The Top 10 Lists

10.Joseph Estrada ($78 to 80 million)

Joseph Ejercito Estrada (born Jose Marcelo Ejercito on April 19, 1937) was the 13th President of the Philippines, serving from 1998 until his ouster in the 2001 EDSA Revolution.

Estrada gained popularity as a film actor, playing the lead role in over 100 films in an acting career spanning 33 years. He leveraged his popularity as an actor to make gains in politics, serving as mayor of San Juan for seventeen years, as Senator for one term, then as Vice President of the Philippines under the administration of President Fidel Ramos.

Estrada was elected President in 1998 with a wide margin of votes separating him from the other challengers, and was sworn into the presidency on June 30, 1998. He assumed office amid the Asian Financial Crisis and with agricultural problems due to poor weather conditions, thereby slowing the economic growth. Eventually, the economy recovered but at a slower pace than its Asian neighbors. In 2000 he declared an "all-out-war" against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and captured it's headquarters and other camps. However, allegations of corruption spawned an impeachment trial in the Senate, and in 2001 Estrada was ousted from power after the trial was aborted.

In 2007, he was found guilty of plunder and sentenced to reclusion perpetua, but was later granted a pardon by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

9. Arnoldo Alemán ($100 million)

Alemán was constitutionally barred from running for another term, and was succeeded by his vice president, Enrique Bolaños. Allegations emerged that Alemán was concealing massive corruption in his administration. At the end of his presidency, public information about alleged corruption committed under his government became available.]

Bolaños accused Alemán of widespread corruption and was integral in exposing this alleged corruption throughout the Alemán administration. The scheme was reported to have involved several members of Arnoldo Alemán's closest family, including a brother and sister, as well as Alemán's daughter María Dolores Alemán, and her husband Jeronimo Gadea. Ex–ministers and close friends were also charged, some of whom fled the country. However, one of the central figures in the corruption complot, the former Chief of Department of Taxes Byron Jeréz, was imprisoned on the basis of another charge of corruption. All in all, fourteen persons were charged." Several foreign governments froze Alemán's bank accounts in their countries and threatened to confiscate the funds. In such cases, his defense has been to claim that the funds were not stolen, but that they came from his coffee plantations.

Alemán was formally charged in December 2002, and on 7 December 2003 he was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for a string of crimes including money laundering, embezzlement and corruption. During his trial, prosecutors produced evidence showing that he and his wife had made extremely large charges to government credit cards, "including a $13,755 bill for the Ritz Carlton hotel in Bali and $68,506 for hotel expenses and handicrafts in India." Because of health problems, he had been serving his prison term under house arrest. He was also barred from entering the United States. In 2004, Transparency International named him the ninth most corrupt leader in recent history, estimating that he had looted the country of $100 million.

Meanwhile, following his presidency, Alemán developed a strategic alliance with Daniel Ortega to rule without effective opposition by offering employment in public offices and other privileges to key members of the Sandinista party, in order to stabilize the country. There are those who claim that the main purpose of this agreement, which led to a constitutional reform, was to distribute the institutions of the state in proportion to the power managed by the two main political parties of the country.

On 16 January 2009, Nicaragua’s Supreme Court overturned the 20-year corruption sentence against former President Arnoldo Alemán. The decision generated some controversy: "stunned opposition lawmakers immediately suspected a secret deal between Mr. Alemán, ranked one of the world’s 10 most corrupt leaders ever by Transparency International, and Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua and leader of the Sandinista Party, who wields considerable influence and control over the courts. “He’s handing over the National Assembly in exchange for his personal liberty,” said Congressman Enrique Saenz. Mr. Alemán, who denies the allegation, said, “Justice has finally been served.”

8. Pavlo Lazarenko ($114 to 200 million)

Lazarenko was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) in March 1998, where he headed the parliamentary faction of his political party "Hromada". "Hromada" frequently sided with the parliamentary faction of Oleksandr Moroz.

In December 1998, Lazarenko was detained on money-laundering charges as he crossed by car from France into Switzerland. In a few weeks, he was released on bail in the amount of three million dollars.

Meanwhile, details of his arrest in Switzerland led to a political scandal in Ukraine. Apparently, Lazarenko attempted to cross the Swiss border with a valid Panama passport even though the Ukrainian law prohibits double citizenship.

The public uproar was, in part, instigated by Kuchma's administration who pressed for Lazarenko's arrest. The parliament finally acquiesced to waive Lazarenko's parliamentary immunity on 17 February 1999. However, Lazarenko fled the country on the eve of the parliamentary vote.

He initially stopped in Greece, but was later detained in the New York JFK airport on 20 February 1999 on suspicion of illegally entering the United States. Reportedly, Lazarenko had a stack of documents with him, including a Ukrainian diplomatic passport with an outdated U.S. visa, and requested political asylum.

Subsequently, Lazarenko was transferred to a jail in San Francisco, since his family owned a ranch in California. In 2000, the Ukrainian authorities requested his extradition after charging him over the 1996 killing of Yevhen Shcherban and two attempts on the lives of high-ranking officials. The office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine also claimed that Lazarenko instigated the assassination of Vadym Hetman in late April 1998.

In the United States, Lazarenko was put on trial for money-laundering, corruption, and fraud. Attorney Daniel Horowitz represented Lazarenko on charges arising out of his operation of the Ukrainian gas business, Doron Weinberg represented him regarding charges of extortion of a business partner. The judge dismissed more than half the charges but allowed the remaining charges to be presented to the jury for decision. In late May 2004, a federal jury in San Francisco found him guilty of using his position to get rich through a series of business schemes. In October 2005, Lazarenko stated his intention to return to Ukraine in order to run in the March 2006 parliamentary elections.

From June 2004 until August 2006, Lazarenko remained under house arrest at an undisclosed location on $86 million bail after being convicted by a 12 member jury.

In 2004 Transparency International named Lazarenko the eighth most corrupt political leader in recent history.

On 25 August 2006, Lazarenko was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison.

On 18 October 2006, an appeal on stemming from Lazarenko's conviction (but not the appeal of the conviction) was heard by a three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which included former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sandra Day O'Connor sitting by designation.

The Ninth Circuit presently has taken the appeal of the criminal conviction under submission. An opinion as to whether the conviction was valid or invalid is expected within the next four months.

Lazarenko is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California. On November 19, 2009 U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer cut Lazarenko's sentence from 108 to 97 months in prison. The court took into account the fact that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had dismissed his conviction on approximately half the counts of conviction leaving convictions only for acts committed 17 years ago. In November 2009 Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko stated that if Lazarenko returns to Ukraine he will be detained as he is on the international wanted list.

