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Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Friday, March 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The Battle for Manila: Tragic February
Tragic February
The Battle for Manila which took place in the whole
month of February in 1945 was fought by the advancing
armed forces of the United States of America and the
defending Japanese Imperial forces toward the end of
World War II. That infamous battle killed one hundred
thousand (100,000) non-combatant civilians and
destroyed almost the whole of the city of Manila,
then considered the "Pearl of the Orient."
For many decades, that battle was referred to as the
Liberation of Manila but a few years ago, the National
Historical lnstitute officially changed that to the
"Battle for Manila." Although that was a historically
and politically correct decision, many Filipinos still
do not appreciate its importance, nor comprehend the
difference between "liberation" and "battle for (not of)".
Manila is fortunate to have a mayor who has a sense
of history and who respects history. Mayor Alfredo S.
Lim has assigned the Manila Historical and Heritage
Commission, headed by Mrs. Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil, to
organize the formal commemoration of the 63rd
Anniversary of the Battle for Manila. During the
meetings of the ad-hoc committee, it was evident that
the tragic February in 1945, after more than half a
century is still an extremely emotional and
controversial issue. Should the commemoration be a
memorial to a nation's profound bereavement or should
it be a festive accolade, an amnesiac embracing of
former foes in the spirit of globalization?
Let us forgive but never forget!
What we seem to have forgotten, or more precisely,
what we have systematically been made to forget is
another tragic February of more than a century ago. On
4 February 1899, the Philippine-American War broke out,
lasted for thirteen years during which a million
Filipinos died and the first republic in Asia was crushed.
It can be argued that both Februaries were
devastating to the life and future of the Filipino
nation. We lost lives in the most horrendous fashion
during the Battle for Manila and the
Philippine-American War , not only that, we also lost
heritage structures, public works painstakingly built,
entire towns and cities disfigured by hamletting
and "reconcentracion"; we also lost institutions, the
"brains of the nation", " la crema y nata" or the
best and the brightest.
Most painful is our memory loss, national
amnesia now chronic and in epidemic proportions.
Very few Filipinos do not even know what they should
remember of the two tragic Februaries. Let us
commemorate both.
Gemma Cruz Araneta gemma601@yahoo.com
The Battle for Manila which took place in the whole
month of February in 1945 was fought by the advancing
armed forces of the United States of America and the
defending Japanese Imperial forces toward the end of
World War II. That infamous battle killed one hundred
thousand (100,000) non-combatant civilians and
destroyed almost the whole of the city of Manila,
then considered the "Pearl of the Orient."
For many decades, that battle was referred to as the
Liberation of Manila but a few years ago, the National
Historical lnstitute officially changed that to the
"Battle for Manila." Although that was a historically
and politically correct decision, many Filipinos still
do not appreciate its importance, nor comprehend the
difference between "liberation" and "battle for (not of)".
Manila is fortunate to have a mayor who has a sense
of history and who respects history. Mayor Alfredo S.
Lim has assigned the Manila Historical and Heritage
Commission, headed by Mrs. Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil, to
organize the formal commemoration of the 63rd
Anniversary of the Battle for Manila. During the
meetings of the ad-hoc committee, it was evident that
the tragic February in 1945, after more than half a
century is still an extremely emotional and
controversial issue. Should the commemoration be a
memorial to a nation's profound bereavement or should
it be a festive accolade, an amnesiac embracing of
former foes in the spirit of globalization?
Let us forgive but never forget!
What we seem to have forgotten, or more precisely,
what we have systematically been made to forget is
another tragic February of more than a century ago. On
4 February 1899, the Philippine-American War broke out,
lasted for thirteen years during which a million
Filipinos died and the first republic in Asia was crushed.
It can be argued that both Februaries were
devastating to the life and future of the Filipino
nation. We lost lives in the most horrendous fashion
during the Battle for Manila and the
Philippine-American War , not only that, we also lost
heritage structures, public works painstakingly built,
entire towns and cities disfigured by hamletting
and "reconcentracion"; we also lost institutions, the
"brains of the nation", " la crema y nata" or the
best and the brightest.
Most painful is our memory loss, national
amnesia now chronic and in epidemic proportions.
Very few Filipinos do not even know what they should
remember of the two tragic Februaries. Let us
commemorate both.
