The three tenors in the form of DILG Seceretary Joey Lina, DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes and MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando will be performing live at Music Museum for a night only concert! The three will be joined by Pilita Corrales, Jose Mari Chan, The Company and other guests. Tickets are from P1030 to P5150 and are available at Ticketworld

More information:
Clickthecity.com - Tabang
Buy Tickets for Tabang

Will you be in the Metro during the Holy Week? Next week might make it difficult for you to get around the metro especially since all lrt and mrt lines that run the city will be closed for it’s annual repair and maintenance work. MRT 3 that runs from Buendia to North Ave will be closed from April 5 to 8 while LRT 1 from Monumento to Baclaran and LRT2 from Marikina to Santolan will be closed from April 5 to 9.

More Information:
ABS-CBN News - MRT, LRT suspend services for yearly repairs

Last Wednesday, we reported that a man took around 30 kids hostage in a 10 hour drama that ended peacefully. Now that authorities are preparing charges against Armando Ducat on charges of illegal detention and possession of firearms and explosives (punishable by 40 years in prison), the parents of the kids refuse to press charges against him and even call him a hero because of his motives on the kidnapping.

Anyway, I think that he should still face punishment (if not prison then social service?) for the incident. I mean how many more cra… idealistic hostage takers will copy this and demand “that other countries forgive the Philippine’s billions of debt” or even “bring back FPJ to life”?

More Information:
ABS-CBN News - Parents of abducted kids rally in support of hostage-taker
Inquirer - Parents of children held hostage won’t press charges

You step off the plane and see airport personnel lined up, holding signs for disembarking passengers who’ve requested “assistance” upon arrival.

You see a passenger bypassing the immigration queue, lead by one airport official.

You see the big boxes sealed tight by packaging tape and tied with a rope.

You see somebody slipping a guard something that looks suspiciously like a tightly folded 100 peso bill.

Ah yes, I have landed in Manila indeed.

Finally, one of Manila’s eye sores are getting cut out of the picture. The MMDA has requested telephone companies and other firms to clean up tangled cables on their posts. Telco’s, cable companies and even electricity firm’s cable criss cross the skyline of the Metro and this has finally come to the MMDA’s attention.

Just last weekend, traffic was a mess in Julia Vargas in Pasig when a post with hundreds of cables on it collapsed on the road. I hope this order from MMDA has good follow through.

More Information:
Manila Times - MMDA to penalize ’spaghetti’ wirings

A lot of press has been given on the deployment of army troops all over the metro and according to this article on the Inquirer, it seems that they will be pulled out before May 14. Good news to those who were fearing that the army will be used in massive fraud during the May elections.

As I live just 10 minutes away from a Police Camp and 15 minutes away from the AFP Headquarters, the sight of troops is normal for me. Can anyone verify if there are troops deployed in their area?

More Information:
Inquirer - Metro troop pullout before polls ‘likely timetable’–Esperon

Home at last! After three months in Melbourne, I am glad to be back. Melbourne is a beautiful city, but there’s just something about Manila. As the 70’s band Hotdog sings, there’s simply no place like Manila.

The things I missed most about Manila are:
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“I dont want to scare you,” warns Meyan Aclan, 2005 Batch Head of the Philippine Underwater Hockey Confederation (PUHC). “But accidents do happen, as in any sport. If the fins on the heel of your opponent hit you in the face, you’re at the risk of getting your nose broken.

“And when you’re new, you get hurt a lot.”

Mayan is speaking of the same sport described in Wikipedia as a ‘non-contact sport’. She’s speaking of the same game which combines swimming, skin diving, and ice hockey in one; the same water sport bound to explode with its rapidly growing popularity in the metro. She’s speaking of the amazingly intense fitness activity which, in her own words, has “steam literally coming out of my head and a tremendous amount of sweat given off even while in the water.”

Underwater hockey, folks. And it is, literally and figuratively speaking, perhaps the coolest and most breath-taking sport of all.
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This is just plain insanity! A man has taken a busload of 30 kids and 4 teachers hostage near the Manila CIty Hall. A sign infront of the bus says that he is demanding for education and housing for 145 kids. I hope for everyone’s sake this ends well unlike the hostage taking a few weeks back in Taguig.

More Information:
ABS-CBN News - Day care owner takes 30 pupils, 4 teachers hostage
Inquirer - 32 school children held hostage in Manila

Local telecom giant Globe has had a string of negative press recently starting from their scrapping of their Unlimitext promo a few months ago. Now, several complaints including this one from blogger Jobarclix on possible “hidden charges” for their prepaid texting subscribers. Anyway, I wonder how Globe will explain the “missing load” in their “report”.