Planet Philippines Calgary Edition November 2010 Issue

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R L I N G T O N , Texas – We’re running out of words.

Manny Pac-quiao fought a three-time world title-holder who o u t w e i g h e d him by 17 pounds when

they entered the ring. He suppos-edly had a number of distractions while training in the Philippines. He was sluggish in sparring. Even some of those close to him were concerned going into this fight.

The result? A beating the likes we’ve rarely seen at this level of boxing, one that gave Pacquiao a major title in a mind-boggling eighth weight class – almost half of the 17 – and added to a legend that just continues to grow.

The scores indicate how one-sided it was before 41,734 on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium: 120-108 (a shutout), 118-110 and 119-109. The RingTV.com had it 120-107. The CompuBox punch stats were staggering: Pacquiao landed 474 punches (out of 1,069 thrown), No. 8 all-time for a title fight. And get this: He landed 411 of 713 power shots, 58 percent.

You had to see it to fully un-derstand it, though.

Pacquiao landed two-, three-, four-punch combinations seem-ingly at will and avoided tak-ing blows unless he purposely stepped into the path of danger, a pattern that left Margarito’s face a grotesque mess. His skin was bright red, his eyes were swollen shut and blood dripped from a deep cut under his right eye.

Exhilarating and gruesomeIt was exhilarating and grue-

some at the same time.

It was exhilarating and gruesome at the same time. It was exhilarating because of the explosiveness and efficiency of Pacquiao’s work. It was gruesome because a brave man was being beaten to a pulp by the fast hands of a killer.

PACQUIAO MANAGES TO AMAZE US AGAIN

BY MICHAEL ROSENTHAL

Margarito’s face is a grotesque mess after absorbing 411 of the 713 power punches that Pacquiao unleashed.

It was exhilarating because of the explosiveness and efficiency of Pacquiao’s work. I was in abso-lute awe at what I saw, a once-in-a-lifetime athlete whose ability is a true gift to boxing fans.

It was gruesome because a brave man was being beaten to a pulp by the fast hands of a killer. Even those disgusted with Mar-garito’s role in the hand-wrap scandal had to feel sorry for him during the last few rounds of the fight, which should’ve been stopped to prevent further suffer-ing.

To be clear, this wasn’t a great fight. It was a slaughter, which was predictable given the wide disparity in their talent. Margari-

to’s size advantage was meaning-ful only because it likely played a role in his survival.

Pacquiao could’ve won every second of every round by peck-ing away at Margarito from the outside and avoiding his rushes by using his quick feet, as he did numerous times when the Mexi-can tried to trap him in a corner or against ropes.

Make people happyThat’s not Pacquiao, though. He

purposely entered dangerous situ-ations – fighting Margarito inside, laying on the ropes -- because, as he said, “I wanted to make people happy.” As a result, he added some drama to the fight by taking a few unnecessary punches.

“It was a hard fight,” said Pac-quiao, being charitable. “I did my best to win. I can’t believe I beat a guy that big and that strong.”

That said, Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) was never, ever in trouble. He said afterward that he knew in the second round that this was his fight but I suspect that realization probably came before they signed the contracts several months ago.

The Filipino marvel knew ex-actly what he was getting into. Still, he had to get the job done against a relative giant. Margarito weighed 165 pounds , Pacquiao 148, which in effect meant they were three weight classes apart.

And Pacquiao made it an ab-solute rout.

“I don’t think we lost a round,” said Pacquiao’s trainer, Fred-die Roach. “I wish we would’ve knocked him out. He’s a very

tough guy. I’m surprised how tough. He has the worst corner. His corner ruined his career by not stopping the fight.”

Uncommon courageMargarito (38-7, 27 KOs) did

show uncommon courage, which isn’t surprising given his track re-cord of such efforts.

The proud Mexican would never have quit. And referee Lau-rence Cole probably would never have stopped it because Margari-to continued to defend himself (or at least try) and throw punches.

It was up to Robert Garcia, Margarito’s trainer. He reportedly asked his fighter whether he want-ed to continue late in the fight – and was told emphatically, “yes” – but Garcia probably should’ve stepped in nevertheless.

In the end, it was Pacquiao who saved his opponent from undue punishment. He went into cruise control the last few rounds because he didn’t want to inflict unnecessary punishment, which might’ve cost him a knockout.

“I told the ref, ‘Look at his eyes, look at his cuts,’” Pacquiao said. “I didn’t want to hurt him anymore.”

