TOO many times, taxpayers receive a surprise letter from the IRS, and even the Franchise Tax Board, on taxes owed from a cancelled debt acquired through debt settlement or debt consolidation. The general notion that once a debt has been reduced by a lender, the debtor is absolved of any other financial obligation has kept…
Does aspirin protect us against cancer? Yes, according to clinical studies conducted on patients taking daily aspirin (Acetylsalicylic Acid) for conditions like arthritis, etc., or among heart patients taking aspirin to thin their blood to prevent blood clots and blockages in the coronary (heart) arteries. The findings show that those taking daily dose of aspirin…
“THE world’s battlefields have been in the heart chiefly; more heroism has been displayed in the household and the closet, than on the most memorable battlefields in history.” – Heinry Ward Beecher In the Philippines, National Heroes Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of August. This national holiday is held to honor the sacrifices…
ACCESS to water is a basic human need, a fundamental human right. But according to a 2006 United Nation’s Human Development Report, more than 1 billion people are denied clean water, and more than 2.6 billion of our brothers and sisters lack access to adequate sanitation. Every year, 1.8 million children die as a result…
Despite reports that the number of unemployed nursing graduates in the Philippines continues to increase, many (including those who already have medical degrees, or are already practicing medicine in the Philippines) are still enticed to take a degree in nursing, fueled by the hope that working abroad will be a lucrative means to help them…
LAST week, the Obama Administration announced an (immigration) Prioritization Plan. Priority: enforcement of immigration laws against serious criminals who are a threat to our public safety, i.e. deporting them. Not a priority: approximately 300,000 pending immigration court cases for non-US Citizens convicted of minor crimes or “simply” here in violation of our immigration laws. Potential: termination of…
What is Athletic Heart Syndrome? This is a condition among athletes who show a constellation of physiologic adaptations in the body system, especially in the heart, in persons trained to perform endurance exercise. What are these changes? One of them is the so-called resting bradycardia (heart rate is slow, well below 60). The usual normal…
AS an important weapon of the Philippines’ economic arsenal, tourism is becoming to be an industry built through the country’s natural and cultural environment, where the most negligible and innocent gestures can easily wreak havoc on the site’s resources. Tourism holds the assurance of increased employment and income opportunities for Filipinos particularly those living in…
What are Bangkok Pills? Bangkok Pills are a combination drug marketed for weight reduction which had gained notoriety a few years ago for the various serious complications reported attendant to their use. According to the weight control company’s Dr. Wanit T, who responded to my email, the program is known as “ Bangkok Pills” or…
AS an important weapon of the Philippines’ economic arsenal, tourism has become an industry built through the country’s natural and cultural environment. Tourism holds the assurance of increased employment and income opportunities for Filipinos, particularly to those living in rural and coastal areas of the country. But, with last week’s resignation of Department of Tourism…
DIVORCE can be a bit complicated specially if there are community assets and debts involved. Generally, accumulations and earning after the date of separation is each spouse’s separate property. What happens when you use separate funds to pay for community debts after the date of separation such as when one spouse continues to pay the…
A LOT of patients share your concern about bad breath. As a social embarrassment, it’s surely near the top of the list. Since mouthwashes won’t eliminate the problem, let us have a look at some possible reasons for the condition. Bacteria, plain and simple, are the culprit. Bacteria do their work in the mouth, lungs,…
With the 2012 national budget set to be filed on December of 2011, the economic managers of the current administration recently expressed confidence that poverty incidence in the Philippines can be lessened to 16.6 percent by 2015. The positive outlook on the decrease of poverty cases in the country was based on recent reports by…
“Some people just don’t understand what we are doing here. I think we can all work together to uphold artistic freedom and appreciation of art’s place in a democratic society.” – Emily Abrera, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Cultural Center of the Philippines Art is a human inclination that has been around since the…
Worldwide, in the last few decades, victims of diabetes have increased more than twice, and expected to grow from its current 246 million to 380 million in 18 years, by 2025, according to the report from the International Diabetes Institute in Australia. In this column nine years ago, we stated that the rapid growth in…
NOT everyone understands the implications of fiscal developments in an economy. What a simple citizen realizes (and cares more about) is when there’s not enough money to spend, and not enough food to eat. This is the kind of scenario when the country and its constituents are in danger. In the wake of the US’…
I ADMIT that there are days when I really just want to stop and quit. It’s a double whammy when your loved ones are not by your side, during your most trying times. It draws and drains you of all your courage and strength. But then again, if things were easy, there would be no…
LEE-CHUA, (1997) defined a successful family business as “one that has existed for at least 10 years, is still existing, and has made a name for itself in its field. The founder may still be alive and thinking of succession, the second generation may already be in charge, or the third generation may even be…
THE Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 (IMFA) requires an alien obtaining a green card through a marriage less than two years old to come back at the end of that two years with the petitioning spouse and show that they are still married or, if the marriage was terminated, to show that the marriage…
2010 posted a good year for the Philippines as its economy grew by 7.3 percent (the highest in 34 years) during the last quarter. Aside from the renewed investor confidence over a new government, the surge of remittances coming from the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) was also largely credited in contributing to the overall economic…
THE integrity of our natural personal immune system confers upon our body a defense mechanism which determines our susceptibility to, or the degree of protection we have against, various diseases. Besides a healthy diet, regular physical exercise, abstinence from tobacco and other harmful substances, moderation in alcohol intake, and taking daily multivitamins-mineral (from A to…
IN his 53-minute speech last July 25, President Benigno Aquino III gathered a collection of both criticisms and praises on his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), before the joint session of Congress at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City. Former President Joseph Estrada, Vice President Jejomar Binay, and most members of the Senate…
WE ALL have opinions and sometimes we hold very divergent views, as you would imagine when you bring together a group of people who are active within different industry spheres and in different geographical locations. That ability to see the industry from many different perspectives is actually a great advantage, because although you might believe…
As another proposed strategy to tourism, the national tourism development plan (NTDP) is expected to double tourist arrivals in the country to 6.5million and generate 2.9million new jobs before President Benigno Aquino III’s term ends in 2016. Albeit the NTDP may seem “ambitious,” Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Alberto Lim said in an interview that…
ONE by one, they’re coming out of the woodwork. On July 12, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan claimed that former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) and her husband, former first gentleman Mike Arroyo “ordered the rigging of the 2007 senatorial election.” The former ARMM governor, through a two-page declaration, said…
The all-American fast food, the hamburger, has been killing about 60 people a year in the United States alone. And we are not talking about the cardiovascular death toll (one person dies every 60 seconds in the USA) from heart attack and stroke, etc., from a high saturated fat and cholesterol diet. We are talking…
EVER since former President Ferdinand Marcos’ reign as leader, politics in the Philippines is being felt to be dismal and troubling that the fate of the country hangs on such a precarious balance. With many of its key players having questionable reputations, the government is a place where corruption is rife and controversy is at…
LAST June 2, US First Lady Michelle Obama introduced My Plate, the new basic food guide to replace the outdated Food Pyramid of 1992. With her in Washington , DC, for the unveiling were Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin. “The new design called My Plate was conceived as a crucial…
Cosmetic dentists understand that communication with the patient over what they expect, what they want their teeth to look like, is critical to their success. In order for you to be happy with the result, you need to have strong input into the artistic planning of your smile. To help you accomplish that, I’d like…
LOOKING back on my teenage years, I realized that it was my mother who taught me to maintain a beauty ritual. She would always remind me to look beautiful and to smell good all the time. She trained me to always look presentable when I go out. She insisted that I will never know whom…
