Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Noynoy Aquino & Hacienda Luisita

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 12, 2010

noynoy aquino

The meetup with presidentiable Noynoy Aquino was one of most anticipated among Blogwatch writers. After a long wait, we finally had our chance to meet with the presidential frontrunner. Like previous Blogwatch events, we were allowed to ask only one question. My question was focused on what many think is one of the more controversial issues surrounding Noynoy and his family the Cojuancos – The issue of Hacienda Luisita and land distribution to farmers.

The following was my question:
“Regarding Hacienda Luisita, a lot of people think that one reason CARP failed is because of the Stock Distribution Option (SDO). Also, it is seen that the SDO has been able to keep farmers out of their land. The main beneficiary, seem to be your very own family. And in the end, farmers still receive barely anything from what they have put into Hacienda Luisita. Do you think this is right & what will you do different as president that will give the balance of power & justice towards the farmers?”

Senator Aquino answered me in tagalog. He made it clear though that he only owns less than 1% of Hacienda Luisita. Noynoy’s answer was simple. The farmers have been with the Aquino family for decades. They wouldn’t want to burden the farmers by selling the land to them. The farmers are good at tilling the land but they are not businessmen. Hacienda Luisita land is also still in debt, how would the farmers be able to pay it without much experience in managing the land? Noynoy also said that there are currently 10,000 farmers. If they distribute the land as is, 1 farmer can only own less than 1 hectare, and also not all of the land will be equal in terms of fertility. There’s nothing a farmer can do if a non-fertile land was given to them.

Noynoy stressed that if they wanted to be selfish, they could just easily sell the land, possibly getting Php 4.5B without worrying about debt or his image in the 2010 elections.

Php 4.5B = Php100 per square meter x 10,000 square meter per hectare x 4,500 hectares

But according to Noynoy, the Aquino family treats the farmers like their own family (they were workers since 1958). With that, they would want to transfer the land to them debt-free. Noynoy Aquino even gave me a timeline that by the year 2014, the land will be fully transferred to the farmers. Noynoy already asked his extended family to find means to transfer the assets free of debt. While this is being worked on, they will follow what current agrarian reform program has. He said that 70% of Hacienda Luisita is still owned by the Aquinos/Cojuancos while 30% will be paid as stock dividends to the farmers.

Read the rest of the article at Blogwatch.PH.

References:

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

Breakfast Buffet at UNO Restaurant

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 12, 2010

cooking station waterfront

UNO Restaurant
Waterfront Mactan Airport Hotel & Casino
1 Airport Road, Lapu-Lapu City, 6015 Cebu, Philippines
(32) 340-4888

——————–
The most memorable breakfast I had during my holy week vacation in Cebu was at UNO restaurant. UNO is located inside the Waterfront Mactan Hotel & Casino which is very near the Cebu domestic airport.

The buffet is open from 6:00-10:30AM.  I really wished I didn’t have a hard time waking up that day coz I could have used those precious minutes eating more food at the buffet.

The design of UNO restaurant is astounding!  They have this multi-colored small rectangles beneath the buffet tables.  It complements the wooden floors of the restaurant plus the overall feel of the place.  They have great service too (well except for one lady who obviously had a very bad morning hehehe!).

The breakfast buffet is included in the room rates but if you’re not checked in, the fee is at Php 684.75 net per person.

My favorite of all the food items offered in the restaurant is their… CHICKEN!  My golly!  Believe me when I say that it was perfect!  It was marinated & cooked perfectly.  I wonder how they did it!  I really just wished we had more time to spare because the chicken was too good… Even after a week, I can still feel my enthusiasm as I was eating the dish.

waterfront chicken

Another favorite of mine was the omelette.  Well, basically because it was cooked right on the spot.  I also love the chef at the cooking station.  They were so accommodating and even delivered the omelette to us.  There were a variety of omelettes to choose from — mushroom omelette, ham & cheese omelette and omelettes with a variety of ingredients to choose from.  Might as well request for a sunny side up or scrambled eggs if you want to.  They also have hard boiled eggs for consumption.

omelette waterfront

Just like most hotel buffets, they serve breads..

breads waterfront

Dimsum was also part of the buffet since UNO restaurant serves international buffet…

dimsum waterfront

Orange & Pineapple juice (fresh!)… they also serve coffee & tea at your table..

juice waterfront

Pancakes!!  They have generous servings of ingredients/condiments to go with it too..

pancakes waterfront

Other food items in the buffet are sausages, rice, bacon (another fav!), donuts (yes, they had them too!), noodles, vegetables, cereals, fruits, desserts, etc..

waterfront buffet

It was truly a great dining experience.  UNO restaurant is really an eye candy.  They serve mouth-watering dishes and service is great!  It’s cheap too at Php 684.75.  I took pictures of each dish & can be found in this Flickr album.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

Can Mike Defensor Solve The Crime Problem in Quezon City?

