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!

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Monday, May 26, 2025

Pope Leo XIV is back on social media, with a message of peace


 

  

The Vatican launched the @Pontifex handle in 2012 during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. It now comes in a variety of nine languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Polish, Arabic, and Latin -- and counts a combined 52 million followers.

Pope Leo XIV leaves the Augustinian General House in Rome after a visit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV has taken over the Vatican's official social media handles, with a first Instagram post on Tuesday repeating the first words he said to the world as pope: "Peace be with you all!"

The @Pontifex – Pope Leo XIV post featured some of the photos that have documented the first days of history's first American pope.


The Vatican said it was archiving the posts from Pope Francis ' 12-year papacy. On X, the new account didn't appear to be active Tuesday.

Past popes didn't actually send the posts, which were curated by the Vatican.

The former Cardinal Robert Prevost occasionally posted on X in an account started in 2011. It had been dormant since July 2023 but came back to life earlier this year to share criticism of Trump administration migration policies and comments by Vice President JD Vance.

Pope Leo XIV leaves the Augustinian General House in Rome after a visit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Online scams via Instagram and Facebook go unchecked



By Ignacio R. Bunye

Published May 26, 2025 12:05 am

SPEAKING OUT

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported a surge in scams flooding Instagram and Facebook. According to WSJ, an internal analysis by Meta revealed that 70 percent of newly active advertisers on its platforms were promoting scams or low-quality products. The culprits? Fraud rings operating from China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The scale of fraud on Meta’s platforms is expanding, driven by advances in AI, cryptocurrency, and organized crime networks. While regulators and financial institutions are urging stricter enforcement, Meta appears hesitant to disrupt its advertising business. Despite recognizing the issue, Meta has deprioritized scam enforcement, allowing repeat offenders to accumulate multiple violations before facing a ban.


Scammers employ various deceptive strategies to target users. Here are some of the most prevalent methods:

 Phishing scams: Fraudsters impersonate Instagram support, sending messages like, "Your account has been flagged for suspicious activity. Click this link to verify your identity." The link leads to a fake login page designed to steal credentials.

 Fake giveaways and lotteries: A scam account mimics a popular brand and announces, "Congratulations! You’ve won our giveaway. Just pay a small shipping fee to claim your prize." Once the victim sends the money, the scammer vanishes.

 Investment and crypto scams: Flashy posts promise, "Turn $500 into $5,000 in just a week! DM us to start investing." Victims send money, but the promised returns never materialize.

 Romance scams: Scammers build relationships with victims over weeks or months before suddenly claiming, "I need money for an emergency medical procedure. Can you help?" Once funds are sent, the scammer disappears.

 Fake job offers: Ads promote lucrative work-from-home opportunities like, "Earn $2,000 a week with no experience!" Applicants are asked to pay for training materials or provide personal details, only to realize the job doesn’t exist.

 Blackmail and extortion: Known as “sextortion,” scammers manipulate victims into sharing sensitive information or images, then demand payment to prevent exposure. A scammer might pose as a potential romantic interest, gain the victim’s trust, and encourage them to share private content. Once they have compromising material, they issue threats: "Pay up, or I'll expose your personal content to friends, family, or the public."

These scams thrive on urgency, emotional manipulation, and impersonation to deceive users. Staying vigilant and verifying sources before engaging can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to fraudulent schemes. (totingbunye2000@gmail.com)

Broken hearts

 



By Mike Lim

Published May 24, 2025 02:21 pm


Lover Boy (LB) and Alluring Woman (AW) were an unlikely pair, which made their partnership interesting. Both are smart, which probably was an added attraction.

Despite speculations, LB and AW never disclosed their relationship to the public. The non-disclosure puzzled many because neither of them have someone who would have hindered their union. In addition, AW hardly posted about LB.

It was only after some time that hints were dropped about LB and AW being in a relationship. LB would be seen in family gatherings of AW.

AW was radiant and kibitzers knew she was happy and inspired. AW completed her life goals with LB’s encouragement. Even her family members seemed to be in favor of LB for her. Thus, many wished they were each other’s forever.

Recently, the grapevine started to buzz that LB and AW were over. For undisclosed reasons, the two have allegedly called it quits, adding themselves to the list of showbiz couples who broke up this year.

