Pinoy Meets World

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo reactivated yesterday the El Niño Task Force and ordered the release of P1.7 billion to fund emergency measures to mitigate the detrimental effects of the dry spell on the fisheries and agriculture sectors.

The effects of El Niño could result in as much as P20 billion in economic loss in the next six months, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Immediately after its reactivation, members of the task force, chaired by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, met at the Palace to come up with “a comprehensive and integrated action plan to address the coming El Niño phenomenon,” Secretary Conrado Limcaoco, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Press Secretary, told a news briefing.  Read more... (151 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)

MANILA, Philippines – They’re selling like hotcakes and Manny Pacquiao hasn’t placed his orders yet.

Tickets to the March 13 fight between the Filipino pound-for-pound champion and challenger Josh Clottey are out, and with still 50 days left before the big day, promoters might be forced to have a few thousands more printed.

According to ESPN.com, more than 20,000 tickets were sold in the first three hours of sales Saturday. Because of the size of the venue, tickets prices were slashed more than half of what they used to be for Pacquiao fights.  Read more... (226 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino troops detailed as peacekeepers in Haiti were trapped inside a collapsed building housing the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Port-au-Prince following a massive quake that devastated the Caribbean nation yesterday morning.

Other Filipino peacekeepers rushed to the scene to dig out their comrades and other UN workers from the ruins of the seven-story building, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Reporting to the DFA, the Philippine Mission in the United Nations said it could not determine at this point if there were any casualties among members of the Philippine military and police contingents.  Read more... (168 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Freddie Roach could meet a boxer for the first time, shake his hand, peer into his eyes, and see the future.

In Manny Pacquiao, the renowned trainer saw the makings of a world champion, a glittering gem from an uncut, unpolished stone.

But something else escaped Roach’s ring clairvoyance: A crowning beyond the alphabet titles nobody foresaw.

“I didn’t see this coming,” said Roach, recalling the first time he worked the mitts with the boxing icon early in 2001 at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles. “I never thought he’ll be this great.”  Read more... (267 words, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

It’s not impossible to mess with the machines that will be used in the automated elections, but the likelihood of hacking them is the same as winning the lotto five consecutive times.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials made the statement Tuesday following the hacking of five government websites since December 2009.

In an interview on dwIZ radio, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal assured that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines that will be used in the country’s first nationwide automated polls operate independently of each other and utilize 128-bit encryption —the same security strength used in banks around the world.  Read more... (210 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

A MODERATE QUAKE struck Central Luzon Tuesday night, shaking parts of Metro Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum said the quake registered a magnitude of 5.2 with the epicenter estimated at 30 km southeast of Olongapo.

Full Story: Inquirer

MANILA — A 19-year-old Saudi Arabian man dressed as a pilot was arrested Tuesday after he illegally entered a restricted area in the main airport in the Philippines, an airport official said.

“He was able to elude our security by misrepresenting himself as a pilot of Saudia,” said airport general manager Alfonso Cusi, referring to the Saudi Arabian flag carrier.

The incident at Manila airport comes after officials in the Philippines and around the world said they would boost security after the botched attempt to blow up a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day.  Read more... (204 words, estimated 49 secs reading time)