Guinness names Filipino as world's shortest man

SINDANGAN, Philippines (AP) — A Guinness World Records representative has declared the son of a poor Filipino locksmith who measured 23.5 inches (60 centimeters) tall as the world's shortest man.

Guinness official Craig Glenday says Junrey Balawing, who turned 18 on Sunday, broke the record of Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal, who is 26.4 inches (67 centimeters) tall.

The announcement drew a loud applause from Balawing's parents and townmates in Zamboanga del Norte's remote Sindangan township in the southern Philippines, who showered the new celebrity with a feast, a cake, balloons and cash gifts.

Balawing thanked the crowd and posed for pictures.

Pinoys on Twitter react to Starbucks 'no smoking' campaign

As far as Starbucks is concerned, cigarettes and coffee don't go well together anymore.

In a recent notice posted in Starbucks stores nationwide, the company said that it is converting "all previously designated smoking outdoor areas" into non-smoking zones beginning June 27.

The controversial move, which was met with mixed reactions by users of social networking site Twitter where the story first broke, is meant to comply with a recent campaign by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

"Since there is a new enforcement campaign that seeks to make Metro Manila 100% smoke-free, we decided to comply with the rule," an official of Rustan Coffee Corporation (RCC), the local operator of Starbucks, told GMA News Online in a phone interview.

Asked if the move -seen to alienate smokers from patronizing the company's products- will negatively affect their sales, the official said: "Hopefully not."

This early, however, Twitter users are threatening to leave their usual Starbucks habit in favor of other coffee brands because of the company's move.

"Is this true, All Starbucks outlets will be NON-SMOKING starting June 27???? Goddluck sa customers nyo," Twitter user @jay_matti cautioned.

"no smoking in starbucks? hello coffee bean!" @briansales quipped.

One Tumblr conversation between friends jokingly went: "Well, that's the last time I'm taking my business to Starbucks then. What the *** am I supposed to do in Starbucks? Drink coffee???"

The RCC official, who asked not to be named, said they will put up signages around the stores to remind customers about the new policy.

But what if customers still insist on smoking in the outdoor areas of the store? "We leave the enforcement to the MMDA. As an establishment we just wanted to comply with the law," the official stressed.

Here are some of the reactions of Pinoy Twitter users regarding Starbucks' new policy:

[View the story "Starbucks Ends Smoking in Coffee Shops" on Storify]

- TJD, GMA News

Rediscovering Rizal: Putting the ‘Fili’ in Filipino

Who is the Jose Rizal you know?

The author whose famous novels "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo" were required reading in college? The hero we've read about in our history books, and whose monument is one of the most famous Philippine landmarks? Perhaps even the hip shades-wearing pop culture icon made famous by Team Manila.

With his 150th birth anniversary on June 19 just around the corner, Rizal's image is popping up everywhere. To try to keep track of all Rizal-related activities, the MY RIZAL 150 organizers have launched a one-stop-site at MyRizal150.com, while also tapping social media to encourage the Filipino youth to rediscover Rizal.

"That's why we started this My Rizal journey," Lisa T. Bayot, Rizal's great grand niece, told Yahoo! Southeast Asia in an interview. "We wanted to celebrate his life through education, culture, and the arts. And we realize that it's through the youth that we are able to make Rizal relevant today."

Bayot is the great granddaughter of Rizal's oldest sister, Saturnina. MY RIZAL 150 is a group of relatives and friends of the Rizal clan, which has partnered with Binhi English Literacy Foundation and Vibal Foundation to organize the events and launch the MY RIZAL 150 site.

"The Internet is a good tool for discovering the Rizal in you," added MY RIZAL 150 publicity officer Marga Deona.

Deona herself is an active user on the popular microblogging site Twitter, which allows people to post updates in real time in 140 characters or less. She shared that the organizers have launched official accounts on Twitter and Facebook to complement the MY RIZAL 150 site.

Technology notwithstanding, the MY RIZAL 150 journey is meant for Filipinos to relive the not-so-distant past when the Philippines was a colony of Spain, and rediscover the man behind the hero, and the wisdom behind his famous writings.

Fittingly, the MY RIZAL 150 media launch not only took place at the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago,Intramuros, but the organizers also tapped Adarna Food and Culture Restaurant to recreate a turn-of-the century merienda cena. This traditional late afternoon snack harkens back to the days when the privileged class ate five meals a day.

