The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

For several hours, a water pipe “leak” flooded a key road near Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) in eastern Metro Manila early Monday morning.

The incident, which local residents said occurred at about 4:45 a.m., slowed down early-morning traffic at the corner of EDSA and Connecticut Street in San Juan City.

“Ang tingin natin dito nagre-reduce tayo ng di peak hours, ngayon peak demand na, medyo naglakas tayo nag-maximize operation sa San Juan pumping. Baka sa pag-maximize nagkaroon ng pressure surge at nagkaroon ng leak (We usually reduce water supply during non-peak hours. But when we started maximizing pressure when demand peaked, there was a pressure surge and the pipe leaked),” Manila Water spokesman Jeric Sevilla said in an interview on dzBB radio.

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MANILA, Philippines – Soon, women will have their own pink urinals.

An official of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday said there were also plans to put up toilets for women along Edsa following the establishment of urinals for male drivers.

MMDA General Manager Robert Nacianceno said women’s restrooms, which would be situated underneath footbridges on the major thoroughfare, was one of the agency’s proposed projects for this year.

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MANILA, Philippines - A three-year-old girl was killed while her mother’s arm was amputated after they were hit by a passenger bus whose driver was rushing to pick up passengers in front of Camp Crame in Quezon City yesterday afternoon.

“The woman and her daughter had their hands raised while they were crossing a pedestrian lane near the Santolan flyover, but the driver did not see them,” said a woman who saw the girl hit by a JELL Transit bus driven by Mario Villamar.

The bus crushed the girl’s body and the left arm of her mother, Christine Jumabon, 28, who was taken to the Philippine National Police (PNP) General Hospital for treatment.

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In death, she revives People Power.

MANILA, Philippines—For one last time, Corazon Aquino returned to the scenes of her greatest political triumphs.

And as it was more than two decades ago, she drew multitudes who showered her with cheers, confetti and even tears in a huge outpouring of love and gratitude for the woman who led them in their fight to win back their freedom.

Ayala Avenue in Makati, where Aquino marched to defy a dictator in 1983, and EDSA (Epifanio delos Santos Avenue), where the People Power Revolution she inspired was born, turned into seas of yellow for one brief afternoon.

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The spirit of the 1986 EDSA revolt was re-awakened as yellow confetti poured down from the highrise buildings along Ayala Avenue in Makati City and EDSA as the funeral motorcade of the late President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino passed on its way to Manila Cathedral Monday morning thru afternoon.

After a mass held by Tarlac Bishop Florentino Sinence in La Salle-Greenhills Gymnasium, the casket of the former President was placed in a 10-wheel truck filled with flowers  hich slowly moved towards EDSA as confetti poured from buildings and overpasses. Workers came out from their offices, students from their schools, and motorists and pedestrians joined the chanting of “Cory, Cory.”

While the convoy moved, people from different walks of life didn’t hesitate to show their respect for the late President. Participants in the convoy brought placards that read: “Cory Mahal Ka Namin! Hindi ka Nag-iisa! Salamat!” They wore yellow ribbons or head bands.

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Mourners brave heat, rain for brief glimpse.

MANILA, Philippines—In scenes reminiscent of the massive mourning for her murdered husband, thousands of people Sunday came to grieve for Cory Aquino. Some came on foot, others in diplomatic cars. Some were from the affluent class, but many were poor. Most quietly filed past her flag-draped coffin, others openly wept.

As they came for Cory 23 years ago to answer the call for people power against a dictator, so they came again Sunday to be by her side. But this time, they came to bid her farewell.

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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced that the plan is under way to construct concrete dividers along the entire stretch of the Epifanio delos Santos Avenue to keep public utility buses (PUBs) within the yellow lanes.

MMDA’s Traffic Engineering Center said the yellow lane “separators” are concrete strips that are high enough to prevent errant PUBs from going out of the yellow lanes, where they are supposed to stay.

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As the EDSA People Power anniversary rites unfolded for the nth time last February, we couldn’t help but notice the apparent loss of public engagement in this historic event that abruptly altered the course of our country’s history.

Though there was the usual token participation by government and a number of representatives from civil society, as well as relatively earnest efforts by the media folk to rekindle the significance of the event, there was, on the whole, little else to call to mind the people’s valiant acts to liberate themselves from the Marcos dictatorship.

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Evoking scenes from the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, residents of Bataan and neighboring provinces clutched rosaries, carried images of the Virgin Mary and prayed as they marched here Monday in protest of a plan to reopen the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) located in this city. Meeting in front of St. Joseph Cathedral, nuns, tribal folk, environmental groups, students and parish leaders joined the protest in response to a call from Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas to block a bill reviving the facility built during the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos but later mothballed because of safety concerns and corruption issues.

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Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile pooh-poohs concerns over President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s continuing appointment of retired military and police officials to significant positions, saying in effect that these people posed no danger to the supremacy of the civilian government. That’s par for the course coming from a man with an interesting past — a defense minister and martial law enforcer who is now a senator of the realm, who was a key figure of EDSA People Power I uprising but eventually became a considered thorn in the side of the Corazon Aquino administration, and who was and is looked up to by known coup plotters and others who at one time or another swore by the swift, sharp wonders of a putsch.
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