Planet Philippines (Calgary Edition) February 1-15, 2012 issue

FEBRUARY 1-15, 2012Calgary Edition PLANET PHILIPPINES�

FEBRUARY 1-15, 2012 Calgary EditionPLANET PHILIPPINES�


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LEANDRO MILAN .................................................................................. Editor-in-ChiefPEPPER MARCELO ............................................................................... Assistant EditorARNEL RIvAL ........................................................................................ Layout ArtistROMY FLORANTE .................................................................................. PhotographerDIANA PAMELA TRISTE ........................................................................ Editorial Assistant

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O X I N G champ man-ny pacquiao says he got rid of his vices af-ter an encoun-ter with God changed him.

“ P a g s u s u -gal, yung pag-iinom, yung mga pambababae. Kung ano mga kalokohan mga barkada. Kung anong ginagawa diyan...” he told aBS-cBN correspon-dent Dyan castillejo in an interview.

“If I had died last year or in the last two years, I am sure I would’ve gone straight to hell,” he said. “my faith in him is there one hundred percent but behind it, I was still do-ing evil.”

The Sarangani congressman said his renewed faith in God came from a dream he had after his fight with Juan manuel marquez last November. In his dream, he said, he was walking in a forest when a bright light shone on him and a voice asked, “Son, why are you go-ing away from me?”

“I woke up crying,” pacquiao recalled. “I remember I was crying in my dream and when I touched my pillow, it was wet.”

he said he looked for the mean-ing of the dream and found answers in the Bible.

“Noong unang panahon, kinakau-sap ng Panginoon ang tao sa pama-magitan ng panaginip. So sabi ko totoo yung panaginip ko na kailangan mag-bagong buhay na ako at yun siguro ay tawag sa akin ng Panginoon na siyem-pre alam niya yung puso ko na nanan-alig ako sa kanya pero sa likod niyan ay gumagawa pa rin ako ng mga ma-samang bagay at yung mga hindi niya ikakatutuwa,” he said.

The change in his lifestyle came slowly and surely. he said he now reads the Bible regularly and spends more time with his family.

he has also lost his appetite for his old vices, and gave away all his fighting cocks.

The change in his lifestyle came slowly and surely. He said he now

reads the Bible regularly and spends more time with his family. He has also

lost his appetite for his old vices, and gave away all his fighting cocks.

Manny and Jinkee: We’re now closer to god.

Pacman’s christmas gift to his family: a P25-million yacht.

PaCQUaio: i’M a CHangEd Man noW

“’Di ko naman sinabi na o, mag-bagong buhay ako. Hinto na ako sa pag-iinom. Hinto na ako sa pambababae ko, sa pagsusugal ko. Kumbaga, binago lang siya. Binago ng Panginoon. Du-mating yung panahon na ayaw ko na gawin yung mga bagay na iyon. Dahil because tinanggap ko na si Hesukristo sa katawan ko, Jesus Christ, and siguro yung Holy Spirit ang nagsabi sa akin na iwanan ko na iyon. ”

his wife Jinkee couldn’t be hap-pier. In past interviews she admitted to having running feuds with her husband over his reported woman-

izing, among other vices.On her 33rd birthday last Jan.

12, pacquiao gifted her with a pri-vate island no less, which she plans to turn into a world-class resort.

Jinkee acknowledges her hus-band’s conversion. “Yung pagiging closer namin to the Lord, yung lagi ka-ming nagba-Bible study kasama yung mga anak namin,” she said in a sepa-rate interview. “And then yung qual-ity time niya sa mga anak niya, iyon, ginagawa na niya ngayon.”

Last December, pacquiao bought a p25-million yacht as a christmas gift to his family.

The “gift” was seen by some quarters as pacquiao’s way of mak-ing amends with Jinkee for his al-leged womanizing. There were reports that Jinkee had planned to seek an annulment of their mar-riage but these were denied by pac-quiao. Jinkee now maintains that their problems are already a thing of the past. n


HE PHiliPPinEs may not have seen so much online hype over a slogan in many years, not even during the launch of 'WOW Philippines' by then Tourism secretary Richard Gor-don. Everything is attributed to the rise of social journalism through websites like Facebook and Twitter. And the recent failure of the proposed slogan, 'Pilipinas, Kay Ganda!' may, in fact, have prompted the online community to keep watch and be critical of every move the government made regarding tourism.

