*SPECIAL EDITION* (Violet)

Philippines was cited:

The Philippines is a well-known producer of handcrafted Christmas
decorations, with more than 2,000 suppliers making up the industry. In general,
most manufacturers focus on low-volume, midrange to upscale production, and
offer flexible minimum order quantities.
Creativity and intricate, handmade
craftsmanship are among the major advantages of Philippine-made Christmas
decorations. Skilful and capable workers and designers, a trainable workforce
and availability of a variety of indigenous natural materials are factors that
contribute to the country's success in the line.

from the "Business Wire".

Labels: Special Edition

*SKY BLUE - TOURISM *

There's been an increase in tourist arrivals here in Davao City according to the Department of Tourism's regional director Sonia Garcia who said that there's been 49,057 foreign visitors as of November 2007.

Most of those visitors are from East Asia having the most number of 22,396 and the ones from Japan having the most numbers, followed by Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Travellers from North America (US of A and Canada) followed suit with a total number of 9,923 visitors.

From ASEAN totaled 3,001 from (in order of the most visitors) Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.

Our visitors from Europe was about 2,383 and once again in order of the most visitors from countries in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Belgium, Spain and Holland.

From Oceania would be 1,950, Australia and New Zealand.

Around 134 visitors from Middle East and and 8,621 others who weren't specified.

The Balikbayans numbered about 7,154 and there were a total of domestic travels that comprises of 530,538 and if you add the total of foreign travellers it would be 586, 749.

According to Garcia there was about 10.80 % of increase in our tourism industry.

original source : Philippine Information Agency

Labels: Tourism

Updates of CURRENT EVENTS *RED*

South Korea dropped to a share of the lead with the Philippines after a triple-bogey on the 17th hole Saturday at the Women's World Cup of Golf.
Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin of the Philippines shot a 4-under 68 and the teams were tied at 11-under 133 after foursome play at the Gary Player Country Club.

The Korean pair of Ji-Yai Shin and Eun-Hee Ji held a comfortable lead at 14 under until posting a 7 when their tee shot got caught in thick rough in the hazard.

from: USAtoday
For the second year in a row, Cristina Corpus of San Jose State University finished in the top 5 at the Ladies Philippines Open golf championship.

News from: SJSpartans

Labels: Current Events

*UPDATES of CURRENT EVENTS(RED)*

President Arroyo presents a presidential citation to the world bowling champion Rafael 'Paeng' Nepomuceno, conferring on him the Order of Lakandula with the Special Class of Champion for Life (Photo/OPS).

It was awarded to Nepomuceno in simple rites during his courtesy call at Malacanang Palace's Music Room, Thursday. He presented to the Chief Executive the trophy he won in the South Pacific Classic in Melbouorne, Australia last October 2007.

The South Pacific Classic is Australia's most prestigious annual tournament which Nepomuceno first won in 1984, the first non-Australian to win the tournament. "Now, 23 years later, and having won it again, I am the first non-Australian to have won the tournament two times," Nepomuceno told the President.

"Congratulations, the Filipino people are very proud of you," the President replied, citing his extraordinary contribution to Philippine sports and his outstanding achievements in bowling competitions.

and you are right Madam President! We sure are proud of Mr. Paeng Nepomuceno for his extraordinary achievement.

The Champion for Life honors was created by the President to give credit and recognition to the Filipinos who have attained outstanding achievements in international sports, beauty and similar fields of competition, fostering extraordinary national pride and inspiration toward excellence. Those who received similar outstanding citations from the Chief Executive were boxing hero Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao, Miss International beauty queen Precious Lara Quigaman, billiards king Efren "Bata" Reyes, and Mount Everest conquerors Romy Garduce, Leo Oracion and Pastor Emata.

Recently, Nepomuceno was declared by both houses of Congress as the "Best Filipino Athlete of All Time" for his six prestigious world bowling championships, making him an international bowling Hall of Famer. Nepomuceno is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as having won the most number of World Cups and has recently been designated Ambassador of Goodwill by the United Nations last July 11. In addition to his long list of well-known achievements as a world champion in three decades, Nepomuceno truly has been and continues to be an extraordinary ambassador for Filipino sports. He is the only bowler who had received the prestigious International Olympic Committee (POC) President's Trophy and was the first to be enshrined in the International Bowling Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri in 1993. In November 1999, the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) named Paeng as the "International Bowling Athlete of the Millennium."

- Pacific News Center International

Mike Cohen, Pacific News Center Correspondent 04.JAN.08

Labels: Current Events, Red

*MADE IN THE PHILIPPINES(ORANGE)*

Red, blue and white―the colors of the Philippine flag―hung over during lunch and dinner at Crowne Plaza Riverside’s Cafe Majestic for one week.

They got into arranging the centerpiece of the main buffet table with a Pinoy look with tinalak and orange sinamay strips. This is to keep up with the Philippine food festival.

This event also coincided with the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asean Growth Area) 3rd Travel Expo, and the hotel in the capital city of Sarawak, Malaysia relied on the skills of two chefs from Marco Polo Davao Hotel.

Both chefs were expecting to find similar ingredients in the country since Philippines and Malaysia are just closely related. But, they found out there are large differences. Every day was a time for experimentation, an exercise in trial and error as they worked with ingredients they were not quite accustomed to. They then treated it as a culinary challenge.

main story from: Philippine Inquirer

Labels: Made in the Philippines

from: Xinhuanet.

Out of 115 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2007 study, the WEF showed that the Philippines is in the 6th place that achieved a gender equality score of 0.7629 from 0.7516 last 2006.

We retained the rank as the 6th sixth most woman-friendly country in the world, according to the latest study by World Economic Forum (WEF).

"The Philippines was the only Asian country included in the study's top 10, which was dominated by European countries. Topping the list was Sweden, followed by Norway, Finland, Iceland and New Zealand. Following the Philippines in the rankings were Germany, Denmark, Ireland, and Spain."

Labels: Current Events

Updates of CURRENT EVENTS *RED*

As of date, Davao City, Philippines has World's Most Modern Airport and the safest one at that.

An Australian engineer named William Krelle said that even if your aircraft is crippled with only one engine flying and you try to land in the middle of a storm, you can still land safely in Davao's International Airport. - from Bernama.

Very few people know the fact that Davao is "undoubtedly the safest airport in the world".

Davao's landing facilities are the latest and are state of the art computerized equipment that were installed by a Norwegian airport systems engineer that are being used by some of the world's biggest airports.

Most facts from Bernama.

Labels: Current Events, Red