Fly to prime destinations like Palawan, Legaspi and Caticlan with our P788 ‘Go Lite’ seat sale for all Cebu and Davao hub flights starting now until January 21, 2010, for travel this February 1 to March 31, 2010.

This special P788 ‘Go Lite’ seat sale is for direct flights from Cebu to Bacolod, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Caticlan, Clark, Davao, Dipolog, Dumaguete, General Santos, Iloilo, Kalibo, Legazpi, Manila, Ozamiz, Puerto Princesa, Siargao, Surigao, Tacloban and Zamboanga.

Direct flights from Davao to Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Manila and Zamboanga are also up for grabs for only P788.

We’re offering great discounts to the Land of Smiles, with P1,499 Bangkok seats from both Clark and Manila. The seat sale period starts now until January 21, 2010, for travel this May 1 to July 31, 2010.

CEB flies to Bangkok every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from Clark, and daily from Manila. We offer an unbeatable 30 kilos free baggage allowance promo for those with check-in luggage on Clark-Bangkok flights until June 30, 2010.

Fun Tours Bangkok package also go as low as P5,495 through the CEB website. This is inclusive of round-trip airfare, and 4 days-3 nights hotel accommodation with daily breakfast, and is subject to availability.

Those with check-in luggage will just add P100 upon booking.

Book your seats now at www.cebupacificair.com!

Jumpstart the summer travel season with our P999 ‘Go Lite’ seat sale starting now until January 15, 2010, for travel this February 1 to April 4, 2010.

Up for grabs are major local tourist destinations such as Boracay (Kalibo), Puerto Princesa, Busuanga, Naga, Legazpi, San Jose (Mindoro), Tagbilaran (Bohol), Cebu, Laoag (Ilocos Norte), Siargao, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

We have a total of 32 domestic destinations to choose from and accessible through hubs across the country: Manila, Cebu, Clark and Davao. Try our Inter-island routes, a smash hit for those going home or opting to take weekend vacations with friends. These routes include Davao-Iloilo, Davao-Cagayan de Oro, Cebu-Dumaguete, Cebu-Ozamiz and Clark-Cebu.

Log on to www.cebupacificair.com and plan your summer travels as early as now!

Passengers without credit cards can book online and pay through CEB partner banks (Bancnet, Megalink, Metrobank, Banco de Oro and Robinsons Savings Bank).

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Davao has registered a total of 126 individuals from Davao City who filed their Certificates of Candidacy (COC) seeking for local elective positions. COMELEC Regional Director Remlane Tambuang said that the following, in alphabetical order, are vying for the local elective positions:

For Congressional seats in the House of Representatives are:
District 1: Maria Belen Sunga-Acosta, Bernard Sabino Custodio, Jocelyn Roa Duterte, Anacleto Belleza Millendez, Karlo Alexei Bendigo Nograles, Robert Elnar Olanolan, and Juan Resemilla Zamora;

District 2: Dexter Antonio Alcebar, Joji Ilagan Bian, Danilo Castillo Dayanghirang, Mylene de Joya Garcia, and Diosdado Angelo Abello Mahipus;

District 3: Victorio Sabulana Advincula, Wilberto Echavez Al-ag, Gerardo Caalaman Braganza, Gregorio Chavez Canada, Ruy Elias Concepcion Lopez, and Isidro Tom Ungab.

For City Mayor: Rodrigo Jr. Punzalan Buenzon, Sara Zimmerman Duterte, Magdaleno Sumampong Marcellones, Prospero Castillo Nograles, and Rodrigo Jomoc Suliman

For City Vice Mayor: Benjamin Cacatian de Guzman, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, and Roberto Viloria Macaraeg