HAVING FUN WITH THE NEW SLOGANThe big idea was implemented in a way that it didn’t only say that it’s more fun in the Philippines -- the Filipinos are enjoying the campaign too, and that’s great proof that it is more fun in the Philippines.By jERRICHO reynaldo

Blogger and movie buff Jay-R Trinidad said that the launch of ‘it’s More Fun in the Philippines’ has “gathered a lot of notice from both sides of the spectrum. But this time, it feels that the pogi points have final-ly outdone the lame.” Within hours of the launch of the new slogan, recreations started sprouting across the web as Filipinos in the country and abroad accustomed themselves to a whole new approach in Philippine tour-ism, picking up on the first internet meme the

country has seen this year.Most of the more popular versions target a

number of soft spots among Pinoys. Foodies, for example, will enjoy a laugh over a photo of a perfect lechon featured in ‘Planking. More Fun in the Philippines,’ while ‘Anato-my’ displays an array of street food led by the famous isaw. ‘Dead Ends,’ meanwhile, shows the sandy White island in Camiguin as a fun place to get lost in. Movie fans, of course, will never get tired of featuring Bohol’s local tar-


HE PHiliPPinEs may not have seen so much online hype over a slogan in many years, not even during the launch of 'WOW Philippines' by then Tourism secretary Richard Gor-don. Everything is attributed to the rise of social journalism through websites like Facebook and Twitter. And the recent failure of the proposed slogan, 'Pilipinas, Kay Ganda!' may, in fact, have prompted the online community to keep watch and be critical of every move the government made regarding tourism.

HAVING FUN WITH THE NEW SLOGANThe big idea was implemented in a way that it didn’t only say that it’s more fun in the Philippines -- the Filipinos are enjoying the campaign too, and that’s great proof that it is more fun in the Philippines.By jERRICHO reynaldo

Blogger and movie buff Jay-R Trinidad said that the launch of ‘it’s More Fun in the Philippines’ has “gathered a lot of notice from both sides of the spectrum. But this time, it feels that the pogi points have final-ly outdone the lame.” Within hours of the launch of the new slogan, recreations started sprouting across the web as Filipinos in the country and abroad accustomed themselves to a whole new approach in Philippine tour-ism, picking up on the first internet meme the

country has seen this year.Most of the more popular versions target a

number of soft spots among Pinoys. Foodies, for example, will enjoy a laugh over a photo of a perfect lechon featured in ‘Planking. More Fun in the Philippines,’ while ‘Anato-my’ displays an array of street food led by the famous isaw. ‘Dead Ends,’ meanwhile, shows the sandy White island in Camiguin as a fun place to get lost in. Movie fans, of course, will never get tired of featuring Bohol’s local tar-


sier as our version of ‘Yoda’ and a group per-former during the Walis Tambo Festival as the wizarding sport of ‘Quidditch,’ while the iconic Quezon Memorial Circle, according to fans, reminds them of a couple of towers from the epic “Lord of the Rings” series.

In one blog post, Trinidad shared some of his own renditions of the promo using an online meme maker. He instructs that us-ing www.morefunmaker.com, one can make their own ‘It’s More Fun’ images because it’s “as simple as ABC. A – look for an awesome image of the Philippines (that you probably took), B –think of a witty exaggerated state-ment that could go with the picture (probably a description), and C –insert the idea along with the slogan ‘More fun in the Philippines’ using Harabara as a font.”

According to Joy Reynaldo, a marketing consultant, “The tag line alone shows that the campaign taps a very marketable strength of tourism in the Philippines. But, in addi-

tion to that, the big idea was implemented in a way that it didn’t only say that it’s more fun in the Philippines -- the Filipinos are enjoying the campaign too, and that’s great proof that it is more fun in the Philippines.

“I’m pretty sure the Swiss aren’t nearly as fun as we are, or else they wouldn’t be a first-world country,” she adds jokingly.

Despite the initial criticism and allega-tions of copying a similar Swiss tourism slogan in the 50s, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez has pulled through one of the chal-lenging aspects of life in government - engag-ing the Filipino people. We’ve yet to see more from the Department of Tourism, including the fruits of their new campaign. But so far, everything’s turning out ‘more fun’ than we expected. n

We’ve yet to see more from the Department of Tourism, including the fruits of their new campaign.

FEBRUARY 1-15, 2012 Calgary EditionPLANET PHILIPPINES10

ITH HIs trademark Mohawk hairdo, and pimped out in an all black outfit and black, knee-high biker boots, Black Eyed Pea apl.de.ap a.k.a. Allan Pineda Lindo Jr. stands out in a sea of white barongs.

The cream of corporate Makati, mostly bank executives and their staff, have gath-ered together in a Legaspi Village pent-house ballroom to honor Apl who has

been chosen one of the Bank of the Philippine Islands’ BPI-noy awardees for 2011.

