Month: November 2010

Thanks, Professor Co

Published by Ellen on November 20, 2010

Leonardo L. Co, 56, one of the country’s top botanist ,who was serving as biodiversity consultant of Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC), was killed together with his two companions Nov 15 while gathering specimen seedlings of endangered trees with a five-member team of civilians in Kananga, Leyte.

Manuel Paete, EDC resident manager identified identified the other fatalities as Sofronio G. Cortez, a forest guard day of EDC-Environmental Management Division, and Julius Borromeo, a member of the Tongonan Farmers Association (Tofa).

Co is a specialist in plant taxonomy and ethnobotany.

Early reports said Co’s team was caught in a cross fire. Later reports said there was no cross fire and that they were mistaken as NPA’s

Slain botanist heard begging for mercy: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101119-304043/Slain-botanist-heard-begging-for-mercy

His remains lie at the Funeraria Paz on Araneta Avenue. It will be brought to UP this afternoon for the wake until Sunday.

Following is Business Mirror’s editorial last Nov. 17 which encapsulates our sentiments:

Thanks, Professor Co

It’s hard to find words to capture the sense of loss of the Philippine science community, not only for themselves but for the future of this country, at the untimely, tragic demise of University of the Philippines botany professor Leonardo Co, in an unfortunate crossfire between soldiers and rebels in Leyte this week. Indeed, as some reports go, the military unit that might have (the shooting-by-friendly-fire angle is still being investigated) snuffed out his life was filled with deep remorse on knowing the encounter had claimed an innocent life—and what a life it was.

Campaigns and Grey statement on ‘Pilipinas kay Ganda’

Published by Ellen on November 19, 2010

Update: President Benigno Aquino III on Saturday ordered the Department of Tourism (DOT) to drop the new tourism brand for the country, “Pilipinas Kay Ganda.”- ABS-CBN

Campaigns & Grey was called by DOT for advice on a new branding exercise. There was hesitation on our end as we were familiar with the complex bidding process, and we were still owed by the past administration for services rendered. Our love for country prevailed.

From the beginning, it was clear that the actual campaign would be bidded out and that our work was merely to establish preliminary strategic directions. But suddenly, there was a pressing need for exploratory concepts to be shown in some travel industry events. Again, we warned the client that we were taking too many shortcuts. But it was agreed that there will be a proper market research where multiple concepts will be thoroughly tested among the target market i.e. North America, Korea, Japan, China etc. Through this whole episode, we did not have a contract nor did we receive a single centavo.

Tourism Undersecretary Vicente Romano invites volunteers to help rebuild DOT website: Romano Help the DOT build the website

Based on available market data, ‘Pilipinas Kay Ganda!’ was developed as one of 5 concepts for testing among the target segments. The intention of this particular concept was to come up with a novel line that visitors would ﬁnd memorable, similar to Hawaii’s ‘Aloha’ or even the Japanese ‘Irasshaimase!’ and help regain the Filipino pride in the long run.

What the government does is the message

Published by Ellen on November 18, 2010

The pictures below once again prove what Abraham Lincoln said that ““You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

The Department of Tourism unveiled last Monday the Pilipinas Kay Ganda logo that would now be the Philippines’ symbol replacing Dick Gordon’s “Wow Philippines.”

Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim said in his speech during the launch that when they presented to President Aquino the logo,”He even gave his own inputs in terms of colors and other visual elements, which are now part of the brand..”

It turned out that what was bandied as a product of a four-month study and testing, which we imagine cost taxpayers a hefty sum, was a copy of Poland’s tourism logo.

(Thanks to Dennis Garcia for the above images.)

We are relieved to hear from Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim and his Undersecretary Vicente Romano that they are open to changes about their much-ridiculed “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” promotions thrust.

With Diana’s ring, William and Kate are engaged

Published by Ellen on November 18, 2010

From NBC News

LONDON — Britain’s Prince William will marry his longtime girlfriend, Kate Middleton, next spring or summer in London, the royal family announced Tuesday. A spokesman for Prince Charles said Prince William gave Kate Middleton the engagement ring that belonged to his late mother, Princess Diana.

The ring is an oval sapphire surrounded by diamonds.

The engagement announcement ends years of rumored splits, reconciliations and will-they, won’t-they speculation. It will be the biggest royal wedding since Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer almost 30 years ago.

Prince Charles’ Clarence House office said the heir to the British throne was “delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.” It said the couple got engaged last month during a vacation in Kenya.
The statement also said that William had informed his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and also sought the permission of Middleton’s father.

Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip “are absolutely delighted for them both,” Buckingham Palace said. According to the U.K. newspaper the Sun, soon after the announcement of the engagement, a tweet appeared on the monarchy’s recently launched Twitter feed reading: “The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are absolutely delighted at the news of Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s engagement.”

