Top 12 Wins of Team Philippines at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games

1. Mary Joy tabal giving the Philippines its first gold medal in the 2017 SEA Games even though she had some previous conflicts prior to joining the Philippine Team.
2. Eumir Marcial and John Marvin winning boxing with the former having an injured left hand and the latter winning on the fastest win in boxing which was winning in 21 seconds.
3. Filipino triathletes, Niko Huelgas and John Chicano taking home the gold medal and the silver medal which also happened in the distaff or the women's division, Kim Mangrobang winning the gold medal and Claire Adorna taking home the silver medal.
4. Mariya Takahashi, a 16-year old teenager upsetting Surattana Thongsri of Thailand who was the undefeated champion in the women's division under -70 kilogram category. Mariya Takahashi ended the reign of Surattana Thongsri by taking home the gold medal from winning by ippon in 48 seconds.
5. The Mighty Ducks is the name of the Philippine Ice Hockey Team and they won in their SEA Games debut since this was the first time that ice hockey was included in the Southeast Asian Games. They scored 5-4 against Thailand winning the first place and they were just formed two years ago to become the pioneer ice hockey team for the Philippines.
6. Trenton Beram contributing not just one but TWO gold medals for Team Philippines making him the only double-gold medal winner in Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games. He won his first medal when he finished the 200-metre dash in the men's division in 20.84 seconds. He was assigned on a strange lane, lane number 7 which was a difficult lane, assignment the following day after he won and struggled with cramps and still won the men's division of the the 400-metre race and finished in 46.39 seconds.
7. Chezka Centeno and Rubilen Amit, female players for the billiards, winning the gold medal and silver medal in the 9-ball billiards championship match.
8. Kaitlin De Guzman, a 17-year old female gymnast, winning the gold medal in the same event where her mother won in the 1995 Chiang Mai Games. She brought home the gold medal in the uneven bars event and also won a silver medal in the floor exercise and a bronze medal in the balance beam event.
9. Gilas Pilipinas proving their basketball expertise by winning the 18th gold medal for the Philippines with a score of 94-55 against Team Indonesia.
10. John Colin Syquia, an unknown 46-year old equestrian rider, winning the gold medal in the individual showjumping competition at the 3Q Equestrian Center in Rawang, Malaysia. He won together with his mount named "Adventure E" surviving a 36-hour travel from Florida to New York to Amsterdam to Baku giving the Philippines its 23rd gold medal which was also the first gold medal in equestrian event since the 2011 Palembang Biennial. It was his first time to compete in the Southeast Asian Games.
11. Eric Cray, a Fil-Am track and field athlete, giving the Philippines its 8th gold medal by winning the gold medal in the 400-metre hurdles event of the men's division with a time of 50.03 seconds and also winning the silver medal with a time of 10.43 seconds in the 100-metre finals of the men's division an hour after his gold medal win.
12. The trio of Taekwondo jins, Dustin Mella, Rafael Mella, and Rodolfo Reyes, Jr. winning the men's division of the team poomsae event in the Taekwondo competition held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. They won with a score of 8.40 and their victory was the third victory in the same event for the Taekwondo Team Philippines since winning in the 2013 SEA Games. It was also the trio's second straight win and the third win for the Mella brothers.

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPegS0XicUQ
http://sports.tv5.com.ph/summitseagames/article/the-top-10-moments-for-team-philippines-at-the-2017-southeast-asian-games

12 Trivia Facts About Anacleto Del Rosario

1. Anacleto del Rosario was born on 13 July 1860 at Santa Cruz, Manila.
2. He died on 2 May 1895 at the age of 34 years old due to Tuberculosis.
3. His father was Eugenio del Rosario and his mother was Casimira Sales.
4. His spouse was Valeriana Valdexco to whom he had a son, Jose Luis Rossessed
5. He obtained his pharmacy degree from the University of Santo Tomas in 1882.
6. He was regarded as the "Father of Philippine Science and Laboratory"
7. He was a leading pharmacist and chemist during the Spanish period. 
8. He founded the Botica San Fernando in Binondo and the College of Pharmacists. 
9. On 6 August 1881, he was appointed by the government to the Commission with the task of studying mineral waters of the Philippines.
10. On 10 March 1885, he was named Municipal Pharmacist for the North District of Binondo.
11. He invented the formula for producing a pure kind of alcohol from tuba in a nipa palm which won for him the first prize during the World Fair in Paris, France in 1881. 
12. Del Rosario extracted castor oil from the palma christi, literally the "palm of Christ" (castor bean) which is a native plant in the Philippines.

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ud5WGCQ0yI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anacleto_del_Rosario
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/ulatfilipino/491858/bakit-tanyag-si-anacleto-del-rosario-noong-sakop-ng-mga-kastila-ang-pilipinas/story/
https://firstfilipino.blogspot.com/2007/07/anacleto-del-rosario.html
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/704738/did-you-know-433
http://philippinefathers.blogspot.com/2007/07/anacleto-del-rosario.html
https://www.geni.com/people/Anacleto-Del-Rosario/6000000011619843682

