According to my foreign friends, these are some of the Filipino dishes they can’t resist.
For desserts, these are the ones they love.
You can read more about Filipino food here: Top Must-Try Filipino Dishes
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By Kristina Maralit and Aric John Sy Cua
December 21, 2022 1180
(UPDATE) TELEVISION personality and The Manila Times columnist Daphne Oseña Paez has been appointed as the official "press briefer" of the Palace.
Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) Officer in Charge Cheloy Garafil formally introduced Paez to the Malacañang Press Corps in a briefing on Tuesday.
Garafil said that Paez's main role will be to give the press briefer on "every activity, program of President [Ferdinand] Marcos Jr."
Paez, who earned her degrees in Fine Arts and History from the University of Toronto, began her career in media in the country in ABS-CBN as a news reporter in the 1990s. She was also the weather presenter of the late night English newscast, "The World Tonight."
As Malacañang's "explainer," Paez will "regularly be the source of updates from the Palace."
"I look forward to working with all of you in a harmonious and collegial manner because I am also one of you. I am very honored to be communicating the message and programs of this administration, of course, in an accurate and effective way and I will do my best," the 52-year-old said.
She likewise clarified that she is not the new Palace spokesman and that Marcos will still continue to "speak for himself."
"I am just here to support the Office of the Press Secretary for now," she said.
Paez told reporters that this is her first time working directly with the government.
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By Agence France-Presse
PARIS: Europe and North America have seen shortages of the key antibiotic amoxicillin and other medications as surging illnesses particularly among children have increased demand for the drugs.
Hospitals in many countries have come under pressure from a rising number of illnesses including what has been dubbed a "tripledemic" of Covid-19, influenza and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) which causes bronchiolitis.
But ramping up production of antibiotics has proved difficult for drug makers, particularly for cheap generic medicines that offer a slender profit margin.
What and where?
Amoxicillin is a member of the penicillins antibiotic family and is used to treat a range of bacterial illnesses, including chest and ear infections, often in children.
In France, the medicines regulator ANSM said last month that there are "strong supply tensions" for the version of amoxicillin most used by children, warning the situation could last until March.
Spain's medicines agency also warned last month of potential amoxicillin shortages.
Germany, too, has sounded the alarm about shortages of a range of drugs including amoxicillin and other antibiotics.
Last week, the UK government issued "serious shortage protocols" for three penicillin-based antibiotics.
The move came after at least 19 children died from Group A Streptococcus (Strep A), amid reports that doctors and parents are struggling to find antibiotics to treat the illness.
Outside of Europe, amoxicillin has been on the US Food and Drug Administration drug shortage database since October.
The FDA told AFP that it "is currently working with the approved manufacturers and others in the supply chain."
Other countries including Canada and Australia have also recently put amoxicillin on their list of drugs for which pharmacists are authorized to find substitute treatments.
What is causing the shortages?
Winter in the northern hemisphere has brought a particularly nasty influenza season as well as spikes in other viruses such as RSV. The surge comes after two years in which Covid measures such as quarantines, self-isolation and mask-wearing significantly decreased the rate of such illnesses.
Pharmaceutical companies who had cut back production because of the previously falling demand are now scrambling to meet skyrocketing orders, causing delays.
The producers of the drugs' active ingredients have also struggled with shortages.
Sandoz, the generic drug division of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, told AFP that the "stock shortages at our competitors also contribute to the unexpectedly high sales of our drugs, and therefore to additional supply difficulties."
Sign of a wider problem?
Antibiotics are old drugs whose patents have often fallen into the public domain, meaning that generic versions can be sold cheaply.
Drug makers therefore have little monetary incentive to produce such antibiotics. Indeed, even generics producers can struggle to maintain a significant profit.
Thomas Borel, the scientific director at LEEM which represents French drugs firms, said there had been insufficient investment from the industry "in view of the growing demand for this type of medicine."
He added that the economic model makes it difficult for drug makers "to recover their costs" when it comes to antibiotics.
Another issue is that only around 10 firms, most of them in Asia, still produce the active ingredients for amoxicillin.
Solutions?
In the short term, national health authorities have recommended that pharmacists and doctors substitute the drugs in short supply with other medications whenever possible, as well as limiting treatment duration.
Manufacturers including Britain's GSK have also ramped up production speed.
Sandoz said it has hired more staff and invested in upping production at its Kundl site in Austria.
More broadly, some industry specialists have called for a new business model that combines the needs of patients and those of the companies that produce such cheap drugs.
LEEM's Borel said "the pharmaceutical industry must be considered to be a strategic sector in which public authorities must be more vigilant than they have been in recent years."
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By Arlie O. Calalo, Manila Times
December 21, 2022
A low pressure area (LPA) has entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) but has less chance of turning into a tropical depression in the next 48 hours, the state-run weather agency said on Wednesday.