7. Alberto Fujimori ($600 million)

Alberto Ken'ya Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from July 28, 1990, to November 17, 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability,  though his methods have drawn charges of authoritarianism and human rights violations.  Even amidst his 2008 prosecution for "crimes against humanity" relating to his presidency, two-thirds of Peruvians polled voiced approval for his leadership in that period.

A Peruvian of Japanese descent, Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000 amidst a corruption scandal, where he attempted to resign his presidency. His resignation was rejected by the Congress of the Republic, which preferred to remove him from office by force of vote. Wanted in Peru on charges of corruption and human rights abuses, Fujimori maintained a self-imposed exile abroad until his detainment during a visit to Chile in November 2005. He was finally extradited to face criminal charges in Peru in September 2007.

In December 2007, Fujimori was convicted of ordering an illegal search and seizure, and was sentenced to six years in prison. The Supreme Court upheld the decision, upon his appeal.

On April 7, 2009, Fujimori was convicted of human rights violations and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in killings and kidnappings by the Grupo Colina death squad during his government's battle against leftist guerrillas in the 1990s. The verdict delivered by a three-judge panel marked the first time that an elected head of state has been extradited back to his home country, tried, and convicted of human rights violations. Fujimori was specifically found guilty of murder, bodily harm, and two cases of kidnapping.

On July 20, 2009, a Peruvian court sentenced Alberto Fujimori to an additional 7+1⁄2 years in prison for embezzlement after the former president admitted paying his spy chief US$15 million in state funds. He later pled guilty to bribery.

6. Jean-Claude Duvalier ($300 to 800 million)

Duvalier was invested with near-absolute power by the constitution. He took some steps to reform the regime, by releasing some political prisoners and easing censorship on the press. However, there were no substantive changes to the regime's basic character. Opposition was not tolerated, and the legislature remained a rubber stamp.

Much of the Duvaliers' wealth came from the Régie du Tabac (Tobacco Administration). Duvalier used this "nonfiscal account," established decades earlier, as a tobacco monopoly, but he later expanded it to include the proceeds from other government enterprises and used it as a slush fund for which no balance sheets were ever kept.

By neglecting his role in government, Duvalier squandered considerable domestic and foreign goodwill and facilitated the dominance of Haitian affairs by a clique of hardline Duvalierist cronies known as the dinosaurs. The public displayed more affection toward the president than they had displayed for his more formidable father. Foreign officials and observers also seemed more tolerant toward "Baby Doc," in areas such as human-rights monitoring, and foreign countries were more generous to him with economic assistance. The United States restored its aid program for Haiti in 1971.

5. Slobadan Milosevic ($1 billion)

President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Federal Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000. He also led the Socialist Party of Serbia from its foundation in 1990.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charged Milošević with crimes against humanity, violating the laws or customs of war, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and alleged genocide for his role during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbian province of Kosovo, today the Republic of Kosovo (Unofficial, as independence is not UN recognised).

Milošević resigned the Yugoslav presidency amid demonstrations, following the disputed presidential election of 24 September 2000. He was arrested by Yugoslav federal authorities on Saturday, 31 March 2001, on suspicion of corruption, abuse of power, and embezzlement. He was also arrested by the ICTY, or the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, a Tribunal created by the UN Security Council in 1993, on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the customs of war. The initial investigation into Milošević faltered for lack of evidence, prompting the Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić to send him to The Hague to stand trial for charges of war crimes instead.

Milošević conducted his own defense in the five-year long trial, which ended without a verdict when Milošević died in the War Criminal Prison in The Hague. Milošević, who suffered from heart ailments and high blood pressure, died of a heart attack. The Tribunal denies any responsibility for Milošević's death. They claim that he refused to take prescribed medicines and medicated himself instead.

4. Sani Abadacha ($2 to 5 billlion)

Abacha's government was accused of human rights abuses, especially after the hanging of Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by the Oputa Commission (only one of several cases against Ogoni activists opposed to the exploitation of Nigerian land by multinational oil companies); Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo were jailed for treason, and Wole Soyinka charged in absentia with treason.  His regime suffered stiff opposition internally and externally by pro-democracy activists who made the regime unpopular, and responded by banning political activity in general and by controlling the press  in particular; a significant fraction of the military was purged. Abacha surrounded himself with approximately 3,000 armed men loyal to himself.  His government compared to other Nigerian governments was characterised by an inconsistent foreign policy. He supported the Economic Community of West African States and sent Nigerian troops to Liberia and Sierra Leone to restore democracy to that country while denying it at home.  Abacha scoffed at the threat of economic sanctions on account of the West's dependence on oil of which Nigeria is a major producer.

3. Mobutu Sese Seko ($5 billion)

Early in his rule, Mobutu consolidated power by publicly executing political rivals, secessionists, coup plotters, and other threats to his rule. To set an example, many were hanged before large audiences, including former Prime Minister Evariste Kimba, who, with three cabinet members - Jérôme Anany (Defense Minister), Emmanuel Bamba (Finance Minister), and Alexandre Mahamba (Minister of Mines and Energy) - was tried in May 1966, and sent to the gallows on May 30, before an audience of 50,000 spectators. The men were executed on charges of being in contact with Colonel Alphonse Bangala and Major Pierre Efomi, for the purpose of planning a coup. Mobutu explained the executions as follows: "One had to strike through a spectacular example, and create the conditions of regime discipline. When a chief takes a decision, he decides - period."

In 1968 Pierre Mulele, Lumumba's Minister of Education and later a rebel leader during the 1964 Simba rebellion, was lured out of exile in Brazzaville on the assumption that he would be amnestied, but was tortured and killed by Mobutu's forces. While Mulele was still alive, his eyes were gouged out, his genitals were ripped off, and his limbs were amputated one by one. Mobutu later moved away from torture and murder, and switched to a new tactic, buying off political rivals. He used the slogan "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer still" to describe his tactic of co-opting political opponents through bribery. A favorite Mobutu tactic was to play "musical chairs," rotating members of his government, switching the cabinet roster constantly to ensure that no one would pose a threat to his rule. Another tactic was to arrest and sometimes torture dissident members of the government, only to later pardon them and reward them with high office. The most famous example of this treatment is Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond, who was fired as foreign minister in 1977, sentenced to death, and tortured. Mobutu then commuted his sentence to life imprisonment, released him after a year, and later appointed him prime minister. Nguza fled the country in 1981 only to return in 1985, first serving as Zaire's ambassador to the U.S. and later as foreign minister.

In 1972 Mobutu tried unsuccessfully to have himself named president for life. In 1983, Mobutu promoted himself to the rank of Field Marshal.

