This is from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Cool news story on what Jollibee is doing to help education in the country. I’ve always admired Jollibee as a company, and this is one other reason to admire them even more.
Serving a Real Need
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:48:00 05/21/2008
MANILA, Philippines–Local firms whine all the time about the difficulty of finding graduates with the skills needed to make their businesses grow.
Human resource experts say that most of the new entrants to the labor force either know too much of what companies …

Nostalgia Manila
URL: http://nostalgiamanila.blogspot.com/
Nostalgia comes from two greek words: nostos (returning home) and algos (pain). So that nostalgia is the pain a person feels when he wants to return to his home. Nostalgia is being homesick.
In an age where the world was huge and leaving your native land on a boat to travel elsewhere means never coming back to see it again, then nostalgia makes real sense.
But in our present age where the world is increasingly becoming smaller and smaller due to modern technology, nostalgia is about remembering with some …

Carlos Celdran’s Tours
URL: http://celdrantours.blogspot.com

Carlos Celdran is someone who is trying to change the way people see Manila, one step at a time. And he does this via his tour-slash-history lesson-slash-play-slash-production number. I joined his Intramuros Tour two weeks ago with my officemates and I had done his Binondo Tour awhile back. And I found both tours to be very good.
Just as the tour is not your typical “on your right is the Church of San Agustin run by the Agustinians, etc. etc.”, Celdran is not your typical tour guide. …

Got the chance to join Carlos Celdran’s Intramuros Tour last Friday. It was a great experience. And it made me think about a lot of things afterwards. I will be talking about the tour itself on Monday, in AngPeregrino Recommends. Right now though are random (and not so random) thoughts about our way of looking at ourselves as Filipinos, about our national soul, and on our cultural identity crisis.

Conrado de Quiros once told a story about Jose Rizal who boarded a boat bound for the south. While on the upper deck of the boat, where the well-off passengers were, he met a Spaniard. The Spaniard was amazed that he spoke Spanish very well. Rizal replied that he had studied and lived in Madrid and Barcelona for some time. The Spaniard was impressed.

Jim Paredes in an article last April 27, talked about how Filipinos can wow the world.
This may be a beginning. Several months ago, the Papaya Craze of Edu Manzano’s game show Pilipinas, Game Ka Na Ba?! (which is roughly translated into Philippines, Are You Game?!) caught the eye of people the world over. ABC’s Good Morning America hosts danced to it. Some Polish guys have posted their own YouTube video of the dance. Even Ambassador Kristie Kenney has caught the fever.
I think a good recipe for success here is a …

For my non-Filipino readers, just a short backgrounder: On the Binibining Pilipinas competition (this is the beauty pageant that chooses the Philippine representatives to the Miss Universe and Miss World tournament) several months ago, Miss Janina San Miguel (who will represent us for the Ms. World competition) got castigated for her apparently-stupid answer and “Carabao English”.
She has been called many names: YouTube Queen (her video has gotten 2.3 Million hits!), and Melanie Marquez Jr. (Melanie Marquez is another Filipino beauty queen known for her legendary and spontaneous English) among others. …

“Society for the Filipino is a small rowboat: the barangay. Geography for the Filipino is a small locality: the barrio. History for the Filipino is a small vague saying: matanda pa kay mahoma; noong peacetime. Enterprise for the Filipino is a small stall: the sari-sari. Industry and production for the Filipino are the small immediate searchings of each day: isang kahig, isang tuka. And commerce for the Filipino is the smallest degree of retail: the tingi.”

This is from yesterday’s Philippine Star that caught my attention. A cool article about a mining province in the Philippines that actually gives gold medals made of real gold (priced at roughly $275 each).
Now why didn’t my alma mater think of that?! hehehe

In Diwalwal, Graduation Medals Are Made of Real GoldEdith Regalado
It’s another gold medal for Robec June Calunia, 12, valedictorian of the Mt. Diwata Elementary School at the gold-rush site in Mt. Diwalwal, Monkayo, Compostela Valley.
But it’s not just any ordinary gold medal; it’s one made of real …

This weekend (Saturday evening in Las Vegas, Sunday am here in the Philippines), our very own Manny Pacquiao will go to war against “the last Mexican standing” Juan Manuel Marquez.
I will be watching the fight live in a movie house. I first got to watch a Manny Pacquiao fight inside a movie theater when Manny fought Marco Antonio Barrera. Since then, I’ve vowed to watch it inside the movie house. Aside from it being live, watching it on the big screen with Dolby Digital or SDDS technology just makes …

I am reprinting Fr. James Reuter’s article on Philip Pestano. While a lot of things are happening to our country on the macro-level, there are little things like these which could just fall through the cracks and remain unnoticed unless talked about in the media.
PESTANO PHILIP A-Serial Number 93145 is Class 1993, Born Jan 1, 1972.
Let us pray for his family and pray that Justice will prevail.
WE HAVE NEWS THAT THE CASE WILL FINALLY BE RE-OPENED BY THE OMBUDSMAN.
PLEASE FWD TO EVERY FREEDOM LOVING PINOY IN YOUR LIST!
“Be who …