Lotto Game                   Combinations                      Jackpot                 Winners
Superlotto 6/49     12-13-14-19-21-36     P    55,576,994.40             0

6 Digit                               9-4-1-8-3-3                       4,251,778.44             0

Swertres 2PM                      0-5-1                                      4,500.00           89
Swertres 5PM                      7-5-7                                       4,500.00         163
Swertres 9PM                      0-3-2                                       4,500.00         337

EZ2 Lotto Luzon                04-28                                       4,000.00         254

EZ2 Lotto Vismin              04-28                                       4,000.00          23

EZ2 Lotto 2PM                   16-31                                       4,000.00           58

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/17/2009 10:07 PM

MANILA – Residents of Tabonton municipality in Leyte thought up a “green solution” for their transport problems by crafting bamboo cars.

The cars or “bamboo taxis” were commissioned by Tabontabon Mayor Dr. Rustico Balderian, reportedly to address the municipality’s need for an alternative mode of transportation to the oft-used but accident-prone “habal-habal” or motorcycle.

The bamboo taxis, assembled by local out-of-school youth, are equipped with a 2-cylinder engine that runs on coconut biofuel, a gallon of which can make the cars run for about 8 hours.

The vehicles are made with 90% bamboo, a strong but flexible grass.

The entire vehicle, apart from dashboard components and mechanical parts, are covered with colorfully designed “banigs” or handwoven rattan mats.

Various reports state that there are 2 bamboo vehicles called Eco 1 and Eco 2. They vary only in seating capacity and design as Eco 1 can seat 20 people while Eco 2 can accommodate 8.

According to an Inquirer report, neighboring mayors have already expressed interest in having bamboo taxis in their own towns. The report said Balderian is also considering mass-producing the novel car.

The report also said that the car’s body is laminated with polyurethane, commonly used in foam, to make it fire-resistant.

Reactions

The bamboo taxi idea has been received with enthusiasm all over the world.

Examiner.com‘s Exotic Car reviewer Kae Davis called the vehicle “possibly the most exotic car” because of its unique concept and the “exotic” location in which it was assembled.

“The main question one might tend to ask about such a vehicle first is not about how the car endures monsoon weather or if the little car can actually produce enough speed to get up and go. It’s whether or not, when the car is running, it actually smells like burning fuel or more resembles the fresh and wonderful summer beach day,” Davis wrote.

In a blog post at http://www.inhabitat.com, Jorge Chapa of the Green Building Council of Australia called the cars “stylish” and “incredible.”

“Bamboo is an incredible material – it is rapidly renewable, environmentally friendly, and does not require a ton of processing for it to be incorporated into designs. But did you know that its tensile strength is just as good as that of steel?” he said.

“This remarkable strength makes bamboo a fitting and exceptionally sustainable material for Tabontabon’s new taxis,” Chapa said in his post.

A similar bamboo car called “BamGoo” was made in Kyoto University, Japan last year. The electric car’s body is made out of woven bamboo.

The Japanese bamboo car can only seat one person and can run some 50 kilometers on fully-charged batteries. Photos sent through feedback@abs-cbn.com.

as of 09/17/2009 10:15 PM

By Reyma Buan-Deveza, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/17/2009 4:25 PM

MANILA – If he’s not knocking down his opponents, People’s Champ Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is singing, acting, shooting commercials and, unknown to many, managing the careers of upcoming celebrities.

The recent addition to the boxer’s roster of talents is Madonna Decena, who just arrived in the country from the United Kingdom. The boxer will manage Decena’s singing career here.

Immediately after her arrival, Decena, accompanied by her family, met Pacman at the Mandarin Oriental Manila hotel in Makati City Thursday.

“Narinig mo na ba siyang kumanta? Ang galing niya,” Pacman told abs-cbnNEWS.com in a phone interview.

According to Pacquiao, he is now looking for good composers and songs for Decena’s future album.

“Kukuha pa lang ako ng magaling na composer at hahanap ng songs na babagay sa boses niya,” he said.

Decena is an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in the UK who shot to fame after joining reality-based show “Britain’s Got Talent.” She met Pacquiao in the UK when the Filipino boxing icon was promoting his fight with English boxer Ricky Hatton.