He initially nationalized foreign-owned firms and forced European investors out of the country. In many cases he handed the management of these firms to relatives and close associates who stole the companies' assets. This precipitated such an economic slump that Mobutu was forced by 1977 to try to woo foreign investors back. Katangan rebels based in Angola invaded Zaire in 1977 in retaliation for Mobutu's support for anti-MPLA rebels. France airlifted 1,500 Moroccan paratroopers into the country and repulsed the rebels, ending Shaba I. The rebels attacked Zaire again, in greater numbers, in the Shaba II invasion of 1978. The governments of Belgium and France deployed troops with logistical support from the United States and defeated the rebels again.

He was re-elected in single-candidate elections in 1977 and 1984. He worked hard on little but to increase his personal fortune, which in 1984 was estimated to amount to US$5 billion, most of it in Swiss banks (however, a comparatively small $3.4 million has been found after his ousting). This was almost equivalent to the country's foreign debt at the time, and, by 1989, the government was forced to default on international loans from Belgium. He owned a fleet of Mercedes-Benz vehicles that he used to travel between his numerous palaces, while the nation's roads rotted and many of his people starved. Infrastructure virtually collapsed, and many public service workers went months without being paid. Most money was siphoned off to Mobutu, his family, and top political and military leaders. Only the Special Presidential Division - on whom his physical safety depended - was paid adequately or regularly. A popular saying that the civil servants pretended to work while the state pretended to pay them expressed this grim reality.

Another feature of Mobutu's economic mismanagement, directly linked to the way he and his friends siphoned off so much of the country's wealth, was rampant inflation. The rapid decline in the real value of salaries strongly encouraged a culture of corruption and dishonesty among public servants of all kinds.

Marshal Mobutu was known to charter a Concorde from Air France for personal use, including shopping trips to Paris for himself and his family. He had an airport constructed in his hometown of Gbadolite with a runway long enough to accommodate the Concorde's extended take off and landing requirements. In 1989, Mobutu chartered Concorde aircraft F-BTSD for a June 26-July 5 trip to give a speech at the United Nations in New York City, July 16 for French bicentential celebrations in Paris (where he was a guest of President François Mitterrand), on September 19 for a flight from Paris to Gbadolite, and another nonstop flight from Gbadolite to Marseille with the youth choir of Zaire.

Mobutu's rule earned a reputation as one of the world's foremost examples of kleptocracy and nepotism. Close relatives and fellow members of the Ngbandi tribe were awarded with high positions in the military and government, and he groomed his eldest son, Nyiwa, to one day succeed him as President; however, this was thwarted by Nyiwa's death from AIDS in 1994.

He was also the subject of a massive personality cult. The evening news on television was preceded by an image of him descending through clouds from the heavens, portraits of him adorned many public places, government officials wore lapels bearing his portrait, and he held such titles as "Father of the Nation," "Savior of the People," and "Supreme Combatant." In the 1996 documentary of the 1974 Foreman-Ali fight in Zaire, dancers receiving the fighters can be heard chanting "Sese Seko, Sese Seko." At one point, in early 1975, the media was even forbidden from mentioning by name anyone but Mobutu; others were referred to only by the positions they held.

Mobutu was able to successfully capitalize on Cold War tensions and gain significant support from Western countries like the United States and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund.

2. Ferdinand Marcos ($5 to 10 billion)

President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives (1949-1959) and a member of the Philippine Senate (1959-1965). He was Senate President in 1963. He claimed that during World War II he had been the leader of Ang Maharlika, a guerrilla force in northern Luzon. As Philippine president and strongman, his greatest achievement was in the fields of infrastructure development and international diplomacy. However, his administration was marred by massive authoritarian corruption, despotism, nepotism, political repression, and human rights violations. He benefited from a large personality cult in the Philippines during his regime. In 1983, his government was implicated in the assassination of his primary political opponent, Benigno Aquino, Jr.. The implication caused a chain of events, including a tainted presidential election that served as the catalyst for the People Power Revolution in February 1986 that led to his removal from power and eventual exile in Hawaii. It was later alleged that he and his wife Imelda Marcos had moved billions of dollars of embezzled  public funds to the United States, Switzerland, and other countries, as well as into fictitious corporations during his 20 years in power.

1. Mohammed Suharto ($15 to 35 billion)

The legacy of Suharto's 32-year rule is debated both in Indonesia and abroad. Under his "New Order" administration, Suharto constructed a strong, centralised and military-dominated government. An ability to maintain stability over a sprawling and diverse Indonesia and an avowedly anti-Communist stance won him the economic and diplomatic support of the West during the Cold War. For most of his presidency, Indonesia experienced significant economic growth and industrialisation,  dramatically improving health, education and living standards.  Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor during Suharto's presidency, resulted in at least 100,000 deaths.  By the 1990s, the New Order's authoritarianism and widespread corruption  was a source of discontent. In the years since his presidency, attempts to try him on charges of corruption and genocide failed because of his poor health.

Like many Javanese, Suharto had only one name. In religious contexts, he is sometimes called “Haji” or “el-Haj Mohammed Suharto”, but this Islamic title is not part of his formal name or generally used. The spelling "Suharto" reflects current Indonesian spelling, but people's names were always exempt from this. The English-language press generally uses the spelling 'Suharto', but Suharto and his family, as well as the Indonesian government and media, use 'Soeharto'.

Source: Transparency International

 

10. Lizzie Borden

A New England spinster who was the central figure in the hatchet murders of her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts in the United States. The murders, subsequent trial, and following trial by media became a cause célèbre. The fame of the incident has endured in American pop culture and criminology. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, no one else was ever arrested or tried, and she has remained notorious in American folklore. Dispute over the identity of the killer or killers continues to this day.

 

9. Myra Hindley

The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around what is now Greater Manchester, England. The victims were five children aged between 10 and 17—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans—at least four of whom were sexually assaulted. The murders are so named because two of the victims were discovered in graves dug on Saddleworth Moor; a third grave was discovered on the moor in 1987, over 20 years after Brady and Hindley's trial in 1966. The body of a fourth victim, Keith Bennett, is also suspected to be buried there, but as of 2009 it remains undiscovered.

 

The police were initially aware of only three killings—those of Edward Evans, Lesley Ann Downey, and John Kilbride. The investigation was reopened in 1985, after Brady was reported in the press as having confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett. Brady and Hindley were taken separately to Saddleworth Moor to assist the police in their search for the graves, both by then having confessed to the additional murders.

Described by the press as "the most evil woman in Britain", Hindley made several appeals against her life sentence, claiming she was a reformed woman and no longer a danger to society, but she was never released. She died in 2002, aged 60. Brady was declared criminally insane in 1985, since when he has been confined in the high-security Ashworth Hospital. He has made it clear that he never wants to be released, and has repeatedly asked to be allowed to die.

