Category Archives: Human Interest

TAX-EVADING MANNY PACQUIAO PLANS TO BUY AN ENTIRE ISLAND

Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao

Sarangani, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Manny Pacquiao: world champion boxer, congressman, soon-to-be basketball player and coach, potential 2016 presidential candidate, billionaire and tax evader. What’s next for ‘Pacman?’

Today, Pacquaio announced his retirement plans to buy an entire island in Palawan, the southwestern Philippine province known for its pristine beaches, breath-taking land formations and world-class resorts and tourist destinations. There he will build his retirement home, or is it palace?

Immediately following the announcement, Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares put out a “keep an eye advisory” to the tax agency’s Palawan branch to make sure that Pacquiao will pay the appropriate property and other applicable taxes in connection with his planned island purchase. Previously, Henares had charged Pacquiao of  failing to pay taxes for his earnings in the boxing ring.

Pacquiao has dominated the headlines lately. In addition to his tax woes, he is reportedly eyeing the Philippine presidency come the 2016 elections. He has sealed an advertising agreement with KIA and signed up to be the Korean car company’s basketball player and coach in the Philippines’ professional basketball league. It was also revealed that Pacquiao remains to be the only billionnaire member of Congress, not to mention being the number one absentee.

Pacquiao is also known as ‘karaoke king, ” but almost everyone knows that already.

Pacquiao is still deciding which island in Palawan he will purchase.

AND YOUR NEW MISS UNIVERSE IS …

imageLas Vegas, Nevada (The Adobo Chronicles) –  Jenna Talackova, the 23-year-old woman who forced Donald Trump and his Miss Universe Canada pageant to end its ban on transgender contestants, fell short of the national title last year. But reports from Miss Universe Pageant franchise holders from all over the world are reporting that they have seen an influx of transgender contestant applications this year. Trump is reportedly considering lifting the transgender ban worldwide.

In the Philippines, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico, aspiring beauty queens are  getting nervous about stiffer competition they are likely to face from transgender contestants. These countries have each had a fair share of international beauty pageant titles, including Miss Universe.

Even Russia, host of last year’s pageant, seemed  open to lifting the transgender ban despite the Putin government’s strict laws against homosexuality.

Transgender people are slowly but surely making their mark in the arts, sports, business and politics, not to mention being poised to be the face of what many people are calling the “next major civil rights movement,” as proven by this week’s  Time magazine cover.

Will the next Miss Universe be  transgender? First, write to Donald Trump and express your support for this long overdue change in the pageant’s discriminatory  policy.

Viva! Mabuhay!  

STUDY: 70 PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION REMAINS THIN

imageLondon, Great Britain (The Adobo Chronicles) –  Almost a third of the world is now fat, and no country has been able to curb obesity rates in the last three decades, according to a new global analysis.

Researchers found more than 2 billion people – or 3o percent of the world’s population – are now overweight or obese. “It’s pretty grim,” said Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, who led the study. He and colleagues reviewed more than 1,700 studies covering 188 countries from 1980 to 2013. “When we realized that not a single country has had a significant decline in obesity, that tells you how hard a challenge this is.”

The good news is that 7o percent of the world’s population is still thin. Murray said there was a strong link between income and obesity; as people get richer, their waistlines also tend to start bulging.

The study then concluded that in order to maintain the “thin-ness” of the world’s population, governments and private employers need to keep incomes low.

The new report was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published online Thursday in the journal, Lancet.

Good news for the world’s low-income population!