12 Trivia Facts About David Nepomuceno

Photo from Rainier Virginio

1. David Nepomuceno was born on 9 May 1900.
2. David Nepomuceno was dominant in an era when the metric system was replacing the old imperial yard system and he ranked among the top 10 in the world in the 1920s including his fellow, the first great Filipino sprinter, Fortunato Catalon, dominating the 100 yards (91 metres) and 220 yards (201.1 metres) and 1925 100 metres.
3. David Nepomuceno was the first Filipino to compete in the Olympics and the lone representative of the Philippines at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
4. Together with his coach Regino Ylanan, the founder of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the Philippines, Nepomuceno carried our flag proudly during the opening ceremonies in the 45,000-seat Stade Olympique de Colombes - the same venue of the 1938 World Cup final.
5. David Nepomuceno ran the 100 meters in 1925 in only two-tenths of a second short of the then-world record.
6. The reason behind the entry of the Philippines in the Olympics is not clear but it is likely that the IOC (International Olympic Committee) or the American colonial officials decided to admit the Philippines in order to expand the Asian presence in the quadrennial event. 
7. The Men's 100 Meters was Nepomuceno's first event where he was slated to run in the fifth heat with the likes of Henricus Broos of the Netherlands, George Dunston of South Africa, Antonin Svoboda of Czechoslovakia, Poul Schiang of Denmark and Jose-Maria Larrabeti of Spain. Unfortunately, he finished dead last and both Broos and Dunston qualified to the next round. In the end, it was British Harold Abrahams who won gold at an Olympic record time of 10.6 seconds followed by American Jackson Scholz for silver at 10.7 seconds and Kiwi Arthur Porritt for bronze at 10.8. Interestingly, that race was depicted in the Academy Award-winning 1981 British historical drama "Chariots of Fire."
8. David Nepomuceno was then slated to run against home town favorite Maurice Degrelle and Dutchman Marinus van den Berge in Heat 15 of the Men's 200 Meters but he was not able to progress as Degrelle topped the race at 22.6 seconds. In what was expected to be a highly-anticipated rematch between American Scholz and British Abrahams in the final became an anticlimactic finish as Scholz ran away with the gold medal at an Olympic record time of 21.6 seconds followed by compatriot Charles Paddock for the silver at 21.7 seconds and British Eric Lidell for the bronze at 21.9 seconds. Abrahams finished dead last at 22.3 seconds.
9. David Nepomuceno went on to the 1925 Manila Far Eastern Games winning the Gold in the 200-meter dash and the Silver in the 100-meter dash. 
10. David Nepomuceno managed to win the Men's 100 Meter gold in the 1927 Games in Shanghai but failed to defend his Men's 200 Meters Straight gold as he slid to bronze as rising sprint star Anselmo Gonzaga took the gold and Japanese Takayoshi Yoshioka settled for the silver.
11. David Nepomuceno served in the Philippine Scouts and the United States Navy.
12. David Nepomuceno died on 27 September 1939.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nepomuceno
https://www.olympic.org/david-nepomuceno
http://pinoyathletics.info/2014/07/david-nepomuceno-first-filipino-to-compete-in-olympics/
http://sports.abs-cbn.com/generalsports/news/2016/08/07/flashback-first-pinoy-olympians-bemedalled-14095
http://www.istoryadista.net/2016/08/finding-david-first-filipino-olympian.html
https://www.philathletics.org/athletics-history
https://youtu.be/CSav51fVlKU

12 Firsts of Elton John

1. “Your Song,” released in 1968,  was John’s first top ten single in the U.S. It was the first of more than 50 top-40 hits.
2. In 1969, John provided piano for Roger Hodgson on his first released single, "Mr. Boyd" by Argosy, a quartet that was completed by Caleb Quaye and Nigel Olsson.
3. Backed by former Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, Elton John's first American concert took place at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in August 1970, and was a success.
4. Released in 1972, Honky Château became John's first US number one album, spending five weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, and began a streak of seven consecutive US number one albums.
5. The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and reached number one in the UK, the US, Australia among others which produced the hits "Crocodile Rock", his first US Billboard Hot 100 number one, and "Daniel"; number two US, number four UK.
6. Collaborated with Kiki Dee at Cherokee Studios for a duet "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" in 1976. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was also his first No. 1 single in the United Kingdom, topping the chart for six weeks in mid 1976. This also became his sixth No. 1 single in the United States, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.
7. In 1979, accompanied by Ray Cooper, Elton John became one of the first Western artists to tour the Soviet Union, as well as one of the first in Israel.
8. 1995: Winner of the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution. Having previously won the award in 1986, he became the first person to win the award twice as a solo artist, a record which still stands in 2008.
9. In 1990, he achieved his first solo UK number one hit single, with "Sacrifice" (coupled with "Healing Hands") from the previous year's album Sleeping with the Past; it would stay at the top spot for six weeks.
10. He performed his first and only concert in Puerto Rico in the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot on April 28, 2007.
11. On 3 February 2012, Elton John visited Costa Rica for the first time when he performed at the recently built National Stadium.
12. In September 2013, John received the first Brits Icon Award for his "lasting impact" on UK Culture.

References:

http://m.imdb.com/name/nm0005056/trivia

http://lancasteronline.com/features/entertainment/tuesday-trivia-things-to-know-about-elton-john/article_19a535c2-b392-11e3-838b-001a4bcf6878.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John

Ronda Rousey's Firsts

1. First Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Women's Bantamweight Champion as well as the last Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion. 
   
2. First U.S. woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo at the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008 since its inception as an Olympic sport in 1992.
3. First female U.S. judoka in nearly 10 years to win an A-Level tournament as she went 5-0 to claim gold at the Birmingham World Cup in Great Britain.
4. First U.S. athlete ever to win two Junior World Judo Championship medals. 
   
