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Showing posts from February, 2014

CHOOSING THE GREEN PLATFORM OF LIFE

By Fr. Shay Cullen Life is full of choices, and we need to ask ourselves if the choices and decisions we make everyday are truly good, positive, ethical, and virtuous choices. If you were asked what makes you human, different from the rest of God's creatures, what would you say? Can you answer right away or are you now trying to list what makes us uniquely truly human persons different from the animals? If you don't have the answer right away, you may be short on a very human ability that can enhance and enrich your well being and happiness and that is self awareness and consciousness. This is one of the great attributes of being human; to be very mentally alert and conscious that you are alive and exist and that you are a person of great value. It seems to be elementary to state that fact but great unhappiness arises in people’s lives because they are unaware of themselves, their potential and their goodness. They think they are even bad, perhaps. They are confused, unaware, s

British envoy: Going to UK not too difficult

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By  VERONICA PULUMBARIT British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad on Wednesday said going to the United Kingdom is not really difficult and that roughly 90 percent of visa applications are approved. “What you probably don’t know is that Manila is one of our biggest hubs for issuing visas, not only for people in the Philippines but also the surrounding regions,” Ahmad said during his speech at a media reception at the British Ambassador’s Residence at Forbes Park, Makati. “It’s not difficult, it might be expensive for some of you but I tell you it’s cheaper than a handbag,” he added. To know more about the process of obtaining visas to the UK, Ahmad urged the public to take part in the Great British Festival at Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig from March 7 to 9. The festival is the culmination of a five-month celebration of British culture, food, trade, and fashion. Ahmad said there will be information booths during the Great British Festival

2 Pinoys among 12 dead in Qatar restaurant gas explosion

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(Updated 6:00 a.m., Feb. 28)  DOHA - Twelve people including two Filipinos and two children were killed on Thursday when a gas tank exploded at a Turkish restaurant in the Qatari capital Doha, authorities in the Gulf Arab state reported. About 30 others, including two Filipinos, were injured in the blast at the Istanbul Restaurant that one security source said was accidental. Qatar officials have also ruled out terrorism in the blast, radio dzBB's Qatar stringer Manny Flores reported early Friday.   The report cited information from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office indicating one of the fatalities was a worker in a grocery store.   Both Filipino fatalities' bodies remained at a morgue as of Friday, the report said.   The two wounded are in the intensive care unit of Hamad Hospital,  the report added.   On the other hand, the report also said one of the wounded asked Philippine officials not to notify relatives at home as the Philippine national'

200 Filipinos detained but freed in Malaysia crackdown

By   Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 3:11 pm | Thursday, February 27th, 2014   3   6   0 Malaysia Work Permit Need Malaysia work permit?Employment pass, Dependent pass... www.malaysiaworkpermit.com Ads by Google KUALA LUMPUR — Some 200 Filipinos were “affected” by Malaysia’s crackdown on undocumented foreign workers here and were readily released through the representation made by the Philippine Embassy, the Philippine ambassador here said. Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Eduardo Malaya said the Filipinos were among the “manageable” 8,000 to 10,000 Philippine citizens that Malaysian authorities had tagged as over-stayers, most of whom have returned home through voluntary repatriation since June 2013. “There have been only about 200 Filipinos who have been affected by the crackdown… launched earlier this year,” said Malaya in an interview with reporters at the Philippine Embassy here. The envoy said the Filipinos, mostly workers in the retail and a

Remittance money spent on wants not needs?

By   Matikas Santos INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines – Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) send millions of dollars in remittances back to their families in the Philippines, but is the money being spent on wants instead of needs? “I personally have heard horror stories from Filipinos that are overseas,” Eduardo Cobangbang, Philippines, Japan and Korea cluster manager for business development of Xpress Money Services, said in an interview with INQUIRER.net. “[The] money that they kept sending back [to their families], thinking it was being used for their intentions, was not even fully utilized for that purpose,” he said. According to records of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), more than $21.4 billion were remitted in 2012. Remittances have grown steadily since 2010 with $18.7 billion and 2011 with $20.1 billion, BSP record shows. The more than 10 million OFWs worldwide are also steadily growing in number, with 1.8 million deployed in 2012, 1.6 million in 2011 and 1

The future of libel

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BY   DEAN TONY LA VIÑA POSTED ON 02/27/2014 9:34 AM  | UPDATED 02/27/2014 9:42 AM 5 Comments 116 0 LinkedIn 0 Pinterest 141 Share In  Disini vs. the Secretary of Justice et al . the Supreme Court, speaking through Associate Justice Roberto Abad, finally came out with a decision upholding the on-line libel provision of the Cybercrime Law thereby rejecting the contention of petitioners that the means adopted by the cybercrime law for regulating undesirable cyberspace activities violate certain of their constitutional rights. After extolling the benefits afforded by the internet to the public, the High Court warned that it could also be used by the ill-motivated to harm others. In the words of the ponencia, “the cyberspace is a boon to the need of the current generation for greater information and facility of communication. But all is not well with the system since it coul