After days of outpouring rain, tropical storm ” Maring ” left the Philippine Area of Responsibility last Wednesday. But the burden was not yet over as monsoon trough will continue to bring scattered rainshowers over most parts of the country in the next two to three days. According to Rene Paciente, PagAsa weather forecaster, monsoon through would bring cloudy skies with scattered rains over Southern Luzon and Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao this weekend as well as Central and Northern Luzon, would have partly cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers. Expect more rains over the weekend and prepare for a series of floods and heavy traffic along areas prone to this.

A One day event that features a business seminar for the youth will be held at the SMX Convention Hall at the SM Mall of Asia this coming September 11, 2009 from 9:00am to 6:00pm. The Go Negosyo Youth Entrepreneurship Summit is a one-day forum/expo which hopes to spark that entrepreneurial spirit among the youth. Forums with experienced Go Negosyo entrepreneurs and mentors will be sharing tips and advice on opportunity-seeking, marketing, financing, product development, and all the basics of going into business. Government leaders will also be sharing their views on the need for entrepreneurship development in the country. Admission is Free! Register now and learn!. For more info, log on to youthsummitgonegosyo.net or call ( 02) 637-9229.

Good news to all the aspiring OFW’s who wants to work abroad! Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito Roque recently confirmed that they will be conducting free pre-employment orientation seminars for would-be OFW’s at selected SM malls to educate them on the rigors of working in a foreign environment. The undertaking is made possible with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the DoLE-POEA and the SM Retail, Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. Roque also added that it will empower the overseas workers to be vigilant especially against illegal recruiters and will eventually help them cope with the various challenges of overseas work. The said seminar was supported by the Department of Labor and Employment ( DOLE ) with the help of Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration ( POEA ). Don’t miss the chance to be trained. For more details you can also check their website for more info.

LPG Marketers Association takes another price adjustment as they increase their A P1 autogas effective today. According to LPGMA president Arnel Ty, the price increase took effect earlier at 6 a.m. Autogas is an LPG-based vehicle fuel that is primarily fed to especially converted taxis. LPGMA explained that they needed to recover P2.20 in terms of their retail price for autogas. Petron Corp. also increased its autogas price last wednesday by P1.41 per liter. The fuel currently retails between P22 and P23. On the other hand, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes told LPG retailers to stop making premature announcements regarding price hikes, saying that it could do more harm than good.

78 out of 108 passed the Guidance Counselor Licensure Examination given by the Board of Guidance and Counseling in Manila last August 2009. The announcement was made yesterday in order to inform the examiners. Professional Regulatory Commission also revealed that 76 applicants were approved for registration without examination as Guidance Counselors in accordance with Republic Act No. 8981. There will be a registration for the issuance of Professional Identification Card that will start from September 9 to 18. Oath-taking ceremony of the successful examinees will be held on Sunday, September 27, 2009, at 1 p.m. at the Centennial Hall of Manila Hotel in Manila. Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association, Inc. (PGCA) registration will also start on September 9, 2009.

StarMagic, home of the most successful actors and actress of today will offer its series of public workshops again this coming October to December 2009. Workshops will be handled by award winning directors and actors from the film & television industry like Bodjie Pascua, , Director Mel Chionglo, Vangie Labalan and Ricky Lee. Headed by Director Rahyan Carlos. Acting workshop for teens & adults will also have workshops for kids, acting, dance workshop and film & tv production workshops. A first come, first serve basis only. Registration starts Sept. 6, 2009. For inquiries, contact them at ABS-CBN Star Magic 415-3828 or 415-2272 local 5142, you can also text workshops to 2366 or e-mail them starmagicworkshops@abs-cbn.com. Register now, and be the next star!

Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that the country will continue to experience scattered rainshowers in the next few days as the active low pressure area (LPA) off Northern Luzon intensified into a tropical depression yesterday. The new weather disturbance was named “Labuyo” ,the 12th tropical cyclone to enter the country this year and the first this month. Labuyo was located 800 kilometers east of Northern Luzon, packing winds of 55 kilometers per hour near the center as of 4 p.m. yesterday.

For those lotto fanatics out there, the jackpot is getting bigger and bigger as it now reached up to P125 million after nobody won the top prize on last Tuesday’s draw. According to PCSO Assistant general manager for online lotto operations Conrado Zabella no one won the last Tuesday’s winning combination 30-07-26-17-25-40 with a jackpot of P114,727,662. Meanwhile, 100 lucky players got five digits of the winning combination and won the consolation prize of P56,000 each, while 4,883 got four digits and won P1,000 respectively. Be the next millionaire tonight! place your bets now!

