MEDIA - The Nose for News

Count the Filipinos among the most opinionated in the world. You only have to make the mistake of initiation small talk with your cab-driver to find yourself at the receiving end of a lecture on how to run the state most efficiently. Or if you are so inclined towards getting into heated discussions over national issued, all you need do is walk over to your neighborhood barbershop. It happens to be an institution in this country for its free-for-all debates, participated in by both proprietor and customer, over burning topics.

Such is the propensity of the Filipinos to give their side on the story whether solicited or not – that it surprises no one that the country circulates more than 20 major dailies and periodicals, many of which feature highly opinionated articles.

The newspaper boom is on of the major after-effects of the press liberalization policy of the present administration. Disregarding the difference in form, size and style of packaging of the newspapers, they have become the country’s showcase of democracy at work. These papers are: Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, Manila chronicle, Manila Standard, Malaya, Mr. & Ms., MOD, Newsday, Woman Today.

Now come the glossies, the latest development in cosmopolitan Manila. Three magazine glossies seem to have concerned the market: Lifestyle Asia which started it all lives up to its name of highlighting the life of rich and famous all over Asia.

Raising the Quality of Our Human Resources

The GLOBE is dividing into the world of the skilled and the world of the unskilled. And the world of the skilled is rich, while the world of the unskilled is poor. We Filipinos must strive to become part of the world of the skilled.

We must get out of labor-intensive, low-wage industries and into high-value-added technologies. We must seek our competitive advantage based not on cheap labor doing repetitive work but on quality and innovation. For us, competition in low-skilled industries is a dead end as an economic strategy, since we are the only East Asian country with a legislated minimum wage.

What must we do to become part of the world of the skilled?

We must increase exponentially our investments in our human capital We must put more - much more – public money into basic education, and more- much more – corporate funding into research and development.

The problems besetting the services sector are not much different from those of agriculture and small and medium enterprises: inadequate technological know-how, lack of financial access and inadequate infrastructure and institutional support. Thus, the next government shall devise appropriate assistance schemes and shall endeavor to improve technological expertise of this very important and in many ways neglected sector of our economy. Special attention shall be given to practical and low-cost improvements in workers’ conditions, particularly in the informal sector, with the end goal of enhancing their productivity.

I Want to be A Model

A dream we all have buy hidden in our sub consciousness, some are currently pursuing their dream while others have just set it aside to just a dream and few just want to live their dreams through their children.

To most of us, our hesitation to pursue that dream is due to how we personally judge ourselves. With the lack of information and knowledge of what the modeling industry is all about, where do I start and what will it take to make the dream a reality.

Different models have found success through different routes. The majority of the project (work) in modeling are done through Modeling Agencies via Casting Agencies and or Advertisers, which literally means going to a Modeling Agency to find job opportunities. This is the first step for an Aspiring Model to get started. Knowing someone in the business can really help you get started in Modeling.

Majority of Models work their way into modeling. Theses Models research for agencies that can assist them, and projects that fir them, then prepare their Composite/Set Cards and Portfolios as their initial model by working on their expressions, posing, walking, hair styling and makeup while working in front of a camera or mirror, and learning how the Modeling Business works through research and asking individuals in the know.

“ T I K O Y “

You will love tikoy as I love her. A caretaker of one of the school near our place where I parked my car since I have that time, approached me that if I wanted to adopt a baby. There are two babies in the custody of that caretaker. They are twins. He wanted to keep both babies but he can’t afford to take care of them and feed them rightly. That caretaker was close to me, that’s why he asked me first if I want to adopt one baby. I asked him what’s the gender of the babies, and he said both girls. So I choose the baby who crawled nicely. Without any papers, he gave me one of the baby girls. And I took her home. She was given to me last March 2006.



I took care of my baby girl as my own baby. I gave her healthy food so that he will get strong. I even gave her vitamins so that she will not acquire sickness easily. I was working in the office that time and left her alone at home. I feed her first in the morning before I go to the office and then I feed her again when I get back.

One day I saw her having a hard time to stand up on her own. She used her hands. I tried to help her stand every time she wanted. I thought it was nothing. Then not long time interval, I was feeding her and I called her name for her to come near with me. She crawled using her hands and feet. I came near with her and tried to help her stand up. When she is standing, she immediately sat down. Maybe that time she is hurting when she stands up. I pity on my baby and I cried. I decided to brought her to the doctor. I don’t want her to get sick because she is the only one in my house who made me happy and forget my problems even for a while.

The doctor said she has a weak bones. She gave her treatment and asked me to buy medicine for her so that she will get better. She also told me, my baby acquired the weak bones from her true parents. She instructed me to buy her any medicine for bones (calcium) and everyday I should exercise her feet and hands. I tried to do that every day before I left from office and after I arrived for one month. I didn’t skip any day of exercising her. Her bone became strong and can stand up now again. But her hands and feet are not in a nice shape. But it’s ok. At least may baby is well now.

I don’t want to loose my baby. She is very sweet and kind. She made me happy.
I want you to meet my baby. I gave her a name that follows my alias which my father called me. My alias is “ TITOY “….and I gave her a name “ TIKOY “. Here she is…………

TYPHOON YOLING WAS HERE

At first it looked just like an ordinary rain. Then the wind blew. It blew harder and harder.

Finally, typhoon Yoling was in Manila. That was at noon of November 19,1970.The strong winds destroyed lots of things. Buses, jeepneys and taxis stopped plying the streets by noontime. Several airplanes on the ground were tossed like children’s toys. The heavy rain flooded most of the streets. People stayed in their homes.

When the typhoon was over, many people were homeless .All over the streets lay broken branches, uprooted trees, torn roofs and signboard. Roofs of many houses, churches, schools, hospital and markets were blown away. There was no current because many electric posts were blown down. Because of this, there was no water, too. More than two hundred people were killed and several hundreds were missing.

That was TYPOON YOLING-the strongest typhoon to hit Manila in 88 years.

The Three of Life

You have eaten coconuts but have you seen coconut trees?

Coconut trees grow in the lowlands and on mountainsides. There are planted in towns by the roadside as decoration. They grow up to thirty meters high or more. They start bearing fruits when they are about seven years old. They grow and live until they are about a hundred years or more.

The coconut is often called “the tree of life” because it is very useful. The stem may be used for building materials such as house posts. The roots may be used as medicine, the leaves as house roofs or walls, the midrib of the leaves as brooms or baskets. The husks can be made into doormats and the shell into buttons.

The inside shell is the coconut meat. It contains pure water which is good to drink. From its meat you can get milk for ginatan.

Dried coconut meat is called copra. Copra can be sold to other countries. Manufacturers can get oil from copra which is needed for making soap, pomade and medicine.

These are some of the most common uses of coconuts. Do you see now why the tree is called “the tree of life?”

What Are Filipinos Like?

Nothing is as difficult as self-appraisal and to answer question in the little of this article. I thought it best to start by asking it. With no particular pattern in mind, I asked a number of foreign friends to give me their impression of the Filipino. I was told that we are friendly, good-natured, loyal, idealistic, sentimental, socially gracious (even the lower classes), un willing to accept responsibility, lacking in self-reliance, less hard working than the Chinese, more intelligent than the Malay, imitative but less so than the Japanese religious but not so mystical as the Indians, and in general, the most adaptable of all the races in the Orient.

A Spaniard thought we were very like the Spanish: an American thought we were not American enough. A Frenchman remarked we were the only people in Asia with a sense of humor at least only ones who could laugh at themselves, which when one thinks of it, was probably the pretties compliment of all.