Shanghai Trip

Start:	Oct 17, '07 8:00p
End:	Oct 22, '07 05:00a
Location:	Shanghai, China

The Bund baby... The Bund...

Despedida para Elena y Cumpleaño de Luis

Start:	Sep 28, '07 11:00p
Location:	553 Wack Wack Road, Wack Wack Village

Elena Carrasco Comes last week en Filipinas and Luis' Birthday.

The Falling Man : 9/11 Remembering the "Jumpers"

In Response to Iranian President's attempt to visit the WTC Site. For a President that advocate hate, he should not be allowed to desecrate the hallowed grounds of Ground Zero.

XTRM Party Series: Shisha Sessions

Start:	Sep 30, '07 4:00p
End:	Sep 30, '07 10:00p
Location:	Westgate Rooftop, Makati

ROAM PHILIPPINES

together with

SAN MIGUEL SUPER DRY and BACARDI

brings you

the XTRM Party Series *new and improved*

*Shisha Sessions*

An intimate atmosphere of dance, exotic blends, and extreme revelry.

Sept 30
4pm-10pm
Westgate Plaza Rooftop, HV dela Costa St, Salcedo Village Makati.


*Get intoxicated with the fragrance of the shishas*
*Be seduced with the beauty of exotic performance art*
*Dance with abandon to the musical sorcery of the DJs and musicians*



With performances by

SOUNDSGOOD DJs Edge and Caliph8
Indie DJs Alex and Winds
Bellydancer Reign
Kadangyan

and

Tribomanila (with their live Music Video shoot)



VIP tickets @ P500 (unlimited drinks and shisha use). Pre-selling @ P400 until Sept 26.
Jehan 09193968656 or jehan.machacon@gmail.com for tickets and reservation.


Different Styles.
Different Blends.
A totally different vibe.


Supported by:
Style Manila

Can You Believe These People?

http://www.GodHatesFags.com
These piece of white trash preaching about something that they can never have any understanding ever. For those who believe in a God, pray for this people; otherwise, take out the shotgun and mow down these bitches. Intolerance and hate doesn't have any place in any society.

Versace Occhiali - The Versace Party in Manila

Start:	Sep 22, '07 9:00p
End:	Sep 23, '07 02:00a
Location:	Nuvo, Makati City

The main boss from Versace Italy is coming to party with the Manila partyphiles!
RSVP to you know who..

UP Pep Squad Rocks!

(To give a heads up for my foreign friends- The Philippines being a heavily Americanized country - carried on the tradition of tight school rivalries mostly when it comes to sporting events- We have the Ateneo-La Salle basketball rivalry and the UP-UST Cheerdancing Rivalry):


Okay, let me gloat for a while. Like a popular line in UP, there are only two schools in the Philippines - UP and Others. (hehehe).

(from wiki) The word Maroon comes from the Spanish word cimarron which means wild: untamed. They were slaves who either ran away from or were released by the Spanish before the English invaded Jamaica in 1655. They were successful in retaining their independence after 150 years of slavery by constantly defending their freedom. Their settlements were small, not more than 2,000 strong, but they fought as if they were in greater numbers.


For me, UP Pep Squad has been  and always been the best pep squad in the Philippines (Sorry Bobcats - but you guys will never be in our league - the National Cheer Compete should have sent UP Pep for the Asian Finals if they expected to a win a medal). Why? Simple, UST Salinggawi is a Dance Troupe - and the bemedalled Bayanihan Dancers has already kicked their asses by thousands of kilometers. I am sorry if  I will be a bit harsh, I have friends from UST but of course, but my loyalties will forever remain with the best university in the Philippines - the University of the Philippines. Call it UP arrogance, we Maroons call it boundless passion characterized by the fearless, intelligent and principled excellence that our University has stood for 99 years now. Next year, UP will host the UAAP Season 71 to coincide with the Centennial of the University's founding - and damn, every Maroon far and wide will come home and support the home team!



Unibersidad ng Pilipinas! Matatapang! Matatalino! Hindi Patatalo Kahit Kanino!




---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


UP pep squad is 2007 UAAP cheer dance champion!!!


The University of the Philippines (UP) Pep Squad won Sunday the 2007 UAAP Cheerdance Competitions, dethroning erstwhile champion the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Salinggawi Dance Troupe by a mere margin before a full-house crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.

UP, which last tasted a cheerdance title in 2001, brought home a trophy and the top prize of P172,500 after they garnered an over-all score of 92.66 points.