So in the end he turned in one of the most-dominating perfor-mances in recent years and then capped it off with a heart-warm-ing act of kindness.

That’s Manny Pacquiao. One of a kind. (Michael Rosenthal is an associate editor of The Ring magazine.) n

Bucking a huge weight and reach disadvantage, Pacquiao connects against his Mexican opponent, winning by a 12-round unanimous decision.

Pacquiao lands a right punch and prepares to follow it up with a left, en route to his eighth title in a mind-boggling eight classes.

Pacquiao holds a Philippine flag to celebrate one of his most dominating performances in recent years.

The Filipino champ throws a left to the face of Margarito, who courageously stood his ground up to the finish.

Pacquiao raises his hands in triumph at the end of his one-sided fight against a much taller and stronger Antonio Margarito.



T COMES as no surprise that more and more politicians, not just locally but around the world, are utilizing new technologies, particularly the Internet and social media such as Facebook and Twitter, to revolutionize the way in which they communicate and engage their constituents. No doubt, Barack Obama’s phenomenal victory in 2008, which was propelled in no small way by the use of the Internet, was helped immensely by social media.

BY PEPPER MARCELO

Malacañang intends to institute this instant feedback

mechanism not only for its own use but for all government

agencies as well. The official Malacañang

website provides links to the websites of

various departments and includes a page that allows users to post comments and

complaints.

P-NOYAND THENEW

SOCIAL MEDIA

The official site of the President (top) updates the public on events, while the official site of Malacañang (left) issues policies.

In keeping with his election promise of honesty and transpar-ency in government, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III immediately instructed his staff to draft and implement an innova-tive communication program that maximizes the use and benefit of social networking in order for his new administration to better interact with and engage the Filipino people.

P-Noy, as the Pres-ident preferred to be called by the people, said he was inspired

by the way the much beloved late President Ramon Magsaysay had interacted with Filipinos during his time. He wants to reverse the traditional top-to-bottom com-munication approach where in-formation flows one-way from the leaders to the people. Under

this traditional set-up, the people’s

sentiments on current issues

and govern-ment poli-cies are not given the prominence

and importance that are today’s hallmark of modern and strong democratic countries.

“Sabi ni Pangulo he wants an organization that will deliver messages effectively and provide feedback on what the government is doing,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

This is in contrast to the previ-ous administrations that merely disseminated information “one-way” to the media and public without scrutiny or proper re-sponse, Lacierda added.

Last August, the newly-formed Presidential Communica-tions Operations Office launched the website www.president.gov.ph to update the public on official events and engagements of the President, as well as provide a venue wherein they can state their concerns, complaints and sugges-tions regarding current issues and the administration.

There is also the official web-site of Malacañang (www.gov.ph), which serves as the official “ga-zette” of the Aquino Administra-tion, issuing official policies of the President and all laws of the Republic.

In addition, the President and Malacañang have their own ac-counts on Twitter, the highly-popular social networking and micro-blog service. There are also official Aquino and Malacañang pages on Facebook, Friendster, YouTube and Multiply.

Two-way communicationSecretary for Information Dis-

semination Herminio “Sonny” Coloma emphasizes that the role of the Internet and social net-working is not simply to distrib-ute information, but to gather quality feedback from users and provide a quick response to their concerns.

“New media are potent chan-nels of communication,” he tells Planet Philippines. “Some studies show that Internet penetration in the Philippines has reached 21.5 per cent. Even cellular or mobile phones can serve as channels for conveying significant messages from the government to the peo-ple, as well as feedback from the people to the government.”

According to digital world watchdog comScore Inc., Face-book is the top destination of on-line users in the Philippines, with 93% of “netizens” in the country visiting the site last May.

Overall, the Philippines is the seventh-biggest market in the world for Facebook with nearly 16 million users (one-fifth of the population), according to Nick Gonzalez, an analyst who oper-ates CheckFacebook.com.

Such is the popularity of Face-book among Filipinos that Aquino was voted the third most popular politician in the world, with 1.5



million fans who “liked” his Facebook page. He was ranked behind only US President Barack Obama and former Re-publican vice-presidential candidate Sar-ah Palin. Even more impressive is the fact that Aquino’s fan page gained an average of 20,000 fans a day in a span of only six months.

Meanwhile, there are more than 4,000 (and growing) followers to date on Malaca-ñang’s official Twitter page. Coloma also claims that Aquino himself personally an-swers some of the questions on his own account. “During the campaign, he had some time to do that. If not, someone else manages it. There’s quality control in that aspect to ensure that his views are reflected there,” says Coloma.

