In Kota Kinabalu: Filipino Bribed Malaysian Cop

(Tuesday, March 27) - A Filipino watch peddler who offered a RM5,000 bribe to a policeman as an incentive not to arrest him for having drugs, was jailed one year by the Sessions Court here Monday. Heropiri Harun, 53, pleaded guilty before Judge Ismail Brahim to trying to bribe Sub-Inspector Japri Bakul @ Henry at 11.50am on June 3, last year outside a house at Jalan Nountun in Inanam. He admitted offering the money to the policeman as an inducement to the latter to release him or not to arrest him for having two packets of syabu weighing 50.5gm... (The Daily Express, East Malaysia) ...full story here

In US: Filipino Nurses Still The Favorite Despite Scandal

(Tuesday, March 27) - Despite the controversies arising from the leakage-tainted June 2006 nursing licensure exam and the walkout of 10 nurses in New York in April last year, American recruiters still prefer to hire nurses from the Philippines for employment in medical and home care facilities in the United States.

In fact, some 450 licensed Filipino nurses are just awaiting the release of their work or immigrant visas for deployment to the US, according to Francis Luyun, chief executive officer of Sentosa Recruitment Agency.

The agency is the local counterpart of the New York-based SentosaCare that brought the 10 nurses who are facing charges of conspiracy and child endangerment for abandoning their work at the Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation Care Center in Smithtown that cares for physically disabled children. (GMA 7)

In New York: Save Filipino Nurses

(Tuesday, March 27) - Michael Defensor, a senatorial candidate of the administration’s Team Unity (TU) in the May 2007 mid-term elections, only has to admit that last year when he was still President Arroyo’s chief of staff, he told Labor officials to go easy on their investigation of accusations of mistreatment by Filipino nurses against a New York-based agency that had recruited them only for these nurses to later face criminal charges from their American employers... (The Daily Tribune) ...full story here

In New Mexico: Death March

(Tuesday, March 27) - About 1,800 New Mexicans were among thousands of American and Filipino soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese in April 1942 on Bataan Peninsula. They were marched for days in extreme heat with little food or water... (koat.com) ...full story here

Frankie On The Way To British Open

(Tuesday, March 27) - Filipino veteran Frankie Minoza bids for one of the top-four spots that will secure a British Open berth when he competes in Asia's international final qualifying event this week. The 47-year-old Minoza leads a 73-man field at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Tuesday and Wednesday with memories of the 1998 Open still fresh in his mind. (Yahoo News)

OFWs: Biggest Market Segment Today

(Tuesday, March 27) - The biggest and most lucrative market in the Philippines is not inside the country but abroad. It is the 10 million overseas Filipino workers deployed in over 40 countries... (The Manila Times) ...full story here

In Kuwait: Filipina Forced Into Prostitution

(Tuesday, March 27) - Police have rescued a Filipino maid who was allegedly kidnapped, held captive inside an apartment in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and forced into prostitution, reports Al-Rai daily. A police source said securitymen raided the apartment after receiving a complaint from a representative of the Philippines Embassy in Kuwait. Police are looking for the pimps who are said to have escaped from the apartment sensing the arrival of police. (Arab Times)

In Mindanao: Country's Number 1 Coffee Producer

(Tuesday, March 27) - The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) is taking aggressive moves to keep Mindanao as the country's top producer of coffee. nriqueto Natividad, DA cluster officer for Mindanao, said contrary to common beliefs that coffee is produced in Batangas, Cavite or Bulacan, Sultan Kudarat is the Philippines' largest coffee producer. He said Mindanao's annual coffee production is over 60 per cent of the country's total output... (Yahoo, Asia Pulse) ...full story here

In ARMM: U.S. Behind A Philippine Election?

(Tuesday, March 27) - A highly anticipated gubernatorial election in the southern Philippines' insurgency-prone Sulu province set for mid-May is being viewed as a rare democratic referendum on the US-led "war on terror" in Southeast Asia. The polls will pit US-linked incumbent Governor Ben Loong against a prominent rebel leader, Nur Misuari, founding chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), an insurgent group created in the early 1970s with the aim of establishing an independent ethnic Moro state from minority Muslim areas in the region... (Asian Times) ...full story here

In U.S.A.: A Gathering of Filipino Women

(Tuesday, March 27) - It was only fitting then that a group of Filipina women, some familiar with one another, some strangers, were brought together during a no-host lunch last March 17 in commemoration of ‘Women’s History Month.’ Linda Maria Nietes, owner of the 23-year-old Philippine Expressions Bookshop, a mail order bookshop “dedicated to Filipino Americans in search of their roots” in Rancho Palos Verdes organized the event...(Asian Journal) ...full story here

In Misamis: Law Student Murdered

(Tuesday, March 27) - Condemning the “senseless and barbaric" abduction-murder of a fourth year law student, Misamis Oriental governor Oscar Moreno and Cagayan de Oro City mayor Vicente Emano pushed for a full-blown investigation into the case. Sun-Star Cagayan de Oro reported Tuesday that Emano was deeply saddened by the killing of Xavier University (XU) College of Law fourth year student Tamtam Edpan. Edpan was found dead at a remote area in Barangay Sigayan, Taraka, Lanao del Sur last Saturday in what authorities believe was a carnapping case. (GMA 7)

Seamen Should Be Lectured Before Departure

(Tuesday, March 27) - A member of the House of Representatives has proposed that outgoing Filipino seamen be required to undergo a pre-departure orientation seminar on the perils of being involved in drug smuggling and other illegal activities at sea. Rep. Judy Syjuco of Iloilo said the increasing number of Filipino seafarers getting arrested and charged for cocaine possession or smuggling in the United States and other countries has become alarming. (GMA 7)

