Primeclass-Traders

"Does anybody care if Bangladesh drowns?"

2009-12-19T13:37:00.001-08:00

This is from 2007, around 30% of Bangladesh are only one meter above sea level...that 30% of Bangladesh is their agricultural land... have you tried to grow rice in salty water? can you drink it, wash in it?...
Bangladesh now, U.S.A. it will happen too you too.. think!!!

Tuvalu at Copenhagen: 'The Fate Of My Country Rests In Your Hands'

2009-12-19T13:31:00.001-08:00

As christians God gives us two commandments, one is to Love God with all our hearts and souls, the other is too love our neighbour as our selfs.............island are disapearing, people are dying,forget politics and religion.. these are our neighbours

Kumi Naidoo's Speech at the COPenhagen Global Day of Action

2009-12-19T13:26:00.001-08:00

2009-06-28T01:37:00.000-07:00

We are advertising just one pair of earrings, beautifully made in the USA, they are 10k gold, with diamonds and real emeralds with some growth pattern, valued at over $1,800 they are a bargain, at £499, we will ship anywhere.We are certain you will be delighted with these beautiful earrings, but if for any reason you are not please return for a full refund.. remember its only one pair when they are sold they are sold.Brand new and never worn.. 10% Of the purchase price will be donated to Animals Asia Foundation.

Philippines, the pearl of the Orient

dont quit

2009-06-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the roads your trudging seems all up hill.
When the funds are low, and the debts are high.
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but do not quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns.
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns around,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Dont give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you hardest hit,

Its when things seem worse,
that YOU must not quit

Philippines, the pearl of the Orient

7,107 Islands, that will hook you for life

2009-05-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

PHILIPPINES

An archipelago of more than 7,100 islands strewn across a great streach of tropical sea. Add just about the worlds most diverse ecosystems. Throw in hundreds of ancient cultures and one modern one. Steep it in a rich history at the crossroads of Southeast Asia. Ontop of which we place soaring mountains, beautiful white sand beaches, clear waters, and rememorable sunsets... and voila, you have got the PHILIPPINES.

Long bypassed by most travellers to Southeast Asia because of its location on the opposite side of the South China sea, the Philippines is a well kept secret among those that have travelled there. These coral fringed islands are home to wonders enough to stagger even the most jaded traveller: extraordinary rice terraces, tropical rainforests, underground rivers, soaring limestone towers, unihabited islands, cascading waterfalls, white sand beaches and wonderful sunsets... and thats just above the oceans surface! Below, you have the reefs and walls, offering memorable diving and snorkelling, and in Palawan the wreck diving is perhaps the BEST IN THE WORLD. But its more than just the stunning natural scenery, its the people of the Philippines that most visitors find unforgettable. From isolated hill tribes, to the intellectual urban dwellers, Filipinos form a mosaic that reflects the islands rich and varied nature.

For those who are willing to adapt to the challenges of travel here, there will be plenty of rewards, so relax, slow down your in a different world, set your clock to Philippines time, keep your eyes open, somewhere among those 7,107 islands there is a great adventure waiting to happen... one visit and:

"YOU WILL BE HOOKED FOR LIFE".

Barrio Fiesta London 2009.. Lampton Park

2009-04-26T04:02:00.000-07:00

137 FILIPINOS STRANDED IN DUBAI

2009-04-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

137 Filipino bus drivers have been left stranded in Dubai.

The report from the Blas F. Ople Policy Center coincides with the visait of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the United Arab Emirates which was moved forward the other day after protesters forced the cancellation of the ASEAN Summit in Pattaya, Thailand.

The accompanying pictures were sent to this writer by Dubai-based Filipino journalist Ares Gutierrez.

Here’s the full report from the Blas F. Ople Policy Center which is headed by former labor undersecretary Susan Ople:

Filipino Dubai Community Aids Stranded Drivers;
Ople Center Urges Action VS Recruitment Agency