A tweet from Prince Charles said: “The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.”

Fresh supply of coins fail to curb currency shortage

Published by Ellen on November 18, 2010

by Jenny S. Santiago VERA Files If you gather all the Philippine coins circulating in the market today, their combined weight would be equivalent to…

Not so beautiful ‘Pilipinas kay Ganda’

Published by Ellen on November 16, 2010

In his complaint relayed personally during the APEC summit to leaders of countries that issued a travel advisory warning their citizens about going to the Philippines, President Aquino mentioned about the November 15 launching of a new tourism logo.

Less than 24 hours after “Pilipinas kay Ganda” was previewed (it was not yet the launching, Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim stressed) the accompanying site – www.beautifulpilipinas.com- was taken off because they found out that there’s an existing porn website also using the key words “beautifulpilipinas.”

Why they didn’t find this out before the preview defies common sense.

In-lab si PNoy

Published by Ellen on November 16, 2010

Kuwento ng isang taga-Malacañang, minsan daw may photo shoot si Kris Aquino at si Liz Uy ang stylist. Nag-text daw si Kris kay PNoy na magkasama sila ni Liz. Mamaya-maya daw, dumating si PNoy sa photo shoot. Umalis daw ang lahat sa make up room pati si Kris at iniwan si Liz at si Pnoy.

Ilang araw bago pumuntang Japan si Aquino para dumalo sa miting ng Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, umaga na raw umuwi dahil nagdate sila ni Liz.

Ayan at in-lab ang ating Presidente.

Sa Yokohama, Japan ,nagre-reklamo si Aquino na ang malaking balita daw sa kanyang pagdalo sa APEC ay ang kanyang pagdi-date sa kay Uy. “Baka puwede naman ’yun love life ko ay ipaubaya na lang ninyo sa akin. Maraming salamat,” sabi niya sa mga reporter .

Kungyari lang yan. Baka kinikilig pa yan sa mga sinusulat tungkol sa kanya at kay Liz. Kung ayaw niya, bakit siya nagkuwento tungkol sa pag-date niya kay Liz. Hindi naman niya sinabi na mali ang balita. Sa kanya naman galing yun.

Aquino admits dating Liz Uy

Published by Ellen on November 16, 2010

(I did not want to join the frenzy over President Aquino’s lovelife but since it seems many of you are interested, here it is. He is appealing to media to allow him to keep his lovelife private, yet he also talked about it in an interview while attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders meeting.)

Noynoy and Liz Uy — Liz taking care of PNoy

by Lynda Jumilla
ABS-CBN

YOKOHAMA, Japan – For the first time since news swirled around of a new romance in his life about two months ago, President Aquino confirmed reports he and his personal stylist Liz Uy are dating.

Interviewed here on the eve of the 18th APEC Leaders’ Meeting, the 50-year-old bachelor said he saw nothing wrong if he and the 28-year-old stylist spent time together every now and then.

“We have been spending time together as our schedules would permit, but I guess, at this point in time, that is the extent of it,” said the president, in response to queries from reporters.

Despite controversies, Aquino enjoys high performance and trust rating – Pulse Asia

Published by Ellen on November 15, 2010

inspecting corn facility — Despite fumblings, enjoying high ratings

President Aquino enjoys approval and trust of the people despite several controversies in his five-month presidency as shown in the survey conducted by Pulse Asia last month.

In a nationwide survey conducted Oct 20 to 29, 2010, Pulse Asia said Aquino registered a performance rating of 79 per cent and trust rating of 80 per cent.

Pulse Asia said this is the first time they have conducted a survey on Aquino’s performance and the people’s trust on him as president because in the July 2010 survey they conducted, “although the President had already been proclaimed as such, survey respondents were asked to rate his performance during his last three months in the Senate.”

In the July 2010 survey, Aquino got an 88 per cent performance and 85 per cent trust rating.

A wonderful evening of film music

Published by Ellen on November 14, 2010

If ever Gerard Salonga remounts FILMharmoniKA, don’t miss it. It’s not only super entertaining. It’s educational.

FILMharmonika (take note of the additional letter “M”) was last Saturday’s concert by Salonga with his orchestra, FILharmoniKA, of music from the movies with Bituin Escalante as guest.

The lovely thing about FILMharmoniKa was that non-hardcore classical music lovers easily understood and enjoyed the performance. Salonga presented an interesting repertoire that combined the majestic with the soulful. He started the evening with the vibrant theme from the movie classic “The Magnificent Seven” followed by the haunting pieces from the Schindler’s List by John Williams.

The younger people in the audience who may not not have seen “The Magnificent Seven”, the Hollywood hit in the 60’s that starred Yul Bryner , Steve Mc Queen, Charles Bronson recognized the music which they identified with the Marlboro Country ad.