In Manila: 70,000 Vials of Oral Polio Vaccine Wasted

(Tuesday, March 27) - A Philippine health official was relieved from the post due to her inaction that resulted in the waste of 70,000 vials of oral polio vaccine (OPV) that were bought with a World Bank loan, local media reported on Tuesday. Carolina Herradura, director of the Department of Health's Procurement and Logistics Service, has been dismissed from service for failing to use more than the OPV worth 6.5 million pesos (some 135,420 U.S. dollars), the DZMM radio quoted Presidential Anti- Graft Commission chairwoman Constancia de Guzman as saying. (People's Daily Online (English), China)

Philippine Economy To Grow 5.4% in 2007

(Tuesday, March 27)- The Philippine economy is likely to grow 5.4 percent this year, lower than the government's forecast of 6.1 percent, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday, warning that modest growth was unlikely to reduce unemployment. The country's fiscal deficit has narrowed significantly due to a rise in the value-added tax rate, while robust remittances from millions of overseas workers, low interest rates and higher government expenditure will keep the economy on the growth track, the ADB said. (Yahoo Finance, AP)

In Spain: Being A True Filipino

(Tuesday, March 27) - Conchitina Sevilla-Bernardo, wife of our Philippine Ambassador to Spain Lani Bernardo, wrote a book entitled Being Truly Filipino: Expressions of an Identity, recounting her experiences as the wife of the Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain. The book embodies what being a Filipino truly is, even while Conchitina strikes a balance between the acceptable norms of the country they were in with that which is distinctly Filipino... (ABS-CBN) ...full story here

In U.S.A.: Jollibee To Open New Outlets

(Tuesday, March 27) - Philippine fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. is spending $2 million to open five stores in Las Vegas and California this year, a company official said. The Las Vegas outlet will open on April 22 and one in Vallejo in northern California will open later, Tommy King, Jollibee country head for the US, told the Inquirer. The other outlets will be in northern and southern California, King said. With the five additions, the Jollibee chain in the US to have a total of 16 outlets. (The Philippine Daily Inquirer)

ADB: Philippines Should Invest In Infrastructure

(Tuesday, March 27) - The fast-growing business process outsourcing sector has put the Philippines back on investors' radar screens, but the country can only achieve higher economic growth if it expands industries and starts investing in infrastructure, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday. "The Philippines has to learn how to walk on two legs," ADB economist Jesus Felipe told a briefing to release the bank's Asian Development Outlook 2007, referring to the need for the country to build a strong industrial base to support the economy...(www.nasdaq.com) ...full story here

In Manila: GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Helping Indigent Filipinos

(Tuesday, March 27) GlaxoSmithKline Foundation (Phils.), Inc. has strengthened its advocacy campaign on preventive health care among indigent members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) by producing a set of health education materials to the city and municipal health centers in Metro Manila. (Therapeutics Daily)

In Davao: Japanese Arrested

(Tuesday, March 27, update) - Joint operatives of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) have arrested an overstaying Japanese national who, for more than two years now, has been wanted in his own country for theft. BI regional alien control officer Benjamin Lao identified the suspect as Yoshimi Hori alias Tamaki, 58, with no known address in Japan.(balita.org)

In Thailand: Cooperation Against Terrorism

(Tuesday, March 27) - Thailand and the Philippines have agreed to intensify bilateral and regional efforts to counter separatism, extremism and terrorism, Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram said yesterday. Mr Nitya met his counterpart, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, at the fourth meeting of the Philippines-Thailand Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation... (The Bangkok Post) ... full story here

In L.A.: Best Teen Chef Pinoy

(Tuesday, March 27) - Prince Anthony Dela Cruz, a student of John Marshall High School in Los Angeles impressed the judges at The Art Institutes' Best Teen Chef 2007 Local Competition held Saturday at The Art Institute of California - Los Angeles... (Asian Journal) ...full story here

Island Acquisition

(Tuesday, March 27) - Asia Properties, Inc. (Pink Sheets:ASPZ) announced today it has targeted a major island acquisition in the Philippines islands. Asia Properties CEO, Daniel McKinney said, "I have been spending most of my time in the Philippines since early last year examining beach sites, retaining lawyers and conducting due diligence. We have now targeted several world-class island sites and have been negotiating with the current owners since mid 2006... (Prime NewsWire) ... full story here

In Italy: The Passion of Tomas Concepcion

(Tuesday, March 27) - On a frenzied January afternoon in 1969, Jan Palach was walking around Wenceslas Square in Prague with a single-minded task. Upon reaching the ramp of the National Museum, at around 4 p.m., he poured gasoline all over his body and set himself on fire... (Asian Journal) ...full story here

In Texas: Hundreds of Filipino Teachers Get Break

(Tuesday, March 27) - Judge Kathleen Cardone of the United States District Court of Western District of Texas declared a “mistrial” of the case after learning from two of the 12 jurors that they read about the case in El Paso Times, a daily newspaper. A juror reading about a case will be prejudging the case... (Asian Journal) ...full story here

In Dubai: Registered Filipino Voters

(Tuesday, March 27) - DUBAI Registered Filipino voters are advised to check the certified list of registered voters at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai, before the elections. They are also urged to vote early to avoid hassle during the election month starting from April 14... (The Emirates Evening Post) ...full details here

In Los Angeles: Fil-Am Kids Learning Tagalog

(Tuesday, March 27) - Sitting in one of the 70B of Introductory Filipino/Tagalog class at UCLA, group-by-group Filipino American students went in front of the class shy and reluctant to speak a language they’ve known all their life- Tagalog. Each group speaks with a stutter, an apprehension, regularly mispronouncing words like a broken tape player while trying to read a Tagalog passage from their textbook, singing a song or performing a skit...(Asian Journal) ...full story here