7/25/08
7/24/08
Project Runway Philippines
Come July 30 ETC will be airing Project Runway Philippines. Here's a teaser!
7/23/08
7/21/08
I'm back to work!
Been out of the office for a few days... lately I've been suffering from lower back pains, lack of sleep, and recurring headaches. My doctor said I have to take it easy and advised that I take a break from work.
Had my X-ray of the Lumbo Sacral Spine last Friday and will be back to the hospital to check the results tomorrow. Being at home was a welcome thing for me since I was able to spend more time with my family and do attend to domestic stuff. It's kinda boring though because I can't go out and have turned down invites from my friends to go out since I really need to rest and take it easy or else.
It's nice to be back but I might need to file a leave again depending on the result of the X-ray. My doctor said I might need to undergo PT for next couple of days. I guess I needed this as well. Lately I've been pushing back on my vacation because of work... until now.
Had my X-ray of the Lumbo Sacral Spine last Friday and will be back to the hospital to check the results tomorrow. Being at home was a welcome thing for me since I was able to spend more time with my family and do attend to domestic stuff. It's kinda boring though because I can't go out and have turned down invites from my friends to go out since I really need to rest and take it easy or else.
It's nice to be back but I might need to file a leave again depending on the result of the X-ray. My doctor said I might need to undergo PT for next couple of days. I guess I needed this as well. Lately I've been pushing back on my vacation because of work... until now.
7/20/08
Project Blackout
Make-up by: TINA BIVAR AND GERARD DADUYA
Hair by: THIRD OCTAVO
Face Art by: DEAN IBAY
Photography: STEVEN BARRETTO and ASH CASTRO
Model: AYAN DEATO
Hair by: THIRD OCTAVO
Face Art by: DEAN IBAY
Photography: STEVEN BARRETTO and ASH CASTRO
Model: AYAN DEATO
7/10/08
Php1 / Liter Oil Prices Rollback
MANILA, Philippines - After weeks of unabated oil price increases, major players Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell on Wednesday
announced that they are rolling back the prices of their gasoline. The P1-per-liter rollback will take effect Wednesday midnight.
Raffy Ledesma, media affairs officer of Petron, said the P1 per liter rollback will cover the company’s gasoline products such as Blaze, XCS
Plus, Xtra Unleaded and regular gasoline.
Gasoline prices are expected to stabilize to P60.98 per liter if other oil companies will impose the same price rollback.
Latest monitoring conducted by the Department of Energy indicated that unleaded gasoline is sold at P59.10 to P61.98 per liter, diesel at P53 to P54.97 and liquefied petroleum gas at P631.50 to P688 per 11-kilogram cylinder.
As this developed, the militant think tank IBON Foundation said billions of dollars in global profits belie the "under-recovery" complaints made by oil firms in the Philippines in justifying the increase in the prices of oil, which was done in an almost weekly basis since last month.
In a statement, IBON said the mother companies of these firms abroad - particularly Shell, Chevron and Petron - continue to report record billions in profits.
"At any rate, the Big Three oil firms are clearly still making billions of pesos in profits, and thus any claim of so-called under-recoveries does not mean that they are taking any losses," it said.
Royal Dutch Shell, the mother company of Pilipinas Shell, posted net income of $27.6 billion in 2007, making it the second most profitable company in the world next to oil giant Exxon Mobil.
During the same year, Pilipinas Shell recorded profits of P4.12 billion, IBON said.
On the other hand, Chevron, mother unit of Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex), reported a net income of $18.7 billion in 2007, 9% higher than in 2006 and enough to rank it the eighth most profitable company in the world.
Its local unit in the country reported P2.75 billion in profits in 2007, IBON said.
Petron, co-owned by government and by Saudi Aramco, recorded profits of P5.94 billion in 2007. Its net income has been progressively increasing in the last three years, posting P5.76 billion in 2006 and P3.42 billion in 2005.
"Aramco, unlike Shell and Chevron, is an unlisted company that is not obliged to report its financials, but its profits in 2007 are likely about $15 billion," IBON noted.
