With the trend towards a healthy lifestyle on the rise, so is the demand for natural products like traditional medicine (TM). Just over the last five years, China exports of traditional medicine to the ASEAN region have increased by more than 150 percent from US$81.36 million in 2004 to US$210.80 million in 2008.

Aside from its being a natural and holistic alternative to western medicine, traditional medicine’s affordability, accessibility, effectiveness, and long heritage are the factors driving the growth of the industry.

An inaugural exposition to be held in Singapore aims to further accelerate the growth of the TM sector by providing a platform for TM organizations from the region to showcase the latest in patent medicine, raw herbs, herbal extracts, health supplements, health care and therapy, as well as equipment and related services.

....................................................................................................................

I first saw this sad news in Facebook posted by a High School classmate. The following day, red ribbons were hanging all around Olongapo.

Former Olongapo Mayor Amelia Gordon passed away early evening Tuesday. She was 89.

The wake according Senator Gordon’s facebook account said that “My mom, Mrs. Amelia Juico Gordon, passed away earlier this evening. The wake will be at Santuario de San Antonio, in Forbes Park, Makati City, beginning tomorrow afternoon. She will then be brought to Olongapo City later this week.”

Senator Gordon also appealed to the public and close friends “In lieu of flowers, donations to the PNRC Olongapo Chapter OR the Olongapo Boys Town and Girls Home c/o PNRC Olongapo would be appreciated. Please pray for the eternal repose of her soul.”

Read full article here.

....................................................................................................................

SM Prime Holdings has formally submitted a proposal to lease the government run Olongapo City Mall and turn it into one of the most widely known shopping mall in the country-SM.

In its proposal SM prime holdings said that the company would lease the Olongapo City Mall for 25 year with an extension of another 25 years.

It also offered the local government to assume the city’s obligation to DBP and LBP amounting to P112,612.308.00 and an annual lease rate of P25.00 per square meters.

City councilor Edwin Piano however told Subic Times that despite the council’s acceptance of the proposal

....................................................................................................................

I felt so bad with this news.

BACOLOD - Sixteen people were killed and one person is still missing after a pre-dawn fire gutted a boarding house and neighboring houses in Barangay 19 in this city early Monday.

Residents said the fire started past 1 a.m. at the 2-storey boarding house owned by a certain Morita Dimakakibo and quickly spread to other houses.

Senior Inspector Pamela Rojane Candido, Bacolod City fire chief, said authorities dug up 14 bodies from the site before 7 a.m. Two more bodies were later recovered during retrieval operations.

“The house was made of light materials. It seems that the house was congested, did not have a permit [to operate] and did not have the necessary safety precautions in case of fire,” she said in an ABS-CBN interview.

Read full article here.

....................................................................................................................