Malacañang intends to institute this instant feedback mechanism not only for its own use but for all government agencies as well. The official Malacañang website provides links to the websites of various departments and includes a page that allows users to post comments and complaints.

In addition, there is a page on the site called “Panata sa Pagbabago” that invites individuals and groups to make a vow for change, as well as a page titled “Tito Noy,” which encourages children to become ac-tive nation-builders by helping to bring back traditional Filipino values.

For those that have no access to com-puters or the Internet, i.e., the poor who, ironically, are those who need most to have a voice, the Presidential Communications Group plans on using different media chan-nels, both traditional and nontraditional, to ensure a proper flow of communication that everyone can access.

“We intend to tap into the vast poten-tials of cellular or mobile telephony and thereby reach bigger chunks of the popu-lation across all socio-economic classes and all throughout the archipelago,” says Coloma. The handwritten message via snail mail remains one viable option to communicate with the government.

Online censorshipBut while the Aquino Administration

embraces openness in governance via the new social media, the administra-tion found itself on the receiving end of a public backlash on account of its mis-handling of the government’s response to a deluge of feedback – mostly negative – on its websites and social networking sites on the August 23 Luneta hostage fiasco. Faced with angry reaction from Filipinos and foreigners alike, the Pal-ace Communications Group apparently panicked and proceeded to censor some of the comments on the President’s Face-book that were highly critical of the gov-ernment handling of the hostage crisis that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead.

More than 250 comments were posted on Aquino’s wall within a few days after the incident, which ranged from mild dis-appointment to outright indignation at his leadership. “Shame on you and your administration. Tender your resignation,” wrote an HK resident, while a Filipino said, “You did not fail us. You are consis-tently clueless.”

Another user wrote, “Our president is a retard who has done nothing but smirk in front of the TV cameras after all this had happened.”

Other comments included complaints directed at top officials of the Philippine National Police and demands for their swift resignation or firing, as well as sug-gestions on how the hostage-taker should have been neutralized.

The Communications Group responded by banning “slanderous comments, racial slurs and other below-the-belt attacks,” saying the President “reserved the right to block anyone who fails to follow the rules and report them as spammers.”

To soothe the ruffled feelings, Malacañang came up with this message on its website: “In Memory of the Vic-tims: We offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims whose lives were lost.” n

Aquino was voted the third most popular politician in the world on the social networking site Facebook.


AMAGE to households from ty-phoon ‘On-doy,’ which flooded Met-ro Manila and nearby p r o v i n c e s on Sept. 26,

2009, turned out to have spurred “unusual” financial liquidity for the Philippines as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent money in aid of family and friends.

As it turned out the devasta-tion brought about by one of the deadliest typhoons in the Pacific had far-reaching multiplier ef-fects, according to Rizal Com-mercial Banking Corp. senior vice president Marcelo Ayes.

People affected by the ty-phoon “have replaced their cars, they’ve refurbished their houses or bought new ones. And the gov-ernment [was spurred] to spend on infrastructure rehabilitation,” Ayes said in a TV interview.

‘Ondoy’ was a killer-typhoon but in its aftermath its positive outcomes proved “endless and enormous,” he said, pointing out that some of the country’s 8.7 mil-lion to 11 million OFWs respond-ed to the destruction by contrib-uting money for rehabilitation of properties at the grassroots level.

“This is certainly one reason experts are looking at for the un-usual strengthening of the peso against the US dollar,” Ayes said.

As of July, money sent home by OFWs totaled $10.679 billion. The remittance volume this year could even reach $18.735 billion, Deputy Gov. Diwa Guinigundo of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in September.

Last year, remittances amount-ed to $17.348 billion, according to BSP data.

OFWs loseIf the national government

is elated with the peso showing strong appreciation against the dollar, it is the other way around for overseas Filipino workers (OFW), according to an alliance of Filipino migrant rights group based in the Middle East.

The group pointed out that a strong peso means another round of belt-tightening for the OFWs and their dependents.

“Obviously, a stronger peso against the dollar would finan-cially hurt if not put OFWs and their families in dire economic drawback, considering the prices of basic goods and services are continuously on the rise,” said John Leonard Monterona, Mi-grante-Middle East regional coor-

The country’s 10-million-strong migrant workers responded to the devastation wrought by Typhoon ‘Ondoy’ by remitting money to their families and relatives to rebuild destroyed homes and replace

damaged and lost properties.

