ITR Filing

Today, April 15, is the last day of filing of your Income Tax Returns for 2007. Make sure you file it accordingly. There are designated official filing booths at various SM malls. If you don’t have any tax dues to pay, you can file it there.

Goodluck on beating the deadline!

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Another long weekend!

Yey! It will be another long weekend for all of us here in the Philippines.

Monday, April 7, has been declared as a regular non-working holiday in lieu of April 9 which is the exact date of Araw ng Kagitingan.

So the whole family is off to Baguio today until Monday night. See you on Tuesday everyone!

Happy (long) weekend! Have fun!

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Former President Corazon Aquino diagnosed with colon cancer

This is a very sad news. One of the historical figures of our freedom from the hands of a dictator is diagnosed with cancer. Former President Corazon Aquino has been diagnosed with colon cancer, according to her daughter, local celebrity Kris Aquino.

Kris Aquino, fighting tears, read a statement on live television that said her mother had gone in for tests after suffering from high blood pressure and difficulty breathing during the Christmas and New Year holidays, then a persistent cough and weight loss.

“The result showed our mother is suffering from cancer of the colon,” she said.

*A report from CNN.com

Let us all pray that she gets well or that she does not suffer that much.

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Erratic Globe network signal

I don’t know if you are also experiencing this but Globe Telecoms’ network signal has been erratic for the past few days now. I thought at first that it might be my mobile phone unit. Hazel plays with my phone when I am not looking and she kinda messed it up. But when I asked my sisters and brother about it, they are also experiencing the same thing.

Smart Comm’s network signal here at home is poor. So everyone here at home is subscribed to Globe.

I wonder if there is something going on with them. Are you experiencing the same poor network coverage? Any ideas why?

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He looked like the Big Bully!

Have you watched the Senate hearing today? I was able to watch the portion wherein Senator Jinggoy Estrada was the one in-charge of asking Leo San Miguel and Dante Madriaga. I just noticed something with the way Jinggoy treated both men… he has a smirk the whole time and was quite the big bully!

Maybe he was thinking that ha! Now you know how it feels to be grilled the way we were grilled when my father and I were being charged with so many things!

If you watch the hearing, there is a big difference with the way the senators treat the witnesses. Senator Kiko Pangilinan, Senator Rodolfo Biazon and Senator Allan Cayetano knew how to treat the witnesses. No condemnation in the way they look at these people. Jinggoy on the other hand…

My post’s title says it all.

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Bb. Pilipinas winner: Should a beauty queen be a good English speaker?

Ruffa Gutierrez reacted to the winner of the Bb. Pilipinas beauty pageant for NOT being fluent in English. The lady had a hard time in her Q&A portion but still went on to win the title of Bb. Pilipinas-World, a title previously won by Ruffa herself.

Come to think of it, what is wrong if you only know how to speak your native language and nothing else? Does a beauty queen really have to speak the English language fluently?

Let’s just recall a bit here that Dayanara Torres has an interpreter when she won the Miss Universe title a couple of years ago. She spoke in Spanish the whole pageant.

So do you really need to be fluent in English for you to become a beauty queen? Is it a requirement?

This just shows how colonial mentality is affecting us Filipinos. Fluency in English does not necessarily mean you are speaking sensibly when you open your mouth. I can name a lot of people I met in the call center companies I have been with who speak really good English coupled with the American or British accent but with the brains of a child. English fluency does not translate to an intelligent person, people!

Ruffa is wrong in saying that it is embarrassing for a beauty queen to be unable to speak in English. Says who? There is no need to be self-righteous when it comes to English fluency and grammar. We should all be proud of our language. If a beauty queen cannot speak in straight English, then let her speak in Tagalog and get an interpreter! Other countries do that, why can’t we?

My point is this… why lambast a girl for that? Give the girl a break! At tayo namang mga Pilipino, kung di kinakailangang mag-Ingles o kung talagang di natin kaya, eh di mag-Tagalog na lang! Wag masyadong trying hard! Walang masama sa pagsasalita ng Tagalog.