 

8. Rosemary West

English serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995. Her husband Fred, who committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial, is believed to have collaborated with her in the torture and murder of at least 10 young women, many at the couple's home in Gloucester, England.

 

Fred West is known to have carried out 12 murders, but Rosemary had no involvement in the first two, as she had not met Fred at the time.

 

The crimes for which Rosemary West was convicted occurred mainly between April 1973 and August 1978. She murdered Charmaine West, the daughter of Fred's previous wife Rena, in June 1971, and buried her in their previous home of 25 Midland Road, Gloucester whilst Fred West was serving a prison sentence for petty theft. One of the bodies found at 25 Cromwell Street was that of their daughter, Heather, who was murdered in June 1987 at the age of 16, after being abused by Rosemary while Fred raped her. The Wests told friends and concerned parties that Heather had gone away to work at a holiday village.

 

In August 1992 Fred West was arrested after being accused of raping his 13-year-old daughter three times, and Rosemary West was arrested for child cruelty. This case against them collapsed in June 1993 when their daughter refused to testify in court. All of the Wests' children were removed from their custody to foster homes. This case brought to light the disappearance of Heather West, who had not been seen since 1987, and triggered the major investigation that followed.

 

7. Queen Mary I

Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and only surviving child of Catherine of Aragon. As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI, to the English throne. In the process, she had almost 300 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions, earning her the sobriquet of "Bloody Mary". Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed by her successor and half-sister, Elizabeth I.

Insurrections broke out across the country when she insisted on marrying Philip, with whom she was in love. The Duke of Suffolk once again proclaimed that his daughter, Lady Jane Grey, was queen. In support of Elizabeth, Thomas Wyatt led a force from Kent that was not defeated until he had arrived at London. After the rebellions were crushed, the Duke of Suffolk, his daughter, Lady Jane Grey, and her husband were convicted of high treason and executed. Elizabeth, though protesting her innocence in the Wyatt affair, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for two months, then was put under house arrest at Woodstock Palace.

 

As Queen, Mary was very concerned about heresy and the English church. She had always rejected the break with Rome instituted by her father and the establishment of Protestantism by Edward VI. She had England reconcile with Rome and Reginald Cardinal Pole, the son of her governess the Countess of Salisbury (who was beheaded for treason by Mary's father Henry VIII) and once considered a suitor, became Archbishop of Canterbury; Mary had his predecessor Thomas Cranmer burned at the stake. Mary came to rely greatly on Pole for advice.

 

Edward's religious laws were abolished by Mary's first Parliament in the Statute of Repeal Act (1553). Church doctrine was restored to the form it had taken in the 1539 Six Articles.

Mary also persuaded Parliament to repeal the Protestant religious laws passed by Henry VIII. Getting their agreement took several years, and she had to make a major concession: tens of thousands of acres of monastery lands confiscated under Henry were not to be returned because the new landowners created by this distribution were very influential. This was approved by the Papacy in 1554. The Revival of the Heresy Acts were also passed in 1554.

 

Numerous Protestant leaders were executed (typically by burning) in the Marian Persecutions. Many rich Protestants chose exile, and around 800 left the country. The first to die were John Rogers (4 February 1555), Laurence Saunders (8 February 1555), Rowland Taylor (9 February 1555), and John Hooper, the Bishop of Gloucester (9 February 1555). The persecution lasted for almost four years. It is not known exactly how many died. John Foxe estimates in his Book of Martyrs that 274 were executed for their faith. The Marian persecutions are commemorated especially by bonfires in the town of Lewes in Sussex: there is a prominent martyrs' memorial outside St John's church at Stratford, London, to those Protestants burnt in Essex, and others in Christchurch Park Ipswich and the abbey grounds, Bury St Edmunds, to those executed in East and West Suffolk respectively.

 

6. Beverly Allitt

Dubbed the Angel of Death, is an English serial killer who murdered four children and injured five others while working as a State Enrolled Nurse (SEN), on the children's ward of Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire. Her main method of murder was to inject the child with potassium chloride (to cause cardiac arrest), or with insulin (to induce lethal hypoglycemia).

She was sentenced to life imprisonment at her trial in 1993 and is currently being held at Rampton Secure Hospital.

 

5. Belle Gunness

One of America's most prolific known female serial killers.

 

At 5'8" (173 cm) and over 200 lb (91 kg), she was a physically strong woman. She may have killed both of her husbands and all of her children (on different occasions), but she is known to have killed most of her suitors, boyfriends, and her two daughters, Myrtle and Lucy. Her apparent motives involved collecting life insurance benefits. Reports estimate that she killed more than 40 people over several decades.

 

4. Ilse Koch

The wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of the concentration camps Buchenwald from 1937 to 1941 and Majdanek from 1941 to 1943. She was one of the first prominent Nazis to be tried by the US military.

 

After the trial was remitted under worldwide media attention, survivor accounts of her as a Satanic figure resulted in other authors describing her abuse of prisoners as 'sadistic'; a shadow image as "concentration camp murderess" transfixed itself to post-war German society. She was accused of taking souvenirs from the skin of murdered inmates with distinctive tattoos. She was known as "The Witch of Buchenwald" ("Die Hexe von Buchenwald") by the inmates because of her sadistic cruelty and lasciviousness toward prisoners. She is also called in English "The Beast of Buchenwald" and "The Bitch of Buchenwald."

 

3. Mary Ann Cotton

Mary Ann Robson was born in the small English village of Low Moorsley, County Durham in what is now the City of Sunderland in October 1832. Her childhood was an unhappy one. Her parents were both younger than 20 when they married. Her father Michael, a miner, barely managed to keep his family fed; he was ardently religious, a fierce disciplinarian with Mary Ann and her younger brother Robert, and active in the Methodist church’s choir.

 

When Mary Ann was eight, her parents moved the family to the County Durham village of Murton, where she went to a new school and found it difficult to make friends. Soon after the move her father fell 150 feet (46 m) to his death down a mine shaft at Murton Colliery.

 

When Mary Ann was 14, her mother remarried. Mary Ann did not like her new stepfather, Robert Stott, but she liked the things his better wages could buy. At the age of 16 she could not stand the discipline of her stepfather any longer, so she moved out to become a nurse at Edward Potter's home in the nearby village of South Hetton. She served there for three years and then returned to her mother's home and trained as a dressmaker. About this time she met a colliery labourer called William Mowbray.

 

2. Irma Grese

Grese was among the 44 people accused of war crimes at the Belsen Trial. She was tried over the first period of the trials (September 17 to November 17, 1945) and was represented by Major L. Cranfield.

