...the Billboard 's Next Big Sound toppers

Pinoy group SB19 enters Billboard' s Next Big Sound Chart

ABS-CBN News
20 November 2019

MANILA -- Pinoy pop group SB19 has earned a spot on a Billboard chart which lists musical acts for their fast-rising popularity.

On Wednesday, SB19 grabbed the sixth spot on Billboard's Next Big Sound chart, behind K-pop boy band A.C.E.

he Next Big Sound chart tracks "the fastest accelerating artists during the past week, across all major social music sites, statistically predicted to achieve future success," according to the Billboard website.

The chart is measured by Next Big Sound, an American company which provides analytics on online music.

Fans of the five-member group took to social media to celebrate the milestone, with the hashtag #SB19onBillboardNBS topping local Twitter trends on Wednesday morning.

Comprised of Sejun, Stell, Ken, Josh, and Justin, SB19 debuted in October 2018 with the song "Tilaluha."

The group achieved mainstream popularity after a video of the members' dance practice for their sophomore single, "Go Up," went viral on social media in September.

• The group, which is managed by a Korean entertainment company and whose members trained in South Korea, is noted for its synchronized dance performances.
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...the world's most diverse football team

Philippines taking multicultural dream on to global stage

FIFA.com
19 November 2019

There is not a national squad like that of the Philippines anywhere else on the planet. This statement can only be understood by delving a bit deeper into the team’s recent history.

In 2005, an anonymous video games fan got in touch with the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) to inform them that Phil and James Younghusband, two English brothers coming through Chelsea’s youth set-up, had a Philippine mother and were eligible to play for the Azkals.

In a region where basketball and boxing tend to take centre stage, it was essential for the PFF to find a way of boosting football’s profile and popularity. And that is where history plays a decisive role: throughout the last century, Filipinos were long associated with searching for opportunities far outside their borders. As a consequence, thousands of Filipino citizens and their descendants play in countries with a richer footballing history.

The Miracle of Hanoi

The idea of unearthing players in far-flung parts of the world began to take shape, but results did not initially follow. The PFF decided not to enter the qualifying campaigns for the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup™ tournaments, because, despite the significant economic and logistical efforts being made, the team’s level of play was still too low. In the end, the transformation of the Filipino national team was achieved through a focus on improving competitiveness, which would eventually bear fruit at major tournaments.

One of the most striking examples of tangible progress came at the AFF Championship, a competition which pits some of the best nations in south-east Asia against each other every two years. In 2010, Vietnam – hosts and defending champions – were drawn to play Philippines in the second match of the group stage – a daunting challenge for a side that had lost five and drawn one of their last six games.

However, an eye-catching performance by the Azkals led to what is now commonly known as the 'Miracle of Hanoi'. Goals from the English-born pair of Chris Greatwich and Phil Younghusband silenced the 40,000 home fans, in the new mixed-race generation’s first landmark victory.

From video games to social networks

Following that memorable success, a number of players with Filipino parentage expressed a desire to represent the national team.

Sometimes, it was the PFF that took the first step. “My mum is from the Philippines, and they contacted me to find out if I wanted to be part of the team,” forward Angel Guirado – born in Spain, and a Filipino international since 2011 – told FIFA.com.

On other occasions, word of mouth and the emergence of social networks provided the link. “I had a friend who played with Angel Guirado in Spain, and I’d heard the story,” explained Carli De Murga, who is another Spaniard with a Filipino mother, and who has also represented Philippines since 2011. “I contacted Angel through Facebook, and he put me in touch with the Federation. I sent them a video and they called me up straight away.”

Currently, the squad includes footballers born in 12 different countries: Germany, England and Spain make up the majority, but Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Scotland, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Japan and the United States also feature.

What is it actually like to be part of such a multicultural squad? “The atmosphere is brilliant,” said De Murga. “Personally speaking, playing in the same jersey as people with so many different cultures and customs has really helped me to mature. It broadens your horizons. And I love that everyone’s also quite alike, and that we all feel comfortable in each other’s company.”

Syria showdown key to World Cup dream

Playing in this diverse and familiar environment has started to pay dividends. In January the Filipinos competed in the AFC Asian Cup for the first time, and they currently find themselves in an advantageous position in the second round of Asian qualifying for Qatar 2022.

Philippines lie third in Group A, with the same number of points as China PR. A draw in their upcoming match with Syria would be enough to move them up into second spot (based on their record, the runners-up may qualify for the third round), at least until the next round of games in March.

“That would be amazing – a fantastic achievement!” said Guirado from the team’s camp in Dubai, where the match is due to take place. “In football, nothing is impossible. The result in our first game with Syria (a 5-2 defeat) did flatter them quite a bit.”

“It’s now or never,” said De Murga. “We have an historic opportunity. Syria have a lot of talent up front, but they sometimes leave themselves open at the back. We have to play as a unit, try to frustrate them, and do them damage any time we get a chance.”

