Category Archives: International

Philippines Aiming For Guinness Record As SPAM Capital Of The World

April 29, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

The newly-opened SPAM Museum in Minnesota (Photo: Hormel Foods)

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – The Philippines already holds the record of social media capital and selfie capital of the world, and now it is aiming for yet another Guinness honor — that of SPAM capital of the world.

Filipinos are using social media platforms 53 hours a week. That’s a whole 11 hours more than the global average of 42 hours according to a global study.

Now, Filipinos want to be recognized for SPAM, not the annoying, unsolicited mail or posts one gets on email or social media accounts. Rather, the canned SPAM meat manufactured by Hormel Foods.

Right now, the U.S. territory of Guam is recognized as the SPAM capital of the world, followed by the state of Hawaii (thanks to the enormous popularity of SPAM sushi). The Philippines is unofficially in third place. Filipinos want their SPAM for breakfast (with fried rice and eggs) and as special food fare when they have visitors.

So, might as well aim to be No. 1 in SPAM consumption, right?

In order to achieve this honor, the Philippines’ Department of Tourism and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) have launched a joint program to encourage overseas Filipinos, especially those in the United States, to double or triple their SPAM shipment via Balikbayan boxes to their relatives in the Philippines.

“If each overseas Filipino worker sends at least a case of SPAM to their Filipino relatives twice a year, we can easily break Guam’s and Hawaii’s records,” the POEA said.

Oh, and make that SPAM Tocino, please!

Human Interest, International, Politics

American And Filipino Psychics Foretell Of 2016 Election Results

April 24, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

Top, L-R: Clinton, Warren, Trump, Bush; Bottom, L-R: Poe, Robredo, Duterte, Marcos

NEW YORK, New York (The Adobo Chronicles, Washington Bureau) – The Philippines and the United States — both are having their presidential elections this year in May and November, respectively.

While polls and social media speculation have greatly contributed to forecasting who will be elected president and vice president of either country, psychics are weighing in as well on the contests.

Sylvia Browne of the U.S. and Madam Auring of the Philippines are popular psychics in their respective countries. Lo and behold, both have similar scenarios in predicting which among the candidates will emerge victorious.

Browne and Auring have agreed on two possible scenarios, but neither would confirm which scenario would eventually materialize.

Here are their predictions:

Scenario 1: The Philippines and the U.S. will elect women for both their president and vice president. For the U.S., that would be Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren; for the Philippines, it would be Grace Poe and Leni Robredo.

Scenario 2: The Philippines will elect an autocrat for president, as will the U.S. — Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte. As for the vice presidents, it will be sons of former presidents — Jeb Bush and Bongbong Marcos.

Unlike in the U.S., Philippine election laws allow voters to choose a president who is a candidate of one party and a vice president who is from another party, and this is reflected in both psychics’ predictions.

International, Travel

Top Ten Things You Can Do To Avoid Being Victimized By Laglag Bala At Manila’s NAIA Airport

April 22, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – You would hope that the extortion sheme ‘Laglag Bala’ at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is a thing of the past. Unfortunately, more incidents where unsuspecting passengers are questioned and detained for discovery of live bullets in their luggage — “planted” by scheming airport personnel — have surfaced.

In the interest of public service, The Adobo Chronicles is issuing these Ten Guidelines that local and international travelers passing through NAIA can consider in order to avoid being victimized by the extortion scheme. You’re welcome!

1. Make sure your check-in luggage is locked. If traveling to the U.S., choose a lock or luggage that is TSA-approved (which means the TSA can still open it for inspection using a master key).
2. If at all possible, don’t travel with a carry-on bag.
3. If you absolutely have to have a carry-on bag, choose one that does not have zippers and outside pockets.
4. If your carry-on bag is singled out for manual inspection, demand that YOU open the bag yourself.
5. If airport personnel insist that THEY open your bag, be ready to take a video of the proceedings with your smart phone.
6. Place a business card of your attorney on your luggage tag. Make sure the card uses BOLD fonts, especially the word “ATTORNEY.”
7. Avoid using designer carry-on bags. They invite interest among inspectors. Instead, use a bayong or some other cheap bags, perhaps even a re-usable grocery bag from Safeway.
8. Place one of the following inside your carry-on bag: durian, bagoong, daing na bangus, or kimchee. Any of these items will surely repel the inspector with the foul smell, eventually choosing not to inspect your bag.
9. Place an activated mouse-trap inside your carry-on bag. That will give the scheming inspector a painful lesson.
10. If all else fails, just enjoy the experience. Be thankful for an extended stay in the Philippines, with free board and lodging — inside the prison cell.