For Councilor, First District: Nilo Jr. Malig Abellera, Domingo Antipuesto Andolina, Rodolfo Farma Antolin, Lester Lawrence Trinidad Avila, Wendel Eliot Avisado, Jo Anne Bonguyan, Inocentes Jr. Bornea, Pilar Cañeda Braga, Carlos Jimena Cirilio, Hector Emmanuel de los Reyes, Shane Lim Dolor, Eddie Codilan Fuentes, Emmanuel Dellergan Galicia, Arlex Luayon Galido, Edwin Abecia Gonzaga, Jeff Ong Ho, Edgar Ramos Ibuyan, Evelyn Gonzales Laviña, Raneolo Carillo Leonar, Leah Alonsabe Librado, Christian Jay Lim, Ferdinand Carabuena Lu, Ernesto Jr. Neuman Macasaet, Magompara Muto Magadia, Amil Bangsa Manding, Napoleon Tac-an Militar, Prospero Pardiñas Mojica, Rogelio Cañete Paconia, Pablito Pilapil Parilla, Randy Reyes Ponteras, J Melchor Vega Quitain, William Icalina Ramirez, Stella Marissa Viacrucis Reyes, Benjamin Jr. Guatlo Rivera, Joel Arroyo Santes, Micheal Manila Tabelo, Antonio Harada Vergara, Rene Alexis Villrente, Jose Joel Goloso Virador, Alberto Chiong Yap, and Jocelyn Palad Yap.

For Councilor, Second District: Richard Antonio Alcebar, Alryan Sumicad Alejandre, Ernie Ilagan Alterado, Senforiano Jr. Ilagan Alterado, Jose Enoc Amban, Angelo Abelardo Aportadera, Micheal Protacio Aportadera, Dante Laude Apostol, Leonardo Miguel Aquino, Gerald Anthony Bangoy, Louie John Bonguyan, Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, Leopoldo Lagat Cagatin, Ariel Baring Casilao, April Marie Dayap, Jimmy Gestuveo Dureza, Dino Ferdinancd Galido, Lito Bucton Lapitan, Joji Jude Lumanog, Tomas IV, Joyce Monteverde, Rhoda Franco Noriega, Beethoven Lavisores Orcullo, Nenita Roldan Orcullo, Anthony Fabroa Pichon, Lius Jr. Quindoy Rodriguez, Marissa Palcado Salvador-Abella, Joseph Pinili Saucejo, Elvira Juezan Sederiosa, and Richard Cuizon Unla

For Councilor, Third District: Magno Jr. Gallinero Adalin, Lyndon Gamil Aballe, Victorio Jr. Uy Advincula, Bernard Echavez Al-ag, Conrado Calimbayan, Rogelio Balogbog Bantiles, Karlo Santos Bello, Salvador Virtucio Caingles, Genaro Maunto Casumpa, Domingo Gerolin Dalodo, Myrna Gerolin Dalodo-Ortiz, Allan Lim Dolor, Ernesto Villar Gerodias, Daniel Garandang Guillen, Lucio Jr. Graciosa Gutierrez, Samuel Edillo Lasay, Aldion Narciso Layao, Rene Elias Concepcion Lopez, Cecilio Jr. Espelita Manaois, Teresita Cayanong Mata-Marañon, Rogelio Alabata Montajes, Gregorio Rerora Pantig, Reynaldo Parcon Reyes, Romeo Sr. Caminero Saberon, Angelico Jr. Tondo Santander, Lolito Obeso Sucayre, Allan Joy Apat Sumandang, Eduard Bingcay Trinidad, Jose Louie Papas Villafuerte, and Rachel Paradela Zozobrado.

Health

1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.

3. Eat more food that grows on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy

5. Make time to pray.

6. Play more games.

7. Read more books than you did in 2009.

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

9. Sleep for seven hours per night.

10. Take a 10 to 30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality

11. Don’t compare your life to that of others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy on the positive present moment.

13. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.

14. Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does.

15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.

16. Dream more while you are awake.

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her past mistakes. That will ruin your present happiness.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.

20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum, they appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more.

24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society

25. Call  your family often.

26. Give something good to others every day.

27. Forgive everyone for everything.

28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and those under the age of six.

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

30. What other people think of you is none of your business.

31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life

32. Do the right thing.

33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

34. God heals everything.

35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

37. The best is yet to come.

38. When you wake up in the morning, thank God for it.

39. Your innermost is always happy. So, be happy.

Officially Philippines Photo Contest is now officially accepting entries!