In keeping with the spirit of Lent, the “bayanihan” spirit was alive and well in Dubai as Filipinos shared canned goods, water, toiletries, and other food items to help 137 bus drivers stranded and looking for jobs after being deployed there by a licensed recruitment agency.
The stranded drivers were overwhelmed by the show of hospitality and generosity by Filipino community leaders who traveled in a convoy on Good Friday and Black Saturday. According to Ares Gutierrez, sub-editor of XPRESS, the Dubai-based paper that broke the story about the stranded bus drivers, most of the victims were confused as to what they should do next.
One of the drivers, Claro Oliver of Rizal province, contacted the Blas F. Ople Policy Center yesterday for help in pursuing justice against their recruiter, CYM International Services, a licensed recruitment agency. The agency promised the Filipino drivers good-paying jobs at Dubai’s government transport agency known as Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Some of the drivers, some of who quit their local jobs despite years of service, have been waiting to be hired by RTA since January of this year. Desperate for food and cash, the stranded drives have resorted to scavenging a dumpsite for scrap food.
Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, who heads the Blas F. Ople Center, urged the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to immediately investigate and if possible, suspend the said agency and its counterpart in Dubai, Al Toomoh Technical Services. “The sheer number of victims involved constitutes an act of economic sabotage by this licensed agency. We urge immediate action and for the owners of the agency to be barred from leaving the country.”
The bus drivers, nearly half of who hail from the province of Bulacan, complained to the Ople Center that their passports were being held by the foreign counterpart of their local agency in Dubai. This prevents them from applying for new jobs. Majority of the victims are professional drivers who have worked for years in reputable transport companies such as Baliuag Transit. The Center said the Philippine Consulate should intervene and obtain the passports of the stranded workers.
The plight of the 137 bus drivers were first exposed by Filipino journalists Jay Hilotin and Ares Gutierrez of Xpress publications based on a tip from a fellow Filipino working at Gulf News. Word quickly spread through e-mail and soon, an assembly time and place were designated to enable Filipinos to join an aid convoy leading to the camp where the bus drivers were staying. A Filipino association of Airsoft aficionados whose game was suspended last Friday, pitched in by giving cash donations.
Aside from lack of food, the drivers were sharing living quarters near the Ajman garbage dumpsite. Their building’s electric power is sourced from a generator, giving them only 3 to 4 hours of electricity. The building also has inadequate water supply.
According to the drivers, they paid as much as P150,000 to CYM International Services in exchange for jobs at RTA. Some of the drivers have been staying in Dubai waiting for the promised jobs to come into fruition since January.
Based on interviews with XPRESS, driver Max Sumulong, 34, one of the victims, said last year CYM had offered him a job as a driver for Dh5,200 a month and he had given the agency 10,000 pesos (Dh1,000) as “processing fee”.
“The agency had asked each one of us to take out a 150,000-peso (Dh11,418) loan from a lending agency recommended by them and made us sign undated cheques worth 405,000 pesos (about Dh40,000) addressed to a bank and the lending agency, payable in 15 months,” he said.
Eliseo Maximo, who has worked for 11 years as a bus driver in Manila, said: “We’ve been collecting aluminium cans, selling them at Dh4 per kg in Ajman, just to have something to eat.”
The stranded bus drivers are hoping that the Philippine Consulate can help them look for jobs in Dubai rather than be sent home. “Their biggest worry is on how they can repay the lending agency. If they come home, whatever they earn as bus drivers won’t be enough to pay off their loans and still sustain the needs of their families,” Ople explained.
Ople said she is awaiting documents from the bus drivers that would help speed up the POEA’s investigation into the alleged illegal recruitment practices of CYM International Services and its counterpart in Dubai. The Filipino community has lent the drivers a photocopy machine so they could consolidate and reproduce all the documents needed to bolster their case.
The former labor undersecretary also hoped that the 137 drivers would be able to meet President Arroyo, Vice-President Noli de Castro and other high-ranking officials in their visit to Dubai

Philippines, the pearl of the Orient

Brown Asbestos Dumped, Mankayan Benguet

2009-04-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

by Artemio A. Dumlao

Mankayan, Benguet — Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company has dumped a cancer-causing substance in its landfill here, reason why residents including town officials are raising hell over their safety.

“They dug our mountains for gold and pay their taxes in Makati then they dump six truckloads of cancer-causing not from the mine waste but transported from their Makati main office,” Mankayan town Mayor Manalo B. Galuten said.

Galuten fears Lepanto, one of the biggest gold producer of the country, has put the lives and future of villagers in danger for dumping cancer causing hazardous substance – asbestos—in barangay Sapid.

Galuten is now holding a laboratory analysis from New Zealand which confirms that suspected asbestos containing material dumped in sitio Sapid, Mankayan has ten percent Amosite content.

Amosite variety of asbestos according to the US Environmental Protection Agency was used primarily as a fire retardant in thermal insulation products in old structures like in ceiling tiles. The material however is now banned in most countries especially because this form of asbestos is highly friable.

Friable means it crumbles easily when damaged, therefore releasing airborne fibers which can then be inhaled by those in the vicinity of the material causing a cancer form called mesothelioma — a rare type of cancer that most often occur in the thin membrane lining of the lungs, chest, abdomen and heart.

Residents reported around six dump trucks surreptitiously unloading what appears to be construction debris from ceiling panels and electrical insulations.

LCMC has conceded it has dumped materials but bely them as hazardous.

Mayor Galuten insists, “I want the company to totally clean up their garbage and be responsible for whatever health effect it may have in the future.”

Lamenting “they (LCMC) got our gold and replaced it with toxic waste,” Mayor Galuten though admitted that the mining firm gave employment and improved the local economy, but it should not justify the dumping of hazardous wastes.

The mayor also claimed that what is worst, ‘the waste did not even come from mining operations but imported from other LCMC operational areas.’

“I want the company to totally clean their dump and be ready to accept responsibility to whatever sickness the asbestos might cause to exposed residents in the future,” the mayor said.

Galuten vows that they will file a case “to set an example for large companies not to violate local laws or belittle their host communities.” They will ask the DENR to do their job and file appropriate criminal or administrative sanctions against the mining firm.

In April 2008, residents first noticed the dumping when around six ten wheeler trucks dumped what appeared to be construction debris in upper tram, Sapid, Mankayan.

The local police who probed the incidents reported by villagers confirmed the dumping of dirty white substances in black cellophane bags that are immediately covered with soil by a pay loader.

Sapid barangay council in a meeting confirmed the wastes were dumped by Shipside Trucking, an LCMC subsidiary, on April 10 and in 2007 in Sitio Tagumbao, Upper Tram in Barangay Sapid.