The LPA was spotted past 3 a.m. some 210 kilometers east-northeast of Davao City, according to weather forecaster Grace Castañeda of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
She said the weather disturbance was less likely to escalate into a storm over the next two days but it may bring rain over Visayas and Mindanao.
Pagasa said the shear line, the point where the cold and warm air converge, is affecting the eastern section of Southern Luzon while the northeast monsoon locally known as "amihan" is affecting the rest of Luzon.
The rest of the country, meanwhile, may experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms due to the trough of LPA and localized thunderstorms, the weather bureau said.
Yes, indeed: during the Christmas holidays, we tend to get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, that we sometimes forget the essence of Christmas.
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By Eireene Jairee Gomez
(UPDATE) THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is encouraging the public to exercise the giving of digital cash gifts this Yuletide season.
"We encourage our countrymen to take advantage of the ease and safety provided by digital finance in sending their cash gifts during the holidays," the BSP said in a statement on Monday.
The central bank noted that ninongs, ninangs (godparents) and other gift givers who intend to give cash as pamasko (gifts), as well as Filipinos who want to donate to charitable institutions, can transmit money conveniently through a wide array of digital payment channels available in the country.
These include interbank fund transfers through InstaPay and PESONet, electronic money issuers that are more commonly known as e-wallets, and QR Ph, which entails code scanning and offers consumers faster, easier and cheaper payment options.
QR Ph is based on the Europay-Mastercard-VISA standard, the global standard for secure payments.
According to BSP, the giving of e-aguinaldo supports the central bank's broader thrust to foster the wider adoption of digital payments, which promotes financial inclusion and the efficient flow of funds in the economy.
The BSP pursues this under its Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap, which aims to convert at least half of the total volume of retail payments into digital form and to onboard at least 70 percent of Filipino adults to the financial system through transaction account ownership by 2023.
Published December 19, 2022, 10:35 AM
I have been saying this for quite awhile already, and now is a perfect time to repeat it. I never thought that I’d be saying this, but it is time to re-think your social media presence, specially if you use Twitter. For companies and organization, you need to re-think your social media strategy.
For the longest time, I have been advocating that you setup your own website or blog, and if you can afford it, get your own domain. I am not saying that you self-host your web page and/or blogging software, but if you can, it is way better! Anyway, publish your content on your own site, get the link and promote it on your social media accounts. This way, whatever happens to your social media accounts, all your content are intact, safe within your control!
I have heard the “it is where the students/readers are” reason far too often. What I advocate does not really prevent them from posting to social media if they are promoting their content, but it surely provides greater coverage for their content. Readers can bookmark your website or blog and directly access your content without the distractions of the algorithm-driven social media timeline.
If you have it exclusively on social media, then you are limiting its reach to those who have accounts (this is true for Facebook), and believe me, not everyone is on these closed social media sites. Doesn’t that defeat your main reason for reaching your readers or students if it is only available on the site? The other social media site that is more open compared to Facebook, Twitter, is now a site where rules are made depending on the whims of its owner. If you have been living under a rock (or are ignoring what is happening on the site), then think about these: Twitter banning journalists, banning accounts that post publicly available information, and banning anyone who posts links to other social media sites, all under the cover of “free speech.”
Whilst there is nothing wrong with having rules, but I urge you to look how these are being formulated and enforced, in some cases, couldn’t even be defended when challenged. Would you risk having your account suspended or blocked and not knowing why, nor having a way to appeal? Having your own site obviously means you control what is on it and you own it!
Nobody can censor it. Nobody can easily block it (unless, of course, it contains unlawful content). Best of all, if there is another social media site that becomes popular, you can post links to your content and promote your site! If your site has RSS support, then it is even better! RSS readers can pull your content and allow readers to know when there is new content available. So what are you waiting for? Time to move and own your content. The coming year is a perfect time to start. Do it before it is too late.
By:
by John Legaspi
One of the lessons many of us learned during the pandemic is valuing the state of our mental health. Although our life is now going back to the way things were before the pandemic, our mission of keeping our mental health well continues. There are many ways one can release stress, from enjoying the company of others and exploring places to grinding at the gym. But did you know that writing, scribbling, or even doodling on paper can help improve the well-being of your mind?
According to Filipino psychologist Meg Yarcia, journaling is a good way to pause, externalize our thoughts, and become self-aware. The beauty of journaling is that there is no right or wrong way to do it, making it the perfect way to escape the hustle of our everyday living and get in touch with our inner selves.
“Journaling is one way to find a still point in a world that’s always turning,” Meg said. “There is no right way to journal, but there’s a right state of mind for journaling.”
The psychologist, known for sharing her musings and thoughts on mental health and well-being on Facebook and Instagram via her page “Dear Meg,” shared more about the benefits of journaling in enhancing mental health and how people can practice it on their own.
Is journaling a form of pahinga?
Rest is important to keep one’s mental health in a good state. What people may not know is that journaling, too, is a form of rest or in Filipino, pahinga. According to Meg, journaling can help people be able to take a step back, study things in awareness, and, importantly, take a break.
