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Apl.de. Ap “Take Me to the Philippines”

It didn’t feel right being in Singapore, holed up in a fancy hotel, and eating gourmet dishes while my two girls and husband remained stranded in the second floor of our house. I couldn’t really concentrate on my media coverage of the Black Eyed Peas Concert yesterday because my mind revolved on the neck deep waters in the first floor. Our 3 cars are submerged in water. Our furniture, refrigerator and stove are also under water. Property damage alone is probably 3 million pesos if we include the cars. So that’s how my day has been today.

I went online to make sure my family got food, looked around for rubber boats. Media with me like Tim Yap did relief goods coordination in Eastwood but there was no boat to reach home. I begged around for small boats to reach our neighborhood and finally by 4:00 PM, there were helicopters for food drops and 37 rubber boats. My family finally got food by 4:30 PM. That lifted my spirits up because I felt that going to a party with Apl.de.Ap just didn’t seem right if I am not assured that my family is safe.

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Black Eyed Peas Concert in Singapore

I am right now in Singapore for the Philippine Department Tourism (DOT) “” Take Me to the Philippines Campaign ” , a Collaboration between DOT and Black Eyed Peas Filipino Member Apl.de.ap The rains were already strong at 5:00 AM on my way to the airport. Upon arriving in Singapore, I heard my home’s first floor had flood waters slowly creeping inside. I panicked.

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Secretary Ace Durano Fascinated by the dual LCD of the new Samsung ST550
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Lucky Me! Family Meal Ad

With the the recent passage of RA 9710, known as the Magna Carta of Women, the Women Media Circle initiated consultations and discussions with women media practitioners in order to draft proposals for the new law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). The focus dealt on the provisions in the law’s Chapter IV Section 16 ““Nondiscriminatory and Non-derogatory Portrayal of Women in Media and Film,” as well as other provisions relevant to media, arts and communication, that will have an impact on our practice and creative expression.

During our break, a media practitioner pointed out to the group the latest Lucky Me! TV ad below:

The ad shows the kid eating alone, pretending to smoke using the lumpia, then a caption “Studies show that the less often we eat with our children, the more likely they are to smoke, drink and use drugs when they grow up”. No source of the study cited. Towards the end of the ad, Sharon Cuneta invites everyone to go home early on September 28 so they can eat together with their families. We all agreed that the ad discriminates against the OFWs, the working parents and others who can’t make it early during dinner time.
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Covering Cory Aquino’s Wake

(Update : Read my entry on Cory’s Funeral Convoy from La Salle Greenhills to Manila Cathedral)

It’s my husband’s fault. He woke me up at 6:00 AM and said that if I wanted to attend the Cory Aquino’s memorial services, I should queue by 7:00 AM. I arrived at La Salle Greenhills before 7:00 AM and the long queue outside the gates looked frustrating. I took my chance and requested for media accreditation from the Secretariat at Gate 2. Armed with my Media ID card from Philippine Online Chronicles I got my yellow colored media ID card. So here I am live-blogging, and covering Cory Aquino’s wake in La Salle GreenHills. Taking photos inside the gym had certain guidelines and I wish to respect that. I couldn’t take much of the President Cory Aquino’s casket but I took snippets of the people and activities that transpired today.

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Cory T-shirts for sale by vendors at 120 pesos each

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The line before the public viewing opened at 7:00 AM
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Another Uniquely Singapore Event

Trying to break the language barrier at dinner, I asked the Chinese TV host if he had other adjectives to best describe our culinary experience at the Singapore Food Festival. Delicious, yummy, heavenly, mind-boggling, wonderful…I forgot his name now but he said he ran out of words himself but he managed to utter two words “Delicious” and “so special”. How else can I describe the food and the experience? (edit- I found his calling card. Silly me, his English name is Never and I even told him “I will NEVER forget your name is NEVER. Senior moment for me indeed)

Maybe this video compilation of photos will help?

