Estrada: ‘Yes, I will run’




Agence France-Presse
First Posted 13:50:00 10/14/2009
source: Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines—Former president Joseph Estrada, ousted in a popular uprising in 2001 and later convicted of graft, said on Wednesday he would run again for president in next year's elections.

"Yes, I will run," Estrada, 72, told Agence France-Presse, when asked to confirm press reports of his decision.

The former movie action star said he had chosen Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay as his vice presidential candidate.

Estrada said he would make a formal announcement of his decision at the Sto. Nino church in the impoverished Manila district of Tondo on Wednesday next week.

Tondo was the setting of many of his past movies, in which he gained massive national popularity by playing tough guy roles as defenders of the poor and downtrodden.

Estrada represents the United Opposition, a coalition of two influential parties that have been critical of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's rule. Binay is UNO’s chairman.

However there are two strong opposition contenders representing other parties in next year's elections: Senator Benigno Aquino III, the son of the late democracy icon Corazon Aquino, and billionaire property developer Senator Manuel Villar.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro will represent Arroyo's ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition.

Estrada said he was confident of victory in the May 2010 polls.

"I will not run for the presidency if I'm not sure I'll win," he said.

Estrada said his edge would be his experience, having climbed the political ladder first as a town mayor, a senator and a vice president before a landslide victory as the country's 13th president in 1998.

Estrada's term, however, was cut short by a military-backed popular revolt in 2001, amid accusations he amassed wealth from illegal gambling kickbacks and shady deals amounting to about 80 million dollars.

He was convicted of large-scale graft and sentenced to life in jail in 2007.

But Arroyo, who played a key role in deposing him when she served as his vice president, pardoned him six weeks later.

Estrada: ‘Yes, I will run’




Agence France-Presse
First Posted 13:50:00 10/14/2009
source: Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines—Former president Joseph Estrada, ousted in a popular uprising in 2001 and later convicted of graft, said on Wednesday he would run again for president in next year's elections.

"Yes, I will run," Estrada, 72, told Agence France-Presse, when asked to confirm press reports of his decision.

The former movie action star said he had chosen Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay as his vice presidential candidate.

Estrada said he would make a formal announcement of his decision at the Sto. Nino church in the impoverished Manila district of Tondo on Wednesday next week.

Tondo was the setting of many of his past movies, in which he gained massive national popularity by playing tough guy roles as defenders of the poor and downtrodden.

Estrada represents the United Opposition, a coalition of two influential parties that have been critical of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's rule. Binay is UNO’s chairman.

However there are two strong opposition contenders representing other parties in next year's elections: Senator Benigno Aquino III, the son of the late democracy icon Corazon Aquino, and billionaire property developer Senator Manuel Villar.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro will represent Arroyo's ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition.

Estrada said he was confident of victory in the May 2010 polls.

"I will not run for the presidency if I'm not sure I'll win," he said.

Estrada said his edge would be his experience, having climbed the political ladder first as a town mayor, a senator and a vice president before a landslide victory as the country's 13th president in 1998.

Estrada's term, however, was cut short by a military-backed popular revolt in 2001, amid accusations he amassed wealth from illegal gambling kickbacks and shady deals amounting to about 80 million dollars.

He was convicted of large-scale graft and sentenced to life in jail in 2007.

But Arroyo, who played a key role in deposing him when she served as his vice president, pardoned him six weeks later.

Ignoring peril puts RP economy at risk—UNDP

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:08:00 10/14/2009

PARO, BHUTAN — The Philippines will immediately lose the economic gains it has made if it ignores disaster preparedness and management, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said Tuesday.

“Climate change is going to be a huge issue as well as the frequency of disasters in the Philippines,” said Ajay Chhibber, director of UNDP Asia and the Pacific, as he expressed concern about the devastation that “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” brought to the country.

“More resilience need to be built” in the Philippines, he said.

Chhibber said the country “has made very good economic progress” despite the global economic crisis.

But with the recent calamities, he cautioned that “many people have just escaped poverty and one disaster could throw them back. This is where I think more should be done.”

The UNDP official addressed a four-day conference on democracy organized by the UNDP and the Bhutan government which gathered some 200 delegates from all over Asia.

Bhutan, the landlocked Himalayan kingdom wedged between the politically dominant countries of China and India, has entered a new era of democracy, starting with its first national parliamentary elections which was completed in March 2008. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck ratified Bhutan’s first Constitution in July 2008.

