Freelance Jobs

This is default featured post 1 title

Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.

This is default featured post 2 title

Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.

This is default featured post 3 title

Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.

This is default featured post 4 title

Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.

This is default featured post 5 title

Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.

Monday, March 15, 2010

LP on The Move


The Liberal Party has moved its national headquarters from Mandaluyong City to the former headquarters and media center of the defunct Genuine Opposition in Makati City.
LP campaign manager Sen. Francis Pangilinan said they have decided to move to the Manila Bank building from the Parc House office to accommodate more people during press conferences regarding sorties of standard-bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, his running mate Sen. Mar Roxas and the party’s senatorial slate.
He said that starting today, the LP will be holding briefing and updates on the party’s sorties at the Manila Bank headquarters.
"You can stay here and write your stories and have your coffee. You can even sleep here if you want," Pangilinan said in jest during a press conference at the new LP headquarters and media center.
Manila Bank building in Makati is said to be owned by the family of LP senatorial bet Serge Osmeña.

Also during the press briefing, Pangilinan announced that the Noy-Mar campaign trail will be in Bicol Region tomorrow (Mar. 16). The following day, the whole LP slate will be in Samar, Catarman and Calbayog.
On March 18, the party will be holding a rally in the Ilocos region, Pangilinan said.
"As you can see, we want to cover as much ground as possible on a daily basis bringing the message of change: Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap," the LP stalwart said.


David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Facebooks' First Asia's Office

 Social networking site Facebook is opening an operations office in India, its first in Asia, to help manage rapid growth in the number of users

The office, in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, will have advertising and developer support teams, the company said Monday. It will supplement Facebook's other centers in Palo Alto, California; Dublin, Ireland; and Austin, Texas.

The move is part of a push to create support centers across time zones, with round-the-clock, multi-lingual support, the company said.

"We expect our new office in Hyderabad to tap into the region's strong pool of talented people who understand operations and technology, and help us more effectively serve the needs of our users, advertisers and developers around the world," Don Faul, director of global online operations, said in a statement.

Facebook has seen its number of users rocket to over 400 million since it was founded in 2004. It has about 8 million users in India.
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

No Fees For Online News

 Getting people to pay for news online at this point would be "like trying to force butterflies back into their cocoons," a new consumer survey suggests.

That was one of several bleak headlines in the Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual assessment of the state of the news industry, released Sunday.

The project's report contained an extensive look at habits of the estimated six in 10 Americans who say they get at least some news online during a typical day. On average, each person spends three minutes and four seconds per visit to a news site.

About 35 percent of online news consumers said they have a favorite site that they check each day. The others are essentially free agents, the project said. Even among those who have their favorites, only 19 percent said they would be willing to pay for news online — including those who already do.

There's little brand loyalty: 82 percent of people with preferred news sites said they'd look elsewhere if their favorites start demanding payment.

"If we move to some pay system, that shift is going to have to surmount significant consumer resistance," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the project, part of the Pew Research Center.

Last year, online advertising saw its first decline since 2002, according to the research firm eMarketer. Four of five Americans surveyed told the project that they never or hardly ever click on ads.

Despite a lot of choices, traffic on news sites tends to be concentrated on the biggest — Yahoo, MSNBC, CNN, AOL and The New York Times.

"There was this view that we're retreating into our own world of niche sites and that's not true," Rosenstiel said.

That offers a glimmer of hope for establishing a pay system if operators of the biggest sites could somehow agree on how to do it, he said. The survey found that if forced to make a choice, consumers prefer some kind of subscription service to a pay-as-you-go plan.

The Wall Street Journal requires readers to pay for content and The New York Times recently announced plans to charge for full access to its Web site. Starting next year under a metered system, Times readers will be allowed to click on a certain number of stories for free each month, with fees kicking in for readers who exceed that level.

In addition to attempts to reach back and charge readers for content they have become accustomed to getting for free, news executives hope that advances in technology and changes in consumer habits will provide future revenue opportunities.

The Associated Press last month announced a new business unit, AP Gateway, designed to develop and promote products that will help the cooperative, newspapers and broadcasters create revenue-producing products. The AP, for instance, will charge for an application it is developing for use on the iPad, Apple's tablet computer.

While consumers may seem reluctant to pay for news, they're more likely to pay for the functionality of news products on various devices, including smart phones, said Jane Seagrave, senior vice president and chief revenue officer at The Associated Press.

"I'm more hopeful now than I ever have been," Seagrave said. "There seems to be a broad understanding that there is a value to professional journalism that is at risk right now."

