Piolo Pascual on Loving Yourself More

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Piolo Pascual and Marian Rivera at the Bluewater Day Spa Capitol Hills Branch Launch

Let’s have some showbiz break with Piolo Pascual. A few bloggers got invited to the BlueWater Day Spa Capitol Hills Opening. Going to the spa is one of my favorite ME time that I couldn’t miss the opportunity to check out another spa especially since it is near the girls’ university. Now it isn’t the first time for me to meet Piolo Pascual and Marian Rivera. I met them in another launch of Bluewater Day Spa last year.

Like I told you, I find Piolo so charming, er gorgeous looking guy to put it mildly. This time around, he looks even more gorgeous than ever. Kinilig talaga ako but I didn’t show my giddiness even if Piolo kept smiling away to everyone. Acting poised and collected, I boldly approached Piolo for an exclusive interview. Lucky me got to sneak in a 2 minute exclusive close-door interview with a few bloggers. Here is his video message to all of you my dear readers:
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It’s BB Gandanghari not Bebe Gandanghari

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Bloggers’ meet with BB Gandanghari is on Saturday, March 14 at Mag-net, Bonifacio High Street, at 3-5 PM. You can Sign Up Here



I am absolutely charmed by BB Gandanghari. “Call me BB” as she hugged me. I found out that it is spelled BB not Bebe. BB is actually derived from her own motto Be all that you can be or be all what you want to be and from her first name, Binibini. The Gandanghari came from a family name of a UST beauty queen which caught her attention and thought it was perfect for her. She is beautiful, much prettier in person than photos shown in newspaper and magazines. With just light powder on her face, lipstick and faint blue eyeshadow on her eyelids, BB looks like a sweet schoolgirl. “I want my skin to breathe”, she says. Simple , classy and bubbly. Her happiness shows in the glow of her face and the smile that escapes her lips. It must be her newfound peace that makes her look and feel beautiful.

Before Dine and I started our interview, BB was more interested in us and started to ask questions about our blogs. You can see the concern in her eyes as she asks about the circumstances on how my son died. It was like talking to an old friend. No awkwardness, no airs.


I took photos of BB as we continued to banter about her new life and before the video interview. How absolutely charming! She flashes a smile now and then, an aura of happiness surrounding her that I can feel the positive vibes. I see nothing pretentious about her. I was with her for over 6 hours. She is BB.
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Relaxing at a Spa Movie Theatre

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My ME time is always a relaxing day off from home and work. It’s the day I pamper myself and make myself feel good. Nurturing is about how we show love for ourselves. It can be a visit to the beauty salon, a foot spa, a home service massage or an indulgent visit to a spa treatment salon. I am not where I am today if I didn’t learn to nurture myself. I wouldn’t have a second wind in my marriage if I didn’t have a loving relationship with myself first.

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Bloggers’ Rights

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I told myself that I should take a break from blogging. Just when I thought the waters are calm, Mike Abundo reveals that a hearing on a proposal by the Philippines’ National Telecommunications Commission that will require licenses for online content developers will be held today. The public hearing is set at 2pm Thursay GMT+8 (meeting got cancelled) at the NTC Executive Conference Room, 3rd Floor, NTC Building, BIR Road, East Triangle, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

The proposal is called the GUIDELINES ON THE PROVISION OF CONTENTS, INFORMATION, APPLICATIONS, AND ELECTRONIC GAMES. Content definition is not quite clear but I hope that can get threshed out. Is the memo applicable to commercial sites? And are personal sites exempted from this definition? Imagine paying 6,000 pesos annually for licenses when people create and post content online. Just the same, I asked my husband to read the memorandum so I don’t miss any fine print.

(edit -updated at 7:00 PM: My husband’s opinion below and read this Business Mirror article that explains the memorandum. Thanks Scrufus for the link. )

The definition of Content Developer is too vague and broad although it would appear to regulate content provided ““for compensation”. It could be dangerous as it could be used to stifle the blogosphere…

Bloggers should question this measure.

It’s not the money, although 6k is a lot. It’s using government policy to control and regulate content online. It’s a freedom of expression issue. It infringes on the constitutional right of free speech and expression.

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Senator Mar Roxas and New Media

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new media

When Carlo Ople, the New Media Consultant of Senator Mar Roxas invited me for a bloggers’ meetup, I almost choked:

“Whaaat? I hope you won’t ask me to endorse him or something”.

