Your Guide to Paradise Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said nine more Filipino seafarers have been seized by sea pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said the figure raises the total number
Filipino seafarers being held captive off the Horn of Africa to 54.

In a text message coursed through DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal, Conejos said the additional nine captive Pinoy seamen were part of 13-man crew of the German-owned, Antigua and Barbuda-flagged freighter M/T BBC Trinidad.

The said freighter ship was hijacked by suspected Somali pirates on August 21, the same day when chemical tanker MT Irene, a Panama-flagged and operated by Japan’s Koyo Company, was hijacked with 19 crewmen including 15 Filipino seamen, not 16 as earlier reported.

On Aug. 19, suspected Somali pirates also seized MT Bunga Melati 2 with 10 Filipino seamen, while 20 other Filipino seafarers were held captives by the pirates when they commandeered MV Stella Maris on July 27.

“The DFA has instructed embassies in Berlin and Nairobi to coordinate with ship owners, international maritime authorities and host government, in the efforts to secure the safe and speedy release of the crewmembers," Conejos’ message said.

Upward mobility has brought fighters out of poverty and beyond adversity, taking them to a world where fame is measured by fortune, where seven-digit paydays are the ideal, each additional zero demonstrating how far they have come from when they had nothing.

On their way up they were hungry — for change, for accomplishment, for rising as high as their fists, wits, determination and discipline would take them. But upon arrival, the idea of competition applied not just to pugilism, but also to prosperity and its requisite prestige.

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Not that they've become complacent. They'll still put in the roadwork and sparring, the crunches and dieting. The more ready they are for the next challenge, the richer they'll become when the next one arrives. As important as winning in the ring has always been, landing the first blow in negotiations is now the same.

Getting the most favorable terms possible on a contract before signing on the dotted line has made the pen as mighty as a left hook to the liver. And it's not just about money. Sticking points have included the size of gloves, the brand of gloves, the weight class, who walks out to the ring first, the size of the ring itself, where the bout takes place, cuts of domestic and foreign television fees and whether Gatorade could be given to fighters between rounds.

Manny Pacquiao's proposed showdown with Oscar De La Hoya reportedly has many of the usual sticking points unstuck. But then a sharp difference in the financial breakdown punctured any hopes that the five-division-titlist Filipino Firebomber would take on a Golden Boy who captured belts in six different weight classes.

De La Hoya, who began his career at lightweight but had been competing at junior middleweight and above since 2001, wanted to be able to jump on the scales at 150 pounds. De La Hoya wanted to wear 10-ounce gloves and get 80 percent of pay-per-view revenue after a certain number of purchases.

He ultimately agreed to fight at the welterweight limit wearing 8-ounce gloves, and to get 70 percent of all revenue in balance to Pacquiao's 30 percent.

MANILA, Philippines - Remittances from Filipinos abroad surged 30 percent in June to US$1.5 billion — the highest monthly inflow since 1989, thanks to a rise in the number of overseas workers, the Philippine central bank said Friday.

The June figure brought the six-month remittance level to US$8.2 billion, up 17.2 percent from the same period a year ago, a bank statement said.

Central bank Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. said the sustained rise in the number of Filipinos seeking employment overseas contributed to the robust figures.

Some 8 million Filipinos — or nearly 10 percent of the population of about 90 million — work overseas. Last year, they sent home US$14.45 billion.

Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed that the number of workers leaving for jobs overseas in the first half of the year rose a 33.5 percent to 640,401.

Filipino workers remain in strong demand overseas, and bilateral talks with host countries continue to open up new employment opportunities, the statement said.

MANILA, Philippines - Members of the joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) met Monday to thresh out measures to stop the ongoing conflict between government forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in North Cotabato.

Brigadier General Reynaldo Sealana, who heads the government panel in the CCCH, said the MILF has been given a “proposal” which the secessionist organization is currently studying.

“We are talking about something that is yet to be ironed out, thats why they (MILF representatives) returned (to their area) to study the proposal so we can put an end to this,” he said without elaborating.

Sealana said as far as the government is concerned, the only solution to the conflict is for the MILF's 105th Base Command under Commander Umbra Kato to leave the villages in North Cotabato that his unit continues to occupy.

Brigadier General Jorge Segovia, acting chief of the Armed Forces’ command center in North Cotabato, had earlier said they are considering Kato’s unit as a “bandit group” for continuously occupying the villages despite the 24-hour deadline given to them by the government.

The ultimatum ended Friday noon.

BEIJING - Once-reclusive China commandeered the world stage Friday, celebrating its first-time role as Olympic host with a stunning display of pageantry and pyrotechnics to open a Summer Games unrivaled for its mix of problems and promise.

Now ascendent as a global power, China welcomed scores of world leaders to an opening ceremony watched by 91,000 people at the eye-catching National Stadium and a potential audience of 4 billion worldwide. It was depicted as the largest, costliest extravaganza in Olympic history, bookended by barrages of some 30,000 fireworks.

To the beat of sparkling explosions, the crowd counted down the final seconds before the show began. A sea of drummers — 2,008 in all — pounded out rhythms with their hands, then acrobats on wires gently wafted down into the stadium as rockets shot up into the night sky from its rim.

President Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were among the glittering roster of notables who watched China make this bold declaration that it had arrived. Bush, rebuked by China after he raised human-rights concerns this week, is the first US president to attend an Olympics on foreign soil.