Bonifacio Global City belongs to Makati

The Court of Appeals has declared that parts of Fort Bonifacio that includes the posh area of Bonifacio Global City are indeed part of Makati City.

The decision was released Tuesday, overturning the ruling made by the Pasig Regional Trial court in July 2011 that declared the disputed 729.15 hectares of land under Taguig jurisdiction.

"Contrary to the findings of the lower court as between pieces of evidence presented, Taguig was not able to prove this greater weight of evidence to merit a favorable decision," said the Court of Appeals in the 37-page decision.

Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, however, said the decision was wrong.

"The CA decision, with due respect, is erroneous," Cayetano said. "We will fight to make sure that the disputed land remains with Taguig," she added. "We are confident that we will ultimately win this fight."

It will be such a big loss to Taguig in terms of tax revenues if the BGC is taken away from the city's jurisdiction.

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Phil. Daily Inquirer uses fake TIME magazine cover

This is cringe-worthy.

That TIME magazine cover showing President Noynoy Aquino was fake. He was indeed in the list of the magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World but he wasn’t one of the chosen seven to get a cover.

The fake cover first appeared on Facebook, which the PDI (dubbed as the Yellow paper) picked up.

The 7 in the list that got their own special edition 2013 TIME 100 covers were artist and entrepreneur Jay Z; U.S. Senator Rand Paul; actress Jennifer Lawrence; film star and activist Aamir Khan; activist Malala Yousafzai; SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk; and tennis champion Li Na.

Check out the 7 covers here: http://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/cover-shots/slide/jay-z/

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Missing mountaineer in Mt. Maculot found dead

Victor Joel Ayson, the mountaineer who went up Mt. Maculot on Easter Sunday and went missing, has been found thirteen days after, on the day of his birthday on April 13, 2013.

Reports say he left his rucksack at the mountaineers’ stop-over owned by Mang Manuel on March 31 at around 2:30 AM. Then he was seen buying a bottle of mineral water in a store up the mountain around 9:00 AM the same day.

Biki, as he was fondly called by family and friends, had just been to a Mt. Guiting-Guiting climb with some of his friends over the Holy Week. They were heading back home on the eve of Easter Sunday, but he had other plans. From the Batangas port, he went to Cuenca, Batangas to do a solo hike of Mt. Maculot.

After going up, however, he never went down to claim his bag at the mountaineer’s stop over.

His girlfriend, family and friends got alarmed as Biki said he’d be back home by noontime Sunday. It could have been possible since a hike up to the Rockies of the said mountain only takes about an hour, and going down to the jump off usually takes less time.

Mang Manuel started receiving calls asking for Biki Monday night. And when the mountaineer still didn’t show up on Tuesday, search and rescue operations were started. Several mountaineering groups volunteered to help. A foreign climber even brought his group along with their gears to search the walls of the Rockies.

After days of unsuccessful operations, however, not even a single lead was found. The family of the lost eventually had to call off the search, but his friends resumed looking for him, hoping to find him alive since his birthday was coming near.

And true enough, on the date of his birth, Victor Joel Ayson showed up in an area at the foot of the Rockies, lifeless.

He was found by Mt. Maculot guides Ramon Puso, Christopher Puso, Eduardo Puso Jr, Richard Puso and Javier Mercado on Saturday morning. The group set off around 6 AM to that area at the foot of the Rockies because someone told them that part has not been searched yet. Upon reaching the area, they noticed a not so pleasant smell. That smell led them to the remains of Victor. They were able to report it around 11 AM that day.

Meanwhile, a hiker who was doing a cleanup climb with his group on Easter Sunday, posted a photo of a lone mountaineer who caught his attention. The person in the photo, believed to be Biki, was sitting at a very dangerous part of the Rockies, a part not frequented by mountaineers without ropes. In this case, the man in the photo doesn’t look like he’s protected.

Facebook uploader Ahrold Fampulme captioned the above photo with: “This photo was taken in mt. Maculot, in rockies to be exact. Kung makikita nyo e may isang lalaki na nasa larawaan kung saan talagang delikado ang pwesto nya. Sya e may kamera na dala duon kasi halos nung nakaakyat na kami a rockies e kita mo yung lalaki. I posted this pic kasi nga dun sa nawawalang lalaki sa mt.maculot na napapabalita.”

He then posted another photo with a better lighting, although the person in it was still not identifiable.