100%MADE IN THE PHILIPPINES

For the last few years, apl.de.ap has been coming home to the Philippines to give some of his blessings back to the land of his birth. His education advocacy campaign, “We Can Be Anything,” is a perfect fit for the man who once said: “dreaming big and doing something about it can get you really far.”

apl pays a courtesy call on President Aquino during one of his regular visits to the country.

Born to a poor family, the “GI baby” wants to share his blessings with less fortunate Filipinos.

The annual accolade goes to Filipinos who have done their country proud in the international arena. apl has been chosen not only because of his membership in the Black Eyed Peas, a massive global pop franchise that has sold more

than 56 million albums worldwide, but also because for the last few years, he has been coming home to the Philippines to give some of his blessings back to the land of his birth.

At first it was just an annual

Christmas homecoming that saw apl giving out gift packages to the less fortunate residents of his home-town in Angeles City, Pampanga.

The last couple of years, how-ever, apl has made it more formal by establishing the apl.de.ap Foun-dation to serve as the vehicle for his humanitarian efforts.

Last August, he donated a computer lab and library to his old school, the sapang Bato National High school in Pampanga. He also built a music studio at the Holy An-gel University, also in Angeles City, where young Filipinos can hone their talents.

But apl has set his sights beyond

his hometown: he plans to take his mission nationwide. In partnership with the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation, which has appointed him a “special ambassador for edu-cation,” he has chosen to focus his efforts on an education advocacy campaign called “We Can Be Any-thing.” It is a perfect fit for the man who once said: “dreaming big and doing something about it can get you really far.”

To help drive the message home, apl composed and recorded the single “We Can Be Anything,” complete with inspirational music video.

“I think that with an education, you can be anything,” he says. “You could be a musician, you could be an artist, but with an education you always have a background to fall back on. It’s really important for me to give the youth an equal opportu-nity. I want Filipino kids to compete around the world, with technology and computers and stuff.”

He plans to continue building more computer labs and music stu-dios.

“I want talented kids that are into music to have an outlet, to have a place to go to and record demos, and practice,” says apl. “In the fu-ture I want to be able to discover talents from the Philippines, and that’s why it’s important for me to provide technology and music stu-dios and library. You never know, I might find the next Black Eyed Peas.”

He has also pledged to help in building 10,000 new classrooms in the next two years, to help the De-partment of Education put a dent in the estimated shortfall of 68,000 classrooms throughout the coun-try. Among other things, he has been using his celebrity status to raise funds abroad for this purpose through various charities.

FEBRUARY 1-15, 2012Calgary Edition PLANET PHILIPPINES11“I’ve also been talking to com-

panies in the US like Google,” he says. “There’s a Filipino team in Google who are planning to teach kids computer science and tech-nology via the Internet. Now that we’ve build these computer labs, we have to teach the teachers how to teach kids to work with these computers.”

Despite the Christmas rush, apl also took time out to visit calam-ity-stricken Cagayan de Oro, and to spend time in La Huerta, the under-privileged community in Parañaque where the video for “We Can Be Anything” was shot.

Like other celebrities who are driven to give back, he seems to be motivated by a deep sense of grati-tude for the opportunities he has been given, and the realization that things could very easily have turned out differently.

Sapang Bato, where Allan Pine-da Lindo Jr. was born on Nov. 28, 1974, lies on the hilly outskirts of Angeles City, near Clark Air Base. His biological father, a black Amer-ican airman, abandoned the family right after Allan was born, leaving his mother Cristina Pineda to sup-port him and six other siblings.

“We were poor, but my mom is like a superwoman—she’s just

a great entrepreneur,” apl recalls. “We used to have a store in front of the house, and she was great with turning money around.”

Being a “G.I. baby,” apl was eli-gible for assistance from the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, a US-based NGO founded by the author of The Good Earth and dedicated to help-ing Amerasian children.

Through the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, the young boy found a sponsor in Joe Ben Hudgens, a children’s rights attorney, who sent money for tuition and school sup-plies. Eventually, his mother ar-ranged for Hudgens to legally adopt her son.

apl had mixed feelings about be-ing adopted: he was grateful for the opportunities that being in the US opened up for him, but he was also homesick and missed his family.

Going from Angeles, Pampanga to Los Angeles, California was a culture shock for the 14-year-old boy.

Music proved to be his salvation. Back in Angeles, the year before he left for the States, he had gotten into break dancing after seeing young-sters at school doing the old school popping and locking moves.

William lived in East LA, in the ghetto, and apl liked hanging out

there, perhaps because it reminded him of home. In any case, the pair got deeper and deeper into music, eventually forming a group called Tribal Nation, which later evolved into A Tribe Beyond A Nation or ATBAN.

