You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!


Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!

free counters

Google

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Blue Jeans for a Blue Planet

How fashion addresses textile waste, one jeans at a time


 2  9 googleplus1  1 
Left: American apparel brand Gap introduces Recycle Your Blues, a denim drive campaign that invites everyone to donate any old pair of denim jeans. Right:
TV hosts Kelly Misa-Fernandez (center) and Patty Laurel-Filart (right) at the launch of M&S' “In(JEAN)ius” campaign. 
MANILA, Philippines — Ever since American Vogue released the documentary “The September Issue,” September has become the biggest month in the fashion calendar, with all major fashion weeks from New York to Paris showing their trend forecasts for the following year.
But in recent years, one fashion trend stands out and is here to stay for years to come: sustainability. Indeed, sustainability has become fashion's biggest issue after "The September Issue."
From two seasons, spring/summer and fall/winter, ready-to-wear companies have expanded the fashion season from bi-annual to weekly. New collections are docked in stores every week, making customers feel that what they bought last week is already out of fashion, so therefore, their clothes are disposable and should be replaced every week.
As a result, the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that textile wastes account to 3.8 billion pounds annually in the US alone. Of all the clothes bought in the US, only 15 percent are reportedly recycled, while about 85 percent end up in landfills.
Not only is fast fashion filling dumpsites. Harmful chemicals from clothes, such as plastics and synthetic dyes, add toxins and pollution to the environment.
Due to its flexibility and timelessness, jeans have become a staple in many people’s wardrobes all over the world, and as such, many textile wastes come from denim.
Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch:
To help alleviate the world’s problems in sustainability and eco wastes, some major fashion and clothing retailers have been introducing measures that aim to encourage customers to be part of the movement to love and preserve Mother Earth, starting with their favorite fashion staple, jeans.
From Europe, to North America and Europe, here are some of the best practices in fashion sustainability that hopefully, would rid the world of textile wastes and would create positive impact in generations to come.
Model and TV host Phoemela Baranda joins M&S as it marks its 20th anniversary in the Philippines. Photo release

Great Britain

British brand Marks & Spencer (M&S) marks its 20th anniversary in the Philippines with the “In(JEAN)ius” campaign, which, apart from the brand’s signature power stretch fabric for a smoother silhouette, focuses on eco-friendly fabrics like Ozone Wash Denim that allegedly uses less water and improves textile quality and finish.
“We decided to go with this fun, jeans-inspired event, because what is more enduring and basic than denim? It is in every closet, it is a staple in every wardrobe, and it finds itself loved no matter what generation,” Lucille Tolentino, M&S Philippines Head of Merchandising and Marketing, explains in a statement.
In an exclusive e-mail interview with Philstar.com, a brand representative narrated how the brand’s road to sustainability began decades ago, moving from philanthropy to community investment and subsequently corporate social responsibility.
“For example, in 1999, we were one of the first companies to publish global sourcing principles, outlining standards in ethical issues from protecting workers’ unions to working hours, wages and safety,” the rep said.
“Ten years ago, we launched Plan A, called (as such) because we think there is no Plan B for our one planet. Plan A is our ground-breaking eco/ethical plan with the aim to tackle five big issues – climate change, waste, resources, fair partnerships and health. Plan A has since helped redefine the role of business in society. It has delivered 296 stretching eco and ethical commitments, won 240 awards and saved over £750 million in costs through efficiencies such as using less energy, fewer transport miles and reducing packaging.”
According to the rep, among their achievements over the last decade include over 27million items of clothing recycled; one billion coat hangers saved; and 890,000 people in the supply chain benefitted from training on subjects such as employee rights, health care, numeracy and literacy.
 “We recently updated our plan (Plan A 2025) with 100 new commitments to tackle the big issues facing retailers, consumer businesses and society today. It spans customer and colleague wellbeing, transforming lives and communities and caring for the planet.”
According to the rep, sustainability is not only good for people and the environment; it is also profitable for businesses.
“Firstly, as one of our key raw materials, our aim is to ensure that 70 percent of the cotton we obtain globally is from sustainable sources by 2020. To help us deliver this, we have an innovative partnership with WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) in India. Working together with over 20,000 farmers, we’ve been successful in reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides up to 37 percent and 15 percent reduction in the use of water. The farmers have also benefited by earning almost 114 percent higher net income, 44 pecent higher profits and have reaped 18 percent higher yield.”
The rep added: “Secondly, it makes sense to be a fair partner by ensuring good working conditions for everyone.  All our suppliers, wherever they are in the world and whatever size they are, must adhere to our strict ethical standards as a condition of working with us. These include providing good working conditions, freedom of association, treading workers with respect, limits on overtime and paying fair rates of pay. We’ve found that when we have a very good factory on ethics, they also deliver outstanding quality and they have less returns.”
Likewise, the company urges fashion lovers to also be involved in “sustainable style.”
“When talking about sustainable fashion, its more than just a one-off capsule collection or single product. You need to take into account the many social and environmental issues associated with clothing such as raw material sourcing, ethical and eco-model factories and the use of dyes and finishes,” the rep reminded.
Uniqlo established its Jeans Innovation Center in Los Angeles and partners with Philippine NGOs to recycle denim. Photo release

