Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Papal Visit: Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila

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Hoping for a good weather tomorrow at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. We heard news that people are already camped out at the Ma. Orosa entrance near the area for a chance to be among the first to get a good spot while Pope Francis celebrates mass on Sunday.

If we want the homily of #PopeFrancisPH tomorrow to be understood by more, why not use that Argentine priest who speaks fluent Tagalog as interpreter. Though English is the international language, it would be best for the majority of Filipinos so they could clearly understand the messages of the Pope.

For your information, the Pope's real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio but uses the name of Francis which he borrowed from St. Francis of Assisi. Is it more appropriate to call him "Lolo Jorge" instead of "Lolo Kiko." He surprisingly has an M.S. Chemistry in University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, but worked as a bouncer before getting involved in the church.

He is currently staying at the Apostolic Nunciature located at the corner of Quirino Avenue and Taft Avenue, Manila, and is also the official quarters of all the visitors from the Vatican, as they embark on a four-day trip here in the Philippines including typhoon-ravaged Tacloban to meet the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” after their visit in Sri Lanka. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said it is standard operating procedure for visiting popes to stay at the Apostolic Nunciature.

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Lolo Kiko or Francisco to some, #PopeFrancisPH started his homily saying "Do you love me?" The crowd said yes, and the Pope replied, "Thank you very much," he replied and laughed. "I am here to be with you. A little bit late, I have to say, but I am here." The fact that #PopeFrancisPH showed up despite storm signal no. 2 is already comforting enough. Pope's insistence on visiting Leyte despite the typhoon shows how important this is for him.

Braving storm, poncho-clad pope visits typhoon zone. Pope's well-wishers refuse to seek shelter amid reports of hospitalizations due to hypothermia. The Pope's heart-warming homily in his Tacloban mass was well-attended by lots of people they massively call as pilgrims. #PopeFrancisPH set aside the prepared English sermon and delivered the homily in Spanish, which allowed him to speak from the heart.

Many pilgrims, wearing raincoats or none, suffered in the cold weather and got drenched from the heavy rains in Tacloban airport

Though words are never enough in times of unspeakable grief but his presence gave everyone some sort of relief. Wearing a yellow raincoat (Are the yellow raincoats on purpose? Really? No other color available?), he shared many words of wisdom on love, trials, and hope as his speech to the people of Tacloban. Pope Francis said to the Yolanda survivors that Jesus "never lets us down" and that "When I saw from Rome that catastrophe, I felt that I need to be here." Pope Francis comforts the Yolanda victims and tells them that "Jesus knows your suffering" and that "We have a Lord capable of walking with us in the most difficult moments of our life." He also expressed "Please know that the love and tenderness of Mother Mary never lets you down."

Nicole Scherzinger Sizzles as Proactiv's New Endorser

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We recently learned that Filipino/Hawaiian/Russian descent Nicole Scherzinger of the famous all-girl group Pussycats Dolls is Proactiv's newest celebrity endorser.

Nicole Scherzinger's charisma knows no bounds and her international sex appeal needs no translation. We've all seen how Nicole rose to stardom. However, that popularity wasn’t always smooth and easy. She was raised in a modest household by her mom and German-American stepfather, but her humble upbringing didn’t deter her from pursuing her burning ambition to become a singer.

Her big break into the pop scene was during her stint as lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls before embarking on a solo career as a recording artist, selling a total of 60 million records. She also has film experience, won Season 10 of Dancing with the Stars and was a judge at the UK and US editions of The X Factor.

Nicole still makes sure that she maintains her radiant and glowing skin. “I feel like in my line of work, I’m always under the microscope. It’s quite traumatic when you have an acne breakout and blemishes because you wake up and you’re hoping that your face is clear,” she shares.

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With online car buying, shopping being the trend nowadays, more and more websites have emerged over the Internet. But only some guaranteed and dished out positive results. One of which is Carmudi.

Carmudi, the leading vehicle platform around the world, has recently tapped the Philippine automotive scene in providing buyers, sellers, and car dealers an opportunity to experience safe and convenient online transactions.

Carmudi Philippines—through its website www.carmudi.com.ph—has been generating positive leads for potential car buyers and sellers in the country since it started January 2014. The website currently has close to 25,000 vehicles in its inventory spanning from cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles; brand new or used.

According to Subir Lohani, managing director of Carmudi Philippines, “Having the most number of listings is not the main thing that defines Carmudi.com.ph and Carmudi in general. We look on the quality of listings and value of proposition that we offer both buyers and sellers of vehicles that defines us.”