Though it is still taking baby steps toward democracy, Bhutan can serve as a “role model” even for older democracies like the Philippines, especially in how the small nation is preserving nature. Edson C. Tandoc Jr

Mindanao ships 75 tons of bananas to Luzon for typhoon victims
By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:26:00 10/13/2009

MANILA, Philippines—Members of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association based in Mindanao shipped 75 tons of bananas as food relief for typhoon victims in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

PBGEA member Betty Francia said in a phone interview that 7,500 boxes of bananas (at 10 kilos per box) were shipped to Luzon in two batches.

PBGEA earlier said in a statement that members Tagum Agricultural Development Company, Inc., Sumifru, Lapanday Foods, F.S. Dizon and Sons, AM Soriano group, Marsman-Drysdale and Unifrutti donated the bananas.

A total of eight 20-footer container vans and 14 10-footer vans had arrived in Manila as of the weekend with the help of Solid Shipping Lines Corp. and Aboitiz Transport System Corp.

The shipments were endorsed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which will repack and distribute the fruit to typhoon victims.

PBGEA said its members decided to ship export-quality bananas in response to reports that evacuation centers lack fresh food for ready eating.

Reports have said the centers are so saturated with instant noodles that evacuees say it's "coming out of their ears."

Fruits and vegetables may also be harder to come by in wet markets supplying evacuation centers as high value crops from Central and Northern Luzon were lost to floods or cannot be immediately delivered due to landslides in major roads.

"Even relief workers can benefit from the energy-boosting fruit. Athletes are known to consume bananas when they are competing to boost their energy levels. Bananas consist mainly of sugars and fiber, which makes them ideal for an immediate and slightly prolonged source of energy," PBGEA said.

UN exec to RP: Build, plan for disasters

Standing water in Pasig worries UN official

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:54:00 10/13/2009

MANILA, Philippines – Countries vulnerable to the harsh effects of climate change like the Philippines need to build and plan for disasters as the weather events become “more extreme” and “more intense,” United Nations Undersecretary General John Holmes said Tuesday.

But in Pasig City, which he visited Monday, Holmes said he was most struck by the standing water that was expected to remain there in the next two months or more. He expressed concern for the people who have stayed on in their houses trying to go on with their lives, wading in these waters and being exposed to various diseases.

The government, he said, “should look for ways to get rid of the standing water.”

At a press conference Tuesday, Holmes said “chronic vulnerability [in many parts of the world] has not gone away,” and the consequences of climate change in the coming years were expected to worsen that vulnerability. And with the global economic meltdown, international humanitarian aid may not be as generous in the coming years.

That’s why, he said, countries vulnerable to climate change effects needed to adopt measures, allocate funding, and initiate technology transfers to reduce the risks of disasters that were the sure effects of climate change.

“We cannot stop disasters, but we can reduce the impact if we take measures in advance like not build on flood-prone areas, implement the right kind of water management, build houses and schools that can withstand floods and earthquakes,” he said.

“Governments can make good investments. These do not cost much compared to responses after disasters that are more expensive,” he added.

Holmes said that $12 billion were spent globally every year in response to disasters, and he expected the amount to increase because of global warming.

The UN official, who is in the country to see for himself the effects of the storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana) and typhoon “Pepeng” (international name: Parma), said the UN was likely to revise its flash appeal to the international community for the Philippines in the next two to three weeks after finishing the assessment of the destruction in northern Luzon caused by Pepeng.

At the same time, Holmes also said he was impressed by the Philippine government’s response to the twin disasters, particularly its “speed” and “effectiveness.”

He said the UN system adopted precautions against possible corruption in the distribution of relief goods and aid, including working with UN agencies and other non-government organizations in the country.

“The help goes straight to the people. They either survive or not. The effects are very visible. The risk of diversion or corruption is lower in relief operations than in other kinds of aid. It’s not usually a major problem. The concern is always there but the effects of the relief are immediately seen,” he said.

Of the $74 million targeted for Ondoy operations, the UN has received $19 million worth of commitments from the international community. Outside the UN flash appeal, $25 million more were given directly either to the government or non-government organizations.