5. First female fighter to sign with the UFC, in November 2012
6. First female UFC Champion
7. First Olympic medalist to hold a UFC title
8. First feature film role was the 2014 film The Expendables 3. 
   
9. First One-punch knockout win in UFC Women's Bantamweight division history versus Bethe Correia at UFC 190
10. First female athlete to guest host ESPN's SportsCenter on October 2015
11. First woman featured on the cover of Australian Men's Fitness, appearing on their November 2015 edition.
12. First loss of Rousey's MMA career was when she suffered a major upset when she failed to defend her supposed-to-be seventh bantamweight title during her fight with Holly Holm who knocked her out at 0:59 of the second round at UFC 193 on 14 November 2015 but she was still awarded a Fight of the Night bonus award.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronda_Rousey

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/15/holly-holm-stuns-ronda-rousey-for-ufc-womens-bantamweight-title

http://www.ufc.com/fighter/Ronda-Rousey

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/08/5-moments-that-made-ronda-rousey-the-most-dominant-fighter-in-ufc

First Dismissed Sandiganbayan Justice

1. Ong is the first Sandiganbayan justice dismissed by the high court. Prior to Ong, the anti-graft court indefinitely suspended Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena in 2001.
2. Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Gregory S. Ong was dismissed on 23 September 2014 by the Supreme Court (SC) for “gross misconduct, dishonesty and impropriety” over his links to the alleged pork-barrel scam architect Janet Lim-Napoles.
3. This was the second offense committed by Ong. In 2011, the SC ruled with finality that Ong had committed conduct unbecoming of justices when he and two other Sandiganbayan justices mishandlled the trial of cases in Davao City in April 2006. Assistant Prosecutor Rohermia Jamsani-Rodriguez had alleged that the anti-graft court's Fourth Division simultaneously heard two cases together, with Ong hearing one case by himself, while the two other magistrates heard the other. The Sandiganbayan's Fourth Division compromised their ability to function as a collegial body when its three members heard two cases simultaneously, the Supreme Court said in its ruling.
4. Ong's dismissal came with the "forfeiture of all retirement benefits, except accrued leave benefits, if any, and with prejudice to reemployment in any branch, agency or instrumentality of the government including government-owned and controlled corporation." The SC said its decision was "immediately executory."
5. Ong was born on 25 May 1953 in San Juan City, Manila. He finished elementary and high school education at the Philippine Chinese Chen Kuang (1966) and at the Jose Rizal College (with honors, 1970), respectively. He earned his AB Political Science degree at Far Eastern University (1975), and his Bachelor of Laws at San Beda College of Law (1979), where he became Grand Judex of Lex Talionis Fraternitas. He passed the 1979 Philippine Bar Examination with a bar rating of 76.45%. He studied Master of Laws at the Manuel L. Quezon University (1992).
6. Ong was the most senior associate justice of the Sandiganbayan or the longest-sitting justice of the anti-graft court. Ong was appointed associate justice and the chair of the fourth division of the Sandiganbayan by former president and Manila City mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada on 5 October 1998, making him the longest sitting justice. He was scheduled to retire 25 May 2023 when he reaches 70.
7. He was promoted as SC justice on 16 May 2007 during the Arroyo administration but it was withdrawn after his citizenship was questioned. Since the creation of the Philippine Supreme Court in 1901, no presidential appointment of a Supreme Court Associate had ever been nullified by the High Tribunal. But on 3 July 2007 the Adolfo Azcuna judgment made history. The Court granted the petition of two foundations that sought to block Ong’s appointment over the citizenship issue. Azcuna wrote that Ong would be unable to join them on the bench "until he had proven in court that he was a natural-born Filipino citizen and corrected the records of his birth and citizenship". The court declared its decision to be final and effective immediately.
8. Ong was the seventh richest associate justice in the Sandiganbayan with a net worth of P16 million, according to his 2014 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
9. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno ordered an investigation against Ong after Benhur Luy and Marina Sula, whistleblowers in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, accused the anti-graft court justice as the contact of Janet Lim-Napoles, alleged mastermind in the fund anomaly.
10. Ong, was the chairman of the Sandiganbayan's Fourth Division, who allegedly fixed the 2010 decision that acquitted Napoles and her husband, Jaime, over the anomalous sale of 500 Kevlar helmets to the Philippine Marines in 1998.
11. Napoles, currently detained on illegal detention charges and is facing separate graft and plunder charges, is accused of using bogus non-government organizations to misuse lawmakers' Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the formal name of pork barrel. 
12. Voting 8-5-2 or eight in favor of Ong’s dismissal, five against and two abstentions, the high court in a per curiam (by the court) decision said: The “totality of the circumstances of such association strongly indicates (Ong’s) corrupt inclinations that only heightened the public’s perception of anomaly in the decision making process.”

Those who voted for Ong’s dismissal were:
* Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno,
* Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio,
* Associate Justices Arturo Brion,
* Mariano Del Castillo,
* Martin Villarama Jr.,
* Estella Perlas-Bernabe,
* Marvic Leonen,
* and Francis Jardeleza.
Those who dissented were:
* Associate Justices Lucas Bersamin,
* Presbitero Velasco,
* Jose Perez,
* Jose Mendoza, and
* Bienvenido Reyes.
Out of the 15 SC magistrates, two justices have abstained from the case — Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Diosdado Peralta — former colleagues of Ong in the anti-graft court or the Sandiganbayan.

