first actually, but still hindi naman ako pinanghihinaan ng loob. Kumbaga nagiging motivation sa akin na kahit wala na siya, dapat ipagpatuloy ko ang buhay para sa kanya,” ani Wowie sa Chika Minute report ng GMA news 24 Oras.

Gayunpaman, nagpapasalamat ang aktor dahil napakalaking tulong aniya ang ibinibigay ng mga kasama niya upang unti-unting mabawasan ang

lungkot sa pagpanaw ng asawa.

Ayon sa aktor, “Nafi-feel ko yung care nila sa akin kaya rin nakakagaan ng pakiramdam and nakaka-uplift ng spirit so I’m happy na napasama talaga ako rito sa ‘Yagit’.”

Dagdag pa ng aktor, malaking bagay na nagiging abala siya sa taping ng “Yagit” dahil nalilibang siya sa trabahong gusto niyang gawin at nakakasalamuha ang iba pang batang artista.

Tinututukan ngayon ni Wowie ang pagpapalaki sa kanilang unica hija na si Alex Rafael.

Aniya, “Yung baby ko malaki na siya, magsi-six months na. Medyo mahirap na siyang iwanan ‘pag umaalis ako sa umaga kasi nagigising siya 5:30, siyempre ‘pag tumatawa na’t medyo nakikipag-usap na, nakakatuwa.” ■ Bianca Rose Dabu / FRJ, GMA News / September 25, 2014 / 8:02 PM

Elemento: GMA’s Halloween Series airs this October EVERY creature has a story of goodness – this is the message behind GMA’s Halloween Special Series ELEMENTO. Elementos or entities of the dark have long been perceived as evildoers who prey on unwilling human victims. ELEMENTO allows viewers a peek into the other side – perhaps elementals are also victims – and we humans the first to sow fear by destroying their natural world.

In ELEMENTO, the elementals are all fighting for a cause – a manananggal for the protection of children (played

by Glaiza de Castro), a kapre and his best friend (played by Kuya Bodjie Pascua) for the preservation of the forest, a beautiful river fairy (portrayed

by Solenn Heussaff) against water pollution, and many more. The program shows the elementals as they fall in love, rear their children and protect the legacy of their own kind.

Watch creatures from Philippine myths and folklore come to life – but with a twist - in the upcoming ELEMENTO. The show launches on October 13, only on GMA Pinoy TV. ■

Geoff Eigenmann moves on from break-up with Carla Abellana MULING nasilayan ng publiko si Geoff Eigenmann nang rumampa siya sa Cosmo Bachelor Bash nitong Miyerkules ng gabi. Ito raw ay indikasyong naka-move on na ang aktor mula sa break-up nila ni Carla Abellana.

Pupusan daw ang naging work-out ni Geoff Eigenmann. Ang resulta nitong mas matipunong pangangatawan ay natunghayan ng Cosmo crowd kagabi.

“I did a shoot before pero never ako naka-attend ng bash so this is a first time. So yeah, it’s a different kind of experience. Glad I was able to do it.

And masaya ako na maganda ‘yung reaction ng tao,” ani Geoff.

Naka-move on na rin daw siya mula sa paghihiwalay nila ni Carla.

“Matagal na. I wouldn’t have done tonight if I wasn’t sure of myself to show up.. Matagal na,” idiniin niya.

“For me it’s all in the past. There’s no point in digging it up. Hindi ako nagsalita dati, I won’t talk now,” pagtatapos ni Geoff.

Kasama rin ni Geoff sa sampung

Cosmo centerfold sina Kapuso hunks Pancho Magno at Benjamin Alves.

Kwento ni Pancho, “Sobrang saya.

Sobrang (ingay) ng crowd and happy din ako na makasama ko ‘yung iba’t ibang Kapuso stars. At least mas ‘di ako kakabahan sa pag-rampa ko.”

Dagdag din ni Benjamin, “When the crowd gives you that kind of energy, you don’t want to let them down.”

Ilan pa sa mga Kapuso artists na nagpatili kagabi ay sina Protégé alumni Jeric Gonzales at Brian Benedict, Walang Tulugan cutie Jak Roberto, Vince Velasco, JC Tiuseco, at Rafael Rossell. ■ Cherry Sun / GMANetwork.com / September 25, 2014 / 5:53 PM

4-hours ‘Norte’ film ni Lav Diaz, pambato ng Pilipinas sa Oscars ANG apat na oras na obra ni Lav Diaz na ‘Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan,’ ang magiging pambato ng Pilipinas sa Best Foreign Language Film Category para sa 2015 Academy Awards o Oscars.

Ang nabanggit na independent film ang napili ng mga bumubuo ng Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP). Ibinalita ito ng isa sa mga bida ng pelikula na si Angeli Bayani sa pamamagitan ng kaniyang social media account.

Nag-post din ang produksiyon ng “Norte” sa kanilang Twitter account tungkol sa pagkakapili sa kanilang pelikula na ilalaban sa Oscars.

Bago ito ipalabas sa Pilipinas noong September 10, nagkaroon ng

world premiere ang ‘Norte’ sa Cannes International Film Festival, at umani rin ng parangal sa Gawad Urian ngayong taon.

Ang pelikula ay itinanghal ding Best Film sa Pancevo International Film Fet sa Serbia, at nanalo sa Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, at Best Picture sa International Cinephile Society Awards noong 2013.

Hinirang din na Best Director si Lav Diaz para sa ‘Norte’ sa Cinemanila Film Festival noong nakaraang taon.

Nakatanggap rin ang pelikula ng rave reviews mula sa New York Times, The Guardian at Film Comment.

Pinangalanan din itong isa sa Best Films of 2014 sa iba’t ibang mga listahan.

Maliban kay Angeli na itinanghal na Gawad Urian 2014 Best Actress, kasama rin sa pelikula sina Sid Lucero, Archie Alemania, Angelina “Mailes” Kanapi, Soliman Cruz, Mae Paner, at Hazel Orencio.

Noong 2013, napili ang pelikulang “Transit” ni Hanna Espia bilang pambato ng Pilipinas sa Best Foreign Language Film ng Oscars, habang “Bwakaw” naman ni Jun Lana ang napili noong 2012.

Sinimulan ng Academy Awards ang kategoryang Best Foreign Language Film noong 1953. Mula noon, umabot na sa 24 na pelikula ang naipadala ng Pilipinas bilang opisyal na kalahok sa nasabing kategorya. ■ Bianca Rose Dabu / FRJ, GMA News / September 25, 2014 / 1:13 AM

Kevin Santos, puwede kayang ma-in love sa isang older woman?

KUWELA ang tambalan nina Mama A (Carmi Martin) at Lance (Kevin Santos) sa Sunday night comedy program na Ismol Family. Tila pinuputakti ng langgam ang dalawa tuwing nasa eksena ang cougar lola at young beefy boyfriend niya.

