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TEN SACRIFICES FILIPINOS WILL HAVE TO MAKE FOR THE SAKE OF THE APEC SUMMIT IN MANILA

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Photo credit : Carlo De Castro
Photo credit : Carlo De Castro

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – World leaders will gather in Manila this week for the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, and the Philippines is putting its best foot forward to make the meeting a huge and memorable success — for the visitors.

Meanwhile, Filipinos have been asked by their goverment to make ‘small’ sacrifices:

  1. Postpone or cancel travel plans because international and domestic commercial flights into and out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have  been cancelled to make way for arriving and departing APEC dignitaries and delegates.
  2. Give up a week’s worth of wages and/or productivity due to the closure of private and public offices.
  3. Give up a week’s worth of new knowledge because of the closure of schools.
  4. Expect interruption of Internet connectivity because the cyberspace has been reserved for exclusive APEC use only.
  5. Give up two lanes of busy roadways (see photo) to ensure that APEC delegates will not be late for their meetings and cocktail receptions.
  6. For residents of high-rise condominiums along or near the APEC meeting venues: keep their curtains closed at all times and avoid hanging out in their balconies — for security reasons.
  7. For the homeless population: give up a week’s worth of panhandling earnings because they will be rounded up and hidden from public view.
  8. There will be shortened hours for shopping at all Metro Manila malls and mega malls.
  9. Postpone or cancel all romantic dates along the famed Manila Bay and Roxas Boulevard, site of the APEC meetings — again for security reasons.
  10. Last but not the least, there will be no episode of AlDub, the street series of the popular noontime TV Show, ‘Eat Bulaga’ on GMA Channel 7.

It might as well be ‘Holy Week’ for all Filipino catholics!

On the positive side, there will be no cases of laglag bala at NAIA all week!

Economy, International, Social Media, Technology

FILIPINOS WILL HAVE NO INTERNET CONNECTION DURING APEC SUMMIT IN MANILA

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imageMANILA, Philippines  (The Adobo Chronicles) –  The country’s top telecommunications and digital service provider Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) is boosting Internet connectivity at the venues of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings being held in Metro Manila.

In a statement yesterday, PLDT said it has put up facilities which can provide up to 8.5 Gbps (Gigabits per second) of Internet connectivity and voice solutions at major conference venues and host hotels for the 8,000 delegates expected to attend the APEC meetings.

In order to meet this high speed capacity for the meeting, PLDT has announced to all its Filipino household customers that they will lose their Internet connection for the duration of the summit. They will receive a small amount of rebate on their next utility bill.

The Philippines has the slowest and most expensive Internet service in all of Asia, so the Aquino administration wanted to make sure that PLDT provide the visiting APEC delegates with a pleasant and worry-free Internet connection.

Yet another band-aid and show-off solution by the Philippine government to cover up its incompetency.

Economy, Government, International, Politics, Travel

RUSSIA’S PUTIN AND INDONESIA’S WIDODO WILL SKIP APEC SUMMIT IN MANILA

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imageMANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) –  Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indonesian President Joko Widodo will not attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ meeting in Manila next week.

According to the Russian news agency RBC, Putin suddenly refused to participate in the APEC summit in the Philippines but will send Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instead.

Meanwhile, during the press briefing at the International Media Center on Thursday afternoon, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario confirmed Widodo’s absence from APEC.

“I just got a verbal message that there are things in Jakarta that need the attention of Pres. Widodo,” Del Rosario said, citing domestic concerns as reason for Widodo’s sudden non-attendance.

Widodo will be represented by Indonesian Trade Minister Thomas Lembong.

Although the Russian and Indonesian govenments did not give specific reasons for their heads of state’s decision to skip the Manila summit, many are speculating that Putin and Widodo are scared of being victimized by the laglag bala extortion scheme at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

President Aquino expressed frustration especially over Putin’s decision since the Manila government even set aside an exclusive lane for the Russian leader along EDSA (Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare) so that he does not encounter any traffic to and from the meeting site.