A DELUGE OF REMITTANCES AFTER ‘ONDOY’

BY JESSE EDEP

dinator.Monterona said earlier this

year an OFW’s $1,000 income amounted to about P45,000 af-ter peso conversion. But now that same amount is only about P43,000 with the peso’s better ap-preciation against the dollar.

“This simply means an au-tomatic reduction or lost of in-come of P2,000 using the example above, and such lost of income is more than the price of a sack of rice enough for one month con-sumption of an OFW family,” Monterona said.

Normally, Monterona said skilled OFWs in Saudi Arabia and in other countries in the Middle East receive a monthly salary of $400, while those in the service sector like domestic helpers re-ceive a lower income of $260 a month.

He said the Aquino adminis-tration should do something in this regard but not necessarily to directly intervene on the foreign exchange market.

Exporters hurtingWith a stronger peso, Philip-

pine exporters are hurting, which is why Philippine Exporters Con-federation Inc. president Sergio Ortiz-Luis wants the BSP to take serious measures to protect ex-porters.

The government should pay off its dollar debts to stimulate demand for the greenback, Ortiz-Luis said in an interview.

Although drastic, another measure is to lower the interest rate on peso deposits to encourage people to buy dollars, he added.

“There should be a conscious effort to target an accurate ex-change rate and accept that the peso is overvalued,” Ortiz-Luis underscored.

He pointed out that massive layoffs and closure of enterprises of exporters, domestic-oriented manufacturers, and agricultural producers are at stake should the peso continue to strengthen against the dollar.

“More than half of the econo-my depends on dollar earners like exporters. There is a lack of effort to bring the peso to its proper ex-change rate,” said Ortiz-Luis. n

The strengthening of the peso against the US dollar and the rise in remittances have resulted in decreased peso inflows for OFW families.

OFWs, like these domestics in Hong Kong, sent home a total of more than $10 billion as of July this year.

People affected by the typhoon “have replaced their cars, they’ve refurbished their houses or bought new ones.”



HE richest F i l i p i n o s are the big-gest taxpay-ers, right? Wrong.

A c c o r d -ing to Forbes m a g a z i n e , the richest

Filipinos and their respec-tive net worth are:

1. Henry Sy Sr., $5 billion; 2. Lucio Tan, $2.1 billion; 3. John Gokongwei, $1.5 billion; 4. Jai-me Zobel de Ayala, $1.2 billion; 5. Andrew Tan, $1.2 billion; 6. Tony Tan Caktiong, $980 mil-lion; 7. Enrique Razon, $975 mil-lion; 8. Beatrice Campos, $840 million; 9. George S.K. Ty, $805 million; 10. Eduardo Cojuangco, $760 million; 11. Inigo and Mer-cedes Zobel, $730 million; 12. David Consunji, $715 million; 13. Emilio Yap, $665 million; 14. Andrew Gotianun, $500 million; 15. Vivian Que Azcona, $445 million; 16. Oscar Lopez, $420 million; 17. Manuel Villar, $380 million; 18. Jon Ramon Aboitiz, $360 million; 19. Mariano Tan, $330 million; 20. Robert Coy-iuto, $310 million; 21. Roberto Ongpin, $300 million; 22. Alfon-so Yuchengco, $260 million; 23. Betty Ang, $165 million; 24. En-rique Aboitiz, $150 million; 25. Gilberto Duavit, $145 million; 26. Menardo Jimenez, $143 million; 27. Felipe Gozon, $120 million; 28. Alfredo Ramos, $117 million; 29. Manuel Zamora Jr., $116 mil-lion; 30. Wilfred Uytengsu, $115 million; 31. Benjamin Romual-dez, $110 million; 32. Wilfredo Keng, $100 million; 33. Tomas Alcantara, $99 million; 34. Bien-venido Tantoco Sr., $95 million; 35. Frederick Dy, $70 million; 36. Eugenio Lopez 3rd, $68 million; 37. Lourdes Molina, $65 million; 38. Luis Virata, $57 million; 39. Jesus Tambunting, $55 million; and 40. Philip Ang, $50 million.

Top taxpayersNow, compare the Top 40

Richest Filipinos based on the Forbes list with the Top 40 Tax-payers of 2008, based on the BIR list, and make your own conclu-sions.

BizNewsAsia got hold of the 2008 list. It is a very interest-ing and revealing honor roll. It is veritably the roster of current heroes of the Philippines. Two conclusions:

First, people who you think are among the country’s richest are not in the Top 500 Taxpayers list. So, too, are prominent and fabulously rich people who of-ten rant about the need for good governance and having good corporate social responsibility.