Todo ang tawanan kapag nakisali pa si Pekto who plays Bobong in the same sitcom.

Sa panayam ng GMANetwork. com sa former StarStruck finalist, ikinuwento ni Kevin na bago sila sumabak sa taping ay nag-uusap muna sila nina Carmi and Pekto on how will they do the scene.

Ani Kevin, “Pinapraktis namin yung ginagawa naming eksena and kasi yung script kasi maganda and talagang riot ‘pag ginawa namin at the same time automatic na lang lumalabas kung ano man yung [natural], kasi parang sitcom naman ‘to so lahat puwede namin gawin.”

Hangang-hanga ang Kapuso comedian sa veteran actress na si Ms. Carmi Martin dahil all-out daw ito sa pagpapatawa at si Pekto naman ay effortless talaga ang pagko-comedy.

“Lalo na kay Tita Carmi hindi ko ine-expect na ginagawa niya yung mga ganun klaseng bagay and kay Kuya

Pekto naman, naku natural talaga na sa kanya yung mga ganun,” dagdag ni Kevin.

Tinanong din namin ang binata kung tulad ng karakter niya sa Ism■ Aedrianne Acar and Bochic Estrada / GMANetwork.com / September 24, 2014/ 5:34 PM

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PHILIPPINE EMBASSY NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

DFA Pledges Support for Blue Heart Campaign Against Trafficking in Persons FOREIGN Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Jesus I. Yabes expressed the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA’s) support for the Blue Heart Campaign, an international awareness-raising initiative to fight human trafficking and its impact on society, during his meeting with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Representative for Mexico Antonio Mazzitelli yesterday, September 22.

Undersecretary Yabes and Mr. Mazzitelli met on the sidelines of the DFA Regional Workshop on Anti-

Trafficking in Persons for Philippine Foreign Service Posts in the Americas, in partnership with the UNODC, which is being held in Mexico City until September 26.

Launched by the UNODC in March 2009, the Blue Heart Campaign seeks to encourage involvement and inspire action to help put a stop to trafficking in persons. The Blue Heart simultaneously represents the sadness of trafficking survivors and the coldheartedness of those who buy, sell and traffic fellow human beings.

“The Philippines recognizes the

need for concerted regional and international efforts in order to put an end to human trafficking. Our support for the Blue Heart Campaign is only one of the ways by which we demonstrate our steadfast commitment to upholding human dignity and human rights,” Undersecretary Yabes said.

The DFA joins several countries and organizations involved in the Blue Heart Campaign. More information on the Blue Heart Campaign is available at http://www.unodc.org/blueheart/. ■

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Philippine Embassy Philippines / September 23, 2014

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Jesus I. Yabes (leftmost) and UNODC Representative for Mexico Antonio Mazzitelli (2nd from left) wear the Blue Heart pin signing their commitment to the global fight against human trafficking. Joining them in the photo are (from left) Philippines Ambassador to Mexico Catalino Dilem, Jr., Foreign Affairs Executive Director Reynaldo Catapan and UNODC Project Assistant Ian Hrovatin.

PHILIPPINE Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez chaired the 6th Meeting of the ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS) in 2014, effectively kicking off the Philippines’ turn at heading the 10-member coordinating body on September 15 at the Embassy Chancery in Seoul.

The two-hour ACS Meeting, the first under the Philippines’ leadership of the six-month rotating chairmanship, was attended by eight ambassadors and two deputy chiefs of mission from the embassies of the 10 ASEAN member states in South Korea. It was the first meeting attended by the new Myanmar Ambassador U Soe Lwin.

Ambassador Hernandez acknowledged the excellent attendance of his counterparts, saying it “reflects the importance all the ASEAN ambassadors attach to the ACS as a collective body in pushing our common interests here in Korea.”

He also thanked them in advance for

their advice, assistance and complete cooperation during the Philippines’ chairmanship, which coincides with a crucial period of ASEAN-Korea relations: the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-Korea Dialogue Partnership Relations and the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN-Korea Centre.

The Meeting mainly focused on the proposed schedule of the ACS for the second term in 2014, which mixed social events to promote solidarity among the ASEAN embassy officers and personnel, such as golf and badminton tournaments as well as an outdoor walk, with meetings with ministers and other senior officials of the Korean government.

The gathering also agreed to establish a troika mechanism in order to facilitate the rotation of the ACS leadership, similar to what is being practiced under the ASEAN Chairmanship, with the preceding,

PHL Chairs 6th Meeting of ASEAN Committee in Seoul in 2014

(From left) Vietnamese Minister Dong Manh Nguyen, Indonesian Minister Counsellor Dewi Gustina Tobing, Myanmar Ambassador U Sos Lwin, Lao PDR Ambassador Khamla Xayachack, Singapore Ambassador Peter Tan Hai Chuan, Philippine Ambassador Raul S. Hernandez, Brunei Ambassador Dato Haji Harun Ismail, Malaysian Ambassador Dato’ Rohana Binti Ramli, Thai Ambassador Kulkumut Singhara Na Ayudhaya, and Cambodian Ambassador Dina Suth.

Ambassadors and officials from the embassies of the 10 ASEAN-Member countries in South Korea gathered to discuss the proposed activities for the second term of the ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS) under the chairmanship of Philippine Ambassador Raul S. Hernandez.

current and succeeding heads working together to ensure continuity.

Under such a system, the current troika is then composed of the Philippines as current chair, Malaysia as predecessor and Myanmar as successor.

In June 2014, Ambassador Hernandez, upon the invitation of Malaysian Ambassador Dato’ Rohana Binti Ramli, accepted the invitation to assume chairmanship of the second term of the ACS pending assumption of the ambassador of the Union of Myanmar.

Upon the completion of the Philippines’ turn at the end of December 2014, the six-month rotation of the ACS will then revert to its usual alphabetical rotating chairmanship with Myanmar taking its turn in January 2015 to be followed by Singapore in July 2015 and so on. ■ Philippine Embassy Philippines /

September 26, 2014

PHL Embassies, Consulates General in the Americas vow to Enhance Protection for Kababayans Against Human Trafficking REPRESENTATIVES from the Philippine Embassies and Consulates General in the Americas committed to providing enhanced protection to Filipinos who are vulnerable to or have been victimized by human trafficking at the closing of the second Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Regional Workshop on Anti-Trafficking in Persons for Foreign Service Posts (FSPs), in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The Regional Workshop, which was held from September 22 to 26 in Mexico City, was aimed at improving the institutional capacity of the FSPs in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the United States to assist Filipinos who are victims of or vulnerable to human trafficking.