Pew's survey also noted how news habits are changing rapidly. Blogging is declining in frequency, one quarter of Americans now say they get some news on their mobile phones and people are looking for news more frequently on social Web sites, the survey found.

For the online survey, the project interviewed 2,259 people from Dec. 28, 2009, to Jan. 19, 2010. The margin of error is plus or minus five percentage points.

Beyond the online activity, the study found that cable news, led by Fox News Channel, seemed to be the only sector of the news industry thriving.

Newspaper advertising revenue fell 26 percent in 2009 compared to the year before, the study said. Local TV and radio ad revenue were both off 22 percent. Network television ad revenue was down 8 percent.

Network news division resources are down more than half since the late 1980s, and that doesn't count ABC News' recent announcement that it could lose as much as a quarter of its staff due to cutbacks.

Newspaper spending on reporting and editing has fallen roughly 30 percent over the past decade, probably more at many big-city dailies, Rosenstiel said.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Google Open Apps Store

Google Inc. will sell the online services of other business software makers in an effort to fill its own product gaps and persuade more companies to rely on applications piped over the Internet.
The online store marks another step in Google’s crusade to convert the world to “cloud computing,” the idea of running applications in Web browsers instead of installing them on individual hard drives. The information entered in the programs is also stored in data centers run by third parties such as Google.
More than 50 software makers have agreed to sell their Internet programs through Google, which will keep 20 percent of the sales. The prices are expected to range from $50 annually to several hundred dollars annually per user.
Intuit Inc., a maker of business accounting software
, and Concur Technologies Inc., a maker of expense reimbursement software, are among the best-known vendors peddling their wares in Google’s store.
All the applications sold in Google’s store can be melded with Google’s own cloud-computing services, said Vic Gundotra, the company’s vice president for engineering.
Google views cloud computing as a way to deepen people’s dependence on its services and generate more revenue beyond the Internet search advertising that provides virtually all its income.
Cloud computing also provides Google with a weapon that could weaken one of its biggest rivals, Microsoft Corp.
Although it’s introducing more online alternatives, Microsoft still makes most of its money from individual computer licenses of its Windows operating system and software programs.
The applications store could also provide fodder for the low-cost computers that will run on a Google operating system named after its Chrome Web browser.
The first computers using Chrome OS won’t have a hard drive, meaning they will need Internet access and cloud-computing services to perform the tasks routinely done on Windows-powered machines.
Google began offering a free online suite of e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet and calendar applications in 2006. It has been selling a more sophisticated package of online services for $50 per user for the past three years.
Cloud computing can be a tough sell to corporate decision makers worried about security risks and business disruptions if a technology glitch or major meltdown blocks access to vital applications and data stored on external servers.
Google has invested billions of dollars in the past five years to keep its systems up and running. Nevertheless, Google’s applications users occasionally have been cut off from their e-mail accounts and other services.
About 25 million people working for more than two million businesses, government agencies and schools use Google’s online applications, according to the company.
Google won’t say how many users pay for the service, but the number is growing rapidly. The company’s revenue from software licensing and other non-advertising sources totaled $762 million last year, more than quadrupling from $181 million in 2007.



David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Manny Pacquiao...Icon of Boxing