Gemma Cruz Araneta gemma601@yahoo.com
Thursday, January 31, 2008
PHILIPPINE ECONOMY SOARS TO 7.4% GDP GROWTH
4th Quarter 2007
PHILIPPINE ECONOMY SOARS TO 7.4% GDP GROWTH 
Posted 31 January 2008
The seasonally adjusted GDP, now on its 27th quarter of positive growths, accelerated to 1.8 percent from 1.0 percent in the previous quarter. Likewise, the seasonally adjusted GNP, which has also been on positive territory since the second quarter of 2003, sped up to 1.4 percent from 0.9 percent in the third quarter.
On the production side, the sustained GDP growth in the fourth quarter was bolstered by the fast expanding Services sector whose growth of 9.0 percent from 8.4 percent in the same quarter last year is the highest since 1982. Likewise, Industry went up too at a higher pace of 5.8 percent from 3.6 percent the previous year, albeit slower than during the first three quarters, mainly because of the deceleration of Manufacturing. With favorable weather conditions during the quarter, Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry (AFF) also accelerated to 5.8 percent from its year ago rate of 1.7 percent.
The following were the contribution of the three major economic sectors to the GDP growth in the quarter: Services, with 4.4 percentage points; Industry, 1.8 percentage points and AFF contributing the least with 1.2 percentage points.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, AFF contracted by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter after three quarters of robust growths while Industry rebounded to a 0.5 percent expansion after suffering a 0.4 percent contraction last quarter. The positive growth was attributed to the strong growths of Construction, Mining and Quarrying, and Electricity, Gas and Water. Services sector came in strongest as it posted an all time record growth of 3.3 percent. The phenomenal growth was brought about by the brisk retail trading during the fourth quarter combined with the strong performances of Private Services and Finance.
The economy continued to keep pace with the population growth in the fourth quarter of 2007 as per capita GDP grew by 5.3 percent from 3.4 percent, per capita GNP by 4.4 percent from 4.0 percent, and per capita PCE by 4.2 percent from 3.8 percent.
NFIA in the fourth quarter declined however, by 3.0 percent from a 12.4 percent gain in the same quarter last year as compensation inflow declined anew by an even higher rate of 3.3 percent from only 0.2 percent in the third quarter. This was aggravated by the deceleration in Property Income from 32.0 percent last year to 18.9 percent, and the growth in Property Expense by 4.4 percent. The fourth quarter recorded the first quarter of negative growth of NFIA since the fourth quarter of 2002.
On the expenditure side, consumer spending grew by 6.3 percent from 5.8 percent a year ago. Food expenditure, which accounted for 56.1 percent of the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), grew by 6.6 percent from 6.8 percent in the previous year while Miscellaneous expenditures accelerated to 7.8 percent from 5.7 percent last year. Meanwhile, Transportation/Communication and Clothing & Footwear both turned in lower growths as they decelerated to 8.2 percent from 8.3 percent and 2.4 percent from 6.5 percent, respectively. The other sub-sectors that contributed to the growth of PCE were the following: Household Operations, up by 2.7 percent from 1.9 percent; Beverages grew by 4.7 percent from 6.6 percent; Fuel, Light & Water, up by 4.3 percent from 1.4 percent; and Household Furnishings, which recovered from a negative 2.5 percent growth last year to positive 5.0 percent this year.
Government Consumption Expenditure (GCE) accelerated to 10.8 percent from a growth of 9.9 percent last year with the disbursement of government funds for infrastructure project.
Investments in Fixed Capital Formation expanded by 10.3 percent from last year’s growth of 2.2 percent on account of vigorous investments in construction. Construction grew by 17.6 percent from 5.7 percent with the hike in national government’s capital expenditures and capital transfer to LGU’s resulting in the 33.4 percent growth in public construction from 39.6 percent in the previous year. On the other hand, investments in private construction rebounded to 7.4 percent from negative 8.7 percent in 2006. Meanwhile, Durable Equipment sustained a positive growth of 4.9 percent from negative 0.5 percent in the same period last year.
Reeling from the crisis faced by the US economy, total Merchandise Exports skidded to negative 3.7 percent from a growth of 2.2 percent in the same quarter last year.