Sapid villager leaders via Barangay Resolution No. 34-2008 on April 12, requested LCMCo to “cease unloading or dumping of the waste (asbestos)” in their barangay and to relocate the said wastes to other sites.

“Responsibility”

The mine firm’s resident manager Engr. Magellan Bagayao has admitted responsibility.

LCMC admitted before the municipal council that the wastes which are pads and cushions came from the company’s Makati City office that was renovated.

Bagayao in his letter to Mankayan Vice Mayor Paterno Dacanay dated May 7, 2008, said that in the past 70 years, “the company is committed in the protection of the environment…the incident in Sapid will not be repeated.”

The mining firm then employed the services of Servo-Treat Phils., a DENR Region I accredited company to conduct repacking, transport, treatment and disposal of the suspected and presumed Asbestos containing materials at their treatment facility in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.

Local officials agreed with the treatment plan of Lepanto provided they will witness the hauling and transport.

Unfortunately, municipal and barangay officials were not informed of the hauling except for two who accidentally learned about the hauling. Councilor Mendoza and brgy Councilman Calapen were told that hauling will resume but the whole area was already back filled with soil.

Sapid residents and officials later learned that only about one and a half load of dirt was hauled out from the landfill as compared to at least six dump trucks that unloaded the construction debris.

Servo-treat President and CEO Dr. Eva F. Vertucio reported to have hauled 8.785 metric tons of soil and construction debris last October 14, 2008 and these were accordingly treated on October 19, 2008. The report also mentioned that the materials are “non-friable asbestos containing materials.”

Because of the increasing concern of residents, DENR-Cordillera officials initiated a joint meeting whereby parallel sampling was agreed to be taken by the local government and Lepanto.

Ironically, government agencies employed a private laboratory while the private mining company employed a government laboratory.

The DENR’s Regional Environment Management Bureau together with the local government brought samples to the Saint Louis University laboratory in Baguio city and was shown a 50 percent asbestos.

Meanwhile, the LCMC brought their sample to the Department of Labor and Employment’s Occupational Safety and Health Center in Manila .

A certification from DOLE-OSHC Exec. Director Dr. Dulce P. Estrella-Gust in her February 4, 2009 letter said all the samples analyzed do not contain any type of asbestos based on their laboratory method using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.

Because of conflicting laboratory results, DENR representatives agreed with Mayor Galuten to invite a third party preferably from an international laboratory licensed by the National Credentialing Agency (NCA) to undertake another test.

Thus, the hauling out of the presumed asbestos containing debris was put on hold while awaiting the laboratory result from an internationally accredited company.

Globecare. DENR-Registered Hazardous Waste Service Provider was commissioned to take samples. The firm’s representative Danilo Javier took samples last February 20, 2009.

On February 27, GlobeCare Managing Director Joseph Gregory How released to Mayor Galuten the test result analyzed at an NCA laboratory confirming a ten percent Amosite content. The 10% Amosite (brown asbestos) is considered a hazardous waste, the result said.

Philippines, the pearl of the Orient

Child Pornography.. lets help stamp it out

2009-02-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

join over 2.8 million people and:-

Light a candle for the victims of child pornography

MANILA, Philippines - It was a police operation that rescued sixteen-year old Marina (not her real name) and at least a dozen other girls from a suspected “cyber sex den" in Bacoor, Cavite, a few months ago. Weighed down by mixed feelings of relief, guilt and shame, Marina bowed her head and covered her face with her long hair as she broke into tears.

She felt relieved that after a couple of months, she would no longer have to oblige herself to perform sexual acts in front of the camera for customers abroad. But she felt guilty and ashamed, blaming herself for letting it happen in exchange for a few thousands pesos that she sent to her family in the province.

“Di ko maintindihan ang nararamdaman ko (I can’t understand what I’m feeling)," she said as she narrated how she fell victim to what the police call child pornography.

Marina said she was recruited in her home province as a waitress only to find out later that there was no eatery or restaurant waiting for her. With no one to run to and no resources at hand to make a getaway, she was forced to stay and work at the sex joint.

Adding insult to injury, some media reports referred to Marina and the other girls not as "rescued victims," but as "arrested suspects."

Marina is just one of many Filipino children who are pushed into child pornography, a malady that has been exploiting girls and boys as young as five years old for some time now.

The Center for Integrative and Development Studies of the University of the Philippines (UP CIDS) says the child pornography industry in the Philippines is widespread and systematic than imagined.

For lack of local legal material to define child pornography, UP CIDS adopts the definition set by the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act of Ireland in 1997. The definition is comprehensive, clear-cut and leaves little room for misinterpretation.

The Act states that child pornography refers to any audio visual or audio representation that shows a person who is or is depicted as being a child and who is engaged in or is depicted as being engaged in explicit sexual activity, or whose dominant characteristic is the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of the genital or anal region of a child.

The Center says it is clear from this definition that images of adults who pretend to be children are considered child pornography. The definition is not also limited to a particular technology that produces the forms of child pornography.

“This is important in that technology such as the Internet, computers, and other digital technologies are playing big roles in the production and dissemination of child pornography," it says in its 2004 report commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Out of control

With new technologies, which include mobile phones, becoming affordable and accessible, the production, storage, and dissemination of child pornographic images are faster and more efficient.