On the other hand, IBON said domestic profits do not even genuinely reflect the oil monopolies' overall profits because the transnational oil firms' local subsidiaries are merely booking their profits abroad "through the deceitful practice of transfer pricing to deflect criticisms of their massive windfall profits."
This overpricing has even been extremely bloated since last year by increasing speculation in world oil markets, it said.
"'Transfer pricing' however refers to oil firms' practice of further padding the price of oil they sell to their subsidiaries to shift recording of profits from subsidiaries to mother corporations. The net result of this transfer pricing is that the seemingly lower profits of the subsidiaries, because of higher costs of oil imports, are actually off-set by higher profits of the mother companies," it said.
Oil transnational firms are able to engage in transfer pricing because of their vast control of the different stages of oil production and distribution, IBON said.
In the Philippines, it said, around 90 percent of oil in the market passes through the Big Three, which use lower reported domestic profits to disguise the massive global profits they are making and to deflate public anger against them.
"Those mega-profits earned by exploiting unchecked monopoly control and covered up through unscrupulous practices, even as ordinary Filipinos reel from the harsh impact of escalating fuel prices, highlight the urgent need for government regulation and control over the local oil sector to help ensure transparency in pricing," IBON said. - GMANews.TV
announced that they are rolling back the prices of their gasoline. The P1-per-liter rollback will take effect Wednesday midnight.
Raffy Ledesma, media affairs officer of Petron, said the P1 per liter rollback will cover the company’s gasoline products such as Blaze, XCS
Plus, Xtra Unleaded and regular gasoline.
Gasoline prices are expected to stabilize to P60.98 per liter if other oil companies will impose the same price rollback.
Latest monitoring conducted by the Department of Energy indicated that unleaded gasoline is sold at P59.10 to P61.98 per liter, diesel at P53 to P54.97 and liquefied petroleum gas at P631.50 to P688 per 11-kilogram cylinder.
As this developed, the militant think tank IBON Foundation said billions of dollars in global profits belie the "under-recovery" complaints made by oil firms in the Philippines in justifying the increase in the prices of oil, which was done in an almost weekly basis since last month.
In a statement, IBON said the mother companies of these firms abroad - particularly Shell, Chevron and Petron - continue to report record billions in profits.
"At any rate, the Big Three oil firms are clearly still making billions of pesos in profits, and thus any claim of so-called under-recoveries does not mean that they are taking any losses," it said.
Royal Dutch Shell, the mother company of Pilipinas Shell, posted net income of $27.6 billion in 2007, making it the second most profitable company in the world next to oil giant Exxon Mobil.
During the same year, Pilipinas Shell recorded profits of P4.12 billion, IBON said.
On the other hand, Chevron, mother unit of Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex), reported a net income of $18.7 billion in 2007, 9% higher than in 2006 and enough to rank it the eighth most profitable company in the world.
Its local unit in the country reported P2.75 billion in profits in 2007, IBON said.
Petron, co-owned by government and by Saudi Aramco, recorded profits of P5.94 billion in 2007. Its net income has been progressively increasing in the last three years, posting P5.76 billion in 2006 and P3.42 billion in 2005.
"Aramco, unlike Shell and Chevron, is an unlisted company that is not obliged to report its financials, but its profits in 2007 are likely about $15 billion," IBON noted.
On the other hand, IBON said domestic profits do not even genuinely reflect the oil monopolies' overall profits because the transnational oil firms' local subsidiaries are merely booking their profits abroad "through the deceitful practice of transfer pricing to deflect criticisms of their massive windfall profits."
This overpricing has even been extremely bloated since last year by increasing speculation in world oil markets, it said.
"'Transfer pricing' however refers to oil firms' practice of further padding the price of oil they sell to their subsidiaries to shift recording of profits from subsidiaries to mother corporations. The net result of this transfer pricing is that the seemingly lower profits of the subsidiaries, because of higher costs of oil imports, are actually off-set by higher profits of the mother companies," it said.
