The Top Choices of Current Events for This Week

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Before anything else, let us have good news first. According to the ABS-CBN news, the Filipino fashion designer, Anthony Tentativa, beat more than 1,000 other contestants in the recent De-Mode contest held in France. Aside from French designers, there are other designers from Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and Czech Republic also participated in the contest. For your information, an office clerk at the Philippine National Bank in Paris before he became a fashion designer . He now owns a fashion boutique and has a growing clientele.

On the other hand, aside from the poor and middle class, Tycoons and CEO’s also bet on the Lotto. A Catholic Bishop said it is not a sin to pray for the Lotto Jackpot. Catholic Bishop Deogracia Iniguez said there is nothing wrong in faithful prayers but he cautioned the faithfuls not to perform rituals such as wiping Lotto tickets on the faces of the saints, which is usually done by some bettors on some churches. However, Vice President Jejomar Binay also bet on Lotto Jackpot just like hundreds of thousands Filipinos. 

Moreover, the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will increase its generation charges this month by almost Php 1.00 oer kilo watt hour due to the rise in prices at the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) and higher rates of the National Power Corp. (Napocor). In addition, the House Committee on appropriations has kept the amount of pork barrel funds for senators and congressmen for 2011 at Php 28.8 Billion.

An Australian pilot, Richard Champion de Crespigny, of an A380 super-jumbo calmly landed the massive aircraft after a mid-air engine blast. He returned the Qantas plane carrying 466 people to Singapore after one of its four engines failed just minutes after the take-off, which has slightly damage on wing and showering debris on a town below.

Do you know that the five amino acids in a protein called HLA-B is the reason why certain people resist the human immunodeficiency virus according to the US researchers as they study new clues about how to make a vaccine to prevent AIDS? About one in 300 people infected with HIV can suppress the virus with the immune system and keep the virus at extremely low levels. They have found out five amino acids in the HLA-B protein linked with differences in a person’s ability to control HIV. That protein is important for helping the immune system tag and destroy cells infected by the virus.

We, Filipinos, have a Christian tradition during Christmas holiday season. We called it Misa de Aguinaldo or Simbang Gabi. It is a holiday season dawn Mass from 4:00 A.M. – 5:00 A.M., which is nine days before Christmas. I remembered when bestfriend Ingrid Lorenzo and I attended 6:00 morning Mass in nine consecutive days before Christmas because we are considerate for ourselves and could not fully participate the Misa de Aguinaldo. However, Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said that the early morning Mass should be celebrated in parochial church not inside the shopping mall. The early morning Mass may be held in a chapel if it has been given permission by the parish priest and in coordination with the parish. 

On the other hand, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has the highest approval rating among 12 cabinet officials according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey from September 24 – 27. They found 54% satisfied and 16% dissatisfied with De Lima’s performance fro a good net satisfaction of 39%.

However, Dr. Malcolm Potts, professor at Bixby Center for Population, Health and Sustainability at the University of California, Berkeley said that the growing population in the Philippines is its most important issue. He said that the Philippines population could hit 160 Million in the next 40 years if the government would not implement an effective reproductive health policy. The Filipinos will be poorer like they will be importing more food like Somalia than Thailand. Today, Thailand is more richer than the Philippines per capita bases because it is driven by population. Asian Tigers like Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan are also driven by population. Factors like growing unemployment on young males will provided tinder for ignition by political extremists and religious fanatics. On the contrary, President Noynoy Aquino would be supportive of reproductive health bill if it follows the responsible parenthood platform, and he started meeting with members of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).