Curiously, Phil Younghusband, the youngest of the two long-serving siblings, announced his retirement from football on Monday. He bids farewell to the game as Philippines’ most capped player (108 appearances) and their all-time top scorer (52 goals), and will likely look on with great excitement as the world’s most multicultural team attempt to pull off another impressive result on Tuesday.

...the Beauty Influencer of 2019

Bretman Rock won Beauty Influencer of 2019

Gabriela Baron
Manila Bulletin
11 November 2019

Filipino internet star Bretman "Da Baddest"Rock was named The Beauty Influencer of 2019 by the E! People's Choice Award (PCA).

The Hawaii-based vlogger dedicated the award to his dad who he said “supported and loved him unconditionally.”

“I love you so much and I will always be grateful for allowing me to express myself and defended me whenever haters said anything. This one is for you Papa. I hope I make you the proudest,” he shared on Instagram.

The online sensation also thanked those who voted for him.

“This means the absolute world to me. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I’m just lost for words,” he added.

Bretman Rock won against James Charles, Nikita Dragun, NikkiTutorials, Jeffree Star, RCL Beauty, Desi Perkins, and Jackie Aina.

...the Philippine Sports Champions

Philippines Rising: 3 World Champion in 1 month!

New Worlds| George Siy
Manila Times
10 November 2019

“For everything there is a season”, and it seems to be a winning season for the Philippines — three world championships within a month! And more exceptionally, they are in areas of excellence the Philippines has not achieved in the world arena before.

“Kuya Caloy” Yulo winner of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship, got his start from, perhaps, a doting grandfather who saw him playing at tumbling and brought him to the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines. In an unusual story in Philippine sports, and much to her credit, head of gymnastics Cynthia Carreon perceived Carlos’s exceptional talent and discipline, and worked to obtain special support for him, who started training five hours a day, 6 days a week, staying in Japan under Coach Kugimiya for three years before winning this championship. President Rodrigo Duterte, Manny Pangilinan, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso have given cash rewards and recognition to the young star who, at 19 and still below his peak, is already seeded No. 1 in gymnastics in the coming Olympics.

Wesley So was not so lucky… taught chess by his father, playing in localities, he became our national chess champion at 14, and ninth youngest grandmaster in history. Going through personal and family issues, he had to live through very lean times, and had to consider giving up chess. Eventually he was adopted by Filipina actress in the US, Lotis Key and her partner Kabigting, who supported Wesley in his career. Winning competition after competition, he won the US Championship in 2017, skyrocketed to No. 2 in the world, and began gunning for No. 1. Just this past October, he faced the world chess champ Magnus Carlsen “mano y mano,” in the Fischer Random World Chess Championship.

Random Chess, a variant that allows for the shuffling of the pieces in the onset, was promoted by Bobby Fischer whose goal was to eliminate what he considered the complete dominance of openings preparation (it is standard for the top players to have memorized the first 15 to 20 moves) in classical chess, replacing it with creativity and talent.

Raw talent. Wesley crushed Carlsen by four wins, 2 draws, no losses, for a total 13.5 to 2.5 score. Stunning was not only the turnaround of positions, it was a breathtaking display of talent, creativity, resilience — a true story of winning above tremendous starting odds.

It is sad that he had to play for another country, his talent was not sufficiently recognized and supported here. There are many others unrecognized in different fields of sports, sciences, arts, academe, etc.. It is an established and accepted practice to have a “sports nationality,” which athletes can choose, without giving up your original nationality, and this is accepted by the US and the International Olympic Committee and most countries. While we are proud of their wins, it also brings a sigh, and to some perhaps some tears that we have to let top athletes, scholars, and so many of our countrymen go elsewhere to have a better or even a decent life, or treatment.

Wesley has indicated the care he still has for the Philippines and the chess players here, although we rightfully should hear of the areas where improvements are needed in both amount and organization of support. We have to work to better the circumstances in our own country.

The problems are beyond money alone, as sports associations positions are often seen as rewards to give out, or posts to put friends or people owed to, out of major harm’s way politically, with some budget and power to play with. Appointees are often not knowledgeable about the sports or crafts, and cannot identify who are the true talents, and who are just early or late bloomers. Even when recognized, sports is replete with stories of athletes selected by the officials because of personal preferences, and politics rather than ability. Budgets often go to perks rather than training or competition. Private enterprises are now getting more active in support of sports, scholarships, etc… and partnerships are sorely needed. Both organizations and athletes may need to know better how to raise support and glamorize a sport to the public, but still retain the essence of excellence in sports.

