AGB Nielsen Mega Manila Household Ratings (July 30-August 1): Walang Hanggan and 24 Oras in tight race for primetime leadership

 

Here are the Top 10 daytime and primetime programs from July 30 to August 1, 2012 among Mega Manila households (Household Ratings):

July 30, Monday

Daytime:

1. Eat Bulaga! (GMA-7) – 27.5%
2. Faithfully (GMA-7) – 20.2%
3. Be Careful With My Heart (ABS-CBN) – 20%
4. Kasalanan Bang Ibigin Ka? (GMA-7) – 18.2%
5. Hindi Ka Na Mag-iisa (GMA-7) – 16.4%
6. It Started With A Kiss 2 (GMA-7) – 16.3%
7. Inuyasha (GMA-7) / One Piece (GMA-7) – 14.2%
8. Chef Boy Logro: Kusina Master (GMA-7) – 14.1%
9. Kapuso Movie Festival: Minsan Ko Lang Sasabihin (GMA-7) – 13.4%
10. Pokemon (GMA-7) – 12.6%

Primetime:

1. Walang Hanggan (ABS-CBN) – 26.9%
2. 24 Oras (GMA-7) – 26.8%
3. Makapiling Kang Muli (GMA-7) – 24.8%
4. Luna Blanca (GMA-7) – 24.2%
5. Princess And I (ABS-CBN) – 23.5%
6. TV Patrol 25 (ABS-CBN) – 22.9%
7. One True Love (GMA-7) – 21.9%
8. Inside Protégé (GMA-7) – 19.9%
9. Lie To Me (GMA-7) – 19.7%
10. Lorenzo’s Time (ABS-CBN) – 18.5%

July 31, Tuesday

Daytime:

1. Eat Bulaga! (GMA-7) – 24.7%
2. Faithfully (GMA-7) – 20.1%
3. Be Careful With My Heart (ABS-CBN) – 18.9%
4. Kasalanan Bang Ibigin Ka? (GMA-7) – 18.8%
5. Hindi Ka Na Mag-iisa (GMA-7) – 18.3%
6. It Started With A Kiss 2 (GMA-7) – 16.5%
7. Chef Boy Logro: Kusina Master (GMA-7) – 15%
8. Kapuso Movie Festival: Hari ng Yabang (GMA-7) – 13%
9. One Piece (GMA-7) – 11.4%
10. Kung Ako’y Iiwan Mo (ABS-CBN) – 10.9%

Primetime:

1. 24 Oras (GMA-7) – 27.2%
2. Walang Hanggan (ABS-CBN) – 25.7%
3. Makapiling Kang Muli (GMA-7) – 25.3%
4. Luna Blanca (GMA-7) – 23.3%
5. Princess And I (ABS-CBN) / One True Love (GMA-7) – 22.7%
6. TV Patrol 25 (ABS-CBN) – 21.7%
7. Inside Protégé (GMA-7) – 20.3%
8. Lie To Me (GMA-7) – 19%
9. Lorenzo’s Time (ABS-CBN) – 18.9%
10. My Daddy Dearest (GMA-7) – 15.7%

 

August 1, Wednesday

Daytime:

1. Eat Bulaga! (GMA-7) – 26.4%
2. Faithfully (GMA-7) – 21.9%
3. Be Careful With My Heart (ABS-CBN) – 20.2%
4. Kasalanan Bang Ibigin Ka? (GMA-7) – 19.9%
5. Hindi Ka Na Mag-iisa (GMA-7) – 19.3%
6. It Started With A Kiss 2 (GMA-7) – 15.6%
7. Chef Boy Logro: Kusina Master (GMA-7) – 14.2%
8. Two Wives (ABS-CBN) – 12.6%
9. Unang Hirit (GMA-7) – 12%
10. One Piece (GMA-7) / Kapuso Movie Festival: Mukhang Bungo Da Coconut Nut (GMA-7) – 11.3%

 

Primetime:

1. Walang Hanggan (ABS-CBN) – 27.8%
2. Makapiling Kang Muli (GMA-7) – 26%
3. 24 Oras (GMA-7) – 25.6%
4. Luna Blanca (GMA-7) – 24.1%
5. One True Love (GMA-7) – 23.7%
6. Princess And I (ABS-CBN) – 20.5%
7. Inside Protégé (GMA-7) – 20.2%
8. TV Patrol 25 (ABS-CBN) – 20%
9. Lie To Me (GMA-7) – 19.6%
10. Lorenzo’s Time (ABS-CBN) – 19.1%

Source: AGB Nielsen Phils.

Thriving Tacloban, Philippines: What to do, where to go

Tacloban is not just another city in Eastern Visayas. It is the Visayas Island’s gateway to Luzon and Mindanao and is therefore a vital link between two prime destinations.