Pacquiao said he decided to handle Decena’s singing career in the Philippines because she is a great singer.

An overwhelmed Decena, meantime, said she feels blessed because the boxing champ gave her a chance to work here.

She said: “Binigyan ako ng option ni Manny to go back to the Philippines and work here. It’s really a blessing.

“Hindi iyan nao-offer sa lahat ng OFW na katulad ko. Sabi ko nga ilang years ang bubunuin ng ibang OFW bago sila makauwi o iyong iba hindi na nga umuuwi. At least ako nagkaroon ako ng option and I’m hoping na maging okay lahat.”

Decena said she will soon meet the boxer’s band and might do some gigs with the group.

It is still uncertain if the Filipino singer will go back abroad. She said she is hoping that everything will go well here.

“So, hope for the best. I put my trust on Manny. Sabi niya siya ang bahala, so, tiwala na lang. Hindi naman din ako ngayon nandito kung hindi ako nagtiwala.

“Sa akin I’m very happy and proud doon pa lang sa chance [na binigay niya sa akin]. Sa tingin ko, it’s up to me para gumawa ng magandang work para hindi siya mapahiya sa in-offer niya,” she said. -Reyma Buan-Deveza, abs-cbnNEWS.com

as of 09/17/2009 4:55 PM

09/18/2009 | 12:45 AM

The administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD party could have violated the Omnibus Election Code when it recently picked Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro as its presidential candidate for the 2010 elections, according to an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“There might be a violation of Section 261 paragraph (cc) of the Election Code,” Comelec law department chief Ferdinand Rafanan told GMANews.TV on Thursday, stressing, however, that his position did not reflect that of the Comelec.

But the party secretary-general, Gabriel Claudio, countered Rafanan’s claim, saying the event was not a convention, but only a consensus-building exercise among Lakas-Kampi members.

Romulo Macalintal, the election counsel of the party’s national chairperson, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, echoed Claudio’s statement, saying the event “was just a meeting” that “did not involve nominating a candidate.”

Campaign period

According to Rafanan, Section 261-cc (1) of the Omnibus Election Code’s Article XXII prohibits any political party from holding “political conventions or meetings to nominate its official candidates earlier than the period fixed in” the law

Section 80 of the Code only allows “political parties to hold conventions or meetings to nominate their official candidates within 30 days before the commencement of the campaign period and forty-five days for Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections.”

The campaign period for next year’s national polls starts on February 9, 2010, while campaign for local elections begins on March 26, 2010.

It means that for presidential and vice presidential elections, a political party could only be allowed to hold meetings or conventions to nominate their official candidates between December 26, 2009 and Feb.8, 2010. For other elections, nominations could start anytime between Jan. 10 and Feb. 8, 2010.

The administration party picked Teodoro as its presidential bet last September 16 during Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s fourth national executive meeting held at the Edsa Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City.

Not a convention

According to news reports, 52 of the 65 committee members participated in the event. The reports said that in a secret balloting, 42 reportedly voted for Teodoro, while five were against the candidacy of the Defense chief. Four others did not vote, while one absent member had his vote sent to the committee.

Claudio said during the event that the committee members’ choice would still be “subject to ratification by the national convention…”

“No election law or rules of the Comelec were violated. What was held yesterday was not a political convention but a consensus building exercise to preliminarily indicate a clear preference and consensus leading to Secretary Teodoro’s formal nomination at the proper time,” Claudio told reporters on Thursday.

“Yesterday’s decision was a consensus of the national executive committee of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, the highest governing body of the party. This is the first step in a two-stage process. A national convention, the second step, will still be held to ratify and validate the preference for and endorsement of Secretary Teodoro by executive committee within the period prescribed by law,” added Claudio.

“It was not a political convention. Eh 60 members lang ang umattend dun. Kapag convention all members will meet to pick nominees… Hindi pa si Teodoro ang standard-bearer,” said Macalintal, in a separate interview with GMANews.TV on Thursday.

(It was not a political convention. Only 60 members attended. If it is a convention, all members will meet to pick nominees. Teodoro is not yet the standard-bearer.)

Macalintal’s statement that Teodoro was not yet the administration party’s “standard-bearer” contradicted Claudio’s statement last Wednesday.