“We will never be passive bystanders -- we will fight human trafficking with all of our abilities,” the participants pledged. “We will enhance protection to persons vulnerable to being trafficked.

We will assist victims and ensure their full reintegration to society.”

The Workshop modules discussed

the basic concept of trafficking in persons (TIP), the international and Philippine legal frameworks in combating human trafficking, proper victim identification and protection, the national referral system, available aid to victims, case management, psycho-social counseling, caring for the service providers, and the link between gender and trafficking.

The participants benefited from the experiences and insights of esteemed experts, including resource persons from the UNODC, namely: Regional Adviser Felipe De La Torre, International Cooperation Regional Officer Mariana Alegret, Technical and Logistical Assistant Nayely Sánchez, Project Assistant Ian Hrovatin and Consultant Yuriria Álvarez.

Speakers from the Philippines include Senior State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo from the Department of Justice; Directors Margarita Sampang and Dulfie Shalim from the Department of Social Welfare and Development; Labor Attaché Angel Borja, Jr. from the Department of Labor and Employment; Executive Director

Reynaldo Catapang and Atty. Joel Peralta from the Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) and Ms. Angella Gilberto Alfafara from the DFA-Office for the United Nations and Other International Organizations.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) likewise sponsored a resource speaker in the person of Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Director Robert Larga.

Each participating Embassy and Consulate General presented a snapshot of the human trafficking situation in their host countries, highlighting the challenges and best practices in combating TIP. Director Sandra Patricia Mendoza from the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared her country’s experiences in promoting the welfare of Mexican nationals in other countries. She emphasized the importance of raising the awareness of overseas Mexican communities of their rights, forging partnerships with local authorities and community organizations, and training consular

Organizers, resource persons and participants of the DFA Regional Workshop on Anti-Trafficking in Persons for Philippine Foreign Service Posts in the Amercias held from Semptember 22-26, 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico.

and diplomatic personnel.

The Regional Workshop was spearheaded by DFA-OUMWA, headed

by Undersecretary Jesus I. Yabes, and the Philippine Embassy in Mexico, led

by Ambassador Catalino Dilem, Jr. This Workshop follows the pilot training program organized last April for the FSPs in the Middle East and Africa. The next Regional Workshops will be organized for FSPs in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. Each Workshop produces a DFA Regional

Anti-TIP Action Plan following the 3Ps framework that focuses on prevention of TIP, protection for the victims and other vulnerable persons, and prosecution of traffickers.

In 2013, the DFA assisted 2,947 Filipino victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment. Of this number, 2,201 came from the Middle East and Africa, 432 from the Americas, 298 from Asia and the Pacific and 16 from Europe. ■ Philippine Embassy Philippines / September 27, 2014

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

PHILIPPINE EMBASSY NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

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Department of Foreign Affairs Inaugurates its New MallBased Regional Consular Office in Puerto Princesa City THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), in partnership with Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC), inaugurated the new DFA Regional Consular Office (RCO) Puerto Princesa in Robinsons Place Palawan on September 12. It is the 12th regional consular office to transfer to the mall under the PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) Program of the Government.

DFA Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns Rafael E. Seguis led the inauguration of the new DFA RCO Puerto Princesa office. He was accompanied by Assistant Secretary Wilfredo C. Santos (Office of Consular

Affairs), Special Assistant Roy Ecraela (Office of the Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns), Assistant Director Von Ryan G. Pangwi (Passport Division), Ms. Joan Alonzo and Mr. Chester Semaňa of the Regional Consular Officers Coordinating Center (RCOCC).

Palawan Vice Governor Dennis Socrates, Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo R. Bayron, heads of government agencies in Puerto Princesa and Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) executives headed by Mr. Irving Wu (Operations Director for Luzon) graced the occasion.

Ms. Liza Jane V. Estalilla, Officer-inCharge of DFARCO Puerto Princesa, and her staff welcomed the guests to their new Office.

The transfer of DFA RCO Puerto Princesa to its new location at Robinsons Place Palawan aims to provide a more comfortable, accessible and convenient location with world class and clientfriendly consular services to residents of Puerto Princesa City and other municipalities of the Province of Palawan. The Office is open to the public from Monday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. (without lunch break). September 23, 2014 / Philippine Embassy Philippines

Undersecretary Rafael E. Seugis leads Palawan Local Government officials and Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) representatives in the ribbon cutting ceremony by the entrance of the new DFA Regional Consular Oflice - Puerto Princesa in Robinsons Place Palawan. (From left) Mr. Tom L. O (RLC Senior Consultant for Govemment Affairs and Special Projects); Mr. Sonny Rama, District 1 Action Officer (Representing Congressman Frederick F. Abueg); Hon. Wilfredo C. Santos (Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs), Hon. Victorino Dennis M. Socrates (Vice Governor of the Province of Palawan); Hon. Rafael E. Seguis (Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns); Mr. Irving L. Wu (RLC Operations Director for Luzon); Hon. Lucilo R. Bayron (Mayor of Puerto Princesa City); and Ms. Liza Jane V. Estalilla (Officer-in-Charge of DFARCO Puerto Princesa)

Palawan’s Sinika Dance Group entertaining the guests with a lively and colorful dance number during the inauguration ceremony held at the Expansion Area of Robinsons Place Palawan on 12 September 2014.

DFARCO Puerto Prinsesa personnel in their uniforms pose with officials from DFA Manila for a souvenir photo by the entrance of their newly-inaugurated office in Robinsons Place Palawan. From left: Mr. Rodrigo Diabo, Ms. Junjilyne Cacao, Ms. Mia Arib, Mr. Von Ryan Pangwi (Assistant Passport) Director, Ms. Liza Jane V. Estalilla (Officer-in-Charge of DFARCO Puerto Princesa), Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis (Office of the Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns-OUCSCC), Assistant Secretary Wilfredo C. Santos (0ffice of Consular Affairs), Atty. Roy Ecraela (Special Assistant, OUCSCC), Ms. Felrose Mabanglo, Ms. Mariane Yap and Mr. Donald Ocampo.

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October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

House okays P2.6-trillion 2015 budget on 2nd reading MANILA - The House of Representatives approved on second reading late Friday the P2.606trillion national budget for 2015, by far the biggest appropriation for the country, and dubbed by some quarters an “election budget” that could be mobilized for the 2016 polls.

Besides the usual lump sum items, the budget has a P20.8-billion allocation for the so-called Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (GPBP).

Voting for the approval was by viva voce.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that after approval of the budget, the lawmakers are tasked to exercise the chamber’s oversight functions to see that the budget is spent well.

“We are resolved to have a strong oversight committee to look into the budget,” he said.

Belmonte thanked his colleagues for “bringing this House to this hour of pride,” noting that the chamber “has suffered in the bar of public opinion.”

“We have shown today that we are public servants first,” he added.

