Cheers to long-kept traditions

Grand Hyatt Manila GM and AVP Gottfried Bogensperger and Bonifacio Landmark Realty and Development Corp. president Hans Hauri.

Grand Hyatt Manila, the destination of choice for fun holidays and exciting events, recently celebrated the Lunar New Year with a series of thrilling activities. The hotel is under the notable leadership of Bonifacio Landmark Realty and Development Corp. president Hans Hauri and Grand Hyatt Manila general manager and area vice president Gottfried Bogensperger.

The festivities included long-kept traditions like eye-dotting ceremony and lion dance, as well as some spectacular fireworks to bring in luck for the new year. Guests also enjoyed sweet dumplings in syrup and the exquisite cuisine Grand Hyatt Manila is known for.

Congratulations to Grand Hyatt Manila for a successful Lunar New Year celebration!

(Seated) Linda Lagdameo, Raquel Sta. Ines and Letty Lopez; (standing, from left) Gina Suarez, Maurita Arce, Rosa Francisco, Violet Luym and Baby Araneta.

A delightful reunion

An unforgettable and delightful reunion between life-long friends from Assumption College was held at Peking Garden in Makati City.

Organized by Linda Lagdameo, Marieliese Evaristo and Baby Araneta, the reunion was also an opportunity to celebrate the lives of their batch’s birthday celebrants.

With cheer spread throughout the room, each one whispered a prayer of thanks for the gifts of time and friendship.

A wonderful way to celebrate friendship, indeed!

TV TODAY

PTV-4

• 06:00AM Once A Fishing Village... 
• 07:00AM Apprentice Chef Series
• 08:00AM Chinese Works
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• 06:00am Mat Yoyo S3 - EP 3
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• 06:00AM The Joy of Al
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• 03:25AM Animal Armory
• 04:25AM Britain's Got Talent
• 05:20AM MasterChef

https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/allure/2020/02/09/1991470/cheers-long-kept-traditions

Solons demand House action on ABS-CBN franchise

By Ellson Quismorio

Congressmen criticized on Sunday the supposed plan of the House leadership to let the effectivity of broadcast giant ABS-CBN’s current operating franchise expire before acting on pending bills to renew the franchise for another 25 years.

“We cannot just wash our hands of the bill. That would be tantamount to Congress renouncing its exclusive power to grant legislative franchises,” Buhay Party-List Rep. Lito Atienza said in a statement.

According to him, all 302 members of the House of Representatives should be given a chance to vote on the franchise renewal bills concerning the Lopez-owned network.

“The entire House should openly debate on the bill, and then vote on it. This will allow every member to be heard, and to freely decide on the franchise,” Atienza, a former three-term mayor of Manila, said.

While ABS-CBN’s franchise is set to expire on March 30 this year, the Committee really only has until March 11 to act on the pending measures since Congress will go on summer recess after that. The network has 11,000 employees.

All eyes are on the Committee on Legislative Franchises chaired Palawan 1st district Rep. Franz Alvarez, since the dozen or so bills seeking the franchise renewal have been referred to the panel. So far, it hasn’t calendared a hearing for the particular bills, despite the dwindling clock.

Atienza also rejected as a “pipedream” the claim of some of his colleagues that even without a renewed franchise, ABS-CBN could still operate until March 2022 by obtaining a two-year provisional authority from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

“That is a fantasy. The NTC will simply say we cannot possibly give you a provisional authority because the chief lawyer of the Republic wants to shut you down,” Atienza said, referring to Solicitor General Jose Calida’s quo warranto petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to forfeit the media network’s existing franchise.

Magdalo Party-List Rep. Manuel Cabochan III said that the time to act on the pending ABS-CBN measures is now.

“Why let the franchise effectivity lapse bago bigyan ng pansin? Trabaho din naman ng Kongreso to look into franchise renewals. Nakita na ang pangangailangan na aksiyonan ito, so sana trabahuhin na lang, wag ipagpaliban (Why let the franchise effectivity lapse before acting on it? It’s also the job of Congress to look into franchise renewals. We’ve seen the need to respond to this, so let’s just work on it instead of delay it),” Cabochan said.

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said over the weekend that the chamber could begin tackling the franchise renewal bills in May after the summer recess, or in July, after President Duterte delivers his annual State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Outside the House of Representatives, more groups continued to assail Calida’s quo warranto petition against the giant network, saying it threatened the livelihood of thousands of families.

