Official List of Philippine Holidays for 2012

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A. Regular Holidays

  • January 1 - New Year’s Day
  • April 5 and  6 (Thursday and Friday) - Maundy Thursday and Good Friday
  • April 9 (Monday) - Araw ng Kagitingan
  • May 1 (Tuesday) - Labor Day
  • May 3 – has been declared a non-working holiday
  • June 12 (Tuesday) - Independence Day
  • August 27 (Monday) - National Heroes Day
  • November 30 (Wednesday) – Bonifacio Day
  • December 25 (Tuesday) - Christmas Day
  • December 30 (Sunday) - Rizal Day

B. Special (non-working) holidays

  • January 23 Chinese Lunar New Year
  • August 21 (Tuesday), Ninoy Aquino Day
  • November 1 (Thursday) - All Saints’ Day
  • November 2 (Friday) - All Soul’s Day Additional special (non-working) day
  • December 24 - Christmas Eve
  • December 31 - New Year’s Eve
  • August 31 – Eidul Fitar
  • October 26 - Eid-al-Adha

C. Others

  • February 25 (Saturday), EDSA People Power Revolution anniversary
  • July 27 - Founding Anniversary of Iglesia ni Cristo – Special national working holiday

D. Local Holidays

  • January 16 – Sinulog “Fiesta of Cebu Philippines”
  • January 12 – Talisay City Cebu Charter Day
  • February 24 – Cebu City Charter Day, Regular Public Holiday in Cebu
  • September 9 – Osmena Day

Lunar Eclipse in Cebu Philippines

Philippine Cebu, Philippine Metro Manila, Philippine News Update, Philippine Travel 1 Comment »

Our own shot of the Lunar eclipse in Cebu, Philippines.

8:50 p.m. December 10, 2011. Cebu, Philippines

9:30 p.m. December 10, 2011. Cebu, Philippines

10:10 p.m. December 10, 2011. Cebu, Philippines

Manny Pacquiao WON versus Juan Manuel Marquez 3 Fight round per round details

Philippine Celebrities, Philippine News Update, Philippine Sports 1 Comment »

LIVE Update of the Manny Pacquiao WON versus Juan Manuel Marquez 3 Fight round per round details.

Mari Aragon will be singing the Philippine National Anthem. Fil-Am American Idol finalist Thia Megia will sing the US Anthem.


For complete details of the round per round fight please click here.

Paris Hilton in Manila Philippines

Philippine Country Site Updates, Philippine News Update, Philippine Showbiz News No Comments »

American heiress of the Hilton hotel empire and media personality Paris Hilton arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines with Emirates Airlines flight from Dubai last Sunday August 14, 2011. Ms. Hilton is in Manila to meet with her friend, Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee as well as inaugurate the opening of her namesake luxury store “Paris Hilton boutique”  at SM Megamall on August 18, 2011 and promote a beach resort.
Paris Hilton will be here for a five day visit to Manila, where she is scheduled to meet with executives of real estate firm Century Properties inviting her to design its upcoming “urban resort” named Azure in Parañaque City. The celebrity was tapped to jazz up the property’s beach club.

Malacañang has yet to confirm if Hilton would meet President Aquino, although earlier reports suggested a meet-and-greet might take place.

Manny Pacquiao WON versus Shane Mosely Fight round per round details

Philippine Celebrities, Philippine News Update, Philippine Sports 1 Comment »

Manny Pacquiao WON again through unanimous decision!
Scorecard: 119-108, 120-108 and 120-107 for Pacquiao

For complete details of the round per round fight please click here.

Release of the New Philippine Peso Bill Design

Philippine History, Philippine News Update 5 Comments »

NEW PHILIPPINE BILLS OR BANK NOTES 2010

Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) has released last December 16, 2010 a redesign of the new Philippine Peso Bill. The design features some of the Philippines famous Filipinos and natural wonders. Sizes of the new Philippine bill design is still the same as before which is 160mm x 66mm.

There were some errors discovered on the new design. Some of the errors was the Batanes was excluded from the Philippine map on the reverse of all denominations, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean Underground River on the reverse of the 500-peso bill was on the wrong location and the Tubbataha Reef on the 1000-peso bill. The beak and feathers of the blue-naped parrot on the 500-peso bill also has the wrong color. Including the scientific names of the animals featured on the reverse sides of all banknotes or Philippine bills were incorrectly rendered as well.

What do you think of the new Philippine Peso Bill Design?
Share your thoughts and comments.