But how do our mind and body benefit from it? Taking a break allows our system to recharge, have new ideas, and improve our blood circulation. Journaling as a form of rest also helps us express what usually can’t and enables us to make deeper connections with ourselves, the people that surround us, nature, and the higher being.
How to journal?
Journaling is not limited to just jotting down notes. Meg listed down ways one can use a journal, which includes list-making, the two-column method, my day anecdote, reflections, a mood diary, a letter to myself, and sketches.
A big part of the journaling process is, of course, the journal itself. There’s a bounty of many people can select from every bookstore, both online and offline. What you need is something that will give you space to express yourself and will inspire you to be creative.
A good example of this is Looking for Juan’s (LFJ) updated version of the Pahin(g)a journal. First released in 2021, the journal now comes with undated pages and has various sections designed to rest the mind such as quick breathers, word spotlight, and mindful activities by Meg and writer Monica Antonio. It also features the works of Filipino artists Ivan Reverente and Kyla dela Torre.
“The Pahin(g)a journal encourages users to slow down, our hope is that through this journal we can prioritize self-care to strengthen ourselves so we can extend more to others,” said LFJ chief executive officer Larissa Chavez.
If you’re still looking for that one item to give to someone, the perfect present may come in the form of a dependable journal.
To know more about Pahin(g)a journal, visit @lookingforjuan on Instagram or lookingforjuan.com.
Let’s just say that this misconception has definitely been perpetuated by bad education and a lack of knowledge of pre-colonial and even colonial practices. There are so many reasons as to why the tradition of pagmamano, or bless is actually a precolonial tradition.
1. Despite the Spanish word for “hand” or “mano”, the tradition is unique to societies mostly within maritime Southeast Asia. It is not only practiced in the Philippines but is also seen in neighboring Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The tradition is called sungkem or salim in Indonesia and salam in Malaysia. The fact that this gesture is common among these nations shows common ancestry and a shared history of trade and contact. You could argue that this gesture originated from Arab traders based on the name it's given in Malaysia and Indonesia.
2. The Spanish literally recorded the gesture being practiced by natives upon their arrival and within the early colonial period.
Fr. Pedro Chirino, Relacion de Islas Filipinas (1604)
"Of the civilities, terms of courtesy, and good breeding among the Filipinos. Chapter XVI...As among them it is not courtesy to remain standing before a person whom they respect, they seat themselves upon the ground, or rather on their heel-bones. Seated in this way, with head uncovered and the potong thrown like a towel over the left shoulder, they talk with their superiors. The mode of salutation upon entering or meeting anyone is as follows: They draw the body together and make a low reverence, raising one or both hands to the face, and placing them upon the cheeks; they next sit down waiting for the question that may be put to them, for it is considered bad manners to speak before one is spoken to."
Fr. Juan de San Antonio, Cronicas (1738)
"422. The natives of these islands employ innumerable other elegancies and courtesies, now in actions, now in words, now in names and titles, which they apply to themselves; these are various according to the difference of the provinces, and are too numerous to mention, for they are ceremonial, and they value their ceremonies highly. No one will pass in front of another, without asking permission, and in order to pass, he doubles the whole body with the most profound bow, at the same time lifting one foot in the air, and doubling the knee and lifting both hands to the face. If one has to talk to any person of higher rank, he shows all reverence and squats down [pone en cuclillas], with raised face, and waits thus, until he is asked his reason for coming; for to speak without being questioned would be a point of bad breeding."
It should be worth noting the Spanish were meticulous note-takers when it came to exploring their colonies. It’s how we know so much about pre-colonial customs. Also, note how the Spanish chroniclers never stated here that they “taught the natives to do it to priests to be subservient.” The gesture they saw was based on their observations of the native's interactions with one another.
3. If the Spanish introduced the gesture to the Philippines, then it would make logical sense that all the other former Spanish colonies would still practice it, or it would even exist throughout their colonies. Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Argentina would even have this practice. But looking at their cultures and their histories, it seems that this gesture in Latin America is nonexistent. The closest similarity would be kissing the ring of the pope in the Catholic tradition, but even then, it is still a different practice from what is seen in the Philippines.
4. Logic also follows that this tradition would exist in Spain. Again, there are no recorded instances of this specific practice existing in Spain. Hypothetically, it may have been part of al-Andalus when Spain was ruled by Muslims who might have practiced this gesture.
And even if it did at some point, why didn’t Spanish people in the 16th century practice it anymore? What would make the new Catholic monarchs of Spain want to continue this “Islamic” practice in their domain when they were already making plans to get rid of Muslims in the kingdom? And furthermore, when the Spanish recorded the gesture, why didn’t they liken it to anything they practiced back home?
All the evidence of this practice goes back to contact and trade with the rest of maritime Southeast Asia, and cements the idea that the mano gesture goes back to the arrival of Spanish people to the Philippines.
