Philippine Islands – Discover the beauty of its 7,107 islands

Tuba is a part of our rich culture. It is just a part of our progressive past that is still to be discovered. This tells us that even we Cebuanos can produce our own beverage that we can be proud of.

This indigenous liquor is said to be already existent even before Spanish colonization. This was the official wine of every tribe at that time. This was proven by the writings of Pigafetta, the official chronicler of Ferdinand Magellan during the time when they colonized the Philippines.

In Cebu, Pigafetta drank palm wine with Rajah Humabon, the chief of Mactan that time. This only shows that since then, this liquor has been a witness to our history.

Folk songs and poems have been written about the tuba. Some of them are as follows:

    * “Kondansoy” (a Cebuano folk song)
    * “Si Pilemon” (a Cebuano folk song)
    * Tigmo (a

Have you ever tasted liquors and wines? I know some of you already have. It will be a miracle if you haven’t.

Well, if you think you’ve already tasted all the good wines, then it’s now time for you to think again because here you’ll discover a new wine that will make your mouth water. It is a wine we are very sure most of you haven’t tasted yet. Together, let us discover Cebu’s famous liquor—tuba.

Tuba in Philippine History

In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan, the first colonizer of the Philippines, arrived with troop in one of the provinces in the Philippines and was then offered a bamboo tube containing a drink.

The drink was said to be the sap taken from coconut flowers before they bloom. The sap is mixed with the bark of Rhizophora ocally known as tungog. After some time, it ferments and becomes a mild alcoholic drink having

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps 

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps speaks out on his career plans in his first interview since a tabloid published a photo depicting him using a bong. 
The winner of a record 14 Olympic gold medals told his hometown newspaper the Baltimore Sun that public scrutiny over the embarrassing photo has him reconsidering whether to swim in the 2012 Olympics.

“This is a decision of mine that I’m not going to make today and I’m not going to make tomorrow,” Phelps said. “It’s going to require a lot of time and energy and a lot of thinking for myself – but also talking to Bob (coach Bob Bowman) and talking to my family and just deciding what I want to do.”

“Yeah, there are still goals that I have in the pool, 100 percent. But I’m not going to let anything

Preliminary hearing set Monday for Pacquiao’s ‘bookkeeper’
JOSEPH G. LARIOSA, GMANews.TV

CHICAGO – Judge Kristi Lousteau of the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles will hold a preliminary hearing on Monday for the case of a woman accused of stealing $89,000 from Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao.

Lousteau scheduled the hearing following an “early disposition hearing’ of the case against Pia Anatalia Quijada last Wednesday at the District Criminal Justice Center at Department 050 in Los Angeles.

Quijada, 27, is charged with one-count felony “grand theft of property over $400″ and 32-count felony forgeries.

Sandi Gibbons, public information officer of the District Attorney’s office of Los Angeles, said Quijada could face a minimum of 16 months to a maximum of three years in jail if she is convicted for each count of grand theft of property over $400 and of the crime of forgery.

“The judge may run the prison terms concurrently or consecutively

Michael Phelps’ day grew lousier by the hour on Thursday.

First he lost a major sponsor, then he got suspended.

The Olympic great was suspended from competition for three months by USA Swimming, the latest fallout from a photo that showed him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.

The sport’s national governing body also cut off its financial support to Phelps for the same three-month period, effective immediately.

“This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a hero,” the Colorado Springs-based federation said in a statement.

“Michael has voluntarily accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust.”

Phelps won a record eight gold medals in Beijing and returned to America as one of the world’s

Octuplets born in Calif. hospital

This image provided by NBC shows Nadya Suleman, left, speaking with Ann Curry in New York on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009, in Suleman’s first interview since giving birth to octuplets last week. The interview is planned to be broadcast on the ‘Today’ show on Monday, Feb. 9 and ‘Dateline’ on Tuesday, Feb. 10 (AP Photo/NBC, Paul Drinkwater)

The veil of secrecy octuplets’ mother Nadya Suleman shrouded herself in for more than a week was lifted Thursday with the release of public documents showing that the 33-year-old struggled with depression for years until she finally began to realize her childhood dream of having a huge family.

Suleman, who now has 14 children, told doctors she battled with depression for years after she was injured in a riot in 1999 at the state mental hospital where she worked.

The doctors’ reports were included in more