I’m not sure. But if you’d go around the web to search for public opinion, everyone seems to go for Manny Pacquiao and leaves Miguel Cotto’s fate at the mercy of the Pinoy champ and the judges.

Here are the reasons why Pacquiao might rule on this one again:

Speed
Stamina
Wit
Strong left (which, they say, could send one to the cemetery)
Strong right (lands you to the hospital)
Amazing footwork (That’s what you get after a prolonged exposure to “tinikling”. Weh!)
Boxing genius Freddie Roach
Focus
Determination
Discipline
Support of 90+ million Filipinos (Yes, that includes even babies and outlaws.)
Aling Dionisia

Of course, we really can’t tell. There might be another case of bad socks, low blows, head butts and whatnots. But let’s hope the fight would end fair and square.

And I want to find what you think of this fight before we all troop down to the cinemas, restaurants and public viewing centers near Kettlebell stores. Join my Pacquiao vs. Cotto poll below and tell us why.

We’re actually in the middle of a recession but things around my neck of the woods are still normal. People go on with their daily lives – sending kids to school, doing the laundry, going to the market, watching movies and shopping for pieces of clothing every now and then. Most of us don’t own big houses, have large sums in our bank accounts and can afford luxurious holiday on a cruise liner or anything similar to those Orlando vacations . We remain at the mercy of corporations, running errands for them and thriving at our meager incomes. But the astonishing fact remains. We remain happy and content with the small things we receive daily.

I think that cultural mindset of Pinoys makes all the difference. We don’t stab ourselves with knives at the slightest failure. We simply laugh at them knowing we will survive whatever it takes. We have been through the worst of our times.

I wish that can also be said of others. Let me share what I learned from this evening’s church service, taken from Christianity Today:

The Paradox of Our Time in History is that we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; more medicine, but less wellness. We read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. These are the times of tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years; we’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS ASIA 2008 (MarCommAsia 2008) International Exhibition & Conference will be held at the World Trade Center Metro Manila from September 24 to 26, 2008. This is the first major international marketing communications event in the Philippines since the Asian Advertising Congress (AdAsia) held in Manila in 1997.

The event’s objectives are as follows:

MarCommAsia is a biennial event that will make the Philippines a regular exhibition destination for Asian marketing, with simultaneous conference sessions from distinguished international speakers and Filipino business leaders sharing their insights on topics related to the latest trends and successes in the marketing communications field.

The strength of the event comes from Motiv8 Marketing and Consultancy, a team of experienced marketing professionals dedicated to helping uplift the standards of marketing in the Philippines.

MarCommAsia 2008 is supported by The Asian Federation of Advertising Associations, Advertising Foundation of the Philippines, Advertising Board of the Philippines, and Philippine Conventions & Visitors Corporation.

For more information, please send an email to Ms. Susie Achacoso-Cruz at susiecruzpr@gmail.com or visit her website at http://susieachacosocruz.com/.

Once upon a time, a baby named Clara went out to lunch with her mom and aunt (that’s me) at a Chinese restaurant in downtown Kingston called New Kam Tong. Clara simply liked it there, not because her last name is in Chinese or for anything else.

There were two Chinese female servers in that restaurant.  Because I am forgetful, let’s call them Zhang and Ziyi.  They both loved playing with Clara and would serve her a piece of those Chinese crackers.

Those crackers really did melt in her mouth.

After lunch, Clara would always have those crackers in her take-away bag tucked somewhere in her push chair’s utility basket. Then off we go to Boots where her mom would buy her Cow & Gate milk and meals and lots of Huggies.

Clara didn’t like going to Boots. Although it’s warmer inside, she found it cramped with many people and office furniture blocking her way and view. She loved staying out in the cold.

It was in one of those benches you see at those Mr. Bean flicks that Clara and I met a couple of old women who looked like the Queen Mother. We would exchange smiles and pleasantries with them as we didn’t know how to curtsy.