The jackpot prize of the Super Lotto 6/49 online lottery game of the PCSO is expected to reach P113 million after no one got the winning combination 29-36-19-01-33-08 during the lotto draw last Sunday night. According to Conrado Zabella, assistant general manager for online lotto operations, the lotto prize would hit P113 million or more, from its P103,291,873 earlier pot. For those lotto players out there, set your bets now, and be the next lucky millionaire tonight.

Two of the ” Big 3 ” oil companies announced their price rollback today. Reports have said that Shell would slash the prices of gasoline by P1.50 per liter, and diesel and kerosene by P1 per liter starting 6 p.m. today. Meanwhile, Petron Philippines would also implement the same rollbacks by 12:01 a.m. tomorrow. As of post time, there were no other oil companies announcing price cut off to their petroleum products.

P82-million mark is expected by the PCSO as the jackpot prize of the 6/49 Super Lotto game continues to rise after no one won the winning combination of 27-30-24-23-39-26 in last Sunday’s draw. According to PCSO’s Assistant General Manager for online lotto operations, Conrado Zaballa, the winning combination during the last draw carried a pot of P75,649,546.80. They were also expecting the prize to breach P100 million if nobody hits the winning six-digit combination in tonight’s draw. The Super Lotto game is now drawn every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday where the ticket costs P20 each.

For those who want to ease the long wait of processing their Passport Renewal Application, the Department of Foreign Affairs has launched their E- Passport Application system. Starting August 26, 2009, they will be accepting online passport applications. You can visit dfa.gov.ph to set an appointment with them. Applicants must fill out all the required fields on the online application form at the DFA web site and the prospective applicant will be informed of their schedule and he/she must then confirm availability. You also have to submit the ff. requirements;

– Old passport
– The duly accomplished passport application form
– One photocopy of old passport data page
– Valid ID
To get more details, log on to their website at dfa.gov.ph

Facebook has a new companion, FriendFeed, a Silicon Valley startup which allows members to see what their friends are doing online and share content. According to Facebook,12 employees of the California-based FriendFeed Mountain View, will join Facebook and its four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook’s engineering and product teams. Meanwhile, financial details of the purchase were not disclosed. The acquisition of FriendFeed follows Facebook’s failed attempt last year to buy hot microblogging service Twitter. FriendFeed was described as a potential rival to Twitter in its ability to conduct real-time search, an area where Facebook has been seeking to expand.

A Grand Eyeball event will be hosted by the popular social network site, Friendster. Dubbed as “Pinoy Friendster Day”, Friendster users in the Philippines are invited to join the event that will be held at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall on August 15,4 pm. This will also attempt to claim the first world record for the largest gathering of members from a social networking site. Plus, be entertained with the hottest bands like Rico Blanco, 6 CycleMind, Callalily, Pedicab,Paraluman and Imago. Admission is free!

567 out of 1,548 or 36.63% passed the Architect Licensure Examination given by the Board of Architecture, held in Manila last June 26 and 28, 2009. The results were released last Monday by the Professional Regulation Commission. Here are the Top Ten Board Passers;

1. Ramil Belleza Tibayan - UST – ( 84.10 )
2. Emerson Mapa Sacbibit – PUP Main-Sta. Mesa – ( 83.70 )
3. Araschid Jikiri Abdul Abdul – UP Diliman – ( 82.70 )
4. Ana Maria Regina Goitia Pavia – Saint Louis University – ( 82.20 )
5. Rojeh James Tumlos Balahay - Capiz State University -Main Campus – ( 80.80 )
Joanna Jane Ngo Comsti – UST – ( 80.80 )
6. Allan Bargos Acielo – Mapua Institute Of Technology – ( 80.60 )
Keen Maghoyop Lucañas – Lyceum Of Iligan Foundation – ( 80.60 )
Hajie Jove Sac – FEU Manila – ( 80.60 )
7. Jonathan Jiddu Bordador Bulatao – UP Diliman – ( 80.40 )
8. Darell Dave Cañete Anino – Cebu Institute Of Technology – ( 80.10 )
9. Jasmine Christie Antonio Bejar - UP Diliman – ( 80.00 )
Joel Roman De Leon – UP Diliman - ( 80.00 )
Ivan Cabrera Genelsa – Pamantasan Ng Lungsod Ng Maynila – ( 80.00 )
10. John Philip Angquiangco Mendoza – FEU Manila – ( 79.90 )

Congratulations!