The UP Pep Squad were nearly flawless all throughout their performance, banking on their rock-themed routine matched by their maroon and black get up.

"We wanted something unique. Rock is something gloomy," narrated UP pep squad team captain Andrea Gonzales.

"We used it in a fun and more exciting way," she added.

The UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe (SDT), which bagged the cheerdance title five-straight times from 2002 to 2006, settled for second place this time, finishing second place to UP with an over-all score of 93.61 points, or just 0.5 points behind the champs.

With their bumblebee-inspired attire, the SDT was its usual efficient self where they danced to "The Hustle" with the female members wearing golden wigs.

The Salinggawi Dance Troupe grabbed a trophy and a total cash prize of P108,500 for the feat.

Far Eastern University Pep Squad (FEUPS), meanwhile, grabbed third place with a score of 91.66 points.

The "Happy Feet"-motivated routine brought the house down while the monkey bar pyramid provided innovation in FEU pep squad's set. The FEUPS bagged a trophy and P69,000 prize money for placing third.

The criteria for the competition were 50 percent for choreography, 30 percent for synchronization, 10 percent for audience audibility and 10 percent for costume.



The Ateneo de Manila University Blue Bubble Battalion finished fourth, Adamson University Pep Squad fifth, University of the East Pep Squad sixth, De La Salle University (DLSU) Pep Squad seventh and the National University (NU) Pep Squad eighth.

An estimated 18,000 UAAP fans trooped to the Big Dome to watch the cheering event live. Tickets for the event has been sold out as early as last week. - GMANews.TV

photo credits: Ubelt.com, Wikipedia, Teresa Barrozo

Tagaytay XCom Chill Out Party!

Brought to you by my people at Soundsgood..

The Philippine Wine Week 2007

Start:	Sep 17, '07 12:00a
End:	Sep 22, '07
Location:	Makati City, Manila

Toast 2007: The Wine & Food Festival

Over 200 World Class and Award Winning Wines
Gourmet Food from Manila's Top Restos and Hotels
Wine Classes
Wine Auction

Britney Spears' MTV VMA 2007 Controversial Performance

Even Brit was aghast to watch her own performance. The song was catchy tho.

UP: Where Bright Minds Meet

http://www.peyups.com
Heard in the premier university in the Philippines:

"The aim of policy making is to invoke
action! Because action speaks louder
than words! You do not just say I love
you. You say: If you love me, enter
me! "

-Dr. Alfonso Pacquing



"Class, next week na lang ung result
sa exam nyo. I am having a hard time
checking it. I will seek first the
divine guidance on what to do about
it. Class dont worry about your grade.
Let me worry about it."

-sir de jesus,envi sci 1



(valentines day)

"Ano ba yan? Students ba kayo ng UP?
Bakit ang bababa ng scores niyo?
Siguro wala kayong date ngayong
valentines kaya ganito kayo. Losers!!!
When i was your age i had a date.
Hindi ba naapektuhan ng UP FAIR
euphoria ng grades niyo? Parang di
kayo masaya..." (sabay matching tapon
ng quizzes sa sahig)

"I won't record this. Go find a date."
(sabay walk out.)

-Sir Doliente,BA.



Ma'am: Many people believe that we,
psychology graduates can read minds...
(silence) Actually, we can.

Class: Weh.. Sample..

Ma'am: Right now, you think that I'm
bluffing

-Ma'am Chei



"I don't give surprise long exams. all
exams are announced. Halimbawa, Class,
mageexam tayo, NGAYON NA!"

-Ma'am Chei (again)



"The human body is 70% water. Kaya
wala kayong kasaysayan lahat. Pag may
kaaway ka, sabihin mo sa kanya, TUBIG
KA LANG!!!"

-Dr. Recio



"Oo, nagpapaulan ako ng uno... baket?
aanhin ko ba nun? di naman ako yayaman
dun."

-Sir Atoy, histo I



(commenting on a thesis of a senior
student)

'Yang thesis mo? .. Mamamatay ka!!
Mamamatay ka!!'

- Dr. llanes, UPM.



"Nasa bandang gilid ang fallopian
tube. Kaya kung gusto niyong magka-
anak ng asawa niyo, dapat nakatagilid
kayo habang gumagawa."

-Ma'am Meggie, Zoo 10



"Last sem was the first time that I
gave a grade of 5, and it felt good!!!"