The top five Merchandise Exports were: Finished Electrical Machinery, which bounced back to a 19.5 percent gain from a 14.0 percent decline; Crude Coconut Oil, which recovered from negative 39.7 percent to positive 9.6 percent; Semiconductors and Electric Microcircuits, which expanded to 1.7 percent from negative 4.3 percent; Canned Pineapple, which rebounded to 29.3 percent from negative 7.3 percent; and Prepared Tuna, which grew by 69.1 percent from 48.9 percent. Exports of Non-Factor Services, on the other hand, accelerated to 6.4 percent from 2.9 percent in the previous year.
Total Merchandise Imports, which has been on a downhill since the first quarter of the year, continued to shrink by 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter from last year’s 0.3 percent growth.
Only three subsectors contributed positively to the growth of Merchandise Imports: Cereals and Cereals Products, with a hefty growth of 96.4 percent from a measly 0.8 percent last year; Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, up anew by 7.6 percent from 11.1 percent; and Dairy Products, which accelerated to 10.8 percent from 9.9 percent. On the other hand, imports of non-factor services slowed down to 11.1 percent from 17.6 percent due to the lackluster performance of Miscellaneous Services, which contracted by 0.4 percent from a 17.4 percent gain last year.
The terms of trade during the quarter resulted in a Trade Index of 104.2 percent from 109.2 percent in the same period last year. Trading Gains for the quarter amounted to P6.1 billion.
GNP Implicit Price Index (IPIN) stood at 497.1 from 478.6 in the previous year or a 3.79 percent inflation from 2006.
ROMULO A. VIROLA
Secretary-General, NSCB
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Kultural Enrichment and Language Program - Los Angeles CA
Kultural Enrichment and Language Program - Los Angeles CA
http://www.esipa.org/programs
Kultural Enrichment & Language Program (KELP)
The Kultural Enrichment and Language Program (KELP) is a program
developed by Search To Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), is an
experiential learning program with an emphasis in Filipino language,
arts, and culture. The after-school program targets Filipino American
children in elementary grade levels 1-3.
The goal of the class is not only to teach the students Tagalog, but
also about the different facets of Philippine culture, art, history,
literature and geography. The program design follows the curriculum
standards adopted by the California State Board of Education for
elementary school levels.
The objective of the program is for the students to gain a deeper
awareness and understanding of their cultural heritage, thereby
strengthening their own identity as Filipino Americans. In addition,
their exposure to a culture other than the one they are entrenched in
will motivate them to learn more about the world around them and reach
their full potential as learners.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
Dates: Saturday, March 15 – Saturday, June 21, 2008
Location: Pacific Community Center, Glendale, CA
Address: 501 S. Pacific Ave. Glendale, CA 91204
Time: 9am – 12pm, Saturdays
Cost: $250 per child AND reduced rates for families with more than one
child attending
For more information, please contact: Farzana Nayani, Program Manager
fnayani@esipa.org or 213.382.1819 x 107
Salamat Po!
Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance (NWFASA)
Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance (NWFASA)
NWFASA Conference 2008:
April 4-6, 2008 Gonzaga University, Spokane WA
Information: http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~fasu/
Keynote speaker: Claire Oliveros
Claire Oliveros received her Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication
from Western Oregon University, a Masters of Science in Education from
Portland State University, and is completing her Ph.D. in Education at
Oregon State University. Claire is the coordinator of the
Multicultural Center at Portland Community College Sylvania Campus and
is active in the community. In 2005, Claire co-founded the Portland
Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines and helped establish the
Asian Pacific American (APA) Compass Radio Collective with 90.7 FM
KBOO Community Radio. Oliveros has also been recognized as one of the
top 100 influential Filipinas.
History of NWFASA
More than 10 years ago, students from local Washington universities
came up with the idea to create an alliance between all the Filipino
student organizations in Washington state.
After coming together to discuss the issues affecting the
Filipino/Filipino American community, they produced the first
Washington State Filipino American Student Alliance Conference, held
at Washington State University. The purpose of the Alliance was, and
continues to be, to build a strong network and community between the
organizations in order to pool resources and increase education and
awareness, and provide support to old and new upcoming organizations.
The Alliance brings together the various student groups on higher
education campuses across the state of Washington and Oregon. For the
past 14 years, NWFASA has put together a conference to gather Filipino
American students for a weekend of learning, leadership, networking,
and team-building. The conference continues to be annual, attended by
more than 400 students, and has been held throughout Oregon and
Washington. NWFASA's purpose is to build a strong network and
community between the organizations in order to pool resources,
increase education and awareness, and to provide support to current &
new organizations. NWFASA's goals are for the betterment of our
Filipino American community through education, student activism, and
involvement.
