Charice says covering for men’s mag a ‘big achievement’

MANILA, Philippines – Charice Pempengco finds it a “big achievement” to grace the cover of a men’s magazine.

The international singer is on the cover of Mega Man, which is a first in the history of Philippine magazines.

“Feeling ko it's a celebration not only for LGBT community but for everybody. There's change,” she added.“It's a big step and it's actually a big achievement for me,” she said during the press conference of the magazine held for her on Friday.  

Charice explained that she doesn’t want to prove anything by gracing the cover of the magazine. All she wanted to show the public was “it's me. I'm not sending any message, the message is that's me, I'm a free person.”

Her team also revealed that an international magazine is also tapping Charice to do a cover similar to the local magazine’s theme.

Meanwhile, Charice has expressed her sadness over the death of her former manager Courtney Blooding last month.

They were able to exchange e-mails before her death.

“Kaibigan nga siya, e, kaya nang malaman ko 'yon talagang kinilabutan ako,” she said. “Ang dami naming memories, she was a very lovely lady, she was very nice.”

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Duterte, Marcos on top in Day 2 of official canvassing

COCs from Kuwait, Canada stuck in Customs
Mar Roxas 9,057,359
Grace Poe 8,697,378
Jojo Binay 4,971,584
Miriam Defensor-Santiago 1,398,278
Roy Seneres 23,630
TOTAL: 39, 288,724
Leni Robredo 13,131,330
Alan Cayetano 5,546,631
Chiz Escudero 4,639,594
Sonny Trillanes 794,814
Gringo Honasan 695,593
TOTAL: 38,022,722

MANILA - Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Bongbong Marcos are top their respective races as the joint canvassing committee of Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers for President and Vice-President, finished about 2/3 of their work on day 2.

Duterte is the breakaway leader in the presidential race, while Marcos led by as high as 2.4 million votes before his lead was whittled down to just around 80,000 at the end of the canvassing day. Three of Duterte's rivals have already conceded.

The officially canvassed votes in the presidential race so far are:

Rodrigo Duterte 15,140,495

In the vice-presidential race:

Bongbong Marcos 13,214,810

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III announced during the committee's public session that it could finish its work Friday, or day 3 of the official canvass.

On Day 2, the committee handled 68 certificates of canvass (COCs), with the panel canvassing 114 of 166 total COCs so far. This left 52 COCs still uncanvassed.

However the canvassing of 4 COCs was suspended by the committee after the same panel resolved the suspension of the canvass of the 3 COCs on its first day.

The COC of Antique was deferred because of an apparent discrepancy which has to be explained by the provincial board of canvassers chairman in 24 hours.

The manually delivered COCs of Kuwait and Canada were also not available because they got stuck in Customs. Rep. Miro Quimbo told ABS-CBN News that the diplomatic pouches were not addressed to the Commission on Election's (Comelec) Office of Overseas Absentee Voting so they could not enjoy tariff-free privileges.

Quimbo said the Comelec is now working on getting the COCs out of Customs.

The Iloilo City manually transmitted CoC, meanwhile, is missing and canvassing board was ordered to produce it.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said the manually transmitted COCs of Lanao del Sur and Northern Samar also have the same problem, and the Comelec was also directed to produce it and make sure the members of the canvassing boards are present in Friday's session when the COCs are called.

Earlier in the day, the committee admitted into the official tally the COCs from Laguna, Ilocos Sur, and Davao del Norte after the provincial boards of canvassers' chairpersons explained the discrepancies found in the multiple transmissions of the COCs.

The first transmissions included testing data about a week before election day. When this was detected, the boards of canvassers transmitted the correct data, which the chairmen identified during the session.

During the canvassing, the electronically transmitted COC is compared with the manually delivered COC for vetting.

Gonzales, co-chair of the panel, confirmed an earlier announcement that there will be no canvass this weekend.

Senator Koko Pimentel, co-chair of the canvassing committee, said the canvassing can be ended next week and a proclamation done by midweek.

Pimentel added, "Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday proclamation. Kasi there will be a report, it will be the joint session that will proclaim. The report will be a simple one because the system generates the final report. We will submit the report to the joint session."

Among the COCs canvassed on day 2 was Pampanga, the vote-rich home province of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which delivered for Duterte and Marcos in their respective races.

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Boy George thrills Manila

MANILA, Philippines - His look is iconic, so do his band’s songs. And he is coming to Manila at this time when the LGBT community here is at its most profound as a collective soul.

Boy George, no doubt an epitome of androgynous persona pop history can be proud of, will perform on June 17 and 18 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. He is expected to sing signature Culture Club songs with, yes, drummer Jon Moss, guitarist Roy Hay and bassist Mikey Craig.

