Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Wazzup Pilipinas Wins Award for Outstanding Customer Service

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Congratulations are once again in order. 2015 continues to become a lucky year for Wazzup Pilipinas just like 2014's successful list of achievements for the site and its founder, Ross Del Rosario. Remember that we were fortunate enough to be invited early January to guest on ABS-CBN's Rated K TV show hosted by Korina Sanchez-Roxas. It seems only yesterday that we were invited to share some of our expertise for the show.

WazzupPilipinas.com is the country's multi-awarded Filipino community blog site that proudly declares itself as the Philippines' National Blog as its way of helping out the tourism efforts in the country. The site prioritizes on promoting Visit the Philippines 2015 campaign which primarily aims to boost the country's tourist visits.

Your friendly neighborhood Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas is thrilled for this coming February 21, 2015 as we again receive another award for our valiant efforts in sharing news and information about spectacular events, breath-taking destinations, sumptuous culinary treats, and a lot more through our online site.

We will soon be receiving another award to recognize us for our Outstanding Customer Service for an online site. Being conferred with such honorable recognition once again raises our spirit and determination to continue our passionate advocacy with the ultimate purpose of bringing back the real meaning of blogging - what it was meant to be.

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Home to the bulk of the tallest towers on the planet, Asia is without a doubt the world’s skyscraper capital. From Dubai to Shanghai, the region dominates the list of the world’s supertall buildings.

Of the top 10 tallest towers around the world, just two - the recently completed One World Trade Centre in New York City and the Willis Tower in Chicago - are located outside Asia and the Middle East.

Stacked one on top of the other, the 10 tallest towers in Asia would measure more than five km into the sky. These top 10 tallest towers are shown on a new infographic, released by global property portal Lamudi.

With its towering commercial centres and tendency towards high-density living, China leads the world in skyscraper construction. Of the record-breaking 97 buildings measuring 200 meters high or taller that were completed around the world in 2014, 58 of these were located in China. This represents roughly 60 percent of the global total, according to figures recently released by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

The city of Dubai currently holds the title for the world’s tallest skyscraper. Reaching 829.8m high, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest artificial structure on earth. For those without a serious fear of heights, the super tower is also home to the world’s highest observation deck, located on the 148th floor.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

There is truth in the saying that "The best things in life are free" and almost everyone would not let a freebie pass by so easily. Grab that rare opportunity whenever you can since there's only a few things in this world that's without any monetary equivalent.

Tripda, a new carpooling website that recently introduced itself late last year, is giving their carpoolers P1000 worth of free Tripda Fuel Card for every 5 passengers who booked through the Tripda carpooling service from January 26 to 31.

To avail of this promo, car owners with spare seats in their cars, should offer their route in the Tripda platform and get 5 of their friends, colleagues, families or those within the Tripda community to book a ride with them.

Every 5 times a seat is booked guarantees the carpooler a whopping P1000 worth of Tripda Fuel Card. It's that easy! The more people joining your ride through the Tripda platform gives you lots of fuel earnings. Now, that's quite a great treat for all their Tripda carpoolers.

Get to know more about this promo. Register for an account at Tripda now.

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Comic book fanatics, musical theater lovers, and political activists are bound to be moved by Ballet Philippines’ newest venture, “MANHID: The Pinoy Superhero Musical”. Inspired from comic book super heroes of the 60 - 90’s – MANHID introduces a new generation of Filipino super heroes redefined for today’s times. Set in an alternate present day Philippines where the EDSA revolution failed, this musical features heroes and villains with superpowers, and a people sick with Kamanhiran (Apathy). “MANHID” is the final production in BP’s 45th anniversary season.

Super-powers, entertaining scenes with well fleshed out characters and an exceptional score spells the rare formula for MANHID. MANHID has already achieved cult status because the Eraserheads – the band who helped compose the music and performed it in the original production in 1992 performed at the University of the Philippines – have gone on to become one of the country’s leading pop groups. They released “Kailan”, one of the songs from MANHID, which became a top selling hit.

