INTERSPAGO

Show helps couples with different decorating tastes

Having couples agree on the look and style of a room can be an impossible task. But now, there is a program designed to specifically help these types of couples who are in dire need of a room makeover - Lifestyle Networks "Get it Together". There are hundreds of different factors to consider when designing a room – color, accessories, furniture and a whole lot more. Most of the time, it seems like a never-ending task and just a waste of time to even conceptualize what a room would look like. With the ingenuity, creativity and help of designer Chayse Dacoda, these couples now have a solution to their problems. Chayse Dacoda, a known and talented designer from the US, has found an easy way to get to the heart of the matter on "Get It Together". Chayse lets the couple take the "Design Taste Test" to know the similarities and differences of each individual. After reviewing the couple's answers, he comes up with a plan based on their personal tastes. By uniting the couples similarities and differences in terms of designing, the result of the room is simply fabulous and stunning. See more of Chayse Dacodas room makeover miracles and masterpieces in "Get it Together" which premieres on May 20 at 4:30 pm only on the Lifestyle Network.

Lanao traders lose millions as AFP-MILF war continues

Business owners in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur are are losing millions of pesos in revenues as the military and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front continue to battle each other. Traders have now appealed to the government to resolve the conflict as soon as possible to help them recover sooner.

The appeal came as fear gripped residents of the two provinces Monday as the conflict intensified between government forces and the rebel group.

Aside from fleeing locals, business establishments have been also closing shop, even in areas like Iligan City, the center of trade in the Lanao provinces.

Sim Quina, president of the Iligan Bay Chamber of Industries , said many businesses have closed shop out of fear of being bombed.

The IBCI estimates members will lose around P2 million in sales for every single day that trade is put off.

They feel the government should have a stronger stance on the problem in Mindanao, since it is clear that peace talks were a failure.

Small-scale businessmen already left Lanao to look for other areas that are more conducive to business, like Cagayan de Oro.

Andito lang kami kasi magkaroon kami ng magandang kinabukasan, said businessman Amer Macarambon.

Magulo sa Marawi. Wala kaming kita doon, another businessman, Jalila Bantug, said.

Other business groups such as the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries, meanwhile, feel an all-out war against the MILF is not good for the economy.

Members said that even if hostilities are concentrated in Mindanao, foreign investors will still have a negative impression on the whole country.

Aside from this, they add that an all out war declaration from the government will appear as an admission that the peace process in Mindanao really failed. With reports from Zen Hernandez, ABS-CBN News, and ABS-CBN Cagayan de Oro

LTFRB Chief: Fare increase is last option

A fare increase is the government's last option as it is looking for ways to "lessen the burden" of rising pump prices of oil for the transport sector, the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board said Monday.
"Fare hike should be the last option. The government is looking for other measures to lessen the burden on them," LTFRB Chairman Thompson Lantion said.
Lantion said the measures include the suspension of taxes on spare parts for public utility vehicles, conversion of jeepney diesel tanks to liquefied petroleum gas, and a possible P2 fuel subsidy.
He said the government is also studying possibility of slashing tarrif on oil products, the review of the expanded value-added tax on oil and the Oil Deregulation Law.
While it is the right of the jeepney operators and bus companies to file a petition for fare hike, Lantion said the transport sector should also help the government look for ways of how to cushion the impact of the increasing prices of oil products.
Transport groups said Saturday that it is amending its P1.50 minimum fare hike petition to P2.50.
The LTFRB has approved a P0.50 provisional minimum fare hike while it is hearing the transport groups' initial petition for a P1.50 fare hike.
The provisional increase will be taken back as soon as the LTFRB approves the fare hike petition.
Zenaida Maranan, Federation of Jeepney Drivers and Operators president, said the amended petition will be filed because of the series of oil price increase in the last few weeks.
"Another P1. Bukod sa P1.50 centavos. Dahil binigay na iyong P0.50 na provisional increase, di may P1. Ngayon magdadagdag pa kami ng P1," Maranan told ABS-CBN News Channels Top Story on Saturday.
Maranan said they will file their amended petition together with bus transport groups. "Sabay-sabay na po kami ng mga bus companies, kagaya ng provincial bus, Metro Manila bus."
If the amended petition is approved, the minimum fare for jeepneys will be P10.
Maranan's group, meanwhile, said if the government doesn't agree with the amended petition, it should at least implement a P6-per liter subsidy public transport drivers and operators.
She said the government can do this by suspending the implementation of the EVAT on oil products only for the transport sector.

E.Timor president forgives rebel leader

Reuters
DILI - East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, who was critically wounded in an assassination attempt last month, has forgiven the rebel leader who led the attack, the country's interim president said on Monday.
The announcement is seen as an attempt to encourage the rebel soldiers who attacked Ramos-Horta to give themselves up, paving the way for reconciliation.
Ramos-Horta was rushed to Darwin, Australia for emergency medical treatment after the attack on February 11, in which rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed. The rebel group was also thought to be behind a simultaneous attack on Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
One of the rebel leaders -- Amaro da Costa, also known as Susar -- gave himself up on Sunday in Turiscai, 120 km south of the capital Dili, Filomeno Paixao, head of the joint command, told a news conference on Sunday.
Arrest warrants had been issued against 17 people suspected of involvement in the attack, including Gastao Salsinha, who took command of rebel soldiers after Reinado was killed during the attack on Ramos-Horta.
The head of the joint command said that there had also been contact with Salsinha, who may also turn himself in soon.
Acting President Fernando Lasama, who visited Ramos-Horta in hospital in Darwin at the weekend, told a news conference in Dili that the president had forgiven Reinado and asked the government to look after the rebel leader's family.
"The President also asked people to end the violence in the country," Lasama said, adding that "the operation against rebels must continue until petitioners and Salsinha's group give up and hand over all weapons".
Lasama said that Ramos-Horta's condition had improved but that he would still need to take time off and rest.
"The President has recovered and he is able to walk but still needs a month to take rest outside the hospital," Lasama said.
Asia's youngest nation, under a state of emergency since the attacks, has been unable to achieve stability since hard-won independence in 2002.
The army tore apart along regional lines in 2006, when about 600 soldiers were sacked, triggering factional violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes.
Foreign troops were sent to restore order in the former Portuguese colony of about one million people, which gained full independence from Indonesia after a UN-sponsored vote in 1999 that was marred by violence.
The UN Security Council last week extended for another year the mandate for the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor, saying the security and humanitarian situation in the country remained fragile.

S.Korea asks US to stop exports from older cattle

Reuters

SEOUL - South Korea has requested the United States stop beef exports to the Asian nation from cattle above 30 months old and would suspend imports until it receives a response, its farm ministry said on Tuesday.

A day earlier, Seoul's farm ministry said it had decided to delay publishing rules making it easier to import US beef, the final step ahead of a full resumption of American beef imports for the first time in more than four years due to mounting public safety concerns over the product.

South Korea, once the third-largest importer of US beef until a 2003 outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States, planned to publish relaxed rules on US beef imports on Tuesday after delaying the resumption of quarantine inspections from May 15.

"In response to public safety concerns over the US beef, the government had asked the United States to stop exports of beef from cattle older than 30 months old," farm minister Chung Woon-chun told reporters.

"Until we receive a US response, beef imports will be suspended."