Good news as reported by gmanews.tv

Eleven days before trial starts for 10 Filipino nurses and their lawyer in New York, the state’s health department came out with its findings in an inquiry that residents of the nursing home “were not placed in jeopardy” when the health workers quit their jobs in April 2006.

The Filipinos, who are holding immigrant visas, are scheduled to face trial starting January 28 in a Suffolk County district court on charges of conspiracy and endangering patients in a pediatric ventilation unit at Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.

New York-based Newsday reported in its online edition on Thursday that the health department was the second major government agency to support the nurses’ claim that the patients’ lives were not placed in danger when they quit.

The state’s education department, which licenses nurses, said in 2006 that the Filipino nurses did not abandon their patients.

Facing trial are Elmer Jacinto, Juliet Anilao, Harriet Avila, Mark dela Cruz, Claudine Gamiao, Jennifer Lampa, Rizza Maulion, James Millena, Ma. Theresa Ramos, and Ranier Sichon, and their lawyer Felix Vinluan.

They were indicted on March 22, 2007 even after the state’s education department cleared them in September 2006 of any wrongdoing.

Jeffrey Hammond, spokesman of New York’s health department, said the nursing home was fully staffed when the Filipino nurses resigned en masse, contrary to the claim of its owners that they abandoned their patients who were children and a disabled who were hooked on mechanical ventilators to breathe.

They quit after complaining for months about breaches in the contract they had with Sentosa Care’s recruitment agency in the Philippines involving pay differences, working hours and benefits.

“The shifts were covered and patients were not placed in jeopardy,” Newsday quoted Hammond as saying.

Source: GMANews.TV

Charice Pempengco, the 15-year-old singing sensation who recently wowed audiences at the Ellen DeGeneres’ TV show, is reportedly in talks with no less than the legendary music producer Clive Davis.

Philippine News learned that Pempengco arrived in New York recently and is waxing a recording deal with Davis, the record producer who is behind the careers of Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, just to name a few.

DeGeneres, who discovered Pempengco after watching a video clip of her in YouTube after FalseVoice channel posted Pempengco’s Little Big Star performance of Whitney Houston’s hit, “I Will Always Love You.”

I don’t get what this commercial is really trying to promote, actually it is soooo offending than Desperate Housewives brouhaha. At the end of the clip (approx.0.40) it all summed up.

Please tell me what’s wrong with being a fair or dark complexion?

An 18-year-old Filipino waitress in Dubai who was raped by her Tunisian supervisor in August faces deportation after spending almost four months in jail.

Rowena (not her real name) ended up in jail when she reported the rape to the police. She found out later that her abuser had gone to the police ahead of her and reported that she was mauled by fellow Filipinos.

Rowena found herself charged with having an illicit affair with her Tunisian supervisor, drinking and giving false statements. Late last month, she was found guilty of these offenses, for which she was sentenced to three months in jail.

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We all know that Manny Pacquiao is a world-class boxing champion but acting?… it is a different story. Just watch the clip from the movie “Anak ni Kumander” Pacquiao’s movie entry for Manila Film Festival 2007… ummm i guess you don’t need to go to the movie to watch the full length version not because of the storyline but because the acting is sooo bad!!. Pag nanalo ng award si Manny dito talagang nagka-dayaan!

Watch the clip

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Video taken by a UK correspondent during the Manila Peninsula Hotel takeover.

Here we go again… Senator Antonio Trillanes and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim marched to the Manila Peninsula Hotel after they walk out of the Makati City Regional Trial Court on Thursday morning.

Here’s the statement read at the press the conference:

“Today, we address all decent Filipinos to announce that now is the time to end the sufferings and miseries inflicted upon us by the illegitimate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government and start a new life, a new Philippines. The die is cast pursuant to our constitutional mandate as protector of the people and state.

And by these acts the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police supported by the masses of our people and the various political forces give substance to the constitutional provisions which says the Philippines is a democratic and republican state.

Sovereign peace resides in the people and all government authority emanate from them. That we take the faithful steps of removing Mrs Arroyo from the presidency and undertake the formation of a new government.

Mrs Arroyo had occupied the presidency under a questionable mandate publicly disputed by a vast majority of Filipinos. She stole the presidency from President Estrada through unconstitutional and deceitful means and later manipulated the results of the 2004 elections to perpetuate herself in power.

More {here}

This local McDo ad is about a teenage girl named Karen and her memory-challenged lolo, who had Alzheimer’s. While having their burger meal at McDonald’s, the grandfather kept calling Karen, “Gina.”

No matter that she kept reminding him, “Karen po.” Karen bore her growing dismay in silence. And then, lolo sliced his burger in half and, while wrapping it, he said, “Ito, para sa paborito kong apo. Si Karen.” Beloved Karen smiled happily.

Karen Delos Reyes, or Glomirose Delos Reyes in real life, played the teenage girl in this commercial, which became her stepping-stone to teen stardom.

Love your Lolo

A Pa. doctor and his wife are fighting deportation to the Philippines after more than 20 years in the US. The story of the Servanos started when they were sweethearts in the Philippines. After he graduated from medical school in 1979, Pedro Servano went often into remote areas to see patients, and Salvacion, a nurse, sometimes accompanied him.

While they were waiting to receive visas to the U.S., her father told them people were talking about their trips together, so the two eloped and married in 1980. Salvacion came to the U.S. in 1982, and Pedro followed two years later. He practiced medicine in Philadelphia, and she continued nursing. They had a formal marriage ceremony in 1987.

They moved to California to be close to Salvacion’s family, and in 1990 they applied for U.S. citizenship. During the process, an immigration official accused them of having misrepresented their marital status.

Photo by {Philly.com}

It’s good to know that there were no Pinoy seaman crew in a South Korean container ship which collided with a Bay Bridge tower that resulted to thousands of gallons of oil spill into the San Francisco Bay. According to Yahoo report the all-Chinese crew was being detained at the Port of Oakland by the Coast Guard as part of on-going investigations.

A language barrier between the vessel’s pilot, Capt. John Cota, and the ship’s all-Chinese crew was not likely a factor in the crash, since the ship’s captain and officers are required to speak English, officials said.