The main author of the work is Kanakan-Balintagos (a.k.a. Aureaus Solito) multi-awarded film director of Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros and Busong. Noted film, TV and stage composer Vincent de Jesus also co-composed the musical. Ballet Philippines artistic director, Paul Alexander Morales directs the musical and shares the choreography with Alden Lugnasin, BP’s resident choreographer.

MANHID is a musical take on comic books. It is divided into three “books” that are patterned on classics of the comic book genre; 1. the origin issue 2. the “dark/crisis” issue and 3. the all-out / good versus evil battle episode of the “annual”.

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An absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for the arrival of someone named Godot. It premiered on January 5, 1953 in the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris. Since then it has been subject to many, philosophical, religious, existential, and even political interpretations. The production was perhaps the most successful ever. Beckett's second masterpiece. Endgame, premiered on April 3, 1957 at the Royal Court Theatre in London. All of Beckett's major works were written in French. He believed that French forced him to be more disciplined and to use the language more wisely. However, Waiting for Godot was eventually translated into the English by Beckett himself.

Samuel Beckett also became one of the first absurdist playwrites to win international fame. His works have been translated into over twenty languages. In 1969 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature,

"GODOT5: Five Ruminations on Samuel Beckett's 'En Attendant Godot'" will go onstage at the Black Box Theater of the Ateneo de Manila University this coming February 3-7, 10-14 and 17-21, 2015. Weekday shows will be the usual two hour play at 7pm. Saturday shows, on the other hand, will feature a loop of four consecutive performances featuring different interpretations of the play at 10am, 1pm, 4pm, and 7pm.

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We are so thrilled when we heard that the AMD FirePro M4150 and M4170 mobile professional graphics are now available on the new HP ZBook Mobile Workstations delivering outstanding quality, performance and innovation for professional users.

AMD recently announced that second-generation HP ZBook 14 G2 and 15u G2 Mobile Workstations feature AMD FirePro M4150 and AMD FirePro M4170 mobile professional graphics models, providing users with speed, quality and creativity on the go. AMD FirePro professional graphics are compliant with the latest industry standards enabling users to take full advantage of applications from companies including Adobe, Autodesk, Avid, Dassault Systèmes, ESRI, Siemens, and many others.

AMD FirePro mobile professional graphics are powered by the award-winning AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture1 and are especially designed to enable outstanding performance for professional applications in a wide variety of work environments for many computer-aided design (CAD) and digital media applications.

“AMD and HP have combined efforts to enable mobile workstation users with leading-edge technologies with results that matter for designing, engineering, and creating,” said David Cummings, senior director and general manager, Professional Graphics at AMD. “HP mobile workstation users can benefit from quality driver support and certified ISV applications for a stable and reliable platform that redefine mobile workstation performance while enabling users to do more.”

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The Junior Confederation of Finance Associations - Philippines (JCFAP) is the umbrella organization of over 90 college-based finance organizations in the country and is currently compose of more than 7,000 members.

It envisions itself as a foremost association for student involvement and education by giving Financial Management students the necessary exposure and instruction to help them become competent and responsible professionals of the future. They do this by conducting membership assemblies, seminars, competitions, workshops, and educational tours year-round.

As part of their mission to foster educational advancement among its members, they will be having the National Finance Summit 2015 on January 24, 2015 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay. This annual event, which was started in 2008, is intended to promote student awareness to market issues and to strengthen their financial foundation. Last year, the organization was able to gather around 3,000 participants coming from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Invited speakers at the event are Felipe Medalla, Monetary Board Member of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Michaelangelo Oyson, CEO and Managing Director of BPI Securities Corporation and BPITrade.com; Mark Frederick So, Founder of Forex Club Asia; and Hans Sicat, President and CEO of Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc.

