KASAMBAHAY BILL: Domestic Workers Act

KASAMBAHAY BILL: Domestic Workers Act

Finally after 15 years, the Senate finally ratified on Tuesday the “Kasambahay” bill which sets the following benefits for household workers:

• A monthly minimum wage of domestic workers at Php 2,500 for those working in the National Capital Region. Please note that househelpers working in chartered cities and first-class municipalities will receive a minimum wage of Php 2,000 and for those in other municipalities, Php 1,500.
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• Overtime pay after 8 hours of work a day
• At least 8 hours of rest per day
• 24 hrs. break once a week
• Total cost of Php 368.00 per month must be paid by the employer for the domestic worker's SSS, Pag-ibig and Philhealth, if salary is less than Php 5,000
• The domestic worker is entitled to 13th month pay.

The following requirements are needed to be submitted by the household workers to DOLE

• Birth Certificate
• Baptismal Certificate
• Baranggay Clearance
• NBI Clearance

A contract must be signed by the employer and the household worker. Said contract should be in a language or dialect understood by both parties. The contract is renewable every year.

The Kasambahay bill will give dignity and respect to some 2 million domestic household workers.

GINA GIL LACUNA: New Guinness World Record Holder for the Largest Collection of Jigsaw Puzzles in any Size, Shape or Form

GINA GIL LACUNA: New Guinness World Record Holder for the Largest Collection of Jigsaw Puzzles in any Size, Shape or Form

I personally witnessed the awarding ceremony of the Guinness World Record to a Filipina at the Puzzle Mansion in Tagaytay City last November 29, 2012.  

Guinness World Record adjudicator Seyda Subasi Gemici of Turkey officially certified Gina Gil Lacuna on Thursday as the new Guinness World Record holder for the largest collection of jigsaw puzzles. The 1,028 jigsaw puzzles at the Puzzle Mansion was adjudicated in the presence of two official witnesses, Sister Angeline Ilagan and UP College of Fine Arts Professor Monette Narciso.

Yes, folks! Be proud! A Filipina was officially hailed by the representative of Guinness World Record as the holder of the biggest jigsaw puzzle collection in the world. 

Gina Gil Lacuna (left) is officially awarded the Guinness World Record for the largest puzzle collection by adjudicator Seyda Subasi Gemici of Turkey. 

 

Gina Gil Lacuna, a Filipina retiree from Tagaytay City, has officially surpassed the record previously held by Brazil's Luiza Figueiredo, who reigned for two years. Mrs. Gina Gil Lacuna, a retired businesswoman, eclipsed the old record five times over.

View of the facade of the building that houses the Puzzle Mansion Museum.

Present during the awarding ceremony are Tagaytay mayor Abraham Tolentino, DOT Calabarzon Director Luella Jurilla, relatives, family friends, media and bloggers. 

"I'm 47 years old,"Gina Gil-Lacuna jokingly said, when asked about her age. The proud new Guinness Record-holder is so bubbly that she actually glows when she talks about her puzzle collections. Mrs. Gina Gil-Lacuna started collecting and solving jigsaw puzzles at age 35, and has been pursuing her hobby for 26 years now.  "It was just a hobby at first. It takes away my stress," Gina Gil Lacuna, 61, told everyone after she was awarded her certificate of recognition by Guinness World Records. The hobby, which she took up some 26 years ago, turned into an obsession that has seen her collect a total of 1,028 different puzzles framed on the walls of the first floor of her two-story bed and breakfast inn. 

 

Mrs. Lacuna's puzzle collections comes in various forms and sizes from pictures of Philippine President Benigno Aquino, Picasso works, comic book characters, architectural replicas, religious figures, landmarks, animals, landscapes, Disney characters even mural-sized classic paintings and custom-made photos to toy-like wooden figures and miniature replicas of cities even puzzles that are 14 feet long and 5 feet tall to smaller globes and crystal puzzles. The largest puzzle in her collection contains over 18,000 pieces.

Who would have thought that solving and collecting jigsaw puzzles is the kind that bags you a Guinness World Record? Good for Mrs. Lacuna she was able to achieve such an astonishing feat.

