Friday 3 April 2009

Philippine Bar Exam Results Out

Announcement of the results was originally slated at 4 pm but was moved to 6 pm due to a delay in matching the answer sheets with the names of the examinees, according to a SC spokesman.

*As of 6.40 pm, however, the Supreme Court's website crashed and Inquirer.net still has not uploaded the results on its website.

*7.10 pm. SC's homepage is back up but no word on the results yet. What's going on?

*8.45 pm. Agony of waiting continues. My mobile finally died from refreshing inquirer's breaking news page every minute.

*9.00 pm. GMANews.tv was the first to upload the results. I've opened all the links in the SC's website and all of the others were either empty or in the process of uploading.

Out of the 6,364 law graduates who took the exams in September 2008, a total of 1,310 passed.

Topnotchers:

1. Lardizabal, Judy A. - San Sebastian College 85.70%
2. Amerol-Macumbal, Mylene I. - Mindanao State University 85.65%
3. Baclay, Jr., Oliver P. - Ateneo de Manila University 85.60%
4. Jala, Majesty Eve L. - Ateneo de Manila University 85.55%
5. Liceralde, Ma. Elizabeth L. - University of the Philippines 85.40%
6. Macapagal, Micael T. - University of the Philippines 84.15%
7. Dy, Denise S. - Ateneo de Manila University 84.00%
7. Regis, April Love C. - Ateneo de Manila University 84.00%
8. Tan, Christine Joy K. - Ateneo de Manila University 83.80%
9. Jacob, Jihan A. - San Beda College 83.75%9. Velasquez, Shirley G. - University of the Philippines 83.75%
10. Raymundo, Vanessa C. - San Beda College 83.70%

For the complete list of bar exam passers, click on any of the links below:

GMANews.tv
Inquirer.net
ABS CBN News

Congratulations to Atty. Ma. Gloria Alphine S. Lariba for passing! Same goes for the 1,309 others who made it through.

Thursday 2 April 2009

Jollibee in New York!

My uber-favorite Filipino fast food chain has opened its first store in New York, bringing a taste of home to the Filipino community in the East Coast. How about us in Hangzhou/Shanghai then?

I so can't wait for May. I actually dream of Chickenjoy these days. :)

Here's a brief review that appeared in the New York Times:


Jollibee Brings a Filipino Addiction to Queens

By MATT GROSS
Published: March 11, 2009


Jollibee
62-29 Roosevelt Avenue (63rd Street), Woodside, Queens; (718) 426-4445; jollibee.com.ph.

On a recent Sunday afternoon beneath the No. 7 train tracks in Woodside, Queens, a thin, pale man with a goatee approached the 30-odd people waiting to enter the shiny new restaurant with the friendly apian mascot, and asked what was going on. A jumble of excited responses followed, which he summarized thusly: “So it’s a Filipino thing?”
Yes, Jollibee is a Filipino thing, a fast-food chain from the sprawling archipelago, with 600-plus outlets there, across Asia and on our own West Coast.
The Woodside branch is New York’s first, and since its mid-February opening, expatriates have lined up for a taste of home, on weekends waiting as much as an hour just to get in the door.
Jollibee is known as the McDonald’s of the Philippines, and its menu will be familiar to anyone who’s passed under the golden arches.
Chickenjoy, Jollibee’s specialty (one piece, $2.99; three pieces, $6.89; 18 pieces, $38.99), is straightforward fried chicken, with moist meat, a crispy but not too thick batter and, when ordered spicy, a dusting of potent chili powder. It’s a bit salty, but as one diner explained, that’s why Filipinos enjoy Chickenjoy.
After a passel of forgettable burgers ($1.39 to $6.29) and fresh, honest sides (buttered corn, mashed potatoes — regular $1.99, large $3.59), the menu heads for odder territory.
Spaghetti ($4.49) is topped with a sweet, hot-dog-and-ham-studded tomato sauce, and is frighteningly addictive. Palabok Fiesta ($5.79) is the only recognizably Asian dish: rice noodles in a gummy-but-yummy sauce of fish flakes, pork, shrimp, egg and crumbled chicharrón.
Jollibee’s signature deep-fried peach-mango pie ($2.29) is crusty and intensely fruity, at once a Filipino thing, a Georgia thing and something else entirely. It’s worth the wait.