- Prof Goldie, Comm II, circa 1998,
first day of class

Hit Her Baby One More Time: Britney Bombs at the MTV Music Video Awards 2007

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/10/mtv.awards.ap/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
Lackluster Britney Spears kicks off MTV awards

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- As in most train wrecks, it was hard to focus on just one thing as the Britney Spears disaster unfolded. There was just so much that went wrong.

Britney Spears begins the show Sunday night with her new single, "Gimme More."

Out-of-synch lip-synching. Lethargic movements that seemed choreographed by a dance instructor for a nursing home. The paunch in place of Spears' once-taut belly. At times she just stopped singing altogether, as if even she knew nothing could save her performance.

Designed to drum up excitement for her upcoming album, Spears' kickoff to the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night became another example of how far she has fallen. It would have been understandable if MTV's show had been crushed under the weight of the opening fiasco -- yet somehow it rebounded, and even flourished.

The show banked heavily on its own reinvention. After poor reviews and a decline in ratings over the last few years, MTV moved the show to Vegas, shortened it from three hours to two, went to a hostless format and focused more on performances than awards.

Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, Kanye West, Fall Out Boy and the Foo Fighters hosted separate suite parties where most of the performances took place.

But the performance most people will be talking about was Spears'. And unlike her last VMAs appearance, when she locked lips with Madonna in 2003, this time it will be for all the wrong reasons.

"It definitely could have been a lot better," the hitmaking singer and producer Akon commented afterward. "She seemed nervous ... you could tell by the expression on her face. Instead of just blocking everybody out and doing her thing, you could tell she was thinking about it."

After that, though, the changes to the show worked, leading to several exciting performances and some watercooler drama. An off-camera fight between Pamela Anderson exes Kid Rock and Tommy Lee led Jamie Foxx to quip: "Stop all this white-on-white violence."

Kid Rock was later cited by police for misdemeanor battery. He wasn't taken into custody, an officer said.

MTV VJ Sway said during the post-show that he saw Kid Rock walk up to the 44-year-old Motley Crue drummer, who was sitting next to Sean "Diddy" Combs, and "deck him."

Another eyewitness, rap producer Rich Nice, said although Kid Rock threw the only blows that landed -- a backhand slap and a punch -- Lee was the instigator.

Timberlake's suite was flooded with revelers, alcohol and eight lingerie-clad stripper types on raised platforms. Before Timberlake accepted the Quadruple Threat of the Year award at his suite, the DJ summoned the partygoers to watch the monitor and go crazy if Timberlake won. He did, they did, and Timberlake said: "I want to challenge MTV to play more videos!" Then he was whisked away by bodyguards and disappeared.

Timberlake was the night's big winner, with four trophies. After accepting the award for Male Artist of the Year, he jabbed at the video issue again: "We don't want to see the Simpsons on reality television." Apparently he's not a fan of either Jessica or Ashlee's MTV shows.

VMA WINNERS

Video of the Year: Rihanna, "Umbrella," featuring Jay-Z

Male Artist of the Year: Justin Timberlake

Female Artist of the Year: Fergie

Quadruple Threat of the Year: Justin Timberlake

Best Group: Fallout Boy, "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race"

Monster Single of the Year: Rihanna, "Umbrella"

Most Earthshattering Collaboration: Beyonce and Shakira, "Beautiful Liar"

Best Editing: Ken Mowe for Gnarls Barkley's "Smiley Faces"

Best Director: Samuel Bayer for Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around ... Comes Around"

Best Choreography: Marty Kudelka for Justin Timberlake's "Let Me Talk to You/My Love"

Best New Artist: Gym Class Heroes

Rihanna won the coveted Video of the Year award, plus Monster Single of the Year for "Umbrella." The Best Group was Fallout Boy, and Gym Class Heroes won Best New Artist.

Beyonce and Shakira won Most Earthshattering Collaboration for "Beautiful Liar." Beyonce's shimmering gold dress barely contained her top; immediately after she picked up her trophy she asked an assistant backstage to help fix her dress, apparently to prevent a wardrobe malfunction.

Other performers appeared on the show's main stage, in front of an industry-only audience seated at tables, like at the Golden Globes. Chris Brown gave one of the evening's most extravagant performances -- hopping from table to table in a dance spectacle that channeled Michael Jackson, right down to a brief "Billie Jean" imitation.

Alicia Keys had the evening's most rousing performance, debuting her new song "No One" and then an inspired, choir-backed cover of George Michael's "Freedom."