 

"When the record of 238 puzzles was set in 2010, I already had more in my collection," Lacuna told everyone on Thursday at the Puzzle Mansion in Tagaytay City. "But I didn't know that such a record existed."

The former clothing businesswoman didn't start small with her jigsaw collection. Her first jigsaw was a 5,000-piece puzzle of Disney characters. “I started doing puzzles when I got to Hong Kong 26 years ago,” said Mrs.Lacuna, who solved a 5000-piece Disney set for her son, Gino. “Doing puzzles is easy, that’s why I don’t get any help!”

   

Mrs. Gina Gil Lacuna wants to encourage everyone to try her hobby, especially the youth because according to doctors, working on difficult jigsaw puzzles exercises the brain. The more you work your brain, the better off your mind will be.

   

An upcoming addition to her collection is an almost 32,000-piece puzzle measuring 17 feet tall and 6 feet wide: a Keith Haring Double Retrospect set, believed to be the biggest in existence today. “I want to finish that by February next year,” Lacuna told visitors at the awarding ceremony at the Puzzle Mansion.

 

Mrs.Lacuna’s self-imposed discipline has impressed Guinness World Records Adjudicator Seyda Subasi Gemici of Turkey. She allots three to four hours each day to work on her puzzles, finishing one to five of them at a time. “She is strict in following her own rules, and I like people like her,” said Gemici, who is on her fifth assignment for Guinness in the Philippines. Tagaytay City Mayor Tolentino assured Mrs. Gina Gil Lacuna that Puzzle Mansion will now be included and will be highly recommended as one of the places to see in Tagaytay.

 

The UP Singing Ambassadors serenade us with wonderful songs while we were eating.

The night was capped by a magical fireworks in Tagaytay's night sky.

 

All  of Mrs Gina Gil Lacuna's collections are housed at the Puzzle Mansion in Tagaytay City which you can access just by dropping by and paying an entrance fee of Php 100.00 per person. It is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Sunday. For more information visit here.

VIRAL PHOTOS: Maja Salvador Kissing Piolo Pascual Inside a Car

VIRAL PHOTOS: Maja Salvador Kissing Piolo Pascual Inside a Car

Have you heard about the latest buzz about Papa Piolo? 

Piolo Pascual aka Papa P and Maja Salvador were allegedly caught kissing inside a car in a parking lot in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. ( kaloka, ha ha ha!) A video (showing photos) of the two had gone viral after youtube user Habibi Abi posted it on YouTube last November 25, 2012 but the video was no longer available as of today.
                                                      
The video description said:

"My car was parked near the celebrities entrance/exit area. The show was finished & was about to get in my car & saw Maja stopped a sports car... I thought 'twas Matteo Gudicelli but found out 'twas Piolo & captured this pics thru my iPhone."

Maja Salvador bids goodbye to Piolo w/ a romantic kiss on last nights event (Star Magic Concert)..... November 24, 2012.. after the SunPiologyRun in Venice Piazza, McKinley Hills, Fort Bonifacio.

                                                                                                                                      

TAGAYTAY CITY: Puzzle Mansion

TAGAYTAY CITY: Puzzle Mansion

Puzzle Mansion in Tagaytay City houses Gina Gil Lacuna's jigsaw collections. New Guinness World Record Holder for the Largest Collection of Jigsaw Puzzles in any Size, Shape or Form is Gina Gil Lacuna of Tagaytay City, Philippines.

Gina Gil Lacuna (left) during the awarding ceremony wherein she was officially recognized as the record holder with the largest collection of jigsaw puzzle. 

Here are some of Gina Gil Lacuna's collections:

Marvel Heroes Puzzle. Obviously it was for her unico hijo! Oh, Gino, you're so lucky!  Your mom obviously has you in her mind always!

The nativity scene in Nazareth where Jesus was born and was visited by the three kings.

See these jigsaw collections in person for Php 100.00 entrance fee only.

Puzzle Mansion is located at Tagaytay City in the Philippines.