Lohani explained, “We envision Carmudi Philippines to become a complete one-stop shop for anything vehicle related such as loans, finding an auto repair shop, tips and tricks for your car, and more. Cars are essentially a lifestyle product. Whether it be the brand, model, make, or color, it tells about your individual personality so Carmudi must also evolve into a lifestyle product which we are in process of doing.”

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The Philippines is blessed with so many wonders of nature that it is no surprise many of our tourist destinations are popular worldwide among both local and foreign visitors who are really in search of the best summer getaway.

The tourism efforts of many cities and provinces all over the country are starting to be felt once more as they make their presence felt a lot stronger now that the coming summer season will soon be with us in just a few months.

But many visitors from other countries are not waiting for summer to start planning their holidays, in fact many have started flocking the Philippines to experience its many wonderful attractions especially the numerous white sand beaches and gorgeous resorts and getaways.

Who doesn't love bumming on the Philippines' awesome beaches admiring the paradise-like sceneries, spending some hours basking in the tropical sun, and swimming in its blue and marine-life rich waters.

Summer is still about three months away, but to warm things up a bit, let’s look at these seven gorgeous beachfront properties from Lamudi Philippines that will get you dreaming of summer.

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The Philippines is set to have a very blessed year to be graced with the Holy Father’s presence this January. Pope Francis’ heart is close to the young ones all over the world, often taking selfies with them but sadly, some Filipino youth still do not seem to be as excited to attend the Papal visit in Manila because they don’t see what’s in it for them if they go.

To bring Pope Francis even closer to the Filipino youth, the graduating class of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) students from the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) launched a marketing communications campaign to bridge the youth to Pope Francis and his message of mercy and compassion using the influence of the Filipino barkadas.

The campaign is entitled “BFF 2015: Bonding with Friends and Francis” and it features an “online-serye”, which revolves around a character named Frankie Francisco, who is trying to convince his other friends Mark, Bea, Kim, and Josh to go with him to the Papal Visit. Each of the characters represent an archetype in a typical Filipino barkada, whom the youth can surely relate with.

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We join the whole country in welcoming the beloved Pope Francis here in the Philippines as he visits us for a few days mainly to personally meet the people of Tacloban - especially the survivors of typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

To help our curious countrymen get a glimpse of the Pope, DZRH has partnered with OurLivestream.TV for a live online streaming broadcast of the Papal Visit coverage. This is another technology-driven initiative to bring the news about the Pope a lot closer to the people since the coverage can be watched over our smartphones, or through the web browser via the official site of http://www.ourlivestream.tv.

Wazzup Pilipinas partners with the two mentioned organizations to share the news to everyone online through our blog and social media accounts.

This is highly useful for those who do not have immediate access to a television or could not be near the pope struggling within the vast crowd that all gathered to the many venues and paths that the Pope is scheduled to visit and pass through.

We may not be among the lucky, fortunate or influential ones who were given an opportunity to see and meet the Pope up close and personal, we have technology as our tool to help us update ourselves about the many happenings about the Pope.

#CavEAT: Cavinti Eco-Adventure Tour (Second Day Wrap Up)

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The second day of our #CavEAT: Cavinti Eco-Adventure Tour was more of a leisure walk in the park compared to the first day. There was nobody screaming out loud this time but surprisingly some of us somehow still got wet at one of the activities that we tried out. What was more evident were the sincere smiles and laughter from everyone.

The #CavEAT: Cavinti Eco-Adventure Tour is a Tourism Advocacy Campaign to help generate online buzz for the upcoming Cavinti Water Sports Olympics: 1st International Competition happening on February 8-14, 2015. We were there to visit the site where the event will take place and to tour the other places where visitors could also check out to give them more reasons to agree when we say "It's More Fun in Cavinti" as well.

The early morning wake-up call of the numerous roosters around our improvised sleeping quarters at the Villa Oliveros Resort were no longer necessary since majority of us were already awake due to the 3 am earthquake. The rest who slept even during the earthquake were apparently dead tired from all the climbing we did during our descent down the Cavinti Falls through the metal ladders or stairs designed to test our endurance and courage against our fear of heights.

Honestly, I didn't take a bath in the morning because I already almost froze to death last night when I took a shower. It's quite a challenge taking a bath here at Cavinti due to the cold weather. I just hope nobody was smelling me secretly (and dying of the scent) during the tour. Poor seatmates in the jeepney. Lol!

List Of Things To Keep In Mind When Buying A Home In 2015

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Get your wish list ready, familiarize yourself with the market, get your finances sorted out, and connect with a trusted real estate professional. If you plan to finally become a homeowner in 2015, here’s a list of things to keep in mind to get you moving up the property ladder and owning your dream home.