“In the end, however, one man alone had to be chosen and the standard-bearer to lead the party in the election for 2010…The candidate of Lakas-Kampi-CMD for the 2010 presidential elections, as endorsed by the party national executive committee is the honorable Gilberto Teodoro Jr.,” Claudio said during the Lakas-Kampi-CMD meeting at Edsa Shangri-La.

Still prohibited

Rafanan said the issue was not on whether the event was a meeting or a convention.

“Formal or informal convention man iyan, meron namang voting. Whole day event iyon. May coverage ng media… So bawal pa rin iyon kasi part pa rin iyon ng selection process,” said Rafanan.

(Whether it was a formal or informal convention, voting was done. It was a whole day event. There was media coverage… So it’s still prohibited because it was still part of the selection process.)

Lawyer Louie Guia, director of the Democratic and Electoral Reform Desk of the non-government lawyers’ organization, Libertas, seconded Rafanan’s observations.

“Salu-salo, meeting, anuman tawag nila diyan (Gathering, meeting, whatever they call it), that is still part of selecting a candidate… Siyempre hindi nila aaminin na (Of course, they will not admit that) they formally selected their official candidates for the election,” Guia told GMANews.TV on Thursday in another interview.

Guia said the party’s actual convention might just serve as a “confirmatory act” for Wednesday’s event.

Asked if other political parties who had already proclaimed their presidential bets for the 2010 polls could also be held in violation of the Election Code, Rafanan said, “Puwede rin (It’s possible).”

The Nacionalista Party had already proclaimed Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar as its standard-bearer, while the Liberal Party already picked Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III as its presidential bet.

“Pero mas mabigat iyong sa Lakas-Kampi-CMD kasi sa kanila may voting. Iyong sa iba, wala, proclaim proclaim lang naman iyon (But that of Lakas-Kampi-CMD has more weight because they had voting, unlike in other parties wherein only proclamation was made),” Rafanan said. – GMANews.TV

09/17/2009 | 10:22 PM

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has completed the recount of Pampanga’s gubernatorial race in the 2007 elections but is yet to declare the winner.

Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, chairman of the second division that administered the recount, said they still need more time to declare who between incumbent governor Ed Panlilio and former provincial board member Lilia Pineda is the winner.

More than 4,000 contested ballots were involved in the recount.

“We’ll still go over the objections so nobody is qualified to predict what the outcome will be,” Ferrer told reporters. He said the winner would be announced “within the year.”

Panlilio won by a slim margin of 1,147 votes in the 2007 elections over Pineda, a known ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Pineda claimed Panlilio, a priest-turned-politician, won through cheating. Panlilio denied the accusation.

The two are expected to present evidence of their respective claims as well as motions for reconsideration to the Comelec en banc.

“We’ll give (them) a chance to file their motion for reconsideration. Once they file that, we’ll elevate it to the en banc. And then the en banc will decide,” Ferrer said.

The Comelec started the recount of the votes last month following the order of the Supreme Court on the protest filed by Pineda. - GMANews.TV

09/17/2009 | 04:54 PM

House Speaker Prospero Nograles has this piece of advice to Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Bayani Fernando who is apparently still sulking on his losing bid to become the standard bearer of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-CMD party in the 2010 polls: anger can be hazardous to your health.

“[I] am very sorry but please do not get angry. [It's] hazardous for your health,” said Nograles, Lakas-Kampi-CMD executive vice chairman, in a text message.

On Wednesday, Fernando lost out to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. in what ended as a lopsided contest on who would most likely be the standard bearer of the administration in next year’s elections. [See: Lakas-Kampi picks Teodoro as 2010 standard bearer]

Prior to the announcement, Fernando left the room in the EDSA Shangri-La hotel in Mandaluyong City where the Lakas-Kampi-CMD national executive committee was holding its meeting.

The MMDA chair had proposed that the voting be deferred that day and be conducted instead not by the committee members alone, but by all members of the party. His proposal was thumbed down.

On Thursday morning, Fernando was scheduled to have a press conference at a Quezon City hotel but the same was canceled “because of what happened the previous day,” a source close to Fernando said.