But apart from the group’s complete line-up and the excitement of hearing his voice singing live in front of Manila concert goers, what’s being talked about is the essence of bringing in an icon whose very look inspired, at its core, the country’s gay community in dressing up and moving around in style.

“I just really love doing live shows in places where we’ve never been because now we’re a band at our peak and I think you’ll get a surprisingly good show,” said Boy George during his video call to Philippine media last April 21 at Luxent Hotel, Quezon City.

The local press found the self-proclaimed Culture Club CEO surprisingly accommodating during the chat as gay fan-guests started singing the band’s hits and sharing their adulation for him right after the feed went off.

Among the ’80s bands that captured the Philippine market, Culture Club is one of those few that scored really numerous hits that went deep into the public consciousness. In fact, 10 of these can be counted as familiar even to non-die hard Pinoy fans, namely, Karma Chameleon, Miss Me Blind, It’s A Miracle, Move Away, Love Is Love, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, I’ll Tumble For You, Church of the Poison Mind, Mistake Number 3 and The War Song. Two others, Time and Victims, can make a strong case, too.

Royale Chimes Concerts and Events, netting its biggest fish yet in its growing stable of international stars flown to Manila, is making the highly-anticipated visit possible. One of the promoters had his shirt printed with the words “War Is Stupid,” lifted from the chorus of The War Song.

Obviously, Boy George is on top of the heap when it comes to making statements because he is simply, or should we say fashionably, a walking statement.

Answering a query from The STAR, he noted, “I call myself the CEO as a joke but I guess I’m the face of Culture Club, the spokesperson and the singer.”

Seldom when a frontman acknowledges that he is the heart and soul of his band, as most usually opt to say he is just a member like anyone else. That reply showcased the honesty and courage embedded in him which made him a strong voice for people who can’t come out of the closet.

Yet, humility naturally reigns in his voice, as he said, “I never thought I’d be sitting here 30 years down the line discussing my career. It’s very surprising to still be talking about what I did but it’s a wonderful privilege.”

Culture Club, reunited after more than a decade, is on a 40-city tour to kick off on June 8 in Australia. Last year, the group released its first single, More Than Silence, off a new album called Tribes. Certainly, there will be a lot of party-atmosphere noise as the Boy George tribe in Manila comes together, hats off or on.

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Read more at: http://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2016/04/29/1577798/boy-george-thrills-manila

WATCH: ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ final trailer revealed

MANILA, Philippines - Following his acclaimed work on “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” director Bryan Singer takes the franchise to new heights with “X-Men: Apocalypse.”

In this film, the X-Men battle the original and most powerful mutant, Apocalypse. In 1983, the invincible and immortal Apocalypse is set free after being entombed for several millennia.

Enraged that his kind is no longer treated as gods, Apocalypse assembles a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto, to destroy humankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign.

To end Apocalypse’s path of global destruction, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and Professor X (James McAvoy) lead a team of young X-Men in an epic showdown with a seemingly unstoppable enemy.

“X-Men: Apocalypse” will open in the Philippines on May 18, ahead of its US screening.

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Article source: http://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2016/04/28/1577680/watch-x-men-apocalypse-final-trailer-revealed

US helps take down site with leak of Filipinos' data

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED 2:55 p.m.) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday announced that a website built by hackers containing a massive leak of almost 55 million registered voters has been taken down.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the United States Department of Justice helped to disable the website that angered Filipinos Thursday upon finding their names and personal information on the website.

Hacking group LulzSec Pilipinas launched the website wehaveyourdata.com featuring a search engine enabling users to search for their names in the leaked Comelec database hacked and stolen in March. Included in the listing are full names, birthdates, addresses, parents' names, passport numbers and even, at times, text markers of fingerprints.

Citing the Philippines's Department of Justice, which oversees the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in charge of the hacking probe, Jimenez said the data was preserved by the US DOJ via web security provider CloudFlare and repurchased from domain registrar GoDaddy.

"DOJ [is] currently in the process of requesting for the preserved data on Cloudflare and GoDaddy, through official channels, [and] coordinating with NBI," Jimenez said in a statement on Twitter.

On Friday afternoon, a review by Philstar.com of the WhoIs domain name registration of the website shows that the site wehaveyourdata.com was successfully reregistered on GoDaddy at 1:56 p.m., Manila time.

Experts say, however, that even with the site taken down, crooks may have already backed up the data and planning on their next moves.

"Taking down the website doesn't matter. The people who can do damage with the information already [have] the data," Carlo Ople, managing director of Dentsu Digit, said on Twitter.