Global property portal Lamudi Philippines compiles a guide to buying property to supercharge your house hunt

First Stage: The Dreaming Phase

The very first stage of the house-hunting process is the dreaming phase. Imagine yourself living in a particular neighborhood, your kids going to nearby schools, and your entire family enjoying the area’s parks and other amenities.

This phase has no definitive start time or length, so get yourself immersed as thoroughly as possible in the process. Explore neighborhoods, look at photos online, compare listings and property prices, and imagine yourself finally moving into your dream home. Once you get a clear picture, it’s time to move to the next stage.

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It’s a YES! Grammy-award winner David Foster, UK pop sensation and former Spice Girl Melanie C, Indonesian rock icon Anggun and Taiwanese-American pop idol Van Ness Wu have been named as the celebrity judging panel for the season premiere of hit talent search show, “Asia’s Got Talent” on AXN.

Billed as the biggest talent competition in the world, “Asia’s Got Talent” will light up screens across Asia in March on AXN and will feature some of the region’s most incredible performing artists as they compete to take home the coveted winning title.

Hui Keng Ang, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia said, “We have put together a superb panel of judges for ‘Asia’s Got Talent’. This is definitely our most ambitious original series to date and is very much in line with the type of smart, high-quality local programming that audiences have come to expect from AXN."

Paul O’Hanlon, Managing Director of FremantleMedia Asia said, “We’re proud to say that ‘Asia’s Got Talent’ will be the largest version ever of the Got Talent franchise, and our judges bring a depth and breadth of experience and talent worthy of this show.”

From thousands of applicants, the four judges must select Asia's most jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, and breathtaking performances. Those who move on to the semi- finals will face an even more intimidating judge, the AXN audience at home who will ultimately determine who wins the first season of Asia’s Got Talent. Adding to the excitement, the semi-finals and finale will be held at the iconic Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, with the winner awarded a contract to return and perform live at Asia’s leading entertainment destination.

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OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES follows “Showtime” Eric Young as he travels across North America to learn about some of the most extreme fishing techniques some people have come up with to land the big one, including using pantyhose to catch sharks in the Atlantic Ocean and launching live bait with fire extinguishers on Lake Michigan! This season, he’s on the hunt for even larger fish, stranger characters, and bigger challenges. From tarpon fishing on stand-up kayaks and underwater spearfishing for toxic lionfish, to slingshot bait fishing for sturgeon and a massive ice fishing festival on a frozen lake, you can be sure Showtime Eric Young will dive right in. Starting January 15, two episodes of OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES premiere back-to-back every Thursday at 9:00 p.m.

This season on OFF THE HOOK: EXTREME CATCHES, Eric’s quest is taking him to even more extreme environments. Each episode is a unique adventure into a fishing subculture, where a crazy idea turns into a working technique for hauling in the catch. In Alaska, he will join a hardened crew of cod fishermen on the dangerous Bering Sea and snowmobile to remote lakes to ice fish for invasive northern pike and free-diving for smallmouth bass under the winter ice. On the tropical side, Eric will be spear fishing and dodging sharks in the wide-open Atlantic Ocean off Puerto Rico. We’ll also see him returning to Florida and Texas to try new challenges, like hunting alligators and hand-lining a 300-pound goliath grouper.

It’s not just the catch and environments that are extreme – on each trip, Eric will meet and fish with some of the most unusual characters in the fishing world. Guys like Awesome John and Gary “The Toad”, extreme surfcasters who brave heavy waves in Montauk, New York, for striped bass and bluefish; and Rattlin’ Randy, a Texas sling-bow fisherman with a huge arsenal of weapons for hunting and catching fish at night.

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Discovery Channel's ambitious gold miners are at it again and the stakes have never been higher. Who's in and who's out? In season five of GOLD RUSH, everything has changed – new miners, new claims, and new tools, technologies and methods to get gold out of the ground. Will big risks lead to even bigger pay outs? GOLD RUSH 5 premieres on Discovery Channel every Monday at 8:00 p.m., kicking off with a two-hour special on January 26. Encores every Thursday at 11:00 p.m., Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday at 10:00 p.m.

Returning this season is 20-year-old Parker Schnabel who proved himself in his rookie season mining the Klondike - raking in over 1,000 ounces of gold worth USD1.4 million dollars. Parker is taking off his "training wheels" this year, setting an unprecedented goal of 2,000 ounces worth more than USD2.5 million dollars - double his take from last season. Parker re-invests every last cent in a mad scramble to get to good gold, asks more of his crew than ever before and manages to steal one of rival gold miner Todd Hoffman's top mechanics. If Parker can hit his lofty goal, he could be on his way to becoming a Klondike legend. Otherwise, it will become clear that his first season was simply a stroke of good luck.

