Direct PAL Flights to Milan, Paris and Rio - A Distinct Possibility in the Future

I felt a bit excited reading this article seeing now that our own local airline is aggressively pursuing new routes with a direct connection from Manila!  Milan, Paris and Rio de Janeiro are definitely good places to have a direct flight to!  Not only will it make lives easier for thousands of our OFWs there but it will certainly boost tourism on both sides - ours and theirs!  So the ball now is definitely with our government negotiators asking for more air rights.

PAL urges gov’t to seek more flight rights

Ibalong: Our Own Version of Middle Earth

It would not be surprising to know that even our own indigenous culture has her own creatures and gods and goblins and little people and Precious.  This is exactly the type of theater I would love to watch next month as Tanghalang Pilipino presents Ibalong - a Bicolano epic that brings to life the mythical creatures from the rich culture of our fellow Bicolanos.  

I did not want to read the synopsis of the epic, just prefering to watch the play as it unfolds.  Remus Villanueva plays the hunk that saves the day in the play and one of my favorite local theater actors, Myke Salomon will serve as his alternate!  Just watching these guys is incentive enough!  I just hope they go out to the lobby after the play so we can have pictures with them!  

Anyway, Ibalong will run from February 8 to March 3 at the CCP Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino.  I usually get my tickets from www.ticketworld.com.ph.  You can get yours there too!

Tawi-Tawi Anyone?

I chanced upon this interesting article this week about a photojournalist who went to Tawi-Tawi - upon the prodding of their Tourism Officer!  I was born in Mindanao and we spent a lot of summer vacations there but I've never really gone south - I mean as far south as Tawi-Tawi.  I've been to Zamboanga once but that was it.  

Anyway, this photojournalist - a woman, at that, flew to the place and came back with such stunning pictures and gauging from her article, she really had fun there! 

Maybe it should be a place I visit this year!

Let's see how brave I am!

Fernando Carillo Revisits Manila

Unlike many of my peers and fellow Filipinos, I wasn't really caught up into that Marimar - Rosalinda hype that engulfed the country two decades ago.  Those telenovelas made Fernando Carillo a star here so his visit back here last year created some buzz because of that history he has with us.  As for me, I just couldn't resist posting pictures of one hot daddy!  He's already 42 now yet he still looks muy caliente!

Aiming For a Seven Percent Growth in 2013

I am not an economist and I am not even going to pretend that I understand everything that I read in the Business section of our daily newspapers, but from what I can glean from them, our country is slowly achieving what it should have been doing all these years - and at least equal the economic standing of our ASEAN neighbors.  

We have achieved around 7% growth these past two years so hopefully, 2013 will continue to be a growth year.  We really need it.   And I think we can do it, since it's election year and the spending on the elections alone can create jobs for many people.

Poverty reduction though is another matter altogether.