Cebu City’s SM Cinema 1 curtains rolled up and the lights went off to herald Pilipinas Got Talent (PGT) Season 3’s regional audition that sunny Wednesday, May 25, 2011. It wasn’t surprising at all when there was a huge turnout of hopefuls since the Queen City of the South has been known as the bulwark…
NY premiere on Oct. 31, showing in select cinemas GLENDALE—Dubbed as the Philippines’ National Sweetheart and considered one of the brightest stars of today, Anne Curtis is leaving her duties back home for awhile to promote her first American film—”Blood Ransom.” On Monday, Oct. 27, the cast and crew of “Blood Ransom” held a press…
The average price of gas at pumps nationwide have dropped to a near four-year low of $3.08 a gallon, according to a Lundberg Survey released over the weekend. The price has dropped by 29 cents since last year, representing the lowest average cost of gas in four years, since December 2010. In just the past…
Dear Atty. Gurfinkel: I was petitioned by an employer for an H-1B visa, which was issued in Manila, and I arrived in the US in September 2012. Although my H-1B visa is valid until August 2015, the immigration officer at the airport issued my I-94 (arrival/departure record), giving me only until November 2014. If the…
One of the brightest stars in Philippine entertainment, Star for All Seasons and currently Governor of Batangas Vilma Santos-Recto, will be celebrating her birthday on November 3. Ate Vi, as she is most commonly known, started her career with Sampaguita Pictures as a child actress, in the film Trudis Liit (Little Trudis), where she received…
We are what we eat. And we are also what we drink. Our health and longevity are both maximize by our healthy lifestyle choices and discipline. In this day and age of global water, air, and noise pollution, we, at least, have a standard method of instant water testing devices and very effective reverse osmosis…
LAS VEGAS—The popular ride-sharing app Uber, widely used in major cities throughout the world, is using its technology to gather support in Nevada with an online petition drive. The company—which views itself as a technology platform, and not a transportation company—has taken widespread action, circulating its online petition in advance of its hearing date with…
Zombies, draculas, witches. It’s that time of the year again! Halloween, that is. In the Philippines, however, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are spelled differently, i.e. U-N-D-A-S! U-nite All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are two of the special non-working holidays in the Philippines. Although technically, November 2 is the day for…
LOS ANGELES—Three Filipino designers debuted their Spring/Summer 2015 collections on Oct. 13 at the California Market Center in Downtown. Hosted by the International Fashion Tour and the ABS-CBN Foundation, the preview runway show brought the designers to Los Angeles to tease a larger US tour to come next March. Singapore-based Filipino designers Melchor Guinto and…
IN recent years, the Philippines has been enjoying a steady economic momentum. Last year, the Philippines finished with a 7.2 percent growth, just behind China’s 7.7 percent. Despite some hiccups caused by natural disasters, the Philippine economy remained as one of the fastest-growing in Asia and was even branded the next Asian tiger economy. According…
KABABAYANS from all over the world shared one common experience last Friday, October 24: watching the finale of “Ikaw Lamang,” as this top-rating teleserye of ABS-CBN came “full circle,” and ended with the opening scene from the March premiere. As ABS-CBN reported, Ikaw Lamang’s final episode emerged as the most watched TV program in the country. According…
THIS mild, sunny morning charmed me into happiness and I realized my cheer was partly because I was alone. I thought for an awful moment that perhaps I was essentially unloving, perhaps had never loved. But years of joy made me think that yes, I have loved. However, the question is that was it enough? …
LOS ANGELES – With California’s economy slowly recovering, the traffic congestion is getting worse in Los Angeles and Orange County, according to new reports. Studies from several years ago showed the opposite trend–other major cities like Chicago and Washington D.C. had eclipsed Southern California as the nation’s new leader in traffic records and slow commutes….