Manny Pacquiao WON versus Antonio Margarito Fight round per round details

Philippine News Update, Philippine Sports 2 Comments »

manny pacquiao won vs antonio margaritoManny Pacquiao WON during his fight with Antonio Margarito.

the world’s best pound for pound fighter, Filipino ring hero Manny Pacquiao defeated Antonio Margarito of Mexico and claim the WBC super welterweight crown, his eighth weight crown, at Cowboys Stadium in Texas Saturday night (Sunday here).
There was no knockdown but Pacquiao, in spite of giving up close to 20 pounds in weight and this proves dominant throughout the bout set at a catch weight of 150 lbs.
The Filipino Boxer Manny Pacquiao prevailed over the Mexican, becoming the first boxer to win 8 world titles in 8 different weight divisions.
Pacquiao now has 52 wins (with 38 KOs), 3 losses and 2 draws while Margarito owns a professional record of 38 wins (with 27 KOs) and 7 losses.
Songstress Zyrene Parsad sang the Philippine national anthem. The 24-year-old Parsad sang the “Lupang Hinirang” at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
She was dressed in a red Filipiniana gown decorated with Swarovski crystals designed by Pepsi Herrera.
A Mexican recording star sang the Mexican national anthem while the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
After the performance of the three national anthems, US hip hop recording star Nelly provided some entertainment for the 70,000 to 75,000 crowd in attendance.

the world’s best pound for pound fighter, Filipino ring hero Manny Pacquiao defeated Antonio Margarito of Mexico and claim the WBC super welterweight crown, his eighth weight crown, at Cowboys Stadium in Texas Saturday night (Sunday here).

There was no knockdown but Pacquiao, in spite of giving up close to 20 pounds in weight and this proves dominant throughout the bout set at a catch weight of 150 lbs.
The Filipino Boxer Manny Pacquiao prevailed over the Mexican, becoming the first boxer to win 8 world titles in 8 different weight divisions.

Pacquiao now has 52 wins (with 38 KOs), 3 losses and 2 draws while Margarito owns a professional record of 38 wins (with 27 KOs) and 7 losses.

Songstress Zyrene Parsad sang the Philippine national anthem. The 24-year-old Parsad sang the “Lupang Hinirang” at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

She was dressed in a red Filipiniana gown decorated with Swarovski crystals designed by Pepsi Herrera.A Mexican recording star sang the Mexican national anthem while the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

After the performance of the three national anthems, US hip hop recording star Nelly provided some entertainment for the 70,000 to 75,000 crowd in attendance.

Click here for the complete round per round details of the fight.
http://www.philippinecountry.com/manny_pacquiao/pacquiao_vs_margarito.html

Ateneo Dumps San Jose-Recoletos

Philippine Sports 1 Comment »

ateneoAteneo de Manila University (ADMU) showed why it is the darling of the country’s women’s volleyball circuit, easily disposing Cebu’s Unversity of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) in three sets, 25-17, 25-18, 26-24, to enter the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Season 7 at The Arena in San Juan last Sunday.

Thai import Keawbundit Sontaya led the Blue Eagles, the first runner-up in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), scoring 17 points. Diminutive open hitter Fille Cainglet put in 11 points for the Lady Eagles.

With a 2-0 win-loss card, the girls from Katipunan in Quezon City, is currently with Lyceum of the Philippines for the top spot in Group B with a comfortable position going into the quarterfinal round.

The Lady Jaguars, perennial champions of Cebu just could not handle Sontaya easily giving up points on the defense. The Cebuanos tried to rally on the third set, extending it at 24-all, only to drop the next two points for the match.

With the mandatory two-point extension at 24-al with a miss from Ateneo’s Misha Quimpo, Sontaya and Cainglet buried back-to-back kills to seal the set and the match.

Guest player Michiko Castaneda led the Cebuanos with 11 points while the mainstay Carla Dubduban added nine.

The Lady Jaguars struggled on their reception, allowing the Lady Eagles to score 12 service aces, with veteran Bea Pascual and Sontaya combining for six easy points.

There are eight teams in this conference’s tournament including three out of town teams—USJ-R and Southwestern University from Cebu City and University of St. La Salle from Bacolod City.

Now on its seventh year, The V-League is the premiere women’s volleyball tournament in the country outside the university athletic games. The University of Santo Tomas is the winningest team in the tournament history with five championships. De La Salle University has three while the Adamson University and the San Sebastian College-Recoletos both have one championship each.

Supreme Court orders DNA testing on Vizconde Massacre evidence

Philippine News Update 3 Comments »

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is set to make an inventory of material evidence presented to court 19 years ago during the publicized trial of the Vizconde massacre.

The NBI will check if they still have the semen specimen taken from one of the victims, Carmela Visconde, who was raped before she was murdered along with her mother and baby sister in 1991 in Paranaque City.

NBI Deputy Director for Technical Services Reynaldo Esmeralda said the bureau will comply if ever the Supreme Court asks them to provide a DNA sample of specimens under their custody.

The High Tribunal on Friday granted the request of Hubert Webb, one of those convicted in the massacre, to submit for DNA analysis specimen taken from Carmela’s cadaver. Webb wanted to prove that he was not involved in the rape and murder.

Esmeralda said that should the semen samples be available, the NBI will immediately conduct tests to ensure it is not contaminated.

“It has been a long time. So we will see if it is with us. I asked them to check on our evidence, especially in 1991 and 1992,” Esmeralda said.

Admitting DNA evidence only in 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the reopening of the Vizconde case. Appeals for DNA tests were earlier denied by the lower courts.

“It was only in 2007 when the SC issued a ruling to recognize the DNA testing. During the pendency of the case at the lower court and at the CA, the DNA test is relatively new science and at that time the SC has yet to rule whether the Court will accept DNA test for evidence,” Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez told reporters.

