ILOILO: HEART of the PHILIPPINES

“This is a very significant and noble cause which I really want to be part of and I’m glad for the opportunity to help in providing classrooms for our school children.”   That’s AzKal’s Emelio “Chieffy” A. Caligdong  responding during a press conference yesterday at Esca’s Garden Restaurant during the launch of “Globe  Football sa Bayan” here in Iloilo. This annual football competition is expected to be participated in by more than 1,000 students, ages 6-16, from at least 10 public and private schools in Iloilo. With the desire to train potential football players and at the same time, raise funds to build new classrooms, Globe Telecom through its sports ambassador “Chieffy” A. Caligdong is set to hold a football festival in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo from February 22 to 24, 2013. Another component of the festival is the football clinics to be conducted by Chieffy, who aside from being the left winger for Green Archers United Globe is also considered a Philippin...

ILOILO CITY, Feb. 16 (PNA) -- The two-day highlights of the 41st Iloilo Paraw Festival kicked off Saturday with more than 50 sailboats parading at the stretch of Villa Beach in Arevalo this city for the Slalom Race.   Slalom served as an added attraction to the main highlight on Sunday that would showcase sailboats racing in the more than 28-kilometer stretch of the Iloilo to Guimaras Strait. It was aimed at enhancing the seamanship of the crew in handling and maneuvering the ‘Paraw’ under all wind conditions in a preset race course. Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog and Iloilo Paraw Regatta Foundation Inc. (IPRFI) chairman Manny Villa Jr. are expecting that this year’s sailing event would be more successful. Paraw Regatta has become a symbol of Iloilo City even as the P450-million Iloilo Convention Center project architecture will incorporate in its design the sails of native outrigger boat showcasing the oldest sailing event in Asia, stressed Mabilog. He also...

Western Visayas will soon see the rise of a boom town, as Megaworld constructs a boutique hotel and commercial district, a lifestyle mall, BPO office buildings, deluxe hotels, and a convention center in the anticipated Iloilo Business Park located in Mandurriao, Iloilo City. “As we extend our 'live-work-play' formula to Iloilo, we're expecting a breakthrough in Western Visayas' in terms of business and tourism, which will be brought forth by the world-class developments that Megaworld has always been known for,” shares Jericho Go, Megaworld's First Vice President for Business Leasing and Development Group. Aligning the expansive Megaworld Boulevard, this 54-hectare mixed-use development will house the Megaworld Center Mall, Festive Walk, the international brand Marriott Courtyard Hotel, Richmonde Hotel, and the Iloilo Convention Center.  The Megaworld Center Mall will be Iloilo's first upscale future shopping mall. The Festive Walk is a wide strol...

Mga Kaibigan Ng Mga Kabataang may Kanser (KKK, Inc.) is a non-stock, non-profit corporation formed in 2007 in iloilo by a small group of doctors and other concerned citizens, with the objective of providing financial support for chemotherapy to cancer-stricken children, who come from indigent Filipino families that can even barely feed their members. These poor families never had a budget for medical needs, more so for expensive chemotheraphy and/or radiotherapy. In fact, most of these children with cancer die because the necessary treatments were not availed of, due to financial constraints. Costly cancer treatment forces many children and their families to drop their plans for the future and just focus on surviving in the present. KKK was formed not to fight against children’s cancer, but to fight against the hopelessness that the kids with cancer and their family feel. I guess that’s the most important intangible contribution that KKK gives. We try to help them financially for...