People who you think are among the country’s richest are not in the Top 500 Taxpayers list. So, too, are prominent and fabulously rich people who often rant about the need for good governance and having good corporate social responsibility.

THE RICHEST AREN’T THE BIGGEST TAXPAYERS

BY TONY LOPEZ

Second, the most reward-ing jobs are not in business

or top management. They are in entertainment, broadcast-ing and movies.

In serious business, min-ing is very remunerative. The highest-paid tycoons are miners—Philex Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Walter Brown with P26.83

million tax (No. 9) and Rio Tuba Nickel CEO, lawyer Manny Zamora Jr., with P19.96 million tax (No. 12).

Owners and CEOsBehind them are owners and

CEOs of conglomerates: San

Miguel Corp. Chair and CEO Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., with P18.98 million tax (No. 13); PLDT Chair and Meralco CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan, with P18.55 million (No. 14); for-mer Meralco President Manolo Lopez, P17.49 million (No. 16); Unionbank Chair and CEO Jus-to Aboitiz Ortiz, P15.2 million (No. 19); and SMC President and Petron CEO Ramon S. Ang, P14.85 million (No. 20). Trail-ing them are ePLDT and TV5 CEO Ray Espinosa, P12.27 mil-lion (No. 22) and GMA Network and dzBB broadcaster Mike En-riquez, P11.94 million (No. 23).

This makes Enriquez the country’s highest-paid media man. He finds it funny, if not ridiculous, that he paid more taxes than the owners of the two largest TV stations. “That means I pay the correct taxes,” he notes. His Channel 7 colleague, Mel Tiangco, is No. 45 with P8.9 mil-lion in income taxes paid. That makes her the highest-paid fe-male broadcaster.

TV is big moneymakerFour of the country’s 10 big-

gest taxpayers work in TV enter-tainment. Willie Revillame leads the pack as No. 2, with P58.6 mil-lion in tax payments. He used to make P1 million a day while hosting his hugely popular Wowowee noontime show. Ac-tor Piolo Pascual is No. 3, with P55.8 million tax payments; Kris Aquino, No. 8 with P25.44 mil-lion; and Michael V., (Beethoven del Valle Bunagan in real life) No. 10 with P22.26 million.

Boxing’s Manny Pacquiao, the No.1 taxpayer, is by his lonesome self, with P125 mil-lion in tax payments. In June 2009, Forbes magazine estimated the Filipino boxing great’s 2008 income at $40 million or P1.778 billion.

He paid P7 of tax for every P100 of income, a tax rate of 7 percent. Revillame had a high-er tax rate, P58.6 million out of P365 estimated gross for a 16 percent tax rate.

To be sure, 2008 was a crisis year for Philippine business. It was the year the world went into the deepest recession in 80 years. (Manila Times) n

Henry Sy, the richest Filipino, was not even among the top 25 taxpayers.

Danding Cojaungco Jr., chair of San Miguel Corp., was 13th top taxpayer.

Jaime Zobel de Ayala was also missing from the top 25 taxpayers’ list.

Many Pacquiao is the top taxpayer in 2008 with P125 million.

In June 2009, Forbes magazine estimated the Filipino boxing great’s 2008 income at $40 million or P1.778 billion.



NAALAALA MO BA?

• SI NANAY ay nasa bahay pag-uwi namin galing sa paaralan;

• Walang mga bakod at gate ang mag-kakapit-bahay, kung meron, gumamela lang;

• 10 sentimos lang ang baon: singko sa umaga, singko sa hapon;

• Merong free ang mga patpat ng ice drop: buko man o munggo;

• Pakikinig ng drama sa radio, tulad ng Simatar, Kapitan Radam, mga li-ham kay Tiya Delly... at sa gabi na-man ang Gabi ng Lagim;

• Tinatakpan ang iyong tenga kapag naririnig mo ang alulong ng

aso?;• Mataas ang paggalang

sa mga guro at ang tawag sa kanila ay Maestro;

• Di binibili ang tubig, at pwedeng maki-inom sa di mo

kakilala;• Malaking bagay na ang pu-

munta sa ilog para mag-picnic, o kaya sa tumana • Grabe na ang kaso pag napatawag ka

sa principal’s office, o kayamalaking kahihiyan kapag bagsak ka sa

exams.• Simple lang ang pangarap: ang

makatapos, makapag-asawa, mapagtapos ang mga anak...