While performances like Keys' and Spears' were delivered on the main stage, others came in snippets: Akon crooned a bit of his "Smack That" before an award was announced, while the cameras zoomed in on Fall Out Boy and the Foo Fighters mid-performance in their suites, giving viewers the sense that they had happened upon an intimate concert.

Cee-Lo delivered a rocking version of Prince's naughty classic "Darling Nikki" in the smoky Foo Fighters suite (where a beer bong was in operation as Dave Grohl danced, sang Cure songs, played air drums and posed for snapshots); Soulja Boy was showing Kanye West his "Crank That" dance in West's suite.

Though the suites appeared to be chaotic parties, the MTV-cast revelers were carefully organized, strategically placed and encouraged to imbibe for the cameras.

Choreographed or not, Timberlake and Timbaland's suite looked the most exciting -- T.I., buffeted by pole dancers, delivered a rousing version of "Big Things Poppin"' while 50 Cent stopped by to perform "Ayo Technology" with Timberlake and Timbaland.

Not to be outdone, T-Pain and West danced high atop Las Vegas in a balcony suite as they celebrated "The Good Life." And Lil Wayne, doing double duty in the Fall Out Boy suite after opening the pre-show with Nicole Scherzinger, was particularly animated.


TV viewers never got full views of those shows, though MTV promised more via its Web site and other "remixed" versions of the show. That might have been the purpose: to whet appetites for repeat viewings by promising glimpses of what they missed during the traditional broadcast.

Unlike in recent years, there was plenty reason to come back for more.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Pool and Paella Party!

Start:	Sep 15, '07 12:00p
End:	Sep 16, '07 12:00a
Location:	66 Baguio Street, Alabang Hills

My beautiful friend Ines Cabarrus will host a Saturday afternoon party in Alabang.

Better not miss the paella!!!!!!!!!!!

Armin Van Buuren Spreads Good Vibes in Manila!

Start:	Oct 5, '07 10:00p
End:	Oct 6, '07
Location:	A-Venue, Makati Avenue, Makati, The Philippines

Back to Back with DJ Remy and Johnboy Lee

TICKETS NOW ON SALE

Php 1000 until Sep16 only
Php 1200 until Oct4 only

Door charges Php1500

Reserve your tickets NOW
6346238 - 6327762

www.bigfishmanila.com

We live to party !!!

Black Eyed Peas - Bebot Translated- FILIPINO PRIDE!

http://waketrex.i.ph/

For all those Black Eyed Peas fans, non-Filipino speakers around there and wondering what Bebot means or what the song means....

This one is for you!

We are not Chinese, We are not Thai; We are not Mexican, We are just so damn fly! :P

Asia's First Airline Makes It To World Airline Rankings!

Okay so, it has been ages that I flew Philippine Airlines (PAL)... but this is a piece of good news. With one of the most experienced pilots in the world, PAL has shed the stigma of being a formally state-owned company with its inherent defects to be finally a profitable airline. If I had to choose between PAL and Cebu Pacific, I'd fly PAL only if it can compete with the low-cost fares of Cebu Pacific. PAL is Asia's first airline and also Asia's first to cross the Pacific.

List of Rankings Attached (PDF file)


------------------------------------------------------------------------


PAL makes it to World Airline Rankings

INQUIRER.net
Last updated 07:26pm (Mla time) 09/06/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine Airlines made it to the 2006 World Airline Rankings, a ranking of the top 150 airlines in the world, acknowledged as the most comprehensive survey of the airline industry as compiled by the respected aviation journal Airline Business.

PAL was the only Philippine airline included.

PAL ranked 61st in terms of revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs), the industry yardstick for passenger traffic, with over 16 million RPKs flown in 2006.

That put the flag carrier ahead of such Asian peers as Garuda Indonesia (64th place) and Vietnam Airlines (78th), European rivals Scandinavian Airlines (85th) and CSA Czech Airlines (99th), and U.S. regional carriers Hawaiian Airlines (82nd) and Continental Micronesia (134th).

PAL also flew a little over 21 million available seat kilometers (ASKs) -- the industry measure for total seat capacity offered -- in 2006, which, taken with its 16 million RPKs flown, meant that PAL operated flights close to capacity.

PAL also chalked an average load factor of 76 percent to earn a place as among the highest in the survey, matching or surpassing survey leaders British Airways (76 percent), Lufthansa (75 percent) and Japan Airlines (68.5 percent).

