By Marnette Federis

MANILA (Reuters) – In the Philippines, “malling” has become a verb, the act of going to a shopping mall and whiling away the hours.

The Southeast Asian country has three of the world’s 10 largest shopping centers, two of them in the capital, Manila. Scores of others, ranging from modern glass and steel structures to older, fading buildings, dot cities across the archipelago.

Although over 40 percent of the country’s 90 million people live on $2 or less per day, malls here are crowded at all times, and especially packed at weekends.

Around 80 percent of the Philippines’ population go to shopping centers and around 36 million people visit shopping plazas once or twice a month, according to Nielsen Media Research.

“People just come to the mall to stay cool, said Chris Balberona, a driver for a bank, who was at Manila’s Megamall watching ice-skaters on an artificial rink.

“Life is hard right now so we don’t really come here to shop.”

The air-conditioned malls are a boon in this steamy tropical nation. But shopping plazas in the Philippines have also become a place to pay bills, meet or watch people, eat or see a film.
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1. When getting on a jeepney that is already crowded with people, make it a habit to say “excuse me” as you go down the aisle to find a seat.
2. When paying, especially if you’re seated at the tail end of the vehicle, POLITELY ASK the other passengers to pass your fare on to the driver. Do not just say “bayad po” and expect the other passengers to get your fare and pass it on to the driver. Or worse, do not just extend your arm with your fare in your hand without saying a word and expect someone to react to that!
3. Always make it a point to thank the person/passenger to whom you passed your fare to.
4. If you hear somebody asking for a favor to pass his/her fare on to the driver, please always try to make an effort to do so. Don’t just sit there and act as if you’re not hearing or seeing anything. Remember, you’ve asked for the same favor before and will surely be asking for the same again and again for as long as you ride jeepneys.
5. If you get on a jeepney that’s empty, pay the driver as soon as you are seated. Don’t wait for someone else to get on and wait for the moment that he/she pays his/her fare and ask him/her to hand your fare to the driver along with his/hers.
6. Always make an effort to sit properly in a manner that will allow passengers (who get on after you) to find their seats easily. Don’t wait for someone to ask you to move before doing so. If you got on a jeepney that is already crowded, try to sort of “squeeze” yourself against the person sitting next to you.
7. If you feel that the person next to you is “pinning” you, try to flow with it and move yourself in the same direction and “squeeze” yourself against the other person sitting next to you.
8. Sit straight (perpendicular to the backrest) and try to keep your arms and legs directly in front of you. Guys, try to put your knees as close together as possible, it makes no sense at all to sit with your legs spread widely apart unless you have hernia. Also, if you need to hold on to the ceiling handle bar, please hold on to the bar with your arm(s) directly in front of you. Don’t extend your arm to the side and cover the face(s) of the person(s) you’re sitting next to. And girls (and some guys as well), as I have already mentioned, sit perpendicularly to the backrest, sitting at a 45 degree angle may be more comfortable, but you’re occupying more than one person’s worth of seating space.
9. If someone is getting off (or on) and you are holding on to the handle bar, put your hand down for a while, at least until after he/she goes past you. Doing this will give him/her something to hold on to to aide his/her balance as he/she goes down the aisle.
10. Those of you who have long hair, always (ALWAYS) bunch up your hair and swing it over your shoulder (to your chest). If it’s not that long… well… the bottom line is DON’T allow your hair to fly onto the face of the person sitting next to you!
11. AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, put your bag (or whatever it is you are carrying) on your lap. Not on the floor/aisle or on the seat (unless you are going to pay for the seating space occupied by your bag). Try to make an effort in keeping the aisle free of any obstruction.
12. AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, try to position whatever it is you are carrying in such a way that it is not obstructing the passage way or invading the space of other passengers.
13. DO NOT SMOKE!
14. If you need to get off, say so! DO NOT knock on the ceiling. DO NOT make that squeaking sound with your lips. DO NOT whistle. DO NOT make THAT hissing sound. It doesn’t take much more effort to say “para po” or “diyan lang po sa tabi” than to do any of those things.
15. If someone gets off at a location that is relatively close to where you are getting off (like a few feet/meters away), please get off already!!! For Pete’s sake, use your legs and walk once in a while!
16. If it’s raining and you’re carrying a wet umbrella, fold your umbrella as soon as you get on the vehicle and try to avoid letting it touch anyone’s legs.
17. Try not to sleep while you’re on the jeepney because it’s very likely that you’ll be using one of the persons you’re sitting next to as your pillow.
18. If you’re eating/drinking something inside the jeepney, please take the containers/wrappers with you when you get off. DO NOT leave them in the vehicle unless the jeepney you’re on has a waste basket. Never ever hurl them out the window. Same goes with gums.
19. If you are the only one seated on the front seat, please move yourself towards the driver if someone else is going to sit in front with you and allow him/her to take the outer seating space. If you want to keep the outer seat, get off first and allow the other person to get in before climbing back to your seat. Do not try to contort your body in a show of effort in letting the other person pass because the “extra” space you’ll be creating will not be big enough to allow for a trouble-free passage for any person (of any size).
20. If you are seated at the outer side of the front passenger seat and the person beside you is getting off, get out of the vehicle and allow him/her to get off easily. I repeat, do not just contort your body (and try to squeeze yourself deeper into your seat) because the “extra” space you’ll be creating will not be big enough to allow for a trouble-free passage for any person (of any size).
21. Guys, let’s be gentlemen… and ladies, don’t be prima donnas. Let’s all be courteous to one another and we’ll all be happy.