As the Alliance continues to grow in organizations, including several
in Oregon, it has been renamed the Northwest Filipino American Student
Alliance (NWFASA).
Current NWFASA members:
AnakBayan Seattle and UW
Central Washington University - FASA
Everett Community College - API STUDENT UNION
Gonzaga University - FASU
Oregon State University - ISANG BANSANG PILIPINO
Portland State University - KAIBIGAN
Portland Community College - SAMAHAN
Seattle Central Community College - PINOY NG CENTRAL
Seattle University - UNITED FILIPINO CLUB
University of Washington - FASA
Washington State University - FASA
Western Washington University - FASA
NaFFAA Youth Region 7 Seattle
The Beloved Brotherhood of Omega Phi Omega - KUYAS
NWFASA Conference 2008:
April 4-6, 2008 Gonzaga University, Spokane WA
Information: http://barney.gonzaga.edu/
Keynote speaker: Claire Oliveros
Claire Oliveros received her Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication
from Western Oregon University, a Masters of Science in Education from
Portland State University, and is completing her Ph.D. in Education at
Oregon State University. Claire is the coordinator of the
Multicultural Center at Portland Community College Sylvania Campus and
is active in the community. In 2005, Claire co-founded the Portland
Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines and helped establish the
Asian Pacific American (APA) Compass Radio Collective with 90.7 FM
KBOO Community Radio. Oliveros has also been recognized as one of the
top 100 influential Filipinas.
History of NWFASA
More than 10 years ago, students from local Washington universities
came up with the idea to create an alliance between all the Filipino
student organizations in Washington state.
After coming together to discuss the issues affecting the
Filipino/Filipino American community, they produced the first
Washington State Filipino American Student Alliance Conference, held
at Washington State University. The purpose of the Alliance was, and
continues to be, to build a strong network and community between the
organizations in order to pool resources and increase education and
awareness, and provide support to old and new upcoming organizations.
The Alliance brings together the various student groups on higher
education campuses across the state of Washington and Oregon. For the
past 14 years, NWFASA has put together a conference to gather Filipino
American students for a weekend of learning, leadership, networking,
and team-building. The conference continues to be annual, attended by
more than 400 students, and has been held throughout Oregon and
Washington. NWFASA's purpose is to build a strong network and
community between the organizations in order to pool resources,
increase education and awareness, and to provide support to current &
new organizations. NWFASA's goals are for the betterment of our
Filipino American community through education, student activism, and
involvement.
As the Alliance continues to grow in organizations, including several
in Oregon, it has been renamed the Northwest Filipino American Student
Alliance (NWFASA).
Current NWFASA members:
AnakBayan Seattle and UW
Central Washington University - FASA
Everett Community College - API STUDENT UNION
Gonzaga University - FASU
Oregon State University - ISANG BANSANG PILIPINO
Portland State University - KAIBIGAN
Portland Community College - SAMAHAN
Seattle Central Community College - PINOY NG CENTRAL
Seattle University - UNITED FILIPINO CLUB
University of Washington - FASA
Washington State University - FASA
Western Washington University - FASA
NaFFAA Youth Region 7 Seattle
The Beloved Brotherhood of Omega Phi Omega - KUYAS
Monday, January 21, 2008
Hello!
Welcome to the "Pinoy Pipeline" a network of sites, feed, bolgs, community.
Information Pipeline
for the
Global Filipino Community
A central location to submit site links,
content feeds (video, music, blogs, news, and more)
and have it aggregated to the global Filipino community.
Soon to Launch
Ben Greer
Benm.Greer@gmail.com
also see:
SuperPinoyTV.com
Bote-Dyayro.com
BenGreer.com
©2008 Ben Greer PhotoBen750
Information Pipeline
for the
Global Filipino Community
A central location to submit site links,
content feeds (video, music, blogs, news, and more)
and have it aggregated to the global Filipino community.
Soon to Launch
Ben Greer
Benm.Greer@gmail.com
also see:
SuperPinoyTV.com
Bote-Dyayro.com
BenGreer.com
©2008 Ben Greer PhotoBen750
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