ORO PLATA MATA: OPENS 2012 CINEMA ONE ORIGINALS FESTIVAL

ORO PLATA MATA: OPENS 2012 CINEMA ONE ORIGINALS FESTIVAL

 

I had the pleasure and honor to witness the restored version of Filipino classic 1982 multi awarded film Oro, Plata, Mata by Peque Gallaga at this year’s opening of CinemaOne Channel Originals Film Festival held at the Robinsons Galleria Movie World last November 28, 2012, upon the invitation of Ms. Kathy Solis, PR manager of ABS-CBN. Thank you so much Ms. Kathy.

Oro, Plata, Mata is written by Jose Javier Reyes. Cinematography by acclaimed cinematographer Rody Lacap. This 1982 multi-awarded Filipino film is considered Peque Gallaga's most significant contribution to the Philippine cinema. Set in Negros during World War II, it tells the story of how the rich haciendero families cope with the horror and changes brought about by the war. 

 I asked our neighbor Tita Au what does Oro, Plata, Mata stands for, and here is her answer:
"Ginto, Pilak at Karma"  in English that would be "Gold, Silver, Bad Luck" but sometimes they equate bad karma to death.
 
I was also informed by a friend that Oro, Plata, Mata also refers to an old Filipino architectural superstition saying that design elements in a house staircases should not end in a multiple of three, in keeping with a pattern of oro (gold), plata (silver), and mata (bad luck). 

Oro, Plata, Mata the movie is structured in three parts, it depict the pattern played out in the lives of the main characters, from a life of luxury and comfort in the city ("oro/gold"), to a still-luxurious time of refuge in a provincial hacienda ("plata/silver"), and finally to a retreat deeper into the mountains, where they are victimized by bandit guerillas ("mata/bad luck") lead by one their former trusted servant, who did not only robbed and turned against his former masters.

The twists and turns of the movie will hook you to the screen and keep you at the edge-of-your-seat. Oro, Plata, Mata film blows the audience mind. The mysteries and plot details that beg questioning will mount the more you analyze it. Oro, Plata, Mata is the kind of the film that will demand a second viewing just to see if your mind is equally blown the second time around.
 
I was awed on how Cherry Gil and Sandy Andolong maintained their beauty. Imagine it's been thirty (30) years since they made this film and yet they look the same until now.

Cast of Characters:
Cherie Gil as Trinidad "Trining" Ojeda
Sandy Andolong as Margarita "Maggie" Ojeda
Joel Torre as Miguel Lorenzo
Liza Lorena as Nena Ojeda
Fides Cuyugan-Asencio as Inday Lorenzo
Maya Valdez as Jo Russell
Lorli Villanueva as Viring Ravillo
Manny Ojeda as Don Claudio Ojeda
Ronnie Lazaro as Hermes Mercurio
Abbo de la Cruz as Melchor
Jaime Fabregas as Minggoy
Robert Antonio as Carlos Placido
Agustin Gatia as Lucio
Kuh Ledesma as a diwata
Manny Castaneda as a rich heir
Mary Walter as yaya

Oro, Plata, Mata won the 1982 Gawad Urian awards for 

• Best picture
• Best direction
• Best cinematography
• Best production design
• Best musical score
• Best sound. 

In the same year, it won the Luna Awards of the Film Academy of the Philippines for Production Design and for Best Supporting Actress (Liza Lorena).

        

Oro, Plata, Mata movie marks the first showing of the restored versions of old films. The restoration was made possible through a partnership between ABS-CBN Film Archives headed by Leo Katigbak and Central Digital Lab, Inc. It is the second film restored after Ishmael Bernal’s “Himala” in time for its 30th anniversary.

 

Please don't fail to catch this timeless classic from November 28 to December 9, 2012 at Robinson’s Galleria Movie World and from November 29 to December 4, 2012 at the Edsa Shangri-La Cineplex. 
 
The festival’s much awaited awards night will be held on December 3 at the Studio 1, ABS-CBN Main Building.
  The 2012 Cinema One Originals Festival is an annual project of the Cinema One, the local movie channel on cable, owned and operated by Creative Programs, Inc (CPI).