It was captioned with: “Eto mas malinaw na kuha, di ko sure kung sino tong lalaki na to, pero sana makatulong kahit papano sa mga naghahanap dun sa nawawalang lalaki. :) march 31,2013 sunday.”

Now here’s a photo of that portion of the Rockies I found in my memory card, taken last January. I put an arrow to where the man in Ahrold’s photos was sitting.

Meanwhile, Ahrold’s mention of the man in the photo having a camera leads one to believe it was Biki because he loved taking pictures as evident in his Facebook page. Even the silhouette of the head could very well be his, judging by his hairstyle in his recent pics.

And if the man in the photo was indeed Biki, those two taken by Ahrold could be his last pictures before he fell off.

Death is always a sad news, and one as tragic as this gives scare to those who share the same passion as the one that took the person’s life. But then I’m sure Biki is happy, as he spent his last hours doing what he loved best.

My heart goes out to his family and loved ones. And to Biki, happy birthday. May you rest in peace.

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Our New Pope is Argentinian

Class Suspension for August 8, 2012

It’s been raining non-stop in Luzon, particularly in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces. Quezon City is submerged in flood waters, as well as Valenzuela, Bulacan, and even the cities of Parañaque and Las Piñas.

This is Ondoy part 2, if you would ask me. I’m just a little luckier here in our side of Taguig that we are not touched by flood ever.

Classes have been suspended since Monday in most areas and for those curious which areas have No Classes for tomorrow, August 8 (Wednesday), here’s my list via announcements made by LGUs on Twitter and Facebook. And I am updating this post as new info becomes available.

Metro Manila:

• Caloocan City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Las Piñas City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Makati City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Malabon – all levels (public and private schools)
• Mandaluyong City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Manila City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Marikina City– all levels (public and private schools)
• Muntinlupa City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Navotas – all levels (public and private schools)
• Parañaque City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Pasay City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Pasig City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Pateros – all levels (public and private schools)
• Quezon City – all levels (public and private schools)
• San Juan City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Taguig City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Valenzuela – all levels (public and private schools)

Provinces:

• Angeles, Pampanga
• Antipolo City – all levels (public and private schools)
• Bataan – all levels (public and private schools)
• Batangas (province-wide) – all levels (public and private schools)
• Binangonan, Rizal – preschool to high school (public and private schools)
• Bulacan – all levels (public and private schools)
• Cabanatuan – all levels (public and private schools)
• Cainta, Rizal – all levels (public and private schools)
• Cavite (province-wide) – all levels (public and private schools)
• Laguna (province-wide) – all levels (public and private schools)
• Montalban, Rizal – all levels (public and private schools)
• Nueva Ecija – preschool to high school
• Olongapo City
• Pampanga – all levels (public and private schools)
• Pangasinan – all levels (public and private schools)
• Paombong, Bulacan
• Rizal – preschool to high school
• Rodriguez, Rizal – all levels (public and private schools)
• San Jose del Monte, Bulacan – all levels (public and private schools)
• San Mateo, Rizal – all levels (public and private)
• Tarlac – preschool to high school (public and private schools)
• Taytay, Rizal – all levels (public and private schools)

Schools:

• Adamson University
• Arellano University
• Ateneo De Manila University
• Ateneo Law School
• Centro Escolar University (all campuses)
• Chinese General Hospital Colleges
• Colegio de San Juan de Letran
• Colegio de Sta. Cecilia, Valenzuela (including office work)
• De La Salle University
• Don Bosco (Mandaluyong)
• Far Eastern University (all campuses)
• Fatima University
• Jose Rizal University
• Malayan Colleges, Laguna
• Manila Tytana University
• National College of Science & Technology, Cavite (including office work)
• Polytechnic University of the Philippines (Sta. Mesa, Manila; San Juan; Taguig campuses)
• Technological University of the Philippines
• Trinity University of Asia, Quezon City
• University of Perpetual Help (Las Piñas, Molino, Calamba)
• University of the Philippines Los Baños
• University of the Philippines Manila (including office work)
• St. Paul College, Pasig

7.1-Magnitude Earthquake Hit Japan's Northeastern Coast, July 10, 2011

A tsunami warning was again prompted for the Northeastern coastal part of Japan as a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit that part of the country on Sunday morning July 10, 2011, around 9:57 AM.

It was the same area devastated by tsunami last March 11 when an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the coastal area.

Residents were advised to evacuate as the 7.1-magnitude quake felt earlier could generate a tsunami.

They surely wouldn't want the March 11 tragedy to repeat itself.