References:

Sandiganbayan Justice Ong resigns
Palace lauds SC decision vs Ong
Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong dismissed over Napoles link
Sandigan Justice Ong dismissed
Who is Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Gregory Ong?
Gregory S. Ong

Martial Law in the Philippines

Proclamation No. 1081 read in part:

“ My countrymen, as of the twenty-first of this month, I signed Proclamation № 1081 placing the entire Philippines under Martial Law... ”
— Ferdinand Marcos, September 21, 1972

1. Martial law in the Philippines (Tagalog: Batas Militar sa Pilipinas; Spanish: ley marcial en Filipinas) refers to several intermittent periods in Philippine history wherein the Philippine head of state (such as the President) proclaims that an area is placed under the control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Martial law is declared either when there is near-violent civil unrest or in cases of major natural disasters, however most countries use a different legal construct like "state of emergency".
2. Typically, the imposition of martial law accompanies curfews, the suspension of civil law, civil rights, habeas corpus, and the application or extension of military law or military justice to civilians. Civilians defying martial law may be subjected to military tribunals (court-martial).
3. On 30 August 1896, Spanish Governor-General Ramón Blanco, 1st Marquis of Peña Plata, declared "state of war" in the provinces of Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Tarlac, Laguna, Batangas, and Nueva Ecija and place them under martial law.
4. On 23 June 1898, another decree signed by Emilio Aguinaldo was issued, replacing the Dictatorial Government with a Revolutionary Government, with himself as President.
5. On 22 September 1944, martial law came into effect when President José P. Laurel of the wartime Second Philippine Republic (puppet-government under Japan) placed the Philippines under martial law in 1944 through Proclamation No. 29, dated 21 September 1944.  Proclamation No. 30 was issued the next day, declaring the existence of a state of war between the Philippines and the US and Great Britain. This took effect on 23 September 1944.
6. On 21 September 1972, but it was actually signed on 17 September 1972 by President Ferdinand Marcos. The formal announcement of the proclamation was made only at seven-thirty in the evening of 23 September 1972, about twenty-two hours after he had commanded his military collaborators to start arresting his political opponents and close down all media and retail (fashion, food, religious, sports) establishments.
7. Proclamation № 1081 was the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. It became effective throughout the entire country on 21 September 1972, and was announced to the public two days later. It was formally lifted on 17 January 1981—six months before the first presidential election in the Philippines in twelve years.
8. Under the pretext of an assassination of then-Defence Secretary (now Senator) Juan Ponce Enrile and an ensuing Communist insurgency, President Marcos enacted the Proclamation that he might be able to rule by military power.
9. He initially signed the Proclamation on 17 September 1972, but it was postdated to 21 September 1972 because of Marcos' superstitions and numerological beliefs. Marcos formally announced the Proclamation in a live television and radio broadcast from Malacañang Palace a further two days later on the evening of 23 September 1972.
10. The following year, President Marcos replaced the 1935 Constitution with a new one that changed the system of government from a presidential to a parliamentary one, with himself remaining in power as both head of state (with the title "President") and head of government (titled "Prime Minister"). President Marcos also manipulated elections and had his political coalition–the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL; English: New Society Movement)–control the unicameral legislature he created, known as the Batasang Pambansa.
11. President Marcos formally lifted Martial Law on 17 January 1981, several weeks before the first pastoral visit of Pope John Paul II to the Philippines for the beatification of Lorenzo Ruiz.
12. On 4 December 2009, in the wake of the Maguindanao massacre, Macapagal-Arroyo placed Maguindanao province under a state of martial law, through Proclamation No. 1959. The declaration also suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the province. The announcement was made days after hundreds of government troops were sent to the province, which would later raid armories of the powerful Ampatuan clan. The Ampatuan family was implicated in the massacre, which saw the murder of 57 persons, including women members of the rival Mangudadatu clan, human rights lawyers, and 31 media workers. This was considered the worst incident of political violence in the nation's history. It has also been condemned worldwide as the worst loss of life of media professionals in one day in the history of journalism. Macapagal-Arroyo lifted the state of martial law in Maguindanao on 12 December 2009.

References:

Proclamation No. 1081
Martial law in the Philippines

Speedy Flash - Beauty of Nature 2

First new snail -- Speedy Flash ...

Shots taken using Alcatel One Touch 918N

Apolinario Mabini 150 Years

In celebration of the birth sesquicentennial of Apolinario Mabini, here are some legacies about him.

1. The house where Mabini died is now located in the campus of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Santa Mesa, Manila, having been moved twice. The simple nipa retains the original furniture, and some of the books he wrote, and also contains souvenir items, while hosting the municipal library and reading facilities.
2. Mabini was buried in his town of birth - what is now Talaga, Tanauan City, Batangas. A replica of the house Mabini was born in was also constructed on the site, and also contains memorabilia.
3. Mabini's face adorns the Philippine Ten peso bill in 1998, along with that of Andrés Bonifacio, and the pair has been featured on the 10-peso coin since 2000.
4. Four Philippine municipalities are named after Mabini: Mabini, Batangas; Mabini, Bohol; Mabini, Compostela Valley, and Mabini, Pangasinan.
5. The Philippine Navy's Jacinto class corvette, BRP Apolinario Mabini (PS-36) which was acquired in 1997, is also named after Mabini.
6. Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR), an expressway that connect the province of Batangas to the SLEX, was renamed Apolinario Mabini Superhighway in 2007 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act 9462.
7. Apolinario Mabini Bridge, formerly known as Nagtahan Bridge in the City of Manila, was renamed in his honor in 1967 by President Ferdinand Marcos through Proclamation No. 234.
8. There is a reef called the Mabini Reef which is also known as the Johnson South Reef located in the Spratlys Islands at the West Philippine Sea.
9. At least 6 national roads, 19 streets in Metro Manila, 5 health facilities, 80 elementary and secondary schools, and 3 colleges nationwide have Mabini in their names.
10. The Apolinario Mabini Award is a prestigious national award given by the President of the Republic of the Philippines  to Persons with Disabilities (PWD) whose work and accomplishments in the last five years promote the human rights and dignity of Filipinos with disability.
11. In 2013, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, through the College of Communication, launched its first media recognition called the PUP Mabini Media Awards. With over 40 categories in five media flat forms – television, radio, print, advertising and online media –the award giving body commends outstanding programs and individuals in the said fields.
12. Established in 2003 pursuant to Executive Order No. 236, or The Honors Code of the Philippines, the Gawad Mabini is conferred upon DFA personnel and Filipinos who have rendered distinguished service and promoted the interests of the Philippines at home and overseas.

