Even before he was signed up to endorse Liveraide Sillymarin Capsule, action star Robin Padilla has been leading a clean, healthy life.  He stopped drinking and smoking when he was converted to the Islam Religion in 1995.  He assures that he only shows smoking when needed in his role as ‘Joaquin Bordado’ on TV and in his latest movie ‘Ikaw pa rin (Bongga ka, Boy) with Ai-ai delas Alas.

In January, the Philippine Department of Justice dismissed the charges of illegal recruitment filed against executives of Sentosa Recruitment Agency in the Philippines and Sentosa Care LLC in New York, saying “there was no substantive alterations in the employment contracts signed by the complainants to sustain the findings of illegal recruitment.” In February, the National Labor Relations Commission in Manila came to a similar conclusion, pointing out that the nurses failed to notify their employer when submitting resignations, something that was both a violation of their contracts as well as a violation of the Labor Code of the Philippines.

Even the decision by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, which originally ruled in favor of the nurses on the issue of contract substitution, reversed itself last September after finding that “what really happened, as admitted by the complainants themselves, was that they were actually transferred to other affiliated nursing facilities.”

The matter also came before the United States Department of Justice, which likewise dismissed the charges of unfair immigration-related employment practices in August of 2007. In a letter to Sentosa attorneys, special deputy counsel of the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division, Katherine Baldwin said, “Based on its investigation, this office has determined that there is insufficient evidence of reasonable cause to believe the injured parties were discriminated against as prohibited by 8 U.S.C. §1324b.”

“This string of rulings proves that our client was not engaged in any illegal practices,” said Ibaro Relaminda Jr., Senotsa’s attorney based in the Philippines. “It also proves that the nurses were lying in their statements about maltreatment.”

With the unfurling of truth in case after case, support for the nurses and their attorney, Felix Vinluan, both in the U.S. and in the Philippines, is now beginning to buckle under the weight of the facts.

A recent massive earthquake hit the Sichuan province of China earlier killing more than 5,000 Chinese including about 900 students.

The earthquake reached a high level of 7.5 with its center about 57 miles (92km) north-west of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Tremors from the quake, which struck at 2.28pm, were felt as far away as Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Photo courtesy of The Guardian UK.

Miss Philippines Earth Pageant Show was held  at the Grand Ballroom Crown Plaza Galleria last night and was hosted by Rafael Rosell, Nikki Gil, and Ginger Conejero.  The Miss Philippines Earth 2008 title got by Karla Paula G. Henry  from Cebu City. Other major awards listed below :

Miss Philippines EcoTourism 2008 - Maria Venus B. Raj (Legazpi City)
Miss Philippines Fire 2008 - Ma. Kristelle M. Lazaro (Municipality of Candaba)
Miss Philippines Water 2008 - Marian Michelle T. Oblea (Municipality of Obando)
Miss Philippines Air 2008 - Marie Razel T. Eguia (Dipolog City)
Miss PAGCOR International Tourism Ambassadress - Melanie Felix

Special Awards:
Miss Congeniality - Jaydielou B. Dilidili
Miss Photogenic - Nikki A. Martin
Best in Talent - Marian Michelle T. Oblea
Best in Cultural Attire - Ma. Kristelle M. Lazaro
Best in Long Gown - Marian Michelle T. Oblea
Best in Swimsuit - Nikki A. Martin

In an announcement at 1PM today, Globe Telecom closed the deal with Apple to offer the iPhone in the Philippines.

This after several months of speculations. Announcement on the Globe website says:

Manila, 12 May 2008 – Globe, SingTel, Bharti Airtel and Optus today announced that they have signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to the Philippines, Singapore, India, and Australia later this year.

More information will be released at a later date.

{ source: YugaTech }

The country’s top local actors and actresses unite for a cause — to pray for the healing of co-actor Rudy Fernandez. It is the ardent wish of these celebrities for Daboy to be healed from cancer. The healing mass was held at the Christ the King Church, uniting generations of local artists including Susan Roces, Gloria Romero, Perla Bautista, Philip Salvador, and Jinggoy Estrada. The Fernandez children are already present in the mass.

Philip Salvador also calls on people to have compassion and pray for the healing of Rudy Fernandez.

With Bea Alonso set to play Betty in the hit telenovela Betty La Fea, Regine Velasquez will be playing Kim Sam Soon in the pinoy version of the koreanovela.

Mark Anthony Fernandez will be playing Regine’s love interest in the telenovela. Others who will be in the production are Tessie Tomas, Vangie Lbalan, Eugene Domingo, John “Sweet” Lapuz, Carmi Martin, Wendell Ramos, and Dr. Hayden Kho.

Kim Sam Soon will be shown on the kapuso network, GMA7.

After the successful event at SM Mall of Asia, The next stop of team PLDT myDSL Unlimited Plan 990  is Greenhills Promenade. So, if you want to catch and see hottest drift cars in the country accompanied with hottest babes free the date May 24, 2008 on your calendar and head up to Greenhills.

Megastar Sharon Cuneta recalls that she and the staff of Star Cinema could not afford to eat at restaurants in London when they were shooting “Caregiver”.  “We would always buy “take-out” foods because restaurants in London are very expensive,” according to Shawie. The movie, directed by Chito Roño, will be shown in celebration of Sharon’s 30 years in showbusiness and as Star Cinema’s 15th anniversary offering.

Two presidentiables, a lady senator and an ex-congresswoman will stand as principal sponsors during the exchange of marital vows of Sen. Bong Revilla’s eldest daughter Inah and Vince del Rosario on May 28, 2008 at the Manila Cathedral. They are presidentiables Manny Villa and Mar Roxas, Sen. Pia Cayetano and former Representative Imee Marcos. 

Though Pres. Gloria Arroyo is not included in the list, Sen. Bong’s ambition to run as vice prexy in 2010 somehow gleams with the addition of presidential daughter Luli Arroyo and top honchos of KAMPI (GMA’s political party), DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Gov. Luis Villafuerte in the political list of principal sponsors, plus network  big guns Charo Santos of ABS-CBN and Atty. Felipe Gozon of GMA 7.