By Reyma Buan-Deveza, ABS-CBNnews.com and U.S. News Agency / Asian

Actor Coco Martin said co-star Angeline Quinto has the potential to become a good dramatic actress as he praised the singer’s determination in learning the craft.

Quinto, a singer, is appearing with Martin on her debut film, “Born to Love You,” which opens later this month.

“Nakita ko ‘yung pag-bloom. Noong napanood ko ‘yung pelikula, nakita ko na magaling siya lalo na sa drama,” Martin said at the movie’s press conference on Wednesday.

“Dahil na din siguro sa mga experience niya, may potential,” he added.

Kaya ako sabi ko sa kanya sana ay hindi lang ito ‘yung pagsamahan nating pelikula. Sana marami pa,” he added.

Martin admitted that he and director Jerome Pobocan initially had doubts about Quinto’s acting abilities.

“Yung sa workshop pa lang ay nagtinginan kami ni direk. Kasi kahit blocking, hindi niya alam… as in zero. Wala siyang alam,” the award-winning actor recalled. “Pero halos every day may development ang acting niya.”

But the “Walang Hanggan” lead star was generous enough to help Quinto throughout the filming — even if he admitted that it was also tiring at time.

“Sa lahat ng eksena namin dumarating ‘yung time na sa sobrang kaka-motivate mo sa kanya na ‘Ange ganito ang ibig sabihin niyan, ganito ang gustong mangyari ni Direk,’ kapag ako na ‘yung kukunan eh pagod na pagod na ako. Kasi kumbaga naubos na ang lahat ng lakas ko,” Martin said.

But their patience and efforts paid off such that Martin believes that Quinto would do more films in the future.

“Kaya ako sabi ko sa kanya sana ay hindi lang ito yung pagsamahan nating pelikula sana marami pa,” he said.

For her part, Quinto admitted that she’s blessed to have Martin as her first leading man.

“Yung kaba po hindi maalis ‘yon. Una ko itong pag-arte. Mahirap po sa akin noong una pero sa awa ni Lord ay nairaos naman po ng maayos,” she admitted.

“Ang saya ko po kasi dati si Coco ay pinapangarap ko lang na sana ay makasama ko sa isang trabaho. Ngayon po ay natapos na ang movie namin kaya sobra po ang pasasalamat ko sa kanya,” she added.

The singer who publicly admitted her admiration for Martin, said she’s also lucky that her first kiss ever — whether on or off screen — was with Martin.

“Listerine ang amoy ng halik ni Coco. Mabango ang hinihinga, yummy,” she said.

“Born To Love You” will open in theaters nationwide on May 30.

By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

Top seed Paul Vivas clobbered Rusty Rodriguez, 21-10, 21-10, to lead the national players into the third round of the men’s Open singles Wednesday in the Philippine National Open-Ming Ramos Youth Camp Badminton Championships at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.

Vivas, a veteran of the national team, took just 17 minutes to dispose of his opponent and set up an encounter with fellow Philippine team mainstay Kevin Alfred Dalisay, who advanced with a 21-6, 21-12 rout over Kingsley Go of Escoses Training Camp.

With new Indonesian head coach Rexy Mainaky monitoring their performances, the Filipino shuttlers are hard-pressed to show their wares in the tournament sponsored by Victor/PCOME, Bingo Bonanza, Sun Cellular and the Philippine Sports Commission.

“They should be able to show they are worthy to be in the national team,” said Mainaky, the top-caliber coach who is also conducting a search for new members of the national pool.

He said the 20-plus Philippine squad was too small to make a difference in the powerhouse Southeast Asian region.

Second seed Andrei Babad was first to wilt under pressure as he suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of Alex Borromeo of Escoses Training Team.

Babad, a long-time member of the national team since his junior days, dropped a 21-23, 21-8, 21-9 decision to Borromeo, who advanced against Lawrence Palomer of Babolat Academy.

The other national players, however, breezed through the next round of the week-long tournament, organized and conducted by the Philippine Badminton Association, headed by president and Vice President Jejomar Binay, chairman Manny V. Pangilinan and secretary general Rep. Albee Benitez. The event is also held in honor of former PBA president and now honorary chairman and former First Lady Amelita “Ming” Ramos.

Christopher Flores trounced Mark Gregorio, 21-6, 21-7, for a clash with Robert Aloyan, who ripped Dave Dueves, 21-11, 21-11; Marvin Cudiamat routed Christian Bandialan, 21-11, 21-12, to move up against Jose Lorenzo Yason, who whipped Jay Antonio, 21-11, 21-12.

