...the bee season

13-year-old Fil-Am wins regional spelling bee in Guam

 

HAIDEE EUGENIO

March 12, 2012

 

 

SAN JOSE, Saipan – A 13-year-old Filipino-American student from the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) won the 40th Annual Scripps Regional Spelling Bee in Guam.

Marcy Ann Ermitanio, an eighth grader from Chacha Oceanview Junior High School in the CNMI’s capital of Saipan, will represent the region in the national competition in Washington, D.C. on May 30.

“I am just honored and excited…I want to thank my parents for supporting me,” said Ermitanio, the second of five children of Alma and Frank, both from the Philippines.

Marcy Ann said her motivation to persevere was the thought of traveling to the US capital.

“Just to think of the trip to Washington, D.C. makes me excited. It was my motivation to do well,” she said.

Correctly spelling the word “Ichabod” sealed her victory over 73 other top spellers from public and private schools in the CNMI, Guam, Palau and Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.

She spelled a total of 16 words correctly to advance to the national competition.

Vince Dela Cruz, principal of the school where Ermitanio attends, said the school administration, teachers and staff were very proud of Ermitanio for winning this year’s spelling bee.

The Top 10 spellers during the March 3 competition held at the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort included two other Filipino-American students from the CNMI.

Ermitanio is the fifth winner of the regional spelling bee from the CNMI since 2006.

In 2010, another Filipino-American student, Mikhail Alcantara of William S. Reyes Elementary School, won the regional title. - VVP, GMA News

...the underdog Asian cuisine

Maharlika's Pinoy brunch, sisig get raves in New York

 

By Don Tagala,

ABS-CBN North America News Bureau

 03/12/2012

 

 

Filipino dishes served with style at Maharlika: Filipino Moderno / Courtesy of MaharlikaNYC

NEW YORK - "Maharlika: Filipino Moderno" was first known as a pop-up restaurant that opened in Manhattan last year.

Now, it is becoming known as a modern Filipino restaurant introducing Filipino-style brunch to Americans.

"We’re happy that people are embracing brunch. It’s such an American concept and we’re happy that we can put a Filipino kiss on it," said Nicole Ponseca, co-owner of Maharlika.

Instead of Eggs Benedict, Maharlika serves Eggs Benigno, named after the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. The restaurant also offers Eggs Florentine that has been named Eggs Imelda (poached eggs on pan de sal with taro leaves, coconut milk and prawns).

A favorite among brunch-lovers is the "silog" meals such as tocilog and longsilong.

Maharlika's executive chef is Miguel Trinidad, who is originally from the Dominican Republic. He traveled around the Philippines to learn how to cook authentic Filipino dishes.

"We backpacked from Ilocos Norte all the way down to Palawan. It was an amazing experience. The people were beautiful. The island is gorgeous, we couldn’t have been here where we are today if it wasn’t for that experience," Trinidad said.

Because of Maharlika, sizzling sisig has now become a part of New York's international food scene. On its menu, sisig was described as "pig ears, snout, cheek, belly (cooked 3 times—boiled, grilled, sautéed), with sibuyas, garlic, lemon."

Sizzling sisig was named "Best New Food" of Time Out New York, a leading food and entertainment guide in New York.

Maharlika was also named "Best New Restaurant" of Metromix, a well-known entertainment and dining guide in the U.S.

Even the New York Times said Filipino cuisine, an "underdog in Asian cuisine", is now slowly becoming mainstream like Thai and Chinese restaurants.

"I didn’t think we’re gonna be here within a year, but I am so happy that we are," Ponseca said.

Maharlika is also becoming known for its mixed drinks, which are named after famous Filipinos. "Pacquiao's Punch" was named Best Cocktail Drink of America in 2011.

There are also light mixed drinks named after Lea Salonga, Hilda Coronel, Sharon Cuneta and Weng Weng.
When heartthrob Sam Milby visited Maharlika recently, the restaurant's resident drink mixologist Enzo Lim made a special mojito drink named "Sam Milby Swizzle."

The "Sam Milby Swizzle" which features Tanduay Rhum is said to be the next hit drink at Maharlika.
"Wow, I taste good," Milby said.

Filipino dishes served with style at Maharlika: Filipino Moderno / Courtesy of MaharlikaNYC

"We’re gonna put it on a reserve menu. It’s gonna be on a menu of drinks that are gonna be I guess little more difficult to get, a little higher price because of the ingredients. This one as long as we have Tanduay, we can make it," Lim said.

