Giant Rat Eating Plant in Palawan Philippines

A giant Rat or Rodent Eating Plant was found in Palawan Philippines. Found deep in the jungles of Palawan is a most unusual rat trap designed by nature and only recently discovered by man.

An international team of botanists found a pitcher plant that eats rodents on rugged Mount Victoria in central Palawan, according to British news site Telegraph.co.uk.

British botanists Stewart McPherson and Alastair Robinson found the plant in 2007 but their findings were published only this year in the Botanical Journal of Linnean Society after a three-year study of 120 types of pitcher plants.

The rodent eater is among the largest of all pitcher plants. According to McPherson, “The plant produces spectacular traps which catch not only insects, but also rodents. It is remarkable that it remained undiscovered until the 21st century."

The rat-eating shrub dissolves its prey with acid-like enzymes inside its pitcher-shaped leaves. The pitchers measure 30 x 16 cm, double the size of usual pitcher plants found in the area.

University of the Philippines Botany lecturer Leonard Co recognized the newly-discovered species as “interesting" but describes the claims for its rodent-eating capabilities as “anecdotal, at best."

Co said the pitcher plant “cannot do that [create ‘spectacular traps’]" as it is only a “passive trap," which means that it waits for its prey to fall into its body rather than actively “look" for food.

Corazon Aquino

Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco was born to Jose Cojuangco of Tarlac and Demetria Sumulong of Antipolo, Rizal. She was the sixth of eight children in what was considered to be one of the richest Chinese-Mestizo families in the Philippines, in Tarlac.

Corazon Aquino was sent to St. Scholastica's College in Manila where she finished grade school as class valedictorian in 1943. In 1946, she enrolled for a year in high school at the Assumption Convent in Manila. Later, she was sent to the United States to study at the Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia, the Notre Dame Convent School in New York, and the College of Mount Saint Vincent, also in New York.

Corazon Aquino returned to the Philippines to study law at the Far Eastern University, owned by the family of the late Nicanor Reyes, Sr., who had been the father-in-law of her older sister Josephine. She gave up her law studies when in 1954, she married Benigno Servillano "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., the son of a former Speaker of the National Assembly. They had five children together: a son, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, who was elected to the Philippine Senate in 2007, and four daughters, Maria Elena A. Cruz, Aurora Corazon A. Abellada, Victoria Eliza A. Dee, and actress-television host Kristina Bernadette A. Yap. Corazon Aquino had initial difficulty adjusting to provincial life when she and her husband moved to Concepcion, Tarlac, in 1955, after her husband had been elected the town's mayor at the age of 22. The American-educated Aquino found herself bored in Concepcion, and welcomed the opportunity to have dinner with her husband inside the American military facility at nearby Clark Field.

Makati Medical Center

Makati Medical Center is a 717-bed tertiary hospital in the Philippines. The Hospital began operation on May 31, 1969. Since its start in 1969, the Makati Medical Center has been the birthplace for many dramatic firsts in medical history in the Philippines, in Asia, and the world. They conducted the country's first successful heart surgery in the Philippines.

Makati Med's founder, Dr. Constantino P. Manahan went on to become President Sergio Osmena’s adviser on hospitals. Practically all past Presidents, political officials, business and society leaders have come to Makati Med to have themselves treated.

Following the 1991 Bomb plot against the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center, one of the two attackers was driven to Makati by a cab driver.

Binirayan festival

The Binirayan festival ("Binirayan" literally means "where they sailed to")is an event celebrated in the province of Antique in the Philippines. The festival was conceived by Governor Evelio B. Javier, and first celebrated on January 11-13, 1974. In 1975, the festival was moved to April 25-27, but in the succeeding years was celebrated in December to coincide with the Christmas celebration in the province. In 1981, with the assumption of Governor Enrique A. Zaldivar, it was moved back to April. The festival was not celebrated in 1980, 1984-1987 , and 1995 due to political crises. Consequently, the dates of the festival, which has become one of the major festivals in the West Visayan region has suffered inconsistency with the every change of leadership of the province. In 2002, however, the provincial board of Antique passed a resolution fixing the date of the celebration in April, and when the management of the festival was given to Binirayan Foundation, Inc. the dates were set on the third weekend of April. The Binirayan Festival commemorates the legend of the arrival of the ten Bornean datus on the island of Aninipay now known as Panay. (See the legend of Maragtas.) As Governor Evelio B. Javier, the Father of Binirayan Festival, reminded the Antiqueños during the earlier celebrations, "let us gather the strands and memories of our past, as we look back with pride, that we may look ahead with confidence to Antique tomorrow."

Binirayan Festival's permanent theme is "Retracing our roots, Celebrating our greatness."

The festival opens with a fluvial parade from the pantalan (port) to Malandog Beach in Hamtic, believed to be the original settlement of the Bornean datu. In Malandog is a historical marker commemorating this legendary event. There are beauty pageants, cultural shows, streetdancing, parades, and arts and crafts local products exhibits. In 2006, the Binirayan Foundation introduced the Komedya Antiqueña as a sub-festival to promote the komedya as traditional folk theater.

Malolos Cathedral

Malolos Cathedral, also newly known as the Basilica Minore dela Nuestra Señora de Inmaculada Concepcion (in Spanish) or Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception (in English), is the eccelesiastical seat of the Diocese of Malolos in the Philippines. Note: Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception or the Manila Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Manila.

The Basilica is considered as the 10th Basilica in the country, and it is located at the Heart of the City of Malolos in the Province of Bulacan.

The Diocese of Malolos, with jurisdiction over the Province of Bulacan and the City of Valenzuela in Metropolitan Manila and suffragan to the Archdiocese of Manila, was created on March 11, 1962 by Pope John XXIII. Rev. Manuel del Rosario was installed Papal Nuncio Salvatore Siino as the first bishop of the Diocese.The current and 5th Bishop of Malolos is Most Rev. Jose F. Oliveros, D.D.