Smart Communications has launched a new card that allows its subscribers to make calls to their relatives in the United States for only P2.50 per minute.  Hellow is described as the first reloadable international direct dialing (IDD) card which can be used on any Smart or Talk 'N Text mobile phone to make calls to 17 destinations.

While the calls to US, Canada, Guam and Hawaii cost only P2.50 per minute, calls to Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Hong Kong cost P5. For calls to Japan, Australia, UK, Italy and Thailand, Hellow offers P8 per minute.  Calls to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates cost P10 per minute.  "Hellow rates vary depending on the rates of our partners.  Calls to the Middle East remain very expensive," Kathryn Carag, head of Smart's international services, said.

Ms. Carag said they expect about half a million Filipinos to start using Hellow reloadable IDD card in its first year.  It is estimated that around 8.73 million Filipinos live and work abroad, remitting about $16 billion this year.

finding text mates: Finding new friends through the exciting technology of text messaging is possible here. Do you want to find text mates or new friends online? If you are 18 years old and above, log in your name and contact details so that you can receive text messages from friends around the world.  Because anyone is free to post text messages or personal information here though, the developers of the site could not, by any means, verify such information.

Register in our comment form to join our list of general and special interest groups where you have the chance of finding friends who share similar passions and who might open your eyes to the wonderful possibility of friendship.  Join now and be registered!

Smart Communications, Inc., the mobile phone unit of PLDT, and Globe Telecom have warned that the consolidated bill approved by the House of Representatives on September 3, 2009 imposing a 5 centavo tax on text and other services will hurt consumers, particularly low-income earners, who are heavy users of these services.  Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, himself, said he opposes the proposal by the House, because this would be passed on to consumers.

The House version contains: Section 4, which seeks to impose a P0.05 tax per SMS (short messaging service), MS (messaging service) and multi-media service (MMS); Section 5, which will imposed P0.05 tax per overseas dispatch, message or conversation transmitted from the Philippines; and Section 6, which orders the National Telecommunication Commission or NTC to acquire a metering device or portal which will interconnect the NTC, BIR and other concerned agencies with mobile phone service providers.

Ray Espinosa, head of Regulatory Affairs and Policy Office of PLDT, said the proposed tax on SMS (or text) is objectionable because it will constitute a big burden on consumers and it comes at a time when the effective price of a text message has already significantly come down with the proliferation of bucket pricing which includes unlimited plans. 

Love is like a cloud, love is like a dream, love is 1 word and everything in between, love is a fairytale come true , because i found love when i found you.

To love is one thing... to be loved is something....to love and be loved is everything.

I wish I was your blanket, I wish I was your bed, I wish I was your pillow underneath your head, I wanna be around u, I wanna hold u tight, & b the lucky person who kisses u good night.

Last night I looked up at the stars. And matched each one with a reason why I love you. I was doing great until I ran out of stars to count.

“It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.”--- Samuel Butler.

My hands never pain when typing msg for you,but my heart always pains when there is no reply from u… so text me dear.

They say you only fall in love once, but that can't be true... Every time I look at you, I fall in love all over again.

The first and only Filipino to have ever played in the National Basketball Association or NBA is Raymond Townsend, whose mother is from Balayan, Batangas and whose father is an American.  Standing six feet and three inches tall, Townsend played for the NBA from 1978 to 1982 for the Golden State Warriors and later for the Indiana Pacers. What we are excited about this time is that Townsend himself announces that he has Filipino blood running through his veins.

Raymond Townsend is regarded as the first Fil-Am and only Asian American to have ever been drafted in the first round of the NBA draft, according to the articles at Wikipedia and Asian Journal.  Townsend (using This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), in an email to txtmania, confirmed that he is a proud Filipino.

His email reads: "My name is Raymond Townsend. I am a former UCLA All-American basketball player of Filipino-American ancestry. I am a 'proud Pinoy' who is the first and only Filipino-American to ever play in the NBA."

The picture of the 2010 presidential election in the Philippines is becoming clearer, as a dozen probable candidates for the presidency came out wearing sneakers, as if they were ready to run during an early morning road race organized by broadcast firm GMA Network at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Metro Manila on August 28, 2009.  They signed a manifesto bearing their commitment to observe clean and honest election next year, witnessed by no less than the chairman of the Commission on Election or Comelec.
 
Former President Joseph Estrada, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay of PDP Laban, Senators Francis Escudero and Loren Legarda of Nationalist People's Coalition, Bayani Fernando of Lakas-Kampi CMD, Senator Richard Gordon, Senator Jamby Madrigal, John Carlos delos Reyes of Ang Kapatiran, Senator Francis Pangilinan of Liberal Party, environmentalist Nicanor Perlas, Eddie Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas, and Senator Manuel Villar of Nationalista Party joined the run-for-a-cause campaign called "Eleksyon 2010: Tatakbo Ka Ba?"

Conspicously absent were Vice President Noli de Castro who was in China and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro who reported sick.  De Castro is reportedly being groomed to be the standard bearer of the Kampi-Lakas CMD alliance, but he has to clear this with Teodoro, another administration bet and Fernando, who is a stalwart of the administration party.