Pacquiao makes history after Knock Out win over David Diaz

Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao made history by becoming the first Asian to win four weight divisions when he knocked out World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight champion David Diaz in the 9th round in their scheduled 12-round fight in Mandalay Bay, last Vegas on Sunday.

Pacquiao came out smoking right after the bell rang in the first round, pounding Diaz with flurries of solid punches.

The Filipino champ did not give his Mexico foe any quarter to counter punch as Pacquiao beat Diaz to a pulp from the first canto until he knocked him out in the 9th round.

According to fightnews.com report, Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35KOs) was much quicker as he out-punched and out-boxed the bigger Diaz (34-2-1, 17KOs).

As early as the 5th round, Pacman busted Diaz’s face with sharp left-rights combinations.

But the never-say-die Diaz kept coming until Pacquiao floored him in the ninth to end the fight at 2:24 in the round of their scheduled 12-round encounter. Read the rest of this entry »

Call Center News : iQor Expands in Philippines

Clark Expansion Announced at Meeting with President Arroyo; New Center of Excellence Will Create 700 New Jobs

At a meeting in New York City with Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, iQor President and CEO Vikas Kapoor announced the opening of iQor’s third call center in the Philippines that will create 700 new jobs. iQor plans to hire 300 new employees at its new Center of Excellence at the Clark Special Economic Zone before the end of the year and will add the remaining new hires by the end of the first quarter in 2009. This growth will bring total jobs created by iQor in the Philippines to 2,500 since opening its first call center in Manila in 2005.

iQor is one of the premier call center services companies in the world and the Philippines plays a major role in its strategic expansion. This is iQor’s second call center within the Clark Special Economic Zone. The first Clark Center opened in August of 2006 with 50 employees. After only two years, iQor reached full capacity at the facility and has now opened a new state-of-the-art 32,000 square foot Center to meet growing client demands. Read the rest of this entry »

Miss Universe organizers admit spelling error on Miss Philippines’ sash

By REYMA BUAN-DEVEZA for abs-cbnNEWS.com

The Philippines’ bet for Miss Universe, Jennifer Barrientos was given an official Miss Universe sash that misspelled her country’s name. “Philippines” was spelled with two Ls instead of one.

In a photo published in seattlepi.com’s Miss Universe Gallery, picture number 22 shows that Barrientos wore the misspelled sash, while sitting with Madina Taher, Miss Germany; Charlotte Labee, Miss Netherlands; and Vera Krasova, Miss Russia, during a party on June 20th.

Reports said it took almost three days for the Miss Universe Organization to correct the error. Other reports say the error remains in the official program book.

In an exclusive statement sent to abs-cbnNEWS.com by Lark-Marie Antón, the spokeswoman of the Miss Universe Organization, she admitted that a mistake was committed but said they instantly rectified it. Read the rest of this entry »

Australia donates money to help Philippine typhoon victims

Australia announced Thursday it has donated an initial 500,000 Australian dollars (478,000 U.S. dollars) to the Philippines National Red Cross to help the typhoon victims.

Typhoon Fengshen struck the Philippines last week, leaving more than 280 people dead.

An AusAid officer has been dispatched to the disaster area to determine how much further assistance will be required, reported Australian Associated Press.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has sent a letter of condolence to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Jennifer Barrientos represents the Philippines in Miss Universe 2008

Jennifer Tarol Barrientos was born in San Mateo Rizal. She is also the Binibining Pilipinas titleholder for 2008. She is the official representative of the Philippines to the Miss Universe pageant which will take place in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008.

Jennifer Barrientos won the crown for Binibining Pilipinas Universe, Patricia Fernandez for International and Janina San Miguel World at the pageant’s coronation at the Araneta Coliseum late Saturday that was aired by GMA Network.

Jennifer took up Tourism in the University of Sto. Tomas, from San Mateo Rizal, previously worked in Holiday Inn and Macau Star World Hotel.

Why did you join? “It was my mother’s dream and now it’s mine.” “This will also help me achieve my other dreams such as being a model for high fashion magazines and fashion shows.”

What makes you stand out from the rest? “I always do my best. I know how to stay calm in a tight situation. My looks are also different. Many think I’m Indian but I am pure Filipino.” “I come from a Christian family so I really value my relationship with God.”

Nicole Scherzinger - Proud to be PiNaY

It is difficult to decide that weather a celebrity is singer, actor, or a model but at the end we know they are popular among the entire world. Shockingly most hot celebrities have very poor background and childhood. Almost all of them have worst relations between their parents so they started showbiz at very early age.

Her Early Life.