• Pwedeng iwan ang sasakyan at ibilin sa hindi mo kakilala; wala namang lock ang mga jeep na Willy’s noon.

• Mayroon kaming mga laruan na gawa namin at hindi binili: trak-trakan (gawa sa Rosebowl ang katawan at Darigold na maliit ang mga gulong), ‘sketeng’ (scooter) na bearing na maingay ang mga gulong at de-sinkong pako para sa preno; patining na pinitpit na tansan lang na may 2 butas sa gitna para suotan ng sinulid (pwede pang makipag-lagutan); Sumpak, pila-tok, boca-boca, borador, atbp.

• Di nakikialam ang mga matan-da sa mga laro ng mga bata: kasi

laro nga iyon.• Maraming usong laro at

maraming kasali: laste, gagamba, turumpo, tatsing ng lata, pera namin ay kaha ng Philip Morris, Malboro, Champion (kahon-kahon yon!);• May dagta ang dulo ng tinting na

hawak mo para makahuli ng tutubi, nandadakma ka ng palakang tetot, pero ingat ka sa palakang saging dahil sa

kulugo;• Butas na ang sakong ng Spartan

mong tsinelas - suot mo pa rin;

10 sentimos lang ang baon: singko sa umaga, singko sa hapon.

• Namumugalgal ang pundilya ng kan-solsilyo mo kasi nakasalampak ka sa lupa.

Sa modernong buhay at sa lahat ng kasaganaan sa high technology... di ba minsan nangarap ka na rin... mas masaya noong araw!

Sana pwedeng maibalik...• Takot tayo ngayon sa buhay kasi

maraming napapatay, nakikidnap, maram-ing addict at masasamang loob...

• Noon takot lang tayo sa ating mga magulang at mga lolo at lola. Pero ngay-on, alam na natin na mahal pala nila tayo kaya’t ayaw tayong mapahamak o mapari-wara... Nauna silang nasasaktan pag pina-palo nila tayo...

Balik tayo sa nakaraan kahit saglit... Bago magkaroon ng internet, computer

at cellphone.Noong wala pang mga drugs at malls.

Bago pa nauso ang Counter Strike at mga Game Boy.

Tinutukoy ko ang harang taga o tum-bang preso kapag maliwanag ang buwan;

• Ang pagtatakip mo ng mata pero nakasilip sa pagitan ng mga daliri pag nanonood ka ng nakakatakot sa ‘Mga Ani-nong Gumagalaw’;

• Unahan tayong sumagot sa Multipli-cation Table na kabisado natin, kasi wala namang calculator;

• Pag-akyat natin sa mga puno; pag-

NOVEMBER 2010 Calgary EditionPLANET PHILIPPINES14kakabit ng kulambo, lundagan sa kama;

• Pagtikwas o pagtitimba sa poso;

• Pingga ang pang-igib ng lal-ake at may dikin naman ang ulo ng babae;

• Inaasbaran ng mga suber-biyo;

• Nginig na tayo pag lumabas na ang yantok-mindoro o buntot-page;

• Nai-sako ka rin ba?• O kaya naglagay ka ba ng

karton sa pwet para hindi masakit ang tsinelas o sinturon?

• Pamimili ng bato sa bigas;• Tinda-tindahan na puro da-

hon naman;• Bahay-bahayan na puro ka-

hon;• Naglako ka ba ng ice candy

o pan de sal noong araw?• Karera sa takbuhan hang-

gang maubos ang hininga;• Pagtawa hanggang sumakit

ang tiyan;• Meron pa bang himbabao,

kulitis at pongapong?• O kaya ang lukaok, susuwi

at espada?• Susmaryosep ang nadidinig

mo pag nagpapaligo ng bata...• Estigo santo kapag nagma-

mano.• Mapagod sa kakalaro, min-

san mapalo; at sa ‘kapre’;• Tuwang-tuwa kami pag

tinalo ang tinale ni itay kasi may

tinola! • Yung crush mo?• Pag recess: mamimili ka sa

garapon ng tinapay-alembong, taeng-kabayo o biscocho?

• Pwede ring ang sukli ay kending Vicks (meron pang li-breng singsing) o kaya nougat o karamel;

• Kung gusto mo naman pak-umbo o kaya kariba, mas masaya kung inuyat;

• Purico ang mantika, at mauling na ang mukha at ubos na ang hininga mo sa ihip kasi mahirap magpa-rikit ng apoy.