 The fight was long over and most of the biggest crowd to see a fight in the U.S. in 17 years had found their way out of massive Cowboys Stadium. Manny Pacquiao was in the shower, where one member of his entourage surely was in charge of selecting his shampoo while another had the task of making sure the towels were just right.
Pacquiao had easily disposed of a timid Joshua Clottey, and now he had a concert to perform. He finally emerged in an argyle sweater that would have looked better on the golf course and sunglasses more suited for the beach, with the entourage swelling about him, each jockeying for position in case he could be the lucky one chosen to fluff Pacman’s rice for him.
There was only a few minutes to talk about Floyd Mayweather Jr. and next month’s run for congress in the Philippines. The postfight party awaited, and once more the star was ready to perform.
“The first song I’m going to sing is `La Bamba,”’ Pacquiao said.
It’s a good time to be Manny Pacquiao, and Texas proved to be a good host to the hottest fighter around. Nearly 51,000 made their way into the edifice built by Jerry Jones to watch him fight Saturday night and few seemed to leave disappointed, even if Clottey’s reluctance to mix it up deprived them of a spectacular fight.
The win was about as easy as they come, with Pacquiao capturing every round on one judge’s scorecard and all but one on the other two. By the time they count all the pay-per-view receipts he’ll probably head home at least $15 million richer, and he didn’t have to put up with Mayweather’s antics to make another huge payday.
The fight that never was may still happen, perhaps in November, perhaps at Cowboys Stadium. Pacquiao made it clear he still wants it, and both his trainer and promoter seem to want it even more badly than the fighter himself.
“We will crush him,” trainer Freddie Roach said.
It wasn’t an idle boast, and it wasn’t a way to hype the fight because it doesn’t need hyping. Before it fell apart over Mayweather’s insistence on blood testing, the bout was supposed to have taken place Saturday night and likely would have been the richest ever in boxing.
But Mayweather must first now get past a fight of his own, a May 1 bout against Shane Mosley that may be his toughest yet. And promoter Bob Arum made it clear that there will be no negotiations this time around about any sort of blood testing no matter how much Mayweather might try to raise the point.
“That was a stupid mistake I made by playing Neville Chamberlain and negotiating this issue,” Arum said, drawing an analogy that only a boxing promoter could. “You don’t negotiate. You don’t appease. Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler on Munich and look what happened.”
History lesson aside, there clearly isn’t any need for Pacquiao’s camp to bend on the issue. Any thought that Mayweather diminished his popularity when he insinuated Pacquiao must be juiced to have won titles from 112 to 147 pounds evaporated when they opened the doors at Cowboys Stadium and throngs of people poured in hours early for the party.
And a party was what it was, despite Clottey’s attempt to preserve his boxing future by spending long stretches of time in the ring holding his gloves in a peek-a-boo style to avoid getting hit. Pacquiao did the best he could to force the issue, throwing punch after punch after punch—more than 1,200 in all — but if a fighter goes into the ring just to survive the odds are good he will do just that.
Someone who managed to get a microphone at the postfight press conference congratulated Clottey for making it through 12 rounds, and asked him what his secret for success was.
“Manny Pacquiao is beating everybody,” Clottey said. “He’s knocking them out. I have to do what I can and I think I did my best.”
Arum didn’t seem to mind that he had just paid someone $2 million to go into a shell. This was a party, after all, and the fight was secondary.
`What was he supposed to do?” Arum said. “If he played offense he’d get knocked out.”
This was a freebie for Pacquiao, and one he had probably earned. It’s hard to blame him for having an opponent just trying to stay upright, not after what he did to Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in his previous three fights.
This, apparently, is what it has come to with Pacman. No longer just content to beat fighters he’s now a 145 3/4 pounds of sheer intimidation, kind of a junior Mike Tyson who takes on his business with a smile instead of a scowl.
He’s so good that a very good and veteran practicer of the sweet science decided that it was better to survive intact than go down in a blaze of glory. So good that there wouldn’t be any question about his place on boxing’s hierarchy if there wasn’t this annoyance named Floyd Mayweather.
So good that the only worry in his camp is that he will actually win a seat in congress back home and not fight anymore.
“He’s probably going to win the election,” Arum said. “But that’s all right because if their congress is anything like ours, they don’t do anything anyway.”
The glow of his latest win had even his tough guy trainer speaking fondly about the fighter he has helped transform a tough sport.
“I’m just happy to be a part of Manny Pacquiao’s life,” Roach said.
He’s not alone. Just ask the guy lucky enough to be chosen to fluff his rice.


David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Lebron's Unstoppable Performance

LeBron James(notes) scored 30 points, 24 in the second half, and Cleveland wore down the aging Boston Celtics in the second half for a 104-93 victory on Sunday, the Cavaliers’ second decisive win over one of the East’s premier teams in less than a month.
The Cavaliers were closer to full strength with the return of forward Antawn Jamison(notes), who had 15 points and 12 rebounds after missing one game with a sore knee. Anderson Varejao(notes) had 17 points and 10 boards.
Last month, the Cavs beat the Celtics by 20 in Boston. In that game, center Shaquille O’Neal(notes) sustained a serious thumb injury and is expected to miss the remainder of the season.
Cleveland doesn’t appear to be missing him right now.


David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

FAA Checks 737 Flops

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an emergency airworthiness directive demanding that airlines check a mechanism that controls tail flaps on about 600 Boeing 737s.

The directive was issued on Friday and concerns flaps on the horizontal tails of the jets. On March 2, a Ryanair 737-800 en route from the Netherlands to Madrid, Spain, experienced severe vibrations in flight and had to make an unscheduled landing in Belgium.

Inspection afterward found "extensive damage" to the left elevator, which is a movable flap on the horizontal tail that controls the pitch of the airplane, up or down.

The agency says some of the jets must be inspected within 12 days, and the rest within 30 days. FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said about half the affected airplanes are operating in the US.