The approval on second reading capped the six week’s discussions at the committee level, and the two weeks of plenary deliberation. The budget bill is expected to be approved on third and final reading by the end of October, before it is sent to the Senate.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said debates were lesser this year compared to last year’s deliberation, even as discussions at one time reached 5 a.m. the next day.

Congress goes on break starting September 27 up to October 19.

Half of budget are lump sums, automatic appropriations - Briones.

Leonor Briones, former National Treasurer and lead convenor of the budget watchdog Social Watch Philippines, earlier warned that the 2015 national budget might be

mobilized in preparation for the 2016 presidential elections, “with practically half the budget estimated as lump sums and automatic appropriations.”

“This is similar to the 2012 budget that preceded the 2013 elections. The government cranks up spending for infrastructure and construction the year before elections. Concrete projects create the impression of growth, though it is a challenge to sustain this growth for the next years,” Briones said.

Election spending also carries political implications for the officials and parties seeking positions in the government by the next elections, she added.

“In the Philippine politics, elections are all about money. Government spending places incumbent politicians and their parties at an advantage over their opponents for the upcoming elections. Projects are credited to officials as part of their track record as the ruling parties would spend for projects in their allies’ jurisdictions.

Opposing parties can be deprived of this spending, putting them at a disadvantage,” Briones said.

Of the P20.8-billion 2015 budget for the GPBP, P5.6 billion will be lodged under the Office of Department of Interior and Local Government Manuel “Mar” Roxas II under the Maintenance and Other Operational Expenses (MOOE) for “provision of potable water supply and other projects.”

Roxas had said that the increase in areas covered by the project has expanded, which explained the bigger budget. Critics noted, however, that having over a quarter of GPBP monies lodged with Roxas’ office seemed too coincidental with the fact the DILG chief is known to be a serious contender for the 2016 presidential elections, and would have to go around the country in 2015 as part of his political projection.

The GPBP has replaced the bottomup budgeting (BuB) system, which

was allocated a total P8.397 billion in the 2013 budget, covering 595 local government units. This year, BuB appropriations ballooned to P20 billion covering 1,226 LGUs. Under a joint memorandum dated Nov. 26, 2013, the GPBP was put in place “to ensure the inclusion of the funding requirements for the development needs as they are identified at the local level in the budget proposals of participating agencies.”

Delivering the turno en contra for the minority bloc, Bayan Muna partylist Representative Neri Colmenares said the budget should incline towards modernizing the country’s agriculture and strengthening industries.

“Dapat ding ituon ang badyet sa pagbibigay ng libre o murang serbisyo sa kalusugan, edukasyon, abot-kayang kuryente, tubig at mga pangunahing bilihin. Ngunit hindi ito nangyayari.

Dahil mali ang patakarang pangekonomya, mali rin ang prayoridad sa badyet. “[The budget should also be focused on buying books or services for health, education, affordable power water and other basic needs. But this isn’t happening. Because econonomic policy is wrong, the budget priorities are also wrong],”” he added.

Huge CCT fund, little impact on poverty? The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), for example, will get P64.7 billion in 2015. From 2011 to 2014, allocations to CCT increased by 70 percent or P13 billion every year.

“Pero nananatiling mataas ang insidente ng kahirapan, mula sa 23.3 milyong Pilipino noong 2009 tungo sa 24 milyon nitong 2013. Aabot sa 67% ng populasyon ang mahihirap ayon sa IBON Philippines,” he added.

Colmenares said that despite pronouncements by the Department of Budget and Management that only 1.8 percent or P48.1 billion of the proposed budget are lump sums, other lump sum

Sri Lanka nationalists to host controversial Myanmar monk SRI LANKA’s main Buddhist nationalist group on Saturday announced it will host a radical cleric from Myanmar who is accused of fanning religious tensions, at a convention which is already attracting opposition from minority Muslims.

Sri Lanka’s hardline Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) or Buddhist Force, which has been accused of instigating hate attacks on the island, said the Mandalay-based monk Wirathu would be an honoured guest at its convention in Colombo on Sunday.

The BBS said Muslim and Catholic groups were trying to block Wirathu’s visit.

“Racists, extremists and fundamentalists are trying to undermine our international convention,” the group said in a statement.

Violence against Muslims in

Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka has increased in the last two years, with hardliners attacking dozens of mosques, shops and homes.

The country suffered its worst religious violence in decades this June when riots broke out in the resorts of Aluthgama and Beruwala, leaving four people dead.

The BBS has been accused of instigating a string of attacks against mosques, Christian churches and Muslim-owned businesses.

The government has denied tacitly supporting the BBS. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka had warned the authorities that allowing Wirathu to visit “would pose a serious threat to peace in our beloved motherland”.

The BBS has links with Wirathu’s nationalist 969 movement. BBS leader Galagodaatte Gnanasara has been compared to Wirathu, who has been

accused of ratcheting up tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in his own country.

Gnanasara has described both of them as “peaceful monks with no blood on our hands”.

Sri Lanka and Myanmar share a common Buddhist heritage and have close cultural ties.

In Myanmar, Buddhist-Muslim clashes have left at least 250 people dead and tens of thousands displaced since fighting broke out in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine in 2012. ■ AFP / September 27, 2014

items or pork barrel are spread all over the budget, including the following: • Budgetary Support to GOCCs, P61.3 B • Assistance to LGU, P33.1B • Risk management program, P30B • Support for infra projects and social programs, P20B • Unprogrammed funds, P123B • Bulk of Miscellenaous Personnel Benefit Fund, P118B • Grassroots Participatory Budgetting, P20.9B • Pamana program, P7.3 B The partylist lawmaker said that the President remains to keep his discretion over the P148-billion Malampaya funds; P21.1-billion special accounts; and P29.5-billion off budget accounts, including the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge and the President’s Social Fund from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and the Motor Vehicles Users’ Charge.

New

definition

of

savings.

Colmenares also criticized the new definition of savings in the 2015 General Appropriations Act, which he said would allow the President to “abuse the huge power to stop and realign budget approved by Congress.”

In the proposed 2015 GAA the Palace submitted to Congress, Section 67 already redefined savings to refer to “portions or balances of any programmed appropriations in this Act which have not been released or obligated as a result of any of the following: (a) Discontinuance or abandonment of the program, activity or project (P/A/P) for justifiable causes, at any time during the validity of the appropriations; (b) Non-commencement of the P/A/P for which the appropriations is authorized within the first semester of FY 2015, unless the implementing agency shows that the P/A/P may still be undertaken or accomplished in FY 2015.

For this purpose, non-commencement shall refer to the inability of the agency or its duly authorized procurement agent to obligate an allotment within the first semester of FY 2015; or (c) Decreased cost resulting from improved efficiency during the implementation or after the completion by agencies of their P/A/Ps to deliver the targets and services approved in this Act.