The trials were conducted under British military law in Lüneburg, and the charges derived from the Geneva Convention of 1929 regarding the treatment of prisoners. The accusations against her centred on her ill-treatment and murder of those imprisoned at the camps, including setting dogs on inmates, shootings and sadistic beatings with a whip.

 

Survivors provided detailed testimony of murders, tortures, cruelties and sexual excesses in which Grese engaged during her years at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. They testified to acts of sadism, beatings and arbitrary shootings of prisoners, savaging of prisoners by her trained and allegedly half-starved dogs, and to her selecting prisoners for the gas chambers. After a fifty-three day trial, Grese was sentenced to hang.

 

Grese was reported to have habitually worn heavy boots and carried a whip and a pistol. Witnesses testified that she used both physical and emotional methods to torture the camp's inmates and enjoyed shooting prisoners in cold blood. They also claimed that she beat some women to death and whipped others using a plaited whip.

 

1. Elizabeth Bathory

A countess from the renowned Báthory family. She is possibly the most prolific female serial killer in history and is remembered as the "Blood Countess" and as the "Bloody Lady of Čachtice", after the castle near Trencsén (today Trenčín) in the Kingdom of Hungary, (today's Slovakia), where she spent most of her adult life.

 

After her husband's death, she and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and young women, with one witness attributing to them over 600 victims, though the number for which she was convicted was 80. In 1610, she was imprisoned in the Csejte Castle, where she remained bricked in a set of rooms until her death four years later.

 

The case has led to legendary accounts of the Countess bathing in the blood of virgins in order to retain her youth and subsequently also to comparisons with Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia, on whom the fictional Count Dracula is partly based, and to modern nicknames of the Blood Countess and Countess Dracula.

 

Source: Wiki

 

10. Nick Denton - Founder, Gawker Media

British journalist and internet entrepreneur, the founder and proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and the managing editor of the New York-based Gawker.com.

 

Denton was educated at University College School and University College, Oxford. He began his career as a journalist with the Financial Times. He co-wrote a book about the collapse of Barings Bank called All That Glitters. He was one of the founders of a social networking site called First Tuesday and co-founded Moreover Technologies with David Galbraith and Angus Bankes, schoolmates from UCS.

Denton was featured in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 in position 502 with an estimated wealth of £140m (approximately $290m) based on the sale of his previous companies and the current value of Gawker Media. He was once featured in a Vanity Fair photoshoot.

Denton is openly gay.

 

9. Drew Curtis - Founder, Fark.com

Founder and an administrator of Fark.com. He graduated from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 1995. From 1996 to 2002, he owned and operated DCR.NET, an ISP based in Frankfort, Kentucky. Curtis published his first book It's Not News, It's FARK: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News in May 2007. It soon became a bestseller.

 

8. Bram Cohen - Cofounder, BitTorrent Protocol

American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer (P2P) BitTorrent protocol, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol, also known as BitTorrent. He is also the co-founder of CodeCon, organizer of the San Francisco Bay Area P2P-hackers meeting, and the co-author of Codeville.

 

He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Jenna and their three children.

 

7. Jean-Francois Clavier - Founder and Managing Partner, Softtechvc.com

Angel investor in Web 2.0 startups like NetVibes, personal-finance service Mint, and social advertising network SocialMedia. Five of his investments have exited the market via acquisition by Yahoo!, AOL, and others.

 

6. Pete Cashmore - founder, Mashable.com

New media expert, technology consultant, and founder of Mashable, one of the top-twenty blogs in the world according to Technorati. Founded in July 2005, the site focuses on “all that’s new on the Web” including information about social networks, websites, and content.

 

Cashmore was selected as a top 25 Forbes Web Celeb in 2007 and was also featured in BusinessWeek.

 

5. Dries Buytaert – Founder and Lead, Drupal.org

An open-source software programmer and the founder and lead of the Drupal CMS. Buytaert defended his PhD dissertation in Computer Science on January 27, 2008 at the University of Ghent in Belgium.

From 1999─2000 he was the maintainer of the GNU/Linux WLAN FAQ.

 

On December 1, 2007, Dries announced, together with co-founder Jay Batson the launch of a start-up called Acquia. Acquia wants to be to Drupal what Red Hat has been to Linux.

 

On March 31, 2008, Dries launched Mollom, a service dedicated to stopping website spam: "Mollom's purpose is to dramatically reduce the effort of keeping your site clean and the quality of your content high. Currently, Mollom is a spam-killing one-two punch combination of a state-of-the-art spam filter and CAPTCHA server." Over 4,000 websites are protected by the Mollom service. More than 100,000 messages are being analyzed every day.

 

4. Sergey Brin – President Google Inc

Russian-American computer scientist best known as the co-founder of Google, Inc., the world’s largest Internet company, based on its search engine and online advertising technology. As of 2009, Forbes ranks Brin as the 26th richest person in the world.

 

Brin immigrated to the United States at the age of six. Earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, he followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps by studying mathematics, double-majoring in computer science. After graduation, he moved to Stanford to acquire a Ph.D in computer science. There he met Larry Page, whom he quickly befriended. They crammed their dormitory room with inexpensive computers and applied Brin’s data mining system to build a superior search engine. The program became popular at Stanford and they suspended their Ph.D studies to start up Google in a rented garage.

 

The Economist magazine referred to Brin as an “Enlightenment Man," and someone who believes that “knowledge is always good, and certainly always better than ignorance," a philosophy which is summed up by Google’s motto of making all the world’s information "universally accessible and useful."

 

3. Jeff Bezos – Chairman and CEO, Amazon.com

American founder, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Amazon.com. Bezos, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University, worked as a financial analyst for D. E. Shaw & Co. before founding Amazon in 1994. He was named Time magazine's Person of the Year in 1999. In 2008, he was selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's Best Leaders.

 

2. Steve Ballmer – CEO, Microsoft Inc

Steven Anthony Ballmer (born Detroit, Michigan March 24, 1956) is an American businessman who has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000. Ballmer is the second person after Roberto Goizueta to become a billionaire in U.S. dollars based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. In Forbes 2008 World's Richest People ranking, Ballmer was ranked the 43rd richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $11 billion.

 

1. Michael Arrington - Blogger/publisher, TechCrunch.com

Entrepreneur and founder/co-editor of TechCrunch, a blog covering the Silicon Valley technology start-up communities and the wider technology field in USA and elsewhere. Magazines such as Wired and Forbes have named Arrington one of the most powerful people on the Internet. In 2008, he was selected by TIME Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world. Wired magazine also included him in a flowchart of "internet blowhards" citing his obsession with "Web 2.0".

Source: wiki

A simple housewife that lead the people power revolt, toppling the Marcos regime in the Philippines. Despite the many coup attempts in her administration, she managed to restore democracy to the county.