Japan

Evolving from its utilitarian workwear origins, denim has embedded itself into the cultural landscape, including the fields of music, art, and film.
Since jeans have become an important element of its LifeWear collection, Japanese clothing giant Uniqlo established its Jeans Innovation Center in Los Angeles in 2016, where the company aims to create the best jeans for everyone, everywhere.
Katsumi Kubota, Uniqlo Philippines Chief Operating Officer, told Philstar.com in an interview that through their Reycle program, they have made sure that their company has churned out no “unnecessary” wastes.
According to him, the campaign works by setting up chutes in their stores, where customers can dock their scraps and old clothes to be recycled by the brand.
He said the company works with Bayan ni Juan partner communities to recycle the denim scraps and turn these into reusable tote bags.
The brand claims to be the first clothing retailer in the Philippines, and the first in Uniqlo all over the world, to employ senior citizens and persons with disabilities “to make Filipino lives better,” said Kubota.
The brand continues to pursue new potentials for clothing by collaborating with fashion designers, top models, and other notable personalities that complement the LifeWear concept of “simple made better.”
British heritage meets LifeWear through the newest collaboration with designer JW Anderson. The new collection includes men's and women's items for the Fall/Winter 2017 season. The range will bring together the British heritage of JW Anderson and the everyday comfort and perfection that the Japanese brand pursues in terms of fit, fabric, and functionality through its LifeWear concept.
Also this season, the brand debuts the long-anticipated men’s line and releases the eighth edition of its collaboration with French fashion icon Inès de la Fressange. The men’s pieces feature design elements like classic stand-up collars, tweed jackets, and cashmere knits. The women’s line, on the other hand, is a celebration of the enduring elegance of a monochrome palette. New to the range are sports knits in vintage styles and classic Nordic sweaters. Other items include military style mod coats, duffle coats, and fleece blousons. 
The new Inès de la Fressange x Uniqlo collection now includes men's wear.

USA

American apparel brand Gap believes that one pair of denim jeans can do a world of good to someone in need, thus it recently introduced Recycle Your Blues, a denim drive campaign that invites everyone to donate any old pair of denim jeans at their nearest store. Upon donation, participants receive a discount for their next denim purchase.
All donations will benefit Hands On Manila, a volunteering organization committed to empowering individuals to act as citizens and realize their ability to contribute to the community. Hands On Manila will not only be using the denim for donations, but also in creating a livelihood program, which aims to teach the urban poor to recycle old jeans.
Hands On Manila, introduced and developed by the Hands On Network, was established in August 2001 as the pioneering Hands On Network affiliate in the Asia Pacific Region. Founded in 1992, the Hands on Network is an innovative alliance of volunteer organizations and has successfully implemented their method in various American cities. Their flexibility model for volunteer service allows its members to incorporate volunteering into their day-to-day schedules. 
Beneficiaries of Hands On Manila include Pangarap Foundation, which provides an all-boys’ shelter for former street children and works to address their mental development, physiological, emotional, psycho-social and spiritual needs. It provides three major intervention services: Caring Services (shelter, food, clothing, advocacy, legal, medical and dental); Healing Services (social, psychological, psychiatric and spiritual); and Teach Services (formal and non-formal education). Pangarap Foundation also has an outreach community in Paliparan, Dasmarinas, Cavite.
Another beneficiary is FCED (Families & Children for Empowerment & Development) Foundation that provides assistance to poor urban families through livelihood projects, micro-finance training, education, and values reorientation in the communities where they live. 
Gap partners with NGOs to encourage consumers to recycle their blues. Photo release

