MANILA, Philippines – Two Filipino teachers, who were hired to fill a shortage in Louisiana in 2007, have filed a federal lawsuit against the hiring firm that recruited them in the Philippines after being allegedly forced to pay exorbitant fees, the Lost Angeles Times reported today.
In a complaint filed in Los Angeles, Ingrid Cruz and Rolando Pascual accused Universal Placement International Inc. and its president Lourdes Navarro of forcing them to pay immigration fees, which should have been paid by the districts that hired them under the federal law.
The lawsuit said the …

FERNANDO Poe Jr. won the 2004 presidential elections, said Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes, who was the former legal counsel of the late action king.
“Alam ko kung sino talaga ang nanalo, si FPJ. Ako ang abogado ni FPJ. Ipinaglaban ko ng husto yan. Kaya lang ang alam ko (I know who really won – it’s FPJ. I am the lawyer of FPJ. I fought hard for it. What I know) is personal and in my heart. I don’t have the evidence to show it,” said Brillantes, who used …

By Dona Z. Pazzibugan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines – THE DEPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) found Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte liable for misconduct for punching a court sheriff during a demolition of illegal settlers’ shanties last July 1, but will not sanction her.
Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said the DILG leaves Duterte’s case up to the Office of the Ombudsman which is investigating the mayor for assaulting Sheriff Abe Andres who was serving a court order to demolish a slum community in Davao City.
The DILG said Duterte was …

MANILA, Philippines – Boxing superstar and Sarangani Cong. Manny Pacquiao has stressed that his family was able to survive poverty even without the use of contraceptives.
This was his reaction to a statement made by international singer-actress Lea Salonga regarding his decision to oppose the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.
“Bakit naman ang mga magulang ko noon,” said Pacquiao. “Wala kaming bahay, walang kaming pagkain… Apat kaming anak. Nahirapan kami, pero nagsikap kami.”
Salonga earlier said that unlike most of his constituents, the wealthy boxer-congressman can do without using contraceptives because he can …

Reports say that megastar Sharon Cuneta slams Hayden Kho over a Twitter post!
Base kasi sa mga naunang report, hindi mapigilan ni Hayden na magkomento over an EDSA billboard. He tweeted this kasi:
There’s a billboard ad in Edsa developed by advertisers who think consumers are stupid. Guess.
In fairness, wala naman siyang binabanggit na name or whatever. However, maraming tao kasi ang nag-iisip na ang Marie France billboard ni Sharon Cuneta ang kanyang pinatutungkulan. Kaya, nag-react tuloy ang beauty ng megastar at heto ang kanyang sinabi:
As far as I’m concerned, stupid people …

“Para naman ma-clear, p’wede bang matanong natin kung ako ay chief of staff, ako ay nag-suwapang, ganid, nag-demand ng pera officially or unofficially?”
This was the last that was heard of former AFP Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes as the Senate blue ribbon committee investigated alleged corruption in the military during its probe into former AFP comptroller Carlos Garcia’s plea bargain deal.
Reyes denied former AFP budget officer George Rabusa’s claims he received P50 million in sendoff money as he retired from the AFP.
Reyes was born in San Miguel, Manila on March …

Calling A Spade…
By Solita Collas-Monsod
Business World
The Garcia plea bargain hearings have taken some unexpected but very welcome turns that give the country greater reason to hope: the emergence of a role model in the fight against corruption — Heidi Mendoza, may her tribe increase; and maybe, just maybe, the much lesser likelihood now of the rank and file following blindly in their officers’ coup attempts — nothing like realizing that their so-called gods have feet of clay.
At the same time, it opens the door for a closer scrutiny of …

“Downright stupid.”
This was the reaction of former Philippine president Gloria Arroyo’s son to allegations that the decision of the Supreme Court declaring as unconstitutional the Truth Commission was meant to shield her mother from investigation of graft charges against her.

