MANILA — Floyd Mayweather and several foreign athletes have sounded off on the latest controversy that has hit embattled boxing star and senatorial candidate Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao, who is gunning for a Senate seat in May, is under fire for describing couples in same-sex relationships as worse than animals.
The Filipino sportsman has since apologized for his statement, which drew strong condemnation from gay rights advocates, but maintained that he remains opposed to the idea of same-sex marriage.
“Ako po ay humihingi ng paumanhin sa lahat ng mga nasaktan dahil sa aking pagkumpara ng tao sa hayop,” he said in a video posted on Facebook on late Tuesday.
“[Pero] hindi po nagbabago ang aking desisyon na against po ako sa same-sex marriage at iyan po ang paniniwala ko,” he stressed.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., who beat Pacquiao via unanimous decision last year, disagreed with his rival’s views.
“I feel like we should stay positive and we should let people live their lives the way they want to live their lives. To each his own,” the now retired boxing champion said in an interview with TMZ Sports.
“I don’t have nothing against anyone,” he said.
But other athletes were not as kind.
Retired NBA player Jason Collins, who used to play for the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets, gave a more blunt response to Pacquiao’s statements.
Collins, the first openly gay athlete in the NBA, said the former world champion should never hold public office.
“I lost all respect for you. Bigoted people like you (& yes you are one) should never hold an office in politics,” Collins said through his Twitter account.
Football stars Joey Barton and Lianne Sanderson also didn’t appreciate Pacquiao’s remarks.
Barton, who has made 240 appearances in the Premier League, openly supports gay rights.
“Pacquiao is a huge global star who transcended his sport. He is politically motivated to help less privileged people,” said Barton. “[But] his comments are absurd and show a lack of intellect. Someone in his position should keep his ignorant bigotry private. His source of knowledge?”
Sanderson, who plays for Apollon Limassol on loan from Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League, is engaged to her teammate Joanna Lohman.
“People are entitled to their opinions but @mannypacquiao you just lost a few fans, I would say. Its a disgrace what you said. #ignorant,” said Sanderson. – ABS CBN News
By: Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Reuters, Interaksyon MECCA — A recent surge in cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, a sometimes deadly virus, in Saudi Arabia has ebbed in the run-up to Islam’s annual haj pilgrimage, Health Minister Khaled al-Falih said on Thursday.
As pilgrims poured into Mecca from around the world, the Health Ministry said it had confirmed two more cases of the disease in Riyadh on Thursday, but the number of cases has declined since last month, Falih said.
Most medical staffers touring hospitals and medical centers around Mecca on Wednesday covered their noses and mouths with masks, as did traffic policemen and army personnel deployed to secure the flow of busses carrying pilgrims into the holy city.
“With the help of God and then with the measures taken by the ministry of health we hope to prevent the virus from getting to the pilgrims,” said Falih in a news conference.
So far around 1.2 million Muslims have arrived in the kingdom for haj.
In past years it has drawn up to 3 million pilgrims, but authorities have limited numbers in the past two years because of construction work around the Grand Mosque.
Saudi Arabia has banned the slaughter of camels around the holy cities during the pilgrimage. The animals have been found to carry the virus and scientists say they are the most likely source of primary infections of people.
Seven people in the city of Medina who have been infected by MERS have been moved to Riyadh as a precaution to avoid any spread of the disease near the pilgrimage sites, Falih said.
“The spread has begun to shrink and we are optimistic the days of spreading are gone and are behind us,” said Falih.
The kingdom has mobilized 25,000 medical staff from different cities into Mecca for the haj season.
BOSTON — Researchers who studied the consequences of intense kissing, the global use of the word “huh?” and how badly bee stings hurt on different parts of the body were among the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes for comical scientific achievements.
The annual prizes, meant to entertain and encourage global research and innovation, are awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research as a whimsical counterpart to the Nobel Prizes, which will be announced next month.
Among the 10 awards, three went to teams of researchers that revealed that nearly all mammals regardless of size take about 21 seconds to pee, showed it is possible to partially un-boil an egg with chemicals, and used math to determine how a North African emperor from the 17th century fathered 888 children in just 30 years.