Maharlika was also featured on the popular NBC travel show "1st Look". Host Ali Fedotowsky, also known as 2010's The Bachelorette, recently visited the restaurant to do a feature on it.

Fedotowsky even interviewed Milby about his auditions in New York. The special feature on Maharlika and Milby will be seen on "1st Look" in the U.S. on April 14.

...the life of the Rockstar

Docu on Arnel Pineda to premiere in Tribeca

ABS-CBNnews.com

03/11/2012

Journey frontman Arnel Pineda in a scene from the documentary “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey”

MANILA, Philippines – A documentary on how life has changed for Filipino singer Arnel Pineda after he was chosen to become the current frontman of the rock band Journey will have its premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

“Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey” by filmmaker Ramona Diaz was selected as one of the 12 documentaries to be screened at the film festival’s “Spotlight” section.

The 11th Tribeca Film Festival will take place from April 18 to 29 in lower Manhattan in New York.

“It sounds like a dream: A charismatic Filipino singer from the slums of Manila posts videos of his cover band to YouTube, and soon he’s fronting an iconic rock band. Sounds crazy, but it’s the real-life rock-and-roll fairy tale that Arnel Pineda is living as the new lead singer of Journey. The pressure’s on Pineda as this rockin’ doc follows Journey’s dizzying world tour—can a man who has already overcome so many obstacles deal with the demands of his newfound fame?” the Tribeca Film Festival said on its website.

Diaz also directed the 2003 documentary “Imelda,” about the former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos.

“It’s quite an honor to be selected for such a high-profile slot at the festival for the world premiere of ‘Everyman’s Journey.’ Tribeca has been wonderful in its support of the film. They let us know pretty early that we were in. I think the first cut they saw was very long, but they saw the potential immediately,” the Baltimore-based Diaz said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which was published on its website on Saturday.

“It’s Tribeca, it’s New York, it’s Robert de Niro! You can’t get a larger market than that,” she said, adding that Pineda and the rest of Journey are “very excited” about the news.

Diaz received a grant last year from the Tribeca Film Institute Documentary Fund to do the film on Pineda.

“I think this film will resonate with a lot of people because it shows the power of believing, of perseverance, of finding the strength inside to keep on moving against all odds. It shows the resilience of the human spirit,” Diaz told the Inquirer.

---

...the Fearless Women

Pinay sex strike leader named one of world's 150 fearless women

March 11, 2012

GMA News

Hasna Kandatu, the Filipina who led a sex strike last year to quell fighting in Mindanao, was named as one of Newsweek magazine's 150 most fearless women of the world.

According to Newsweek's partner The Daily Beast, these women started revolutions, opened schools, and fostered a "brave new generation."

Kandatu, a seamstress from Maguindanao, was the only Filipina on the list that included United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, singers Adele and Lady Gaga, and actresses Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie.

On its "Women of the World" special feature, the Daily Beast noted that "daily unrest in the Philippine island of Mindanao, ongoing since the early 1970s, has made business life impossible in the small village of Dano [Dado], the women couldn't sell goods at the market for fear of violence, and the main road between the towns had been closed."

"But in late 2011, Hasna Kandatu and Ainon Kamanza, two members of the United Nations-sponsored collective in the tiny town, decided to employ an ancient tactic to stop a separatist rebellion in their region: they witheld sex from their husbands until they promised to quit fighting," it said.

The sex strike strategy worked. "It took only days for sectarian struggles to quell, and the main road to be reopened," it noted.

According to a report on GMA News TV’s “State of the Nation" and “Saksi" in September last year, women in the village of Dado, Maguindanao resorted to a “sex strike" to put an end to the “rido" or clan feuds in their locality.

“Sige, punta ka diyan. Ikaw bahala, hindi ka makakauwi sa bahay, hindi kita tatanggapin," said Kandatu, who led the sex strike.

The report noted that within days after the women first dangled the threat of a “sex strike" or “tigil pagtatalik," peace started to prevail in the village.

The farm-to-market road was reopened, ending the village’s dependence on rations.

Lengs Kupong, husband of Kandatu, said if the “rido" continues, couples may end up separating.

“Basta makagawa ka ng masama… ganito, maghihiwalay," he said in the report.

Even though the Koran states a woman’s responsibility to a man, Imam Alim Basher said there was nothing wrong with the women’s strike.

“[Walang masama sa ginawa nila] kasi talagang… they were asking for maganda, kabuhayan na tahimik at yun din ang hinahanap ng Islam," said Basher, Chairman of the Imam Council of the Philippines.