My imagination started to run wild. The buzz is Senator Mar Roxas is likely to run for the 2010 Presidential Elections. I could see it clearly now. He sees the potential of bloggers and new media to promote his advocacies! I was really hesitant about the whole meeting idea because first of all, I don’t like politics. Second, I felt uncomfortable having to “chikka” with a senator. I sort of nodded “yes” to Carlo, unsure if this was my kind of thing. During the last senatorial election, I only blogged of Alan Cayetano, a family friend the day after the elections. I rarely discuss politics in this blog especially if there is no bearing to my blog’s theme.

So I raised the question in plurk to see if my plurk buddies had the same sentiments as mine, if a senator invites you for a meet-up would you go?

Surprisingly, majority said they’d take the opportunity depending on the senator. Of course, it hit me. This is new media content. I cover food events, press conferences and even the launch of a Governor’s blog so why not a senator’s request to meet bloggers? This is a perfect opportunity to meet a senator up close and know the person behind the senator. Definitely a first in the Philippine blogosphere.

This afternoon, I finally met Senator Mar Roxas. I sat across him so I could easily snap photos of the event. But due to the mirror behind him, he moved over to sit beside me. Great.

He saw my plurk name, momblogger on my macbook and asked, “Is that your name, momblogger?”

“It’s my plurk name. Do you plurk?”, I asked.

He laughed “Not yet. I use Twitter”. Not bad. The senator is very tech-savvy.

I couldn’t contain my plurk addiction so I wrote this momblogger is seated beside Senator Mar Roxas and he is asking if momblogger is my username since he noticed my plurk. and even showed him the replies to my plurk. He was surprised at the plurk greetings.

Bloggers from FilipinoVoices.com, Susan ““Toots” Ople,Lester Cavestany, Jester, Arbet Bernardo, Marck Rimorin, Juned Sunido, Sonnie Santos, Abe Olandres, Paolo Florenda, Ding Gagelonia, Gail Villanueva, Marc Villanueva, Ellen Tordesillas, Manolo Quezon, Ricky Carandang, Carlo Ople and myself introduced ourselves to the senator. He scribbled the names of each blogger on a sheet of paper and made sure he remembered each one of us. He even drew a seating layout with our names in it. A man of details. Very impressive, indeed!

The serious talks on VAT on oil started. He said that:

The 12% VAT on oil was imposed in 2005 when the world price of oil was only $30 per barrel and public deficit was at an all-time high. Today, the situation has revered itself. The price of oil has exceeded $100 a barrel and is still rising while our budget deficit has been tamed. In 2005, at the time government sought a higher VAT, the intention was clear: to put our fiscal house in order. Today, at a time when people’s incomes remain largely stagnant against soaring prices of food and oil, it is government’s turn to make the supreme sacrifice of leaving money in our people’s pockets. Stop collecting the oil VAT. This will immediately result in savings of P6 per liter of gas and P66 per LPG tank. Such savings will be felt more by the poor than the rich. These savings will also benefit the government since whatever we buy with it would be VAT-able anyway.

Listening to Senator Roxas, I am very impressed with the structure of his talk. He is highly organized and smart. I would not have known this if I didn’t attend this intimate gathering. The senator seemed unfazed even under difficult questions from political bloggers.

The question is: Do I really want to remove the VAT on oil? Where will the government gets its revenue? The move seems to favor the poor more than the rich but his Senate bill 1962 on a proposal for a 6-months suspension of the 12% VAT on oil has not moved at the Lower House.


(Photo from Carlo Ople)

A cute question raised by Marck was “Who would he want to meet among the three characters in The Dark Knight?” The senator’s answer is 2 Face and he wants to ask him “What happened to you?”. Nick wondered out loud in plurk “if he thinks two face is what happened to Neri..”

Since his committee is on Trade and Industry, I asked him about consumer protection when Internet Service Providers (ISP) don’t deliver.

His answer: Write him and he will coordinate with the Telcos. Wow. I will probably do that only if I exerted all means to fix the problem with my ISPs.

At the close of our chikahan, Senator Mar Roxas launched his new site called VirtualRally.net. This virtual rally site is his way of inviting the public – students, parents, private and public sector employees, and fellow Netizens – to look at issues, pick a side, and make a stand. The current virtual rally is all about protesting high fuel prices and government’s refusal to suspend the 12% VAT on oil despite the added pain it inflicts on people’s pockets.

