Category Archives: International

AQUINO, ROXAS TO MEET WITH DONALD TRUMP TO DISCUSS SENATOR POE CITIZENSHIP ISSUE

September 16, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Philippine President NoyNoy Aquino and his anointed successor Mar Roxas will fly to Las Vegas this weekend for an unofficial visit to the United States. While there, the duo will meet with Republican presidential canidate Donald Trump at the latter’s Trump Towers.

The purpose of the meeting: to seek Trump’s advice on how best to deal with the citizenship issue faced by Senator Grace Poe who has just declared her candidacy in the 2016 Philippine presidential elections.

Poe’s political opponents have questioned whether or not she was born in the Philippines, a qualification to become president. She was adopted by Actors Fernando Poe, Jr. and Susan Roces when she was a baby. The senator’s biological parents are unknown.

Aquino and Roxas are running scared because Poe is extremely popular and continues to maintain the lead in national polls among presidential candidates.

Many will recall that Trump is a self-identified birther, having stubbornly pursued the question of whether or not President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Obama released his long-form Hawaii birth certificate in April 2011 after speculation from Trump and others that he might have been born elsewhere.

“We’d like Trump’s advice on how we can use the citizenship issue against Poe in the presidential campaign. That’s the only way we can defeat the senator,” Roxas told reporters.

Aquino will also extend a formal invitation to Trump to visit the Philippines before his term as president expires in 2016. “I will be very honored to be among the very first world leaders to welcome the future president of the United States,” Aquino said.

Business, International

AS VOLKSWAGEN BOWS OUT OF PHILIPPINES, ADOBO CHRONICLES INUNDATED WITH OFFERS FOR ITS COMPANY CAR

September 15, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Volkswagen is bowing out from the Philippine government’s Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program, saying the program is preferential to existing auto players, and the production hurdle therein is too high.

The move has effectively cost the Philippines $200 million in investments that Volkswagen Philippines has been willing to infuse in its manufacturing operations. After much speculation as being the third carmaker vying for a spot in the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) CARS Program, the German firm dispelled the rumors and effectively ended all speculation.

“The program is favorable to incumbents. It’s not attractive to new entrants,” John Philip S. Orbeta, chairman and president of Volkswagen, told reporters on Friday.

The 200,000-unit production hurdle was the main deterrent hindering the world’s largest automaker from participating in the program, as it dictates the volume to be reached in a span of six years—a herculean task for a new entrant.

Unlike existing car firms that have already reached the scale in sales and production to qualify for the program and are in a better position to hit the 33,000-unit-a-year requirement, Volkswagen will have to start from scratch.

Following the announcement from the German automaker, The Adobo Chronicles® has received hundreds of offers from Filipino millionaires who wanted to purchase its company car, a 2014 Volkswagen Tiguan.

“It will be such a great prestige to own a Volkswagen considering that locally-manufactured units will not be available at all because of the car manufacturer’s withdrawal from the Philippines,” one potential buyer said.

Although the Tiguan was assembled in the United States, it has the mark of the Philippines because of its unique license plate, MYADOBO.

The Adobo Chronicles® has not decided if it wants to sell its company car.

Government, International

PHILIPPINES’ VICE PRESIDENT OFFERS OFFICIAL PALACE RESIDENCE TO REFUGEE FAMILIES

September 10, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

Manila's Coconut Palace — Manila’s Coconut Palace

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Pope Francis recently urged Christians across Europe to open up their homes to refugees as he revealed that the Vatican will take in two families “fleeing death” in the middle east.

Following the Pope’s example, Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay offered his official residence — the Coconut Palace — to eight refugee families from Syria. Each family will occupy one of the eight guestrooms in the palace.

The Coconut Palace, also known as Tahanang Pilipino (Filipino Home), is a mansion of the Philippine Government on the campus of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in Manila, the Philippines. It was commissioned in 1978 by former First Lady Imelda Marcos as a government guest house. It was offered to Pope John Paul II during the Papal visit to the Philippines in 1981 but the Pope refused to stay there because it was too opulent given the level of poverty in the Philippines.

It cost 37 million Philippine pesos to build. It is owned by the government-owned and controlled corporation the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). In 2011, it became the official residence and principal workplace of the vice president.

A devout Catholic, Binay challenged President NoyNoy Aquino to do a similar humanitarian act by opening the presidential palace, Malacañang, to refugees.

“During times of calamity, the world community has come to the aid of the Filipino people,” the vice president said . “Now it is our turn to help those in need, especially the refugees from Syria.”

Shortly after making the announcement, Binay’s poll numbers in the 2016 presidential race jumped by almost double. He is now tied with Senator Grace Poe, who still has to officially declare her candidacy. Aquino’s anointed candidate, former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas is still in a very distant third place in the polls.