Other teams earned prizes for attaching a weighted stick to a chicken’s rear end to demonstrate how dinosaurs might have walked, and for showing that acute appendicitis can be diagnosed by how much pain a patient feels when driven over speed bumps.
Researcher Michael L. Smith shared the physiology and entomology prize for arranging honey bees to sting him repeatedly on 25 different locations on his body, revealing that one of the most painful locations was on his penis.
Former winners of real Nobels handed out the spoof awards at the ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, organized by Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals. The ceremony included a three-act mini-opera about a competition between the world’s millions of species to determine which one is the best.
The Ig Nobel medicine prize went to two teams of researchers who conducted experiments to study the biological effects of intense kissing, which include decreasing skin allergies, and the literature prize was given to researchers who showed that the word “huh?” appears to exist in every language.
Ig Nobel prizes this year also went to researchers who showed many business leaders developed a fondness for risk-taking after surviving natural disasters in childhood, and to the Bangkok Metropolitan Police for offering to pay policemen more money in exchange for not taking bribes.
By ANDREO CALONZO, GMA News The chances of passing the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill at the House of Representatives are already slim due to time constraints, a House leader said Tuesday.
“Medyo lumiliit na ang butas na pagdadaanan ng RH bill. Considering that realistically, hanggang December na lang kami,… medyo humihirap na ang panahon para maipasa siya sa House,” House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said at a press briefing.
He said the RH bill — formally known as House Bill (HB) 4244 — will be shelved in the next two months, since the House will become busy with deliberations on the 2013 budget.
But Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan, an author of the measure, said the House leadership should not give up on passing the RH bill.
“We should let the legislative process run its course. Why should he [Gonzales] precondition the minds of Congress and the public that the bill will not be passed?” Ilagan said in a separate text message.
HB 4244, which has been undergoing plenary debates at the House since March last year, endorses the use of both natural and artificial modes of family planning. It has been identified as one of President Benigno Aquino III’s priority measures.
The bill is being opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, which promotes only natural family planning methods.
Last month, the Senate ended debates on the controversial measure, making it a step closer to being passed on second reading.
Caucus
At the news briefing, Gonzales further said that he will ask House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to call a caucus of all House members to decide on the fate of the bill once and for all.
“Hindi naman puwedeng nagsimula iyan one year ago tapos up to this date, pinagdedebatehan pa rin… We owe it to the people na dumating kami sa puntong mapagbobotohan ito,” he said.
Gonzales said he hopes his colleagues will agree to vote on whether or not to end the period of debates next month, before the House tackles the 2013 budget at the plenary.
He said this test vote, which he has been calling for since early this year, will allow the House to determine if the RH bill can still gather support from lawmakers.
“Kung walang quorum, that’s an indication na walang support, kaysa naman naglolokohan pa tayo at binibigyan ng false hopes ang mga tao,” he said. — RSJ/KG, GMA News
A policeman was relieved from his post and faces summary dismissal for allegedly slowing down and refusing to make way to the convoy of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III in Quezon City.
According to a report of radio dzBB’s Tuesday Niu, the president was on his way to an engagement when his convoy chanced upon the orange Asian utility vehicle driven by the policeman, SPO2 Ricardo Pascua, along Batasan Road.
Quezon City police head Chief Superintendent Mario dela Vega said Pascua, who was assigned to the QCPD Station 4, was relieved from his post after the incident.
Dela Vega said Presidential Security Group head Brig. Gen. Ramon Mateo Dizon ordered some PSG members approach Pascua when he refused to make way for the president’s convoy.
However, Pascua allegedly refused to give his name or his driver’s license, and even said, “Pulis ako .”
Dela Vega also said Pascua’s vehicle had a “QCPD” (Quezon City Polic District) license plate in the front. – VVP, GMA News
ABS-CBN News The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation is set to file today plunder and graft charges against former PAGCOR chairman Efraim Genuino and 3 others in connection with the alleged overpriced coffee products sold in Casino Filipino branches.
Named respondents in the case to be filed before the Office of the Ombudsman are former PAGCOR Chairman Efraim Genuino, former PAGCOR President Rafael Francisco, former PAGCOR Senior Vice President and Senior Managing Head of Research Development Department Rene Figueroa, and Promolabels owner Carlota Cristi Manalo-Tan.