Screenshot from http://www.gov.ph/mabini150/

References:

Biography of Apolinario Mabini 
Kabataan at Edukasyon ni Apolinario Mabini
July 23 2014 declared a holiday in Batangas
2014 IS THE BIRTH SESQUICENTENNIAL OF APOLINARIO MABINI JULY 23, 1864 - MAY 13, 1903
Apolinario Mabini From Wikipedia
Lodges Form Regional Grand Council
Author Topic: 107th Death Anniversary of Apolinario Mabini  (Read 1011 times)
The Origin of Mabini Pangasinan
FAST FACTS: The life and legacy of Apolinario Mabini
Top 5 Historical Places in Manila
APOLINARIO MABINI AWARDS FOR 2013
PNoy Confers Apolinario Mabini Award to Visually Impaired Zamboangueño
DFA confers Mabini awards on 16 diplomats 
1st PUP Mabini Media Awards: Grateful to be recognized as Best Blog by the PUP students

2014 PBA Grand Slam

12 Things about the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Grand Slam

1. The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of ten company-branded franchised teams. It was the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the second oldest in the world after the NBA. The league's regulations are a hybrid of rules from FIBA and the NBA. The league played its first game at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on April 9, 1975.
2. Grand Slam in the Philippine Basketball Association(PBA) refers to a PBA team who has won Four straight conferences (tournaments) in a single season.
3. The 2000–2009 decade is the first decade where there would be no grand slam winner partly due to the adjustments in the league calendar starting with the 2004-05 season wherein the start of the season was moved from January to October and the reduction of the conferences per season from three to two but the three-conference season format was reinstated in the 2010-11 season.
4. Four teams and four coaches have already achieved the Grand Slam feat.
5. The Crispa Redmanizers, owned by P. Floro and Sons, Inc., played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1975 to 1984 and was one of the nine founding teams of the PBA and it held a total of thirteen PBA championships and were the first & second grand slam winners in the league.
6. San Miguel franchise is owned by San Miguel Corporation (SMC) since 1975 and holds the most number of PBA titles (currently at 19) and they have achieved the PBA's third grand slam in 1989 and it is one of three PBA ball clubs owned by the SMC group of companies, along with the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. It is also the only remaining original franchise in the PBA (the team was then known as the Royal True Orangemen) when it opened in 1975.
7. The Alaska Aces, owned by Alaska Milk Corporation, played since 1986 and the owner of 14 PBA championships with the 2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup as their latest. The Aces won nine PBA championships in the 1990s and became the fourth PBA team to have won the rare grand slam (winning three championships in one season) during the 1996 season.
8. On July 9, 2014, San Mig Coffee Mixers got their first ever Grand Slam feat.This was also the second Grandslam of Coach Tim Cone since the Alaska in 1996.
9. The San Mig Super Coffee Mixers is owned by the San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc. (formerly, Pure Foods Corporation), a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and is one of three PBA ball clubs currently owned by the SMC group of companies, along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and the San Miguel Beermen. Known for its first two-decades as Purefoods, after their 10th championship, was renamed as San Mig Super Coffee Mixers and became the fourth team in PBA history to win the Grand Slam in the 2013-14 season, after 18 years, under the mentoring of the "winningest coach," Tim Cone.
10. The defunct first and second grand slam winning team, Crispa Redmanizers, still holds the most consecutive wins in a conference which is 19 during the  1980 All-Filipino Conference.
11. Tim Cone clinched his 18th title in the recent match between San Mig Coffee Mixers (formerly Purefoods) and Rain or Shine, also made history by being the first coach to win two Grand Slams after he steered San Mig Coffee to pull off a historic Grand Slam and a fourth straight championship in the 2014 Governors’ Cup.
12. Additionally, eight (8) PBA teams known as "The Pretenders" are teams who have won the first two conferences but were beaten on the last tournament.

References:

PBA Official Website
Philippine Basketball Association
List of Philippine Basketball Association champions
Philippine Basketball Association records
Grand Slam (PBA)
Baby Dalupan
Tim Cone
Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
Crispa Redmanizers
San Miguel Beermen
Alaska Aces (PBA)
San Mig Super Coffee Mixers
SAN MIG SUPER COFFEE NAILS GOVS’ CUP, COVETED GRAND SLAM
San Miguel–Purefoods rivalry
San Mig Super Coffee Mixers, the PBA’s unlikely Grand Slam Champions
San Mig Coffee marches into history with Grand Slam feat
Tim Cone and the San Mig Grand Slam — How once in a lifetime happened twice
Rare 4-peat, rare grand slam: San Mig completes epic tale
Why Tim Cone and Norman Black can coach in the PBA and how Rajko Toroman can too

12 Notable First Filipino-Americans

Today is the 68th anniversary of the July 4, 1946 U.S. grant of independence to the Philippines which is now celebrated as ‘Filipino-American Friendship Day.’