Advertisement
Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch:

US pledges to return Philippine Church Bells ...

...but unsure when

 7  75 googleplus0  0 
President Duterte holds a a photograph of the First Battle of Bud Dajo massacre showing American soldiers with the bodies of Filipino Muslims killed in Bud Dajo, a volcanic crater on the island of Jolo in 1906. KRIZJOHN ROSALES, File
MANILA, Philippines — The United States is committed to returning three church bells seized by American forces as war spoils from the Philippines more than a century ago, the U.S. ambassador said Tuesday, raising the prospects of a resolution of a thorny issue between the allies.

Ambassador Sung Kim said the two governments have discussed the return of the Balangiga bells, named for the Philippine village from which they were taken in the early 1900s. He said in response to questions from reporters that the U.S. is "deeply committed that the bells are returned to the Filipino people," but that he could not specify when that would happen.

Filipinos revere the Balangiga bells as symbols of their long struggle for independence. The bells gave the signal for insurgents to attack American soldiers who were occupying Balangiga after the U.S. took possession of the Philippines following the Spanish-American War.

Talks about returning the bells have been a perennial issue in U.S.-Philippine relations.

Kim said there was "an ongoing discussion within the U.S. government and the Philippine government to try and facilitate the return of these bells as quickly as possible," but added there were some issues that needed to be solved in the U.S.

"We want to return them," he said. "I believe it's the right thing to do."

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte asked the U.S. to return the bells in his state of the nation address in July, saying "they are part of our national heritage ...  return it to us, this is painful for us."

Duterte has had an antagonistic attitude toward U.S. security policies while building closer ties with China and Russia.

Two of the three bells are displayed at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. They are part of a memorial to 46 U.S. troops killed by Filipino insurgents in 1901. A third bell is with a U.S. Army regiment in South Korea.

Marcos camp: We have evidence of 2016 polls anomaly

By Patricia Lourdes Viray (philstar.com) | 

 14  189 googleplus0  0 
In his poll protest, former Sen. Bongbong Marcos questioned the integrity of the 2016 elections. The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has dispensed Marcos' first cause of action in his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. AP/Bullit Marquez, file
MANILA, Philippines — The camp of defeated vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos remains confident that they will secure victory in an election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

The Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), earlier upheld the integrity of the 2016 elections.
The tribunal dispensed the Marcos camp's first cause of action calling to nullify the results of the vice presidential race due to a "flawed" automated election system.
Lawyer George Garcia, head of Marcos' legal team, admitted that the first cause of action will not result to the proclamation of the former senator as vice president.
The protest of Marcos against Robredo, however, is still not over, according to Garcia.
Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
"That may not be true at all when we say that the Supreme Court dismissed, that Supreme Court merely dismissed the first cause of action. We have three causes of action and it is also wrong to say that the Presidential Electoral Tribunal practically set aside the so-called nullification of the 2016 election," Garcia said in ANC's Headstart.
The second cause of action is for the revision and recount of all voters' receipts, elections returns and other documents in 27 provinces and highly urbanized cities used in the May 2016 elections.
Meanwhile, the third cause of action seeks to annul the election results in Basilan, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao on the grounds of cheating like vote buying, pre-shading, intimidation, among others.
Garcia claimed that more than 51 percent of the voters in the three provinces were not the ones who actually voted on election day.
"If we are able to prove that based on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Abayon vs HRET, that may result in the nullification of the results of the election at least for the position of vice president," Garcia said.
The Marcos counsel said that their camp has evidence to prove the anomalies in the three provinces during the 2016 polls, justifying their request to retrieve election materials.
The PET also ordered the "retrieval of ballot boxes and other election documents, revision of ballots and reception of evidence can already begin with, but shall first be confined to, only the provinces that have been designated by protestant, namely Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.”
The nullification of election results from the three provinces may result in the victory of Marcos in the vice presidential race. Robredo won by more than 265,000 votes against Marcos.
"And in case the tribunal will annul the election in these three provinces, it may result to Bongbong Marcos winning by a 45,000-vote margin," Garcia said.

