Consider what happens on the early hours of a normal school day for you: You wake up before

6:00 a.m. to prepare for school. You go to the living room and your father has just turned on the
television and theme music of the early morning show blares through the huge speakers. The shrill voice
of the female host greets you. She talks about the latest exercise gadgets and cites how social media
hashtags such as #fitspiration and #balikalindog have actually inspired us to make on fitness as both
hobby and lifestyle. Here comes now a team of incredibly muscle-toned bodies gyrating to the beat of
workout music.

You sit, enjoy your breakfast, and turn to the newspaper that has been left lying around. You
shuffle through
 Duterte: China ‘eating slowly’ our West PH Sea

ABOARD BRP DAVAO DEL SUR–President Rodrigo Duterte said the Philippines is
not giving up its rights in the West Philippine Sea amid recent reports of China’s
missile deployment and militarization in the disputed sea.

President Duterte acknowledged that the West Philippine Sea has been “eaten
slowly” by the expansive claims of China.

“I have nothing against China but China claimed the entire ocean of China Sea,” he
said in a speech on Tuesday on board BRP Davao del Sur in Casiguran Bay, Aurora
to send-off 50 Filipino scientist to the Philippine Rise, formerly Benham Rise.

The President said China “have claimed entire ownership, proprietary in nature”
of the South China Sea.

President Duterte portrayed helpless with the agressive militarization and

reclamation of Beijing in the disputed territory.

“When China claimed the entire ocean as theirs, eh wala akong magawa, wala
tayong magawa eh ‘yan ang gusto niya [there is nothing I can do, there is nothing
we can do since that is what they want],” he said.

He then shifted the blame to his predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III.

“From the time the arbitration award was handed down to the time that he was
nearing his end, there was sufficient time for him to act and do something,” he
said.

But contrary to President Duterte’s claim, the United Nation’s arbitral ruling was
only awarded on July 12, 2016, days after he assumed the presidency.

While China’s reclamation started during the past administrations, he admitted

that Beijing’s island-building was in full swing during his term.

• “There was a reclamation being done but wala naman tayong nagawa at
hindi ko man panahon [we have done nothing since it was not under my
term]. ‘Yung panahon ko na, bumuwelo nang husto [During my time, it has
gone full swing],” he said.
By: Nestor Corrales - Reporter / @NCorralesINQ

INQUIRER.net / 11:59 AM May 16, 2018

BLACKPINK returns to Manila for meet and greet
Jan Milo Severo (Philstar.com) - June 6, 2019 - 10:15pm

MANILA, Philippines — Korean all-girl group BLACKPINK has arrived in Manila for
the second time this year and had a meet and greet session with their fans for the
first time in the country on Thursday, held at Samsung Hall in SM Aura.

Fans had a wonderful time screaming their lungs out when Jennie Kim, Jisoo, Rose
and Lisa appeared on stage for their meet and greet.

As the new regional brand ambassaddor of online shopping site Shopee,

BLACKPINK's Rose said they enjoyed the shooting of their new commercial.

"We are honored and happy to be the brand ambassadors not only in the
Philippines but also in seven other countries," Jisoo said.

Jennie said they are delighted to see how Filipino fans are dedicated to the group.

"We are happy to be here because of the fans," she enthused.

Lisa, meanwhile, said that she is happy to meet their Filipino fans that night.

"Everytime I come here I realized how welcoming you guys are. I'm happy to meet
you all tonight," Lisa said.

Shopee Philippines marketing head Ruoshan Tao said the company is happy to
bring back the Korean group again in the Philippines after their succesful concert
last February.

"We understand how large their fanbase is here in the Philippines and we are
thrilled to be the first company to bring them back for an exclusive fan meet.
Moving forward, we aim to entertain more consumers through a variety of in-app
initiatives and offline events," he said.
 Shopee brings regional brand
ambassador BLACKPINK to the
Philippines for their first-ever meet and
greet
Get exclusive tickets to the Shopee X BLACKPINK Meet and Greet on June
6, only on Shopee
Published May 15, 2019, 6:37 PM

Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, will bring
global K-Pop sensation BLACKPINK to the Philippines for the first Shopee X
BLACKPINK Meet & Greet on June 6. Avid BLACKPINK fans, also known as Blinks, will
get a once-in-a-lifetime experience to interact with their favorite idols at the event,
which will feature exciting draws and giveaways including signed BLACKPINK CDs and
Shopee gift certificates.