You have 5 categories to choose from – Filipino Celebrations, Kaugaliang Pinoy, Hidden Treasures, Food & Places, and Filipino Represent. Each category winner will take homeP3,000 CASH. The grand prize winner will be selected from the 5 category winners who will walk away with an additional P20,000 CASH plus a Thinktank Photo Camera Bag

The contest is open to all members of the public, both Professional and Amateur photographers.

Category Topics and Submission Timeline:

1. Filipino Celebrations – Weddings, fiestas, etc. December 10, 2009 – February 9, 2010 (on or before 11:59 pm)
2. Kaugaliang Pinoy – Filipinos are known for their warm smiles and friendly nature. Capture this and other traits that are truly Filipino (ex. Bayanihan during Ondoy) February 10 – March 9, 2010 (on or before 11:59 pm)
3. Hidden Treasures - show us the other beautiful sights of the Philippines that are yet to be explored March 10 – April 9, 2010 (on or before 11:59 pm)
4. Food & Places - local Filipino cuisine, colorful kakanin, cooking the old fashion way, Spanish influences on our architecture, modern Filipino architecture, Intramuros April 10 – May 9, 2010 (on or before 11:59 pm)
5. Filipino Represent - artistic shots of our Flag, or other symbolisms of being Filipino (jeepneys, flag, tattoos, monuments, etc) May 10 – June 9, 2010 (on or before 11:59 pm)

The Grand Prize winner shall be selected among the 5 category winners!

CATEGORY WINNERS                   CASH                                   CATEGORY PERIOD
Filipino Celebrations                  P3,000                          Dec. 10, 2009 – Feb. 9, 2010
Kaugaliang Pinoy                          P3,000                          Feb. 10 – Mar. 9, 2010
Hidden Treasures                         P3,000                           Mar. 10 – Apr. 9, 2010
Food & Places                                 P3,000                           Apr. 10 – May 9, 2010
Filipino “Represent” P3,000 May 10 – Jun. 9, 2010

How to join:

• Log on to officiallyphilippines.com and register for an account




• One theme for each of the 5 time period




• Photo Guidelines

1. All photos taken must be of Philippines




2. JPEG or TIFF format




3. No larger than 2 MB




4. Minimum of 1200 pixels by 1600 pixels with a resolution of 72 dpi




5. Photoshop may be used, but only for basic post-processing actions for contrast, color-balancing, sharpening, cropping, and dodging & burning

• No watermarks, signatures, frames




• Winners must submit a 300 dpi resolution image prior to being awarded with the prize

Upload your photos on the officiallyphilippines.com website

Judging Criteria

• 30% Online Votes




• 70% Panel of Judges




• 50% Substance and originality




• 30% Online votes




• 20% Loyalty to theme and clarity (able to see the idea of the picture clearly)

View complete contest mechanics

The most popular celebrity from Davao, 19 year old Erich Gonzalez graces the cover og MEGA Magazine for January 2010!

Erich Gonzales won as 14 year old then in a reality show Star Circle Quest and after waiting for five years she was given the biggest break in “Katorse” which became a big hit on ABS-CBN!

The series is now about to end and a new one will be replaced and she is still the lead star in “Tanging Yaman“! Good acting and lots of luck and patience is on her side as she is now one of the fast rising drama princess on Philippine television.

Twitter has a search tool, but it’s a broad one. But if you want to search just your tweets and the tweets of your friends? Flocking.me is the right answer for you.

If you are searching for the tweet of your friends made weeks ago it is really a very long task to do. Thanks to Flocking.me it made life easier. It also  creates an index of the tweets you and your friends have sent and lets you search just within this micro-pool of Twitter entries.

You can go to their website here and it’s for free!

Watch the video below and be amazed!

The list of the top 25 BitTorrent sites that pulled in the most traffic in 2009. The Pirate Bay tops the rank , followed up by Torrentz and isoHunt. KickassTorrents is the highest ranked newcomer in 11th place for this year.