Representative Juan Miguel ‘Mikey’ Arroyo of the Ang Galing Pinoy partylist said critics should not use Arroyo, now a Pampanga province congresswoman, as scapegoat for the Aquino administration’s “flawed” executive order that created the truth body.
“This is downright stupid. The Supreme Court decision had nothing to do with GMA (Arroyo’s initials). …

by Anthony Bayarong
The website subictimes.com strongly condemns the harassment of its publisher and chief photographer after he was verbally abused and forcibly escorted out of the political meeting of the Gordon Straight Ticket (GST) in Barangay Barretto in Olongapo City Monday evening.
A day after David Bayarong was harassed, our office, which also serves as his home, was burglarized.
The thieves took his EOS 1D Mark ll and EOS 400-D cameras with all his lens 28-135mm, 50mm f1.4, 100mm f2, 70-200mm L series canon, 2 flash his camera bag, all his …

Hello mga friendship!
Kamusta na kayo? How’s your vacation? Well, if you ask me, eto at medyo kakulay ko na ang puwet ng kaldero sa aming kusina sa sobrang itim dahil nababad ang inyong lingkod sa araw noong nakaraang semana santa. Hindi dahil sa ako ay nagbakasyon kundi dahil nagbenta po ako ng mga kakanin at isdang tuyo sa talipapa ng barrio. You know naman, maraming turista kapag semana santa kaya sinamantala ko na ang pagkakataon to earn extra. Hahaha!
Anyway, tulad ng nakasulat sa pamagat ng post na ito, nabigyan po …

Adam Corolla is a struggling Italian-American radio host. And like so many radio host who wants instant fame, they look for their victim that they could lash out for that popularity. End result of course would be high radio ratings where they could charge higher advertising rates. See the connection?
Adam Carolla’s target was Manny Pacquiao. Yes, our boxing icon Manny Pacquiao who we don’t want to be in politics. He was calling him illiterate and for implying that the Philippines is a nation of whores!
Adam Carolla made a name as …

Here they come again. I knew what I’m about to take when I decided to write personal experiences about my life in Olongapo, or at least parts of it. Heat. I’m about to take some unnecessary heat.
Of all the searches online regarding the 2010 presidentiables, presidential wannabe Richard Gordon had the most positive posts online, according to ABS-CBN reports published March 18.
They were right. In fact if you try to do a search, all you see are links to his bio and how great and wonderful the man is. Except …

When the City of Olongapo is mentioned, the first things that would come to mind are two: the entertainment bars lining its streets and the name Gordon.
While the roots of existence of the former are well-traced, the existence and the reason why the latter became a household name is not much talked about. Who really are the Gordons? How did they come into power? And how for several decades, did a single family dominate the entire political landscape of the city?
The Early Gordon
Though nobody from the local opposition could prove …

Gawd! I remember Manny’s fight with Oscar de la Hoya! Nag-no-nobena ako na wag masira ang cute na muka nya (Oscar)!
I’m not really into boxing, but if it’s Manny Pacquiao, my face is plastered on the TV screen. But last night with Clottey? Unbelievably – one of the most annoying moments in TV boxing history.
Of course before the boxing event, the media bombarded us with screaming headlines like Joshua Clottey? Bigger, taller and has the edge!!
Wrong!
The media was just playing on all of us to make it appear that …

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2
“Ganito pala sa Olongapo, parang war zone,”. This was the surprised remark from one of the media personnel from GMA-7 who witnessed what happened that fateful day in November 1996.
All the action were going on inside the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) where the APEC forum was being held, so it only makes sense for all the media, local and international, to be there.
Fortunately for us, some GMA-7 staff, particularly Luchi Cruz Valdez (from The Probe Team fame) and a cameraman decided …

Click here for Part 1
In just a matter of minutes, after that quick anesthesia-less operation and humiliation inside the operating room, I was in a wheelchair being pushed by that UP volunteer all the way to the x-ray room and unto my assigned room, which was the orthopedic ward.
Weird. I don’t think I had any broken bone or whatever that needed me to be confined to that section. Unless some doctor thought a broken skull would be enough to be categorized as orthopedic. I saw some empty rooms and wards …