Kesong puti was among the merienda cena dishes served, apart from bite-size rich man's pan de sal;empanada de kaliskis from Malolos, Bulacan; pancit 1930; and, of course, hot chocolate.

On June 19 itself, expect to be transported back to turn-of-the-century Philippines if you attend the "Maligayang Bati, Jose Rizal" event at the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago, Intramuros. Guests are invited to come in period costume, avail of the free calesa rides, and enjoy the musical performances.

"June 19 is just the kickoff for a yearlong series of activities," Bayot said. She said they are hopeful that long after this year marking Rizal's 150^th birth anniversary is over, Rizal will continue to inspire and shape the minds of the Filipino youth.

MY RIZAL 150 organizer Maite Gallego said Rizal was truly ahead of his time, inspiring people across generations and from different nations.

"As you discover Rizal with us, if you go through the MY RIZAL journey with us, you'll see that Rizal was very much a person ahead of his time. He would have loved the Internet," Gallego said. "And Rizal would have been the type of person that the young people could really emulate, could be inspired by, and somebody who could grab their attention."

In fact, film producer and writer Ria Limjap, who also helped organize the event, stressed that the Filipino youth should take advantage of the wealth of information available online in the age of the Internet and social media. What's even more sobering is when we recall that people once risked their lives to read Rizal's novels, which were banned in those times by the Spanish authorities.

"Now, it's all readily available to us. With the Internet at our disposal, we should really maximize its use for research and getting the message across, and developing all these cool activities and advocacies that are Rizal-related," Limjap said.

Apart from the media launch of MY RIZAL 150 in Intramuros, that same day saw another Rizal-related activity, this time at the Yuchengco Museum at RCBC Plaza in Makati City.

Showcasing not only Rizal memorabilia but also examples of his impact on Philippine arts and pop culture, the "RIZALizing the Future" exhibit will run from June 3 to October 29. This exhibit is meant to mark not only the 150^th birth anniversary of Rizal, but also the 100^th anniversary of the Yuchengco Group of Companies.

Fittingly, museum curator Jeannie Javelosa also tapped social media for the media preview of the exhibit, which also became a tweetup. A tweetup refers to a face-to-face meetup among Twitter users. This #rizaltweetup was organized by Ros Juan, better known on Twitter as @juanxi.The exhibit was a fascinating journey into the life and psyche of Rizal, and his continuing influence on Filipino history and pop culture. From paintings and wood carvings by national artists, to pop art of our national hero as a cyborg, the exhibit showcase different interpretations and reinterpretations of Rizal.

For more photos and details of the "RIZALizing the future" #rizaltweetup, you may check out this post from Jonver David, one of the bloggers who covered the event.

"The youth is the hope of our future," Rizal steadfastly believed. In a modern society beset by many of the same evils Rizal railed against over a century ago, the Filipino youth might realize that the key to building a brighter future lies in rediscovering the past — and learning from it.

Is it okay to lose your language? Not for these Filipino-Americans

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - "Would you like to learn Filipino?"

Ask a very young Filipino-American, and you will most likely draw a blank. It's okay. He can't decide for himself yet.

When puberty hits, that's when it hits them. They can't communicate with their parents or relatives as much as they want to. Speaking only in English, they feel isolated in family gatherings or Filipino parties.

Agnes 'Bing' Magtoto knows a thing or two about the frustrations of Filipino-Americans trying to learn Filipino. Since 2004, Magtoto has seen all sorts of Filipino-language learners from her basic to advanced classes. Magtoto is adjunct instructor at New York University's Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program.

Aside from Filipinos, she has had non-Filipino students who surprised her with their enthusiasm in learning and practicing the language.

A Jewish guy turned out to be her best student. Being a linguist, he learned the language like a native speaker. She also points out the dedication of one American woman to learn Filipino before her move to the Philippines.

And what could be more motivating than having an inspiration? An American guy tried to learn as much as he could to show his affection for his Filipino girlfriend, Filipino-style.

Not easy to learn

Magtoto knows Filipino is not easy to learn past puberty, so she digs into her thespian roots to make the lessons fun and interactive. Having been a theater artist for the Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) in 1978-1996, she has her class go beyond lectures to role-playing and immersion in Filipino enclaves where they can interact with other Filipinos, especially native speakers like herself.

At her basic Filipino-language weekly class in February-March outside of NYU, her seven students consisted of Filipino-Americans, some of pure Filipino descent.