Another world champion for the Philippines this month: Dr Calixto Chikiamco and Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) won the Atlas Network Templeton Award, one of the world’s top prizes in — in a field you would not normally think the Philippines to be a power in — think tanks’ advocacies. FEF is made up of the top economists in the country, the past, present, and perhaps future ones, and some friends. Romeo Bernardo, Virata, Climaco, Medalla, Karl Chua, Calixto, Olivar, etc… thinkers of different stripes, from different administrations, but all nationalists studying, pushing, hoping for the country.

This year’s winning project was for the successful liberalization, with the help of government, of restrictions on land patents, which will allow millions of farmers, owners around the country, to monetize, capitalize, utilize in different ways their lands, releasing billions of dollars worth of value for redeployment, increased investment, output, opportunities.

“What the Foundation for Economic Freedom has achieved in truly epic,” according to Dr. Tom G. Palmer, executive vice president of Atlas Network.

The new question is: Enablers are valuable, but the people still have to use newfound powers wisely… will they? People will need help. Our country needs so many moves planned and executed at the same time, continually, to catch up for our decades lost.

All three champions this month, and the people, organizations who supported them deserve our congratulations. We need to get down to how we can produce more champions in all fields. They are sources of inspiration for excellence for our people. We need more enhanced selection, support, and training happening, rather than the stories of the discouraging difficulties most have to go through to get even get decent support or treatment, or even just attention.

Is this season of triple triumphs just a moment in time, or are there better times to come? We wont say the “best is yet to come…” because that implies a decline after that peak. Senator Sonny Angara recently filed the bill for Philippine High School for Sports, which is now on the Senate floor. We not only look forward to, we should all work for “ever better years to come!” Better times are not a matter of luck or “weather” as the Filipino saying goes, “pana-panahon.” Let us plan, organize, work together and execute, not just critique!

...the Fil-Am 2nd NJ mayor

New Jersey borough elects 2nd Filipino American mayor

Don Tagala
ABS-CBN News | North America
07 November 2019

BERGENFIELD, New Jersey - Trump-style mudslinging from incumbent Republican Mayor Norman Schmelz did not stop Filipino-American candidate Arvin Amatorio from becoming the next mayor of Bergenfield, New Jersey on Tuesday's election.

Democratic council president Arvin Amatorio unseated Schmelz by at least 166 votes, making him the second Filipino-American to win as mayor of Bergenfield borough, home to more than 5,000 Filipinos.

"This is a great night for Bergenfield because of you... despite the malicious attack, despite the negativity that has been thrown to us we kept the fight positive," Amatorio told his supporters.

Just four days before the elections, Schmelz sent out a misleading press release using the words "alleges" and "guilty" in its title at the same time.

The said press release made it appear that Amatorio is guilty of violating a trafficking victims' protection act, when all there is was a motion to add his name in a lawsuit where he happened to be the immigration lawyer for the victim.

Another misleading accusation was that Amatorio allegedly did not attend a law school accredited by the American Bar Association, therefore he is not licensed to practice law in New Jersey.

"I’m very happy people did not believe those lies and it’s a vindication that all those things that were thrown against me are not true, people just didn’t believe that," he said.

Robert Rivas, who served as the first Filipino-American mayor of Bergenfield from 2000 to 2002, said he too was a victim of false accusations in his 2003 reelection bid. At that time, he was accused of favoring Filipinos and that he was going to bring Filipino police from the Philippines to patrol Bergenfield.

"We’ll have the good people remain in control not these racist, miserable, sad people who tried to win elections by tearing down the other side," Rivas said.

Another Filipino-American, Salvador Deauna, was also reelected councilman on Tuesday's elections with more than 3,000 votes.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy congratulated Amatorio for his victory through a post on Twitter.

Amatorio will begin his work as mayor in January.

...the Pinoy summa cum laude in Europe

Filipino scholar graduate s summa cum laude in Europe

Neil Arwin Mercado

Inquirer.net

14 October 2019

MANILA, Philippines — Not only did a Filipino scholar return from Europe with new learnings from a foreign land, he was also able to finished his degree summa cum laude.

While many would think that studying abroad, especially in Europe, comes at a hefty price, Kent Tangcalagan would tell you otherwise as he finished his degree as a beneficiary of a scholarship program.

Tangcalagan learned about the Erasmus+ scholarship program, formerly known as Erasmus Mundos, from one of the delegates at a conference he attended abroad.

“There was an Indonesian delegate there, she applied for Erasmus for two years already and she gave me the website,” Tangcalagan said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

“So when we went back to the Philippines, I asked my mentors, my advisors that I met from work—like advice, some of their recommendations regarding applying for studies abroad. I also asked people to write my recommendation letter,” he added.

The scholarship covers tuition fee, annual travel allowance, establishment allowance to help scholars in their adjustment period in a foreign land, and a monthly contribution cost which includes accommodation.

During the application, applicants are allowed to select three education programs. Should they be accepted in all three, they will have the option to select which program they would like to enter.