It was November 2006 1996. The APEC Summit was being held in Subic Bay, Philippines.
It was a time for the country to show off its newly established Subic Bay after the former bases were left by the Americans under piles of ashes brought by the Pinatubo eruption. It was also the time for then President Fidel Ramos to showcase his Medium Term Philippine Development Plan. It was Ramos’ Philippines 2000. It was globalization. It was Olongapo.
Like most people in the progressive left, I was against it. I believe that if …

“I just think I’m an ordinary fighter,” Pacquiao said. “When I fight a good fighter, sometimes I can beat him. “  And as many fighters like to proclaim themselves as the best, Manny continues to give props to the business, his opponents, his trainers, his family, his country, God, and his fans.  
He is hailed as the pound-for-pound king  of our generation and is argued to be better than the all-time greats like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray, and Marvin Hagler.  “It is not for me to say where I am in the history …

Congratulations to Manny!

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Ano nga kaya noh? Syota mo boksingero. Me mga kilala kasi ako, type nila gwapo. Na medyo bastos. Yon bang, paduduguin muna labi mo… taz romantically whisper sila sa tenga mo nang…
“Sweetheart… bili mo nga ako nang yosi!”
Ok. Tama na. Baka mamaya, ma-misread ako ni Manny, makatikim ako nang isang pitik at Zzzzzz. Eh buti kung Zzzzz, eh kung “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up?” Eh di napadali visit ko sa nursing home?
What I’m saying is that, ang ganda nung article sa New York Times about Manny Pacquiao. I …

Photo Credits: Insignificances
I hate political advertisements. To me it’s just a waste of money that should be spent elsewhere. I would like the candidates to spend their election funds on projects that would be beneficial to people in need.
Officially, I have no candidates yet. I’m still busy looking through candidates with my personal magnifying glass. There are the political ads, with their shots at informing the electorate of their platform, if there ever was one, but mostly their faces and their attempt of projecting themselves as candidates, pathetic as it …

Backstage info:  So far highly educated rumors has it that the main front runners for the next presidential election are political royalties Noynoy Aquino with Mar Roxas, billionaire Manny Villar, Macapagal protege Gibo Teodoro, and ex-con ex-President Erap Estrada with his sidekick Jojo Binay.  I’m not sure what these guys’ plans are, but they better start helping the typhoon-ravaged country NOW!

Now it’s your turn to make up your own cartoon scenario.

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Last year my wife and I, along with a few other staff, were asked to participate in a poetry reading with the children at the psychiatric facility that we both work at. This annual poetry group encourages children to open-up and express their feelings in a more positive way. An so my wife read her poems from the deployment years while I…had to make one up the last minute. But, not only was I able to make one on time, I also had enough time to draw illustrations. (Actually, this is …

Photo credits here.
I saw today’s boxing match between Marquez and Mayweather Jr. and yes, I admit that Floyd Mayweather Jr. showed exemplary agility and boxing prowess in the ring. My expectation is that Marquez will win the fight but unfortunately, the known counter- puncher did not even made a dent on Mayweather Jr’s face. The fight supposedly have taken place in July was moved to September because of Mayweather’s rib injury. Still surprisingly, he didnt even show that he had the injury and went on to box out Marquez.
For peeps …

Photo Credits: Baguio City Online
Heto, umpisa na naman ang katuwaan sa baryo. Tagalugin ko na rin to kasi baka yung mga pinsan ko, sasabihin na nakakawalang-gana kasi Englis, hindi daw maintindihan ng mga klasmits nila sa sabungan. Maniwala naman kayo na hindi maintindihan, eh, itong mga pinsan ko, mga gradwet din naman to ng kolehiyo. Lulong lang talaga sa sabong.
Madami akong katanungan nung marinig ang balitang to. Sino naman kaya ang unang naka-isip nito? Mga politiko kaya, o mga ordinaryong sabungero habang ninamnam ang sabaw ng nilagang bihag na may …