The classes were held weekly in different locations. Magtoto admits she didn't want to pay what she considered steep rent, even at the Philippine Consulate, so she relied on the kindness of friends to accommodate them in one office at one time and a school in another.

One student who takes the classes seriously is Katrina Landeta, a 22-year-old immigration paralegal in the city - for a good reason. When she interviewed domestic helpers in Hong Kong as part of her internship with a nonprofit organization, she said she needed a translator. Landeta was born in San Diego, California, to Filipino parents from Cagayan Valley in the Philippines.

"I felt I was letting them down when I told them I couldn't understand Tagalog (or Filipino), and we would have to communicate in English," says Landeta, who, transformed by the experience, proceeded to write her senior thesis on New York Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights. She lives in New York now.

Landeta admits to having a little knowledge of the Filipino language, but hopes to learn more, so she can better communicate with Filipino clients at her place of work. She is eager to take more lessons, because she sees how her classmate, Isis Arias, decided to take a lesson again six years after her first lesson.

Arias, 27, a marketing professional, attended her first Filipino-language lesson in Los Ba?os, Laguna province, in 2005. It's a long way from the Bronx, where she lives, but she said she learned a lot from her Philippine trip.

"From not knowing Tagalog at all, I'd say my knowledge increased about 45 percent," she says, thanks to the program she attended with the organization Tagalog On Site (tagalogonsite.org), an organization headed by Susan Quimpo, an educator and community organizer who moved back to the Philippines from Athens, Ohio. Today, she says her level of understanding is at 65 percent.

Asked why she didn't learn Filipino when she was younger, Arias says her mother didn't speak the language and her grandparents didn't teach her, although they spoke it at home.

She is half-Filipino, half African-American. She hopes to learn more as she interacts with Filipino customers in her sister's Filipino restaurant, called Maharlika.

Learning the culture

Learning the language is one thing, but for Lorial Crowder, 29, a social worker from Norwalk, Connecticut, it's also about getting involved in the Philippine community. She is vice president of the Filipino American National Historical Society.

It was Crowder who encouraged Magtoto to hold a special Filipino language class for Filipino-Americans. The two women met briefly in 2005 and again in 2007, when Crowder attended two sessions of Magtoto's Filipino language class. Crowder also went to a class at the University of the Philippines.

For all her sociocivic efforts, it seems the only thing Crowder is missing is the language of her motherland. Her reason for learning it is admirable. "I want to pass it on to my 4-year-old son."

Crowder did not have a chance to learn Filipino; an American couple visiting Olongapo adopted her when she was 5 years old, and she grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood in Connecticut.

She knows how adoptees like herself feel disconnected from their Filipino roots, so next year she plans to host a two-week Philippine tour with the Filipino Adoptees Network.

In a city where about 800 languages are spoken daily, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world, learning one's language gives one a sense of belonging. Ethnic neighborhoods abound and celebrate their culture.

Many affluent parents are aware of the city's rich diverse population, which is also why they require baby sitters to know another language other than English, a newspaper report said. They believe their children will grow up with a richer vocabulary and higher IQs.

But why is it so important to learn your parents' language?

For other ethnic groups that stick to their languages, it's about retaining one's culture. Many Latinos, Chinese and Koreans pass on the legacy of their languages to their children, more than young Filipino Americans, in fact.

It doesn't help that first-generation Filipinos know English only too well that they end up speaking in English all the time with their kids.

But what exactly will Filipino-Americans lose when they lose their language? Will they lose their distinct voice, relevance and culture in the general American marketplace? If language is culture, you know the answer.

For Magtoto's students, though, "Hindi pwede 'yan." (No way.)

Filipino maid cleared in HK double murder: report

HONG KONG  - A male Filipino domestic helper has been cleared of the 2003 double murder of an American couple whom he worked for in Hong Kong, local radio RTHK reported Wednesday.

The report said jurors unanimously acquitted Magno Cruz Manalili over the stabbing deaths of the couple after 23 hours of deliberation.

A court official could not be immediately reached to confirm the jury's verdict. Manalili's trial in Hong Kong's High Court started last month.

The 41-year-old accused had denied murdering Ng Ka-mong, 54, and Sun King-man, 54, who were both secondary school teachers of Chinese descent, according to reports.

Manalili fled to the Philippines soon after the April 2003 killings but was extradited back to Hong Kong last June.

He was arrested in the northern Philippines in 2004, but fought a Hong Kong police extradition request before eventually agreeing to be sent to the territory for trial.