Field offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in 118 cities and 1,510 towns nationwide will open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and every Saturday and legal holidays until Oct. 31, 2009 to register new voters for the May 10, 2010 presidential, congressional, local and party-list elections.

This is to encourage new voters to register and to reach a wider voter reach since they are mostly busy with their studies or work during weekdays. Those who will reach the voting age of 18 on or before May 10, 2010, can already be registered with the Comelec.

A registrant must personally appear to file the application before the EO:

• state his state and exact address,
  
• specify the house number, name of street, area,
  
• district, purok or sitio, and barangay where he resides, or a brief description of his residence.

For identification purposes, any of the following documents bearing the applicant’s photograph and signature will suffice:

• Employee’s identification card with the signature of the employer or authogized representative,
• Postal ID, Student’s ID or Library Card signed by the school principal, Senior Citizen’s ID,
• Driver’s License, NBI/PNP Clearance, Passport, SSS/GSIS ID, IBP ID, License issued by the Professional Regulation Commission,
  
• any other valid ID.

In the absence of any of these identification documents, the applicant could be identified under oath by any registered voter of the precinct, or by any of his relatives within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity who are registered voters of the same city or municipality.

Miss Gay Philippines will celebrate its 30th anniversary and the pageant will be staged at the Music Museum on March 17. The event was first held in 1980 by its founder-producer Chito Alcid.

There are five major titles at stake:

• Miss GP Universe, Miss GP World,
• Miss GP Earth,
• Miss GP International and
• Miss GP Asia Pacific.

Winners will receive cash prizes, trophies and gifts from sponsors. They will also represent the country in the Queen International in Thailand.

To join the search and for more inquiries:

Call Tel. #:

• 382-5119, 535-7453 and
• 0915-9740199 or

or e-mail:

• alcidchito@yahoo.com.

The event will be hoasted byDennis Bañez together with Miss Earth Karla Henry, Miss World Evangeline Pascual and Miss International Melanie Marquez.

Singing sensation Charice wowed the post-Academy Awards crowd at the “Night to Make A Difference” party in Hollywood Sunday evening.

Watch the video after the jump!

Transport groups on Tuesday approved a government proposal to reduce Metro Manila jeepney fares by P0.50.

President of the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines,Zeny Maranan said jeepney drivers and operators are okay with P7 minimum fare.

The Alliance of Concerned Transport Operators (ACTO) earlier expressed its readiness to implement a P0.50 reduction in basic fares. ACTO has about 265,000 members nationwide, all jeepneys drivers.

LTFRB could then implement the new price rollback as early as Monday, February 23.

Bar-tending has become very popular these days not only here in the Philippines, but also abroad. Even if the Global finacial crisis looms over the demand for bartenders are still rising here and abroad.

A bar-tending seminar, to be conducted by Golden Treasure Skills and Development Program on Feb. 21 at the University of the Philippines, College of Social Work and Community Development, Magsaysay Ave., corner Ylanan St., Diliman, Quezon City.

The daylong seminar, which runs from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., covers all of facets of bar-tending. Learn to make everything from mixing drinks and making today’s hottest cocktails. In this completely hands-on seminar, participants will learn the skills it takes to be a successful bartender, including learning the proper way to open, close and maintain the bar.

In addition, topics such as basic tools and equipment of a bartender, preparation techniques, serving etiquette and tasting will also be discussed.

Lunch and snacks will be served while all the materials will be provided. A certificate of completion will be handed to all participants after the seminar.

Space is limited. For questions, call 436-78-26, 421-15-77 or 913-65-51. You may also visit our website at www.goldentreasureskills.com for more information.

If you have a talent in essay writing, this contest is for you!

Get a chance to win $1,000.00 up to $3,000.00 and other prizes!

The Essay Competition 2009 invites youth to share ideas on:

How does climate change affect you?
How can you tackle climate change through youth-led solutions?

World Bank’s essay competition is open to young people aged 13-25. The theme for the essay competition is climate change. Deadline for submission is February 22, 2009. Check out their website for more information.

Get a chance to win cool prizes from Whisper. Share photos that you hava or take new one of you and your special someone in your best get-close moments and be sure to tell the whole world what made this moment special.

An you will have a chance to win ASUS Laptops, iPod nano, and Apple Mac book.

Mechanics:

1.Participant/s must submit/upload a photo of himself/themselves together with his/their special someone. The photo/s should depict a “getting close” moment and should include a short story explaining what made that “getting close” moment so special.

2.Promo is open to all interested parties who are residents of the Philippines. Persons under the age of 18, thus considered minors, may enter but written consent from their parent/legal guardian.

3.Participant/s may submit their entry by uploading their “getting close” photo story on the Whisper Multiply site, www.whymenlovewhisper.multiply.com. Entries must be received between 12:01 a.m. February 1, 2009 and 11:59 PM April 30 28, 2009. Photos must be in JPEG format and should be at least 1280 x 720 pixels in size. Participant/s may create up to 10 albums, with a maximum of 5 photos per album. Each album must also include a corresponding short story explaining what made the “getting close” moment that is depicted in the photo/s so special.