Peter Gabriel Magnaye needed three sets to repulse Antonio Pacupia Jr., 21-19, 15-21, 21-14, for a showdown with Mark Magboo, a 21-10, 16-21, 21-16 winner over Sylvester Cosico; while Joper Escueta made short-work of Anthony Chen, 21-12, 21-8, for a duel with Gen Vincent Fabro, who scored a walkover win Benjude Cajefe.

By PNA / Bernama and U.S. News Agency / Asian

Some 25 delegations from Asian countries arrived in the Malaysian capital for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, National Paralympic Committee Asian Pre-Delegates Registration meeting.

Asian Paralympic Committee president Datuk Zainal Abu Zarin said the meeting would determine the fate of Asian countries’ participation in the 2012 London Paralympic games.

“We will discuss and resolve a number of issues like registration, types of sport to be held in London,” he told Bernama here Tuesday.

By PNA / RIA Novosti and U.S. News Agency / Asian

FIFA is to test goal-line technology at two Danish Superliga matches over the next week, the world football body said in a statement Wednesday.

The GoalRef system will be deployed on Sunday at the mid-table clash between Silkeborg IF and SonderjyskE, and for a second time on Wednesday when second-placed FC Nordsjaelland take on third-placed AC Horsens, FIFA said.

GoalRef, a system based on magnetic signals and produced by a Danish-German firm, is competing with British tracking system Hawk-Eye, which FIFA is testing Wednesday at Southampton’s St. Mary’s Stadium.

The venue is hosting the FA Senior Cup Final between AFC Totton and Eastleigh FC.

None of the technology will be used by the referees to make decisions during the matches, however; the signals from the equipment will only be available to observers from a Swiss testing institute, FIFA said.

Several high-profile mistakes in recent years have prompted FIFA president Sepp Blatter to make a stern case that the technology should be adopted to rule out such injustices.

Replays showed a shot by England midfielder Frank Lampard at the 2010 World Cup match against Germany had crossed the line, but neither the referee nor his assistant gave the goal.

Lampard’s Chelsea teammate Juan Mata was awarded a goal despite the ball not having crossed the line in a 5-1 league win over Tottenham Hotspur last month.

UEFA president Michel Platini is a known opponent of the technology, warning in 2010 that it would lead to “Playstation football.”

FIFA dumped a proposed system that used microchip in 2008, claiming it was too inaccurate.

By Eddie G. Alinea, PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

Manny Pacquiao’s chief trainer Freddie Roach and Joel Diaz, his counterpart in the Timothy Bradley camp, both predicted their wards will pull off a knockout come their June 9 title fight.

Saying that all fights should end ideally via knockout, Roach averred: “I don’t see it going the distance.”

For his part, Diaz, who together with Roach, Pacquiao and Bradley appeared in HBO’s “Face Off” interview aired over the weekend, also vowed to “look for a stoppage.”

“We will “get him out of there in the late rounds,” Roach said. “We’re training hard for this.”

Diaz countered saying no one trains harder than Bradley who will be ready to mix it up until the time he’s ready to end the fight.

Responding to Roach’s projection, Bradley, the unbeaten junior-welterweight champion out to end the Pacquiao’s reign as 147-pound kingpin, remarked, “They don’t know, man. They really don’t know.”

“Come break down this wall,” he said, adding he felt he could beat Pacman, and called himself a wall because he cannot be broken.

Roach said they can break the wall. But Diaz said his ward gets stronger later in the bout and the only way to win over him is to be wise “and try to stop him early. My guy will be extra careful early.”

Pacquiao, meanwhile, said he only wants to give the fans a great bout, and that he’ll pray for Bradley and himself that no serious injury happens in their 12-round showdown.

“God bless you,” Pacquiao told Bradley.

Roach said Pacquiao has learned his lesson from his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez and, this time, the eight-division belt-owner will come prepared to erase the stigma of that lackluster performance.

“Manny underestimated Juan Manuel Marquez in his last outing, so he wanted to make sure he was mentally charged this time around,” he asserted.

Asked by program host Max Kellerman what would happen if he gets buzzed early. Bradley retorted that he will stay in the game, and stay resolute.

“I want to feel the pain,” he said. “Bring it on, I’m up for the challenge, bring it on. Yes, there will be toe to toe trading,” Bradley said. “Chances will need to be taken.”

