All posts by Pol Pinoy

POLL: SHOULD CORY AQUINO BE NAMED THIRD FILIPINO SAINT?

imageTHE VATICAN, Italy (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – The Philippines, a country of more than 100 Million people, about 80 percent of whom are Catholics, has its share of saints.

There are now two Filipino saints, both male — Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod.

There is a growing clamor in the Philippines to name former President Corazon Aquino as the third Filipino saint, and the first woman.

Sainthood is a long and tedious process.

The process of documenting the life and virtues of a holy man or woman cannot begin until 5 years after death. This waiting period insures that the person has an enduring reputation for sanctity among the faithful. It can be waived by the Supreme Pontiff, and has been done on two occasions. Pope John Paul II waived 3 years of the waiting period in the case of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Pope Benedict XVI waived all five years in the case of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

It’s been six years since Aquino passed away from cancer.

Aside from being president, Cory is the widow of former Senator Benigno Aquino who was assassinated in Manila upon his return from years of exile in the U.S.

Many consider the senator as a martyr. So it is their belief that it would only be fitting for the widow of a martyr to be named a saint.

 

BLACK JOURNALISTS PAY $10 PER MINUTE TO SEE PRINCE AT SINGER’S PAISLEY PARK

imageMINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (The Adobo Chronicles® ) –  At least 650 members of the National Association of Black Journalists  (NABJ) accepted an invitation from Prince to pay $20 apiece to visit the Paisley Park studio complex used by the entertainer outside Minneapolis Saturday night in hopes of seeing the star himself, according to Richard Prince (no relation to the singer) of Journal-isms.

But the NABJ members — and an additional 227 people who paid $50 for the privilege — saw an appearance of just two minutes or so in which the entertainer plugged his upcoming recording.  That’s $10 and $25 per minute, respectively.

He did not perform.

The journalists were in Minneapolis for their annual national convention.

But NABJ convention organizers still praised the last-minute invitation and event.

Per policy, cell phones and cameras are not allowed inside Paisley Park. So the journalists had no choice but leave their mobile devices in their hotel rooms.

The result?  No calls, no tweets, no Facebook or Instagram posts. Just the good old, person-to-person conversation! (Although some attendees said a selfie with Prince would have been nice.)

All’s well that  ends well.

 

PHILIPPINES SUCCESS STORY: FROM BUS TO AIRBUS

imageCABANATUAN CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – We’ve seen many success stories about small businesses being transformed into multi-billion enterprises —  like Apple, Amazon and Google. They all started in some family garage.

The Philippines has its share of business success stories, but none as amazing as that of  Baliwag Transit, Inc., a bus transportation system with offices and terminals in various parts of Luzon. It mainly services routes to and from Metro Manila and Northern and Central Luzon. Most of its terminals are located in the province of Nueva Ecija, where some of its terminals are located in San Jose City, Baliuag and Cabanatuan City.

We can say that Baliwag Transit started in a garage, literally.

On Friday, the lowly bus company unveiled the latest unit of its fleet — an Airbus 380.

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by European aircraft company Airbus. It is the world’s largest passenger airliner, and the airports at which it operates have upgraded facilities to accommodate it.

Unfortunately, no airport in Nueva Ecija is big enough or equipped to accommodate the Airbus 380.

So for now, the Baliwag Transit jumbo jet sits by a terminal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. And travelers to and from Nueva Ecija will have to take the old reliable motor bus.

It is a success story nonetheless!