“Savings may likewise refer to available balances of appropriations arising from unused compensation and related costs pertaining to: (i) unfilled, vacant or abolished positions; (ii) nonentitlement to allowance and benefits; and (iii) leaves of absence without pay.

Only 35 percent subject to Congress debate. Of the P2.606-trillion proposed budget, only 36 percent or around P937.5 billion will actually be subject to congressional debate, Davao Representative Isidro Ungab said.

Ungab, chairman of the committee on appropriations at the House of Representatives, said that the 64 percent included, among others, allocation for Personnel Services (P761.7 billion); Financial Expenses (P374.5 billion), including Debt Servicing of P372.8 billion; Internal Revenue Allotment (P389.8 billion); other automatic appropriations (P72.7 billion); and, foreign assisted projects (P69.5 billion).

According to Ungab, the balance of 36 percent will support the regular MOOE (Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses) of various departments and agencies amounting to P488 billion, and about P449.5 billion for capital outlay for the implementation of various infrastructure projects and the acquisition of amchinery and office equipment.

The proposed budget is 15 percent or P341 billion higher than the 2014 budget of P2.265 trillion budget.

The top 10 agencies that will get the bulk of the budget are: • Department of Education - P365.1 billion • Department of Public Works and Highways - P300.5 billion • Department of National Defense P144.0 billion • Department of Interior and Local Govt. - P141.4 billion • Department of Social Welfare and Devt. - P109 billion • Department of Health - P102.2 billion • Department of Agriculture - P88.8 billion • Department of Transportation and Communication - P59.4 billion • Department of Environment and Natural Resources - P21.3 billion • Judiciary - P20.28 billion ■ Lira Dalangin-Fernandez / InterAksyon.com / September 27, 2014 / 12:19 AM

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October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

Cocktales: Police raid Dasma house as Carlos siblings fight over ailing matriarch’s home POLICE from Camp Crame have raided the Dasmarinas Village home of the ailing mother of Ramos-era Tourism Secretary Vicente Carlos as the inheritance feud among the Carlos siblings worsened.

This time, instead of the Ramos Cabinet secretary, his brother Juan Carlos Jr. led a platoon from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and raided on Sept. 11 the house of Norma Jacinto-Carlos, 92, and stricken with Alzheimer’s, purportedly to enforce a guardianship order over the matriarch.

In addition to the guardianship, Carlos Jr.wants the Dasmarinas house at 1225 Acacia St. to be sold, according to his own’s counsel submission, along with the family-owned Builders’ Centre in Legaspi Village, despite a pending court petition of the Carlos matriarch for quieting of title on the Dasma house as her paraphernal property.

But what is worse than the latest round of financial squabble is that Juan Jr. lodged a criminal complaint against the eldest, Rosario “Jeannie” CarlosAbaya, and the youngest, Maria Lucia “Lucille” Carlos-Locsin of the awardwinning Alterations Plus chain, with the non-bailable charge of qualified theft.

The two sisters’ crime? Aside from being the de facto guardians of their mother, the two siblings as president and treasurer of the family corporation invested about P3 million in idle corporate funds in higher-interest, bank

deposit instruments.

And for helping their mother place the deposits, two sons of Jeannie, DFNN chief executive Ramon Garcia Jr. and brother Miguel Antonio, were likewise charged by their uncle with theft.

As in the high-profile case of spousal support against TV5 talent Derek Ramsey, the same assistant Makati prosecutor, Erwin Dimayacyac, filed the information before the Makati Regional Trial Court even in the absence of required signature of his boss, Makati Prosecutor Jorge Catalan Jr. And, in the afternoon of July 24 that the case was raffled to his sala, Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Winlove Dumayas shared Dimayacyac’s enthusiasm by returning to his office at 5 p.m. to sign the warrants of arrest against the two Carlos sisters, court records show.

According to the grapevine, the two sisters have been forced to extend their “vacation” overseas because of the nonbailable cases, their absence working to the advantage of their brother since Juan Jr. now has uncontested run of the family corporation.

Curiously, elder brother Vicente, who had initially filed and lost an estafa case against his sisters over his inheritance claim, is not a party to the latest round of litigation.

The two boys have been tangling with their sisters, who had been insisting, among other issues, that their brothers

pay years of accumulated rent for their respective office spaces in the familyowned building.

Standard gets ad agency infusion. The Manila Standard Today will have a new chief executive in the person of DraftFCB ad agency president Arnold Liong starting next month, with the retirement of long-serving CEO of the struggling broadsheet, Rogelio Salazar.

Liong already visited the broadsheet’s Port Area offices earlier this week and met with the paper’s key officers and editors.

According to the grapevine, Liong promised to propel the Romualdez paper to the “top three” most-read English daily in two years by pushing for a more active social media presence and funneling of his agency accounts to the Standard.

A possible return to the Makati building which the newspaper used to share with the Benguet Corp. was also discussed with the staffers.

The Standard is currently sharing office space in a Port Area warehouse with its more popular tabloid sibling, People’s Journal.

Miriam mulls PhD contractualization.

Miriam College president Rosario Oreta Lapus has offered a P120,000 assistance package for each of the over two dozen PhD professors of the school’s higher education unit to switch to contractors from their tenured positions, according to the chatter from Diliman.

Miriam is making the financial offer

An Airbus A320 is seen at its Toulouse, France factory in file photo. With the dearth of locally qualified Airbus pilots, Cebu Pacific has had no choice but to continue hiring foreigners to man its expanding fleet. ©interaksyon.com file

ahead of the impact of the switch to the K-12 system starting the school year 2016-2017, with the addition of two years of high school.

Miriam like any other tertiary level school will have no incoming college freshmen for the next two years, as the supposed high school graduates in the old curriculum will stay on for two more years as the Philippine educational system switches to the international standard of 12 years of grade and high school combined.

According to the Diliman chatter, the option of teaching 5th-and 6th-level high school students and the prospects of preparing lesson plans are proving to be difficult to professionally swallow for

Miriam’s PhD holders.

Lapus declined to comment on the contractualization issue, saying “the school still has an ongoing dialogue with the faculty and would like to wait until this is concluded.”

Miriam’s 2013 annual report listed 107 full-time, and presumably tenured, teachers out of the 290 faculty members for its higher education unit.

Heard through the grapevine. With the continuing shortage of locally-qualified Airbus pilots, Cebu Pacific has had no choice but to continue hiring foreigners to man its expanding fleet. The latest hires include two Frenchmen and an Indian national as first officers. ■ Victor C. Agustin / September 26, 2014 / 10:19 AM

Focus: Manila’s port gridlock puts squeeze on Philippine economy MANILA - Philippine furniture maker Betiscrafts Inc should have delivered a shipment of custom-made chairs to Middle East customers last month.