A dozen of pigeons descended from the deck parking when Clara pulled out her take-away bag to eat some of those fish crackers. We fed the birds fish crackers despite the sign not to give food to them. We thought it was good. And the pigeons loved her.

She said, “Texting is a way of life. I asked the telecoms to cut the cost of messages between networks. They responded. It is now down to 50 centavos.” Wow, that means I’ll have a budget to spare to buy a brand new air conditioning compressor and have cooler nights. And yes, a cooler head, too.

But before everyone starts jumping for joy and kiss Gloria’s foot for being “pro-poor”, let me state this clear. What the government has just announced in SONA is a 3-month SMS promo valid until October 22, 2008.

If you’re a Globe subscriber, here’s how you could avail of the PGMA’s SMS promo. It requires registration.

1. To register, text TO (space) 20 to 2868
2. Upon registration, P20 will be deducted from your balance.
3. Wait for confirmation SMS within 30 minutes.
4. Once you received confirmation, you may start texting galore up to a limit of 40 SMS a day.
5. If the 40 SMS limit was not exhausted in 24 hours, it will be forfeited. You have to register again and pay P20.
6. To check your balance, text TO (space) BAL to 2868. Balance inquiry costs P1.

In other words, the 50-centavo text promo is only valid for 24 hours at a registration fee of P20. Let’s hope this latest government scheme would save a hungry nation.

Before you sign the burial insurance of your dormant lovelife, or speed through the relationship highway without your helmet on, I recommend checking out Kuya Kevin’s blog instead of soliciting advices online from strangers you don’t even know. Life of a single person today has never been this complex as popular views are becoming as dispensable as paper cups. If you’re easily swayed by your hormones, emotions (no, I do not refer to myself hehe…) and by what you hear, see and/or taste outside, maybe it’s time to reconcile your acts and thoughts to what the Bible says on many issues. It’s not just a book on sets of do’s and don’ts but a guide to good and sane living. I don’t believe the book is outdated either. Otherwise, it won’t sell 6 billion copies worldwide. (Or maybe even more.)

Charice Pempengco received standing ovations during a very recent concert at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. World reknown composer David Foster and singer Josh Groban have nothing but praises for this young Filipino talent. The girl possesses an amazing voice for her age.

And two more Filipinos are making raves across Britain. Madonna Decena and young Filipino-British Charlie Green were recently included in the Top 40 list of reality TV talent show “Britain’s Got Talent”.

Phoebe Cates

Cates was born Phoebe Belle Katz in New York City, New York to Lily and director and producer Joseph Cates (born “Joseph Katz”) on July 16, 1963. Her uncle is producer/director Gilbert Cates and her stepfather was Marshall Naify, a horse breeder.[2] Cates’s maternal grandfather was of Chinese/Filipino descent, and her father as well as her maternal grandmother were of Russian Jewish origin. Cates attended the Professional Children’s School and the Juilliard School. She is currently married to actor Kevin Kline.

Lou Diamond Phillips

Phillips was born Lou Diamond Upchurch on February 17, 1962 at the Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines, the son of Lucita and Gerald Upchurch, a naval officer. His father was an American of Scotch-Irish, Hawaiian and Cherokee descent and his mother was a Filipina of Spanish, Chinese and Japanese descent. Phillips was named after Marine legend Lou Diamond and adopted his surname, “Phillips”, from his stepfather.

Tamlyn Naomi Tomita

Tomita was born on January 27, 1966 in Okinawa to Shiro and Asako Tomita. She is of one quarter-Filipino descent (her mother is half Filipina, half Japanese). Before becoming an actress, she won the title of Queen at the Nisei Week Pageant in Los Angeles in 1984, and Miss Nikkei International in 1985. In 1986, Tomita made her acting debut in The Karate Kid, Part II, playing the love interest to Ralph Macchio. She also starred in the movie The Joy Luck Club.