In celebration of this former holiday, this post is about notable Filipino-Americans or Fil-Ams that became first in the field of education, journalism, culinary arts, car racing, military, religion, basketball, television and film.

1. Baldomero Olivera, Ph.D. -

   

   http://www.hhmi.org/scientists/baldomero-m-olivera

   (born 1941) Distinguished Professor of Biology, University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah; first Fil-Am member of the United States National Academy of Sciences; known for his contribution to the growth of molecular biology and biotechnology; 2007 Harvard University Scientist of the Year.
2. Emil Guillermo -

   

   http://past.naaapconvention.org/2010/Programming/Speakers/SaturdaySpeakers.aspx

   Award winning journalist, writer, and broadcaster. First Filipino American to anchor a regularly scheduled national news program, NPR "All Things Considered," May 1989. Winner of American Book Award, 2000.
3. Cristeta Comerford -

   

   http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/iron-chef-america/chef-cristeta-comerford.html

   (born 1962) Cristeta Pasia Comerford (born 1962) is a Filipino-American chef who has been the White House Executive Chef since 2005. She is the first woman to be selected for the post, and also the first of Asian descent.
4. Don Pastor - 

   

   http://donpastor18.wix.com/donpastorracing#!about-and-career-highlights-/ctuv

   (born 16 December 1985) First Filipino American driver admitted to compete in Euro National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the European expansion of the popular US-based series. He was named Philippine Driver of the Year in 2010 and has won the 2012 Global Time Attack race held in Buttonwillow, California. First Filipino BMW scholar in Europe-Spain and Asian Formula BMW F1 Junior program. Don Pastor was also dubbed as the "Don of Racing".
5. Cary C. Chun - 

   

   http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/108464/brigadier-general-cary-c-chun.aspx

   (born 23 August 1963) Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force, retired. Former Commander, 50th Space Wing, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. First U.S. Air Force General Officer of Filipino descent.
6. Eleanor Mariano -

   

   http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/08/26/presidents-as-patients-an-interview-with-dr-connie-mariano/

   Rear Admiral (Lower Half), U.S. Navy, retired. First Filipino American to be promoted to a flag officer rank; the first Filipino American in US history to become a Navy Rear Admiral; former White House physician; the first military woman to become the White House Physician to the President; the first woman Director of the White House Medical Unit
7. Edward Soriano -

   

   http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Soriano.jpg

   (born 12 November 1946) Lieutenant General U.S. Army, retired. Former Commanding General of I Corps, Lieutenant General Edward Soriano  is the highest-ranking Filipino American officer to have served in the United States military, and the first Filipino American to become a three-star general.
8. Oscar A. Solis - 
   

   

   http://www.la-archdiocese.org/regions/sp/BishopSolis/Pages/default.aspx

   (born on 13 October 1953) First Filipino American Roman Catholic bishop in the United States; Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles. Bishop Oscar Solis is the Auxiliary Bishop of the San Pedro Pastoral Region, one of the five Pastoral Regions in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop in 2009.  Ordained a Priest in 1979, he has been serving the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for over thirty years.
9. Bruce Reyes-Chow –

   

   http://www.reyes-chow.com/discover/

   (born 3 May 1969) The first Filipino American head of a major denomination in the U.S. (mother is American-born Filipino), was elected to a two-year term as Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on June 21, 2008. 
10. Raymond Townsend -
    
    (born 20 December 1955) The first Filipino-American and the first Asian American ever to be drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft [the first Asian American ever to be drafted was Wataru Misaka in 1947 but he was not drafted in the first round]. He was selected with the last pick (22nd overall) in the first round of the 1978 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. He averaged 4.8 pts.,1.0 rebs. and 1.4 assts. per game during his 3 year tenure in the NBA. He played two seasons with the Warriors and wrapped his NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. In 1980, Townsend and several NBA players (Jamaal Wilkes, Cliff Ray, Derrek Dickey and Greg Lee) toured the Philippines and played a series of exhibitions in Manila, Olongapo and Cebu. He left the NBA in 1981 after a short stint with the Indiana Pacers and went overseas to extend his basketball career by playing in Italy for Banco Roma during the 1984-85 season.
11. Robert Lopez - 

    

    Add cahttp://www.broadway.com/buzz/174780/frozen-composer-robert-lopez-is-crowned-the-12th-member-of-the-egot-club-check-out-his-grand-prize/ption

    (born 23 February 1975) Lopez is the winner of three Tony Awards (for Avenue Q in 2004 and The Book of Mormon in 2011), a Grammy (for The Book of Mormon cast album) and two daytime Emmy Awards (for Wonder Pets in 2008 and 2010). He is the youngest member of the EGOT club which is an elite group of artists who have won the grand slam of entertainment industry awards – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, and he achieved it in less than 10 years. According to Hollywood-based Filipino journalist Ruben V. Nepales, Lopez is the first Filipino-American to win an Oscar.
12. Pia Clemente - 

    

    http://www1.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=51418

    The first Filipino to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award for the live action short, "Our Time Is Up". (2004); is a producer. She was a line producer for The Debut which was the first major Filipino American film to be shown in national theaters.[1] In 2005, she was nominated for an Oscar in Our Time is Up in the live action short film category, though she did not win. Clemente is the first Filipino American nominated for an Oscar.