13-Foot Tsunami Hits Japan's Northeastern Coast After a Magnitude 8.9 Earthquake

The northeastern cost of Japan was hit by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake Friday. The said earthquake triggered fire and unleashed a 13-foot tsunami that swept buildings, cars, boats, and lots of debris inland.

The video below (uploaded by ABC Action News about 41 minutes ago) shows boats and cars being swept away by a strong current of water.

Several injuries and the death of at least one person were reported in Tokyo, which is several kilometers away, where the buildings shook through the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and the massive aftershocks that followed.

Tsunami warnings are issued for Guam, Philippines, Marshall Islands, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Micronesia and Hawaii.

Meanwhile, the Philippines' National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has issued Alert Level 1 in Batanes , Cagayan, Isabela, Quezon, Albay, Sorsogon and some parts of Visayas. Phivolcs says that tsunami generated by quake in Japan will take 4 hrs to reach the Philippines. Tsunami may hit the country between 5-7 PM.

Fortunately, though, Phivolcs announced that the Philippines will not experience earthquake related to today's earthquake in Japan.

Let's all pray for the safety of our brothers in Japan, as well as for the safety of our country. There's nothing more powerful than prayers that will help us in times of disaster such as this.

Anderson Cooper and Team Assaulted in Egypt

The situation in Egypt is really sad. I pity the foreign reporters who have to brave going there to give the world updates of what's happening.

My fave CNN anchor gets the feel of how chaotic the situation is. He and his team were assaulted. They're so lucky to get out of there unscathed.

Video below.

So Mt. Banahaw is Not Totally Closed

View of Mt. Banahaw from Taytay Falls

And I thought Mt. Banahaw is closed!

Read this with the sad news of a massacre.

Then read the advisory regarding the closure:

Mount Banahaw still closed to Lenten pilgrims–DENR exec
By Delfin Mallari Jr.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 07:14:00 03/27/2010
Filed Under: Belief (Faith), Customs & Traditions, Religions, Environmental Issues

LUCENA CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has announced that the mystical Mt. Banahaw will remain closed to religious pilgrims and mountaineers this coming Holy Week.

“It [Mount Banahaw] has been abused for decades. Let’s allow the mountain to heal,” Nilo Tamoria, DENR Region 4-A [Calabarzon] executive director, said in a statement Friday.

To many, Mt. Banahaw is inhabited by heavenly spirits. Many believers trek its slopes in hopes of experiencing something divine, particularly during the Lenten season.

“While we recognize that Mount Banahaw is widely regarded as a sacred place, the supposedly holy, sacred mountain has not been accorded due respect and has not been spared from human exploitation,” Tamoria lamented.

In the summer of 2004, several days before the Holy Week, the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), sealed off with barbed wires several trails leading to certain areas in the bosom of Banahaw to start the five-year rehabilitation program that would resurrect the mountain's natural resources.

Aside from slash-and-burn farming that left scars on the mountain’s surface, modern pilgrims and urban-based nature trippers vandalized tis inherent beauty by littering the place with trash.

After the restriction period ended, the mountain has shown signs of restoring endemic lives as luxuriant wildlife fauna and flora species began to flourish again, including “rafflesia,” considered the world’s biggest flower.

The DENR also noted the return of cascading waters in several mountain falls and the re-growth of thick vegetation.

In March last year, the PAMB decided to seal off the mountain for three more years to sustain its rehabilitation.

Tamoria said park rangers and composite teams formed by the PAMB would ensure that entry points to Mount Banahaw would be closed and strictly monitored, particularly trails going to the “Cristalino Falls”, “Durungawan”, “Tatlong Tangke” to “Kinabuhayan”, popular spots in the mountain facing Dolores, Quezon.

He also said that entry points from Sariaya town, particularly in the villages of Bugon, Puesto ng Pagbuga, Dulong Ilaya, Concepcion Pinagbakuran and Banahaw would likewise be closed and monitored.
In Dec. 11, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed RA 9847, declaring Mt. Banahaw and adjacent Mt. San Cristobal as protected areas that would institutionalize and ensure the protection of both mountains.
Quezon Representative Proceso Alcala, who authored the law, said the measure featured a sustainable conservation and management system for the rich biodiversity found in the two mountains that would boost their eco-tourism potentials, the rich cultural and religious heritage found in its periphery.

Sally Pangan, DENR park superintendent for Mt. Banahaw, disclosed that they had been receiving reports that overzealous pilgrims and urban trekkers had been trying to reach the still unauthorized sites atop the mountain through various entry points in Dolores and Sariaya towns.

