BEIJING - An aggressive international land development and acquisition company with projects in the United States, Asia and Latin America is now finalizing talks for long-term business partnership with the owners of Lee Yuan Investments that owns Marriot Beijing Hotel West.
 

This was jointly disclosed by Meadow Heights Ltd president Jo Victoria Edralin Yupangco and CEO Joana Edralin Bautista as formal talks with Jing Yu Mansions Corporation are now in final negotiation stages.
 

Part of the on-going talks is the acquisition of the 18-storey Beijing Marriot Hotel located at 98 XiSanhuan North Road with 117 rooms, 38 suites and five meeting rooms with 757 square meter total meeting space.
 

“We are excited to seal this long-term business partnership with Lee Yuan Investments and Jing Yu Mansions Corporation including the Marriot Hotel venture which will be a testament to China’s booming economy as well as the forthcoming 2008 Olympics in Beijing,” said J.V.  Edralin Yupangco. She is a cum laude graduate from the London School of Economics with a Masters degree in Media and Communications and a summa cum laude from Kings College London with a BA in English Language and Communications.
 

The Edralins are engaged in several business ventures in the United States, Philippines and Central America. One such venture is the progressive and thriving Chateau Fontainebleau Vineyard at St. Helena in Napa Valley town in Napa Valley, San Francisco, California. In fact, its wine label, Josephine Cabernet Sauvignon, is named after its Meadow Heights chairperson Josephine Edralin.
 

Chateau Fontainebleau is strategically located in the portion of the Napa Valley floor where temperature, rainfall and alluvial soils combined in perfect measure to produce some of the world’s finest grapes and of course, a world-class and award winning Cabernet Sauvignon.
 

In the Philippines, they own the Urdaneta Villas based in eastern Pangasinan which will be developed into a high-end residential and resort area.
 

The other flagship project of the Edralins is the Playa Carillo Resort in Costa Rica which is a joint venture between Fontainebleau Holdings and Madison Partners, one of the Top 10 big U.S. developers based in Texas.
 

According to Fontainebleau CEO Joana Bautista, the infrastructure construction will start in March 2007 starting with a 5-star beach hotel containing 150 to 250 rooms in partnership with Ritz Carlton.
 

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan – “Give man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

Thus said retired Police Deputy Director General Reynaldo V. Velasco as he quoted Chinese philosopher Confucius in formally announcing the staging of the four day Victorey Job Fair from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Bayambang at the Ramos Espanol Building on December 3 and on December 4 to 6 in this city at the PESO Building in cooperation with the Office San Carlos City Julian Resuello and Bayambang Vice Mayor Boy Soriano respectively.

“We want to provide a long-term solution to the vicious cycle of poverty, patronage politics and dependency. This is the reason why we have invited some Japanese friends to employ some of our provincemates in the third district so that they will have chance for a better life if they have stable jobs,” Velasco said even as he thanked the two local leaders in welcoming the job fair in their respective localities. Read more

The United States may open its market to Philippine mangoes, with that country’s agriculture department funding a survey to find out which mango-producing areas have no incidence of mango seed and pulp weevils.
 
Provincial Agriculturist Joe Almendares said the project titled enhancing the export competitiveness of the Philippine super mango is being undertaken by the US Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Plant Industry.
 
“Areas found to be free from the pest will be issued a weevil-free certification and their produce can be accepted to the United States , but these should also be free of banned chemicals like chlorpyrifos and cypermetrin which are used as pesticides,” Almendares said. Read more

It is back to the basic for corn farmers in this province with the provincial government vigorously pushing for the use of biological control methods to combat pests affecting cornfields.
            Governor Victor Agbayani said there was a need implement the Integrated Pest Management, one component of which is biological control method, as a measure to protect the environment and as an alternative for the farmers who cannot afford the expensive commercial pesticides.
            Provincial Agriculturist Jose Almendares said his office has been mass producing friendly insect earwigs (Euborellia annulipes) which feeds on all stages (eggs and adults) of corn borers, and which will be sold to corn farmers starting this planting season. Read more

Marsha
It’s such a queer name. And it’s not because it’s the name of a character in the 70s and 80s hit television show John and Marsha.

It’s not a queer name because it is a feminine name. It is a queer name because it was the name of my dog. And my dog was a male.

Marsha silently died in its sleep on February 9. A day before that, Jenny, the household help, told me he refused to eat. Whatever little he ate, he threw up. I gave him antibiotics and some water with sugar and salt. Then water with hydrite. I forced him to drink milk. As if to please me, he would drink a little then will leave me. I knew he was really weak when he laid down on a wet part of the porch. He hated that, always tried to find dry place. I followed him around, patting him, trying to comfort him. Read more

            It has been a month since we said goodbye to Pluto as the ninth planet in our Solar System. For 76 years, Pluto was the youngest (bunso) in the Sun Family – the farthest and the coldest planet.
            But it was not actually a goodbye that happened when the International Astronomical Union decided to demote Pluto from a major to a dwarf planet. The erstwhile planet never actually left for another solar system, or another galaxy. It’s just there, still orbiting around our beloved god sun Ra, albeit encroaching into the orbit of Neptune .

Read more

 Time was when Dagupan was called the Queen City of the North — the economic, government and educational center in Region I.

                Not anymore, City Mayor Benjamin Lim admitted. The city has been dislodged from its position and at present, there are other equally progressive growth centers in the region and even in the Pangasinan province.

                The city government has also gotten the flak after it landed among one of the local government units with the lowest net income in 2005, as reported by the Commission on Audit. Read more