But a cargo from China of imported fabric needed for the upholstery has been held up by severe congestion at Manila’s main port, where containers have piled up since February when a daytime ban on trucks plying the city roads came into effect.

Worried about the hit to the economy, the government intervened on Sept. 13 to end the 7-month long ban, although the move may have come too late for many companies that ship to Western markets for the critical Christmas season.

Electronics manufacturers, garment makers and food producers are facing delays and rising costs due to the backlog at the choked port, which handles more than 80 percent of

foreign trade, holding back growth in Southeast Asia’s fifth-largest economy.

“I never expected that the situation will turn as bad as this,” Myrna Bituin, owner of Betiscrafts, sighed. “We are at a loss. We are under a lot of stress.

I could not deliver, and if I don’t deliver then my clients abroad will also lose business.”

The port woes embody the huge challenges still facing President Benigno Aquino to modernise the country’s dilapidated roads, ports and airports that are constraining growth.

“The port congestion has resulted in a stack of problems - stuck cargo, rising costs of transporting products by truck, as well as widespread traffic jams brought about by trucks queuing to collect cargo,” the president said in what was billed as an agenda-setting speech earlier this month.

Annual growth in the second quarter quickened to 6.4 percent, the fastest in Asia after China, but Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said this month the economy could have clocked 7 percent growth if not for the port problems.

“Congestion is complex and requires strategic action in many different directions. Like most

problems, it took a short time to occur but it is going to take a long time to solve,” said Christian Gonzalez, Head of the Asia-Pacific Region at International Container Terminal Services Inc.

Earnings, government revenue hit.

The port gridlock was an unintended consequence of a local government plan to improve traffic and reduce pollution in the city of Manila - the truck ban on the city’s roads lasted for 16 hours daily from 5 am.

In a sign of the impact, imports fell in annual terms in May and June, and exports slowed in July. Data on Thursday is expected to show a third month of declines for imports.

Some firms have reduced hours or put workers on unpaid leave, pointing to weakness in production, said Sergio Ortiz-Luis, President of the Philippine Exporters Confederation.

The government is worried too. Tax collections in August came in $339 million below target, and the main tax agency blamed the supply-chain mess for crimping corporate profits.

With the backlog of 20,000 containers expected to take months to clear, there are worries about the impact on exporters of electronics goods, the nation’s biggest foreign

exchange earner after remittances from overseas workers.

Lonely Christmas. Dan Lachica, President of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc (SEIPI) said he knew one company lost 50 percent of its contracted volume to a competitor overseas.

“If you don’t fix the problem, that 50 percent will increase and could ultimately lead to the company shutting down.”

As well as just delaying trade, the gridlock has cost some firms business as they have worried about letting customers down leading into the Christmas season.

Starwood Manufacturing, which exports photo frames and a host of wooden home decor items, said it had to decline $75,000 of additional Christmas orders for fear they might not reach clients in the United States on time.

“We really have to deal with this on our own because the damage will be on us - our relationship with our clients, our future business and our orders,” said Evelyn Tan, production manager at Starwood. ■ Karen Lema /

September 25, 2014 / 10:20 AM

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

NEWS

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Take it from Hinatuan: Award-winning Surigao Sur town shares best practices in disaster mg’t mandated by Republic Act 101021 or the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, which was signed in 2010.

Tropical storm Sendong struck eight months after she assumed her position. At least P56 million worth of property, agriculture, and infrastructure was damaged.

Their preemptive evacuation was done incorrectly. The barangay disaster risk reduction and management offices were not functional. The residents did not know how to react. The relief distribution was chaotic.

“We took Sendong as our teacher,” said Lapaciros.

In 2012 she finally had three staff members in accordance with the minimum requirement of the law. It was in this year that they launched a competition which would recognize the most compliant, disaster-resilient barangay.

They would be judged according to two categories: their documents and their drills.

Under the documents category, each barangay had to have a spot map and hazard map that would enable officials to identify areas at risk from certain natural hazards. They also had to have signages that would point to the evacuation areas. Barangays also had to have household data banking, which listed such things as the members of family and which ones were children, senior citizens, or pregnant women.

Such lists, said Lapaciros, were always what nongovernmental organizations asked for when the latter wanted to conduct relief operations.

It was also under this category that memorandums of agreement were entered into by the local government and transport groups, so that private vehicle owners could make their cars available for the government’s

use in times of emergency. MOAs were also entered into by the local government and business groups so that the government could have an inventory of goods and prevent price increases during disasters. MOAs were entered into by the local government and homeowners groups so that those residences which were examined and deemed structurally fit by building officials in times of typhoon could be accredited as evacuation centers.

Finally, MOAs were entered into by the local government, chainsaw operators, and chainsaw owners so that roads could be cleared more easily in the aftermath of disasters.

Under the drills category, each barangay had to do an earthquake drill, a fire drill, and a third drill which depended on the hazard the barangay was exposed to. Firefighter volunteers were trained, as well.

Five days after the culmination activity for the barangay competition, Typhoon Pablo struck.

“Ineeksamin niya talaga kung tama ang ginagawa namin (It was like he was testing us to see if what we were doing was right), Lapaciros quipped to an appreciative audience.

Thankfully, their efforts bore fruit. Although the damage was pegged at P39 million, Lapaciros said that the municipality was able to properly conduct preemptive evacuation. The barangay DRRM offices were functional and were the first to serve food to the evacuees. All groups covered by the MOAs did their share in disaster response, as well.

More importantly, said Lapaciros, no one was killed.

When supertyphoon Yolanda hit last year, Hinatuan was not in its path. But seeing its impact on other areas through the television, the MDRRM officials

realized they had to do more.

They saw that despite the (free phone call) services being offered to Yolanda survivors, the latter still could not contact their family members to let them know they were okay. This was because they did not have the numbers memorized.

Family disaster plan. This scenario prompted the Hinatuan MDRRM to come up with a family disaster plan.

“The family has to work together as a team. Knowing what to do is their best protection and their responsibility.

The government cannot do everything, but they can guide,” said Lapaciros.

The family disaster plan, written in the local dialect, contains information such as the name of head of family and their address, the names of the rest of the family members, their cellphone numbers and e-mail address, the children’s education level, and the places they frequent.

Each family member is also assigned a task. For example, one can be in charge of preparing a medical kit, while another has to

keep the information in the plan updated.

It even takes pets into consideration. Lapaciros said that after tropical storm Sendong, many residents wanted to claim the same carabao. Now, even these beasts of burden are registered, along with their distinguishing traits.

The family disaster plan also contains relatives they can contact outside the town, the province, and the region.

The family disaster plan also acquaints residents with the hotlines they can call.