A report from the gov.ph website said the 25-page complaint was initiated by the current PAGCOR Board. The agency’s Board authorized incumbent Directors Jose Tanjuatco and Enriquito Nuguid to sign and file the complaint.
The complaint noted that from 2001 to 2010, the three top Pagcor officials directed Casino Filipino branches “to enter into concession agreements with Promolabels with a view towards enriching themselves and coffee concessionaire Manalo-Tan through the sale and purchase of overpriced Figaro coffee products, to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people.”
Pagcor’s audit team discovered that from 2005 to 2008 alone, five Casino Filipino branches paid at least P258 million to Promolabels for coffee products.
Investigation done by the current Pagcor board revealed that Genuino approved a resolution on May 16, 2001 granting the proposal of Figaro Coffee Company to set up coffee kiosks in its Casino Filipino branches wherein the prices of beverages “will be similar to the prices in the malls.”
Thus, the concessionaire, a Figaro franchisee, put up kiosks in seven casino branches. Pagcor noted that Manalo-Tan is the wife of Johnny Tan, an ally of Genuino.
It noted that the seven contracts gave Promolabels a monopoly. The contracts never passed through a public bidding, Pagcor added.
Pagcor alleged that Promolabels was not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“For the years 2005 to 2008 alone, PAGCOR could have saved at least P78 million if only the prices of Promolabels’ Figaro coffee products were the same as those of other Figaro franchisees,” the state-owned gaming firm cited in its complaint.
The ex-Pagcor officials were supposedly informed of the losses of Casino Filipino but “they refused or otherwise failed to act to stem or prevent further losses.”
“The respondents refused or failed to demand price reductions from Promolabels, and even went out of their way to give several justifications for Promolabels’ higher prices,” Pagcor said.
And yet, the former officials allowed Promolabel to increase further the prices, it said.
“The respondents’ acts of procuring coffee from, and “leasing” spaces to Promolabels without observing government procurement laws and their refusal to demand price reductions from Promolabels despite notices of irregularities affecting the concession agreement and the losses being suffered by the Casino Filipino branches under these contracts caused undue injury to the government and gave Manalo-Tan unwarranted benefits, advantages and preferences,” the PAGCOR complaint pointed out.
The billion-peso coffee scandal was first exposed by President Benigno Aquino III in his state of the nation address last year. Aquino will again face the nation on July 23.
Current Pagcor officials told the Philippine Daily Inquirer last week that the case has finally been resolved.
ABS-CBN News MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs is waiting for the outcome of the inspection being conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard on the actual location of about 30 Chinese fishing vessels that arrived in the Spratlys last Sunday.
DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said if they find out that the Chinese ships are inside the Philippine exclusive economic zone, they will file a marine protest against China.
“Our Coast Guard is doing our mandate of monitoring our maritime domain and making sure that intrusions are not undertaken by any foreign vessels. Whenever there are intrusions, what we do is to file protest so that it is put on record,” he told ANC’s Headstart.
The Philippines on Monday warned a large Chinese fishing fleet in the Spratlys to stay clear of its waters amid a continuing face-off between the two countries over disputed territory.
Hernandez said he received reports that a fleet of 30 fishing vessels from Hainan had arrived at a point near the Yongshu Reef in the Spratlys, parts of which are claimed by the Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
China and the Philippines have been in a stand-off over disputed territory within the sea since April, when Chinese government ships prevented the Filipino navy from arresting Chinese fishermen at the Scarborough Shoal.
The Philippines withdrew its ships from the shoal in June in an effort to reduce tensions.
However China had not followed suit, said Hernandez. He said that on Friday a coastguard plane sighted three Chinese government vessels, six fishing boats, two speedboats and several small dinghies still around the Scarborough Shoal.
Chinese-Philippine tensions have increased due to the standoff, with the Philippines accusing China of “duplicity” and “intimidation” at a recent regional forum in Cambodia.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighbouring countries. The Philippines says the Scarborough Shoal is well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. With Agence France-Presse
By Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino thanked China for the loan that it extended to the Philippines to fund the second phase of the Angat Water Utilization and Aqueduct Improvement Project (AWUAIP) of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
Aquino attended the inauguration of the project at the La Mesa Dam portal in Lagro, Quezon City, along with Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing.