Oil transnational firms are able to engage in transfer pricing because of their vast control of the different stages of oil production and distribution, IBON said.
In the Philippines, it said, around 90 percent of oil in the market passes through the Big Three, which use lower reported domestic profits to disguise the massive global profits they are making and to deflate public anger against them.
"Those mega-profits earned by exploiting unchecked monopoly control and covered up through unscrupulous practices, even as ordinary Filipinos reel from the harsh impact of escalating fuel prices, highlight the urgent need for government regulation and control over the local oil sector to help ensure transparency in pricing," IBON said. - GMANews.TV
7/9/08
Fuel prices affecting Manila Traffic
I don't know if it's just me but have you noticed how our traffic improved recently? I don't know if it's because of the fuel price increase that majority of Filipinos with cars opt to commute than use there cars to save money. I was on my way home after having coffee with my co-workers at Starbucks and I noticed that there are not too many vehicles on the road (that was around 1AM) along Buendia. Which is kinda odd because during that time traffic would be really bad. I also noticed more passengers are riding the LRT this afternoon going to the south from the north end of the station specially along the University Belt along Recto, Tayuman, and Quiapo. I heard there will be another increase on the jeepney, bus, and cab fare by Sunday! Sigh!
7/6/08
Quake hits Metro Manila and Rizal
MANILA,Philippines - A magnitude-5.4 earthquake was felt in parts of Metro Manila and Rizal rovince Sunday night, but state seismologists said no damage was reported.
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Renato Solidum Jr. cited initial information indicating the quake was tectonic in origin.
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Renato Solidum Jr. cited initial information indicating the quake was tectonic in origin.
"So far ang intensity, Intensity 3 sa Quezon City. Naramdaman sa Manila and Pasig-Cainta (So far the reports we got showed it was felt at Intensity 3 in Quezon City. It was also felt in Manila and in Pasig-Cainta area)," he told radio anchor Rowena Salvacion of dzBB.
He said they are still tracing the epicenter of the quake, which he said was recorded at 8:01 p.m. The United States Geological Service (USGS) said the quake measured at magnitude 5.4, and traced the epicenter 153 km north of San Pedro, Laguna. It said the epicenter was also 159 kilometers east of Cabanatuan City, or 176 km east-northeast of Manila.
- GMANews.TV link: http://www.gmanews.tv
7/5/08
Crossroads...
Alot has happened this week... not to me but to the people around me. My 3 of my co-workers left the company last Wednesday. Three of my closests friends in the company were given a severance package due to redundancy of work. There has been alot of changes in the company and the management had to make the difficult decision to let go of those who they think no longer fits the work requirement of the company. To be honest I didn't really feel sad for them, I actually felt happy for them since they have been under tremendous stress over the past few weeks after not being able to make the cut to the new program that the management wanted us to be a part of. I was lucky enough as well as the majority of the group to have passed the toll gates required for the new program. But am I happy? To be honest I wish I didn't pass the exams... I wish I was given the option to leave the company instead of them. Recently I've been thinking of my career and where my life is going. I've been thinking what my life would be elsewhere and if what I have now is something that I would want to keep on doing. I've been considering the possibility of working back in the Cruise industry... probably under the IT department or back to the Entertainment Department. Singapore, Dubai, and South Africa are my options but up to now I'm still thinking if I should leave the country or stay here and probably switch to a totally different career... something more fulfilling.
F.R.I.E.N.D.S. on the big screen?
The highly anticipated film production of TV series Friends has finally been given the go-ahead signal.Cast members Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay) and David Schwimmer (Ross Geller) will reprise their roles for a big-screen adaptation 'within the next 18 months', according to insiders.
The actors have been inspired by the recent success of Sex And The City, which recently hit cinemas worldwide.
This is one reunion that is awaited by the millions and millions of fans of
the series which had aired for 10 years and until now re-runs of the T.V. series are still being shown in various networks and this is just one proof that F.R.I.E.N.D.S. is one of the successful shows on history.
Source: r2designs.multiply.com
7/4/08
7/3/08
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