PH successfully defends title in East Asia Baseball Cup

Philippines confirmed as East Asia Baseball champions

World Baseball Softball Confederation
05 November 2024

The Philippines defeated Hong Kong, China, in the final. It's their fifth consecutive title. Jasmin Romero Junior earned MVP honours.

World No. 27 Philippines defeated No. 32 Hong Kong, China, in the final, 9-2, to win the East Asia Baseball Cup 2024.

No. 40 Thailand beat No. 60 Singapore in the third-place game to earn the bronze medal.

The Philippines won undefeated. In the Opening Round, they overcame Indonesia (13-1) and Singapore (15-0). In the Super Round, they beat Thailand (9-5) and Hong Kong, China (4-2).

The Philippines had a .373 batting average with four home runs. Their pitchers allowed a 0.92 earned run average (ERA).

Jasmin Romero Junior of the Philippines earned MVP honours.

The All-Torunament Team and the Individual Awards are in the Final Report.

Boxscores and statistics are available on the OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

The Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) organized the Asia Baseball Cup, a second-level tournament to the Asian Baseball Championship, from 1995 to 2010. The tournament split into the East Asia Baseball Cup and the West Asia Baseball Cup in 2012. The Philippines have won all five editions of the East Asia Baseball Cup.

Young Pinoy singer awarded Teen Icon of the Year in Malaysia

Filipino singer from Abu Dhabi recognized as emerging teen icon at international awards

Kristine Erika Agustin
The Filipino Times
03 November 2024

A young Filipino singer based in the UAE has been recognized as an emerging teen icon at an international awards ceremony for bringing his talent to the global stage.

Peter Rosalita, a 13-year-old singer from Abu Dhabi, has once again brought pride to the country as he received the title of “The Emerging Teen Icon of the Year” from The Knights Award, an international awarding body based in Malaysia,

“Thank you The Knights Award Malaysia! I am truly grateful and honored to receive this award. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Zyro Wong and the organizing committee for this recognition. To God be the glory!” Rosalita wrote in a Facebook post.

The award recognizes Rosalita’s exceptional talent in singing and performing while “captivating the hearts of people around the globe.”

The young singer first captured attention as a semi-finalist on America’s Got Talent Season 16 in 2021, where his impressive vocals and dynamic stage presence stood out. His popularity continued to soar during the America’s Got Talent All-Star edition in 2023, where he earned a standing ovation for his rendition of “Go the Distance” by Michael Bolton, securing the second place in the semi-weekly finals.

Rosalita’s talents have also led him to appear on the American talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Beyond his television stint, Peter has also won in various local talent contests in the UAE and bagged awards at prestigious international competitons. He won the Grand Prix at the Tessafest IV International Festival in Kazakhstan, and was honored with the Asia’s Pinnacle Award in 2023.

At the World Championship of Performing Arts in 2024, Rosalita has been a multi-medalist, earning six golds and two silver medals on various genres.

Now in its third season, The Knights Award aims to recognize individuals and organizations making significant contributions to society.

PH wins title in ICF Dragon Boat World Championship

PH bets bag overall title in World Dragon Boat

The Manila Times
03 November 2024

PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines – Ending with a flourish, the Philippines bagged the overall title for a rousing windup to the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships on a calm and sunny Sunday morning at the course overlooking the Puerto Princesa Baywalk.

Team Philippines celebrates after winning the overall title in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships on Nov. 3, 2024 at the Puerto Princesa City Baywalk in Palawan. PHOTO BY RIO DELUVIO

A day after the Filipinos paid respect to their departed loved ones and in front of a lively hometown crowd, the Filipino paddlers added two golds, five silvers and two bronze medals for an impressive overall tally 11 gold, 20 silver and 16 bronzes.

Southeast Asian powerhouse Thailand took runner-up honors with eight golds while the AIN (Individual Neutral Athlete) squad was third with a haul of six golds, three silvers and three bronzes in the meet supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and Tingog party-list. The hosts won a hotly-contested masters mixed 20-seater standard boat 500-meter race in two minutes and 6.34 seconds, nosing out Singapore (2:06.73) while Germany was not too far behind in third (2:07.98) in the competition organized by the Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragon Boat Federation.

The Filipinos were also runaway winners in the 40+ 20-seater women's 2,000-meter standard boat event (10:42.31) over runner-up Canada (10:48.64) while had silvers in the 20-seater mixed standard boat 500-meter (1:58.13), 40+ 10-seater mixed 500-meter (2:19.45), 20-seater open (9:23.16) and 40+ 20-seater open 5,000-meter (9:34.47) races.

