ellen tordesillas – Page 75 – Making life worth living.

Feel bad TV reality show

Published by Ellen on June 10, 2014

Chairman Eugenio “Toto” Villareal of The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board is not happy with what ABS-CBN in their Pinoy Big Brother reality show did to the two female housemates.

He will meet with “PBB:All In” executives today about its June 4 and 5 episodes wherein Big Brother or “Kuya “ challenged housemate Jamey Jalandoni to pose for a nude painting as part of her weekly tasks.

Jayme Jalandoni. (From ABS-CBN PBB website)

Media reports said Jalandoni, known to be a religious person, was initially reluctant to perform the challenge, saying “Kuya, ayoko maghubad (Kuya, I don’t want to take off my clothes).”

Big Brother sternly told her: “Marami ang nakasalalay rito; ang inyong weekly task, ang tulong na maibibigay sa pintor at sa kaniyang adbokasiya… Bibigyan kita ng oras para makapag-isip (There is a lot riding on your decision; your weekly task, the help you can extend the painter and his advocacy… I will give you time to think).”

The empowering effect of yoga

Published by Ellen on June 8, 2014

By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files
Photos and Video by Mario Ignacio IV and Mario I. Espinosa

The amazing thing about yoga is that you are empowering yourself without being conscious that that is what you are doing.

Yoga instructor Jasper Colina, who just opened OM Yoga Studio in Parañaque (he also teaches yoga at Fitness First), shares the experience of a female student who had fear of crossing the street. After several yoga sessions, she experienced changes within herself. She became confident with every pose she was able to accomplish and later on mustered enough courage to cross the street by herself.

Colina said most people initially go into yoga for physical fitness. In the process, however, they undergo not only physical change but also inner transformation which usually leads to a change in lifestyle—one that is gentler and more meaningful.

Justice Carpio debunks China’s historical claim of South China Sea

Published by Ellen on June 7, 2014

Justice Antonio T. Carpio demolished China’s historical claims on almost the whole of South China Sea by using China’s ancient maps.

In a lecture at De La Salle University “Historical Facts, Historical Lies and Historical Rights in the West Philippine Sea”, Carpio took up China’s invitation to look at the “historical facts” by examining not only Chinese ancient maps but also maps of Philippine authorities and other nationalities.

Carpio said “All these ancient maps show that since the first Chinese maps appeared,the southern most territory of China has always been Hainan Island, with its ancient names being Zhuya, then Qiongya, and thereafter Qiongzhou. ““Hainan Island was for centuries a part of Guangdong Province until 1988 when it became a separate province,” he added.

The latest from Aquino on China

Published by Ellen on June 5, 2014

President Aquino flanked by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

For reporters, President Aquino is always worth the time and effort to interview because he always says something newsworthy. Either a controversial remark (when he compared China’s aggressive activities in the South China Sea as similar to Hitler’s 1939 invasion of Czechoslovakia after they were handed Sudetenland by Great Britain) or a new information.

Reporters usually do not get that kind of candidness from more mature and prudent statesmen especially in foreign relations issues.

In other countries, they have department or ministry spokesmen, who do the talking on running issues. But President Aquino is, well, PNoy.

Making sure calamity-resilient classrooms will be built as designed

Published by Ellen on June 3, 2014

Every time there’s a place in the country hit by a typhoon, a landslide, or an earthquake, a common post-calamity sight is school children having classes under a tree exposed to elements.

That situation would be minimized, if not completely eliminated, if the Department of Education’s new school building design would be built according to specifications.

VERA Files trustee and writer Yvonne Chua reported that DepEd will be building this year 30,000 calamity-resilient classrooms costing 60 per cent more than the ordinary classroom. Example: a complete one-story one-classroom building with basic features that is not calamity-resilient would cost P685, 000. The new, stronger design costs P1.1 million.