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 10, 2010

mike defensor

Last February, I was able to attend a no-holds barred blogger meet with Mike Defensor at his home in Quezon City.  As someone who lives in Quezon City, I’m very much interested with what Mike Defensor has to offer since he is running for mayor in this coming May 2010 elections.

I’ve been living in Q.C. for 19 years.  The problems that I’ve been seeing then and until now are:

  • Street Children
  • Blatant Robbing

I’ve been wishing for those problems to be resolved for the longest time, but I haven’t seen any progress so far.  I see this happening in Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.  I myself have been a victim a couple of times now.

Let me tell you my story..

I once had both of my car’s side mirror stolen while I was inside the car.  It was a bright Saturday afternoon.  I was stuck in traffic as always in Araneta Avenue.  To my shock, I saw two guys approaching my car, one on each side.  They quickly took my side mirror and ran away.  My car was right in the middle of traffic, with cars all around me AND with a traffic enforcer just a few meters away.  I honked my car like crazy but everyone just looked like it was just another movie/TV shoot.  To make things worse, that was only my 3rd day driving!  This is a common situation in E. Rodriguez, Araneta Avenue area.

Another situation that I also found myself in and along Araneta avenue once again was when one day, all of a sudden, in the area where no one was supposed to cross, a guy just ran in the middle of the street right in front of my car.  It was impossible for me not to hit him.  In just a matter of seconds, a group of drunk people gathered around my car.  I was so scared that I quickly locked the doors.  There were about 20 of them with sticks, like they were so ready to beat me up.  I sat inside my car crying out of fear.  After awhile, a police officer approached my car.  He assured me that he would protect me.  We then proceeded to the hospital, the officer included, to take care of the person that ran in front of my car and to tend to his possible injuries.

When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor said that the guy was drunk & told me to be careful with my situation and that the man had no injuries.  At the police station, I got the shock of my life when the guy’s mom was asking for my cellphone number even after confirmation that the guy was safe w/ no injuries.  I asked why and she said, to my surprise, and in front of the police officer, that they had been doing this for a long time already in order to ask for money.  Hell, what is happening to our country?!?

I told Mike Defensor my experiences as well as my observation of street kids stealing truck materials at night.  I asked him if he gets voted as mayor of Quezon City, will he do anything about it?  If yes, then how?

Read the rest of the article at Blogwatch.PH.

References:

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

Pho Hoa Vietnamese Noodle House

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 9, 2010

pho hoa eastwood

Pho Hoa Vietnamese Noodle House
Eastwood City Cyberpark, E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Bagumbayan, Libis, Quezon City, Metro Manila
(02) 421-2046

——————-
After having our holy week break at Cebu, we got back to Manila & had our lunch at Pho Hoa.  I’ve always been very fond of Pho Hoa food because it’s really always perfectly balanced and rich in flavor!  Though Pho Hoa is known for their noodles, I’ve always ordered their rice dishes.  I’m not a noodle person anyway.

We ordered a lot and even ordered most of their dessert menu items.  Not even one dish disappointed us. Wow!  I’m actually ranking Pho Hoa higher in my list of most yummiest restaurants after the visit.

Here are what we ordered:

  • Fruit Shakes (Php 105)
pho hoa fruit shakes 

In the picture are dalandan shake, green mango shake & cucumber shake.  My order was the cucumber shake and I must say you should try it.  I do not eat cucumber but I love the drink a lot!  It’s healthy too!

  • Goi Cuon (Php 127)
spring rolls 

Their best-seller starter dish which is a combination of vegetarian & shrimp & pork fresh spring rolls.  The peanut sauce is just perfect with it.

  • Chien Mut Ot  (Php 220)
squid pho hoa 

The dish is fried Squid w/ Chili & Green Onions.  In short, the vietnamese version of calamares.  Still best with vinegar!  yum! 😀

  • Minced Chicken & Mushroom w/ Lettuce Wrap (Php 225)
minced chicken lettuce wrap pho hoa 

What kind of food taste better than tacos?  For me, it’s this dish!  I believe this is a chinese specialty wherein you put chicken & mushroom with fried noodles plus peanut sauce in a lettuce and wrap it.  Just eat it like how you would eat any wrap, but perfect and not too heavy because of the lettuce wrap used instead of just more carbs.  Tasted sooo yummy!

