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Award-winning hunk actor and businessman, Allen Dizon ( 2007 Star Awards and FAMAS best supporting actor) is now a film producer.

Allen’s first “baby”, Paupahan ( under his own ATD Entertainment Productions with” Crossroads” as international title), is scheduled to be released on July 2, featuring a powerhouse cast composed of Ms. Gloria Romero,Jay Manalo,Snooky Serna,Angelu de Leon,Mr. German Moreno, Krista Ranillo,Joseph Bitangcol,Kirby de Jesus and Allen himself ,with prolific filmmaker Joven Tan as director. The movie is photographed by ace cinematographer Romy Vitug. The film is graded ” B ” by the Cinema Evaluation Board. Premiere Nights will be at SM MEGAMALL on June 22 ( Sunday) and SM PAMPANGA on JUNE 30. The film got R-13 classification from the MTRCB without cut. Read the full story

Acclaimed women artists from Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and the U.S. will come together to interact with the local arts and academic communities of Manila, Dumaguete City, Bacolod City, and Bago City from June 15 to July 1, 2008 as a part of Woman As (Mythical) Hero (WMH), the pilot project of TRADE ROUTES in Southeast Asia.

Participating artists include:
Arahmaiani, performance and installation artist (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)
Brenda V. Fajardo, painter (Manila, Philippines)
Kai Syng Tan, media installation artist (Singapore)
Angel Velasco Shaw, video maker (Manila, Philippines, and New York, USA)

Through public forums, artist talks, art exhibitions, workshops, performances, and video screenings, these women will share their stories, cultures, and social concerns with local artists from the different regions in the Philippines. Such interactions aim to break through social barriers, like ignorance, discrimination, and lack of education, hence allowing for more dynamic relations between Southeast Asian, Asian American, and non-Asian artists.

WMH will open in Manila at the Philippine Educational Theater (PETA) Center on June 15 from 6:00 P.M. to 9:30 P.M.. The project team will then go on to do talks, workshops, forums, exhibits, video screenings, and performances in Dumaguete City, mainly at Silliman University, from June 19 to June 23. Afterwards, they will hold the same series of events in Bacolod City, primarily in Orange Gallery, from June 28 to June 29. To culminate the project, WMH will hold an all-day Arts Festival in Bago City on July 1, which will feature film screenings by WMH artists and exhibits and performances by local Visayan artists.

In partnership with Kababaihan sa Sining at Bagong Sibul na Kamalayan (KASIBULAN) and BAGLAN, Woman As (Mythical) Hero is supported by Arts Network Asia, the Asian Cultural Council, the Asian/Pacific/ American Studies Program and Institute at New York University, Ford Foundation Jakarta, the National Arts Council of Singapore, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Balay Ni Tan Juan Araneta, Galleria Duemila, Foundation University, The Living Room, the Negros Museum, Negros Occidental State University, the Orange Gallery, and Silliman University.

In celebration of Philippines – Japan Friendship Month, the Japan Foundation, Manila, in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan, the Shangri-La Plaza Mall, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the UP Film Institute presents a glimpse of the Japanese culture in Eiga Sai ’08.

This year’s offering brings together 5 contemporary, 1 classical and 2 animae/manga films in 35mm format that would surely amuse Japanese film enthusiasts and the general public as well. An invitational screening of We Shall Overcome Someday (Pacchigi) by director Kazuyuki Izutsu will be held on July 8, 2008 (Tuesday) at 7:00 p.m. at the Shangri-La Plaza Cinema 3, Edsa, Mandaluyong City.

The film story tells about the situation during the 1960′s in Japan, the romance between a Japanese and an ethnic North Korean high school student, the sets of cultural differences intertwined by love and passion conquering its boundaries, which is torn by the realities of issues of life that still prevails. Likewise, it deals with music, sexual liberation, freedom and about doing what you want. We Shall Overcome Someday was ranked as the best Japanese film by the venerable Kinema Junpo in 2005.

Other films to be featured are Linda Linda Linda (Rinda Rinda Rinda, 2005, directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita), Canary (Kanaria , 2004, directed by Akihiko Shiota), Hanging Garden (Kuchu teien, 2005, directed by Toshiaki Toyoda), A Stranger of Mine (Unmei ja nai hito, 2004, directed by Kenji Uchida), and Juvenile Jungle (Kurutta Kajitsu, 1956, directed by Ko Nakahira).

In line with the celebration, the J-Pop Anime Matsuri to be hosted by the Embassy of Japan will be held on July 26 and 27 and the event includes the preview screenings of Chibi Maruko Chan (1990, written by Momoko Sakura) and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki o Kakeru Shoujo, 2001, directed by Mamoru Hosoda), a multi-awarded animae film that received the Grand Prize Award in the animation division of the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival and the Special Distinction for Feature Film Awards at France 31st Annecy International Film Festival in June 2007.

All films will be shown with English subtitles. Screening venues are at the Shangri-La Plaza Cinema 3 (July 8 to 13, 26 & 27), CCP Dream Theater (August 7 to 10), and UP Film Institute (August 11 to 14 & 16). ADMISSION IS FREE. For detailed screening schedules and inquiries, please check the Japan Foundation, Manila website: www.jfmo.org. ph or call the JFM telephone numbers 811-6155 to 58.