The Optical Media Board (OMB) believes that child pornography is now “out of control" in the Philippines where digital technologies have long extended its arms to the streets where pirated copies of DVDs and CDs showing pornographic images are openly sold.

The Optical Media Board, tasked to ensure the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights, reveal that the inventory of pirated DVDs and CDs it has confiscated shows that 25 to 30 percent of these are pornographic, and that up to 40 percent of these pornographic videos involve children. Most of the children are Asians and brown-skinned, and by physiological features are likely Filipinos.

Edu Manzano, OMB chairman, says the campaign against child pornography does not fall within the ambit of the OMB’s charter, but pornographic images of children are too “offensive, wicked and nauseating" to ignore, and are “indescribably worse" than that of adult pornography.

The materials don’t only depict children being in a state of undress or engaged in erotic poses. Manzano says there are images portraying sexual activities between a child and another child. There are also those with an adult and children, and there are even those with children and animals.

“Some are extreme sexual activities that even adult couples won’t normally want to engage in," Manzano says.

From the children’s facial expression, he says, a viewer can easily surmise the kind of suffering and pain they go through as they are filmed.

“I have made it my personal advocacy to actively lobby against child pornography," says Manzano who has been an active partner of religious groups and child and women advocates in the campaign versus child pornography.

Multibillion-dollar industry

Child pornography is a multibillion-dollar industry, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States. It is also considered one of the fastest growing criminal segments on the Internet where approximately one-fifth of all pornography is child pornography.

The Philippines may have been among the biggest sources of online child pornography.

It has become a “booming" industry in the country, says Chief Supt. Yolanda Tanigue, director of the Women and Children’s Concern Division of the Philippine National Police.

She says the rising levels of poverty have propelled the growth of online child pornography in the country, making it very easy for syndicates to set up a cyber-sex den and to entice poor parents to bring their kids as porn “talents."

With a capital of only 50,000 pesos (about US$1,000) and an Internet connection, any businessman can set up a cyber sex den in a small condominium. This is too effortless for an operator who can earn at least US$100,000 dollars a day.

It doesn’t take much to produce a full-length child porn film. All it takes is about 500,000 pesos (US$10,200) to do it here. Parents are already happy with the 40,000 pesos they get for their children's job.

These suspected cyber sex joints are spread out in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao City and Angeles City in Pampanga. Most of these are run by foreigners and some by Filipinos themselves.

While credit card companies have helped Irish police crack open child porn syndicates in Ireland, the Philippine police see it as a real challenge here, claiming that they have not received the same support from Philippine Internet service providers and credit card firms.

The Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP), however, argues that even if it wanted to, it cannot do anything to clamp down credit card users who avail themselves of child pornography.

Beth Legarda, CCAP executive director, claims that people who patronize and purchase pornographic materials via the Internet are not cardholders of local credit card companies.

“They are foreigners who use international credit cards. We cannot locate their connectivity in our systems."

She assures that based on records of local credit card companies, none of their cardholders are found to be either merchants or buyers of child pornography materials sourced from the Internet.

“But if there would be police investigations, we couldn’t help but require legal documents like a court order from the police before we allow them to look into the transactions of our cardholder who is being investigated. It’s an issue of privacy that we have to consider," Legarda says.

Philippines, the pearl of the Orient

Big Brother, Big Sister.. Outreach 2009

2009-02-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

DONT WAIT FOR THE KNOCK............OPEN YOUR HEART NOW!!

Last year.. wow a whole year already gone by.. we placed on this blog details of a great programme that helps with the education of children in out of the reach places.This is this years appeal:-

For only THREE HUNDRED PHILIPPINE PESOS (Php300.00), you will be able to sponsor one student’s school set which contains the following items: 1 knapsack, 7 notebooks, 4 ball-point pens, 4 pencils, writing pads, crayons, sharpener and ruler.

It's a joy to watch children running around and playing in the streets. However, for many children in the Philippines who are in the streets, it is not a school holiday, but a harsh reality - their parents can not afford to buy them enough school supplies to send them to school.

The Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS) Community Outreach Program, conceived in the year 2005, is here to fill that need for these children, especially those who live in remote mountain areas. Each year, sponsors and volunteers carry the school supplies and trek through mountain trails to give them to the children in person. On May 16-17 this year, BBBS will visit the communities of Mt. Asog in Buhi, Camarines Sur to distribute school packs to the children.

For only THREE HUNDRED PHILIPPINE PESOS (P 300.00) or approximately SEVEN U.S. DOLLARS (USD 7.00), a big brother or sister may sponsor one student's school supplies for one year.

FIVE HUNDRED children need big brothers and big sisters like YOU!

Here's how you can be a big brother or sister:

Send in your pledges for as many children as you can sponsor

Email to helpbbbs@gmail.com

Contact Joanne Del Mindo +639163444404 or Marilet de Guzman +639285032075

Come and meet the kids yourself, sign up as a BBBS volunteer

Sharon Ponio: sharon.ponio@gmail.com or +639178010033

Angel Constantino: angelamc23@gmail.com or +639175375276

Medi Nazar: meds511@yahoo.com

Send this message to your friends, relatives or colleagues who might wish to help

For more information on the project, you may visit the BBBS website:http://www.bbbsoutreach.com and Multiply site: http://bbbs2005.multiply.com.