Tangcalagan was accepted under the Erasmus Joint Masters Degree in Comparative Local Development in May 2017, a two-year program where he would study in one university in a European Union (EU) country per semester.

In his first semester, he studied in Corvinus University of Budapest in Hungary, University of Regensberg in Germany in his second semester, and University of Trento in Italy for his third semester.

Filipino scholar Kent Tangcalagan presents one of his research outputs in one of his classes at the University of Regensberg in Germany during the second semester of his masters degree.

“When I got there, it was very different because all of my classmates came from different countries as well. We came from different countries so you have different nationalities, different cultures, different opinions,” Tangcalagan said.

“Since our program was on development sector, we got to talk about social, economic, and political issues in class. In my case I got shocked because there are very differing opinions on different things,” he added.

But instead of seeing the cons of being surrounded by varying perspectives, especially on the complex topic of his program which is development, Tangcalagan saw it as an opportunity to challenge his own views.

“There was a sense of ‘culture shock’ at first but when you go through it after a few months, you get used to it and you see how advantageous it is and how beneficial it is for you,” he said.

Living and studying abroad

Tangcalagan said that being a student in Europe is very convenient, but this also comes with living away from your family for some time.

“You are away from the traffic that we have here in Manila. The public transport is very convenient. It’s very cheap for students because as a student you get to have a transport card so you can travel easily in different cities,” Tangcalagan said.

“It is also fairly cheap to travel across countries because we have this student resident’s permit so it allows us to cross different borders, we get to visit other countries during breaks,” he added.

Tangcalagan (center, seated) travels with his classmates and the head of the scholarship program in Italy in the area of University of Trento in Italy.

As per the education system, he narrated that there are more than 15 professors per subject. The professors came from different areas in the world, which helped in providing different perspectives in the context of development.

“That’s also very beneficial because some of our professors come from different countries, even outside Europe so we get different perspectives on our subject matter which is development,” Tangcalagan said.

“You get to hear about development projects that they implemented in Africa, or in the US, or Latin America, also in Asia. You get to discuss different things with people who really implemented these projects so for me, it is one of the part of the European education that makes it very unique… That’s also another aspect of the diversity that Europe provides in terms of education,” he added.

More than education, an added bonus..

In his last semester, Tangcalagan did his internship at a research institution called Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Germany before working on his thesis and defense.

Every semester, they are shown their grades. So when he saw that he is getting excellent grades from his courses, Tangcalagan pushed himself to strive for something bigger—finishing his degree with flying colors.

Tangcalagan presents his thesis titled, “Natural Resources: The Curse to Wellbeing? A Comparative Perspective of the Local Resource Curse in the Context of Institutions and Inequality” to complete his masters degree.

“I was nervous for the thesis and defense since we are aiming for the best. All of my grades—I got all excellent. I have to maintain that with my thesis and defense so after I finished my thesis and defense and I also got five (highest in Hungarian education), I was really really happy since all my hard work, and the sacrifices of being away from the Philippines [paid off],” he said.

But for him, it was only an added bonus as his mere goal was to make the most out of his experience.

“My goal was to make the best out of the scholarship. AS a scholar, I feel I was very privileged and honored to be studying in Europe. I am not spending any money, it’s the European taxpayers’ money that I was using for my education so I felt like I have the responsibility to make the best out of the education and scholarship that I am getting,” he said.

“Also I wanted to make my family and friends back home proud and even my colleagues at work since I left the Philippines for this education so at least by the end of the program there is something—this is what I did,” he added.

Tangcalagan (third from right, seated) finishes his masters degree as summa cum laude.

His advice to those who want to have the similar experience as his and study abroad? “Forget about all your doubts, don’t be afraid to try.”

Scholarship program of the EU

Thelma Gecolea, the public affairs officer of the EU Delegation to the Philippines, said that Erasmus+ is the scholarship and mobility program of the EU and managed by the European Commission.

Under the program, masteral and doctorate students from third world countries such as the Philippines are offered the chance to study in two to three EU member states.

As of 2019, there had been over 400 Erasmus scholars from the Philippines, 66 of whom were accepted this year.

“The Philippines has been ranking first in Southeast Asia in terms of scholars’ intake for the past three to four years,” Gecolea told INQUIRER.net.

Information about higher education opportunities in the EU are discussed in gatherings such as the European Higher Education Fair (EHEF).

Gecolea said that during EHEF, representatives 48 universities from the EU will be in attendance to inform the public about the advantage of “learning in a borderless Europe.”

In this year’s EHEF, universities from Austria and Finland will be participating in the event.

The event will be held on October 28 at the Lyceum of the Philippines University – Cavite from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and at the Grand Atrium in Shangri-La Plaza on October 26 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“There are the advantages of immersing in the EU’s charming past and the cutting-edge technology of the future,” Gecolea said. /je