The President did not mention the country’s territorial dispute with China but stressed the importance of cooperation among neighboring countries and the importance of respecting the dignity of every person and country.
“Nagpapasalamat po tayo sa pondong ipinagkaloob ng bansang Tsina upang maisakatuparan ang mahalagang proyektong ito. Tunay nga pong sa maigting na ugnayan ng magkakaratig-bayan, mas mabilis nating natutugunan ang mga problema at mas napaglilingkuran ang ating mga mamamayan. Kaisa natin ang buong mundo sa ating adhikain: isang daigdig kung saan ang bawat indibidwal, bawat komunidad at bawat bansa ay iginagalang at kinikilalang may likas na dignidad,” Aquino said in his speech.
When asked by reporters, Ambassador Ma declined to comment on developments in the West Philippine Sea.
“Sorry, I came here just for this project. I’m not prepared to answer your questions. Some other time maybe… we’ll have [a] better discussion under better circumstances,” Ma told reporters, saying she had to proceed to another engagement.
The project, which costs P5.2 billion, was financed through a preferential buyer credit loan agreement from the Export-Import Bank of China.
China International Water and Electric Company served as the project contractor.
The project was approved during the administration of former President Arroyo under an economic partnership agreement with China.
Under the project, a new 9.9 kilometer aqueduct (Aqueduct No. 6) was constructed. The deteriorated section of Aqueduct No. 5 was also rehabilitated.
It aims to allow a more efficient delivery or flow of raw water from Angat Dam to the La Mesa and Balara water treatment plants, assuring the security of water supply for the MWSS service area.
The President said it would prevent the leakage of 394 million liters of water a day. He noted that the project was finished eight months ahead of schedule, crediting the MWSS for the efficient contract management.
North Korea’s much hyped long-range rocket apparently crashed into the sea a few minutes after launch on Friday, South Korean and other officials said, dealing a blow to the prestige of the reclusive and impoverished state.
Pyongyang had defied international pressure from the United States and others to push ahead with the launch, which even its close ally China had warned against.
According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing a defence ministry source in Tokyo, the rocket flew for 120 km (75 miles) and then broke up into four pieces, crashing into waters off the west coast of the Korean peninsula.
South Korea’s army said debris had crashed into the sea some 200 km off the western coast of South Korea.
“South Korean and U.S. intelligence understand that North Korea’s missile launch failed,” a spokesman for the South’s defence ministry told reporters at a briefing.
North Korea said it wanted the Unha-3 rocket to put a weather satellite into orbit, although critics believed it was designed to enhance the capacity of North Korea to design a ballistic missile deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the continental United States.
Officials from Japan confirmed the mission had failed, while ABC News cited U.S. officials saying it had failed, although there was no immmediate indication of where it fell.
The rocket’s flight was set to take it over a sea separating the Korean peninsula, with an eventual launch of a third stage of the rocket in seas near the Philippines that would have put the satellite into orbit.
This will be North Korea’s second consecutive failure to get a satellite into orbit, although it claimed success with a 2009 launch. There was no immediate comment on Friday’s launch from North Korea’s official media.
The Unha-3 rocket took off from a new launch site on the west coast of North Korea, near the Chinese border.
The launch had been timed to coincide with the 100th birthday celebrations of the isolated and impoverished state’s founder, Kim Il-sung, and came after a food aid deal with the United States had hinted at an easing of tensions on the world’s most militarised border. — Reuters
The Chicago Bulls were forced to rely on their bench as a rusty Derrick Rose misfired but still managed a 96-86 overtime victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday that kept them in the driving seat in the race for the Eastern Conference title.
Rose scored a career-low two points on one-for-13 shooting and did not feature late in the fourth quarter or in overtime but the Bulls still seized a four-game lead over Miami with just seven games to play.
C.J. Watson scored 16 of Chicago’s 47 points from their reserves and made a game-tying three-pointer with two seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
LeBron James scored 30 points and Dwyane Wade had 21 but the latter missed a potential game-winning shot as time expired in the fourth quarter. — Reuters
PINOY SNIPER 