Nicole Scherzinger was born in Honolulu. Her mother was Hawaiian/Russian and her father was Filipino/Hawaiian so she is a combination of different cultures and countries. Her mother Rosemary was just 18 at the time of Nicole’s birth and separated from her father when Nicole was a baby. Louisville, Kentucky was their next destiny and they moved there with her half sister Ke’ala and German-American stepfather Gary Scherzinger, who adopted Nicole. While attending Youth Performing Arts School she began her life as performer in Louisville. She put her studies on hold in 1999 to sing backing vocals for the rock band Days of the New. Read the rest of this entry »

Call Center Lifestyle in the Philippines

Yuppie Filipinos get the chance to be employed easily once they obtained their bachelor or diploma degrees because of the emergence of contact centers everywhere in the Philippines. These workers started to fill the 24-hour skyscrapers that gives a colorful background to metro Manila’s financial districts at nighttime.

This only shows that people employed in this job for a couple of years were used to on their ticking biological sleeping habit. They slept all day long just to regain their strength and wake up again at the wee hours to prepare themselves for a nightlong work. Clad in casual attire with matching fashionable coats are the most common props if you are a customer service representative. During break time some even used to occupy the al fresco various dining areas in Manila. In Ortigas for instance, call center agents enjoy their 30-minute to 1 hour break at McDonald’s, Starbucks, among others. For those who have extra pennies, they enjoy the hot aroma of Brazilian coffee in various blend. Others may sit on the corner and lit up their cigarette in a way of releasing their stress from work. It is enjoying isn’t it?

At 8 pm. about 100 people, most 25 younger, sit in a room of enclosed cubicles outfitted with phones and computers. They’ll be working until 4 am. or depends on the schedule of their shifts. Read the rest of this entry »

Myleene Klass : determined to prove that Filipina women are Worldclass!

Myleene Angela Klass (born 6 April 1978) is an English actress, singer, model, pianist, radio and television presenter, formerly a member of the short lived UK pop band Hear’Say. Musician, writer and, latterly, M&S model, Klass has been playing the piano and violin since she was four and was recently nominated for a Classical Brit award for an album of her own compositions. She presents the morning show at weekends on Classic FM and her new BBC show will bring choral music to prime-time TV

Before finding fame via Popstars, Klass provided backing vocals on tour with the likes of k.d. lang, Michael Crawford and Robbie Williams. She has also toured with Cliff Richard.

In 1998, Klass spent a short period as part of a reality show for Bravo, called The Doll’s House.

On 13 November 1999, Klass was also a featured back up singer for Cliff Richard’s ITV1 An Audience With TV special, appearing on stage with him for a rendition of the recent number-one single The Millennium Prayer. Read the rest of this entry »

100 University of the Philippines students participated in the yearly Oblation Run

Members of a fraternity at the University of the Philippines held their annual ritual of running naked on campus six months early on Wednesday — by official request — to celebrate the state-run school’s centennial anniversary. Hundreds of cheering students lined the main campus avenue, jostling for positions with their digital and cell phone cameras.

The “Oblation Run” — named for the university’s iconic symbol of a naked man with outstretched arms that symbolizes his selfless offering of himself to the nation — started in 1977 as a gimmick by the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity to promote the screening of a movie about oppressed plantation workers called “Naked Hero.” The film had been banned by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Since then, the fraternity has used the stunt to make political statements, from raising AIDS awareness to demanding the resignation of the Philippine president, said Armand Padilla, a fraternity alumnus and organizer of the centennial run.

He said the university’s centennial committee requested the fraternity stage the annual nude demonstration as one of the activities to mark the school’s 100th foundation year. Read the rest of this entry »

Jollibee acquires Taiwanese restaurant chain

Philippine fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. announced Friday it had acquired 70 percent of Taiwanese restaurant chain Lao Dong for 61.1 million pesos (1.37 million dollars).

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the publicly-listed Jollibee said that as part of the sale, it would invest an additional 30.6 million pesos while Lao Dong’s owners would put 13.1 million pesos into the new joint venture.

The new venture will work to expand Lao Dong’s restaurant chain in Taiwan and China.

The owners of Lao Dong will help Jollibee develop food products and other services for its business units in China, the Philippines and other countries.

Jollibee is the biggest restaurant chain in the Philippines, operating almost 1,500 outlets for its signature Jollibee hamburgers along with pizzas, baked goods, French pastries and other dishes.

It has 194 outlets abroad including China, the United States, Dubai and Indonesia.

Lao Dong, a full-service restaurant specialising in noodles, has eight outlets in Taipei, the disclosure said.

Last year, Jollibee Foods Corp. acquired the Chinese restaurant chain Hongzhuangyuan for about 50.5 million dollars.