Classes are suspended in Kinder, Elementary & High School level in Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Antipolo, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon, Taguig, Valenzuela, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Navotas, Pateros, San Juan and Cavite.

Meanwhile, in Calamba City, there are no classes in all levels tomorrow June 24 as declared by LGU.

According to CHED, class suspension depends on discretion of school authorities.

Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) stated that Philippines may be spared from the full wrath of typhoon “Chedeng” (international name: Songda).

It will likely affect Northern Luzon provinces including Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Kalinga, Apayao, Aurora, and Quezon with rains and winds from the typhoon.
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At 2:00 p.m. today, a tropical depression over the Caroline Islands was estimated based on satellite and surface data at 1,220 km East of Mindanao, (8.9°N, 138.5°E ). Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) affecting Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The tropical depression over the Caroline islands was estimated based on satellite and surface data at 1,230 km East of Mindanao, (8.6°N, 138.6°E).

This disturbance is still outside of the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) and does not affect any part of the country.

The next update will be issued at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.

The American Idol is getting nearer to end as there are four hopefuls remaining.

Jacob Lusk was eliminated from the American Idol Top 5 which named Lauren Alaina, James Durbin, Jacob Lusk, Scotty McCreery, and Haley Reinhart as top four. Lusk was sent to stand with Lauren, and Haley in the bottom three. He got 60 million votes from America which took him out the show.

Expect for the upcoming tension as the American Idol Season Finale will be on May 24 and 25.

Nine days after Japan was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, Miyagi Police Rescue team had a “miracle rescue” on an 80-year old woman and 16-year old youth (not yet sure if boy or girl) last Sunday under the rubble in the city of Ishimaki in northeast Japan.
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The deportation and volunteer repatriation of the Overseas Filipino Workers in tsunami-hit Japan and strongly agitated countries in the Middle East like Libya and Bahrain would result to the increase of unemployment in our country.

In the midst of the tragedies in Asia, Representatives Teodoro Casino of Bayan Muna Partylist and Emmaline Aglipay of DIWA Partylist urged the government to fund the deported Overseas Filipino Workers from Japan and other Middle East countries by giving them local jobs.

The former stated that we should seek opportunities to the crisis. Instead of deploying the OFWs in other countries, he said that the government should fund local business for them in the form of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that would also boost the entrepreneurial industry of our country.

The latter, on the other hand, finds that a “concrete” contingency plan must be given to the repatriated OFWs in the form of local jobs. She also mentioned that it should be a warning for the government to take care of the OFWs condition abroad.

These answers given by these lawmakers were still on the hand of the government: to decide whether to act or not on the mentioned contingencies.

The Department of Foreign Affairs conveyed their deepest condolences to the families of 11 Flipinos after New Zealand authorities had given up hope on Thursday of finding any more survivors from last week’s earthquake.
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Here is a March 1, 2011 press release by Department of Labor and Employment on the status quo of Overseas Filipino Workers in Libya:

Update on Libya
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The Department of Labor and Employment announced the two batches of Overseas Filipino Workers from Libya who will go back home on Wednesday and Thursday.
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Rumors are going busy over the shutting down of Facebook on March 15.

But Facebook denied the said rumor so FB users should not worry anymore.

The rumor that Facebook will shutdown started from an article published on the Weekly World News, a news parody website, and spread very quickly from country to country. There was a message circulating in
Facebook itself that users should safeguard their photos and videos because of the rumored shutdown.

The Weekly World News website reported that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had announced at a press conference: “Facebook has gotten out of control and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

The networking site, however, denied the news and even hinted that it plans to expand rather than shut down its operations.

Meanwhile, the users of Facebook continue to grow around the world.

Unfortunately, after a Filipino in the name of Efren Peňaflorida bagged the CNN Hero of the Year in 2009, there would be no more Filipino to grab the title this year.

The CNN Heroes 2010 awarding ceremony will be held on November 25.

Here are the following persons included in the top ten list of CNN Hero of the Year for 2010:

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. His Mary’s Meals program provides free daily meals to more than 400,000 children around the world;

Susan Burton. Her nonprofit provides housing and other support to formerly incarcerated women;

Dan Wallrath. Since 2005, the Texas home builder has given injured veterans homes of their own – mortgage-free;

Aki Ra. His Cambodian Self Help Demining group have made Cambodia safer by clearing about 50,000 mines and weapons;

Linda Fondren. With her weight-loss challenge, Fondren has helped residents of her Mississippi town lose nearly 15,000 pounds;

Harmon Parker. He builds footbridges in Kenya, protecting people from floods and animals while connecting communities;

Guadalupe Arizpe De La Vega. For more than 30 years, she has provided quality health care in Juarez, Mexico;

Narayanan Krishnan. Krishnan has brought more than 1.2 million hot meals to India’s homeless and destitute through his nonprofit;

Anuradha Koirala. Her group, Maiti Nepal, have helped more than 12,000 victims of Nepal’s sex trafficking business;

Evans Wadongo. Wadongo invented a way for rural families in Kenya to replace smoky kerosene and firelight with solar powered lanterns.

Efren Peňaflorida was able to be included in the top ten last year for uplifting the rights of Filipino street children to education. Through the Dynamic Learning Program (DLP), he was able to reach poor out of school youth giving them chance to learn and develop.

His Dynamic Teen Company’s 10,000 members have taught basic reading and writing to at least 1,500 kids living in the slums.

New World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight title holder Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao recently got the 8th place on Forbes Magazine’s richest athletes last July 2010. Sure to come Pacquiao’s elevation in rank after his fight against Margarito.

Ensured with a guaranteed fight prize of 15 million US dollars (around 645 million pesos), he got additional 5 million US dollars from the pay-per-view.

According to ESPN sports analyst Dan Rafael, Pacquiao earned a total of roughly 20 million US dollars or 860 million pesos from his battering of Margarito on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in Arlington, Texas.

Pacquiao, the world’s pound-for-pound boxing hero, claimed his 8th title after trashing Margarito.

Typhoon Ondoy left Metro Manila ravaged with floods all over the metropolis. Relief efforts have been on the way since Saturday and until now volunteers have been busy helping out create online maps for Manila’s flooded areas:

View Ondoy situation map for Metro Manila in a larger map

Here’s a video of part of Makati City when the rains started to pour early Saturday morning:

Over 410 cm of rain poured into the Luzon region in a matter of 9 hours, according to PAGASA.

Nikki Valdez reprises her showbiz career as she will took part in the upcoming Star Cinema movie, In My Life. She will play the role of Rafael Rosell’s wife who will help Vilma in the film. She also admits that she really misses show business and hopes for some more projects to come while she’s in the country to promote the movie. Nikki also denied rumors that she and her husband Chris Lina end up their relationship because it was her decision to come back for a while after staying in Canada for years. See more of Nikki’s acting stint as Star Cinema’s “In My Life ” premieres September 16.

Legality of the automation of next year’s elections was upheld yesterday by the Supreme Court as they ruled that the automation deal was properly documented and that the petition of the Concerned Citizens Movement had no factual basis. SC said, COMELEC and Smartmatic Corp.-Total Information Management Inc. did not violate Republic Act 9369, commonly known as the Poll Automation Law. They also added that the law’s requirement for the Comelec to automate in at least 12 areas was not a prerequisite for the automation of next year’s elections. Chief Justice Reynato Puno concurred with the majority decision together with 9 other justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Renato Corona, Minita Chico-Nazario, Antonio Eduardo Nachura, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, and Roberto Abad.