The idea of a “sex strike" was first raised in "Lysistrata," a play written by Aristophanes, performed in classical Athens in 411 BC.

Lysistrata is comedy about a woman's mission to end The Peloponnesian War by persuading Greek women to withhold sex from their husbands and lovers until they can agree to enforce peace. — VVP, GMA News

...the PH BPO attraction

Top US bank sets up BPO in the Philippines

Wells Fargo in Taguig to create 120K jobs this year

By Daxim L. Lucas, Philip C. Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Sunday, March 11th, 2012

 

 

Despite moves by US President Barack Obama and the United States Congress to discourage outsourcing, one of the biggest US banks has decided to locate some of its non-core business support activities in the Philippines.

Wells Fargo & Co., the second largest US bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing and debit cards with $1.3 trillion in assets, is setting up a business support center in Manila as the country’s booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is projected to produce more than 120,000 new jobs this year.

Company officials did not disclose the value of the investment neither the number of BPO workers the operations would employ.

“We selected the Philippines to be part of Wells Fargo’s international footprint based on the country’s reputation for strong customer service, a large English-speaking population and a cultural affinity to the United States,” said David Caldwell, managing director of Wells Fargo Philippines Solutions, the local subsidiary of the US banking giant.

The new investment is also good news for property developer Megaworld Corp. on whose McKinley Hill Cyberpark project will rise a new building to serve the outsourcing needs of the US banking giant.

“Our location in McKinley Hill gives us a strong foothold as we are among our peers in the industry,” Caldwell said.

Wells Fargo joins other high-profile BPO locators at the 14-hectare McKinley Hill Cyberpark, including Accenture, HP and Thomson Reuters.

Wells Fargo Philippines Solutions already occupies two floors of buildings 8 and 10 Upper McKinley Road, and it will also lease a campus-type building currently being constructed in McKinley Hill Cyberpark.

PH reputation enhanced

The US bank’s launch of an in-house business support center here was welcomed by labor leader and former Sen. Ernesto Herrera, saying it has reinforced the Philippines’ reputation as “an exceptional global hub for labor-intensive and information technology-enabled outsourcing services.”

“We are counting on Wells Fargo’s new center to help provide gainful employment to our college-educated, fluent English-speaking professionals, many of whom remain idle,” said Herrera.

Variety of functions

He said Wells Fargo’s new Philippine center deals with a variety of functions, including customer service and back office support.

Herrera, who is locked in a struggle for leadership of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), said his labor group’s new members include VOICE, a labor federation of contact center employees.

According to Herrera, the country’s booming BPO industry, which fully employs some 630,000 Filipinos, produced $11 billion in revenues in 2011.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines sees industry revenues jumping 18 percent to $13 billion this year, he said.

Based on the projected incremental revenues of $2 billion, Herrera said the industry could create around 126,000 new jobs this year.

Worries over US bill

According to Herrera, Wells Fargo’s decision to shift more jobs offshore comes amid worries in the Philippines over an anti-outsourcing bill in the US Congress.

Herrera said the proposed US Call Center and Consumer Protection Act, introduced by New York Rep. Tim Bishop, would require the US Department of Labor to track firms that shift contact center jobs overseas. Those firms would be ineligible for any direct or indirect US federal loans or loan guarantees for five years.

Boost for cyberpark

The bill would also require contact center staff to disclose their location to US consumers, who would be given the right to be routed to a US-based call hub upon request, Herrera said.

However, Herrera said he does not expect the US Congress to pass the bill, which he said is being opposed by US corporations that are benefiting from outsourcing.

Megaworld said the entry of Wells Fargo was a big boost to the McKinley Hill Cyberpark, which is on a rapid expansion mode, with the ongoing construction of the four-tower Science Hub beside the Venice Piazza commercial and retail area.

As an IT park accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, McKinley Hill Cyberpark offers locators income tax holidays and other perks, including the duty-free importation of office equipment.

“We are proud that one of the United States’ top four banks, Wells Fargo, has chosen McKinley Hill Cyberpark to set up their new Philippine service center,” said Jericho Go, Megaworld’s first vice president for business development.

“This move highlights the attractiveness of the Philippines as an investment destination and its human resource capabilities,” Go said.

One of US Big 4

Founded in 1929, the San Francisco, California-based Wells Fargo is one of the so-called Big 4 US banks regarded as “too big to fail” at the height of the 2008 global financial crisis. The three others are Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan.