The Bantay Konsyumer, Kuryente, Kalsada (BK3); CitizenWatch Philippines (CWP); and the Democracy Watch Philippines (DWP) said the Office of the Solicitor General’s (OSG) court action against ABS-CBN “sends a negative message to investors, usurps the mandate of Congress, abuses power to silence the President’s critics, and disregards of the rule of law.”

BK3 said investors might hesitate to conduct business in the Philippines because regulations can change depending on the whim of sitting officials.

While Calida has denied Malacañang’s hand in his move, President Duterte has, on several occasions, publicly attacked ABS-CBN, supposedly for not airing his political advertisements during the 2016 presidential campaign, and threatened to cause the revocation of the network’s franchise.

In 2017, Duterte went on record that he was “willing to shake hands with” so long as the network devoted some air time to the promotion of federalism, which he was pushing at that time.”

According to CWP, the ABS-CBN franchise issue sets a dangerous precedent and is a disturbing trend following the Manila Water and Maynilad consortium agreement controversy.

The group said the issue will “cause a crisis of confidence in our regulatory environment being reckless and unstable.”

https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/02/16/solons-demand-house-action-on-abs-cbn-franchise/

ABS-CBN to have ‘time and day’ in House for franchise renewal –solon

House Committee on Legislative Franchises Vice-Chair Tonypet Albano on Sunday assured ABS-CBN Corporation that it would have its "time and day" at the chamber for deliberations on the measures seeking its franchise's renewal.

In a statement, Albano echoed Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano's claim that timing was essential in dealing with the renewal of the broadcast giant's franchise due to its "complexities."

He maintained that although ABS-CBN's franchise was expiring on March 30, Congress had enough time to discuss it within the whole term of the 18th Congress, up to June 30, 2022, due to the pending bills.

"Therefore, it is imperative that the timing and scheduling for the committee hearing has to be perfect, right, and conducive... lest we sacrifice the station due to all these animosities and negative emotions that are hounding it today," Albano said.

"Worse, we suddenly might end up rejecting the network’s franchise to the detriment of the 11,000 employees and families that rely on the network for their very livelihood if we rush this," he added.

Albano also reiterated that the 18th Congress was not a rubber stamp of President Rodrigo Duterte, despite Duterte being their coalition leader.

The lawmaker added that they would merely listen to the President's statements, which they could either adopt or disregard.

"If we were really a rubber stamp of the President as our critics claim, then we should have just calendared the hearing of the ABS-CBN franchise and outright reject it due to the large number of complaints that the network is facing from politicians, businessmen, businesses, actors, producers, and many more," he said.

"Additionally, if indeed we are not independent-minded, why should we in the very strong house majority 'kowtow' when we have the numbers and can muster enough votes to vote out the franchise?" he added.

Albano said that scheduling the hearing for the ABS-CBN franchise bills for Monday did not guarantee its renewal. At the same time, each lawmaker also had their own pet national and local bills that were more pressing and took a lot of their time.

"Now, do we immediately calendar the ABS-CBN franchise bill when we have two more years to finish it, ahead of the above more important work affecting millions of our countrymen this very day and hour? Or should we prioritize our work in Congress to accommodate more pressing bills with important life-threatening situations?" he asked.

"There will be a proper time and timing for ABS-CBN to be heard in the Franchise committee with the intentions of having a thorough, fair and honest-to-good hearing. We intend to give ABS CBN its intended 'time and day' to answer all the critics, and to debate throughly on the merits of the case at hand, in order to make sure that the committee report is not only fair, but good for all stakeholders," he added.

Last Monday, Solicitor General Jose Calida filed a quo warranto petition seeking to revoke its franchise due to alleged foreign ownership and bypassing of authority of the NTC.

The ABS-CBN has maintained that it has not violated any law. — Erwin Colcol/DVM, GMA News

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/726186/abs-cbn-to-have-time-and-day-in-congress-for-franchise-renewal-solon/story/

Beauty & Beyond

DMark Beauty Corp. made waves beyond Metro Manila as it brought its well-received “Beauty and Beyond, Anti-Aging and Aesthetics Workshop” to the culinary capital of the Philippines — Pampanga.

The workshop, held at the Choi Garden Restaurant of Royce Hotel in Clark, Pampanga, was led by hardworking “beautypreneur,” DMark Beauty Corp. and DermAsia Corp. CEO Nikki Tang and managing director Charles Mandy.

It was a wonderful day of discussing the latest trends and updates in anti-aging and aesthetics from the country’s top dermatologists.

Congratulations for another successful workshop, dear Nikki!

https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/allure/2020/02/16/1993387/beauty-beyond