References:

Filipino American
Philippine Republic Day
Fil-Ams call for July 4 rallies for TPS relief for Filipinos
Marker unveiled for Phil-Am Day
Republic Day (Philippines)
27 Filipinos Who Make You Proud To Be Pinoy
16 Famous Filipino-Americans
List of Filipino American athletes
Americans of Filipino Descent - FAQs
Filipino American History
Early Images of Filipinos in America - External Collections  
Baldomero Olivera
Baldomero Olivera WikiPilipinas
Baldomero M. Olivera, PhD HHMI Professor / 2006–Present
Dr. Baldomero Olivera's Words to Ponder On 
Emil Guillermo
AMOK.COM ---Emil Guillermo on race, politics and diversity.
The slow death of freedom, democracy, and journalism
About Amok
Cristeta Comerford
First Filipina White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford featured at CNN Talk Asia (September 2010)
Don Pastor
DON PASTOR - Started in Motorsports in 2000 and raced 14 years of his young career, he achieved...
NASCAR Welcomes First Filipino American Driver
edward-soriano
Cary C. Chun
BRIGADIER GENERAL CARY C. CHUN
Eleanor Mariano
The White House Doctor
Presidents As Patients: An Interview With Dr. Connie Mariano
Edward Soriano
In Post-911 America, a Filipino general became a symbol of integrity
LTG Edward Soriano
I Corps (United States)
List of commanders of I Corps (United States)
General officer
New commander at Fort Lewis, Army's highest-ranking Filipino
Commanders of Fort Lewis
Oscar A. Solis
Bishop Oscar Azarcon Solis Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, California
Filipino American Bishop Is the First
Diocese and Bishop Addresses Bishop Solis
Bruce Reyes-Chow
Bruce Reyes-Chow WEBSITE
Raymond Townsend
Filipinos in the NBA 
Raymond Townsend: first Filipino in the NBA
Robert Lopez
Robert Lopez could be first Fil-Am to win an Oscar award
Fil-Am Robert Lopez wins Oscar for 'Let It Go'
Will Frozen Composer Robert Lopez Become the Record-Breaking 12th Member of the EGOT Club? 
Frozen Composer Robert Lopez Is Crowned the 12th Member of the EGOT Club! Check Out His Grand Prize 
Oscars: Robert Lopez breaks an EGOT record with best song win
Oscars: Philippines Celebrates Robert Lopez's 'Let It Go' Win
Pia Clemente
Pia Clemente IMDB
Pia Clemente '89 Nominated for Oscar
The Talented Miss Clemente
Screen Cuisine Shorts
First Filipina Oscar Nominee, 2006 

Administrative Officer Exam of DOH

I took the Administrative Officer exam at DOH and these are some of the items I remembered during the untimed exam. I only remembered keywords and I believe you are either a former Administrative Officer with sufficient development trainings or an "insider" who knows the ins and outs of the agency in order to pass with flying colors.

I do not have any idea if these are the same set of questions given before for previous applicants but this is an essay-type of written exam with 18 items of different points for a total of 100 points as perfect score.

• Part I

1. Vision and Mission
2. What is "Kalusugan Pangkalahatan" and its goals
3. What can you contribute for the thrust, goals and objectives
4. Government employees' values adopted by Department of Health
5. How can you apply customer focus as an Administrative Officer IV?
6. Value of professionalism
7. E-government and examples
8. Matching type, 5 items but I only remembered RA 7305 and RA 6713

• Part II

1. What is Office Administration? What is an Administrative Officer? Functions of Administrative Officer IV? Customers of Administrative Officer IV in the Department of Health?
2. Explain PDCA Cycle of Management and Management Tools for planning, implementation & monitoring. No Gantt Chart to be use.
3. Examples of grave offenses and less grave offenses
4. Processes of Management Support Division

Pre-Qualifying Exam of DILG

This is not a post that shows sample tests about the DILG Pre-Qualifying Exam but rather a post of my experiences when I took the exam and twelve things to know about the DILG PQE.

I took the Pre-Qualifying Exam (PQE) today at the Baguio City National High School Library. I counted a total of 61 examinees, including me, who bravely took it unaware of its contents.

I only remembered the number of items and corresponding minutes and not a specific question of the exam inasmuch as I wanted to remember.
 
What is the Pre-Qualifying Exam or the DILG PQE?