David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Alice Still Number 1

Alice is still ruling the movie palace. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" easily remained the No. 1 weekend draw with $62 million. The Disney fantasy has climbed to a $208.6 million total domestically, becoming the first $200 million hit released this year.

A rush of new movies had so-so openings, led by Matt Damon's Iraq War thriller "Green Zone," which debuted at No. 2 with $14.5 million.

Among other debuts, Jay Baruchel's romantic comedy "She's Out of My League" was No. 3 with $9.6 million, followed by "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson's romantic drama "Remember Me" at No. 4 with $8.3 million and America Ferrera's "Our Family Wedding" at No. 6 with $7.6 million.


David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Cyber Crime Increases

 Losses from cybercrime and online scams more than doubled in 2009 to $559 million as Internet criminals used more sophisticated techniques, an FBI-led task force said Friday.
The report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), said losses in the United States linked to online fraud shot up 110 percent from 265 million in 2008, when losses were up just 11 percent.
"The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet," said Donald Brackman, director of the National White Collar Crime Center, which runs the IC3 with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn't have imagined just five years ago."
Of those complaints reporting monetary loss that were referred to law enforcement, the average loss was $5,580 and the median loss was $575. This reflects a small number of cases in which hundreds of thousands of dollars were reported to have been lost by the complainant.
One of the newest schemes is a variant of the "hitman scam,” which has been used for several years to extort money. A victim receives an email from a member of an organization such as the "Ishmael Ghost Islamic Group" claiming to have a mission to assassinate the person but offering a pardon if money is wired to the scammer.
A familiar scam, which has resurfaced, offers free astrological readings to persons, who provide their birth date and birth location.
These schemes and others such as phony anti-virus software were often tied to identity theft, which is one of the biggest categories, accounting for 14 percent of losses.
Non-delivery of items bought on the Internet was the biggest source of fraud, accounting for 19 percent of losses, and credit card and auction fraud each accounted for 10 percent.
Advance fee fraud, which includes the so-called Nigerian bank scheme in which a person is asked to wire funds to receive a large sum of money, remained a major problem, representing 9.8 percent of complaints.
Overall complaints to the center rose 22 percent to 336,655 in 2009.
FBI officials said the surge in online fraud highlights the need for increased consumer vigilance.
"Law enforcement relies on the corporate sector and citizens to report when they encounter on-line suspicious activity so these schemes can be investigated and criminals can be arrested," said Peter Trahon, section chief of the FBI's Cyber Division.
"Computer users are encouraged to have up-to-date security protection on their devices and evaluate email solicitations they receive with a healthy skepticism. If something seems too good to be true, it likely is."

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Mar and Nukes

 Add Sen. Manuel Roxas II to the list of nuclear power advocates.
"I have an open mind about it. Let us think about it. It's the cheapest form of power and [it is for long term]," Roxas, the Liberal Party's candidate for vice president, told reporters here on Saturday.
He said the Philippines' neighboring countries were either using or open to the use of nuclear power.
"Dapat malawak ang pagtingin dito, pag-aralan natin ito (We should keep an open mind about this issue. We should study this)," Roxas said.
He said China has been planning to establish 30 nuclear power plants in the next 10 years. Korea and Taiwan, he said, have been relying on nuclear power plants for their energy needs.
Earlier, the Pangasinan provincial board endorsed a proposal by Rep. Mark Cojuangco for the province to host two nuclear power plants.
Cojuangco said building nuclear power plants would push Pangasinan's progress and lower electricity rates in the province.
But some groups and officials in Pangasinan have opposed Cojuangco's proposal, citing the lack of public consultation and the supposed danger the nuclear power plants pose to the province's environment.
Roxas said studying the feasibility of tapping nuclear power for the country and the calls to rehabilitate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which was mothballed in 1986 due to questions of safety, should be separated.
He said he would support the creation of an independent commission composed of nuclear scientists and physicists to study how the country could benefit from nuclear energy.
"Let us use new technologies to benefit us. Let us just be very sure that we will be safe because if there is an accident, the damage will be enormous," Roxas said.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