Last season, Todd Hoffman rolled the dice and fell flat on his face. He hit rock bottom after braving the jungles of Guyana, South America, in an attempt to make a fortune along with his father Jack, Dave Turin, Jim Thurber and the rest of the Hoffman crew. This year, Todd is back at square one. His right hand man, Dave, has had enough, deserting Todd to mine with legends Freddie and Derek Dodge. Not only has Todd lost his land, most of his money, his crew, but worst of all, he has lost his dignity. His dream of mining in the jungle nearly destroyed him, but will he be able to rise from the ashes and turn things around? Or will this be the season that Todd throws in the towel? One thing is for certain - Todd will not go down without a fight.

#CavEAT: Cavinti Eco-Adventure Tour (First Day Wrap Up)

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To continue with our stories of our #CavEAT: Cavinti Eco-Adventure Tour, we head off towards our first destinations for the day on board a jeepney (the best way to tour the Philippines) after having a filling breakfast of hotdog, eggs, "dinuguan" (amazing dish) and "puto," plus a short orientation from Ms. Nitzshell Dela Torre of the LGU Tourism Office of Cavinti held at the Bumbungan Eco-Park.. There was also a short stop at the Kalakal (Pandan Weaving Center) to get our "sambalilos" to protect us from the sun and rain before finally reaching the Pueblo El Salvador Eco Park.
The #CavEAT: Cavinti Eco-Adventure Tour is a Tourism Advocacy Campaign to help generate online buzz for the upcoming Cavinti Water Sports Olympics: 1st International Competition happening on February 8-14, 2015. Several activities were lined up for two days and surprisingly, even though there were a few hiccups along the way, we managed to do most of it as planned, plus an added bonus visit to the Japanese Garden.

Our visit at the Pueblo El Salvador Eco Park was a surprising pathway towards the majestic Cavinti Falls, otherwise known as the Pagsanjan Falls, but geographically should be called Cavinti Falls since its located in Cavinti, Laguna. But it wasn't easy getting there from our point of origin since we had to take several flights of metal stairs and ladders going down into the very bottom where the Cavinti Falls is located.

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Burgoo American Bar and Restaurant joins in the celebration of Papal Visit in the Philippines this coming January 15-19, 2015. The restaurant is giving away P500.00 off on your P1,000.00 food purchase with an order of any Coca Cola products starting on the 15th till the end of January.

Burgoo offers delightful meals such as Shrimp and Ribs Platter, Seafood Caesar Salad, Chicken Dianne, Shrimp or Chicken Fajitas, supreme pizza, pastas and luscious desserts, among others.

Burgoo is located at Tomas Morato in Quezon City, Powerplant Mall in Rockwell Makati, The Podium and Robinsons Galleria in Ortigas, SM Mall of Asia in Pasay, Gateway Mall in Cubao, The Block at SM City in North EDSA, SM City Marikina, Fairview Terraces Mall, The District Ayala Mall in Cavite, SM Southmall in Alabang, and Starmall in Taguig. For reservations and inquiries, please call 9277424, 8981815, 6875565, 7264663, 9136112, 5560091, 6336256, 4420115, and 4771932.

Meanwhile, Gumbo is also giving away P500.00 off on your P1,000.00 food purchase with an order of any Coca Cola products. The only difference is that this offer is from January 15 until the end of the month.

Tripda Philippines: To Ease Traffic Congestions During the Papal Visit

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Your friendly neighborhood Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas is among those that gets frustrated when caught in the traffic congested roads of Metro Manila. Many ways and means have been tried but aside from the crowded and often troubled MRT or LRT mass transportation, all the rest of the means to travel puts us in a situation that leaves us either stressed, furiously mad or both.

This predicament actually gets worst when there's a special gathering or activity happening at certain areas of our city. We would encounter blocked roads and rerouting of familiar paths that would add more worries and confusion to our already stressed minds, bodies and emotions.

Tripda Philippines, another company backed by Berlin-based and recently listed Rocket Internet, is on a mission to make traveling more fun here in the Philippines. Tripda matches car owners with spare seats in their cars with passengers going the same route so they can share the ride more comfortably, share the costs, minimize carbon footprint, minimize traffic and meet new people.

It's more fun in the country because Tripda and its carpooling operations encourages more people to share their ride especially during the Papal Visit in the country. This campaign also comes with a noble intention to provide donation of school kits to the children of the Virlanie Foundation, an organization that supports education and gives needs to homeless children.