Evo & Grace: The WanderLusts

The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) welcomes new taxes on electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) signed into law by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on 22 January 2020 to protect the health of all Filipinos especially the youth and the poor. “E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are harmful, promote youth addiction, and reduce the success of smokers wanting to quit their addiction. New taxes on these products are a win for the health of all Filipinos, particularly the youth, but while the new tax rates are certainly higher than rates approved by the previous Congress, they should be raised further to at least the same level as traditional cigarettes,” said Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, Executive Director of SEATCA. The 2018 National Nutrition Survey already shows that 20 percent of e-cigarette users in the Philippines are aged 10 to 19 years old. This proportion of youth e-cigarette smokers is 3 times higher than the proportion of youth c...

Get into the mind of the woman who has mentored some of today’s most talented visual artists and mother to one of Philippine Theater’s most-gifted young actresses – in what she says could one of her last exhibitions. “I start with nothing. No preconceived ideas, no studies, no nothing. But this emotion I have inside of me in that moment? How do I express this emotion?” With her instinctual, visceral approach to creating new work, Yasmin Almonte allows her thoughts and emotions to unravel organically. “I paint very fast. I can finish a work in three hours,” Yasmin says about her process and an instantaneous surge of paint and passion. The result can be seen in her new exhibition Unmasked, a journey through her diaristic process and a celebration of life through a deeply expressionistic and vital series of paintings. Currently a professor at the University of the Philippines with a Masters of Arts Degree in Painting from the University of Northern Iowa, she brings her mastery of te...

Almost all tax payers would say that the process of paying taxes is one of the most tedious and less-liked activities that they can imagine and paying sales tax for an online business is not exempted from the common misconception. When the issue pertaining to taxes and your online business arise, you usually take it negatively which would in turn end up in a negative note. However, if you decide to change the way you think and turn your negative approach to a positive one, then you would surely realize that paying online sales tax is not a taxing job at all. Online business owners or e-tailers are commonly complaining about online sales tax primarily because they don’t clearly understand and grasp the meaning, scope and limitations of the law and regulation that pertains to it. If you want your online business to boom and prosper, you should have the initiative to gain as much knowledge as you can about taxes and online businesses. Be Aware Of Taxability And Exem...

INTERNATIONALLY distinguished Filipino-Canadian concert pianist and pedagogue Dr. Ross Salvosa will give a Piano Teachers Workshop on Thursday, January 30, 2020, from 9:00, am – 6:00 pm.   This will be followed by a Piano Masterclass on Friday, January 31, 2020.   Both events will be held at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater).   This is a program of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in partnership with the Embassy of Canada. The Workshop has three modules: “Path of Least Resistance”, 9:00 am – 11:00 am; “Creating vs. Regurgitating”, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm; and “Road to Parnassus”, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm.   The masterclass the following day will carry the same schedule. Ross Salvosa is one of the most sought-after teachers in the Pacific Northwest.   He is a seasoned adjudicator and has served in the juries of national and international piano competitions including the Seattle International Piano Festival and Competition and the Nationa...

The Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) closes its 52 nd Theater Season and welcomes the first quarter of 2020 with Rody Vera’s Under My Skin , a provocative, relevant, and heart-wrenching drama anthology top-billed by multi-awarded actress Cherry Pie Picache. Inspired by real people and events, the play accurately depicts the realities, triumphs, and struggles of people living with HIV, while  navigating an important conversation about  acceptance and tolerance. The play, which is part of PETA’s creative campaign “Acting on HIV”, aims to re-examine the issue of HIV and AIDS, as the numbers of recorded cases rapidly increase every day . “I’ve always wanted to do a play with PETA, so I am very excited to be finally doing it now,” Cherry Pie shares. “Most of what I’ve been doing lately is getting involved with different advocacies. So when our director and my good friend Melvin Lee told me that Under My Skin is going to be an advocacy play on HIV, I ...

American pop sensation AJ Mitchell is set to serenade and meet his Filipino fans for an upcoming series of mall tours.  The eighteen-year-old pop singer-songwriter will be performing in select Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, from January 17 to 18, 2020 with the following schedule: ·          01/17/20: Uptown Bonifacio (Friday, 7pm) ·          01/18/20: Venice Grand Canal Mall (Saturday, 3pm) ·          01/18/20: Eastwood City (Saturday, 7pm) “This will be my first time in the Philippines,” the teen heartthrob reveals in an interview. “I’m so excited to experience the culture and see as much as I can while there. I can’t wait to eat the amazing food and hopefully see some of the beaches as well.” With Nathan Huang of Nathan & Mercury and featuring Any Name’s Okay as opening act, the American recording artist will perform some fan favorites, includin...

Samar 1st District Representative Edgar Mary Sarmiento who happen to be the  House Transportation Committee Chairman, recently unveiled the blueprint of his proposed centralized and synchronized bus dispatch system which would turn the EDSA's rowdy and chaotic city buses into a fast, efficient and predictable mass transport system. A civil engineer by profession, Sarmiento disclosed the full details of his proposal after announcing that his panel is closely working with the Department of Transportation (DoTr) to craft a roadmap which would solve EDSA's traffic problem. In his proposal, Sarmiento said that the innermost lane of EDSA will serve as an "express bus lane" which can be accessed through stations used by the MRT. Like a carousel, the "express bus lane" will just circle around EDSA, duplicating the route of the MRT. "People who use the MRT can now have the option to ride the bus which will be also operated like a carousel. The buses w...

 A Filipino cultural delegation led by Cultural Center of the Philippines president Arsenio J. Lizaso is set to visit Jiangxi province in China to showcase the various facets of Philippine art and culture through a performance by the world-renowned Bayanihan Dance Company, a CCP resident company, on January 8, 2020, at the Jiangxi Centre for Performing Arts in Nanchang City.  The event is part of a series of celebrations for the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations of the two countries, as well as aimed at promoting and strengthening cultural cooperation between them through exchanges in the field of performing and disciplinary arts. The outreach performance in China is made possible through the efforts of the Cultural Center of the Philippines president Arsenio Lizaso in cooperation with the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (JXPAFFC).  Both CCP and JXPAFFC carry out mutual visits and performa...