After Fight Concert Party

After what he had gone through in his 12 round showdown with Joshua Clottey Saturday (Sunday in Manila), ordinary mortals would think that Manny Pacquiao would be dead tired.
But Pacquiao is no ordinary guy. Not only is he the only boxer to win seven crowns in as many divisions, he is also regarded as pound-for-pound king and Fighter of the Decade.
No wonder, Pacquiao, wearing dark shades to hide a swelling on his right cheek, can afford to smile as he answers questions from the sports media who had gathered in the $1.2-billion Cowboys Stadium to chronicle The Event that surpassed expectations with an impressive crowd of 50,944.
Pacquiao even invited them to join his post-fight party which will be held at the nearby Texas Rangers Ball Park later in the night.
Asked what he’d sing, Pacquiao gamely answered “La Bamba”.
Pacquiao also invited them to join him and his MP band in another concert to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, next weekend.
Promoter Bob Arum of Top rank couldn’t help but feel proud of the successful co-promotion with Texas billionaire and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“It (the Event) is one of the grandest spectacles in the history of boxing,” said Roach. “I’ve been in boxing for 45 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.
“The lighting, the music, the entrances is really very, very special,” said Roach, who also lauded the fighters, particularly Pacquiao, for providing a great show to the people of North Texas.
Jones was particularly impressed with Pacquiao, whom he referred to as someone special. Jones then praised Pacquiao for his heart, will and skill that has brought him successes at the highest levels.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Its Mayweather Time to Prove

His mission accomplished, Manny Pacquiao is now calling out on Floyd Mayweather Jr. to do his part against Shane Mosley so that their aborted megabuck showdown can push through.
Pacquiao came out firing on all cylinders to trounce Joshua Clottey by unanimous decision Saturday night and keep his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown before a packed Cowboys Stadium here.
Now, Mayweather has to get past fellow American Mosley in their battle for the World Boxing Association welterweight crown on May 1.
“I want that fight,” said Pacquiao, to the roar of the 50,944 crowd that trooped to the $1.2-billion facility. “The people want that fight.”
It was the third biggest attendance in modern-day boxing, surpassed only by the 72,000 that watched the Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks bout at the Superdome and the 60,000 that witnessed the Julio Cesar Chavez-Pernell Whitaker tiff at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Pacquiao, named Fighter of the Decade by practically every boxing group all over the world, added it was up to Mayweather to accept the challenge that would settle the score on who’s the greatest fighter of his generation. The seven-time, seven-division champion Pacquiao and the unbeaten Mayweather are both claimants of the pound-for-pound throne.
“It’s up to him (Mayweather),” said Pacquiao. “To us there’s no problem. We’re ready to fight anytime. Maybe he’s not ready to fight yet. Maybe some other time.”
Pacquiao, however, hinted that he would not wait forever as there are other opponents being lined up by his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank like former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. There’s also Mosley, who has been dying for a shot at Pacquiao.
“He should win against Mosley,” said Pacquiao. “If not, Mosley and I will fight.”
Later, during the post-fight press conference, Pacquiao reiterated his desire to fight Mayweather, who was supposed to be his foe Saturday but was substituted by Clottey when negotiations fell apart due to Mayweather’s demand for Olympic-style random drug testing.
Wearing dark sunglasses to cover a lump on his right cheek, Pacquiao said he doesn’t think Mayweather (40-0) is impregnable.
“I think his style is not difficult. It’s not difficult to study,” said Pacquiao, who analyzes an opponent’s style with chief trainer Freddie Roach.
If Pacquiao-Mayweather pushes through, it is projected to be the biggest ever in the sport, with both fighters assured of a payday of $30 million upwards.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