Don't wait for the knock … open your heart now!

Philippines, the pearl of the Orient

Philippines lay claim to the "Spratly islands"

2009-02-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

MANILA -- Philippines lawmakers Tuesday passed a bill laying claim to part of the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea, claimed in whole or in part by a host of Asian nations.

The legislation passed by the Senate marks out the southeast Asian nation's maritime boundaries but acknowledges rival claims.

Included within those boundaries are the Scarborough Shoal, also claimed by China, and part of the Spratly chain, claimed in whole or in part by the Philippines, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Beijing and Hanoi have gone to war once over the strategic Spratlys, which straddle vital sea lanes and are reputed to hold vast undersea oil deposits.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the compromise bill agreed upon by the House and the Senate contained the specific phrase “regime of islands under the Republic of the Philippines.”

This phrase refers to areas over which the Philippines exercises “sovereignty and jurisdiction” and includes the Kalayaan Islands and theScarborough Shoal, he added.

The Kalayaan Islands are a group of seven islands in the Spratly chain that are specifically claimed or garrisoned by Manila.

Senate majority leader Miguel Zubiri said the wording signals that Manila would be open for arbitration on territorial questions.

The House of Representatives was also expected to pass the measure, which legislators said President Gloria Arroyo is expected to sign into law next month.

I AM FILIPINO

2009-01-04T02:13:00.000-08:00

I am Filipino

I am Filipino
By Alexander L. Lacson
Philippine Daily Inquirer
01/02/2009

One of the most important things we need today as a people is a beautiful way of looking at ourselves as Filipinos, a positive and healthy image of ourselves, a wonderful definition of ourselves as a people. Our children especially need to believe that there is greatness and beauty in us as a people and as a race.

So much beauty and greatness can spring from a beautiful mind and a faithful heart.
But loving ourselves as Filipinos is not only patriotism or nationalism. There is a reason higher than that. It is primarily about stewardship. It is loving what God has given us. God gave to each one of us the Filipino and the Philippines, for us to love and care for. But how is the Filipino in our hands today? How is the Philippines, the land God gave to us as a people, in our hands today?

It is for this reason that I wrote the poem below. I give this poem as my humble gift to all of you, my fellow Filipinos. You are the brothers and sisters, the family of people, God gave to me.

It is my hope that this poem will help develop in us and in our children a healthy sense of faith and love in the Filipino, in ourselves as a people. For truly, our Creator wants us to have faith in and love for the Filipino.

Here it is:

I am Filipino. I am a child of the One God who is the Creator of all that is in our world and the universe. I am as perfect and as beautiful as my Creator planned me to be, for God created me in His image, out of His perfect love.

I am a beloved child of God, like everyone else in our world, no less than the stars above or anyone else below. As such, I have equal right and claim to all the beauty and bounty that God provided in my country and in the world.

I am an equal part of the family of humanity. I am therefore a sibling to all the men and women of our world, brethren to all Christians, to all Muslims, to all Jews, to all Buddhists, and all other peoples whose faiths lie somewhere else.

I am Filipino. My Creator planted me on a specific spot on earth, where the sun always shines, in an archipelago of 7,107 wonderful islands, which the whole world calls the "Pearl of the Orient." Pilipinas is the country God gave to me and my people. It is the birthplace of my race. It is the home of the Filipino.

The beauty and richness of my country lured many mighty powers of the world to invade our shores. So today, my blood is a mixture of the best and the finest of the West and the East. My mind is an heir to all the great thoughts of the West, and the great virtues of the East. My heart beats with the romanticism of the West and the passion of the East.

I am Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Juan Luna, Ninoy Aquino and all those who fought for our land to become a nation of free people. I am the grandeur of Banaue, the enchantment of Boracay, the serenity of Manila Bay, and the depth and breadth of Tubbataha Reef.

I am Filipino. My Creator's plan is for me to live my life as a Filipino and therefore, in my heart and in my mind, I shall always be a Filipino wherever I may be in the world. God wants me to belong to the Filipino family and as such, I am a "kapatid" [brother] to anyone and everyone who is Filipino, wherever he or she may be on earth.

You will know me by the word "po" in my sentences. You will know my children by their "mano po." You will know me by the smile on my face and the warmth of my hospitality. Most important of all, you will know me by my loving and caring heart when you are in need of help, even if you are a stranger.

As a child of God, my Creator has a beautiful story for me and my people. And the story we see today is but a fleeting portion of that beautiful story that has yet to fully unfold before the eyes of the world.

I am Filipino. I am who I am today because of the role God wants me to play.
I am born to succeed. God has equipped me, within me and around me, with all the essentials I need to succeed in this world. God truly wants the highest, the best, and the most beautiful for me, because I am His child.

I am destined to be great. God planted seeds of beauty and greatness in me. He truly wants me to be great and beautiful, for God truly wants me to add more beauty and greatest to our world.

I am Filipino. I am born of freedom, in a free country. As such, I dedicate my freedom to ensuring that my people and country shall always remain free. I shall use my freedom to help other peoples, in my country or in other parts of the world, gain their own freedom.
I am born of love, out of God's immeasurable love, in a country and in a world that can only be made beautiful by love. Love is the reason why God made me. It is what He wants me to bring into this world, so love shall be who I am.