Schools also part of plan.

Lapaciros added that they were orienting schools and coordinating with them regarding the area they would take their students to during a specific disaster.

Every time storm signal no. 1 is raised, the municipality has a standard operating procedure which includes the evacuation of residents from the Hinatuan’s island. As soon as a low-pressure area is spotted, the MDRRM immediately convenes.

“When Agaton struck, we were

quite calm and collected. We were just monitoring the situation,” she said.

Tropical depression Agaton flooded Hinatuan for five days in January this year, causing almost P9 million in damage.

Now, the MDRRM is working with the schools so that they can prepare their disaster plans, especially as these are usually used as evacuation centers.

The government uses early warning devices, has 695 hectares of healthy mangrove forests managed by different people’s organizations, and installs solar bulbs in unventilated residential houses to conserve energy.

It has a solid waste management program, and places a huge chunk of its budget into disaster preparedness.

Lapaciros ended her talk by quoting Hinatuan Mayor Candelario Viola, Jr. as saying, “I’d rather spend millions of pesos for prevention, mitigation, and preparedness to ensure the safety and progress of my people, rather than spend it for search and rescue.” ■ Tricia Aquino / InterAksyon.

com / September 25, 2014 / 3:45 PM

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MANILA - A municipality in Surigao del Sur is banking on planning and political will to keep its constituents safe during extreme weather events.

Municipal disaster risk reduction and management officer Josephine Lapaciros said a number of practices the government of Hinatuan had institutionalized contributed to a zero-casualty count when Typhoon Pablo struck in 2012.

Moreover, each tropical cyclone that came afterwards served as lessons that spurred them to come up with even more ways to prepare for disasters.

Lapaciros, together with Vice Mayor Cristina Camba, were among the speakers at the Third National Climate Conference held Thursday by the National Academy of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Technology, and OML Center at the Traders Hotel in Manila.

Hinatuan was last year’s national winner of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Gawad KALASAG (Kalamidad at Sakuna Labanan Sariling Galing ang Kaligtasan), which recognizes outstanding MDRRMCs and humanitarian assistance.

The 42,000-hectare municipality facing the Pacific Ocean in the southeastern part of the country is composed of 25 barangays, with almost 40,000 residents.

Agriculture and fishery are the primary sources of livelihood in the municipality whose name comes from “hato,” a pre-colonial practice of fish preservation.

It is exposed to natural hazards such as storm surges, tsunamis, floods, landslides, earthquakes, and liquefaction.

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SPORTS

www.hello-philippines.com

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

BASKETBALL

San Sebastian snaps 10-game skid w ith rout of Lyceum SAN Sebastian has finally put an end to its 10-game skid after trouncing Lyceum, 82-66, in NCAA Season 90 action Wednesday at The Arena in San Juan.

CJ Perez scored 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the Stags.

The Stags dominated right from the very start, taking a 28-16 first quarter

lead before pushing it to as much as 23 points, 59-36, early in third period.

Lyceum didn’t pose any challenge until the closing minutes when the Pirates trimmed their deficit to 10, 7464, with 2:14 remaining.

But the Stags made free throws in the end as Lyceum didn’t have enough time to complete the comeback.

San Sebastian (4-11) had a strong start to the season, winning three of its first four games before dropping its next 11 to end its playoff hopes goodbye.

Lyceum (6-10) suffered its 10th loss of the game and is also out of contention. ■ InterAksyon.com / September 26, 2014 / 5:19 PM

BOXING

©GMA News Online file photo

Continuation from page 1

Manny Pacquiao’s message to Floyd Mayweather- Stop blabbing ...

©InterAksyon.com/Ver Marquez

BASKETBALL

Gilas coach Chot Reyes says sorry to Filipinos, takes responsibility for disappointing Asiad stint PHILIPPINE national men’s basketball team coach Chot Reyes apologized to Filipinos for what has turned to become a disappointing campaign in the Asian Games in

Incheon, South Korea.

“The entire responsibility falls on my shoulders. I want to apologize to our people,” Reyes told reporters in the post-game conference after Gilas

Pilipinas’ 97-95 loss to South Korea, according to Sports5′s Patricia Hizon.

Looking to bounce back from its shock loss to Qatar last Friday, Gilas Pilipinas outdueled the South Koreans for the first three periods after building a 16-point lead, 68-52.

But Moon Taejong carried the Koreans, finishing 38 points to lead a comeback by the hosts. Down by one, 89-88, with 59 ticks left, Yang Heejong then scored five straight points to break the Filipinos’ hearts.

“I’m very proud of my boys. They came out and fought hard. We fought up to the very end,” Reyes said.

The losses doomed the chances of advancing to the medal round for Gilas Pilipinas, which was hoping to end its 50-year gold medal drought in the Asiad. ■ InterAksyon.com / September 27,

However, he said a Pacquiao bout would have to be on the American’s terms.

Pacquiao retorted Thursday that great fighters did not duck facing the best and did not let any challenge pass by.

“I’m tired of his alibis. If he really wants to fight me, he knows how to reach me. We can fight anytime, anywhere,” Pacquiao added.

The Filipino, who has won 56, lost five and drawn two fights, also dismissed the manner of Mayweather’s second Maidana win, in which the American retained his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association welterweight titles.

“To me, Maidana won that fight.

Mayweather’s face and lips were swelling compared to Maidana’s unblemished face,” Pacquiao said.

Ahead of his bout in Macau, Pacquiao said he would not underestimate Algieri, 30.

“I’m not taking Algieri lightly. He’s taller than me and moves around the ring with savvy. That’s why I started my training early,” Pacquiao said.

His assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez said they would focus on developing a game plan, as well as honing Pacquiao’s technique and footwork.

“Algieri uses the ring well and he loves to lean on the ropes. We must devise a strategy to counter this,” Fernandez added, warning Pacquiao to beware of the American’s left uppercut.

“He’s fast, but not as fast as Timothy Bradley. So he can be an easy target for our boxer,” Fernandez said.

American Bradley beat Pacquiao in a controversial split decision in 2012, but lost the rematch by unanimous decision last April. ■ Agence France-Presse / September 19, 2014 / 2:24 PM

2014 / 3:14 PM

©AFP

BASKETBALL

NCAA: JRU, San Beda face off in crucial match JOSE Rizal University tries to remain in final four contention as it takes on defending champion San Beda in NCAA Season 90 action Saturday at The Arena in San Juan.

The Heavy Bombers and the Red Lions tangle at 3 p.m. live on TV5.

JRU (9-6) is trying to force a tie with Perpetual Help (10-6) for fourth place after losing its chance to grab the solo third spot in its 71-69 defeat to College of Saint Benilde last Wednesday.