 

Thank You! Madame President! May Your Soul Rest In Peace…

 

Teddy Locsin’s Eulogy for President Corazon Aquino

Throughout thirteen years of martial law, until I laid eyes on her again, I never thought that I would ever see the end of it. Least of all that my father would survive it. I am not much given to prayer or pious reflection but when I could set aside my anger, I prayed my father would see democracy again.

Late one afternoon, in San Francisco, I got a call. It was from Cory Aquino, for whom I had written one speech after her husband’s assassination. She said she had accepted Marcos’s challenge in a Snap Presidential Election. I put down the phone, and packed my bags, and reported to her at the Cojuangco Building.

I knew then she was the answer to my prayers. What I did not notice was that the closer we came to victory, which is to say the farther the prospect receded that the Marcos regime would survive, the less I felt the anger inside me. As each day passed, bringing me closer to the day I could get even, the less I felt the need for it as I spent more time with the woman who alone could make it possible.

I did not notice, but I was no longer looking back in anger, or looking forward even, to victory and vindication. Only now do I see. I had lived with my anger so long, only for the day to come when it no longer mattered to me. The only thing that counted was that I was living every day to the fullest, bringing out the best in me—for someone else. A dream I hadn’t had since I was a boy, feeding on stories of chivalry, had been achieved. I was serving a woman who was every inch a sovereign, all the more for scorning the slightest pretension to the role.

I did not realize it, even when I was already in the Palace, by the side of the President—among all her advisers, I like to think, the one who loved her most.

It never again occurred to me that I had scores to settle. And not until today, that I had passed up every chance to get even.

From the moment I came in from the airport and reported for duty, and she gave me in return the same smile she gave me on her deathbed, I never noticed… Not when I was with her in the campaign when she corrected me for not looking at the people I was waving at… Nor when I was with her in the presidential limousine looking intently, for her benefit, at the crowds at whom I waved… I never noticed anything. Except that I was with the only person that I would ever want to be with.

I certainly never noticed that I had left my anger behind. I don’t know how it happened. Except that Cory Aquino ennobled everyone who came near her. I have tried to say it publicly but never could finish. If you saw me as I felt myself to be, anyone would fall in love with me. I saw myself in that hospital room, a knight at the bedside of his dying sovereign, on the eve of a new Crusade, oblivious to the weight of the armor on his shoulders for the weight of the grief in his heart.

 

And because she always doubted my ability to be good for very long… Indeed, when my wife told Ballsy that I prayed the rosary at Lourdes for her mother’s recovery, Cory said, “Teddy Boy prayed the rosary? A miracle! I feel better already.” Because she doubted my capacity for self-reformation, she made it effortless for me by being herself. I did not notice that I was doing right by serving a woman who never did wrong. I am not sure how to take this moral self-discovery. It is so unlike myself. But if it will bring me before her again, I am happy.

10. WOW Philippines (Chocolate Hills)

The Chocolate Hills in Bohol is perhaps one of the most beautiful tourist attraction in the Philippines. People who first see these natural wonders can’t even believe that they are not man-made attraction. They are uniform in shape and size (approx 30-50 meters in height). They are covered in grass, and when those grass dries they turn into dark brown, making them look like chocolates.

 

9. WOW Philippines (Asia TV Spot)

This “more than the usual” commercial was first aired on CNN and BBC. They’ve attracted so much attention that the Department of Tourism decided to put up short teasers featuring things and places that can only be found in the Philippines. One famous commercial was with the natives of Ifugao conversing in English.

 

8. WOW Philippines (Islands)

In Dubai and Japan, they build islands for recidencial and commercial space. In the Philippines, we have so many islands that some common people have their own island. Now, how cool is that.

 

7. SMART/DOT (Action)

This commercial was created by the department of tourism with SMART telecommunication to attract locals to travel around the Philippines. This TV Spot features extreme sports that’s becoming more and more popular in the Philippines like 4W-tours, Rowing, Kayaking, Mountain climbing, BMX, and Diving.

 

6. SMART/DOT (Iba't-Ibang Pasko)

The Philippines has earned the distinction of celebrating the world’s longest Christmas season. The celebration begins in mid-October lasting up to December 31st when Filipino families gather for the celebration of New Year. Filipinos loves to celebrate that it’s the only country in Asia that celebrates the death and birthdays of each of the catholic saints. It’s an all year round celebration; you just have to know where to go.

 

5. SMART/DOT (People and Culture)

The Filipinos are famous for their hospitality. Their attitude towards other people is exceptional.

It is common for Filipinos to reserve a part of their house for their guest. Notice when you first enter a Filipino home, you are greeted with furnitures wrapped in plastic (so as not to damage the furniture for everyday use). These plastics are then removed when a visitor arrives.

 

When you arrive in a Filipino home during meal time, you will not be asked to wait, instead you will be asked to sit down and share whatever they have on the table.

 

4. WOW Philippines (Shopping)

Shopping in the Philippines can be fun. There are a lot of options to choose from. Different designer stores are located all over the metro.

 

But the most exciting part when shopping in the Philippines is bargaining. If you have never experienced bargaining with Filipino vendors before, you should try it. It’s the most fun thing in the world. If you don’t understand what they are saying, just ask some random stranger walking around to translate for you, they will be happy to accommodate you.

 

3. WOW Philippines (The Philippines)

From shopping to adventure, our Island has it all!

 

2. SMART/DOT (Fiestas)

The Philippines is well known for its colourful festivals. Featured in this video are the Masskara Festival, Sinulog Festival, Ati-Atihan, Santacruzan, and the Moriones Festival.

 

1. WOW Philippines (English)

When the American teachers called the Thomasites arrived in the Philippines and establish the public schools system all over the nation, the first thing they thought the Filipinos is the English language. From then on, Universities and secondary schools in the Philippines use the English language as a medium of instruction.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago (born Miriam Palma Defensor on June 15, 1945) is a Filipina lawyer, politician, and a Senator of the Philippines, with a focus on Constitutional Law. She is the founder and current leader of the People's Reform Party as well as its former presidential candidate.

Santiago was born in Iloilo City, Iloilo to District Judge Benjamin A. Defensor and Dimpna Palma Defensor. In her youth, she graduated as class valedictorian in both elementary and high school levels.

Despite a three-month bout with illness, Santiago graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1965. She finished in three and a half. Upon graduation, she was elected to the Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Kappa Phi international honor societies.

 

She was the first female editor-in-chief of the university's student newspaper, The Philippine Collegian, in its fifty-year history. She was twice made Corps Sponsor of the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Santiago has participated in numerous oratorical, public speaking, and debate contests in high school, college, and law school.

