Homeless Diver

The Highlites that the article seems to spend a lot of time explaining:

• Resort properties on beaches will be declared ‘agricultural’ areas to put control back in Gov’t hands
• Supposedly, this protects occupants so they can finally put their name on the property by means of application
• Most resorts do not OWN the land but instead are subleased thru 2 or 3 different levels of people
• Owners (tax mapped) will have to pay the government AGAIN for the property they had been paying for over the last 30 years
• Because everything will be open again, and this is the philippines…pretty much anyone with the most money will see their application for ownership approved.

So…If you just invested 2 million Pesos in your building and several years left on your lease contract….you can lose it all if a new person comes along and has more money to offer the Government for the newly for-sale property. You will lose, your contract will become void. The new owner will have a nice turn-key resort business package.

the article and link are below here:

(more…)

I have no idea why this is considered a Top News item by Yahoo:

Filipinos among 55 arrested at a gay party in Saudi Arabia

Philippine Star -Thursday, July 31

Around 55 people were arrested by the police in Saudi Arabia at a gay party at a farm near Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia.  The Arab News reported that among those arrested were Filipinos. The Philippine embassy’s labor attaché David Dicang confirmed the report.

“I know that some Filipinos have been arrested in that area and we are trying to help them,” Dicang said.

Dicang however could not comment on the nature of the case. “I can’t confirm or deny reports that are circulating in the media…I am working with the police to help the detained Filipino workers,” he said. — Alexa Villano/philstar

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/star/20080731/tph-saudi-arabia-gay-party-541dfb4.html