• Madami pa... • Masarap ang kamatis na pin-

iga sa kamay at lumabas sa pagi-tan ng daliri para sa sawsawan;

• Ang palutong pag isawsaw sa sukang may siling labuyo;

• Ang duhat kapag inalog sa asin; ang isa-sang isubo ang daliri kasi puno na ng kanin...

• Halo-halo: yelo, asukal at gatas lang ang sahog;

• Sakang ang lakad mo at na-kasaya ka kasi bagong tuli ka;

• O naghahanap ka ng chalk kasi tinagusan ang palda mo sa eskwelahan;

• Lipstick mo ay papel de hapon;

• Labaha ang gamit para sa white sidewall na gupit;

• Naglululon ka ng banig pag-kagising;

• Matigas na almirol ang mga punda at kumot;

• Madumi ang manggas ng damit mo kasi doon ka pagpapa-hid ng sipon, di ba? Pwede rin sa laylayan...

• May mga program kapag Lunes sa paaralan;

• May pakiling kang dala kung Biyernes kasi magi-isis ka ng desk.

Di ba masaya?Naalaala mo pa ba?

Wala nang sasaya at gaganda

pa sa panahon na yon... Masaya noon at masaya pa rin tayo ngay-on habang inaalaala iyon...

Di ba noon... ang mga desi-syon ay ginagawa sa awit na ‘Sino ba sa dalawang ito? Ito ba o ito?’ Pag ayaw ang resulta di ulitin: ‘Sino ba sa

dalawang ito? Ito ba o ito?’...• Awit muna: ‘Penpen de se-

rapen, de kutsilyo, de almasen. How, how the

carabao batuten...’• Presidente ng klase ay

ang pinakamagaling, hindi ang pinakamayaman;

• Masaya na tayo basta sama-sama kahit hati-hati sa kokonti;

• Nauubos ang oras natin sa pagku-kwentuhan, may oras tayo sa isa’t isa;

• Naaasar ka kapag marami kang sunog sa sungka, kapag buro ka sa pitik-bulag o mata-gal ka ng taya sa holen;

• Yung matatandang kapa-tid ang pinaka-ayaw natin pero sila ang tinatawag natin pag napapa-trouble tayo;

• Di natutulog si Inay, nag-babantay pag may trangkaso

tayo; Meron tayong Skyflakes at

Royal sa tabi at pahihigupin ng mainit na Royco.

Kung naaalaala mo ito... Nabuhay ka na sa KAPAY-

APAAN! Pustahan tayo nakangiti ka pa

rin! Kung naka-relate ka sa lahat

ng nabanggit sa itaas, ibig sabihin lang niyan ay....

MATANDA ka na! He he he...Pero kung hindi ka maka-re-

late, padala mo na lang sa akala mo ay kapanahunan niya ito para maalala din niya at mangiti rin siya.

(This is one of numerous posts on the topic on the Internet; au-thor unknown) n


HE HEALTHY economy is P r e s i d e n t Aquino’s best bet that his and his allies’ political fate will not go the sorry way of US President

Barack Obama’s party mates in the recent US midterm elections.

In a one-on-one interview on TV Patrol on Nov. 4, Presi-dent Aquino cited the soar-ing local stock market index, strong peso, and potentially forthcoming infrastructure investments as rosy indica-tors of the sentiments about his leadership.

“Kung gumaganda ang eko-nomiya natin, umaayos ang estado ng buhay ng tao natin, magagalit ho ba ang Pilipino? Palagay ko ho hindi. (If our economy and the quality of life of the Filipinos are improving, I don’t think the Filipinos will be mad at me),” he told Ted Failon who anchors ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs’ primetime news-cast.

BY LALA RIMANDO

He was, of course, allaying fears spawned from the deep vot-er frustration of the Americans over their struggling economy, which was largely blamed for the dismal performance of President Obama’s Democrat party mates at the polls.

After all, President Aquino’s political strategies have been in-spired by President Obama’s—from the use of new media in the campaign, to the choice of mes-saging tactic during the inaugura-tion, down to the burger-hotdog food trips.

Even their smoking habits have been mentioned side-by-side the fact that both leaders were elected on the inspirational campaign promise of political and social change.

“’Yung sinasabi nila doon na baka matulad daw ho ako (kay Obama), kako kung maganda ho ang nangyayari, palagay ko naman

THANKS TO A HEALTHY ECONOMY, AQUINO WON’T DO AN OBAMA A healthy economy

- as indicated by a soaring stock market, strong peso, infrastructure investments and sustained remittances from OFWs – is seen to spare Aquino the fate that Obama suffered.President Aquino is confident that with a healthy economy, the country will ride out the global crisis.


