Australia probes possible organ trafficking involving a Filipina

It's a good thing the Filipina asserted her right. Or maybe she just needed that free ticket to fly to Australia and possibly TNT there. Oh well, you have to do what you have to do. I'm just surprised that Australia has the lowest organ donation rate among wealthy countries. I would've thought the US would rank lower than them.

Australia probes possible organ trafficking involving a Filipina

A Billion Pesos Spent On Coffee

I didn't actually watch the SONA but since the daily news people dissect it, I have been able to get snippets of it from the media - and one of the interesting snippets from it is the 1 billion pesos spent by PAGCOR on coffee, for the past nine years or so!  Imagine that!  And there were memos imposing monthly quotas on how much to spend on the coffee per month per year.  Whew!  Is that where our tax money goes?

My Daily Take on Why I Love This Country - July 24

I found this really nice article today by writer Alfred Yuson entitled "25 Reasons Why I Love This Country" so, since I have a blog on the Philippines, I decided to come out with my own essay but this time, I will do it everyday.  Not an easy task but let's see if it's worthwhile doing.



Well, Sundays are usually reserved for my weekly planning and this coming week, I'm planning to watch Ballet Manila's show on Friday, the one where they are going to perform some works by the great George Balanchine.  This time, Ballet Manila is going to perform with the Singapore Dance Theatre.  I'm excited to see it since I rarely see contemporary dance here in Manila.

Anyhow, going back to why I love this country.  Well, we have people like Lisa Macuja who champions the arts, especially ballet, which is not really an art which the masses go to.  Because of people like her, she inspires many young Filipinos to take up ballet and have a venue to show their talents - outside of the usual government agencies which normally have these corps - like the CCP. 

Leaders Like Khadaffi and Castro and Chavez Can't Live Forever

With the Internet right at fingertips of many young people, it is not surprising that many young people all over the world, from Libya to Syria to Yemen and Venezuela and Cuba would want the same things that the rest of the young people of the world are experiencing.  Leaders like Khadaffia and Castro and Chavez will not live forever and in the next decade or so, these countries will surely experience upheavels in their political landscape.  I just hope it's an upheaval that points to the positive and not something that will further push these countries into chaos.

Philippine Ballet Theatre's Breathtaking 'Romeo and Juliet'

It's really a pity that the Philippine Ballet Theatre only had four playdates for Romeo and Juliet.  It could've played to a bigger audience if there was more marketing push for it, considering that it's a classic ballet and it would've been a chance for many young people to finally watch this art form.

The two leads were played by Americans though, but the rest of the cast were Filipinos and many of them were young - and very talented!  It was such a joy to watch them especially in their ensemble dances! 

I arrived late in the venue since my friend came late but luckily, with no traffic, we reached the CCP in time to miss just about ten minutes of dance.  The leads were pretty strong and were forceful in their performance.  But I guess the most joyous performances came from the strong Filipino support cast who looked very nice in their colorful Florentine costumes!  I really had a great time that night and the only glitch was that I wasn't able to have pictures with the cast since I forgot my camera!