Travel time by plane from Manila is one hour, 10 minutes.

“We have three daily flights to Cebu (Manila to Tacloban flights, via three airlines, occur 12 times  a day),” Tacloban City mayor Alfred Romualdez explains.

He adds,“ You can cross just one ferry and be in Mindanao the same day.”

So what’s in for a Leyte tourist? Read on.

This testament to the Marcoses’ glory days still leaves visitors in awe.

Just be ready to remove your footwear and exchange them for rubber slippers once you step inside. The Marcoses’ former  vacation house, which has a floor area of 5,000 sq.m.  has 21 bedrooms,  some of which represent regions of the country.

The Palawan room, for instance, features a collection of mother of pearls. The Bicol room carries an abaca motif, abaca being the prime produce in Bicolandia.

The second floor ballroom has a wall-to-wall carving of Malakas at Maganda. Elsewhere, huge porcelain Ming jars, Imelda’s antique religious collections, Russian icons, chandeliers from Vienna, Australia, Malang paintings and other signs of wealth abound.

The bedrooms of the Marcos couple and their children, Imee, BongBong, Irene and Aimee, have brass beds from England. Bongbong’s bedroom has a divider with his collection of paper bills displayed on them.  Imelda has the biggest bathroom and little Aimee’s room has two beds – one for her, another for her nanny.

The S-shaped bridge, the longest in the Philippines, is an engineering marvel. Spanning 2.16 kilometers, the bridge connects Samar and Leyte and offers a breathtaking view of islands sparkling under the sun and a carpet of deep blue sea below.

The bridge’s contribution to Tacloban’s progress was one of the highlights of the Parade of Lights that capped the city’s recent celebration of the Sangyaw Festival.

The Leyte Landing Memorial

Travel back in time to  WWII, when American liberation forces led by Gen. Douglas  MacArthur landed in Red Beach, in the town of Palo.  Pose beside giant figures of MacArthur and his men and wade in the ankle-deep waters that symbolize the beach where he made the famous promise, “I shall return!”

Cristina’s Women’s Shelter 

This  two-story residence city councilor Criistina Gonzales-Romualdez put up for abused and exploited girls, is a halfway house for  troubled souls aged two months to 17 years old. A 15-year-old special child whose seventy something `guardian’ raped her managed to smile as Robbie Pangilinan, our friend, gave her and her friends stuffed toys from Manila.

Grade school pupils study at the nearby Remedios Trinidad Elementary School while older ones go through an alternative learning system, where they are taught the basics.

Delicacies

No trip to Tacloban is complete if you don’t try the succulent lechon, binagol (sweetened taro  pudding), moron (suman made of ground rice cooked in coconut milk) and sagmani (suman made of cassava, gabi or sweet potatoes).

The new fiesta

There is also something new to look forward to in Tacloban: the Sangwayan festival.

Late June, Magsaysay Boulevard housed the first Sangyaw Festival Parade of Lights.  Twenty floats carrying symbols of Tacloban’s past and present – a galleon with the image of the city’s patron saint, the miraculous Sto. Nino, a WWII military tank, the San Juanico Bridge, flowers, the butanding and a big white swan that stood for the place’s transformation, filed past cheering crowds.

The couple is reaching out to young people by swapping sweltering noontime parades with cool evening processions of floats with brightly-lit fleets that make you take a second look.

“We are doing something for the younger generation, for them to be involved,” says  Alfred.  “Previous parades depicted cultures of 100, 200 and 300 years ago.  But they do not touch on what it is today.  So we are showing things the more modern way.”

The more modern way means seeing a float that trumpets Tacloban’s progress in big, multi-colored bulbs shaped to form the letters  HUC (for Highly-Urbanized City). Tacloban reached this stage in 2008, when it broke free from Leyte’s political jurisdiction and won financial autonomy.

 

 

Travel guide releases 100 best street eats from around the world

It’s the kind of travel guide that won’t appeal to sensitive stomachs averse to dirt, grease and questionable hygiene. Because in Lonely Planet’s new list of the world’s best street food, there is no foam, architecturally plated dishes — or plates at all for that matter.

Instead, the first edition of The World’s Best Street Food provides gastronomically intrepid travelers with 100 authentic recipes for street food delicacies that will transport readers back to taco carts in Mexico that served the best tacos al pastor, noodle stalls in South East Asia, and octopus balls from Tokyo.

“Street food is the most democratic grub in the world, a place where politician eats alongside peasant, and flavors are unashamedly bold,” says food writer Tom Parker Bowles in a forward for the book. “…Lack of native language is unimportant. Communication of pleasure and delight is universal. A smile, or vigorous rubbing of the gut…The only phrase your really need is ‘thank you.'”

