Only in the Philippines!

The reward for information leading to the arrest of retired Army general Jovito Palparan has been increased to P1 million from the original P500,000, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo announced Thursday.


Palparan, who is wanted for the 2006 abduction and disappearance of two University of the Philippines students, has been in hiding since late last month, when he was barred by immigration agents from leaving the country.
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A landslide that occurred at 3:45AM Thursday left 25 people dead, 15 injured, and 100 more missing in Purok Diat Uno and Diat Dos in Barangay Napnapan, Compostela Valley.

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PAGASA officer-in-charge Graciano Yumul explained what may have caused the landslide.
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PPCRV vote count (As of 9:39 a.m.)

Read more On "Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) Partial results released!"!

“An unlikely man of the moment.”

This is how the article in the April 26 issue of Time Magazine describes Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

“The Next Aquino: Can Noynoy save the Philippines?” has topped Time’s Most Read list as of 4 p.m. Friday.

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Agribusiness, business process outsourcing, creative industries, infrastructure (airports and seaports, road and rail, power and water), manufacturing and logistics, mining, and tourism, medical travel, and retirement will frontline the country’s drive for robust investment, foreign investors said in a forum.

Read more On "7 growth areas in RP, according to foreign investors"!

MANILA, Philippines - Health officials blamed yesterday online social networking for the rise in the cases of HIV/AIDS in the country last year.

Speaking at the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Hotel media forum, Ferchito Avelino, Philippine National AIDS Council secretariat director, said the “mushrooming” of social networking sites in the past three years could be linked to the rising AIDS cases in the Philippines.

“There has been no study but it has been pinpointed as one of the major factors in the rise of HIV/AIDS cases,” he said.

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Soon, cell-phone users will be required to register their subscriber identity module (SIM) cards. Otherwise, they won’t be able to make calls or send text messages.

This is what the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is working on just in case House Bills 92 and 1313 fail to become law before the May elections.

“At this point, we are already conceptualizing who will handle the database, the cost and when to implement it. We will try to issue an NTC memorandum circular [MC] but we will need to consider a lot of things, so we need to talk with all the government agencies concerned such as the Neda [National Economic and Development Authority] and NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] on what identification card they will require,” said NTC Deputy Commissioner Douglas Michael Mallilin.

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The proposal of a women’s partylist group to prescribe expiration dates on marriage contracts has drawn mixed reactions from lawmakers, with at least one senator saying the proposal is a good starting point for discussing current social issues.

“It’s a reflection of what is happening in our society,” Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said in the vernacular, apparently referring to the growing clamor from women for more rights and social freedoms.

Read more On "Marriage with expiration date, anyone?"!

One of two Filipinos is dissatisfied with the performance of the Arroyo administration, with public satisfaction hitting a new record low last month, with six months to go before a new government takes over, a new survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

According to the SWS survey, conducted between December 5 and 10 last year, the administration's net satisfaction rating fell to -23 (28 percent satisfied and 51 percent dissatisfied) in December, lower than -20 in the third quarter and worse than the record low of -21 in June 2008.

The new score was within the range described by the SWS as poor — a category the Arroyo government has been in since February last year.

However, the survey also showed the administration got a neutral score of -2 for its response to the massacre of at least 57 people in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao last November 23.

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The number of registered voters for the upcoming presidential elections in the Philippines has exceeded 50 million marks, the largest figure recorded in the Philippines' history, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Friday.

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The declaration and aproval of Republic Act 9850, or "An Act Declaring Arnis as the National Martial Arts and Sports of the Philippines."

It is now official that Arnis, a traditional form of martial art, as the country's national martial arts and sports.

The law states that, starting this year, arnis competitions shall be included in the Palarong Pambansa or the national multi- sport event. The law also requires arnis to be a mandatory course or subject in all schools in the country. Prior to the bill, arnis is only offered in a few schools as an elective physical education subject.


Arnis is a complete martial art system, encompassing weapons training and empty-hand self-defense. Read more On "Arnis is RP's National Martial Art!"!

Just before the year 2009 ended, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) came out with the general instructions (GI) for the country’s very first automated national elections in May 2010.

What will happen on election day?