Bradley admitted though that getting a chance to fight Pacquiao is “an honor. I got to say, I am happy for the man that he will make upwards of million for the bout, but I really don’t want to hear fighters talk about what an honor it is to get a gig like this.”

“The gratification one feels can subconsciously seep in to how one fights, in my mind,” he noted. “Me and Pacquiao faced off, and treated the clash too much for too many rounds like a sparring match amongst friends.”

On who is better between Pacquiao and arch-enemy Floyd Mayweather Jr., Bradley said, “Pacquiao is number one, pound-for-pound, in the game. I don’t know. We have to see. Those two would have to square off to determine who is best.”

Bradley quickly added though that he wants to screw up that plan.

By Lovely D. Rodriguez, PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

Two bikers from the De La Salle University-Dasmarinas will pedal 1,500 kilometers from Luzon to Mindanao from June 15 to July 2 under the “Amazing Raise, a Bike-For-A-Cause” project to raise funds for student scholarships and campaign for the environment.

Bikers Fred Agustin and Gio Espital, both alumna of DLSU, will pedal their way for 17 days across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao as part of the centennial celebration of Lasallian presence in the Philippines.

“Biking is a lifestyle, we save money.. and we decided why not do this biking to raise fund?” Agustin said.

Project coordinator Marco M. Polo said The Amazing Raise,
targets to raise funds through pledges and sponsorships to benefit the One La Salle Scholarship Fund (OLSF) and Project Carbon Neutral (PCN) campaign.

During the Shakey’s PSA Sports Forum on Tuesday in Manila, Polo said the scholarship fund aims to raise P 2 billion by 2015 to provide educational scholarships to 20 percent of its almost 92,000 student body nationwide and
to make Lasallian education accessible.

On the other hand, the PCN aims to lessen the carbon footprint of each Lasallian school by conducting environment related campaigns like tree planting and carbon footprint reduction awareness.

Agustin and Espital said they also conceived the project to promote biking as a healthy and eco-friendly lifestyle.

Polo said the Amazing Raise will connect all 17 De La Salle Philippines (DLSP) member schools starting from the northernmost Jaime Hilario Integrated School-La Salle in Bagac, Bataan to the southernmost De La Salle John Bosco College in Surigao Del Sur.

By Iona Magsombol, PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

Enthusiasts are invited to watch the fun and thrill of the Philippine Kayaking Association’s 1st leg series dubbed “Kayak Explore” that will be held on May 26 from Ternate to Maragondon, Cavite.

During the Philippine Sports Association (PSA) Shakey’s forum on Tuesday, kayaking pioneer Val Camara said the excitement in the 22-kilometer kayak marathon will help promote kayaking as one of the country’s tourist attractions.

Camara said kayak marathon themed, “”Meeting Challenges to our Water Environment and Communities,” will start from the New Ternate Beach Resort and ends at the El Fraile resort in Maragondon.

“They said that the Kayak Team was born in Cavite. The Philippines is now known as a kayaking destinatio,” Camara said.

Camara said kayaking as an environment-friendly and physical fitness sport has gained support from government agencies like the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Philippine Navy, tourism councils of local government units and the private sector.

He said the event, regularly joined by dragonboaters and elite paddlers, also highlights the importance of preserving the country’s remaining pristine water tributaries like the Maragondon river.

The 2nd leg of the kayaking series will take place on September 22-23 from Candelaria to Masinloc, Zambales.

Registrations are still open and participants may inquire details at their website www.kayakphilippines.com

By PNA / Xinhua and U.S. News Agency / Asian

The fourth Biennial Sports Expo opened here on Tuesday under the theme “Promoting Africa’s Talents Globally: Role of Sports Business” with the aim of promoting the business side of sports in the country.

A traditional ruler, Nana Kwabena Nketsia V Chief of Esikado, near Takoradi, 218 kilometers west of the capital called for the development, through the conference a new paradigm for the development and organization of sports in the country and on the African continent.

He said this would help sport to be run more as an emerging industry, requiring a new regulatory framework, policy direction and structures so that the full impact of such enterprise would inure to all as it did to developed countries.

“We definitely need new investments, new employment opportunities, new entrepreneurs and new technocrats to grow this new emerging industry and I believe we are on the verge of realizing some of these at the sports expo,” said Nana Nketsia, who chaired the opening.