The NBI was directed to submit available specimen to the University of the Philippines – Natural Science and Research Institute, Diliman, Quezon City. The bureau was given 15 days to comply with the court’s order.

The lower court sentenced to 40 years in jail Hospicio “Pyke” Fernandez, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Antonio “Tony Boy” Lejano and Peter Estrada for the rape and murder of Carmela Vizconde and the killing of her mother, Estrellita, and younger sister, Jennifer.

Twists and Turns Inside Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) House

Philippine Showbiz News 14 Comments »

PBB-teen-clashPinoy Big Brother opened its house once again for teens ages fourteen to nineteen years old and last April 10. 2010, fifteen housemates were introduced to the public. These fifteen young and fresh faces will be the talk of the town for the next eight weeks. Just like the regular season, Pinoy Big Brother doubles up, the famous Kuya’s house is still divided into two and this time seven housemates that are living simple and not so comfortable lives outside occupied the “Villa” and eight well-off and comfortable teen housemates occupy the “Apartment”.

The “Villa” resembles the total opposite of the lives of the housemates outside for they are given all they want like comfortable complete furnished beds and a swimming pool. The housemates in “Villa” are Angelo, Devon, Eslove, Joe, Kyra, Shey and Yong. The “Apartment” on the other hand, had features of a real apartment with no beds and no swimming pool. The “Apartment” housemates had the taste of a not so comfortable life inside because they were to sleep on “banig” with very hard pillows and these teens are used to sleeping on soft mattresses and pillows. First night inside the “Apartment” is already a big challenge for these teens. The “Apartment” teens are Fretzie, Ivan, Kazel, Patrick, Rebecca, Tricia, Yen and Romeo. There are supposedly sixteen housemates but one teen housemate got health problems prompting Kuya to pick another housemate instead. Maichel was chosen to be part of the official sixteen housemates and entered the house on Day 2 as one of the “Villa” housemates. The housemates eventually started to mingle with each other and became easily comfortable with some.

The housemates were then given their first daily task, which is identifying the housemates of the opposite house through matching baby pictures with their correct names. Failure to name all the housemates correctly will mean eviction for one housemate. Both houses were given a chance to meet and ask the housemates of the other house through the TV screen and instead of making the task easier for them, it only complicated things for the “Villa” housemates. The “Apartment” teens got a taste of their first victory against the “Villa” housemates. The winning team was then asked to decide on which housemate to evict, and they chose Shey. The “Villa” teens then asked Kuya if there is any way they can save Shey from eviction, and he listened to their plea by placing Shey’s fate in a water volleyball game. The “Villa” housemates won the game and saved Shey from being evicted.

The housemates were also given their first weekly task, which involves a goat. The house that would gather enough milk at the end of the task wins the weekly budget. It was a close match but “Villa” once again triumphed. Day 8 inside the house was another stressful event for the teen housemates for they are to face the process of nomination. They individually cast their votes inside the confession room giving one and two points for housemates that they think is not worthy of extending the stay inside the house. During the night, the nominees were unfolded and Angelo, Eslove, Tricia, Romeo and Patrick got the most points. Tricia got a perfect 12 from her housemates since all of them gave her 2 points because of her mood swings. Angelo, on the other hand, got nominated because of his serious attitude. After the announcement of nominees, another name was included in the list, and it was Maichel. Kuya came into a decision to, automatically nominate him because of a number of violations. He was given a task immediately when he entered the house by letting the housemates guess the correct spelling of his name before he could actually speak, but he failed to do so. He was also caught communicating through hand signals and talking with the other housemates without a lapel microphone. Kuya then decided to do a swap among the housemates and Joe and Tricia switched houses without bidding goodbye to their friends. Joe was warmly accepted by the “Apartment” teens and his bubbly personality helped him gain new friends. Tricia, on the other hand, had difficulty adjusting with the “Villa” housemates most especially with the girls, but they cleared things up and eventually accepted their differences.

The housemates also had their “teentramurals” wherein they will be competing in a series of events and the winning team will be allowed to give P10, 000 to a recipient. The “Villa” once again won and proved their supremacy. During the middle of the week, Kuya noticed that Maichel continues to violate his rules, and he decided to, forcibly evict Maichel from the house. He was given enough time to say his farewell because he is to leave together with the evictee at the end of the week. The housemates were then given their second weekly task titled “teentertainment”. They were tasked to choreograph a dance number to be voted by the Showtime judges that will comprise 50% of the total score and the other half will be decided by the public. The performance of the “Villa” was praised by the judges, and they got a higher score in comparison to “Apartment”. The people also gave the “Villa” teens more than 50% of the votes giving them their second consecutive win with their weekly task.

During the eviction night, Maichel was the first one asked to leave and one by one, the other housemates were saved. The percentage of votes is as follows: Tricia- 41.48%, Eslove- 21.20%, Patrick- 16.63%, Angelo- 15.16% while Romeo got the lowest with 5.53% and was the first official evictee. Catch the remaining housemates in PBB: Teen Clash of 2010 on ABS-CBN’s primetime block.