Filipina Soul

For two days in November, cemeteries around the Philippines will be packed with people – both living and dead. Nope, it’s not a belated Halloween celebration.
November 1 and 2 mark All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, when the nation gets a mandatory non-working holiday to remember the day of the dead, in festive, Thanksgiving-like family reunions.
Scattered families all over the country travel back to their hometowns to be reunited with relatives, the deceased included. The most pack places in town? The local cemeteries.
Relatives would gather in the cemeteries and pay homage to their dead. Traditionally, the tombs are cleaned, and …read more

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Filipina Soul would like to congratulate the mega-star Ms. Sharon Cuneta! Her show “Sharon” won as best entertainment program at the 2007 Catholic Mass Media Awards held last October 25, 2007.

click to enlarge
Sharon also appears on the cover of Metro this month. In her interview with Ramil Gulle, which you can read on her blog, Sharon talks about the early days of her career, the secret habit she had for years, struggling with single motherhood, her daughter KC, and a new chapter in her life as a student. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

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Can you guess these correctly?
1. Hugis ay bituin, papel na nagniningning. (Star-shaped paper that shines.)
2. Binatak ko ang isa, tatlo pa ang sumama. (I pulled one, three others came with it.)
3. Walang ulo, walang isip parang isda kung sumisid; gayong wala ni palikpik, kay haba ng naliligid. (It has no head. It has no mind. It’s like a fish that dives. It has no fins, yet it goes a long way.)
4. Kung di lamang sa bibig ko, ay nagutom ang barbero. (If not for my mouth, the barber would go hungry.)
5. Isang balong malalim, punung-puno ng patalim. (One deep …read more

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This will be my last post about the Estrada pardon. I am tired and emotionally drained. I’m still unable to fathom the decision to pardon a convicted plunderer of millions. The news that thousands of Erap’s supporters welcomed him home saddened me. These are the same people that Erap stole from.
Consider this :
Social Security System (SSS)
1998 – Carlos Arellano, a childhood friend of Estrada, was appointed chairman and president of the SSS.
October 21, 1999 – Upon Estrada’s instruction, Arellano bought P900 million ($20 million) worth of Belle Corporation stock without authorization from the SSS investment committee.
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)
October …read more

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This headline by the Philippine Daily Inquirer may explain it:

Arroyo was finally acknowledged by Erap that she is THE president, not him.
The irony of it all is that, after accepting the presidential pardon, Erap still insisted that he is innocent.

“I may have committed mistakes in my career in public service, but I assure you corruption is not one of them,” Estrada said at San Juan City Hall to the cheers of some 3,000 supporters who welcomed him home.

How can he accept pardon for something that he continues to insist he never committed?
via Inquirer
Tags: Joseph Estrada, Erap, plunder conviction, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, …read more

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Former President Fidel Ramos:

“a terrible, terrible calamity to the great, great, great majority of the Filipino people who have suffered from the plunder.”

Sen. Richard Gordon:

“I am revolted by the whole scenario … I am not questioning her right to pardon but I am questioning her responsibility.”

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan:

“It is highly questionable and inappropriate for the Arroyo administration to go into a mad rush to grant the pardon just as her government faces all these serious charges of corruption and bribery”

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In all my time writing here at Filipina Soul, nothing, and I mean NOTHING!, has made my blood boil as this news of Estrada’s pardon. It is an embarrassment! A mockery! A !?!@?!?@@! There are not enough words for it!
Just weeks after his conviction, President Arroyo does the unthinkable and sets this thief free. In case you haven’t noticed, Madame President, Erap was found GUILTY by the Sandiganbayan! What of their work now? Don’t you have any respect for the justice system? You have stolen the Filipino’s sense of pride and trust that the legal system works. So now, all …read more

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As “Heroes of the Environment”, he is in the same list as Al Gore, Prince Charles and Mikhail Gorbachev.

VON HERNANDEZ – former literature professor, activist, environmentalist, and Greenpeace campaign director for Southeast Asia.
Hernandez is one of Asia’s leading activists against waste incineration. Instead he advocates the effective, polluatant-free technology that is recyling and recomposting of the mountains of trash across the Philippines.

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You have got to be kidding me!!!
ABS-CBN/Agence France Presse just reported that former President Joseph Estrada may just be granted a Presidential pardon by Friday. A unnamed source from Erap’s camp disclosed this today, October 25.
So just wait a minute here. What was all that hoopla that the Sandiganbayan went through for six long years?! Estrada was found guilty of plunder, charged with life sentence, required to return about PhP400M back to the government, and sequestring all his properties. Plus the Court ordered the arrest of all his co-defendants in the case.
So, was the plunder case just a show? And …read more

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Lea Salonga’s run as Fantine in Broadway’s production of Les Miserables has ended. With the last show, Lea has said goodbye to the part she has called “the role of a lifetime”. We’d like to congratulate Lea for her successful time as Fantine! You can read her sentiments on her blog.
Lea did this interview with Broadway Beat about 7 months ago, when she was just starting on the show. You can see it here, along with some clips of her performance:

So what’s next for Lea?

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