Kirk Hammett

Kirk Lee Hammett (born on November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist in the thrash metal band Metallica. Hammett is one of the better-known students of guitarist and instructor Joe Satriani. In 2003, he was ranked 11th in the Rolling Stones “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Born in San Francisco California to a Filipino mother and an Irish Merchant marine father.

Rob Schneider

Robert Michael Schneider (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch-comedy series Saturday Night Live, Schneider went on to a career in feature films, including starring roles in the comedies Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and The Hot Chick. Schneider was born in San Francisco, California and grew up in the nearby suburb of Pacifica. He is the son of Jewish-American real-estate broker Marvin Schneider and Pilar Monroe, a former kindergarten teacher and ex-school board president; his maternal grandfather was a European-American soldier and his maternal grandmother was Filipina.

Jocelyn Enriquez

Jocelyn Enríquez is a dance singer from San Francisco, born in December 28, 1974. She is of Filipino descent: her parents are from the province of Pangasinan. She has recorded a couple of Billboard Top 100 hits.

Paolo Montalban

Paolo Montalbán (born May 21, 1973 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino American actor and singer. He most notably played Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat: Conquest along with Daniel Bernhardt and Kristanna Loken. Paolo is best known for his performance in the 1997 version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella as the prince, opposite Brandy as Cinderella. He reprised that role in a 2001 stage version of the musical. Paolo was also cast in the films The Great Raid as Sgt. Valera, and American Adobo, as Raul.

APL

Allan Pineda Lindo, (b. 28 November 1974) better known as apl.de.ap, is a hip hop musician and member of the The Black Eyed Peas. He was born in the Barangay (Barrio) of Sapang Bato, Angeles City, Pampanga, in the Philippines, to a Filipina mother and African-American father.

apl.de.ap is an original member of the hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas where he is the main composer. His father, who was a U.S. serviceman stationed at nearby Clark Air Base, abandoned the family shortly after his birth. His mother, Christina Pineda, raised him and his four brothers and two sisters on her own in their small barrio. Music had always been part of Apl’s life, his early influences having been Stevie Wonder, The Eagles, The Beatles and the popular Filipino rock/folk group, Asin. Hip-hop soon came into the picture via the breakdancing, “I would take the jeepney all the way to Angeles City, and that’s how I got introduced to break dancing,” he said. “I would see kids at the corner break-dancing and I’m like, ‘I wanna do that.’”

Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (born May 8, 1975, in Madrid, Spain) is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award-winning Spanish-born, Miami-based singer and is of Asian and european ancestry.His Asian ancestry comes from his mother’s side of the family. Iglesias is the son of the famous Spanish singer Julio Iglesias and the Filipina socialite Isabel Preysler.

Shannyn Sossamon

Sossamon was born on October 3, 1978 in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Sherry Sossamon and Todd Lindberg, grew up in Reno, Nevada, and attended Galena High School there. She is of French, Hawaiian, Dutch, English, Irish, Filipino and German descent; her maternal grandmother is Hawaiian-Filipino, and her maternal grandfather is English-German. The y in her first name was an adolescent addition in 1995. The day after her high school graduation, Sossamon moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in dance.[1] Sossamon appeared in television commercials and had DJ gigs in local clubs. In 1999, Sossamon was discovered by casting director Francine Maisler, while assisting a friend DJ at Gwyneth Paltrow’s birthday party. She appeared in the movies 40 Days And 40 Nights opposite Josh Hartnett and A Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger.

Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Elikolani Prescovia Scherzinger (also known as Nicole Kea) (born June 29, 1978), is an American singer, dancer, songwriter and occasional actress best known for her work as the lead vocalist for the Pussycat Dolls. Scherzinger was born in Hawaii, to a Filipino father and Hawaiian/Russian mother. Her mother, Rosemary, separated from her father and then moved to Louisville, Kentucky with her German American stepfather Gary Scherzinger, and sister Ke’ala.