Procedure of online entry submission:

* NOTE: You should have a multiply account in order to join the whymenlovewhisper Multiply group.

1. Go to www.whymenlovewhisper.multiply.com and click the “Join Group” button to be able to join the whymenlovewhisper group.
2. Click on the “Add Photos” link under the “Photos” section.
3. Select the photo file for submission.
4. Click Upload and wait for the photo file to upload.
5. Fill in the TITLE and DESCRIPTION for the photo.
Pls. include the ff. in the Description section:
a. A short write-up describing what made the “getting close” moment depicted in the photo/s so special;
b. Your Complete Name
c. Your Email Address
d. Your Contact Number
e. Your Birthday
6. Click Save & Publish.
7. Participant will then receive a Personal Message notifying them that their photo story entry has been submitted. However, the photo story entry will still undergo screening prior to actual posting to the site.

Judging of the Best Getting Close Photo Story of the Month will be conducted in Procter and Gamble Distributing, Phils., 6750 Ayala Avenue, Makati City in the following dates:
* Best Getting Close Photo Story of the Month for FEBRUARY: March 2, 2009 (5:00 p.m.)
* Best Getting Close Photo Story of the Month for MARCH: March 30, 2009 (5:00 p.m.)
* Best Getting Close Photo Story of the Month for APRIL: May 4, 2009 (5:00 p.m.)
* Top 10 Best Getting Close Photo Stories: May 4, 2009

For more information and details pls. visit http://whymenlovewhisper.multiply.com/

In 2009, at 8.30pm on March 28, people around the world will turn their lights off for one hour – Earth Hour. We’re aiming to reach one billion people, more than 1000 cities, all joining together in a global effort to show that its possible to take action on global warming.

Earth Hour 2009 is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to take responsibility and to get involved in working towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to The Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world will turn off their lights and join together in creating the vital conversation about the future of our precious planet.

World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights for one hour — Earth Hour — to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate their commitment to finding solutions. Turn out. Take action. Be part of this historic event.

Mark your calendar and plan to join millions of people around the world in turning off the lights at 8:30 p.m., March 28, 2009, for one hour—Earth Hour—to raise awareness and take action to fight climate change.

Thousands of Filipinos in the country and abroad have been laid off due to the deepening impact of the global financial crisis. But how does one know if he or she is terminated for legitimate and legal reasons?

An employee can only be terminated for two reasons–just causes and authorized causes–as provided by Presidential Decree No. 442, or the Labor Code of the Philippines.

Just causes

A just cause is seen when there is fault on the part of the employee, such as serious misconduct or willful disobedience, gross and habitual neglect of duties, fraud or willful breach of trust, and commission of a crime or offense against the employer.

Authorized causes, on the other hand, refer to business or economic reasons such as installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, retrenchment to prevent losses, cessation, and closing of establishment. Most employers who have laid off their workers due to the economic downturn fall under authorized causes.
Even with the respective causes, however, the employer has no absolute power to sack its employees, saying that the company should comply with proper procedure for termination.

Notice
A notice should be given to the employee to give him reasonable opportunity (at least five calendar days) to reply to charges filed against him (i.e. just causes). This is followed by a hearing or a conference where both the management and the employee can present evidence to support their respective claims.
Should the employee be terminated, a second notice will be sent to him or her stating concluded reasons for termination.

Regarding authorized causes, the employer should provide a notice to the employee and to the appropriate regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment at least 30 days before the effective date of termination. Under the labor code, the employer is required to give a separation pay to the terminated employee, which depends on the reason for termination.

Redundancy

For grounds of installation of redundancy and installation of labor-saving devices, a minimum amount equal to the employee’s one-month pay or one month pay for every year of service should be given, whichever is higher. On the other hand, for instances of retrenchment and closures or cessation, the employee should be given a separation pay equivalent to his one-month pay or one-half month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher.

The law does not compel the employer to give a separation pay if the company closed down due to serious business losses. However, she said an employee can question the authorized cause given by the employer for his or her termination.

In cases where an employee has already been terminated due to authorized cause, they can go to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and they can question their termination. So the NLRC has jurisdiction to decide whether there was illegal termination.

The Philippines would outperform many of its neighbors this year, with growth projected at 3.3 percent except the neighboring Indonesia.

It is a very interesting for Southeast Asia since they are seeing a reversal of role for most ASEAN member countries.

They are seeing that the hardest hit with the Global Economic Crisis will be Singapore and Malaysia which is mostly viewed as the most stable among the bloc.

Singapore is expected to suffer the largest swing in its economy, with a 4.4 percent contraction expected in 2009 compared with a 1.2 percent expansion in 2008.
Indonesia is expected to grow 3.9 percent which is  “not too bad” considering the state of the global economy.

Philippines has been branded the sick man of Asia because of its relatively slow growth in recent years. But this time around, the country would keep within its growth range despite the slowdown that would result from the global recession.

“Indonesia and the Philippines, traditionally less stable, will slow, but chances of recession are low.” Consumer spending would be one of the strongest drivers for it’s economic growth.