The dispute between the two South Asian countries is over a small island withing the South China Sea, the Scarborough Shoal. The island, which is actually a ring-shaped coral reef, was originally named as Bajo de Masinloc. It is located 124 NM west of Zambales and is within the 200-nautical mile EEZ and the Philippine Continental Shelf. Base on this, one can safely assume that the shoal is truly a part of the country. Recently, however, China has claimed that Scarborough Shoal is historically theirs.

Fearing the safety of their costumers, Chinese Travel Agencies have suspended trips to the country, including tour packages. They said that this will go on until the situation in the country improves. They, however, promised refunds for their costumers who have already booked a flight to Philippines. Also, they will not be accepting bookings as of the moment.

Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy has warned the Chinese community in the country to stay off the streets during the planned anti-China protests.

Source: Yahoo! News

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Residents were seen dashing out of their houses and offices, and fled into the streets when Indonesia and India were hit by a 8.7-magnitude earthquake. The very strong quake also caused the country to issue a tsunami warning along the whole Indian ocean. Tsunami warning was also raised by India for their eastern coast.

According to US Geological Survey, the 8-7 magnitude quake struck 308 miles (500 km) southwest of Banda Aceh city, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, and has a depth of 20.5 miles (33 km). The quake was also felt in Bangkok and Phuket (Thailand), Sri Lanka and Southern India.

Tidal waves measuring up to 5 meters were expected along the eastern coast of India while smaller waves were expected to hit Andaman and Nicobar islands.

As people might still remember, the places that were hit by today’s earthquake were the same area that were badly affected by the 2004 earthquake, which had a magnitude of 9.1. The 2004 quake has caused huge tsunami waves to take the live of 170,000 people in Sumatra and 230,000 in 13 Indian Ocean countries including Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. This was the greatest horror that the world had faced in 2004.

ABS-CBN News posted on their website the Indian Ocean countries:

Countries covered by the Indian Ocean-wide tsunami alert are:

• Australia
• Bangladesh
• Comores
• Crozet Islands
• India
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Kenya
• Kerguelen Islands
• Madagascar
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Mauritius
• Mozambique
• Myanmar
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Reunion Island
• Seychelles
• Singapore
• Somalia
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• Tanzania
• Thailand
• UAE
• United Kingdom
• Yemen

 

Countries that are among the list are already preparing for the possible evacuation of their residents.

Philippines is not included in the list. Also, Philvolcs said that the strong quake will have no effect in our country.

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Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda immediately belied the tweet, still through Twitter. “@RealEduManzano Ur tweet is tsismis. The President is presiding over a NEDA Board meeting. It started at 10, the meeting is still ongoing”, Lacierda tweeted.

Manzano, after a while, retracted his tweet and apologized about it. ”Pnoy was NOT in Promenade with Grace Lee today. It was unconfirmed gossip, and I was overeager. I deserve all the backlash. Lesson learned”, was his post after Lacierda’s.

“Sorry for the confusion, everyone. In local parlance, ‘nakuryente’ ako, and I was foolish to tweet unconfirmed chismis”, he added.

Meanwhile, PNoy made a side comment in an interview which was obviously pertaining to Manzano. He said, “Meron talagang walang magawa. Yun ‘yung kailangan natin ihanap ng trabaho. Dahil nag-iimbento ng kwento”.

Source: Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP)

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Filipinos had a chance to look behind the palace’s guarded gates and get a glimpse of the goings-on within the presidential lair. The documentary also spotlighted four important men who make the president’s job easier: his personal taste tester Senior Police Officer 3 Jaime Castro, the head of the Presidential Security Group Colonel Ramon Mateo Dizon, his personal body guard Senior Police Officer 4 Lito Africano, and his official photographer Jay Morales.

President Noynoy Aquino said that the “documentary will open up the palace not only to the Philippines, but also the whole world.” The documentary ran for an hour at the National Geographic channel on March 18, 2012 at 9PM. Minutes after it was aired, hashtags #InsideMalacanang and National Geographic became trending topics on Twitter in the Philippines.

Inside Malacanang is production team include director, producer and head writer Marnie Manicad, writer Cris Lim, and narrator Joonee Gamboa. The hour long, meticulously written and planned documentary took almost two years to produce.

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The epicenter of the earthquake was 110 km southwest of Sarangani, Davao del Sur this morning at 6:50 am, Philvolcs said.

Intensity 3 was felt at General Santos City.

Earlier this week, January 17, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit Samar and Leyte (Click Here for related article)

No report of damage and casualties was posted yet.

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The incident was attributed to the continuous mining activities around the area, which caused the landslide.

Photo courtesy of MindaNews.com

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Despite the high magnitude of the earthquake, Tsunami warning was not raised by Pacific Tsunami Warning.

Initially, they’ve reported that the magnitude was 7.0 but they have downgraded the magnitude to 6.8.

As can be remembered March of 2011, a very strong earthquake, accompanied by giant waves of tsunami has devastated Japan, leaving thousands of dead and missing people. The tragedy even led to a nuclear crisis threatening the lives of millions of people.

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Tuesday, December 27, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck Southeastern Russia. The epicenter was recorded to be 60 miles east Kyzyl City. This has been recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck hit southeastern Russia on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter was about 60 miles east of the city of Kyzyl.

Source: CNN

Updates about the said earthquake will be posted here as soon as we get it.

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According to GMA Network, there was even no negotiation between GMA and MVP.

“There is no truth to the rumor going around in social media sites and the internet that Mr. Manny Pangilinan has bought GMA Network. In fact, there is even no negotiation going on between GMA and Mr. Pangilinan regarding the latter’s acquisition of GMA-7.”

Turns out we SHOULD NOT expect a Kapuso-Kapatid Merger at present. But, we never know if this major merger could be   a possibility in the future.

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So how exactly dangerous is ‘Goodbye Philippines’? It is dangerous enough to cause someone to lose a body part (usually extremities) and cause a long-term damage to him/her.

The day after Christmas this year, a 21-year old guy lost his left leg after a ‘Goodbye Philippines’ firecracker exploded near him. He was operated at Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center. His friend, who was also at the site during the explosion, sustained minor injuries in the face.

The two were just peeing in a vacant lot when the explosion occurred.

MANILA, Philippines – A man is set to lose his left foot after a high-powered firecracker exploded near him in Bocaue, Bulacan past midnight Monday. Danilo Mansueto, 21, is now inside the operating room of Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Manila to undergo amputation after a “Goodbye Philippines” firecracker exploded near him at around 1 p.m. Radio dzMM’s Henry Atuelan said Mansueto and a companion, identified as Ronald San Pedro, were peeing in a vacant lot when the explosion occurred. San Pedro sustained minor injuries to his face. It was not yet clear how the firecracker exploded.

Source: ABS-CBN News

Last year, another incident involving “Goodbye Philippines” was also reported in the GMA7′s 24 Oras. A young boy lost his left because of “Goodbye Philippines” fireworks.

“Goodbye Philippines” is among the list of the most deadly and dangerous fireworks. When one’s life is spared during an accident, no one can say that it’s better, for the effect that this deadly firecracker will bring to the victim will be a life-long damage and  will certainly be one of the worst scars ever.

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