Here is the Link to the Video Compilation
It’s my first time to cover an event of a country. Usually it’s either I blog about a product, service or even politicians and personalities but an event in a country? It was truly an experience! My trips to Singapore have always been limited to shopping at the digital mall , Hawker’s center or museums. In the course of my media familiarization tour, I found out that Singapore saw visitors spend more than S$1.4 billion on food and beverage, about 14 per cent of their total expenditure in 2007. On the average, around 20% of the Singapore Food Festival attendees are tourists. No wonder the Singapore Tourism Board needed to sustain that source of economic activity or even increase it further. A country needs to be run just like any profitable business enterprise. Media promotion is one way to champion tourism just like how Secretary Ace Durano invited Happy Slip to do videos for the Philippines Tourism global campaign.
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Getting to Know Senator Manny Villar

““A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” John C. Maxwell

Disclosure on Political Affiliations: I do not work for Senator Manny Villar or any other politician. I was only aware of his friendship with Senator Alan Cayetano through my husband when he told me a day before the interview. Ties with Senator Pia Cayetano and Senator Alan Cayetano date back even before they became senators. Former President Fidel V. Ramos is a family friend due to ties from my father-in-law. I used to be a student activist in my UP Diliman days. My political views range from conservative to liberal. I don’t have plans to run for public office. Meeting with politicians and writing about their programs is part of my current plans for this blog till 2010. Any endorsements (if any) will be made just a few weeks before Elections 2010.

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I have always been curious why Senator Manny Villar ranks high in most Presidentiable polls. There must be something he did that made him quite popular with the masses. My helper told me that he is known to help her “kababayan” way down south. Really? All I know about Manny Villar is that he is a successful real estate business man and associated with that C5 mess. Yesterday, I asked my husband what questions to ask Senator Manny Villar. Butch said “ask him about the corruption charges with regards to C5” and added “oh and they are good friends with Alan Cayetano”.
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Having the Time of My Life at 52

Two days ago, I turned 52 years old and the first thing I received at the stroke of midnight was a wet kiss on the cheeks from my husband. Wiping the wet imprint from my face, I could only smile and hug my husband back. Turning 52 means that I need to encode 52 under age settings during a treadmill workout at the gym but other than that, I feel great. I’ve never felt so wonderfully blessed. If you know the “Dancing Queen”, I live by the motto

You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen

I have been having the time of my life since I turned 50 and will continue to have the time of my life even beyond 52 years old.


Anyway, I could not blog the past two days because of technical issues.

My birthday started off with a brunch with my family before I headed off to Singapore for the Nokia Connection 2009 upon the invitation of Nokia Philippines. My dear husband was supposed to go along with me so we could meet up with his sister there after the Nokia event only to find out that they were coming over to the Philippines for a vacation. So it was just me who left for Singapore.

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Filipino Pride: Ilumina LCD iTV

““When you look outward you dream, and when you look inward you awaken” Brian Quebengco, founder of and ““chief inoventor” at Inovent Inc.

“Mom, let me look at the third eye at the back of your head”, one of my daughters used to dig into my hair whenever I berated her. See, I use to joke around with them that a third eye rests at the back of my head where it is possible for me to see everything they do behind my back. Of course, moms are just good at multitasking which is no secret at all. I even have this strange habit of lounging on the couch with my macbook, turning on the TV and working. Productivity hits me the highest when I am in this TV/laptop mode.

You can just imagine the excitement I felt as I watched the unveiling of the beta prototype of the Ilumina LCD iTV today, on Independence Day. This is something I want to own. More than the discovery of an innovative TV, I felt proud to be a Filipino as I talked to Brian Quebengco, the founder of and “chief inoventor” at Inovent Inc., creators of the Ilumina LCD Interactive Television (iTV).

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This interactive TV is exciting because it is invented (innovated) by Filipinos and is the world’s first fully integrated TV. Think of the possibility of the modern Filipino family whose loved one is an OFW who will be able to talk to her/his family right there in the living room. Talk about connecting families. That’s pretty much exciting, don’t you think? I won’t bore you with the technical details but if you care, I wrote about it in my Tech Gadgets blog over here.

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a mom blogger who advocates constructive engagement in issues on family & society.
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