He also launched his Mar Roxas Blog which he promises to update once a week.

What do you think of a senator tapping bloggers or new media to promote an advocacy?

More photos of Senator Mar Roxas and Bloggers

Other Bloggers’ entries

Blogger Meet up with Senator Mar Roxas

Up Close with Senator Mar Roxas

An Encounter With Mar Roxas

Mar Roxas Asks: What Do We Have To Show For P7-Trillion?

An Encounter with Mar Roxas

Sen. Mar Roxas blogs, for real

Marocharim Meets Mar Roxas

Virtual Rally vs VAT

Mar Roxas Asks: What Do We Have To Show For P7-Trillion?

Mar Roxas: Charter change to be defeated in a plebiscite

Danvil Plans Feature on PROBE

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Every now and then, readers email me requesting for such and such topic to be blogged. If I think it benefits the public, I usually blog about it. One simple email request came from Diane on May 25 .

If it’s not too much to ask, can you please link my entries regarding Danvil Plans to your website? I need enough noise to stop this from happening again to other people.

Of course, I had to do my own research on Danvil Plans (soon to be Legacy Consolidated Plans) first before blogging about it. I was appalled to discover that it was the same Family First who have been using this high-pressure and unethical practices for years. The problem with blogging about this topic is that I was not a victim of Danvil Plans . After reading entries upon entries from bloggers, I was convinced that this kind of high pressure tactics need to stop. Not only Danvil Plans but other “scams” as well.

I soon blogged about the Danvil Plans and other Scams with a mirror entry at my Multiply Account entitled Buyer Beware of Danvil Plans High Pressure Tactics.

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PR Companies and the Milk Formula Manufacturers (Part 2)

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This entry is a continuation of PR and New Media Publishing.

A few months ago, I got invited to watch the presentation of a scientific study that correlated DHA and ARA (components found in Breast Milk which Milk companies now add to their formula) to the increase of the IQ of a child to 7 points. I was quite puzzled by the presentation of Dennis Hoffman’s Recent Evidence that Dietary Supply of DHA and ARA in Early Infancy Leads to Possible Trends in IQ of 4-Year Olds. Though no milk company was mentioned or direct promotion of the infant formula, I noticed that a popular celebrity was around to host the event. An idiot can easily put two and two together and correlate it to that milk company. I felt sick to the stomach because I thought I was attending a parenting seminar.

No problem there because like I told you, if I don’t believe in the product or event, I am not compelled to blog about it. So I left it at that.

Three months later, I got a call from the PR company. I could have said NO from the start of the conversation. But I listened out of sheer curiosity. She admitted that she was being candid and was exploring the possibility for mom-bloggers to be an advocate.

Hm, an advocate? How?

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PR Companies and New Media Publishing (Part 1)

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2006 is the year I started my personal blog. What most of you don’t know is I’ve been blogging on web development, food and entertainment as far back as 2002. The year 2006 is significant to me because I got introduced to New Media Publishing. I know a few bloggers who raised their eyebrows, that bloggers should not be attending PR events or product launches because it is “unethical”. Let me just say that these bloggers are entitled to their own opinion and I’d like to leave it at that.

I have my reasons for venturing into new media publishing.

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JURIS Project: Promote Alternative Dispute Resolution in Philippine Court Cases

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When I received the invite for the Justice Reform Initiatives Support (JURIS) project press briefing, I raised my eyebrows upon seeing the venue was at the Mandarin Hotel. Hmm, so the Supreme Court has money to splurge on projects? That alone piqued my curiosity. I discovered that JURIS was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency at Cdn $6.5 million since it’s inception in 2003 where the implementing agencies are the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Alternative Law Groups, Inc, Office of the Court Administrator and the Philippines Judicial Academy.


Left to Right: Hector Soliman (Local Project Director), Brian W. Lennox (Executive Director, National Judicial Institute), Marlon Manuel (Alternative Law Groups Inc.), Eduardo D. De Los Angeles (Philippine Judicial Academy), Alfredo F. Tadiar (Philippine Judicial Academy), Imelda Tuazon (IBP Pampanga)

JURIS has three project components such as the Alternative Dispute Resolution , Judicial Education and Reform Advocacy Support. I won’t bore you with all the facts so just download and read more on the JURIS project and JURIS Fact Sheet.

What struck me on a personal level are two things:

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