According to the GI, the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) will meet at the polling place at six o’clock in the morning of May 10, 2010 to first ensure that all the election paraphernalia are ready.

They will then post a copy of the Posted Computerized Voters List (PCVL) at the door of the poll precinct. But before voting is conducted, the BEI chairman will show the public and the watchers present that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine, package of official ballots, and book of voters are all duly sealed.

After showing the election materials, the BEIs will set up the PCOS machine. Upon installation, the poll machine will automatically print an initialization report showing that no votes have yet been cast nor counted.

What should a voter do?

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Philippine labor is not among the cheapest in Asia and the Pacific, and is even among the most expensive in Southeast Asia, next only to Singapore, data from the National Wages and Productivity Commission showed.

Data from the policymaking commission, an agency under the Department of Labor and Employment, showed the Philippines placing seventh in a ranking of 13 economies in the region, in terms of having the lowest minimum wage.

Workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) earn a daily minimum wage of P382 or $8.09.

Read more On "RP labor among Southeast Asia’s most expensive!"!

Without Chiz and Noli, Villar gains 7%, Erap up 4%
MANILA, Philippines - A BusinessWorld-Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Tuesday has come up with similar findings as the Pulse Asia polls which showed Senator Manny Villar and Joseph Estrada gaining significant points in the presidential race, although frontrunner Sen. Benigno Aquino III still has a big lead with 5 months left before the elections.

Read more On "Villar cuts Aquino's lead in new SWS poll!"!

NEW YORK (AP) – US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2009.

Bernanke, 56, heads the most important and least understood force shaping the American – and global –economy.

In the same magazine issue, Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao was included in the list of “people who mattered” in 2009, being listed behind US President Barack Obama and ahead of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Those green bills featuring dead Presidents are labeled federal reserve note for a reason: the Fed controls the money supply. It is an independent government agency that conducts monetary policy, which means it sets short-term interest rates — which means it has immense influence over inflation, unemployment, the strength of the dollar and the strength of your wallet, Time said.

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SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao (MindaNews/11 December) --  The Office of the Provincial Governor of the country’s second poorest province on the third floor of this peach and pink palatial building with an “ala CCP” driveway that leads to the second floor,  has three living room sets, a conference table for 16, a huge executive desk with a leather swivel for the governor and leather chairs for guests, a toilet exclusively for the governor’s use, a center table for flowers  and a door that leads to a room with a bed (and a refrigerator with several bottles of softdrinks), that  leads to an alley where you can find to your left, a  bathroom with a Jacuzzi whirlpool tub.

Going up to the third floor. Left to the Governor's Offfice. MindaNews photo by Carolyn O. Arguillas







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MANILA, Philippines - One in two Filipino adults is dissatisfied with the performance of the Arroyo administration, bringing its new net satisfaction rating to -20, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in its recent survey.

The Third Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey found 30 percent of adults satisfied and 50 percent are dissatisfied with the overall performance of the national administration, for a “poor” net satisfaction rating of -20.

Read more On "SWS: GMA satisfaction rating slips further to -20!"!

MANILA, Philippines - Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno assured the people that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) continues to enjoy its autonomy despite the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao.

Puno said ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, who was arrested along with eight other relatives for rebellion, was replaced by his lawful successor ARMM Vice Gov. Ansaruddin Adiong.

“To date the regional governor continues to take charge of the entire autonomous region. Whatever supervision is exercised over autonomous region has to be exercised through the regional governor,” Puno said during a forum.

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MANILA - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo officially declared martial law in the province of Maguindanao on Saturday morning.

In a press conference past 7 a.m, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced Proclamation No. 1959 declaring a state of martial law and suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the province of Maguindanao, except for certain areas identified as bailiwicks of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) separatists.

The declaration of martial law will lead to the arrests without warrants of other members of the Ampatuan family who have been linked to the November 23 massacre of 57 innocent civilians.

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MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo filed her certificate of candidacy for the congressional seat in Pampanga’s 2nd district on Tuesday, according to television reports.

Arroyo, clad in an aquamarine pants and blouse, arrived at the Commission on Elections office in Pampanga province past 10 a.m.Footage showed her with husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, at the Comelec office.

Read more On "Arroyo files candidacy for Congress!"!