Tag Archives: spam

Business, Food, International, Law Enforcement, Politics

PHILIPPINE SENATE RENAMES PORK BARREL HEARINGS TO ‘SPAM TOCINO HEARINGS’

Leave a comment

imageManila, Philippines –  Pork barrel has become a universally-accepted term for discretionary funds allocated to politicians to use for their local pet projects. But the term has a very bad reputation in the Philippines, thanks to a 10 Billion-peso scam that siphoned taxpayer money into fake non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and into the personal accounts of some business people and politicians.

The Philippine Senate is currently holding hearings to look into the alleged involvement of some of its members – Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla, Jr. It has cast a not -so-favorable image for the entire Senate.

So, in an attempt to diffuse  the negative image brought forth by the pork barrel scandal, the Senate unanimously agreed to rename the Senate investigation to “Spam Tocino Hearings.” The idea came from Hormel Foods, U.S. manufacturer of Spam . Hormel recently came up with a limited edition of  its popular canned meat, capitalizing on the popular Filipino cured pork called tocino. 

Senate officials said that renaming the hearings would give their investigation some “stateside” flavor while promoting the ever popular Filipino breakfast fare tocino.

Filipino activists immediately criticized the Senate move, accusing the senators of whitewashing the investigation while perpetuating Filipino colonial mentality.

Incidentally, Spam Tocino is available on the Hormel Foods website for $3.00 a can plus shipping. Hormel can only ship to U.S. addresses.

International, Politics, Sports, Technology

AQUINO ADMINISTRATION ON OLYMPIAN MICHAEL MARTINEZ’S REQUEST FOR FINANCIAL HELP: ‘WE DO NOT OPEN SPAM’

3 Comments

imageManila, Philippines  – The administration of Philippine President NoyNoy Aquino continues to go on the defensive as more and more people have criticized the government’s zero financial support for Filipino figure skater Michael Christian Martinez. The lone Filipino athlete in the Sochi Winter Olympics made an impressive Olympic debut last week, finishing 19th out of 24 skaters. He is the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to qualify for the Olympic figure skating competition.

Martinez’s mother said that she had sent Malacañang, the Philippine Presidential Palace, a request for help to finance her son’s participation in the Olympics but never received a response. image13.jpg

Today, presidential spokesperson Herminio Coloma said that the request “may have come into Malacañang as ‘spam,’  and that per our policy, we do not open spams. We receive hundreds and hundreds of  requests, gifts and what have you, including imported cans of SPAM, but for security reasons we never open canned goods or other wrapped gifts.”

Business, Food, Travel

SPAM SHORTAGE HITS HAWAII

1 Comment

imageHonolulu, Hawaii – A visit to Hawaii is never complete without having a snack or meal of spam sushi. This Japanese cuisine-inspired delicacy is a mainstay in local restaurant menus as well as in the refrigerated sections of every ABC Store.

In the last week, however, spam sushi has all but disappeared in Waikiki and elsewhere in the Hawaiian islands. Even McDonald’s has run out of its spam inventory and scrapped the island breakfast combo of eggs, spam and rice from its menu board.

Investigation conducted by local authorities revealed that there has been some hoarding going on, instigated by a particular group of Hawaii visitors.  Pressed by The Adobo Chronicles to identify the “hoarders,” one local official – on condition of anonymity – said: “secret service agents and journalists” accompaning President Barack Obama who is currently vacationing in Hawaii with the first family and first dog, Bo.

Officials are also investigating reports that the shortage is further aggravated by Filipinos going home for the holidays with balikbayan boxes loaded with cans of spam purchased from Costco and other warehouse stores in the islands.

Local merchants have sent urgent messages to Hormel Foods, makers of spam, to airlift several thousand cases of canned spam from its Minnesota headquarters to Hawaii.