The local stock market is on a roll, reaching record levels despite the gloomy economic environment in many countries.

While it points to a healthy economy, the continued rise of the peso means lesser value for OFW remittances and export revenues.

In October, the Philippines secured a P21.4-billion loan from Japan to improve existing roads.

The peso’s sharp rise has prompted the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to liberalize currency purchases.

dadami po ang tutulong sa atin para lalong mapabilis ang pagbabago. (They were saying I may be like Obama (whose partymates lost). But I think that if things are going well, more will help to fast track the changes),” he said in the live interview.

It’s the economy, stupidPresident Obama has conced-

ed that the Republicans captured the House of Representatives and slashed the Democratic majority in the Senate because the Ameri-can voters were preoccupied with the slow recovery of the econo-my.

The economy may be techni-cally out of the housing mess-led financial recession but it’s still “bumping along the bottom” as an analyst described. Recovery has been sluggish despite a stag-gering $800 billion stimulus pack-age.

There has been progress but it’s still too weak to put a dent in the 9.6% unemployment rate, which translates to about 8 mil-lion jobless Americans.

To liven up the weak economy, Federal Reserve chief Ben Ber-nanke recently announced a new monetary tool: $600 million dose of credit (via purchase of US Trea-sury securities) aimed at creating jobs by nudging consumers to spend and businesses to invest.

These are headaches President Aquino has been lucky not to be having four months into the job.

Strong stock marketHe flaunted the performance

of the stock market, a usual ba-rometer of the economy’s health and prospects. “Sa Pilipinas ho may stock market tayong dati 4,000 unreachable. Nasa 4,400 na ho halos. Kanina, 6 points lang ho sa index yata ang kulang [ay] 4,400 na,” he

shared.On Nov. 4, the Philippine Stock

Exchange index (PSEi), a roster of 30 listed companies comprising the bellwether index, reached a

new-all time high of 4,397.30. For-eign buying has been robust.

He mentioned the upcoming launch of the Private-Public Part-nership Center that aims to accel-erate the financing and construc-tion of strategic infrastructure

projects. Improvements in the country’s road, port and airport networks, and other logistical aids have long been on the wish lists of foreign and local investors.

Japan, he said, is supportive of the country’s infrastructure plans

that it has approved a P21.4-bil-lion loan to improve existing roads. The loan was forged in October when President Aquino attended the Southeast Nations Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

“Ito ho nag-uumpisa nang ma-dama. (We are starting to feel the confidence of foreign investors and governments),” he said.

Investments, jobsHe reiterated the US$2.4 bil-

lion investments American firms have promised to him during his US trip in September. Over the next three years, some 43,650 new jobs are supposedly in store from upcoming investments are in power generation, consumer products, health care, garments, leather goods, and business and knowledge process outsourcing.

Healthy remittance flows from an army of Filipinos work-ing overseas have partly result-ed in the peso’s continued ap-preciation against the US dollar. The local currency gained 6 cen-tavos to close at P42.53 against the weak greenback on Nov. 4, about 7% up from the same pe-riod last year.

President Aquino recognized that the strong peso has been hurting the families who depend on remittances from their rela-tives abroad since their money translate to fewer pesos. He not-ed, too, that exporters have been complaining since peso apprecia-tions make their goods and ser-vices more expensive.

Global issueHe explained, however, that

this is a global issue. “Ang prob-lema ho pandaigdigan eh. Nag-umpisa ho sa America at hanggang hindi nila maiayos ang ekonomiya nila - dollar lahat naka-peg ang mga currencies eh - talagang mayroon hong mga volatility ho iyan.(The problem of a weak US dollar, where foreign currencies are pegged, is global. It is largely due to America’s grim economy. There will be volatility until they shape up).”

“Yung kaya nating gawin para sa atin, ginagawa na po natin ngay-on. Pero intindihin po natin, hindi problema ng Pilipinas lang ito, problema ng pandaigdigan. (What-ever we can do, we are already doing. But please understand that this problem is not exclu-sive to the Philippines),” he ex-plained further.

The peso’s sharp rise has prompted the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to liberalize cur-rency purchases. With Philip-pine residents now able to buy foreign currencies up to $60,000 per transaction—from the pre-vious ceiling of $30,000—the BSP hopes more buying of the weak US dollar would temper the peso appreciation. (abs-cbn-NEWS.com) n

Documents

Planet Philippines Calgary Edition November 2010 Issue