Shopee users can choose from two tickets, Pink or Black, to get access to the event.

Users can get Pink tickets by purchasing any product from the YG Official Store on
Shopee from May 11 to 25 using the special voucher code “SHOPEEXBP”. The first
150 successful buyers will be guaranteed a Pink ticket to the fan meet.

In addition, users can score Black tickets by registering on the official Shopee x
BLACKPINK Meet & Greet page in the Shopee app. The top registered users who have
an accumulated purchase of at least ₱4,000 on Shopee will receive one Black ticket
that comes with an exclusive fan meet pass. To add to the excitement, the top 40
spenders will receive special autographs and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to
meet BLACKPINK live on stage.

Ruoshan Tao, Head of Marketing at Shopee Philippines, said “Since unveiling

BLACKPINK as our first regional brand ambassador last year, Shopee has received so
much love and support from their Asian fans. Hence, we are delighted to be able to
bring them to the Philippines and give Shopee users a chance to meet and interact
with their favorite artists in person. We look forward to once again connect
BLACKPINK with their massive fanbase in the Philippines and the region.”

For more information on how to join the Shopee x BLACKPINK Meet and Greet,
visit https://shopee.ph/m/blackpink-meet-greet.
 Pangilinan presses Comelec to
explain poll glitches
ABS-CBN News

Posted at Jun 06 2019 03:02 PM

MANILA - Opposition Sen. Francis Pangilinan urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
Thursday to explain problems that hounded the May 13 polls.

Pangilinan, who led the dismal campaign of the Liberal Party-backed Otso Diretso senatorial slate,
said the poll body has yet to respond to their requests for an explanation.

"We continue to await a response from the Commission on Elections on several issues that it still has
not been able to adequately explain, mainly the 7-hour glitch," he said in a statement.

The LP, according to Pangilinan, has requested the Comelec to explain the delay in the real-time
transmission of election results to media partners, a list of the corrupted secure digital (SD)
cardsand vote counting machines (VCMs) that malfunctioned, as well as a report on bleeding
pensused by voters.

"Until these are submitted we withhold drawing conclusions as to the overall conduct of the
elections," he said.

Comelec faced criticism during the midterm polls after hundreds of VCMs encountered glitches and
real-time elections results were delayed for 7 hours due to technical difficulties.

Pangilinan explained that identifying the corrupted SD cards and malfunctioning VCMs are "critical"
in the Senate race given that differences in the number of votes between the 9th and 14th place are
below 3 million.

He also urged the joint congressional oversight committee conducting an investigation on the
problems surrounding the midterm elections to tackle problems the opposition raised.

Pangilinan tendered his resignation as LP president following Otso Diretso's overwhelming loss in
the elections.

Not one candidate from the opposition won in the midterm Senate race which was dominated by
President Rodrigo Duterte's allies.

Eight out of the 12 winners were endorsed by Duterte while 4 others were independent candidates.

Duterte last week urged Comelec to "dispose" election technology provider Smartmatic amid
concerns raised on the credibility of the polls.

He said the use of Smartmatic is “creating an environment of hostile attitude.”

The Comelec, however, explained that a legal basis is needed to ban Smartmatic from public
biddings on future poll-related activities.
 Duterte returns home with $4.858-B worth of
investments from South Korea

SEOUL — President Rodrigo Duterte left for home at 8:50 p.m. Tuesday (7:50
pm in Manila) after a three-day official visit in South Korea.

Just as he had arrived here last Sunday, the President took a commercial Philippine
Airlines flight back to Manila where he is scheduled to arrive at 11:40 p.m. Manila
time.

Mr. Duterte will be bringing home with him $4.858 billion in new investments
from South Korea that his officials said will generate 50,800 new jobs to the
country.

By: Christine O. Ovendaño

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/167523/duterte-returns-home-4-858-b-worth-
investments#ixzz5HYW0B4SS