 

She earned a Bachelor of Laws, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman in 1969. Her classmates include former Senate President Franklin Drilon, San Juan Representative Ronaldo Zamora, and Eli Pamatong. Miriam took the 1969 Bar Exams and passed with a 78% Bar rating. Santiago decided to teach Political Science to undergraduates at Trinity College of Quezon City.

 

She then attended the University of Michigan Law School from 1974 to 1976, earning the degrees of Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science.

 

Santiago continued enrolling in short courses, attending seminars and participating in conferences locally and abroad. In 1995, at the age of fifty, she completed the academic requirements for a Master of Arts in Religious Studies at the Maryhill School of Theology with an average grade of 1.25. In 1996, at the age of fifty-one, she attended the Summer Program of Instruction for Lawyers at Harvard Law School. In 1997, at age fifty-two, she attended the Summer Program in Law at Oxford University.

When she lost in the Senate race of 2001, she worked on updating her law and political science textbooks, which were last released 2002.

 

In 1986, Santiago was recognized as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Professionals of the Philippine Junior Chamber of Commerce. In 1988, she was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, the local equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

 

In 1996, The Australian Magazine ranked Santiago 69th among "The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World", sharing the honor with former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos who ranked 58th.

 

10. Miriam Grills Jun Lozada

When it was Senator Miriam turn to question the famous star witness to the ZTE-Broadband deal scandal, everything seems to fire up.

 

9. Miriam on Pork Barrel Funds

Senator Miriam is know for her boldness and rapid fire oratorical skills. This is her stand on the Countrywide Development Fund, or what is commonly referred to as the “Pork Barrel Fund”.

 

8. Miriam on Deadly Billboards

The Xangsane Typhoon “Milenyo” is the strongest typhoon to hit manila in 11 years. Offices and the Philippine Stock Exchange was closed down, and electricity was out for about a week.

In Manila, majority of the people were killed by giant falling billboards all across the metro.

7. Miriam on Corporate Curruption

People loves Miriam for her colourful character in the Philippine senate. They always wait for that moment when the senator is all fired up and can’t wait to smite the living hell out of people. Maybe this is the reason behind some people calling her The Dragon Lady of Asia.

6. Miriam at the UN

This is one of many videos out there that expresses the desire of the senator to run for President in the Philippines.

 

5. Miriam with Congressman Zubiri

It was valentines day when the armor of the feisty lady senator weakened when she was presented a rose by congressman Zubiri. “There will be no more open public debates,” Zubiri said when he was asked if he was willing to debate with the Senator.

 

4. Miriam on the Nomination for Chief Justice

I think the Senator is qualified to be the Chief Justice. She’s even qualified to run the whole country if you ask me.

 

3. Miriam Jokes Around

I don’t know where this speech happened. Try to listen to the senator as she makes fun of politician and stupid people.

 

2. Miriam on China

Ok, maybe she has crossed the line this time when she said that china is the nation that conceptualized corruption for all humanity.

The funny thing about this senate hearing was that, after this “china is the source of corruption” issue, there, on her table a pending invitation for her to go to China together with the President.

 

1. Miriam Wants A Western Style Shoot ‘em Up Showdown

Her walk out in the senate (seen above) was sensationalized by the print media. On her privilege speech, she challenged her opponent for a shoot ‘em up, western style in luneta.

Source: Videos by YouTube

Background Information: Wiki

I found this list on the Internet. It was written by an American guy who loves his Filipina wife in spite of the numerous irregularities. (Original Title: You Might Be Married to a Filipina If…)

 

10. Her home economics course only taught shopping, eating and siesta; cooking, cleaning and sewing were not electives.

 

9. Her friends are named Chinky, Girlie, Boy and Bimbo and you are not allowed to smirk.

 

8. Your kitchen table has a merry-go-round in the middle.

 

7. All the vegetables she buys at the Filipino store look like they were grown at Chernobyl.

 

6. Her homeland has more Megamalls than islands.

 

5. She and the kids are always saying "Daddy made utot" and you still don't know what it means but they think it's pretty funny.

 

4. She can eat and talk at the same time, in fact that's her specialty!

 

3. You were married 5 years before she explained to you that "ARAY!" doesn't mean "ooh, baby!"

 

2. She may only tell you she loves you once in awhile. But, she shows you that she loves you in everything she does and says.

 

1. You go to sleep each night knowing you're the luckiest man in the world.

Despite being one of the poorest nation in southeast Asia, Filipinos are still the happiest people on earth. These collection of videos from the popular website YouTube is a testament to the Filipinos unending search for happiness. They might be inside a prison cell, or a tricycle driver (Ronaldo Lapuz), they will never forget how to find that speck of happiness, no matter how small.

 

These are the top 10 Filipino sensations on YouTube. Enjoy!

 

10. Cebu Inamates “Thriller Dance Exercise”

Author-creator Byron Garcia is the brother of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, GSIS General Manager, Winston Garcia, and Congressman Pablo John Garcia. Their parents are Deputy Speaker Pablo P. Garcia and Judge Esperanza “Inday” Fiel-Garcia, who had 8 children (4 sons).

 

Garcia originally wanted to introduce a program at Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) where inmates would exercise for an hour each day. He saw waves of prisoners in the exercise yard and thought it looked good.

 

He introduced an exercise program where the prisoners marched in unison, starting out with marching to the beat of a drum, but moved on to dancing to pop music; he began with one of his favourite songs, Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)". He chose camp music such as In The Navy and Y.M.C.A. by The Village People, so macho prisoners would not be offended at being asked to dance.

Garcia's first upload of prisoner choreography was the Algorithm March, but this was almost entirely ignored. Thriller was uploaded on July 17, 2007.

 

9. Edu Manzano’s “Papaya Dance”

Edu Manzano-popularized "Papaya Dance" has become a hit to Filipinos here and abroad. It was so popular that the American morning news show “Good Morning America” did a segment about it.

 

8. Single Gaydies (Single Ladies by Beyonce)

I don’t really know what to make of this video, but you can’t deny that these Filipino gay kids are hilarious. I think their own version of the dance is better compared to other Filipino celebrities. They really know how to shake it and groove it.

 

7. Charice Pempengco – Singing the “Star Spangled Banner”

After being featured on the popular day time TV talk show “The Ellen Show”, Charice has become a global phenomena. She was even invited to sing the national anthem of the United States of America.

 

6. Ronaldo Lapuz – "We’re Brothers Forever" song at the American Idol Finale

Lapuz was a native of the Philippines. His mother was of German descent and lives in Wisconsin. Lapuz immigrated to the United States in 2004, and worked as a janitor at Greyhound and Wal-mart. Lapuz regularly sang as a member of the Filipino Choir at Immaculate Conception Church in Reno, Nevada.

