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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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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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Di Ako Papayag

You will never win if you never begin. Robert Schuller

I strongly oppose to a Constituent Assembly that may practically extend the terms of our dear President and her allies in power. (read more in my entry Oppose the Constituent Assembly)


If you want to join the “Di Ako Papayag”, then you might want to contribute to the 100 ‘DI AKO PAPAYAG’ videos. Please make your own video & email [email protected]

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Come Join and Play with Me at Sandbox

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. George Bernard Shaw

It’s a lazy sunday morning and as is my usual routine, I picked up the newspaper to go along with the steaming brewed coffee that my daughter bought from Guam. A paper ribbon with mysandbox.com printed on it is wrapped elegantly around the newspaper. Cute. Inside the lifestyle Section E of the Sunday Inquirer, a two page spread of Sandbox teaser campaign is displayed (see photo above). Finally… SMART Communications launched their latest endeavor, the Sandbox. I have been playing with their Sandbox before this launch. Like a children’s sandbox in a playground, it is both a toy and a tool for creativity, personal expression and interaction.

You know how it is…when children create castles, roads and bridges in the sand and play with their toy cars, dolls and blocks, they meet and interact with other children in a sandbox. That’s what I did when I registered as momblogger (Add me!) and hooked up with my other blogger-friends. I place so much faith in Sandbox not because it serves as the ultimate application for SMART mobile phones, but because it is a social networking site made by Filipinos for Filipinos. Like the real sandbox, I can imagine millions of Filipinos can enjoy and express themselves within the boundaries of this virtual playground. Theoretically, Sandbox sounds great!

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Cheche Lazaro, PROBE and The Wire-tapping Case filed by GSIS

I’ve known Cheche Lazaro through two live interviews (here and here). It is such an honor to be interviewed by her. I am aware that most TV hosts get their research materials from their assistants but in all those interviews, she personally wrote down notes about me before airing live. She verified all the materials given to her and didn’t just take her assistants’ word for it.

So when Ricky Lim (Associate Dean of AIM who I met in a Bloggers’ Roundtable) sent me an email about her sister, I was just appalled. Cheche has been charged for wiretapping by GSIS, when her Probe Team tried to do a story on unfair compensation practices. Cheche had explicitly told GSIS that she was recording their conversation beforehand. She had offered them all the airtime to present their side of the story. In the end, because the story was negative, GSIS is now charging her with criminal offenses.

Cheche is the only one facing the wiretapping case at the moment. ““They have made it a point to singularly point me out as the person who wiretapped the whole conversation that they alleged was wiretapping. That is not true,” she said.

““I think this is intimidation of the press. They are trying to send a message to the press and using me as a sample for this kind of a message.”

Cheche Lazaro’s Statement on the wire-tapping case filed by the GSIS against her
May 8, 2009

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