The data, meanwhile, are still available on torrent listings for downloading.

The NBI is still investigating the matter and going after individuals behind the hacking and what could possibly be the largest government leak in history.

Election officials say the May 9 national elections will go ahead despite the hacking scandal.

Government agents late Wednesday arrested a 23-year-old suspect, a new graduate of information technology, in his home in Manila. Officials say they are still hunting down his alleged accomplices.

Jimenez said the automated elections will be run on a different server, not on the one that was hacked, and that experts say the polls are unlikely to be compromised.

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Article source: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/04/22/1575659/us-helps-take-down-site-leak-filipinos-data

NBI: Comelec hacker may face additional complaint

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation on Friday announced that the alleged mastermind of hacking the official website of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) may face an additional complaint.

Paul Biteng, a 23-year-old information technology graduate, was earlier arrested by the NBI and was placed under inquest proceedings before the Manila Prosecutor's Office.

READ: IT grad, 23, arrested for Comelec website hack

The suspect was charged for violating Section 4A-1 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act for "illegal access to the whole or any part of a computer system without right."

NBI Cybersecurity Division Chief Ronald Aguto said that an additional complaint may be filed once the forensic examination on the computer of Biteng has finished.

The NBI is set to check the activities of the suspect on his personal computer before, during and after the hacking.

Meanwhile, a group of hackers launched a website where data of Filipino voters may be searched and downloaded.

The Comelec, however, has announced that the website had been taken down with the help of the United States Department of Justice.

"DOJ [is] currently in the process of requesting for the preserved data on Cloudflare and GoDaddy, through official channels, [and] coordinating with NBI," Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said in a statement via Twitter.

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Article source: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/04/22/1575666/nbi-comelec-hacker-may-face-additional-complaint

Smart launches faster data connection

MANILA, Philippines – These days, more and more Filipinos rely on the Internet for entertainment purposes. Filipinos are able to catch up on their favorite TV shows and movies through the Net. Celebrities, on the other hand, like to update fans of their activities through social media, posting photos and videos.

Video and audio streaming, as well as gaming and live chatting, are better enjoyed when one has fast data connection. The demand to post, view and share bandwidth-heavy content is continuously increasing.

So, in a bid to provide faster data connection, PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart Communications introduced the LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service at the island of Boracay last April 13.

Asked what is the significance of faster data connection to the average Filipino, Ramon Isberto, Smart and PLDT’s head of public affairs, told The STAR during the launch event that the Internet experience becomes more vivid. Like when one makes a video call, “Hindi lang yung parang kelangan mo pang i-imagine kasi makikita mo, you can also hear the voice, both live and recorded,” said Isberto.

Moreover, Isberto said that faster Internet connection strengthens the communication between family members, which is an integral part of the Filipino culture. “There is that need to communicate. That used to be done before through texting and calling, ngayon nagkaroon ng bagong channel. It’s a much more media-rich channel, photographs, pwede kayong mag-video-call,” Isberto explained.

Additionally, OFWs can definitely benefit from the LTE-A service. “The sense of distance is mitigated,” he said. “Dati makikita mo lang yung anak mo once in 12 to 18 months, ngayon bubuksan mo lang ang Facebook, makikita mo na sila.”

Also, faster data connection provides more high-definition videos and calls, where consumers capture even the slightest gestures of a loved one.

Filipino humor becomes more evident as data connection improves. Isberto cited Filipinos’ knack for creating humor even in mundane situations, thus giving birth to funny memes and videos that are actively shared in different social media platforms.

Isberto also recognized that faster data connection improves the way stars and fans interact with each other. This is more apparent with the rise in Snapchat, YouTube channels and livestreaming that celebrities use to connect and interact with their followers.

The new LTE-A service has the capability of “carrier aggregation,” which combines two or more radio frequency bands in order to deliver bigger bandwidth and faster data speeds. In Boracay, LTE-A service has posted speeds of up to 260 mbps. This is the same technology used by other operators around the world like Optus in Australia, Sprint in the US and Turkcell in Turkey, among others.

“This is just to spearhead what we are doing. This shows everybody where Internet is going. At the same time, we are boasting speed on the conventional LTE and on 3G significantly,” said Joachim Horn, PLDT and Smart chief technology and information advisor.

“It’s three to four times faster,” described Horn of the LTE-A speed capability. For more TFC filipino channel – Please don’t forget to visit us and click the following link to subscribe: pinoy channel TV ABS-CBN

Read more: http://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2016/04/21/1574986/smart-launches-faster-data-connection