In 2007 Renaldo Lapuz auditioned for American Idol in Dallas, Texas. For his audition, he sang his own original song, "We're Brothers Forever", while wearing a handsome wide-brimmed, winged, marabou feather-covered white hat with the word "SIMON" printed on it and a metallic silver cape. During his audition, which aired in January, judge Simon Cowell complemented him but gently rejected him by saying of his performance "I'm going to make a prediction here. I have a horrible feeling that it's going to be a hit record. You're very entertaining. I actually like you... but it's going to be a no." Lapuz returned to the show to sing his song during the Finale of American Idol Season 7 in May 2008, supported by the University of Southern California marching band.

 

5. ‘Keys Me’ – Alyssa Alano

Alyssa was entangled in an internet meme in the Summer of June 2006. Alano performed the song Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer on an episode of GMA Network's late night show Master Showman Presents. Alano sang the English song in a heartfelt, cheerful way, but with a heavy Tagalog accent, which was then mocked in a mondegreened video posted on YouTube posted by "calimanok". The video contains subtitles, containing such mondegreens as "Keys Me". Toward the end of the month, the clip had been viewed over 500,000 times.

 

Apparently, Alano had no idea that her YouTube video became an Internet meme until it was shown to her during an interview on the show Chika Minute.

 

Interestingly, Alano has been a good sport in her reactions to the sudden popularity of her singing video, even publicly thanking the anonymous prankster who created the clip, saying it got her a lot of attention/publicity, and that it has truly helped her showbiz career take off. She has since appeared in a few TV talk shows to jokingly re-sing "Keys Me" along with the clip's audio track.

 

Alano's pranksters have also broadcast another karaoke-style video of her singing "Whenever, Wherever" by Shakira and "Crush" by Jennifer Paige.

 

4. Charlie Green – Britain’s Got Talent

I first saw this video while watching primetime news. His voice was so awesome that I immediately googled him . Now, he is one of the most promising young singers in the world, in league with Charice Pempengco herself. His mother must be so proud of him.

 

3. Madonna Decena – Britain’s Got Talent

Her audition to the popular British talent search competition brought tears to one of her judges eyes. Her powerful performance even awed Simon Cowel.

 

2. Arnel Pineda on the ‘Ellen Show’

In 1982, when Pineda was 15 years old, he became the lead singer of the Filipino musical group called Ijos Band. He used to sing in Shakey's Taft. In 1986, some members of Yjoz formed a group called Amo. Amo entered and won the Rock Wars contest in the Philippines.

 

In 1988, Amo entered and won the Philippines leg of the Yamaha World Band Explosion. They went on to the finals in Hong Kong, but were not qualified to win due to a technicality. The rules stated the winning song had to be an original composition. However, they also stated that the song entry in the finals had to be the same song with which the band won their country's leg of the competition. Amo's winning song in the Philippines was Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", obviously not an original. After the contest, the band continued as Amo, performing live. They opened for Robert Palmer in Manila in 1989. Amo played in clubs in Quezon City, Olongapo City and Makati City, which are located in Luzon, the biggest island in the Philippines. Amo was very popular in the renowned Chinese-owned California Jams club in Olongapo City, which was frequented by United States military personnel.

 

In 1990, Pineda and other members of Amo formed another band called Intensity Five and once again entered the Yamaha World Band Explosion. Pineda won the Best Vocalist award and the band came in as first runner up.

 

Later in 1990, five of Amo's original members split from the band leader, Ulysis Ablang (Uly) and formed another band behind Pineda, "New Age". This occurred prior to the release of Amo's one-and-only album released in 1990 titled Ang Tunay na Amo ("The Real Master") on BMG records which spawned one popular radio hit called "Running Away". (The song was popularized again in 2006 by another Filipino artist Erik Santos, who won an American Idol type Filipino TV show, Star In A Million.) The remaining members of Amo went on to become "The Boss Band", while Pineda's band, New Age, played regularly at Fire and Rain in Makati City.

 

In 1991, during one of those performances, a talent agent spotted Pineda and New Age and asked them to move to Hong Kong to perform at a very popular entertainment restaurant called Grammy's. With New Age, Pineda performed six nights a week, Tuesday through Sunday, for several years thereafter. After a long-term serious relationship failed in 1994, Pineda suffered health problems, which almost destroyed his voice. He returned to the Philippines. After six months of recuperation, he was able to sing again. He returned to Hong Kong and resumed singing with his band. In 1998, the owner of Igor's, the premiere theme restaurant/nightclub in Hong Kong, asked New Age to perform there. Dressed in skeleton outfits, they called themselves "The Rolling Bones".

 

In 1999, Pineda caught the attention of Warner Bros. record label and flew back to the Philippines on his days off to record a solo album, the self-titled Arnel Pineda. Most of the album’s ten original songs were slow ballads, with only two upbeat numbers, one of which carries a Latin style. One of the songs, “Iiyak Ka Rin” (You Will Cry Too) became a karaoke favorite in Asia, while another song "Sayang" (Too Bad) became a radio favorite. Pineda wrote and arranged several songs. Pineda continued to perform with New Age while making his album and for several years thereafter. In 2001, Pineda sang one song with Filipino band, South Border’s album The Way We Do. The song is called “Looking Glass”. In 2002, Pineda's band changed their name to 9 mm and played at “The Edge” in Lai Kwai Fong, Hong Kong.

In 2004, three members of the New Age band reformed with a female singer sharing lead vocals with Pineda and called themselves “Most W@nted”. This band played 3-4 hour sets Monday through Saturday at The Cavern Club in Hong Kong. On their only day off, Sundays, the band often performed at Filipino community events.

 

In 2005, Arnel recorded the theme song of the short-lived Filipino radio show "Dayo". A band named The Visitors was briefly formed for promotion purposes of the "Dayo" soundtrack consisting of three members from Ijos/Yjoz, Amo, New Age and Most W@nted.

 

1. Happy Slip

Christine Gambito, better known by her screen name HappySlip, is an American Internet personality, actress, and comedian. She maintains one of the most-subscribed-to channels on YouTube, a popular video sharing website. On January 25, 2008, Gambito, who is of Filipino ancestry, was appointed ambassador for Philippine tourism by the Department of Tourism.

 

In March 2007, Gambito's video Mixed Nuts was nominated for the 2006 YouTube Video Awards for Best Comedy, resulting in the second place. In May of the same year, she became one of the first users accepted into YouTube's revenue sharing program.

 

Gambito's performances typically include comedy sketches in which she impersonates members of her family. She also sings and plays the piano and guitar. As Gambito has stated repeatedly in her videos, she is notably one of the very few top users acting, filming, editing and producing her shorts completely on her own.

Source: YouTube

Wiki