Each recipe is accompanied by a brief history and explanation of the food’s history, and the best bazaar, hawker or market in the world where the dish can be found.

In addition to the usual suspects — jerked pork in the Caribbean, tamales from Mexico, or pad thai from Thailand — the book also includes lesser known, more exotic street foods from countries like Vietnam, Turkey, Egypt, Myanmar, El Salvador and Tunisia.

Recipes include dishes like Masala Dosa from India, Bún Cha from Vietnam, Sabih from Israel and Hungarian Chimney Cake.

In a market research survey released last week, analysts at Mintel found that two-thirds of US respondents named authenticity as the single most important factor when buying or eating international foods.

As consumers become more globalized, well-traveled and food savvy, taste buds are also becoming more sophisticated and are able to make out the difference between Westernized ethnic foods — softened or diluted for foreign palates — and the real thing, the report pointed out.

In the US, street eats used to be confined to hot dogs and pretzels but in recent years have experienced a phenomenal transformation with the proliferation of mobile food trucks selling everything from authentic tacos to Korean barbecue at intersections in major urban centers.

British chef and food consultant Tom Kime — a former Jamie Oliver colleague — also penned a cookbook that helps travelers relive their experiences abroad with recipes like Chilean seafood empanadas and Moroccan hira bean soup in Street Food: Recreating the World’s Most Authentic Tastes.

Carla Diamanti’s Street Food: A Culinary Journey Through the Streets of the World also presents photos and recipes of favorite street eats from around the world, from the all-American hot dog to Sicilian arancini, Japanese yakitori and Brazilian Bahia acarajés.

Senior citizens, may discount at VAT exemption sa medical equipment at services

Simula Hulyo 9, epektibo na ang administrative order ng Department of Health (DOH) na magbibigay ng 20% diskwento at value added tax (VAT) exemption sa mga senior citizen na bibili ng mga medical device at mangangailangan ng medical services.
    
Sa panayam ng DZMM TeleRadyo, sinabi ni Jing Guerrero ng DOH focal person, health and well being of older person, na kabilang sa mga may discount at VAT exemption ang mga medical device gaya ng wheel chair, bedpan, body support, fracture sack, oxygen at maraming iba pa.
    
May discount at VAT exemption din aniya ang mga senior citizen sa mga medical services gaya ng x-ray, blood test at iba pa gayundin sa professional fee ng mga doktor at dentista.
    
Ayon pa kay Guerrero, bukod pa ito sa deduction na makukuha ng mga senior citizen sa PhilHealth kaya lalo pang mapapababa ang gastos ng mga senior citizen sa hospital at medical services.

Surprising Samar: Rock formations that will leave you in awe

Biri Island‘s claim to fame is the magnificent Biri Rock Formations. Located in the province of Northern Samar, this rugged island is a photographer’s paradise.  Untamed Pacific Ocean waves lapping on its eastern side, verdant mountains and mammoth rocks heavily eroded over time, etched with swirls and ridges, are the usual scenes in Biri.

 

The accommodating habal-habal (motorcycle) driver who drove me to Biri Rock Formations offered to guide me for my security but I politely declined. I preferred to commune alone with this splendid masterpiece of Mother Nature.

Over the years, Biri Rock Formations were naturally carved by the wind, storms, and the monstrous waves. There are 5 formations, namely: Puhunan, Magasang, Bel-at, Caranas, Macadlaw and Magsapad.  The most famous rock formation is Magasang but the geological formations at Bel-at are more diverse.

 

I stood on the edge of the craggy cliff and watched how the waves crashed into the gnarled rocks, a process that continues to reshape the island.  I saw white feathered-birds that look like egrets frolicking near the edge of the sea.  From time to time they dart through the water to catch fish. Suddenly, laughter filled the air.  My lens caught a group of locals having picnic on the other side of the rock formations. Righfully so, Biri is a famous destination for family getaways. A few meters away, on the natural pool, a fisherman and his child, topless and wearing obsolete goggles, were patiently looking for shells.

 

If you plan to explore Biri Rock Formations, pack your bags with food since there is no store nearby. The heat of the sun is unforgiving so make sure you bring water to stay hydrated.  Go there during low tide because you have to walk a few meters to the rock formations.  I walked through the knee-deep water with baby mangroves planted everywhere.  Some slippery rocks underwater are covered with moss so take extra care to avoid tripping.  There is a bridge currently under construction that will easily take tourists to Magasang Rock Formations in a few months’ time.  I just hope they don’t overdevelop the place to preserve its natural charm.

I used to just look at the images of Biri Rock Formations online, but standing there, dwarfed by these gigantic formations and seeing its splendor up close is a totally different experience.