The famous dance “Beh! Buti Nga” from the movie Ibalik and Swerte from the 1980’s.

I am what I am

White, brown, black or yellow… it doesn’t matter
The color of my skin won’t unfold the true me.
You will never find out how good or bad I can be
Unless you’ll see through me

I am what I am

Asian, American, African or European… it doesn’t matter
My race or nationality serves no purpose
If the reason for my existence is to make a difference
And not to be different

I am what I am

Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist, or Mormons… it doesn’t matter
My faith is not your faith… My beliefs are not your beliefs…
Peace is what we all seek…
For that… Respect is what I need… and what I give you…

I am what I am

Tall, medium, large, or small… it doesn’t matter
For I will never let my structure hold me back
Don’t look down on me coz I will break the glass ceiling,
Reach for my goal and rise up from the crowd…

I am what I am

Grey, blue, brown or dark… it doesn’t matter
The color of your eyes makes you no better than I am
My ability to look back, see the present, and envision the future
Is what will make me better than you are…

Iris D. Collier

The United States Postal Service (USPS) and the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) have signed an agreement here to undertake a fast, secure but cheap remittance project that will benefit the 4.4 million Filipinos in the United States and their millions of relatives in the Philippines.

The Bilateral Agreement on International Electronic Money Transfer was signed by Atty. Franco L. Loyola, chairman of the Philippine Post board of directors, and Paul E. Vogel, senior vice president and manager for Global Business of USPS, at the USPS headquarters in Washington in the presence of Consul Lito Nayan of the Philippine Embassy, Philpost director Alfred G. Gabot and Atty. Florante C. Cruz, Philpost corporate secretary, and other senior officials of the USPS and Philpost.

The project will still have to be approved by the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission, while guidelines for its implementation will have to be finalized by both USPS and Philpost before it could be launched late this year or early 2009.

The agreement is in keeping with the directives of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to bring down the remittance fees for overseas Filipino workers who remitted $15 billion last year to the Philippines.
More than half of that remittances or roughly $8 billion came from the Filipinos in the U.S.

Chairman Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III of the Commission of Information and Communications Technology (CITC), the agency which supervises Philpost, and Philippine ambassador to the U.S. Willy C. Gaa hailed the project.

The project has been in the works for two years and the final signing of agreement came as part of the negotiations started in 2006.
Loyola and Gabot pointed out that through the project, Filipinos in the U.S. could soon send money to anywhere in the Philippines through the 30,000 post offices in the U.S.

The transfer of funds will be fast, safe and sure as the prevailing remittance agents, but at a cheaper cost, they said.

They said that they will announce the remittance fees once they are approved by panels of both the USPS and the Philpost.