“Maybe, they [pilgrims and mountaineers] were just curious to see for themselves the glorious transformation of the mountain from its former despoiled condition. The changes are really awesome but the public still have to bear with us. This is not yet the time,” Pangan said.
Pangan said they would put up huge tarpaulins photos to show the impressive improvement of the mountain after its closure.

“We also want to show the public where the collected fund was being spent,” she said.

The government has been collecting P20 entrance fee for every mountain visitors for the past several years.

However, Pangan lamented that government warning signs and advisories in strategic areas of the mystical Mount Banahaw were being vandalized and stolen.

“We have to put up new signs again. Hopefully, it will last until the next Lenten season,” Pangan said.

Pangan suspected that irresponsible mountain trekkers and religious pilgrims were behind the lost and destruction of the DENR signs and advisories made of plywood and tarpaulins.

“Maybe they are protesting with the continuous closure of the mountain. But its continuous closure is for the benefit of Banahaw. The mountain needs some more time to fully heal the wounds caused by man’s irresponsibility’s in the past,” she explained.

She reminded the pilgrims and mountaineers that they could only go to as far as the lawfully open spots in Banahaw just like what they had been doing for the past six years.

With the devastating effects of El Niño, two recent incidents of forest fires razed an estimated 180 hectares of grassland and forest areas in Mt. San Cristobal.

The DENR will establish and install fire detection systems and look out towers to detect any tell-tale signs of forest fires, Pangan said.

Gay-Porn Star Dies

Andrew Grande, who was also known as Dustin Michaels in the gay-porn world, died from swallowing a bag of marijuana while being arrested by the police. He was tasered when he resisted, afterwhich he told the officers he couldn't breathe. Andrew Grande was pronounced dead at Bay Medical Center.

Details of the arrest was captured on video by Zoo Productions, who was at the scene when it happened.

Watch the footage below.


Read the rest of the story here.

Offensive Billboards

"Nakatikim ka na ba ng kinse anyos?" says the tagline of one of the billboards we see on the streets.

This particular billboard didn't go through the approval of the Advertising Standards Council, the body that screens advertising materials in the country. That, and a Lubricat ad featuring a sexy starlet, is such a sore eye to some that one father aired his complaint in one of the more popular AM radio show. His concern was not really the traffic hazard these billboards may cause, but of the impact it may have in the mind of his child.

Another billboard of concern was that of a Bench underwear ad featuring Jake Cuenca. But that isn't going away, because as the agency who made the ad says, it was approved by the council.

"Alam naman ng tao, alam ng kahit sino, kung papaano ginagamit ang brief, 'di ba?" says one election lawyer, pertaining to the Jake Cuenca billboard.

Ad Standards Council's job, though, is only to monitor these ads. They don't have the power to take down these billboards no matter how offensive they may be. DPWH, on the other hand, is in the process of making guidelines that will give ASC the power to take down offensive billboards that didn't go through their approval.

Video clip below.

Speed (Sex) Dating

I don't know about you but even if I'm "loveless," I wouldn't go as far as speed dating.

Desperate much?

Christmas Shopping, Anyone?

If you're going to Divisoria, you better beware!

Actually, I posted this because Alex Santos is so gwapo. LOL! No kidding.

Although I'm curious. When I was young, Citibank used the name "Alex Santos" for their credit cards, especially when they had this cc where you can opt for your pic to be put on the front. Is that the same Alex Santos as we have now on tv? Or they just used the name because it's a common one (like John Doe)?

Efren Peñaflorida is CNN Hero of the Year

Efren Peñaflorida has been named CNN Hero of the Year at the conclusion of the third "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" held at the Kodak Theater Saturday night. Efren, who started a "pushcart classroom" to bring education closer to the street children of the Philippines, was announced the winner by CNN's Anderson Cooper. He will receive $100,000 to help him continue the noble deed he has started. The ten heroes was selected after seven weeks of online voting at the CNN website. Each selected hero was given a documentary tribute and was introduced by a celebrity presenter. Above photo shows Efren with Eva Mendes. Aside from that each of them receives $25,000. The Top 10 CNN Heroes are Brad Blauser, Roy Foster, Doc Hendley, Andrea Ivory, Betty Makoni, Jorge Munoz, Efren Peñaflorida, Budi Soehardi, Derrick Tabb, and Jordan Thomas. Congratulations Efren! Continue being an angel many and I'm sure more good things will come. photo: cnn.com