A Knockout Finished...Everybody Waits

Although his victory on Sunday was just as sweet, it was apparently not as savory for fans used to seeing Manny Pacquiao subdue opponents who were at least willing to trade blows.
Denied the spectacle of a knockout or even just a vicious brawl, several paying spectators at an SM Megamall theater in Mandaluyong City immediately headed for the exit after sitting through the 12-round bout—no longer bothering to wait for the formal result or the post-fight hoopla.
“Of course, expectations were not met,” said Loy Kaloso, a bank employee from Pasig City. “It was still a little exciting, though.”
“Boring. Definitely not his best fight,” said Justin Cagayat, 21, of Los Baños town in Laguna province.
Koloso and Cagayat may have echoed the sentiments of millions of Filipinos who cheered Pacquiao as the world champ chalked up a lopsided win over Joshua Clottey, the heftier but gun-shy challenger from Ghana.
“[Clottey] did not put up a fight. He was playing it safe,” Kaloso said, noting that Pacquiao’s 12th-round stoppage of Miguel Cotto, who also backpedaled in the final rounds, was far more thrilling to watch in November last year.
“Clottey might have wanted to keep his record of having no knockouts [while] Pacquiao just wanted to [have a] fight before the elections,” Cagayat added, alluding to the latter’s congressional bid in the May polls.
Comments posted on social networking sites also saw the fight as a big letdown if compared to the Pacman’s furious finishes in the past.
Rem de Leon, 30, posted on his Facebook account: “The MOST exciting part of the whole fight … was the post-fight interview.”
“12 rounds of boredom. Grabe, walang nangyari, parang hindi Pacquiao fight (Nothing really happened, as though it was not a Pacquiao fight). Congratulations to Manny though,” Ive Dela Fuente, 20, also posted on Facebook.
At the SM Megamall cinema, only a mild applause greeted the announcement of Pacquiao’s unanimous win over Clottey.
Arnel’s rendition
Ironically, the day’s heartiest cheers probably went to Arnel Pineda, the Filipino frontman of the US rock band Journey, who sang the Philippine national anthem in the pre-fight intros.
Like many anthem singers before him, Pineda may be courting controversy for veering from the official version of “Lupang Hinirang.” The power balladeer opted for a slower tempo and ended a few notes higher than the state-sanctioned melody.
“Clearly, Clottey was no match for Pacquiao,” said Arlan Delamida, a driver who watched the fight along with his boss at the Greenbelt 3 cinema in Makati City.
Still, Delamida was quick to spot something new in the Pacman’s arsenal: In the fourth round, the Filipino ring icon unleashed a “two-handed strike,” not unlike the movement of a man playing the cymbals, which pounded both sides of Clottey’s head in one beating.
Delamida and other spectators burst in laughter upon realizing that they had seen this kind of a pincer-like punch before—in the movies!
Like FPJ in action
“Parang FPJ yun ah (He fights like FPJ),” one fan beamed, referring to the late action star Fernando Poe Jr. and his signature street-fighting move that came to be known as pompyang (literally, cymbals).
When up against cinematic villains, Poe would usually use the pompyang to punctuate a flurry of punches.
Delamida said he didn’t expect Clottey, who kept his guard up practically during the entire fight, to be knocked down.
Shellborn Lagar, a fireman enjoying his dayoff, shared the same view: The overly defensive Ghanaian was tough as nails. “He kept on putting his guard up during the whole bout. Maybe that’s why Manny wasn’t able to put him down.”
“Clottey kept his head down, which was smart of him,” added Gerry Lopez, a restaurant employee.
Pacquiao diehards, including some who came in Pacman shirts, started arriving at Greenbelt as early as 7 a.m.—or at least five hours early—for the main event.
Retirement?
In Sta. Ana, Manila, a satisfied fanatic who saw the fight live in a covered basketball court said Pacquiao should not consider retirement anytime in the near future for the sake of the sport.
“He can still fight. He is really my idol and boxing would not be as much fun without him,” said Samuel Ragus, 26. “There’s always a zero-crime rate whenever he fights. He cannot retire yet.”
“It is still possible for him to fight even if he becomes a congressman, isn’t it?” Ragus said. Pacquiao is gunning for a House seat as representative of Sarangani province in the May elections.
For Cholo Flameno, 53, Pacquiao still has four to five fights left in him before he hangs up his gloves. “He is still young. Pacquiao is tough,” he said.
“[But] he should not go into politics anymore. He should just concentrate on boxing. There are a lot of other ways he can help [the people] and I don’t think it’s through politics,” Flameno said.
“The fight was not so satisfying since Clottey kept on covering his face,” said Pedro Ambos, a manager at the National Power Corp. (Napocor), which made sure there wouldn’t be brownouts in Mindanao at least during the fight.
“Had Clottey not covered his face, he would have been knocked out,” said Col. Leo Ferrer, commander of the 601st Brigade based in Lanao.
“He (Pacquiao) gave us another reason to be proud, but his fights are becoming boring,” said University of the Philippines-Los Baños student Karl Suministrado, 18.
In the Visayan cities of Cebu, Maasin, Tacloban, Bacolod and Iloilo, many Pacquiao fans were also disappointed with what they called a “boring” fight.
“Way lami! (This is not fun at all)” was the common complaint heard from the thousands who gathered for the public viewings sponsored by local politicians.
Mother’s worry
But as always, Pacquiao’s mother Dionisia saw it differently. Never complacent whenever her now ultra-rich son enters the ring, she and her friends came together to pray for the whole duration of the fight.
The Pacman’s “prayer brigade” stormed the heavens at the Pacquiao mansion at Lagao village in General Santos City. At Dionisia’s side was Pacquiao’s youngest daughter, Queen Elizabeth, and the boxer’s eldest sister Liza Onding.
For the nth time, Dionisia said she would try to convince her son upon his return from the United States to finally walk away from the ring and just focus on his family and businesses.
“His opponents are getting bigger. It’s really scary,” she told reporters in Filipino. “He should really quit boxing. And besides, he has already saved a lot of money and has put up many businesses.”
In Cubao, Quezon City, another admirer Michelle Rondela went out of this world to come up with the highest praise: “Manny Pacquiao is an alien. He’s that good.”
But Rondela, who watched the fight at Araneta Coliseum, also admitted being disappointed that there was no knockout to “thrill” her Sunday.
She said she only became a boxing fan “because of Manny” and after watching him send Britain’s Ricky Hatton to the canvas last year with a thunderbolt to the jaw.
“He is everything,” added Ramon Casanova, 74, a former government official who came to the coliseum for the fight, in a wheelchair.
“You are very good, iconic and you’re the best. And we hope you will never give a thought to enter politics.” Casanova said, airing what may already be a late appeal to his idol.
“I was never a boxing fan, I am here for Pacquiao and I'm proud to be a Filipino,” said Wendy Bayani, who came with her husband and their two daughters.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Kobe's Mature Move?