Nograles, however, said the party’s selection process was “transparent,” and pointed out that Fernando participated in it as well.

“This happens to the best of politicians but must be accepted as a matter of fact,” he said.

The decision of the national executive committee would still be ratified during the still-to-be scheduled Lakas party convention.

Fernando had earlier said that he may push through with his bid for the presidency as an independent candidate if Lakas-Kampi-CMD does not choose him as its standard bearer in the 2010 elections. - GMANews.TV

09/17/2009 | 05:38 PM

A Manila court on Thursday removed former police Superintendent Glenn Dumlao as one of the suspects in the November 2000 killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito.

“Tinanggal na ng court si Colonel Dumlao (The court already removed Colonel Dumlao among the list of the suspects),” said lawyer Ferdinand Topacio in a phone interview with GMANews.TV

Topacio is the legal counsel for former police Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II, Dumlao’s former colleague at the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

GMANews.TV tried to verify the information from Dumlao’s lawyers, but they could not be reached.

The ruling of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 Presiding Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez was in accordance with the Mancao affidavit points to Lacson as slay mastermind]

Dumlao’s motion

Radio dzBB reported that Manila RTC Branch 18 Presiding Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez granted Dumlao’s motion to delist him off the charge sheet.

In his motion, Dumlao questioned his inclusion as a suspect, noting that the Supreme Court had already discharged him in its October 2005 ruling.

“On June 7, 2006, the prosecution…filed a Compliance with attached Amended Information re-including (Dumlao) as among the accused,” the motion read.

It added that the Amended Information was not in accordance with the high court’s ruling that excluded Dumlao from the list of the accused.

The prosecution later acknowledged that they made a mistake in including Dumlao in the list of the suspects.

‘Root of problems’

Dumlao was Mancao’s former subordinate at the PAOCTF, the police unit that allegedly carried out Dacer and Corbito’s killing on Nov. 24, 2000.

At the height of the investigations on the crime, Mancao fled to the United States in 2001. Dumlao also went to the US in 2003.

The Philippine Department of Justice worked for the two former policemen’s extradition in 2008.

Mancao returned to the Philippines in June 4, 2009 while Dumlao was successfully extradited on July 26, 2009.

Upon his arrival, Dumlao vowed he finally confront the root of his problems “that had long hounded him.” - GMANews.TV

09/18/2009 | 12:11 AM

The man who led authorities to the location of Ruby Rose Barrameda’s body should also be investigated for his involvement in the murder, a witness for the defense said Thursday.

Eduardo Abiog, the driver of the suspects in the case, said Manuel Montero had a motive in killing Ruby Rose as the two allegedly had an illicit relationship and were drug users.

In a press briefing, Abiog said Montero had asked him on a number of times to buy drugs from Ruby Rose at the JR Carwash in BF Homes, Parañaque City. He said the two were Ecstacy users.

“Sinabi rin sa akin ni Montero na tuwing sila ay nagkikita ni Ruby, maliban sa ginagawa nitong pagdadala ng droga ay sabay pa silang gumagamit ng droga hanggang maramdaman nila ang luwalhati,” said Abiog.

(Montero told me he and Ruby Rose would use drugs together to get high.)

The body of Ruby Rose, sister of former actress and beauty queen Rochelle Barrameda, was fished out of Navotas waters encased in cemented steel case based from a tip from Montero. She had been missing since March 2007.

Ruby Rose’s family, meanwhile, called Abiog’s testimony a “desperate move” by the suspects, particularly Ruby Rose’s father-in-law, Manuel Jimenez Jr., and his brother, businessman Lope Jimenez.

“Matindi po ang paniniwala na desperate moves na po ‘yung ginagawa nila sa pagsira po sa katauhan ng kapatid ko. Patay na po ang kapatid ko, hindi na po niya mapagtatanggol ang sarili niya,” Rochelle said.

(This is a desperate move to destroy the character of my sister, who can’t defend herself anymore.)

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had already filed murder charges against the two Jimenezes, Montero, and three others namely Eric Fernandez, Lennard Descalso, and Robert Ponce.

The complaint against the victim’s estranged husband, Manuel Jimenez III, was however dismissed due to lack of evidence. - GMANews.TV