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OFWs: Would rather be a TNT than go back home

Last night, I watched an episode of The Correspondents on Filipinos working in Macau. Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia. In this little city, you will find the best casino places in Asia. And in Macau, you can find thousands of Filipinos, legally and illegally, working hard to be able to send money to their families back in the Philippines.

Do you know their sorry state in that place? 15 people living in a house that is intended for 4-6 people. Employers promised a $1,500 salary but they only get $850 because of ‘absences’ that are actually rest days. A handful of them are staying there illegally, waiting for the big break - a job that will help them rise out of poverty.

What caught my attention in that episode is the complaints of fellow Filipinos that the Philippine representative in that place cannot even help them because the rep is claiming he doesn’t really know his role there. My goodness! Our government is really good for nothing! Even representatives sent abroad are incompetents!

A Filipina told Karen Davila (who did the special episode) that she’d rather stay in Macau illegally, working part-time, than go home and starve to death with her family. That’s how pitiful the country’s economy is! When citizens would rather stay in a foreign land and place their hopes there, than go home and trust the Philippine government will do something about their plight.

*For non-Filipinos, TNT means Tago-Nang-Tago, an illegal alien avoiding the immigration officials from deporting them.

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Global Warming

Weird what is happening around the globe these days. It’s summer here in the Philippines but we get rain showers every now and then. In some parts of the country, there are even floods right at this very moment. In a province (Calamba, Laguna), there is an outbreak of the typhoid fever. Hundreds of children were taken to hospitals in the area because if this. Unrelated to weather but who knows.

In the news last night, Germany is experiencing heavy winds and a Lufthansa plane experienced difficulty landing because of it. Several other Asian countries are experiencing weird weather as I type this post.

I must admit that when I really think about it, it scares the living daylights out of me. Is this global warming?

Are you also experiencing weird weather in your country? Are you aware of global warming and the steps being taken to help save the earth?

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The type of beggars that makes me angry!

If you are passing by an MMDA footbridge or an overpass or any other bridge here in Manila, you will surely notice a mother carrying an infant or a toddler, begging. Both are sporting a set of dirty clothes, most of the time the infant or toddler is naked. Both are dirty. They look like they haven’t taken a bath for quite some time already. In short, they really look like helpless people, it will break your heart seeing mother and child in such condition. They use this scenario to squeeze some change out of people passing by them.

I must admit that I am one of the many people who are being ‘duped’ by this set up. A mother and child begging for change so they could have something to eat… who will not feel like giving when you see this, right? I give money if I have some extra in my pocket or I give whatever food I have with me. But lately, I notice that some are taking advantage of other people’s kind hearts. A mother is using her kid to beg at the Sto. Domingo MMDA footbridge. You will see this mother always eating something while her kid is crying his heart out, probably out of hunger and cold. Whenever I see the child, it is always naked from waist down, and it is lying near the edge of a step. While the mother is busy eating or barking orders at some kids that I assume are her own as well. My dad reprimanded the mother several times already, asking her to go home and not exploit her child. Do you know that she would stand up, adamant, glaring at my dad, telling him to mind his own business? We reported her to the barangay officials already, telling them that maybe they can send the mother and child to the Social Welfare. I don’t know if they listened to us. But this afternoon, there is a new mom and child when we passed by the footbridge. This time, the mother looked like they just dirtied themselves so they would look like beggars. The mother looks fit to work. It just makes you angry at times to see this kind of mother. Exploiting a child, just to be able to have some quick and easy money.

There is another type of beggar that makes me angry… (more…)

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Whatever happened this afternoon?

The Peninsula Manila turned into a war zone.

*Source

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Accident?

Atty. Rene Sagisag and his wife were involved in a vehicular accident this morning. His wife died while Atty. Sagisag is critically wounded. I just learned of this news right now.

Am I the only one who thinks that this might not be an accident???

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