But the 20-seater mixed standard 500-meters was most thrilling by far among the contests as the hosts virtually led from start to finish until they were beaten in the last 10 meters by the hard-charging Ukrainians, who snatched the gold in a time of 1:57.51. They also bagged the last bronze of the day in the 40+ 10-seater open 500-meter (2:15.93) event in the four-day tournament also supported by the Puerto Princesa City government led by Mayor Lucilo Bayron, the Philippines Sports Commission and Lacoste watches.

 "We made practically made history every day so I am very proud of our national paddlers and how we organized this big event sanctioned by the International Canoe Federation," stressed PCKDF president Leonora "Lenlen" Escollante. "So I am very glad that our staging of this world championships yielded the main goal that our national team was aiming for by clinching the overall title right here on our shores at that" Escollante said. "This honor is not only for the PCKF, our paddlers but also for the country." "This was truly a world-class you have in Puerto Princesa and all we got was positive feedback from the countries who took part in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships," noted ICF Dragon Boat Commission chairman Dr. Wai Hung-Luk of Hongkong. "The participants were also impressed by the warm hospitality shown by the Pawaneños and expressed their desire to come back again here," he said. 

The next staging of the biennial global dragon boat competition will be held in Regina, Canada in 2026. TMT

Filipino teachers make impact on US community schools

Teachers from Philippines make impact on Minot classrooms

Lindsay Miller

kfyrtv.com (USA)

02 November 2024

MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) — Minot Public School students have been gaining a new perspective on culture with the addition of several Filipino teachers to the district.

Beverly Cavite is a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Minot North from the Philippines. She said she found difficulties in adjusting to things like the weather and conversational English.

A handful of Filipino teachers are educating students in the Minot Public School District and say the community has helped with the transition to the United States.(KMOT-TV)

“We speak English, but it’s not more conversation English, so it was challenging for the first year,” said Beverly Cavite.

Jodelyn Daan is another Filipino teacher in her second year teaching Science at Minot High. She said she enjoyed seeing snow but found struggles with the weather and moving around town.

“In the Philippines, we have a lot of public transportation, and here there is Souris transportation, but it’s not all the time, so you have to have a driver’s license,” said Daan.

Despite the challenges with adjusting to life in the U.S., these teachers have been making a positive impact on their students.

Minot High student Tyler Bavilla said he enjoys taking their classes and that they provide a fun learning experience.

“Most of them, they are fun but not as fun as her,” said Tyler Bavilla.

Tyler’s classmate Kinnlee Meier pointed out how caring they are for their students.

“I really love having her, cause she always asks me how I am doing, and it always brings a smile to my face,” said Kinnlee.

First-year Science teacher Marjorie Nellas said the Minot community has been very helpful with her transition, as she struggled with transportation and the time zone adjustment of more than 10 hours.

“The community are welcoming and friendly, those kind of vibes kind of helped me adjust quite fast, and also knowing that I have Filipino community here,” said Nellas.

Dr. Laurie Verbitsky, a Spanish teacher at Minot High, has been helping the teachers adjust since the first one arrived in 2022.

“When the district has hired a J1-Visa teacher, then, I’ve been helping with getting them settled, finding them housing and transportation,” said Verbitsky.

They’re bringing lessons to the Magic City, from a world away.

The teachers are on a J1-Visa for up to five years.

The teachers we spoke with said they don’t plan on leaving the Magic City before their five years are up.

Philippines to become top performer in Asean - HSBC

‘Philippines set to become top performer in Asean’

Story by Keisha Ta-Asan 
Philstar Global
02 November 2024

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will soon emerge as the top economic performer in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), thanks to reforms that have strengthened the country’s global trade position and growth potential, according to HSBC Global Research.

HSBC economist for ASEAN Aris Dacanay said reforms in the Philippines have made the country more influential in the global economy as its share to global trade has risen by 0.11 percentage points since 2018, the second highest in the region.

"In the next five years, we believe that the Philippines could become ASEAN’s leading performer. Growth was averaging 6.5 percent prior to the COVID pandemic,” Dacanay said.

“In 2025 and 2026, we expect that the Philippines will be the second fastest growing economy in ASEAN behind Vietnam and the third fastest in Asia,” he added.

Dacanay cited the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook, in which the IMF projects the Philippines becoming the 28th largest economy by 2029, an improvement from the 33rd rank today.

If realized, the five-place jump will represent the most significant ranking improvement among ASEAN economies.

The Philippine economy posted a growth of 6.3 percent in the second quarter, up from 4.3 percent a year ago and the revised 5.8 percent growth in the first quarter of 2024. In the first half, growth averaged six percent.

According to Dacanay, the country embarked on a series of fiscal, structural and institutional reforms over the past two decades.

“From liberalization, fiscal and institutional reform, we think the Philippines has one of the strongest reform narratives in ASEAN, giving the economy the stability it needs for take-off,” he said.