Impeach Raps move forward

Sereno, Bautista impeach raps move forward

 2  23 googleplus0  1 
The impeachment complaints against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Commission on Elections Chair Andres Bautista are transferred to the Committee on Rules. Philstar.com/Efigenio Toledo IV, File/EDD Gumban
MANILA, Philippines — The impeachment complaints against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Commission on Elections Chair Andres Bautista advances as House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez referred the cases to the Committee on Rules.

Majority Floor Leader Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas heads the committee.
The Speaker has 10 days to send an impeachment complaint to the rules committee, according to House rules, for it to be included in the order of business and get referred to the Committee on Justice. The justice committee, which handles impeachment complaints, has 60 days to conduct hearings and submit a report.
On August 30, 25 congressmen endorsed an impeachment complaint against Sereno filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon.
second impeachment complaint with endorsements from 16 solons was filed on Monday by Dante Jimenez of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and Eligio Mallari of the Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution.
Jimenez and Mallari submitted an impeachment complaint earlier in August. However, the complaint did not gain any endorsement at the time.
Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
The grounds for the impeachment cases against the chief justice include culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption, other high crimes and betrayal of public trust.
The cases alleged that Sereno, among other things, used public funds to finance her supposed lavish lifestyle, misdeclared in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth declaration and falsified of court documents.
Meanwhile, former Negros Oriental congressman Jacinto Paras and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio filed the impeachment complaint against Bautista for his alleged P1-billion ill-gotten wealth.
It gained endorsements from three members of the Lower House.
Sereno and Bautista are not the only government officials in President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration facing threats of removal from office. Impeachment complaints were also filed against Vice President Leni Robredo and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio.
The president himself was likewise threatened with impeachment bid, which was dismissed by the Congress.
Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

Premier Volleyball League of the Philippines

PVL: San Beda, Arellano contest Group B lead

ABS-CBN News
Posted at Sep 06 2017 06:49 AM
Arellano University is trying to get its second win in the PVL Collegiate Conference. Arvin Lim,ABS-CBN Sports
MANILA, Philippines – Arellano University and San Beda College contest the lead in Group B of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Collegiate Conference, while Jose Rizal University (JRU) and San Sebastian College try to get back on track in Group A on Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The Lady Chiefs and the Lady Red Spikers kicked off their PVL campaigns with emphatic victories.
Advertisement
Arellano trounced De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, 25-20-, 25-22, 25-17, while San Beda College blasted Technological Institute of the Philippines, 25-13, 25-18, 25-27, 25-13, during the opening weekend.
The two NCAA squads meet at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, seeking another win that will give them the momentum in the single round-robin eliminations of the PVL Collegiate Conference.
Meanwhile, the 6:30 p.m. duel between JRU and San Sebastian is also crucial, as both squads dropped their opening game assignments and are in dire need of a win in order to stay in the hunt for a semis spot.
Only the top two teams in the two groups will advance to the crossover semifinals.
JRU and San Sebastian bowed to the fancied Ateneo de Manila University and Far Eastern University (FEU), respectively, with both squads getting swept in straight sets.
Ateneo and National University, on the other hand, gun for their second straight wins in Group B of men’s play with the Eagles facing the San Beda side at 8 a.m. and the Bulldogs colliding with the FEU Tamaraws at 10 a.m.
But San Beda and FEU are going all out in a bid to foil their respective fancied rivals as they try to wheel back into contention in the event serving as part of the participating teams’ buildup for their respective leagues.
University of Santo Tomas paces Group A, which includes University of the Philippines, De La Salle University and CSB, with a 2-0 card.
For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.