Category Archives: Travel

PHILIPPINES’ TOURISM DEPARTMENT UNVEILS LATEST AMAZING PROMO

June 15, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

Pasig, Philippines from the air: “Visit the Philippines 2015!’

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – The Philippines’ Department of Tourism (DOT) has finally retired its stale “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” promo and has unveiled a new international campaign to attract foreigners and Filipino expatriates to visit the country in 2015.

The Philippine Government has designated 2015 as “Visit the Philippines Year.” It was launched earlier this year with a new web site, visitph2015.com, and an impressive video showing all the great things tourists will find in this nation of 100 Million people: beach resorts, year-round cultural festivals, great cuisine, centuries-old churches, English-speaking people and smiley faces from the friendliest inhabitants on earth.

Mid-year into the 2015 tourism campaign, the DOT unveiled an updated promo, this time featuring images that can only be found in the Philippines.

One image is an aerial photo of one of Metro Manila’s populated cities — Pasig. As can be seen in the DOT image, Pasig is a sea of houses and buildings, so cramped that the city is devoid of any plants or trees, while city streets have virtually disappeared. Even the infamous Pasig River has been soaked up by housing structures. The only way to navigate the city is on foot which would be quite an experience for any tourist wanting to explore the scenic spots of Metro Manila and the Philippines.

A second image shows shanties lining either side of the Pasig River. What used to be clean and potable water flowing through this stretch of the river is now a colorful, quilt-like reservoir of stagnant waste and toxic materials. Tourists will have a once-in-a-lifetime experience of walking over water, much like the biblical tale of Jesus performing a miracle.

So, If you haven’t made plans for your vacation this year, make it a point to visit the Philippines. It is a must in 2015!

International, Travel

AMERICANS VISITING THE PHILIPPINES NOW REQUIRED TO SECURE ENTRY VISAS

June 6, 2015 Pol Pinoy 5 Comments

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles ) – The government of the Philippines, following in the footseteps of American Samoa, is now requiring U.S. citizens visiting the country to obtain an entry visa.

Previously, Americans were allowed to visit the Philippines for tourism or business for 30 days without the need for an entry visa. But the Philippine government is fed up with the inequality and lack of reciprocity between the U.S. and the Philippines in as far as travel is concerned.

The Philippines, despite being a former American colony, is not included in the list of participating countries under the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Filipinos wanting to visit the U.S. for business or pleasure need to obtain a visa which is very hard to come by.

VWP is a program of the United States Government which allows citizens of specific countries to travel to the United States for tourism, business, or while in transit for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa. The program applies to the 50 U.S. states as well as the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, with limited application to other U.S. territories.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth,” President NoyNoy Aquino said as he signed an executive order revising the Philippines’ immigration policy as it relates to U.S. citizens.

The visa requirement for U.S. citizens visiting the country will be revoked as soon as the U.S. adds the Philippines to the list of countries under the VWP, Aquino said.

The visa requirement does not apply to U.S. military personnel assigned to the Philippines in connection with the Enhanced Defense Cooperative Agreement (EDCA) which gives the U.S. access to Philippine military bases and deploys military personnel to train Filipino soliders to be better equipped and prepared for combat against insurgents and aggressors.

Government, International, Travel

ENTRY VISA NOW REQUIRED OF ALL U.S. CITIZENS VISITING AMERICAN SAMOA

June 6, 2015 Pol Pinoy 11 Comments

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (The Adobo Chronicles) – The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has just ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship does not apply to island territories including American Samoa.

Agreeing with the Obama administration’s lawyers, the DC Circuit relied on and even expanded the scope of a set of racially-charged, Colonial-era cases that refer to “savages” and “alien races” to reach their decision.

The cited Insular Cases date back to the early 20th century when the US had just won the Spanish-American War and acquired Puerto Rico and the far-flung new territories of Guam and the Philippines. The US acquired American Samoa in two parts in 1900 and 1904 as part of its continued expansion. But American political leaders had a problem: They wanted the United States to become a colonial power, but they didn’t want to extend constitutional protections to the overwhelmingly nonwhite residents of the new territories. (As one of the friend-of-the-court brief in the current case notes, the Democratic Party’s official platform in 1900 argued that “the Filipinos cannot be citizens without endangering our civilization.”)

American Samoa is one of U.S. territories that also include Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Marianas.

Reacting to the court decision, the American Samoa Fono, the territory’s legislature, unanimously passed an emergency bill requiring all visiting U.S. citizens to apply for an entry visa. The bill was immediately signed by Governor Lolo Letalu Matalasi Moliga.

“If the U.S. doesn’t want us to be citizens, then we don’t want U.S. citizens to freely come and go on our beautiful islands,” Moliga said.

Hollywood actor Dwayne Johnson, star of the new blockbuster movie ‘San Andreas,’ was scheduled to visit American Samoa over the weekend for some R & R, but had to cancel travel plans. Johnson, a U.S. citizen, is part Samoan. He said he is not upset about the new visa requirement. In fact, he is supportive of it, saying the issue “is not just about fairness or birthright citizenship; it is about U.S. colonial mentality that has no place in our modern society.”

You go, Rock!