The Terrace at 5th: A taste of home
The launch of the newest dining destination, The Terrace at 5th, was nothing short of warm and welcoming. With seven good friends and food connoisseurs chef Cecille Ysmael, Ching Cruz, Maricris Zobel, Menchu Soriano, Carol Garcia, and interior designers Ivy and Cynthia Almario behind this restaurant, everyone was sure to have a memorable night of revelry and gastronomic treats.

Manila?s best restaurants

Carla Abellana arouses advertisers? curiosity

Board Exam Results
Physical and Occupational Therapist Licensure Examination Results (February 2009)

Exports in December fell 40%
EXPORTS in December fell nearly twice as much as forecast as the deepening global recession cut orders for electronics and clothing, the government said yesterday.

Ayala Land profit up P4.8b despite 2nd half slowdown
By Jenniffer B. Austria
AYALA Land had a second straight decline in quarterly profit in the fourth quarter as costs rose faster than sales, but its full-year profit still rose 10 percent to P4.8 billion last year from P4.4 billion the year before.

Pryce handing out gas, drugs instead of cash

Shell accused by Customs of dodging P21b in taxes

Four Defense officials tagged in bid rigging

Starbucks planning value meals

Arroyo scolds Reyes

Stranded dolphins driven back

Rescue mission. Volunteers and fishermen, using their boats and hands, drive back to the sea more than 300 dolphins that swam in the shallow waters off Orion, Bataan, yesterday. Three of the dolphins died. Bullit Marquez, AP

RP readies ?09 corn imports
By Othel V. Campos
The National Food Authority will import at least 250,000 metric tons of corn in the first half of 2009 to cover a production shortfall of 340,000 MT due to damage from heavy rains, an official of the Agriculture Department said yesterday.

Hong Kong fund manager raises Filinvest Land stake
By Jenniffer B. Austria
Foreign fund manager Invesco Hong Kong Ltd. has increased its stake in property developer Filinvest Land Inc. after acquiring more shares in the local stock market.

Foreign direct investments decline 40%
By Eileen A. Mencias
Net foreign direct investments hit $1.65 billion in the first 11 months of 2008, down 40 percent year-on-year, due to the global downturn, the Bangko Sentral said in a statement.

PSALM to negotiate sale of Calaca plant
By Alena Mae S. Flores
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. will proceed with a negotiated bid to sell the 600-megawatt Calaca coal power plant after forfeiting the $15-million performance bond of Emerald Energy Corp., the corporate vehicle of Suez Energy of France, a PSALM official said yesterday.

Ernst & Young, you have a problem
OUSTED SGV managing partner David Balangue has unwittingly provided a smoking-gun evidence belying Ernst & Young’s claim that it had not been interfering and managing the partnership affairs of the country’s largest auditing firm, possibly in violation of local laws.

That terrible rapier of oppression
By Gerry Geronimo
For lawyers, TRO means temporary restraining order; for normal people, it translates to terrible rapier of oppression. This is a quick and pointed thrust that initially draws blood and, if not effectively neutralized by the victim, eventually matures into a constricting weapon of immobilization leading to a win by submission.

World Bank gets the blame
By Fel V. Maragay and Roy Pelovello
The Philippine government had tried to initiate reforms in the implementation of foreign-funded projects, but the lenders themselves blocked these reforms, Deputy House Speaker for Mindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong said yesterday.
Datumanong said he was swamped with protests coming from foreign-funders like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation after he issued an order that limited to 15 percent the allowable increase in project cost from the government’s estimate.

Alabang Boys deny drug bust
TWO of the three suspects in the “Alabang Boys” case yesterday told a fact-finding panel that there was no actual buy and bust when they were apprehended last Sept. 20 by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in separate operations.
Making their first public statement since their arrest, suspects Richard Brodett and Joseph Tecson debunked the claim of the PDEA that they were arrested in a sting operation. Brodett said the PDEA men did not introduce themselves as agents at first and only did so when they were on the way to their office.

Cojuangco sparks uproar over nuke plant reactivation
By Christine Herrera
Consumers will bear the burden of repairing the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant under a proposal put forward yesterday by Rep. Mark Cojuangco of Pangasinan.
Cojuangco proposed that consumers pay 10 centavos a kilowatt-hour for two years after his colleagues rejected his request for a $1-billion allocation for the nuclear plant.

Rizal capitol up in Antipolo
The Rizal Provincial Capitol is unveiling next month its new building in Antipolo City after holding out for 37 years in Pasig City which has become a component of Metro Manila along with 16 localities that make up much of the national capital region.
Gov. Casimiro Ynares III welcomes the move to higher ground with its refreshing countrified atmosphere.

Actors’ annulled marriage upheld
By Rey E. Requejo
The Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s decision annulling the marriage of Diether Ocampo and Kristine Hermosa, two popular cinema personalities.
The CA’s Second Division through Associate Justice Sesinando Villon ruled that the marriage held in 2004 in Nueva Ecija was null and void from the beginning.