  • Dau Dua Xao Tom, Tep (Php 190)
string beans pho hoa 

String Beans w/ Ground Pork & Shrimps from Pho Hoa is definitely a favorite of mine to order.  I can finish it w/ rice all by myself.  I have a big appetite I know but this is just too good to pass up.  It’s not your normal string beans but cooked with such spices & ingredients makes it more perfect.  It’s cooked perfectly, as can sometimes be the case when other restaurants cook it too long, and it loses a bit of its flavor.  In this case, hat’s off to Pho Hoa for a simple yet delicious recipe.  Try it out when you go to Pho Hoa.  You won’t regret it!

  • Buco Pandan Salad (Php 95)
buko pandan pho hoa 

  • Pandan Mongo Cake (Php 55)
pandan mongo cake 

This is the dessert that I ordered.  And I love it!  I don’t know how I can describe the taste but geez I was like “hey, this is delicious!”.  I immediately convinced them to try it out too!  It’s sticky cake made of pandan and mongo.  Great recipe by Pho Hoa.  The taste lingers, and this is a dessert that you may even want second portions of.  Not too sweet, and your taste buds will really shout for some more.

  • Mango Crepe w/ Ice Cream (Php 145)
mango crepe pho hoa 

Always a favorite dessert to order in Pho Hoa.  The ever-famous Mango crepe w/ Ice cream.  Again, the balance in this dessert is what makes it outstanding, along with the great combination of flavors.  Not too sweet, nor is the mango overpowering.  The bit of chocolate drizzled on top gives it a more appetizing look as well as also giving it that extra flavor too.

  • Green Pearl w/ Ice Cream (Php 145)
green pearl pho hoa 

The Green Pearl with ice cream dessert is a nice touch to the otherwise normal halo halo, not too many flavors competing, but oh so great because of its simple flavors.  And even the ice cream was above class.

There were just the 4 of us but we were able to finish every single dish that we ordered.  It just proved how satisfied we were with the food.  Okay, I think raved too much..  Blogging this during lunch time didn’t help too hahahhaa!

I do believe I blogged about Pho Hoa Noodles sometime back though, my post can be found in this link.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

WiniLa – Spend Small, Win Big

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 7, 2010

WiniLa

I stumbled upon The WiniLa auction site today and I wasn’t even aware that there could be an auction site like it.  It was all new to me but I opted to share with all of you today since I really do find it very unique.  We can discover the site together.

WiniLa is an online auctioning site where people can bid for the gadgets & accessories in the market.

The concept is really fairly new to me.  Since the bidding increment is set in each auction you take part in, it makes the bidding process even more simple, and actually a bit more fun too.

With this process, the average daily discounts on the hottest electronic goods & accessories can be as high as 80% on products like Playstation 3, Wii, XboX, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod, Mac Mini, Apple TV, Sony digital cameras, and Nokia mobile phones.

There’s just 3 easy steps to remember when joining WiniLa:

  1. Register for free.
  2. Choose & buy a Bid package.
  3. Select a Product & Bid on it.

The auctions can be on 1, 2, 5,  or 10 cent increments, which makes the bidding process a bit more fun since you are  most likely to bid more than once, twice, or even a greater number of times.  The process seems complicated, until you really think about it and try it out yourself.

From the Winila Website:

Bids cost only $0.50 each. If you place a bid for your desired product the auction price increases by 1, 2, 5 or 10 Cents. To give another user the chance to win, we reset the clock to a maximum of 20 seconds. When the clocks goes down to zero and noone else placed a bid – congratulations, you are Winilished: you’ve won!.

It’s a unique auction experience, because you already know by how much each bid will increase the total bid price by, which is really very innovative compared to other auctions sites out there.   And plus, where else can you participate in penny auctions that go up by only a penny each time!
If you have time on saturday (April 10, 2010), WiniLa will have its launch at the Domination IV event at the SMX Convention Center.  A special live auction will be held at the WiniLa booth for its registered users.  The products up for bid this Saturday will be iPods, Skullcandy headphones, Samsung 19” LCD, Sony Playstation 3 Slim, PSP Go, and other items.

e-games domination iv

The ff. are the list of features of being a registered user in WiniLa:

  • Choose from different bid-credit packages that suits your budget
  • Engage in auctions that start at a price of zero
  • Buy an item outright without bidding
  • Use an automated Winbroker who will do the bidding for you
  • Ease of use with multiple bid windows

Sounds interesting right?  Since registration is free, why not give it try?  I’m registering now as I write this post.  Looking forward to place my first bid.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

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