I am born as part of the whole, as part of the answer to the question, as part of the solution to the problem, as part of the hope to our people. I am born to help the Filipino become great not only in the eyes of the world but, more so, in the eyes of our Lord.
I am Filipino. I am a faithful child of God. I shall live my life to do God's work on earth, to help build a beautiful country for my Filipino family, and a better world for all humanity. And soon the world shall see the full measure of the greatness of Filipino, for truly the world has yet to see what God can do to and through a child, like the Filipino, who is faithful to the Lord.

I am Filipino.

Alexander Lacson is author of the Book "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country.

"So you want to grow rice"

2008-12-19T16:27:00.000-08:00

In the Philippines there is a serious lack of organic matter, good topsoil should contain 5% organic matter. Test results in Luzon, Negros, Mindanao on typical rice, sugar and coconut land shows an adverage of around 1%

To grow at all rice, sugar and other plants require six essential nutrients, these are

1.
NITROGEN-(N)
2.
PHOSPHEROS-(P)
3.
POTASSIUM-(K)
4.
CALCIUM
5.
SULPHUR
6.
MAGNESIUM

Of the other 52 micro-elements, 5 or 6 are necessary to have anything like a decent yield. For a good crop 20 of them should be available in the soil.

25 years of monoculture and chemicals has taken its toll on the soil of the Philippines, if everyone starts to work together, testing their soil, and adding the required nutrients (and not chemicals) in a few years the trend would start to reverse… the alternative would be eventual FAMINE, and possible death, something that is not worth contemplating

Start to work with your soil NOW!! we still have time

2008-11-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

World Travel Market

2008-11-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

Philippines All Set for WTM 2008

The Philippines’ participation in this year’s World Travel Market is expected to draw huge crowds as it has done in the past. For one, it will have a bigger space, all of 145 square meters creatively laid out to feature many of the country’s diverse attractions in terms of natural wonders and recently developed world-class holiday accommodations. Double-page spreads on Philippine tourism will be featured in the ABTA magazine as well as the ABTA World Travel Market daily newspapers. A big delegation of leading agencies from the Philippines will attend this year’s WTM, headed by no less than Secretary of Tourism Joseph “Ace” Durano, with twenty of these entities participating as co-exhibitors. Part of the tourism investment campaign will also feature properties in Cebu, Negros Oriental and Zamboanga.

The Philippines’ tourism office in London is also launching “Birdwatching in the Philippines” as its latest promotional campaign to attract the growing numbers of eco-tourists to the islands.

The campaign will be launched on November 11 at the Marriot on Grosvenor Square, as an added activity hosted by the Department of Tourism during the World Travel Market which takes place from November 10 to 13 in London.

I will be attending this event and boy am i getting exited, i have my pass,and will be making a bee line for stand AS 2000:-
Exibitor is sharing with

Annset Holidays Inc

Asia AT- Philippines

Baron Travel Corporation

Bayan Ko Tours & Travel

Benthel Resorts and Hotels Corporation

Blue Horizons Travel & Tours, Inc

Dos Palmas Island Resort & Spa

El Nido Resorts

Eskaya Beach Resort & Spa

Expedition Fleet/Bahura Resort & Spa

Hermes Agencia de Viajes, Inc.

Hyatt Hotel & Casino

Intas Destination Management

LAS FLORES RESORT

Philippine Airlines

Rajah Tours Philippines, Inc

Shroff International Travel Care, Inc.

T.R.I.P.S Travel

The Ananyana Beach Resort & Spa

wow.. the Philippines.. a paradise on earth... for me next year i am off to Palawan..near Roxas

Iglesia Ni Cristo,s King Maker Role

2008-10-22T03:04:00.000-07:00

Behind the Iglesia Ni Cristo's King Maker Role: A Chain of Crimes and Mythical Numbers

Phillip Garcia

Manila, Philippines – Unlike Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s long, heated rivalry in the 2008 US presidential campaign, there are politicians in other countries who choose to take the short cut to political power by wooing the kingmaker. Instead of patiently reaching out to the electorate, these politicians seek the person or group of people who has the capacity to influence the conclusion of a political run, a method that assures the former’s promise of the future in exchange for the latter’s favor.

On a different perspective, however, a kingmaker isn’t a kingmaker for nothing. Take for example Kakuei Tanaka, the most prominent political kingmaker in Japan. He served as Japan’s Prime Minister during 1972-74. But even after his term, he remained dominant and influential. Even though he got involved in political scandals, he was able to choke the Prime Minister at will without holding a position in the cabinet.

Monetary, arms, and politics are common players in a kingmaker scenario. More often than not, these factors entail negative effects to the government. In the Philippines, however, there is another player: religion. And the effect of this kingmaker, as far as records are concerned, is unexpectedly catastrophic. It is a chain of crimes and power - behind mythical numbers yet.