Privately, people wonder: How many more passes does Kobe Bryant(notes) give Pau Gasol(notes) for speaking so boldly about him? How long until Bryant’s public and private reprisal comes with a ferocity that could bring a 7-footer to his knees? All season, Gasol has been a relentlessly consistent, if not passively aggressive, critic of the franchise star’s shooting habits, of an offense that doesn’t deliver him the ball with the frequency that he wants.
Whatever the reasons, Gasol has been emboldened to speak his mind. Whatever the odds, Bryant has bit his lip and let it go.
“I believe in what I believe,” Gasol said.
Hours before Friday night’s victory over the Phoenix Suns, chatting on a chair inside U.S. Airways Center, Bryant let out a laugh and insisted there will be no public rebuttals. “I’m not touching that,” Bryant said with a smile and shrug.
Bryant could come out and say that Gasol had never won a playoff game until arriving to the Lakers. He could tell Gasol that the Lakers still had the NBA’s best record without him for a month to start the season. He could tell him to make a free throw in the last minutes of tough games, tell him to toughen up.
Truth be told, Kobe Bryant could tell Pau Gasol to simply shut the bleep up.
Only, Bryant doesn’t do it. Tempted? Well, of course. Yet, the reason for such restraint is simple: The Lakers desperately need Gasol, and a public chastising of him would almost assuredly reduce his fragile psyche to rubble, costing Bryant the player he needs to catch Michael Jordan and his six championship rings
Perhaps circumstances have changed, but not him.
“Last year during our stretch run, Andrew [Bynum] wasn’t there ‘cause of injury, so Pau got a lot more touches,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports. “And this year, we’ve got to kind of split the difference between those two. Now, any of those guys can have a big night. Andrew had one the other night. Lamar [Odom] can have a big night. And Pau can have a big night.
“Some nights you get a lot of touches, some nights you don’t.”
Such patience out of Bryant, such perspective. Years ago, this wouldn’t have happened. He would have blasted Gasol into oblivion. No more. Everyone has watched and listened to Gasol take these little shots along the way, beginning with Bryant’s pursuit of Jerry West’s Lakers scoring record and continuing several times over.
Nevertheless, Bryant has been nurturing, not narcissistic. So when there was a game on the line Friday night, Kobe had the capital to slap Gasol upside the head in the fourth quarter, a kind of nurturing, go-get-‘em moment that preceded an improbable stand by the Lakers frontline.
Moments later, Gasol would flex those skinny arms and crush Phoenix’s Louis Amundson(notes) upside the head on a drive to the rim. The foul sent Suns coach Alvin Gentry into a rage, costing him two technical fouls, an ejection and perhaps ultimately a 102-96 loss.
“Pau gave a hard foul, which is what we like to see from him,” Bryant said.
These are the small victories which assemble one on top of another: A hard foul here, clutch basket there. This is the reason the Bryant dictatorship has allowed such dissident talk out of Gasol. Maybe it emboldens Gasol. Maybe it leaves Gasol thinking that’s he standing up to Bryant, standing tough. This week started with Gasol reiterating his issues with Bryant shooting too much and ended with a savvy 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists from Bryant.
Four straight road losses had everyone doubting the Lakers’ resolve, and with Bryant’s mangled finger reaggravated, with that bum ankle acting up, he’s never needed so much out of his teammates. So, whatever momentary satisfaction might come out of a public obliteration from Gasol’s emboldened mouth, the harshest consequences would ultimately be meted out to Bryant. This has been the evolution of Kobe. All those years of raging against the machine, of a genius talent forever trying to control the inner rage that ruled him, Kobe discovered the proper way to harness it.
“I’ve definitely seen the growth,” Derek Fisher(notes) said. “We’ve talked about it. It’s something that he’s very conscious of. He lives, breathes, digests every aspect of his game, our team’s game and what’s necessary to win. He’s very aware of what needs to happen on and off the court for us to be successful.”