 

DFA: Panibagong 11 passport offices sa mga mall, bubuksan na

May 11 panibagong consular offices sa mga shopping mall sa buong bansa ang bubuksan bago matapos ang taon, ayon sa Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Una nang pinasinayaan kahapon ni Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario ang bagong DFA consular office sa Ayala Land’s MarQuee Mall sa Angeles City, Pampanga.

Kayang serbisyuhan ng naturang mall ang 500 passport applicants araw-araw. Ito ang ikatlong mall-based consular facility sa bansa, kasunod ang Pacific Mall sa Cebu at ang Robinsons Starmills sa San Fernando.

Magbubukas simula alas-10:00 ng umaga hanggang alas-8:00 ng gabi, Lunes hanggang Sabado ang mga nabanggit na mall-based office at half day naman tuwing Linggo para sa mga magke-claim ng kanilang pasaporte.

Planong buksan ng DFA ang mga consular offices sa mga sumusunod na mall: Robinsons Galleria, Robinsons Lipa, Robinsons Bacolod, Robinsons Dumaguete, Robinsons General Santos, SM Megamall, SM Manila, SM Baguio, SM Davao, Pacific Mall Legazpi at Metro Gaisano Alabang.

Bubuksan din umano ang mga passport offices sa Laoag, Batangas, Iloilo, Tacloban, Puerto Princesa, Butuan at Cagayan de Oro bago sumapit ang 2014. Report from ABS-CBN News

Sun in ominous form in the pool

Sun Yang looked ominous in the heats of the 1500m Freestyle as he bids to add the Olympic Games crown to the world title he secured last year.

 

Yang Sun of China wins his 1500m heat

Yang Sun of China dives into the water at the start of his 1500m Freestyle heat which he went on to win by nearly three seconds

On the final morning of heats at the Aquatics Centre, the Chinese star swam well within himself to clock 14:43.25 ahead of defending champion Oussama Mellouli andRyan Cochrane.

Sun broke Grant Hackett’s long-standing world record at the World Championships inShanghai last year.

Mellouli edged out Hackett at the 2008 Beijing Games and his time of 14:46.23 made him the second fastest in the world in 2012 behind Sun.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo returned after winning the 100m Freestyle title last night to set the fastest time in the 50m event.

The Netherlands swimmer set a time of 24.51, 0.06 ahead of compatriot Marleen Veldhuis.

The USA qualified fastest in the men’s 4 x 100m Relay in 3:32.65, with Australia heading the women’s equivalent in 3:55.42.

Top seeds stroll to Doubles gold

China’s Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei produced a stunning performance to claim gold in the Mixed Doubles Badminton at London 2012.

 

Nan Zhang and Yunlei Zhao of China celebrate winning the Mixed Doubles Badminton Gold Medal

Nan Zhang (L) and Yunlei Zhao of China celebrate winning the Mixed Doubles Badminton gold medal match against compatriots Chen Xu and Jin Ma of China on Day 7 of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The top seeds were far too strong for their compatriots and second seeds Xu Chen andMa Jin as they powered to a 21-11 21-17 victory at Wembley Arena.

The bronze medal was won earlier in the day by Danish pair Joachim Fischer andChristinna Pedersen, who beat Indonesia’s Tonowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir.

Golds for New Zealand and South Africa

New Zealand won gold in the men’s Double Sculls and South Africa took top honours in the men’s Lightweight Fourafter a close final.

 

 

World champions Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan won the Double Sculls in 6:31.67, ahead of Italy and the Slovenian crew who were looking to reclaim the Olympic title they won 12 years ago in Sydney.

Great Britain‘s pair made a promising start, leading the field after 250m and were in medal contention heading into the second half of the race.

But New Zealand and Italy produced strong finishes to overhaul Slovenia and row Britain out of the medals.

South Africa won gold in the men’s Lightweight Four as Great Britain won a silver medal after being pipped to the line in a sensational final.

In a thrilling sprint for the line, the British crew edged 2008 champions Denmark into bronze.

As of August 3, 2012 : LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 Medal Tally

 

 

Medal Table

OVERALL MEDAL COUNT

RANK	COUNTRY	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
1	China	20	12	9	41
2	United States	18	9	10	37
3	South Korea	8	2	5	15
4	France	7	5	6	18
5	Great Britain	6	6	7	19
6	Germany	5	8	6	19
7	Italy	4	5	2	11
8	North Korea	4	0	1	5
9	Russia	3	8	8	19
10	New Zealand	3	0	2	5
11	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3
11	South Africa	3	0	0	3
13	Japan	2	8	11	21
14	Cuba	2	2	1	5
15	Netherlands	2	1	3	6