Victoria Recaño

Victoria Recaño is an Emmy Award-winning American television personality, best known for being a correspondent on such programs as The Insider and Inside Edition. Recaño was born in St. Louis, Missouri, one of six children. Her father was Filipino and Spanish having emigrated to the United States to pursue a career in medicine. Her mother was German-Hungarian. She studied dancing and piano, and attended high school at Cor Jesu Academy.

Vanessa Minnillo

Vanessa Joy Minnillo (born November 9, 1980) is an American television personality. A former Miss Teen USA, she is mostly known for recently hosting Total Request Live on MTV from 2003-2007 as well her past reporting as a New York-based correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. Vanessa Minnillo was born at Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Philippines to Vincent Minnillo, a U.S. Air Force aircrew member, and Helen Berecero. Her father is of Italian and Irish descent and her mother is–according to an October 2006 interview with Maxim magazine–of Polynesian descent, although a past article refers to her as Filipino. Because of her father’s military career, her family moved numerous times and resided in California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan before eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina.

Vanessa Anne Hudgens

Vanessa Anne Hudgens (born December 14, 1988 in Salinas, California) is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut in 2003 and appeared in the Hollywood films Thirteen and Thunderbirds, before coming to fame in the 2006 hit Disney Channel film, High School Musical. Hudgens also began a music career and released her debut album, entitled V, in 2006. In 2007, Hudgens is the new spokesperson for Neutrogena. Vanessa Anne Hudgens was born on December 14, 1988; her sister, Stella Hudgens, is also an actress. She has been home-schooled since the seventh grade. Her parents are Greg Hudgens and Gina Guangco[citation needed]. In regards to her ethnic background, Vanessa was quoted: Pretty much I’m Filipino and Caucasian, but within that, I’m Spanish, Chinese, American Indian, Irish.

Brandon Baker

Brandon Baker (born April 28, 1985 in Anaheim, California) is an American actor. He is known for the made-for-tv movies, such as Disney movies Johnny Tsunami and its sequel, Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board as well as for his role on the short lived NBC sitcom One World. In 2002, he appeared in an episode of the Disney Channel original series Even Stevens. He was born in Anaheim, California. He is part English, German, and Filipino.

Who's gonna take home a date tonight?

The Pinoy-style of dating has changed gradually from the Maria Clara era to 21st century three-minute rendezvous. Yes, dating in the Philippines is already microwavable. We call it speed dating.

SpeedDating was first introduced by Rabbi Yaacov Deyo of Aish HaTorah for sole intention of gathering Jewish singles to meet and marry. The first speed dating event took place in 1998 in California, USA. In the Philippines, Six Degrees is said to be the country’s pioneer in speed dating. The group has been conducting round-robin events for two years now.

The speed date rate card

My officemate and I decided to attend Six Degrees’ event last night at Sommerset Hotel in Makati. There were about 25-30 persons present, mostly singles in their 20s.

Dinner was served at 7pm. The actual speed dating event started at 8:30pm and ended at 9:30pm. During the activity, one of the organizers grouped speed daters according to gender. Each couple was given 3 minutes to get to know each other. When the whistle blows, they switch partners.

Me and a friend

A rate sheet was given to all participants that would serve as basis for successful date match. Should a couple find each other interesting, their contact information shall be revealed to them. It’s up to the couple to decide whether they want to get to know each other more outside the speed dating premises. Results of matches were given at the end of the activity.

Speed dating provides a safe way of getting to know people in a quiet but relaxed setting. Although it presents a good dating alternative, personality matching among participants was not given emphasis. My officemate and I ended up entertaining younger guys who just got out of college and three of them kept addressing me as “ma’am”. There were mature guys present, but they happened to be too mature for our taste (a.k.a. boring). Maybe Six Degrees should start working on their speed dater profiles if they want to boost up their success rate.

And hire a group who can cook good dinner, too.