But what caused the split? Did LB decode to focus on matters concerning his professional future? He is facing a controversy that could affect his reputation and what he had built. Or did the pronouncement of someone in AW’s past created ripples that damaged her relationship with LB?

‘If you face problems, face reality, even when it's hard, even when what you're saying is an ugly truth, sometimes you can wake up faster and do something to make things better.’ — Max Cavalera

Not so perfect

In the entertainment world, finding a relationship is easy but keeping it forever is not. Yet, fewer showbiz personalities do find love with non-showbiz individuals.

When Secretive Entertainer (SE) was building her reputation and growing into her career, reporters pried into her love life instead of her professional achievements.

At the time, SE showed a side that was uncommon – she stuck to an earlier decision to keep her mouth shut.

SE, unlike her contemporaries who were all-too willing to open about their love life, soon gained a reputation for being difficult. SE kept her stand and remained consistent. That is, until she introduced a Non-Showbiz man (NS) to her public.

NS won her heart, to the delight of the media. SE and NS tied the knot and raised a family. Given that NS was not part of the entertainment world, he was not as exposed to never-ending inquiries. Through the years, SE and NS were assumed to be living in domestic bliss.

Soon, SE and NS were hardly seen in society pages and seeing them together became infrequent. Consistently, SE kept quiet about her family life. No one dared to ask her about her relationship with NS. Given that NS was a private, non-showbiz personality, no one sought an update. Rumors have it that he has already moved on from SE.

Meanwhile, SE has also pursued professional endeavors and kept her private life away from her public persona. The setback has made her seemingly perfect world, imperfect, but SE has more than enough from her past to fill up the imperfection of her then relationship.

‘We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.’ — Walt Disney

Follow @FashionPulis on Twitter and @fashionpulis on Instagram. Please continue to send your comments and juicy stories to fashionpulis2023@gmail.com. Thank you very much for loving www.fashionpulis.com. Till next Sunday...


The sweetness of true love


 


By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com


THIS is the unmistakable mark of true love, one that channels the very love of God of whom we are his image and likeness, meant to share in his very life and nature. Irrespective of how things go in our life, whether they are going up or down in human terms, as long as we have that true love, the taste of love will always be sweet.


And the basis for this assertion is the truth of our faith that defines true love not only in human terms but also and most especially in spiritual and supernatural terms. True love is not only natural, subject only to the laws of nature which cannot help, given our wounded condition due to our sin, to bear the baggage of the infranatural.


This spiritual and supernatural love can transcend whatever temporal condition we might be in. As St. Paul once said, this kind of love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13,7) And given the current conditions in the world, we truly need this love to survive all the trials and challenges in our life.


The challenge we have here is how to have this kind of love and how to keep it going all day and all the time. For this, we should always find ways of how to keep going our relationship with God who is the very essence, source and power of love.


Let’s remember that when God created man, he entered into a personal relationship with us precisely because we have been created by him to be his image and likeness, to be a person, and not just a thing, a plant or animal, with whom we can share his very life and nature.


As we often hear, we, among God’s creatures, are not just something. We are a someone, a person, with intelligence and will. It is with us, together with the angels, that God establishes a personal relationship. We have to learn how to do our part in corresponding to this God-initiated relationship.


For our part, we should just find ways of how we can keep that relationship alive and vibrant, able to feel the reassuring will and ways of God. Only then can we manage the sweetness of love despite the varying conditions and situations of our life here on earth.


We should come up with the appropriate strategy to deal with this condition of our life, some kind of structure or system that can guide us irrespective of the changing circumstances of our daily life. This structure or system should be made up of some practices of piety that would keep our spiritual and supernatural bearing intact as we navigate the seas and oceans of our life.


These practices of piety should be the basic ones like a time for prayer, recourse to the sacraments especially the holy eucharist and confession, some devotions like the praying of the holy rosary, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and other practices like regular examinations of conscience, presence of God all throughout the day making use of human devices, etc.,


Everyday, we have to tweak this system to adapt it to the peculiar conditions of the day. In this regard, it is also good to consider our concrete physical, emotional and mental conditions, so we would somehow know what to do when their strong and weak points would impact on the different events of the day. Not all days are the same. There are what we call ‘good’ days and ‘bad’ days.