Public invited to join funeral march and protests Workers declare May 28 as National Day of mourning and protests; Anakpawis to give Ka Bel a hero’s burial.

“People from all walks of life mourn the death of our beloved Ka Bel and many extol his exemplary life and works as a genuine leader of the masses. He devoted more than six decades of his life for the cause of workers, peasants and the poor. It is natural to treat him as a hero and a martyr deserving of highest honors and salute. Ka Bel is worthy of a hero’s burial, we will give him that tribute,’ said Anakpawis Secretary General Cherry Clemente in a press conference as Kilusang Mayo Uno and Anakpawis declares May 28 as National Day of Mourning and Protest.

“Aside from the grand funeral march on May 28, chapters of Anakpawisas well as Ka Bel’s supporters in the local and international people’smovement will hold local tributes and protest actions demanding theouster of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, ” said Anakpawis Partylist Spokesperson Joel Maglunsod

Hero’s burial
“We are inviting the public to visit Ka Bel and join the funeral march and protests on May 28. His colorful and victorious life will serve as an inspiration for all poor people and toiling masses working to achieve changes in the social system. We will continue to protest against the oppressive and corrupt government that Ka Bel fought for his entire life. The most valuable tribute that we can give Ka Bel is to continue the national fight to oust the US-Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime.” Clemente said.

Ka Bel’s remains were flown to Legaspi City via PAL early this morning. From the city airport, about 1000 members of Anakpawis and Kilusang Mayo Uno Bicol welcomed him. A mass was held at the Redemptorist Church followed by a motorcade to the Big Dome Gymnasium Central Bacacay, Albay where the late labor leader and Congressman will lie in state until tomorrow, May 25.

Clemente said that prior to Ka Bel’s demise, his original schedule included a trip to Bicol to attend the regional conference of labor groups there and a short vacation with his daughter Ofelia and her family in his hometown in Bacacay. “His colleagues at Anakpawis and the Beltran family ensured that Ka Bel’s last wish is granted.”

By Monday, Ka Bel and his family will return to Manila for two more days and nights of wake and tributes at the IFI Cathedral before he lies to rest at the Angel of Meadows Memorial and Nature Park in Angat, Bulacan on Wednesday, May 28.

Those who cannot join the protest and marches on Wednesday are encouraged to make symbolic actions in their own little ways. They can wear or hang red and black ribbons as a sign of sympathy and tribute to Ka Bel’s heroic life,” Clemente said.

People’s representative in Congress
“Sectors and ordinary people who are resting their hopes on Ka Bel and his struggle for reforms within the legislative system will not be totally orphaned. Ka Rafael Mariano will immediately take his seat as Anakpawis Representative in the Lower House and will continue what Ka Bel has started in the 14th Congress. Like Ka Bel, Ka Paeng will continue to fight within and outside the legislative system.”

Anakpawis Partylist is waiting for the resolution to be issued by the COMELEC En Banc meeting appointing Mariano as the next Anakpawis representative. “We are also hastening Ka Paeng’s oath taking so hecan represent Anakpawis in the final deliberations and plenary voting on the extension of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program which we are opposing, along with other farmer groups advocating for genuine landreform. ###

FOR REFERENCES:
Cherry Clemente, Secretary General, (63) 921-7283859
Mau Hermitanio, Public Info Officer, (63) 926-4469017

People Power remains a tool for social change that is available to a people who want to institute changes in government, said Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo in a Bloggers Kapihan on Saturday at Kape Tasyo in Anonas, Quezon City.

In his sharing with bloggers, Ocampo stressed that “Filipinos are not frustrated over People Power 2, but with the dismal and disappointing regime that came to power.”

He said that the source of frustration is that “People Power 2 was a fight against corrupt and immoral governance, but we were given a worse government by the very persons who composed the new government.”

Ocampo said that the “if ever People Power resulted in bad governance, we cannot blame the people who took part in the uprising. It remains an alternative way of instituting change.”

“People Power as a concept is always relevant,” Ocampo said, adding that “It remains a mechanism for people to express their sentiments when institutional processes fail them.”

The discussion was “liveblogged” on http://www.bloggerskapihan.com and on Twitter for the benefit of those who were not able to attend.

Cristina Palabay, who was president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines during the 2001 uprising, said that Arroyo completely ignored the “youth agenda” that was presented to her when she was still vice president and in the middle of the then-raging anti-Estrada protests.

Using a photo presentation, Palabay recounted the various contributions of student and youth groups to the ouster of Estrada but said that “almost everybody will agree that we were all betrayed by Arroyo when she became president”.

Palabay said that young people and the public did not expect some of those who joined the anti-Estrada marches and demonstrations to “turn into demons worse than our enemy then” referring to Arroyo and those who were later absorbed into her cabinet.

Bloggers Kapihan crew members Ederic Eder of Tinig.com and Tonyo Cruz of TXTPower also joined the discussions, relating the use of texting, chat, and websites in efforts to unseat Estrada.

Blogger “Jester-in-Exile” , who donned his jester’s hat, stressed the participation of unorganized professionals who went to Edsa in 2001.

The discussion closed the Blog Action Week that urged bloggers to write about People Power 2.