JP Morgan and Citigroup have long existing in-house back offices in Manila through JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. Philippine Customer Care Center and Citigroup Business Process Solutions Pte. Ltd.

Bigger franchise

Although Bank of America does not yet have in-house back offices here, Herrera said the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender is known to have outsourced some of its customer support activities to an independent BPO provider with extensive Philippine operations.

Wells Fargo is emerging from the 2008 financial crisis with a bigger franchise, after it acquired rival banking giant Wachovia Corp., which had been weakened by mounting bad loans, Herrera said.

A highly diversified financial services company with more than 80 different business lines, Wells Fargo has 6,335 branches, 12,094 ATMs, 70 million customers and 264,000 employees, he said.

...the Young Global Leader

Filipino student chosen Young Global Leader 2012

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Sunday, March 11th, 2012

 

 

 

CARANDANG. De La Salle grad

A Filipino scholar in the United Kingdom has been chosen the 2012 Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum.

A statement from the British Embassy in Manila said Benedict Carandang, 30, was one of the youngest selected for the prestigious honor from thousands of nominees across the world and joins the 191 other honorees of the YGL Class of 2012.

Carandang, a graduate of De La Salle University in Manila, is currently in the United Kingdom pursuing an MBA at the University of Westminster under the Chevening Scholarship Program of the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).


Creative industries

He was nominated for the Young Global Leaders scheme for his work promoting the creative industries in his home country.

The Young Global Leaders are selected by the World Economic Forum each year to recognize the world’s most distinguished leaders under the age of 40.

At just 24, Carandang co-founded Tuldok Animation Studios, a social enterprise that aims to promote creative talent in the Philippines through animation. Since then, he has become a champion of the country’s creative industries and has been recognized for his work through awards in 2008 from the British Council’s International Young Creative Entrepreneur for Screen scheme and in 2009 he was awarded the Most Inspiring Young Entrepreneur by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship. Most recently, he was the recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship awarded by the UK FCO which enabled him to pursue his postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom.

Of the Young Global Leader title, Carandang said, “I have a lot to thank the United Kingdom for opening my horizons about the positive impact of the creative economy, on how it can help effect change and perhaps even become a catalyst in my country by creating more jobs using the talent and entrepreneurship of my countrymen.”

Carandang is now hoping to use his knowledge from the Westminster MBA to continue his work to help support his social enterprise and as part of his commitment to help shape the global future with the Young Global Leaders community around the world.

The honor, bestowed each year by the forum, recognizes up to 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. Past YGLs include Maria Bartiromo, anchor and managing editor, Wall Street Journal Report, CNBC, USA; David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Esther Duflo, professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA; Larry Page, cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Google, USA; Zhang Xin, Chief Executive Officer, SOHO China, People’s Republic of China.

19 Southeast Asians

For 2012, the forum has selected 192 YGLs from 59 countries and all sectors of society, including business; civil society; social entrepreneurs; politics and government; arts and culture; and opinion and media. The new class originates from East Asia (38), South Asia (19), Europe (46), Middle East and North Africa (15), sub-Saharan Africa (18), North America (37) and Latin America (19).

...the economic freedom ranking (2)

PH improves in economic freedom ranking

 

By Shielo Mendoza

Yahoo! Southeast Asia

Fri, Mar 9, 2012

The Philippines improved eight notches higher this year in the world ranking of Economic Freedom of the Heritage Foundation.

The country now ranks 107th freest of the 179 economies surveyed in 2012 with a score of 57.1 compared to last year’s ranking of 115th and score of 56.2.

PH ranks 19th out of 41 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, surpassing other emerging economies such as Indonesia, India, China and Vietnam.

“The HF report is an affirmation of the bold, results-oriented reforms our administration has initiated and continues to pursue in the economy and its institutions,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a statement Thursday.

According to the report, despite the challenging economic environment, “the Philippine economy has been on a steady path of economic reform.”

It noted that the country’s business freedom improved considerably, with the "time and cost involved in dealing with licensing requirements have been notably reduced."

"The labor market remains structurally rigid but existing regulations are not particularly burdensome,” HF said.

The report added that the Philippine government has “pursued a series of legislative reforms to enhance the entrepreneurial environment and develop a stronger private sector to generate broader-based job growth.”

An inefficient judiciary, however, continues to be a deterrent, according to HF, as the country “remains susceptible to political interference” and “does not provide effective protection for property rights or strong and transparent enforcement of the law.”

Think tank Heritage Foundation seeks to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, and a strong national defense.