Morning Banana Diet Rules

Every diet has rules. If a diet works for you, it’s simply because the rules have had the effect of making you eat less food (nothwithstanding whatever magical claims a diet may make). Diet rules generally do this by making eating a little harder or less convenient, through restricting when or what you can eat. Throw in a little “scientific theory” for motivation, and you have a diet. And remember, no diet works for everybody. So what are the Morning Banana Diet rules? Here’s a synopsis collected from various sources:

If you are a health reporter, dietitian or blogger intending to write about the diet, please read this page carefully and also check out this blog post before you write a kneejerk “just another fad diet” article. Thanks!

Eat a banana for breakfast

• You can eat more than one, and in fact the inventor of the diet often ate four (smallish Philippines) bananas in the morning, but don’t stuff yourself to the point of fullness or discomfort.
• Eat only raw, uncooked, unfrozen bananas.
• Other fruit may be substituted.
• If other fruit is substituted, some variants require it be restricted to one type of fruit per meal.
• If you are still hungry 15 or 30 minutes after your banana, you can eat other food (the Japanese inventor of the original Asa Banana Diet sometimes ate a rice ball two and a half hours later, about 200 calories worth; Morning Banana forum members have suggested oatmeal, although it’s not as portable as a rice ball).

Eat normally for lunch and dinner

• Dinner must be eaten by 8 p.m. at the latest (6 p.m. is better).
• There are no explicit limits on the types of food you can eat for lunch and dinner, or the amount. But in practice dieters report on Mixi that they try to cut the amount of rice they eat and find substitutions for fried foods. As with many diets, the mere fact you have decided to go on a diet tends to make you more aware of what and how much you are are eating and how healthy it is. The diet avoids strict food rules to prevent a sense of deprivation.
• However, you should not eat a dessert with dinner or any of your meals; you’ll need to satisfy your sweet tooth during a snack, but we’ll get to that later.
• At all meals you should eat only until you’re satisfied but not full or stuffed. The Japanese have a proverb, Hara hachibu ni isha irazu, “A stomach eight-tenths full needs no doctor.” American dietitians define this level of fullness or satiety as a 7 on a 1-to-10 “hunger scale,” and they teach their clients to recognize this feeling.

Drink only water

• The only beverage allowed at most meals is water, preferably mineral or filtered.
• The water must be at room temperature, not chilled or hot.
• The water should be drunk in small sips and not used to wash down food.
• There is no quota of water to drink, and you should not drink it in excess.
• Outside of meals non-caloric beverages like tea, coffee, and diet soda are generally allowed but somewhat frowned upon, and in general water is encouraged as much as possible; frequent consumption of milk products is discouraged.
• On social occasions you may drink beer or wine.

Eat your food mindfully

• Chew your banana and other food thorouoghly and be mindful of its taste.

You may eat an afternoon snack

• A sweet snack of chocolate, cookies, or the like is allowed at about 3 p.m.
• Ice cream, a donut, or potato chips are not recommended.
• Some substitute fresh fruit for their snack, but if you want sweets you should not deny yourself.
• Some Japanese who like salty snacks eat salted konbu (seaweed) snacks and some Japanese who are very hungry in the afternoon substitute a filling, fist-sized rice ball for sweets.
• A good alternative if a salty or more filling snack is needed is popcorn according to Morning Banana forum members, but watch out for excessive fat content.
• If you are hungry after dinner, you may have a second snack of fresh fruit, but this should not be a habit.

Early to bed

• Go to bed by midnight. If you can manage to go to bed earlier, all the better.
• Try to aim for a four-hour period between your last meal or snack and bedtime (which is why 8:00 p.m. is the latest you should eat dinner).

Exercise only if you want to

• Put no pressure on yourself to exercise.
• If you want to exercise, go ahead: the test is to do what puts the least stress on you.
• But try to get some walking in every day if possible (but again, don’t force yourself if it stresses you out).
• If you want a traditional Japanese light workout, consider taking up the kendama.

Keep a diet journal

• Because the original Japanese banana diet was developed on the internet, many successful Japanese dieters naturally documented their daily food intake and progress online via blogs, forums, or social networking services, and they felt this gave them extra support (we have prepared a Morning Banana Diet Forum with individual food blogs for your use).
• Because of the diet’s emphasis on digestive processes, some Morning Banana Diet journalers record a bit “too much information” — so remaining anonymous may be advisable.

Source: Morning Banana