It was a strug-gle, specially in the early days when hip hop was dominated by gangster rap and the whole East Coast vs. West Coast ri-valry.

Music business types didn’t know what to make of the multicultural stew that would become the Black Eyed Peas.

Now that the Black Eyed Peas are on a hiatus, apl’s advocacy work has gone to the forefront.

“I’m going to focus on ‘We Can Be Anything,’” he reiterates. “We’ve got two years to build 10,000 class-rooms and I’m going to focus on that.

I’m also going to build my next computer lab from the apl Founda-tion.”

For all his globe-trotting, home for apl will always be here.

“I’m made in the Philippines all the way,” he says proudly. “I grew up here until I was 14, and I could never change that. It’s just a certain feeling. When I’m here I feel at home.” (Excerpted from an article by Eric Caruncho in the Philippine

Daily In-quirer) n


Dear Ate Jenn, It has been a while since I have seen one of your articles..they have been a source of comfort for me to see others other than myself who are in deep trouble and you were able to help them out of their darkness and give them a purpose to living other than paying their never ending debts. I’m hoping and praying that my situation isn’t too bad where you would consider me a hopeless case. My husband and I both have great jobs. He makes $28 per hour and I make $25 per hour. We have 3 kids and we not only love to spoil them (to make up for working too much...), but we also send money home to Pinas because we have loved ones there too who are relying on our paycheques. Every year, my debt reduction plan looks the same as my weight loss plan. I always make it part of my new year resolution plan but as months pass, I lose motivation and I get back in the habit of spending and spoiling… another year passes and not only do I weigh more, I also have more debt! I owe over $50,000 in credit card debts and lines of credit. Our cars are both financed and we need both of them to get to work. Because of our debt we are paying over $1200 per month just in interest and we are at the point where we real-ize if nobody helps us, we will never be able to get out of debt and worse, never be homeowners or save for our children’s education. I had RRSP’s but I cashed it all out so I can make my minimum payments. Please help!! Desperate Pinay Dear Desperate Pinay, Let me start off with a word of encouragement: There is NO such thing as a hopeless case as long as you are still breathing and you have a desire and will to change. Living paycheque to paycheque just to pay off your debts and subsidizing your poor spend-ing habits is NOT the purpose of one’s life. God created you for a special purpose and He did not intend for you to be slaves to debt. Our own wrong choices lead to nega-tive consequences and there is no one else to blame. First step is to admit and take responsibility for your current mistakes in your financial decisions. Second, you must be willing and diligent to make necessary changes to improve your current situation. The question is, what do you do from here? I suggestyou give me a call so I can get a clear picture and understanding of your debts. Once I have all the information I need, I would be able to provide you with a plan and advise on how to tackle your debts. Generally speaking, I can cut debts by about 70%off, oftentimes I can negotiate your debts down even as low as 85% off. I also will help you rehabilitate by reestablishing your credit. Ate Jenn

DEBT FORGIVENESS CORNER

FEBRUARY 1-15, 2012Calgary Edition PLANET PHILIPPINES13

HE PHiliPPinEs is among emerging economies that would become much more prominent in the next few decades, helped by demographics and rising education standards. The country is set to leapfrog 27 places to become the 16th largest economy by 2050, according to a prediction of international bank HsBC.

The bank expected China to overtake the United states as the world’s biggest economy by 2050, and said strong growth rates in other developing countries would help drive the global economy.

“Plenty of places in the world look set to deliver very strong rates of growth. But they are not in the developed world, which faces both structural and cy-clical head winds. They are in the emerging world,” the bank said in a report “The World in 2050.”

PHILIPPINES TO BECOME 16TH LARGEST ECONOMY BY 2050 While some quarters

are alarmed over the country’s huge population, HSBC considers it an advantage. The bank says the Philippines’ growing population, which, if properly educated and trained, should help the economy generate more income over the next decades.

HSBC sees the Philippines posting the biggest leap in terms of economic ranking over the next four decades.

HsBC based its forecasts on fun-damentals such as current income per capita, rule of law, democracy, education levels and demographic change.

Star performerThe bank said the Philippines

would become a “star performer” in terms of its economic leap in the global rankings.

HsBC said the Philippines was likely to post an average growth of 7 percent in the next 40 years.

Breaking down the average

growth forecast, the bank said the country would likely grow by 8.4 percent from 2010 to 2020, by 7.3 percent from 2020 to 2030, and by 6.6 percent from 2030 to 2040, and by

it said the advantage of the Phil-ippines was its favorable macroeco-nomic fundamentals and improving governance.