“The importance of sports development has made me wonder why it is boldly missing from the thematic areas of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) presidential and vice presidential debates towards the 2012 elections,” Nana Nketsia asserted.

The traditional ruler also called for the expedited action on the national sports tourism bill without which he believed the country would continue to wallow in the same predicaments.

In his keynote address, head of the department of Marketing and Customer Management at the University of Ghana Business School, Robert Ebo Hinson proposed that African talents also be promoted through the use of strategic partnerships and alliances with institutions from developed countries.

“With these partnerships financial constraints to development of the future African prodigy are mitigated,” he stressed.

The university don cited examples of the Feyernood Academy in Ghana and the Asec Mimosa Academy in La Cote d’Ivoire which had produced players like Samuel Inkoom and the Toure brothers respectively now playing in the big leagues of the world.

According to him, the cutting-edge training facilities and innovative technical training given to such players was what enabled them reach the heights they had reached.

“This approach has the potential to fast-track our African talents to the world stage,” Hinson pointed out.

Rex Danquah, Executive Chairman of Rics Consult Ltd, organizers of the four-day event said the aim of the biennial sports expo was to provide an additional platform for the education, training and retraining of everybody involved in sports and those desiring to explore the possibilities for investing in sports.

By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

A poorly lit four-lane tunnel that crosses one of Metro Manila’s key thoroughfares has been illuminated using solar technology and a public-private partnership supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The sub-standard lights of the Boni Tunnel, which intersects EDSA, were replaced with solar-powered light emitting diodes or LEDs.

“ADB is proud to be associated with an initiative that helps the country move towards lower carbon emissions,” said Anthony Jude, Director in ADB’s Southeast Asia Department, who attended the inauguration ceremony. “This project demonstrates technology alternatives – long-lasting batteries and solar power – that will improve people’s life through green technology.”

The new system consists of 94 22-watt LED tubes generating 30,000 burning hours and 70 percent lumen maintenance. It is partially powered by solar panels installed in a 59-square meter park on top of one of the tunnel entrances. The solar panels can generate 6,648 kilowatt hours per year and cover 19 percent of the total tunnel power demand, resulting in 51 percent energy savings compared with the old system.

Solar panels are meant to last 20 years, but many off-grid solar power projects fails due to the short lifespan of the battery systems, which often fail after only two to three years, and the lack of financial, technical and logistical capacity in recipient communities looking to replace them. To overcome this challenge, the Boni Tunnel project uses lithium ion batteries – batteries that are common mobile phones, laptops and electric cars – that are expected to last about 10 years.

Building on the Philippine Energy Efficiency Project, ADB provided technical assistance and grant funding for the lithium ion batteries and other materials needed in the panel installation. It also provided technical assistance in the design and installation of the solar panel system, and the determination of energy savings.

ADB is supporting the government’s overall energy-efficiency and conservation program through a US$ 31.1 million loan approved in 2009 that has helped retrofit select government buildings and public areas with energy-efficient light systems. The loan has also financed a massive exchange of incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps among residential users. ADB also funds a Philippine government-initiated pilot program involving electronic tricycle taxis, or e-Trikes.

The Boni Tunnel lighting project is a partnership of the Department of Energy, the Department of Public Works and Highways, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Mandaluyong City, PNOC Renewables Corp., and Philips Electronics and Lighting Inc.

By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

The local bourse along with the peso sustained losses Wednesday on account primarily of investors’ risk aversion.

Such aversion was due to the on-going debt crisis in the Eurozone aggravated by the political tensions in Greece and banking industry-related issues in Spain.

The main Philippine Stock Exchange index ended the day at 4,864.23 points, down by 113.22 points or 2.2747 percent from Tuesday’s 4,977.45 points.

The broader all shares index lost 53.40 points or 1.6196 percent to 3,243.76 points from the previous day’s 3,297.16 points.

All the sectoral indices also tracked that of the main index.

Losers continue to reign over advancers at 127 to 43 while 31 stocks were unchanged.

Value turn-over reached P8.1 billion after 3.2 billion shares changed hands.

Relatively, the local currency depreciated by P0.38 against the dollar Wednesday after closing at P43.04 from the previous day’s P42.66 finish.

It started the day at P42.83, a tad weaker than its P42.78 opening in the previous day.

It rose to P42.78 but slid to P43.08 by mid-trade resulting to an average of P42.91.

Volume of trade reached US$ 932.15 million, lower than day-ago’s US$ 1.1 billion.