Detailed here by prominent newspapers, the Supreme Court and a television station are random reports of the criminal and related activities of one such religious group, the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) or Church of Christ, considered to be the kingmaker in the Philippine political arena. It spans contemporary times but leads back to 1954 where the founder, Felix Manalo, is featured as a rapist. Finally, it ends with Eraño Manalo’s own words about the nature of their mythical membership. Eraño, now in his early 80s, is the son of Felix Manalo.

read on please

Tarsiers comment:- The bible tells us that Gods true followers will be no part of this world.. have no part in the worlds politics.. why because they have already voted for Gods kingdom and are already part of this kingdom, the kingdom we pray for each day in the Lords prayer:-
Our father who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name (think about his name do you even know it)
Thy kingdom come, they will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
We pray for gods kingdom to come on earth.. that if you like is a true christians politics.. Gods Kingdom.. The bible also tells us that tithing was also abolished, so we do not as Christians need to give a percentage of our wage to any so called church
God loves a cheerful giver, we give out of love and from our hearts because we WANT TO, not because we have too.

Mocha....go on go vote for them!!

2008-10-20T04:44:00.000-07:00

Their website is at:-.."MOCHA"

Hotel for sale

2008-10-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

This is a link that will take you to our flicker stream, the hotel is for sale, due to ill health of the present owner, it is a wonderful opportunity to obtain a very nice hotel in one of the Philippines prime tourism locations
Sports Hotel and restaurant

More details are on our Bahay.com website.. this is just a photostream of the hotel.. just to give you a flavour, it is in a beautiful area, and a visit is recommended.

IRS Genie

2008-10-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

The IRS Genie...

A modern day cowboy has spent many days crossing the desert without water.

His horse has already died of thirst. He's crawling through the sand, certain that he has breathed his last breath, when all of a sudden, he sees an object sticking out of the sand several yards ahead of him.

He crawls to the object, pulls it out of the sand, and discovers what looks to be an old brief case. He opens it and out pops a genie.

But this is no ordinary genie. She is wearing an Internal Revenue Service ID badge and a dull gray dress.. There's a calculator in her pocketbook.

She has a pencil tucked behind one ear. "Well, cowboy," says the genie... "You know how I work. You have three wishes."

"I'm not falling for this." Says the man. "I'm not going to trust an IRS auditor genie."

"What do you have to lose? You've got no transportation, and it looks like you're a goner anyway!"

The man thinks about this for a minute, and decides that the genie is right. "OK, I wish I were in a lush oasis with plenty of food and drink."

********POOF******

The cowboy finds himself in the most beautiful oasis he has ever seen and he is surrounded with jugs of wine and platters of delicacies.

"OK, cowpoke, what's your second wish." "My second wish is that I were rich beyond my wildest dreams.

*******POOF*******

The man finds himself surrounded by treasure chests filled with rare gold coins and precious gems. OK, cowpuncher, you have just one more wish. Better make it a good one!"

After thinking for a few minutes, the man says.. "I wish that no matter where I go, beautiful women will want and need me."

******POOF******

He is turned into a tampon.

The moral of the story: If the IRS offers you anything, there's going to be a string attached.

The IRS is the same as the BIR in the Philippines, the dreaded tax man!!!

Milk products safe to use, free from Melamine

2008-10-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

Milk products deemed safe to drink in the Philippines as off 10/03/2008

* Anchor Lite Milk
* Anlene High Calcium Low Fat Milk U.H.T.
* Bear Brand Instant
* Chichok Milk Chocolate
* Farmland Skim Milk
* Jinwei Drink
* Jolly Cow Pure Fresh Milk
* Kiddie Soya Milk Egg Delight
* Lactogen 1 DHA Infant Formula
* M&M’s Milk Chocolate Candies
* M&M’s Peanut Chocolate Candies
* Milk Boy
* Nestogen 2 DHA Follow-up Formula
* Nestogen 3 DHA Follow-up Formula
* Nido 3+ Prebio with DHA
* Nido Full Cream Milk Powder
* Nido Junior
* No-Sugar Chocolate of Isomaltooligosaccharide (Cocoa Butter Substitute)
* Nutri-Express Milk Drink
* PURA UHT Fresh Milk
* Snickers Fresh Roasted in Caramel & Soft Nougat in Thick Milk Chocolate
* Vitasoy Soya Bean Milk
* Wahaha Orange
* Wahaha Yellow
* Want-Want Milk Drink (Red Can)
* Windmill Skim Milk Powder
* Yinlu Milk Peanut
* Yogee Yoghurt Flavor Milk Drink

These products are safe to drink and contained no Melamine. two products did contain Melamine and have been removed from shelfs in Philippines stores...

2008-10-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

Political leaders: Can they be hope dealers?
IN A NUTSHELL By Samantha King
The Philippine Star
Friday, October 3, 2008

Ah, the things we're compelled to do when inspiration hits. Ideally, I should be attempting to finish the overdue term paper that has been haunting my waking hours for weeks — rather than be attempting to start a witty, zany and entertaining column about a forum on good governance and ethical leadership. Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out how an article on governance can be witty, zany and entertaining when most people become dyslexic from simply looking at the word. Indeed, Filipinos look at the government and start praying for the country. It can't be helped; we have an uncanny ability for producing political leaders just waiting to get a face-full of rotten tomatoes. However, there's always an exception to every rule — and these exceptional (dare I use the word?) politicians prove it.