LOS ANGELES — As the fiscal year approaches an end, Wells Fargo bank is taking huge strides to reach out to various ethnic groups to let them know of their beneficial community services. In an effort to help customers succeed financially and live prosperously, the major bank corporation is offering free consumer credit scores and…
LOS ANGELES – As the fiscal year approaches an end, Wells Fargo bank is taking huge strides to reach out to various ethnic groups to let them know of their beneficial community services. In an effort to help customers succeed financially and live prosperously, the major bank corporation is offering free consumer credit scores and…
LOS ANGELES – With California’s economy slowly recovering, the traffic congestion is getting worse in Los Angeles and Orange County, according to new reports. Studies from several years ago showed the opposite trend–other major cities like Chicago and Washington D.C. had eclipsed Southern California as the nation’s new leader in traffic records and slow commutes….
A 67-YEAR-old Filipina was killed after a tourist bus ran into her while she was crossing a pedestrian lane in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza on Oct. 23. Initial reports identified the victim as Priscilla “Precy” Moreto, an employee of San Francisco City Hall. Police report said that the incident occurred at around 11 am when Moreto crossed…
Barely a week into its introduction, Apple Pay—Apple’s new mobile payment technology, where consumers can make a purchase simply by waving their smartphones—has already hit a roadblock. CVS Health Corp. and Rite Aid are among 220,000 US merchants that already have Apple Pay technology in place to read short-range wireless signals to enable customers of…
I LOVE to rise up early in the morning like at four or at five o’clock. It’s quiet and serene; most people are still asleep. It’s the best time to walk around the house or to sit quietly in a room with a cup of coffee or tea. It’s the best time to pray, to…
THE profound flaw within the Philippine justice system resurfaces as people criticize the government’s response to the alleged murder of transgender Jennifer Laude by an American serviceman in Olongapo City. Military exercises under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) brought US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, Jennifer Laude’s alleged killer, to the Philippines. Some described the murder…
THE brutal murder of transgender Filipina Jennifer Laude has galvanized protests among kababayans from coast to coast here in the United States on two fronts: against the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines; and the prejudices and violence against the gays, lesbians, transgenders in the Philippines. President Benigno Aquino III…
THE trouble with hiring “creative” advertising and PR geniuses for one’s political campaign is that they can get carried away by their creativity. Take the Liberal Party’s demolition strategy against Vice-President Jojo Binay code-named, “Oplan Stop Nognog 2016.” It sounds really clever until you realize the implications. In colonial times, ordinary Filipinos, belonging to the…
I REMEMBER client the first time I met her 15 years ago. At that time, she was only 30 years old and had just started working as a registered nurse after obtaining her graduate degree in nursing. I won’t tell you how old I was at that time but I certainly wish I were also…
1. IRS wants you to keep good records to document your income and support your expenses. It does not require you to keep records in any specific manner, but there are proven ways to keep good files. Read on. 2. There are two basic types of filers: the rat pack that hoards files for the…
Q: I HAD to take a few weeks of medical leave from work because I had to undergo a heart procedure. I gave my employer my doctors’ notes. When I was released to go back to work, my employer told me that my position was no longer available. Since I work for a fairly large…
I KNOW we’ve never met. But there’s a common concern we all share. As a debt relief attorney, I hear it from people who consult with me every day. It is this: The possibility of losing what we’ve worked hard for all our lives…our homes, our savings, our retirement money, our business, etc. Why is…
THE fall season always brings something new that will astonish us. Let the leaves fall, leaves leave, fall falls. But perhaps ushering the season comes with the promise of new beginnings. A few old works might fit the bill. It is said that when God wanted to separate light from darkness, He created day and…
LOS ANGELES – Republican Congressional candidate Arturo Alas claims to be less about government and more for the people. Running in California’s 32nd congressional district, which spans all the way from El Monte to City of Industry, Art’s campaign for the November midterm election promises a “New StART – For Congress, for liberty, for us!”…
Nurses in Dallas free of virus THE war on Ebola continues with a new case, this time in New York City. Doctor Craig Spencer was working with the organization Doctors Without Borders, treating Ebola patients in Guinea. He came back to the US on Oct. 17, arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport and exhibiting…
Social analysts hypothesized the movies to be an art form imitating life but in most cases it seems that life’s mortal realities and its evanescent complexities make it the other way around. As such the movies depict the grandiosity of men’s limitless possibilities in confronting inevitable challenges for probable survival. Human existence when fused with…
