Tag Archives: Philippines

Food, Government, Health & Medicine, International

BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC IN U.S. PROMPTS STATES TO INCREASE BALUT IMPORTS FROM PHILIPPINES

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Balut
Balut

DES MOINES, Iowa (The Adobo Chronicles) – While some New Yorkers  have signed a petition demanding a Filipino restaurant in Manhattan to strike off balut from its menu, states like Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota have increased their quota for the importation of this Filipino delicacy.  Balut is a boiled duck embryo popular as a street food in the Philippines.

Iowa became the third state to declare an emergency response to a fast-expanding U.S. bird-flu outbreak on Friday as the national poultry death toll climbed toward record levels.

Officials in Iowa, the biggest egg-producing state, said they had identified four more suspected cases of avian influenza, and the likely number of birds affected in the state is now more than 16 million. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad declared a state of emergency, the same move that was made last month by his counterparts in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Branstad said the state government is doing all it can to ensure that Iowans get their recommended daily intake of dairy, consistent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutrition guide, My Plate, which recommends the amount of daily foods that Americans should consume for a healthy life.

“We are asking Iowans to eat  balut instead of chicken or eggs during this period of emergency to ensure both their safety and their nutritional health,” Branstad said.

Film and TV, Sports

FILIPINOS TOLD TO DRINK WARM SAN MIGUEL BEER DURING PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER FIGHT

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Photo: The Adobo Chronicles
Photo: The Adobo Chronicles

PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan (The Adobo Chronicles) – In most other places around the world, boxing fans will have to pay a lot of money to watch the ‘Fight of the Century’ between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, in a sports bar or through Pay-Per-View on May 2nd (May 3rd in the Philippines).

Not the Filipinos. They get to watch the boxing fight live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on their television sets for free. Most Philippine television networks will broadcast the fight in real time.

But what if you are watching the second or third round of the fight and the power goes out?

That’s exactly what energy officials of the province of Palawan and other areas in the archipelago are afraid of.

Rante Ramos, the board secretary of Palawan Electric Cooperative, is asking residents of his island province to save power during the fight between Philippines native Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.”Truth is, come May 3, Palawan grid will still be 2-megawatt short of power supply,” Ramos said in a Facebook post.

“But collectively we can do something,” Ramos said, urging people to unplug as many appliances as they can. “If only 15,000 households would switch off their refrigerators, then the 2-megawatt power deficit is gone. Everybody could have the chance to watch live the fight of the century.”

That means Filipinos will have to drink their San Miguel beer warm as opposed to chilled. (Ice plants have also been asked to suspend their operation on fight day.)

Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan, has been suffering daily power outages lasting two to three hours, according to Agence France-Presse. Similar outages are a regular occurence in other parts of the country.

Have warm San Mig or San Mig Light? Will watch the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Live.

 

 

Film and TV, International

THE MARY JANE VELOSO STORY: NORA AUNOR TO STAR IN NEW FILM, ‘WALANG HIMALA!’

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imageMANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Multi-awarded Filipino actress Nora Aunor is unstoppable. She is the lead actress in a new Filipino film that’s been accepted into this year’s prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s “Taklub” is one of two films from Southeast Asia included as additional entries in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.

Today, Indonesia-based Bali Films announced that it has signed an agreement with Aunor to star in a new film about the true-to-life story of Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, convicted of a drug crime and sentenced to execution. Veloso was spared from the firing squad (the only one of nine convicts scheduled to be executed this week in Indonesia) which many Filipinos are calling a  “miracle.”

It was of course not a miracle as pointed out in an editorial published by The Adobo Chronicles.

The new film is a sequel to Aunor’s critically acclaimed film, ‘Himala’ released in 1982.

Aunor will play the role of Veloso in this new film that revolves around the stay of execution granted to the Filipina convict. The plot maintains that there was no miracle and follows the many events that eventually led to Veloso’s being spared from the firing squad.

The script was written by The Adobo Chronicles’ lead reporter, Maharlika Mendoza.

President Aquino and his sister, Kris, will  play cameo roles in the film.