Typhoon Ramil (Lupit) may have weakened on Thursday, but President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo just the same called on Filipinos to pray that the calamity-stricken Philippines be spared from further devastation.
MANILA (AFP) – – The Philippine military deployed boats and helicopters to the northern Philippines Monday, officials said, as Typhoon Lupit threatened more devastation after two storms claimed nearly 1,000 lives.
“We have been pre-positioning food and transportation assets in areas likely to be hit by the typhoon,” Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters.
The navy said it had sent 18 rubber boats, as well as trucks, amphibious vehicles and helicopters to areas of the nation’s main Luzon island, which is expected to start being lashed by Lupit from the middle of this week.
MANILA – Facebook users beware. Psychologists are now probing a new kind of addiction called Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD).
Psychologist Dr. Michael Fenichel, who has published numerous writings on FAD online, describes it as a situation in which Facebook usage “overtakes” daily activities like waking up, getting dressed, using the telephone, or checking e-mail.
“The amazing thing is that, like cellphones, nobody seems to notice the vast amount of time and energy – at work, at home, and now while on the move – people are devoting to Facebook. It has become a given,” Fenichel writes in an online post titled “Facebook Addiction Disorder- A New Challenge?”
MANILA, Philippines – The Taguig City government yesterday honored two policemen who killed one of at least seven heavily armed robbers at the Greenbelt 5 mall in Makati City Sunday.
Mayor Sigfrido Tiñga yesterday honored his two security escorts, Senior Police Officer 1 Cesar Tiglao and PO1 Efren Ceniza Jr. for their courage and presence of mind, and for risking their own lives on duty. He described them as role models of law enforcement.
MANILA, Philippines – The first of two of the largest high-energy food shipments from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) arrived in the country yesterday for victims of storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng.”
Stephen Anderson, WFP country director, said the first 100-metric-ton shipment of nutritious biscuits was loaded from Turkey and flown to the Philippines on TNT’s Boeing 747-400 extended range freighter for immediate distribution to various evacuation centers in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Anderson said another 100 tons of biscuits will arrive on Oct. 24, in a continuing effort to provide food assistance to flood victims.
SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga , Philippines – Still reeling from adversities caused by tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng,” thousands of Central Luzon residents, particularly those living near the Pampanga River, were told yesterday to brace anew for an approaching “super typhoon.”
“We have not even had the time to fully lift the alert in still flooded towns, particularly in the fourth district in Pampanga, now we have to tell them we are raising full alert again because of the approaching typhoon,” Filipina Sevilla, chief of the Pampanga Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), told The STAR.
MANILA – Apl.de.ap of Grammy Award-winning group the Black Eyed Peas led an all-night hip hop party at Skydome, SM North Edsa Thursday.
Filipino hip hop artists from here and abroad gathered at the Skydome for the benefit concert.
The Filipino American international singer organized the concert to help thousands of flood victims here. Tickets were sold for P150 each. The proceeds from the concert will go to the affected communities.
“That’s why it’s important for me to go back [here]… to help out. I donated money and also we bought a couple of boxes of food, canned goods and stuff like that,” apl.de.ap said.