Chua said “To make each building more resilient to earthquakes, the DepEd is banking on a bigger footing or base and thicker beams and columns. It now requires a tie beam even for a single-story school. The horizontal beam connects several columns to make the structure stable.”

What PH should take note of in Obama’s foreign policy speech

Published by Ellen on June 1, 2014

“Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.”

“And I would betray my duty to you and to the country we love if I ever sent you into harm’s way simply because I saw a problem somewhere in the world that needed to be fixed, or because I was worried about critics who think military intervention is the only way for America to avoid looking weak. “

Those statements in President Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy speech at the commencement ceremony of the United States Military Academy last week should tell current Philippine leaders to rethink of their U.S-dependent foreign policy because America will not risk the lives of their soldiers to fight for a war that will put their national interest in jeopardy.

Special elections registration for PWDs and Senior Citizens in Manila

Published by Ellen on May 29, 2014

On Sunday, June 1, the Commission on Elections will be holding a satellite registration for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens of Manila to be held at the Central Section of Rizal Park, the registration will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This is not only for voters registration. For those who have registered, they may also validate or update their registration.

Voters are to bring at least one valid ID.

This activity is an implementation of the 2013 Republic Act 10366 authorizing the Comelec to establish precincts assigned to accessible polling places exclusively for persons with disabilities and senior citizens based on the state policy ensuring “that persons with disabilities and senior citizens are able to exercise their right to political participation without discrimination or restrictions. “

Tension rising as China sinks Vietnamese boat

Published by Ellen on May 27, 2014

Water cannon fight between China and Vietnam over Chinese oil rig in Paracels.

While we continue to be engrossed with Napolist (she has submitted an expanded list naming 120 lawmakers as alleged beneficiaries of her largesse including her contributions to their election campaign), things are heating up in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam that could destabilize Southeast Asia.

News reports yesterday said a Chinese boat sank a Vietnamese fishing vessel 17 nautical miles from the oil rig of China National Offshore Oil Corporation near the China- occupied Paracel islands. The rig is 240 km (150 miles) off Vietnam’s coast and 330 km (206 miles) from the southern coast of China’s Hainan island.

Opposition to EDCA goes to SC today

Published by Ellen on May 25, 2014

Click here for the full text of the EDCA petition

Another petition filed by BAYAN and sectoral congressmen against EDCA:
Final Bayan PETITION EDCA SC

Today, various individuals and groups, appalled by the mockery of the Constitution and complete disregard of the historic Senate vote ending the U.S. bases era on Sept. 16, 1991 by the Aquino government, are filing with the Supreme Court today a petition to declare the recently-signed PH-US Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement as unconstitutional.

Former senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada

Leading the petitioners are former Senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tanada, two of the 12 who voted to kick the US Bases out in 1991. Steve Salonga, will be signing the petition for his father, former Senate President Jovito Salonga. (The other nine senators who voted to oust the U.S. bases were Agapito “Butz” Aquino, Joseph Estrada, Teofisto Guingona Jr, Sotero Laurel II, Ernesto Maceda Jr, Orlando Mercado, Aquilino Pimentel Jr, Victor Ziga, and Juan Ponce Enrile.)

‘Separate speculation from fact’- Luchi Cruz-Valdez

Published by Ellen on May 21, 2014

That was a strong statement that Luchi Cruz-Valdes, head of TV5’s news and public affairs department, unleashed against those who dragged her name in the Janet Napoles pork barrel scandal especially the Philippine Daily Inquirer who published the unverified information.

Luchi’s name was mentioned in Inquirer’s May 18 issue as one of the mediamen in the list of those who “received” cash gifts from Napoles through a certain Mon Arroyo,former television director.

The documents, Inquirer said, were contained in the hard disk given to them by the mother of Benhur Luy, one of the whistleblowers in the Napoles PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) scam, and Levi Baligod, former lawyer of Luy way back on April 27, 2013 when the two visited the Inquirer office.

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