In terms of revenue, PAL was 68th in the rankings, with $1.39 billion earned last year. This enabled PAL to outstrip fellow legacy carriers Gulf Air (69th), Garuda Indonesia (76th), Brazil’s Varig (80th) and the UAE’s Etihad Airways (101st).

Among Asia-Pacific carriers, PAL’s revenue performance landed it 20th place in a highly competitive group that included two of the top ten airlines in the world, headed by Japan Airlines.

The survey results were published in the August 2007 edition of Airline Business, which is based in the United Kingdom. Both members and non-members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) were equally rated.

Attachment: Top Airline Rankings.pdf

Filipino American baby is the Prettiest in America!

Fil-Am baby 'prettiest' in America
Cameron Dancel

Unknown to many, America 's reigning prettiest baby is a Fil-Am girl.

Yes, Virginia, one-year-old Cameron "Cami" Malia Dancel of Warren , Michigan , won the Beautiful Baby Search sponsored by "Live with Regis and Kelly" on ABC and graced the cover of Parenting magazine's June 2007 edition immediately after winning the nationwide search.

The $5,000 she won is already in a 529 college fund, her parents said.

Photos of about 150,000 babies were e-mailed to the ABC show and the entries were trimmed down to Top 10 contenders.

Viewers who were asked to vote online gave Cami more than 200,000 votes to become one of five finalists.

The five babies appeared on the show in New York City ; then editors of Parenting chose Cami.

Several videoclips are posted on YouTube.

"I really think it was her presence on TV that helped her win," said Cami's father Carl-Richard "Rich" Dancel in an interview with the Detroit Free Press during a red carpet welcome for the Fil-Am cutie-pie.

"When we watched the videos, we saw that every time she came on stage and the audience clapped, she would just turn on," he said. "She'd smile. She'd laugh. That captured a lot of hearts."

Mother Melody attributes her first child's beauty to big eyes, thick hair and a charismatic personality.

Cami was the youngest of the five finalists, and tiniest. Even now, at 30 inches tall, she weighs only 18 pounds.

"She is not only blessed with a lively, alert face, but represents the colorfully diverse future of America ," said Detroit Free Press' Susan Ager.

"Looking at Cami, you can't exactly guess her heritage, but you know her ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower."

Cami's parents met as teenagers. Melody, 30, grew up in Windsor, Ontario, the daughter of Filipino immigrants.

Rich, 32, was born in the Philippines but moved with his family to metro Detroit when he was four.

They married five years ago. He's a design engineer for General Motors. She works part time for a credit union.

Family watches Cami when her parents can't; the family is huge and close.

About 150 cousins, aunts, uncles and others - including seven godparents - who all came to Cami's first birthday party on June 2 at a community center where they enjoyed karaoke, a big cake and traditional Filipino food.

"It was my mother-in-law who urged a bunch of us in the family to enter - my husband and two of his brothers had three babies within weeks of each other," said Melody, who entered her daughter's casual photo 90 minutes before the deadline. "We're the only ones who listened."

"Seeing how the Parenting photos came out at the shoot - how they showcased my daughter - was amazing," she added. "And it was great to witness Cameron relating to the show's audience in such a positive way. We weren't sure if she'd get scared and start crying."

"She enjoyed every minute of the audience clapping at the show, and loved the cameras at the photo shoot - she kept reaching for the lens. She really likes attention. We're going to remember this for the rest of our lives," said Melody.

As for a career in modeling, Melody said she's not going to push it right now.
______________________________________________________________________________________

Article from the Filipino Reporter newspaper - New York dted, Aug.24-30, 2007 issue.

The List of Terrorists (US, UK, UN and EU)

http://www.statewatch.org/terrorlists/terrorlists.html
Eclipse Of the Red Moon
September 2, 2007 12:18 AM

PJM Manila: Jose Maria Sison, chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was arrested by Dutch authorities last week on charges of ordering the murders of two former allies. PJM correspondent Dean Jorge Bocobo hopes the arrest will help mark the end of a violent insurgency and bring a new dawn to the Philippines.
Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers

By Dean Jorge Bocobo

On August 29, the same day a rare astronomical event treated millions to the celestial spectacle of the eclipse of a red moon, Jose Maria Sison, founder and chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), were arrested by Dutch authorities at his home in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Sison allegedly ordered the murders of two former fellow Communists in the Philippines, Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara in 2003 and 2004. He is being held in The Hague pending arraignment and trial under Dutch law for allegedly ordering the assassinations, which are the basis of murder charges against him and New People’s Army operatives in the Philippines.