Where did Bryant change in that way? Well, it had to be Shaquille O’Neal’s(notes) derisive rap and Bryant’s ultimate reaction: silence. At the Beijing Olympics, on the eve of his 30th birthday, Bryant told me that his big mistake earlier in his career was always coming up with a rebuttal for Shaq. “My philosophy had always been to keep quiet and not to say anything,” he said. “And by me responding, that drew me into it. If I had to do it over again, I would’ve just let people talk and say what they had to say, and as time goes, they would’ve seen what was what.
“When you’re young, [you think], ‘Enough is enough. I’m going to say something.’ And all of a sudden …”
All of a sudden you’ve created a distraction, a needless opponent. Bryant had endless energy in his 20s, but everything comes harder now. Everything comes with emerging doubts, with a suggestion that LeBron James(notes) has passed him, that the game’s greatest player is, well, no longer the game’s greatest player. Bryant isn’t chasing Jay-Z as his model, but rather M.J. He wants fists full of rings. He’s trying to get between Jordan’s six titles and Bill Russell’s 11. He’s trying to create a championship legacy that no player of his generation can call his own.
Even so, this has been a season of doubting Bryant. Before the All-Star break, with Kobe finally resting an ankle injury, you couldn’t listen to Southern California sports-talk radio without the most preposterous premise being peddled on the airwaves: Look at the way these Lakers play without Bryant, look at the ball movement, look at how they’re better without him. The Lakers won a few games without Kobe, and somehow that became an indictment of his greatness. Pure folly.
“A lot of times they run out of things to talk about,” Bryant said. “They talk about things that have no relevance, that make no sense. They forgot that last year, playing exactly the same way, we won a championship. But they get excited about a four-game winning streak.
“…We have to focus on the big picture. That’s what I try to do.”
Someone close to Bryant suggested that his angry disposition after beating Toronto on Wednesday with a fabulous fade-away was born of this message: Don’t expect me to always bail everyone out. In some ways, the Lakers take Bryant for granted, believing that he’ll always save them in the final minutes.
“Yeah, sure,” Bryant agreed. “I’ve been in L.A. for 14 years now, and I think people have gotten used to seeing me do things like that.”
The thirtysomething Bryant has discovered something the twentysomething had a harder time with: Restraint can be his salvation. This started with Shaq’s rap assault two years ago, where Bryant’s non-response went against every fiber of his DNA. Yet it changed the public dynamic of how people perceived the Shaq-Kobe feud, turned Kobe into the grown-up and Shaq into the pesty, immature kid.
It did something else, too: It’s colored the way Bryant’s treated his sidekick, Gasol. Make no mistake: Kobe has engendered Gasol with much more public respect than Shaq ever did him. He hasn’t been condescending to or belittling of him. Yes, he’ll go after Gasol and Bynum for failing to play hard and tough and sustained. Basketball’s greatest coaches are always the superstars who hold teammates accountable.
So, yes, when Gasol has been so publicly disparaging of Bryant’s mode of attack, it naturally has to rankle him. Gasol did it on several occasions this season, including after Sunday’s loss in Orlando. His theme’s been wanting the ball, wanting Bryant to come inside with the pass. “It’s nothing against Kobe or any individual here,” Gasol insisted. “It’s all about our team success. I think he understands that’s why I think that way, why I might say those things. There’s no harm intended.”
No one is buying it, but whatever. Bryant is practicing a diplomacy in his 30s which didn’t exist in his thermonuclear 20s. As Fisher suggested, Bryant’s forever diagnosing his team and the climate in which it exists.
These Lakers are 48-18 and have fallen three games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in basketball. Looking back at previous Lakers teams which tried to repeat as champions, Bryant said, “This is kind of the typical malaise you go through this time of the year waiting for the playoffs. The teams we had in the past went through the same kind of lull. But ultimately we had a sense of urgency to get out of it. But the jury is still out about whether we’re able to do that.”
Between now and then, the increasingly benevolent dictatorship of Kobe Bryant will allow its people freedom of speech. He thinks these things through for hours upon hours, and Pau Gasol can have his say for now. For his own sake, Gasol had better get it all out of his system and deliver come May and June. Hell to pay then.





David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More