#1 THEPIRATEBAY.ORG
- Daily Visitors: 4,467,074
- Pageviews: 26,177,054 (5.86 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #104
- Compete Rank: #787

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#2 TORRENTZ.COM
- Daily Visitors: 2,656,483
- Pageviews: 12,963,637 (4.88 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #180
- Compete Rank: Currently Not Available

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#3 ISOHUNT.COM
- Daily Visitors: 2,461,643
- Pageviews: 16,566,857 (6.73 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #186
- Compete Rank: #1,226

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#4 MININOVA.ORG
- Daily Visitors: 1,406,653
- Pageviews: 6,597,203 (4.69 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #96
- Compete Rank: #1,123

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#5 BTJUNKIE.ORG
- Daily Visitors: 1,321,113
- Pageviews: 6,143,175 (4.65 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #403
- Compete Rank: #2,286

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#6 TORRENTREACTOR.NET
- Daily Visitors: 898,167
- Pageviews: 1,796,334 (2 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #391
- Compete Rank: #1,500

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#7 TORRENTDOWNLOADS.NET
- Daily Visitors: 888,663
- Pageviews: 1,581,820 (1.78 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #1,086
- Compete Rank: #3,477

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#8 MONOVA.ORG
- Daily Visitors: 622,539
- Pageviews: 1,512,770 (2.43 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #1,736
- Compete Rank: #11,068

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#9 EXTRATORRENT.COM
- Daily Visitors: 594,026
- Pageviews: 2,952,309 (4.97 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #1,199
- Compete Rank: #5,760

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#10 BTMON.COM
- Daily Visitors: 551,256
- Pageviews: 1,025,336 (1.86 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #1,754
- Compete Rank: #7,009

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#11 KICKASSTORRENTS.COM
- Daily Visitors: 489,477
- Pageviews: 1,830,644 (3.74 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #2,129
- Compete Rank: #6,178

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#12 VERTOR.COM
- Daily Visitors: 418,194
- Pageviews: 857,298 (2.05 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #2,365
- Compete Rank: #6,821

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#13 EZTV.IT
- Daily Visitors: 408,690
- Pageviews: 948,161 (2.32 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #1,751
- Compete Rank: #16,064

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#14 SUMOTORRENT.COM
- Daily Visitors: 384,929
- Pageviews: 869,940 (2.26 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #1,737
- Compete Rank: #6,039

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#15 ALIVETORRENTS.COM
- Daily Visitors: 361,168
- Pageviews: 664,549 (1.84 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #2,555
- Compete Rank: #8,391

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#16 FENOPY.COM
- Daily Visitors: 346,911
- Pageviews: 655,662 (1.89 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #2,494
- Compete Rank: #6,825

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#17 TORRENTPUMP.COM
- Daily Visitors: 342,159
- Pageviews: 1,064,114 (3.11 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #1,880
- Compete Rank: #10,954

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#18 TORRENTHOUND.COM
- Daily Visitors: 270,876
- Pageviews: 436,110 (1.61 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #3,108
- Compete Rank: #9,589

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#19 TORRENTPORTAL.COM
- Daily Visitors: 266,124
- Pageviews: 548,215 (2.06 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #2,878
- Compete Rank: #8,045

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#20 DEMONOID.COM
- Daily Visitors: 247,115
- Pageviews: 274,298 (1.11 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #1,728
- Compete Rank: #5,927

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#21 ZOOZLE.NET
- Daily Visitors: 218,601
- Pageviews: 655,803 (3,459 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #3,144
- Compete Rank: #71,461

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#22 SEEDPEER.COM
- Daily Visitors: 218,601
- Pageviews: 375,994 (1.72 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #2,912
- Compete Rank: #7,548

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#23 TORRENTZAP.COM
- Daily Visitors: 194,840
- Pageviews: 490,997 (2.52 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #5,252
- Compete Rank: #22,348

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#24 YOURBITTORRENT.COM
- Daily Visitors: 190,088
- Pageviews: 321,249 (1.69 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #8,541
- Compete Rank: #20,391

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#25 SEARCH-TORRENT.COM
- Daily Visitors: 171,079
- Pageviews: 501,261 (2.93 per visitor)
- Alexa Rank: #4,831
- Compete Rank: #132,233

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Here is the schedule of Philippine holidays and long-weekends for 2010 based on RA 9492 and Proclamation 1841:

• January 1 (Fri) – New Year’s Day (five-day long weekend from December 30 to January 3)




• February 22 (Mon) – EDSA Revolution Anniversary (holiday for schools only, three-day long weekend from February 21 to 23)




• April 1 (Thu) – Holy Thursday




• April 2 (Fri) – Good Friday (four-day long weekend from April 1 to 4)




• April 9 (Fri) – Araw ng Kagitingan (three-day long weekend from April 9 to 11)




• May 1 (Sat) – Labor Day




• June 14 (Mon) – Independence Day (three-day long weekend from June 12 to 14)




• August 23 (Mon) – Ninoy Aquino Day (three-day long weekend from August 21 to 23)




• August 30 (Mon) – National Heroes Day (three-day long weekend from August 28 to 30)




• September – Eid’l Fitr (to be announced, calculated September 10, possible three-day long weekend from September 10 to 12)




• November 1 (Mon) – All Saints Day (three-day long weekend from October 30 to November 1)




• November – Eid ‘l Adha (to be announced, calculated November 16)




• November 29 (Mon) – Bonifacio Day (three-day long weekend from November 27 to 29)




• December 24 (Fri) – Non-Working Holiday




• December 25 (Sat) – Christmas




• December 27 (Mon) – Rizal Day (four-day long weekend from December 24 to 27)




• December 31 (Fri) – Non-Working Holiday




• January 1 – (Sat) New Year’s Day (three-day long weekend from December 31 to January 2)

The chief of the Davao City Investment Promotion Center (IPC) said the economic growth of this city, the premier port in Mindanao, should not outpace its basic infrastructure that has become constricted and outdated.

Roberto Teo, chief of the IPC here, said that the city has experienced the highest growth this year in a decade that is about to close, reaching P5.1 billion.

Eighty percent of this growth has been powered by consistent investments in real estate, mostly in housing projects targeting the middle and high-end market, and in tourism, which would continue to carry the growth in the next decade, Teo said.

The growth curve continues its upward path despite the global financial crisis and the intermittent fighting in the central and southwestern part of Mindanao that dragged the city down in terms of the repercussion in foreign travel advisories and sudden disinterest in business and travel to any part of the island.

“So far, the growth can still be manageable, but while we strive for more and bigger investments in the city, we also don’t want to have a growth faster than we can absorb,” he said. “We don’t want traffic congestion and pollution, and we don’t want flooding and garbage problems.”

He said the drainage system in the city is already more than 50 years old “and we are spending a lot, but only for remedial measures to contain the flood. We need much more budget to put up a modern system.”

He said the road networks and garbage remained manageable although the traffic gridlocks could occur occasionally. On garbage management, the city has prided itself with the reputation of being one of the cleanest cities in the country.

Teo warned, however, that the growth could still shot upwards if the city would be successful in its repeated promotion of being the safest place in Mindanao. “In fact, many people even from Metro Manila and Luzon have found the city ideal for comfortable living, with affordable food and rental rates.”

In tourism, the Department of Tourism has logged 700,000 visitors last year, up from only 100,000 in 2002. “We are one of the preferred destinations for Lakbay Aral, receiving at least one visit per week, aside from being the favorite venue of national conventions and conferences.”

“These growth indicators could have been much higher if we can persuade and assure visitors and investors that Davao City is far from the areas of conflict and we are the safest place for people to reside and invest,” he said.

Teo said that residents should develop more entrepreneurial efforts “to increase economic activity.”

He said that this city of 1.3 million residents is estimated to have an economy worth P175 billion, “based only in the business name registrations that we got.”

“We have a budget of another P3 billion, the amount of money that the local government is pouring into the local economy every year. That’s the money in circulation every year,” he said. “If many of us here would try to capitalize on that money in circulation, we would see a lot more business activities and purchasing power of local consumers.”

“From the business point of view, that is a lot to go around,” he said.

With the national elections next year, he said he would not expect new investments coming election funds, “but more consumer spending instead. Politicians are giving away money and people would only be too happy to spend them, too.”

“We would expect sales to increase among those engaged in the printing business,” he said.

Source: Manuel T. Cayon, BusinessMirror.com.ph