Economic officials of the govern-ment often harp on what they call the country’s positive macroeconomic fundamentals that include stable in-flation, sustained growth over the years (it grew even when the global economy shrank in 2009), stable banking and financial system, and improving fiscal position.

Big population a plusHsBC said the Philippines was

also put at an advantageous position by its growing population, which, if properly educated and trained, should help the economy generate

more income over the next decades.

The fact that the Philippines has rel-atively low income gives it much room for growth, and that its favorable funda-mentals will help the country maxi-mize that room, the bank said.

“The most potent recipe for growth is a country that scores highly on the fundamentals dis-cussed but currently has low in-come per capita. These economies should deliver the highest growth in income per capita as they ‘catch up’ with those with similar fundamen-tals,” HsBC said.

Top 20 economiesAccording to HsBC’s forecast,

the Top 20 largest economies by

2050 will be China, United states, india, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, France, Canada, italy, Turkey, south Ko-rea, spain, Russia, Philippines, in-donesia, Australia, Argentina and Egypt.

The Philippines’ 16th rank by 2050 in terms of economic size marks a 27-notch improvement

from its performance in 2010, said HsBC.

The bank thus said that the Philippines was expected to post the biggest leap in terms of eco-nomic ranking over the next four decades. “The Philippines looks

set for a multidecade run of strong growth.”

Losers“The losers are the small

population, aging economies of Europe,” added the bank, which said the demographics in much of Europe underscored concerns about the debt problems faced by many of the continent’s govern-ments.

if sufficiently open to modern technology, developing countries could enjoy many years of robust GDP growth although they could struggle for growth drivers once they have adapted to technological advances,

“The initial years of develop-ment could be described as ‘copy-and-paste’ growth, as countries open themselves up and adapt to the world’s existing technologies. Once the ‘copy-and-paste’ growth is complete … many economies struggle and get stuck in what is often known as the middle-income trap.”

“But many of the countries we are considering are still at such an extremely low level of development that there are years of this ‘copy-and-paste’ growth ahead,” it added. (Phil-ippine Daily Inquirer) n


8 STEPS IN BUILDING YOUR CREDIT By: Rashid Malik

So you’ve had a few problems getting the bills paid lately, and you’re wondering what you can do to repair the damage to your credit. Or maybe your credit is OK, but you’d like to make it bet-ter. After all, the better your credit, the less you pay in interest and, typically, for insurance. If your scores are above 760, you’re probably already getting the best rates. If they’re anywhere below that mark, though, they could stand some improvement. Here are the eight steps you can take to speedy credit repair:1. Get a credit card if you don’t have oneDon’t fall for the myth that you have to carry a balance to have good scores. You don’t, and you shouldn’t. But having and using a credit card or two can really build your scores. If you can’t qualify for a regular credit card, consider a secured credit card, where the issuing bank gives you a credit line equal to the deposit you make. 2. Add an installment loan to the mixYou’ll get the fastest improvement in your scores if you show you’re responsible with both major kinds of credit: revolving (credit cards) and installment (personal loans, auto, mortgages and stu-dent loans).3. Pay down your credit cardsPaying off your installment loans (mortgage, auto, student, etc.) can help your scores but typically not as dramatically as paying down -- or paying off -- revolving accounts such as credit cards. Though most debt gurus recommend paying off the highest-rate card first, a better strategy here is to pay down the cards that are closest to their limits.4. Use your cards lightlyRacking up big balances can hurt your scores, regardless of whether you pay your bills in full each month. What’s typically reported to the credit bureaus, and thus calculated into your scores, are the balances reported on your last statements5. Dust off an old cardThe older your credit history, the better. But if you stop using your oldest cards, the issuers may decide to close the accounts or stop updating them to the credit bureaus. The accounts may still ap-pear, but they won’t be given as much weight in the credit-scoring formula as your active accounts6. Get some goodwillIf you’ve been a good customer, a lender might agree to simply erase that one late payment from your credit history. You usually have to make the request in writing, and your chances for a “good-will adjustment” improve the better your record with the company (and the better your credit in general). But it can’t hurt to ask7. Dispute old negativesSay that fight with your phone company over an unfair bill a few years ago resulted in a collections account. You can continue protesting that the charge was unjust, or you can try disputing the ac-count with the credit bureaus as “not mine.” It will not hurt if you try. It is always important to get the advice of credit counselors on your debt administration.

FEBRUARY 1-15, 2012Calgary Edition PLANET PHILIPPINES15

Planet Philippines (Calgary Edition) February 1-15, 2012 issue

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