He noted that successive administrations have contributed to building this foundation, including the Macapagal administrations fiscal reforms and trade agreements, the Aquino administrations Sin Tax Law and institutional improvements, Dutertes focus on fiscal and infrastructure advancements as well as ongoing liberalization and fiscal reforms under the current administration.

The key reforms to monitor in the next five years should be the tax reform on passive income and financial instruments as well as the rationalization of Military and Uniformed Personnel pensions.

“These reforms should help bolster the economy's fiscal coffers further, accelerating the countrys fiscal consolidation efforts while generating resources needed for further growth, Dacanay said.

The HSBC economist also sees numerous opportunities for investment in the country as economic demand grows.

He said the incremental increase in demand in the economy is expected to average $45 billion annually from 2024 to 2029, marking the second highest in ASEAN.

This shows that investors have a significant demand to cater to and work with.

But despite the optimistic outlook for demand, Dacanay said the Philippines is one of the least leveraged in ASEAN, with bank credit to the private sector at just 69 percent of gross domestic product.

“We think this implies that there is significant potential opportunity for investors and entrepreneurs to participate in the Philippines’ robust growth narrative,” he said.

PH placed 4th in Miss Eco Teen International 2024

Raven Doctor sustains PH’s placement streak in Miss Eco Teen International

Armin P. Adina

Inquirer.net

31 October 2024

The Philippines sustained its placement streak in the Miss Eco Teen International pageant when Raven Doctor finished fourth in the 2024 competition held in Egypt on Oct. 30 (Oct. 31 in Manila).

The 18-year-old Palaweña was proclaimed third runner-up at the coronation show held in Hurghada, Egypt. Canada’s Cece Wu bagged the crown.

Filipino contenders have consistently earned placements since the inception of the pageant in 2019, starting with the Philippines’ first delegate Mary Daena Resurreccion who finished in the Top 5.

In the 2024 competition, joining Wu and Doctor in the winners’ circle were first runner-up Meily Herlina from Indonesia, second runner-up Dtuga Pratilja from Serbia, and fourth runner-up Jacklyn Saddler from China.

Before Doctor’s proclamation as the Philippines’ official delegate to the 2024 Miss Eco Teen International pageant, Hanna Uyan was originally set to compete in the global tilt for teenagers.

Uyan represented the Filipino community in Southern California at the inaugural staging of The Miss Philippines Culture and Heritage Celebration, a sister search of the Miss Universe Philippines pageant, in October 2023.

She and the four finalists from the national search officially received their respective international pageant appointments in February this year. But in August, Doctor replaced her as this year’s Miss Eco Teen International bet by The Miss Philippines.

Doctor was the lone teenager among the semifinalists in the 2024 Miss Universe Philippines pageant held in May. The national competition also proclaimed a new set of queens for The Miss Philippines.

To this date, Roberta Tamondong remains to be the only Filipino contender to earn the Miss Eco Teen International crown. She won in the 2020 competition.

Twenty-six Filipino scientists made it to the 2024 “World’s Top 2 Percent Scientists” list by Stanford University

Stanford lists 26 Pinoys in world’s Top 2% scientists

Story by Ranier Allan Ronda

Philstar Global

31 October 2024

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-six Filipino scientists made it to the 2024 “World’s Top 2 Percent Scientists” list by Stanford University and released through the prestigious Elsevier Data Repository.

“The Stanford List compiles the names of the top two percent most-cited researchers or scientists globally across different fields annually. These individuals’ rankings are determined using the c-score metric created by John Ioannidis, a statistician at Stanford University,” the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) said in a post on its official Facebook page yesterday.

Among the Filipino scientists who made the list are National Scientists Carmencita Padilla and Bienvenido Juliano (+), along with NAST Academicians Jose Cruz Jr., Antonio Miguel Dans, Glenn Gregorio, Jurgenne Primavera, Raymond Girard Tan and Allan Bernardo.

Other Filipino scientists included are John Jamir Benzon Aruta, Kathleen Aviso, Jayeel Cornelio, Alonzo Gabriel (+), Mary Ann Lansang, Marie Carmela Lapitan, Paul Gideon Lasco, Lanndon Ocampo, Ourlad Alzeus Tantengco and Aristotle Ubando.

Overseas-based Filipino scientists who also made the list are Ramon Gustilo, Michael Purugganan, Rigoberto Advincula, Josefino Comiso, Carlito Lebrilla, Enrique Ostrea, Baldomero Olivera and Eduardo Padlan.

“On behalf of the DOST (Department of Science and Technology) I would like to congratulate our Filipino scientists that were included in the top two percent of Scientists of the World list. We are proud of their scientific achievements – truly world class,” DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said.