San Beda (13-3) is looking to lock in the twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs with a win. The Red Lions are looking to bounce back from a 76-75 loss to Perpetual last Monday.

■ InterAksyon.com / September 26, 2014 / 11:38 PM

©Sports5/Paul Mata

©DFA Photo/Charly Suarez.

BOXING

Asian Games: Pinoy boxers Charly Suarez, Mario Fernandez through to Round of 16 FILIPINO fighters Charly Suarez and Mario Fernandez took down their respective opponents to open Team Philippines’ boxing campaign with victories in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Suarez downed Uzbekistan foe Elnur Abduraimov via a split decision after a scorecard of 28-29, 29-28 and 28-29 to book a spot in the Round of 16 of the men’s lightweight (60kg) division.

Fernandez, 21, scored a unanimous decision over Donchai Thathi of Thailand with a scorecard of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-

27 to advance to the Round of 16 of the men’s bantamweight (56kg) division.

The rest of the Filipino male boxers start their respective campaigns on Thursday, namely Olympic veteran Mark Anthony Barriga (light flyweight), Ian Clark Bautista (flyweight), Dennis Galvan (light welterweight) and Wilfredo Lopez (middleweight).

Women boxers Josie Gabuco (flyweight) and Nesthy Petecio (lightweight) also open their medal bids on Friday. ■ InterAksyon.com / September 25, 2014

/ 11:54 AM

SPORTS

October 2014 – No. 19 • UK & Europe Edition

MORE SPORTS

Asian Games: Ban on hijab scarves has no religious connotation, says FIBA

INCHEON – Basketball’s world body insisted its ban on headwear has no “religious connotation” Friday after Qatar’s women’s team quit the Asian Games because they were not allowed to play in hijab scarves.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) strongly denied its rule, at the centre of the biggest controversy at the Games in Incheon, was aimed at any particular faith.

“FIBA’s regulations apply on a global scale and without any religious connotation,” the body said in a statement.

“While certain groups have interpreted the provisions of the official basketball rules as a ban against the participation of players of certain faiths in basketball competitions, the uniform regulations are of a purely sporting nature.”

The Qatari team, about half of whom wear the Muslim hijab headscarf, arrived home on Friday after quitting the regional Olympics in South Korea before their last scheduled game.

FIBA indicated a further softening of the rule, already relaxed at national level, when it said tests could be carried out in international matches next year.

Qatar, formally listed as “disqualified” from the Asian Games after forfeiting their first two games, were the only Muslim country to enter a women’s team.

“FIBA regrets that a delegation was sent to the Asian Games with uniforms that do not conform to the official

©AFP

basketball regulations,” FIBA said, without naming Qatar.

“All national member federations are aware of the official basketball regulations,” it said.

“These regulations were enacted 20 years ago without any other sort of considerations than sports-related ones and without any major complaints until very recently,” it added.

Kwon Hyung-Sang, secretary general of the Incheon Asian Games Organising Committee (IAGOC), expressed regret that Qatar could not play but said he could not override FIBA. “Qatar’s women basketball players have not been able to play and I truly regret this. However IAGOC have to consult with FIBA in terms of sporting policies,” Kwon told reporters.

“Without prior authorisation or approval from FIBA we cannot allow the women to continue the game.”

FIBA does not allow headwear more than 5 centimetres (2 inches.

The rule ran into trouble in July

when two Sikh players from India were reportedly forced to remove their turbans at the Asia Cup in China and had to tie their hair with elastic bands.

In August, reports also said that India’s Anmol Singh was ordered to take off his patka head covering at the FIBA Asia U18 Championship in Doha.

After complaints, FIBA this month relaxed the ban at national level for a two-year test period. On Friday, they said “international tests” may be held from next year.

“Recent complaints have led FIBA to initiate a revision process,” the body said.

The conciliatory stance did not come early enough for the Qatari players, who angrily slammed the FIBA rule before they flew out of Incheon.

“This is an insult to us, they did not respect our religion,” Qatar forward Refaa Morjan Mohammed told AFP on Thursday.

Football is among the sports to allow hijabs and other religious headwear after world body FIFA relaxed its ban earlier this year. ■ Agence France-Presse / September 26, 2014 / 4:29 PM

www.hello-philippines.com

39

FOOTBALL

Azkals fall six spots, but remain ASEAN’s best in FIFA World Rankings

THE Philippines slid down in the global ladder but remained as the top team in Southeast Asia in the latest FIFA World Rankings released this week.

The Azkals dropped six spots to settle at 134th from 128th. However, they still bested their regional neighbors Vietnam (142nd), Myanmar (143rd), Singapore (149th), Malaysia (154th), Indonesia (156th) and Thailand (158th).

The Filipinos are coming off an unsuccessful title defense bid in the Philippine Football Peace Cup in Manila where they beat Chinese Taipei (178th) but yielded to Myanmar to lose the crown.

FIFA calculates every country’s ranking based on match results (a win,

©InterAksyon.com/Ver Marquez

a loss or a draw), its importance (i.e. a friendly or a World Cup match), and the strength of the nation’s opponent ranking-wise.

These points are then accumulated from the country’s past results in the previous four years, allowing some teams to move up or down in the rankings despite not playing any matches or losing points during a particular period.

Iran (44th) overtook Japan (48th) as the top team in Asia, followed by Uzbekistan (58th), South Korea (63rd) and Jordan (69th).

Germany remained as the best team in the rankings trailed by Argentina, Colombia, Netherlands and Belgium.

■ InterAksyon.com / September 20, 2014 / 11:50 AM

sport GENERAL SANTOS – Philippine boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao threw down a fresh challenge to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Thursday, daring the American world champion to “fight me” instead of setting terms that could torpedo the dream bout.

“He’s all talk. Until now he has not yet agreed to fight me. Instead of blabbing, he should face me atop the ring,” Pacquiao told AFP in an interview.

Ring fans the world over have been baying for a mega-fight between two of the world’s greatest boxers of their generation, but previous talks have always broken down before a deal could be signed.

Pacquiao, 35, has held world titles in eight separate weight divisions.

He is training to defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight title against another undefeated American, Chris Algieri, in Macau in November.

Mayweather, who scored a lopsided victory over Marcos Maidana in a rematch in Las Vegas on Saturday, pushing his record to 47-0, later denied he was trying to safeguard his unblemished record by avoiding Pacquiao.

Continue to page 38

Gilas coach Chot Reyes San Sebastian says sorry to Filipinos, snaps 10-game takes responsibility for skid with rout of disappointing Asiad stint Lyceum Story on page 38

Story on page 38

Azkals fall six spots, but remain ASEAN’s best in FIFA World Rankings Story on page 39

©AFP

BOXING

Manny Pacquiao’s message to Floyd Mayweather: Stop blabbing and fight me