Mr. Sison has been designated a foreign terrorist and the CPP-NPA as foreign terrorist organizations, by both the United States and the European Union for every year since 2002. It is very likely they will be so designated under the new Philippines Anti-Terrorism Law, the Human Security Act of 2007. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo hailed the arrest as “a giant step toward peace. A victory for justice and the rule of law.”

The murders allegedly masterminded by Sison from the Netherlands were part of an long internal struggle within the communist movement which began in the early 1980s, when thousands of suspected government spies believed to have infiltrated the CPP-NPA in the early eighties were murdered in purges.

Several mass burial sites used by execution teams were unearthed last year and led to charges of mass murder against Sison and his associates. A purge survivor, a former member of the CPP’s Mindanao Commission, tells a compelling story of paranoia, treachery and vindictiveness as the CPP’s top leaders moved to eliminate anyone who might oppose their ideological and organizational supremacy. Sison’s deadly purges formed the prologue to the Kintanar-Tabara assassinations for which he was eventually charged.

The CPP-NPA insurgency plagued successive Philippine governments from the 1960s and is a major stumbling block to the establishment of peace and order and economic and social development. While the NPA never won any significant military victories against the government, it nevertheless succeeded in establishing a highly organized, national criminal extortion operation, collecting hundreds of millions of pesos annually from farmers, businesses and institutions. During electoral campaigns, the NPA actually collects “right to campaign” fees from political candidates in their areas of influence. Hundreds of kidnappings, assassinations, arsons, remote-controlled land mine explosions, raids on police stations, and small-scale military engagements are the sharp end of of CPP-NPA fund-raising in the countryside.

The CPP-NPA also runs dozens of political front organizations among workers, students, peasants and other “marginalized sectors”. These militant activist fronts are the CPP-NPA’s major recruiting stations and base of operations for their parliamentary operations. Like the Irish Republican Army, the CPP-NPA had underground and aboveground components. In recent years, Communist front organizations have won several seats in the Philippine House of Representatives under the party-list system. Perhaps the best known of these is Rep. Satur Ocampo of the party list Bayan Muna, who also happens to be Mr. Sison’s co-accused for having ordered the murderous purges of the 1980s, when both were running the CPP-NPA.

Sison’s arrest had long been urged upon the Dutch government by Philippine authorities, which does not have an extradition treaty with the Netherlands.

Sison had been granted political refugee status in the Netherlands nearly 20 years ago on the basis of a claim that his life would be in danger in the Philippines. Once Sison was in safe harbor, the CPP’s top leadership and their families joined him to Utrecht where Sison received millions in financial contributions from the European Left and other international sources. From their European base they ran the CPP-NPA’s operations in the Philippines by fax and email and in coordination with their agents and allies in the Philippines. When anyone defied them, they allegedly resorted to assassinations to eliminate their ideological rivals, some of whom had returned to the fold of the law and were therefore considered “counter-revolutionaries” subject to execution by the same “People’s Courts” responsible for the purges and “killing fields” of the 1980s.

The classification of Sison and the CPP-NPA as foreign terrorists by the US and EU put a major dent in their European exile lifestyles and forced their men in the Philippines to redouble their fundraising efforts through organized crime. But while extortion relieved the financial pressure it also drove a deep wedge between those fighting in the island hills and the Continental exiles in their glamorous and comfortable command in Europe.

Hopefully, Sison’s arrest and the end of his Dutch Treat presages the eventual downfall of the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization in the Philippines. This would clears the way for the island nation to finally fulfill its efforts as the first and the oldest constitutional democracy in Asia; allow it to increase its rate of economic growth, fulfil its potential as a tourist and investment destination and to become a fit ally in the war on terror in Southeast Asia.

Ninety million Filipinos who long have suffered from the communist and Islamic insurgencies can take heart in Sison’s arrest. Still, the totalitarian left and the Islamic Jihad remain formidable. The Islamic insurgents in particular are on a rampage of ambushes and mass beheadings in the southern Philippines where an “all-out war” has erupted. (But that is another story yet to be told!)

For now however, the Filipinos are enjoying the sight of the Red Moon’s eclipse.

Dean Jorge Bocobo is a Filipino media personality who blogs at Philippine Commentary

http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/09/eclipse_of_the_red_moon.php

Free Burma Coalition Mission

http://www.freeburmacoalition.org/
Free Aung San Suu Kyi! Free the Dissidents!