Admittedly, it was not out of some deeply rooted sense of nationalism that I deigned to attend this forum. Under the pretense of seriously wanting to listen to government officials (heaven forbid!), I, along with my other classmates, joined forces in convincing our professor to substitute her lesson with this. And so, it was in the air-conditioned heaven of UP's NISMED Auditorium where I found myself sitting at exactly 9:20 a.m., cooling off from the abnormally hot Tuesday morning of Sept. 23. I now vaguely remember our prof telling us beforehand to sit at the back if we were to leave early. For some unfathomable reason that escapes me, I found myself strategically seated near the front, almost dead center, with about 50 chairs between me and the nearest exit. Apparently, this was a sign. Sleeping through the forum? Not an option. In any case, even if the speakers weren't brilliant I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep anyway. The forum's moderator was too hilarious. And by hilarious, I mean totally inept, tactless and completely oblivious to her own nitwitted-ness. But that's just me. As the five speakers stepped out onto the stage, it was with shame that I realized that I had absolutely no idea who any of them were. Except maybe for Gov. Ed Panlilio — though that's beside the point.

These five officials, along with Mr. Harvey Keh from the Ateneo School of Government, are members of a movement called Kaya Natin! who campaign for Genuine Change and Ethical Leadership. In our country? Talk about biting off more than you can chew. And yet chewing was what they did anyway.

After a careless introduction by the moderator — calling him an Igorot (the politically-correct term is "Ifugao") — Gov. Teodoro Baguilat took the mic as the forum's first speaker. I found Baguilat to be the coolest of the lot. Maybe it was because he graduated from UP… or because he sported a mullet hairdo. The fact that he left the big city as a teen to "trace back his roots" in Ifugao, was so "I-thought-this-only-happened-in-movies" that it was actually cool. But it was the way Baguilat spoke of Philippine culture — of his passion to preserve and promote it, of how we had our very own UNESCO-proclaimed oral masterpiece in the Ifugao "Hudhud Chants," of how we didn't have to "look to the West" to experience great works — that made him infinitely cool in my book.

Next up was polio-survivor Gov. Grace Padaca of Isabela, whose diminutive size was clearly meant to fool listeners into thinking she had a diminutive voice. I found the talk she gave so candid, wholehearted and open; for a second I almost forgot she was a politician. How can you not be fascinated by an official who, straight-faced, talks about the millions she can siphon off taxpayers with a single signature? Who discloses to listeners the full amount of her salary? Padaca spoke about prioritizing, and it was clear from her eloquent speech where her own priorities lay: in the service of the people that put her into office.

It was funny how the moderator turned into a giddy schoolgirl as she introduced Gov. Ed Panlilio. Who knew that a priest-turned-politician had that much appeal? Okay, I'm kidding — apparently, our moderator was from Pampanga as well. In any case, my curiosity was piqued due to Panlilio's status as an ex-priest. He certainly didn't look the part (the man is huge; reminded me of those biker-gang types), although his voice was a dead giveaway. Priests or ex-priests, they will forever have that soft-spoken, homily-ready undertone to their voice. But again, that's just me. What really struck a chord was Panlilio's narration of how he came to leave his comfort zone. Twenty-seven years of priesthood and the appeal of an early retirement… all given up for the sake of fellow Kapampangans who needed him to serve in a different way. Amen.

Last but not the least, we have the two mayors: Mayor Sonia Lorenzo of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija; and Mayor Jesse Robredo of Naga City, Camarines Sur. Lorenzo was, hands down, the most serious of the speakers. She reminded me of Prof. McGonagall from Harry P: no-nonsense, severe, quietly intimidating… you get the point. With the video presentation of citizen-empowerment programs she had established in San Isidro, Lorenzo drove home the point that she was leader of a fourth-class town that could.

Finally, it was Robredo's turn to speak. I guess it's only through multi-awarded mayors like him that one can witness articulate speeches delivered in a span of five minutes. He made two very simple, yet powerful points: with great power comes great responsibility; and not all politicians are the useless, blood-sucking ingrates we think they are — though not in so many words.

I believe that the effectiveness of a forum is measured by the number of people that step up to the mike to ask questions. Unlike other forums I've attended where a whole venue could seem empty (or simply asleep), this one actually had people racing to the mic. Imagine that. These five officials are solid proof that leadership should go beyond position, since, in the end, it's all about action. And as a budding sociologist, I come to the conclusion that Philippine society could evolve into a surprisingly better place if we put more people like them into office… and start acting instead of merely reacting.
* * *

(The title was inspired from a quote by Napoleon Bonaparte: "Leaders are dealers in hope.")

Kaya Natin! is a national movement that aims to support and elect effective and ethical government leaders. To join and support Kaya Natin, you can contact Kai Pastores at (02) 426-5657 or send an email to kayanatin@yahoo.com

Primeclass Traders Widget

2008-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

Check out the new videos and songs

2008-09-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well its getting close to Christmas so we are advertising just one pair of earrings, beautifully made in the USA, they are 10k gold, with diamonds and real emeralds with some growth pattern, valued at over $1,600 they are a bargain, at £350, we will ship anywhere.We are certain you will be delighted with these beautiful earrings, but if for any reason you are not please return for a full refund.. remember its only one pair when they are sold they are sold.Brand new and never worn

Tubbataha Reef of the Philippines

2008-08-29T16:18:00.000-07:00