1. It was (and is) a gruelling exam that will really exhausts you, the applicant/examinee.
2. It was (and is) a time-pressured exam which will rattle you once the proctor announce the remaining time during the examination.
3. It is the national qualifying exam of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
4. It is a battery of tests aimed for applicants who wants to join and become part of DILG.
5. It is a continuous exam with a duration of two to three hours.
6. It consists of four parts, namely:
• Logical Reasoning Tests -
• 55 minutes for 100 items.
• Language Tests - 
• 3 parts. 
• Part 1, PD (Paragraph Development), 7 minutes for 10 items; 
• Part 2, RC (Reading Comprehension), 13 minutes for 22 items; and
• Part 3, LT (Language Test), 10 minutes for 20 items.
• Verbal Tests - 
• 3 parts. 
• Part 1, (Analogy), 6 minutes for 20 items; 
• Part 2, (Analogy, requires 2 answers), 6 minutes for 20 items; and 
• Part 3, (Mathematical Test, no choices, input your answer after solving using provided scratch paper), 10 minutes for 20 items.
• Non-Verbal Tests - 
• 3 parts.
• Abstract part.
• Part 1, 3 minutes for 16 items; 
• Part 2, 3 minutes for 16 items; and 
• Part 3, 4 minutes for 18 items.
7. It is usually administered every last Friday of the month in the DILG Central Office located in Quezon City but in our case, it was scheduled in Baguio City and a representative from DILG Central Office officiated the examination.
8. In the case of my application, I had to write a request for endorsement to take the PQE and also indicating that it is a prerequisite for non-DILG applicants.
9. Passing the exam does not mean you are hired already. According to the DILG employee, there may be another exam to be taken depending on the position applied for. It also depends on the assessment of the regional or district office.
10. You must be prepared to read fast and analyze quickly for the logical reasoning test.
11. Mathematics is still a part of this exam and you need to know how to compute because guessing will definitely not help you on this part of the exam because you need to write an answer and there are no choices to select from.
12. Common sense and stock knowledge will help you plus lots of prayers to survive this challenging examination.

Pray. It helps.

Ikkyo's 1st Year Milestones

It's been a year already since we have Ikkyo, our heterochromic Siberian Husky. To celebrate his first year with us, we posted here 12 selected pictures from so many choices.

• Ikkyo at 1 month - poses without minding his dry and frizzy fur.

•  Ikkyo's 2nd month - first taste of Orijen.

•  Ikkyo's 3rd month - posing and guarding the front door.

•  Ikkyo's 4th month - first big bone and a large bowl of water.

•   Ikkyo's 5th month - eating one of his favorite food, "carrot".

•  Ikkyo's 6th month - close encounter of the "same" kind... (these malamutes were present during the PMA Silent Drill in Burnham Park)

•  Ikkyo's 7th month - blissfully sleeping under the bed.

•  Ikkyo's 8th month - appreciating his favorite cymbidium orchids "cymbi"

•   Ikkyo's 9th month - this is his favorite pose and one of his best shot.

•  Ikkyo's 10th month - fight or play? "dingding" the snake vs Ikkyo the husky.

•  Ikkyo's 11th month - emoting Ikkyo for the first time he got away and ran afar and "almost got lost" from us.

•  Ikkyo's 12th month - posing with his birthday cake (Goldilocks).

Pope Saint John XXIII 12 Interesting Facts

Pope John XXIII whose Latin name is Ioannes XXIII, was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli on 25 Nov 1881 in the village of Sotto il Monte in the provice of Bergamo, Italy and was Pope from 28 October 1958 until his death at the age of 81 on 3 June 1963 in Italy. Nicknamed "Good Pope John".

Pope Francis canonized Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII on April 27, 2014.

1. He was the last pope to used a full papal ceremony which lasted for five hours.
2. He was the first pope to take the pontifical name of "John" after more than 500 years.
3. He is commemorated every 11 October which was the first session day of the Second Vatican Council and not on the date of his death and also commemorated every 4 June in the Anglican Church of Canada.
4. He was the pope who, as part of his first acts as pope, eliminated the description of Jews as "perfidious" in the Good Friday liturgy and also confessed the sin of anti-semitism.
5. He became the first pope since 1870 to visit the Diocese of Rome by visiting children infected with polio at the Bambino Gesù Hospital and Santo Spirito Hospital and also visited prisoners at the ironically named “Queen of Heaven Prison” in Rome on 25 December 1958.
6. He was the first Pope to become Time magazine's "Man of the Year" in 1963.
7. He was the first pope since Pope Pius X to be declared "Blessed" alongside Pope Pius IX on 3 September 2000 by Pope John Paul II who later became "Saints" alongside Pope John Paul II when they were canonized on 27 April 2014 by Pope Francis.
8. He was assumed to be a transitional or caretaker pope because of his age, 76, but his reign was regarded as the most important pontificate since the Middle Ages because of his decision to call an ecumenical council which was the first since 1870 and only the 21st in the Church's history and he delivered a speech at the conclusion of the first session which became known as the "Speech of the Moon".
9. He addressed "all men of good will”, not only Catholics, in his encyclical letter, "Pacem in terris” for the first time in history.
10. He also established the first Vatican department to promote unity amongst Christians.
11. He opened the Second Vatican Council in the 4th year of his reign, 1962. The first Antipope John XXIII opened the Council of Constance in the 4th year of his reign, 1414.
12. He died shortly before the 3rd Session of Vatican Council II, in 1963. The first Antipope John XXIII's reign ended shortly before the 3rd Session of the Council of Constance, in 1415.

Pope Saint John XXIII 1963 TIME Man of the Year

References:

Pope John XXIII
St. John XXIII
List of Popes
John XXIII Mystic Pope
An uncontested miracle
A miracle has been attributed to John XXIII but not for his canonization
Biography of Blessed Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
Biography: Pope John XXIII
John XXIII: His Council and Achievement Remembered
John XXIII and John Paul II
Popes John XXIII and John Paul II to become saints on Sunday
Pope John XXIII Catholic Parish
Leader Values
VIS news Biography of Pope John XXIII
Saints John Paul II and John XXIII
‘The Good Pope:’ For older Catholics, recalling the late John XXIII may be highlight of ceremony
The Famous People
Five things you need to know about Pope John XXIII