Time Mag: Pacquiao 22nd Most Influential Person in the World (Obama #37)

In addition, Manny Pacquiao also received the most votes cast in the 2009 Time 100 poll, with over 20 million votes (popular vote runner-up moot of 4chan got 16million+ votes, but was anyway ranked the most influential person in the world). Results are here.

WHO: Initial Findings Swine Flu Responds to Tamiflu

The WHO has reportedly announced that the dreaded multi-strain swine flu is initially responding to Tamiflu, which is made by Roche. Already, Texas Governor Rick Perry has ordered over 37,000 doses of Tamiflu for his state.

How is the stock of Tamiflu in the Philippines? Apparently just last November, the Philippine government received over 75,000 courses of Tamiflu from the government of Japan. In 2005, in preparation for the then-feared bird flu pandemic, Roche gave the Philippine government the go-signal to begin making its own version of Tamiflu, and it was announced then by the Philippine International Trading Company that the government was working in partnership with Unilab for the production of Tamiflu.

In Search of the Tomb of Francisco Balagtas

Where is Francisco Balagtas buried? His grave, it seems to me, is a pilgrimage-worthy site especially given his stature in Philippine literature, but I've never heard it mentioned before, and Google offers almost no clues.

By all indications, Balagtas died on 20 February 1862, at Udyong (now Orion), Bataan, where he had settled down and raised his family sometime in the 1840s. Presumably, he remains buried there. He apparently was involved in local town politics, so he was of sufficient prominence that they would have buried him in a grave of his own. There is a cemetery in Orion, but it is named "Evergreen", so its provenance back to the time of Balagtas is quite doubtful.

Assuming he was buried in the town's public cemetery, there is little chance that his grave survives, owing to that habit of public cemeteries digging up the dead after 50 or so years and cremating the remains or reburying them in mass graves. (For that reason, you do not see any graves of Filipinos who died before the 1860s or so) There perhaps would be a better chance if he were interred inside a church, but considering his anti-clerical bent, chances are Balagtas would not have consented to be buried in one.

This would make a great documentary subject.

Bravo to the Philippine Daily Inquirer

For soberly reporting so far on the facts surrounding the shooting of Ted Failon's wife, and ignoring the "requests of privacy" requested by ABS-CBN in behalf of the Failon family. Requests for privacy should be ignored if (a) a crime is involved; or (b) a prominent personality is being sought for questioning in connection with the possible crime. So far, ABS-CBN News, GMA News, and RPN Newswatch have been timid and vague in their reporting, merely noting that Failon's wife had been shot and the "requests for privacy".

The reporting of the Inquirer is hardly sensationalistic, even if it hints at a sensational story. All it reports is (a) Failon's wife sustained a gunshot wound to the head; (b) Failon himself brought his wife to the hospital then left his wife in the hospital; and (c) the police are looking for Failon for him to shed light on the incident.

UPDATE: Philippine Star reports "unidentified suspects" in shooting of Ted Failon's wife, and that shooting occurred at 10:30 a.m. Failon's radio show with Korina Sanchez ends at 10:30 a.m., though I don't know if that were the case today.

UPDATE#2: TV Patrol reports fight between Failon and his wife while inside car, then somehow his wife was shot inside the car. But the news report ended with an account of Failon's version, him saying that he discovered his wife shot inside a bedroom in their home.

UPDATE#3: Inquirer now reporting the discovery of "an apparent suicide note"

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt Reportedly to Adopt Filipino Baby

Please Lord God let this be true, please Lord God be this be true:

Superstar couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie now plan to adopt their next baby from the Philippines.

The couple changed their plans after they were not allowed to adopt a Burmese baby, reports dailymail.co.uk.

From the Hindustan Times. If Brangelina is serious, they should consult Republic Act No. 8043 (The Philippine Inter-Country Adoption Law) as well as the Philippine Rule on Domestic Adoption.

On Hiding Facebook Quiz Results

The backlash against the new Facebook format (on which I am quite neutral) has been intense, especially with the unfettered publication of quiz results of your friends. Many a status update has professed irritation over these quizzes, or crowed about learning how to hide these results.

Some may very well be driven by annoyance over the aesthetic clutter, though the old Facebook design was hardly a triumph of minimalism. But I fear that much of the resentment really delves into an unrealized disagreement with the essence of Facebook over the essence of friendship. Facebook casually labels someone whom you shared a class with in Grade 5 as a "friend", then operates from the premise that you genuinely enjoy interacting or learning more about your friends. Most of the quizzes that populate Facebook are poorly thought out and plagued with bad grammar, but a few of them do offer genuine insights on the people whom you acceded Facebook to identify as your friend. For the most part, I don't mind reading the quiz results of people whom I consider friends, though this may also be in part because I thrive best when surrounded by an overflow of information. But the times when I get annoyed by a quiz result that pops up, it usually derives from someone I marginally know, or do not know at all (I do have a few of those in my "friend" list).

Philippines Removed from OECD Blacklist

So reports the BBC. Malaysia, Costa Rica and Uruguay have been removed as well. The OECD cites these four countries for making a :full commitment to exchange information to the OECD standards." 

World's Oldest Person Votes for Obama

I hope to live to see the day when the first Filipino of Chinese-Spanish-British descent is elected President of the Philippines.