Japanese Ambassador to Manila Makoto Katsura recently turned over the “Project for the Strengthening the Organization of Japanese-Filipino Children and Youth” to the Batis Center for Women in response to the growing needs of these children who are victims of racial bias.

“I am aware that some JFC are still coping with societal pressures and the lack of support systems that impedes their aspiration for living a quality life. I believe that this remains a daunting task for you, as many of the JFC still seek a secure, free and just society,” said Katsura.

Katsura said the project reaffirmed Japan’s continued support for “building the capacity of individuals in order for them to shape their growth toward becoming decent, mature and responsible citizens of society.”

The project is funded through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) as part of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Katsura said the project would facilitate the implementation of capacity-building programs for Batis-YOGHI (Youth Organization Gives Hope and Inspiration), an organization with 100 JFC members. Batis-YOGHI was formed by the Batis Center for Women to look after the needs of JFC.

The center, through the Children and Youth Development Program (CYDP), provides psychological programs to enable the children cope with societal pressures such as discrimination. Because of the limited capacity and resources, the Center deemed that Batis-YOGHI would need to be established to further strengthen its assistance for JFC.

With the project, Batis-YOGHI is expected to benefit from the training programs for organizational development and management, peer counseling, leadership and educational sessions.

Training modules will be developed to serve as reference materials for conducting similar programs. Various information materials will also be produced to generate public awareness.

Hironori Kodoh of the Tokyo-based Japanese Filipino Children Lawyers Association, told a roomful of Filipinas in Davao that the June 4 decision of the Japan Supreme Court would reverse the law which only granted nationality to Japanese-Filipino children whose parents were married legally.

“The Japanese Supreme Court has pronounced such ruling as unconstitutional,” said Kondoh, who was in Davao last week for a forum with affected Japanese Filipino children and their mothers. “It’s not the fault of the children whether or not their parents are married.”

“Children and mothers living in Davao can apply before the Japanese embassy once the law takes effect,” he said. He also said the application must be done before the child reaches 20 years old. “Japanese-Filipino children from 16 to 19 years old should prepare their documents as soon as possible,” he said.

The new ruling is expected to open applications for Japanese citizenship among tens of thousands of Japanese Filipino children.

James Akiyama, 20, was among the Japanese Filipino children here who welcomed Kondoh’s news. Until the previous month, Akiyama has been receiving regular financial support from his father in Japan, coursed through his mother’s account.

He said he wanted to go to Japan just to “serve” his father, because the only time that they met was when he was still three years old.

“All they [mothers] want is recognition more than anything else,” said Sister Celine Cajandig, executive director of the Center for Overseas Workers Davao Inc. (Cowfi). “They’re saying that if they can’t go there themselves, at least, their children can,” she said.

Jean Bingcoy, president of the Samahan ng Kababaihan para sa Karapatan ng mga Japanese Filipino Children (Women’s Association for the Rights of Japanese-Filipino Children), said her 11-year old son, has not been recognized under the law, although his father has been sending financial support once in a while.

“The new law can help a lot,” she said. “Parents do not need to get married to have the children recognized,” she said.

She said that if it were to push through, many children abandoned by their Japanese fathers would be looking for a chance to go to Japan.

“Life is better in Japan compared to here,” said Bingcoy.

“They’re hoping that through their children, they can get residency and passport,” said Cajandig, referring to the women. “They are the ones who would take care of the children, so, they’ll be allowed to go there.”

At least 40 members of the SKKJ here are raising their children in Davao but the fathers are in Japan. Some of these Japanese fathers have been sending financial support but others were not, Cajandig said.

“We expect the Diet to revise the nationality law in August,” said Kondoh.

“But even before the law is revised, the government will start accepting application for nationality before September,” he added.

Naoko Kono, executive director of the Maligaya House, a Manila-based NGOs assisting Japanese-Filipino children and their mothers, said their Manila office handled 840 cases of Japanese Filipino children in Manila since 1994. The cases included those children abandoned by their Japanese fathers.

“Most of these children have no official legal recognition and have not been supported financially,” said Kono.

“They need food, money and mostly the mothers are already married. In other cases, their Japanese husbands divorced them without their consent. Sometimes, the husbands falsify the signatures of their wives. So, we help the woman file a criminal case and require the husbands to give financial support,” Kono added.

Of the 843 cases, 500 are being handled by their Tokyo office.

Maligaya House, which relays the cases to their counterpart in Tokyo, held a brief consultation and case conference among potential beneficiaries here in Davao.

Kondoh said the Japanese media expected the Diet to start session towards the end of August. Although there is some opposition to the law, there is a big chance that it will pass the Diet, according to Kondoh, one of the 60 lawyers helping the Japanese Filipino Children Lawyers Association.

The disparity of the living conditions between Japan and the Philippines pushes more Filipinas to find work in Japan, where they mostly land as entertainers.

According to Kono, they’re currently handling 20 to 30 ongoing paternity cases. Of the 843 cases they handled in 10 years, only 20 or 30 per cent were successful.

“Oftentimes, the mother drops the case because she doesn’t want to prolong her agonies. She wants to move on with her life and marry someone else,” Kono said.

A Roman Catholic bishop in the Philippines says he lost his cell phone and wallet to a gun-wielding thief, but prayed for the man instead of going to police.

Archbishop Jesus Dosado says he was walking toward a cathedral in southern Ozamis city to pray at 5:30 a.m. Friday when a man on a motorbike stopped ahead of him, pretended to check the vehicle and then suddenly pulled a gun.

Dosado says he did not resist and gave the robber his cell phone and a wallet with a driver’s license and the equivalent of US$74.

Instead of informing police, Dosado says he decided to continue to the cathedral to pray for the assailant’s salvation.

Local operator Globe Telecom finally unveiled the official launch date of the much-hyped Apple iPhone 3G in the Philippines during a jam-packed investors’ meeting Wednesday.

The touch-screen mobile device will make its local debut on Aug. 22, the date when several other countries worldwide will also see the launch of the 3G-enabled iPhone.

Globe Telecom senior executives said the mobile phone will be available in postpaid and prepaid plans. It urged interested subscribers to reserve a unit through a hotline and Web site set up specifically for order reservations, marking the first time the operator has done so for a particular phone model.

To drive sales, the first 1,000 orders will get a discount of 1,000 pesos (US$23), according to Globe Telecom.

Under the postpaid pricing model, subscribers have the option to choose from five packages for the 8GB and 16GB versions of the iPhone, which is available in white and black–though the 16GB option is available only in white.
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Imagine Jollibee meals delivered to your door as a gift from Tatay in Dubai. That’s the beauty of virtual pasalubong: Jollibee Yum, Champ, palabok fiesta and peach mango pie delivered to you even if she’s a thousand miles away.

While it is customary for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Fil-Ams and other Filipinos abroad to send money, they can now surprise their loved ones back home with their favorite Jollibee meals during special occasions with the collaboration of Banco de Oro (BDO) and fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp.

Sharing the vision of preserving the spirit of family togetherness, BDO and Jollibee launched Jollibee Padalang Langhap Sarap, the first remittance product of its kind, which will be made available initially to Filipinos in Metro Manila and greater Manila.
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Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday raised the Olympic incentive to 15 million pesos (340,909 U.S. dollars) for any Filipino athlete who gets a gold medal in Beijing.

Gracing part of the 37-member Beijing-bound Philippine Olympic delegation to Beijing in the presidential palace for a send-off party, Arroyo said the government has decided to set aside an additional 4.5 million pesos (102,272 U.S. dollars) as Olympic bonus to lure the country’s first Olympic gold.

According to the country’s Incentives Act, the government is set to give a 5-million-peso reward for an Olympic gold winner, 2.5 million pesos for a silver medalist and 1 million for a bronze.

However, individuals, groups, and companies have promised a combined sum of 10.5 million pesos for the gold medalist in the Beijing Games.

Wearing the Philippine Olympic delegation uniform herself, a cheering Arroyo said she wished the extra bonus would spur the athletes to bring out their potential to clinch a much-expected honour for the country. more…