City Planning Tilt Invites Students To Register

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Here is a news release about an international city planning competition for high school and college students.We're sending it as a last call for student representatives to register before the end January 2015. The organizers, led by Mrs. Sylvia Tay-Van Remoortele, are open for interviews and can be contacted through e-mail.

The “4th Planning a Clean and Green Township Competition” has a theme of “City Beautiful Manila” for this year. You have to beat the deadline for registration up to the end of January to qualify.

Organized by the Singapore-based Activistar Advocacy (AA) and spearheaded by AA’s co-chair Mrs. Sylvia Tay-Van Remoortele, Manila was chosen for this year's “Planning Clean & Green Townships: The Young Mayor Leader Competition.” Tay-Van Remoortele is an environmental engineer and wife of the Belgian Ambassador to the Philippines.

During the competition launch, Tay-Van Remoortele extended this invitation to the other regions and encouraged not only the youth of Manila, but also the youth from the other 16 regions of the country as they might have fresh bright ideas to share."

As a pioneer in advocating environmental awareness and sustainable development education in Southeast Asia (SEA), Tay-Van Remoortele explained that the competition aims to nurture youth leaders for a sustainable future as the student-participants are tasked to “recreate Manila” when they come up with a master plan suggesting solutions for a township that is sustainable and environmental friendly.

New Technical Drawing Printers from Epson

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Epson, the worldwide digital imaging leader, recently launched the next generation of T-Series Technical Drawing printers designed to deliver high speed, high performance, and high precision printing for the engineering, architecture, and Geographic Information System (GIS) markets.

Gladys Gutierrez, Product Manager of Epson Philippines Corporation’s Commercial & Industrial printers said “We’re very excited to announce the arrival of our new T-Series Technical Drawing printers. It is the best in its class and will definitely make a positive mark in the evolving tools needed by architects and engineers.”

Known for its exceptional reliability and low running costs, Epson’s T-Series Technical Drawing printers, is now powered by the company’s new PrecisionCore Thin Film Piezo (TFP) print head technology, which delivers dramatic speed and industry-leading output quality.

Epson Philippines President/Country Manager Toshimitsu Tanaka said “This expanded range of T-Series Technical Drawing printers is another big step in providing even better capabilities with ultra-low running costs.”

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Learning, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something.” It often occurs in a formal learning institution we all know as school; although, learning is definitely not limited to occur only in school. Akin to how a student learns in his own distinct way, factors such as his formal learning environment – for instance, the classroom, including his teachers and classmates–influence his learning depending on it.

“Researchers and designers of learning environments often debate whether the learner should adapt to the learning environment or whether the learning environment should adapt to them. Arguably this is the wrong question. A better question is: how does the environment shape the learner and, in turn, how does the learner influence the learning environment? In other words: what is the transactional relationship of the learning environment? This involves understanding the motivations of the learner with respect to the time and place in which s/he acquires knowledge (Lave and Wenger, 1991). The learning environment in this context is composed of the learner, other students and teachers and the physical environment.”

G. Earthman states that “There is sufficient research to state without equivocation that the building in which students spends a good deal of their time learning does in fact influence how well they learn.” As I have learned in my psychology subject, an individual is also a product of his setting, and school is one of the most significant components in any student’s environment. Knowing this, here is a comparison of two possible environments in school – the diligent environment and the more diverse, when it comes to students, classroom.

Malasimbo 2015: Two Fabulous Weekends in Puerto Galera Filled With Music, Arts, Lights and Dance

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Not one, but two magical weekends (March 6 - 8 and March 13 - 15) for this year's biggest music and arts festival, plus a lights and dance spectacle on the 2nd weekend to target the younger generation they are calling the millennials. That's six magical days of jaw-dropping sound-tripping and nature-hugging in the mountains of Malasimbo located at Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.

The event is actually a feast for all the senses as there is no other event that allows you to be closer with nature while enjoying the magical sounds and beats of several bands and singers, and gawking in amazement to the many creative art installations displayed in the festival.

On the 5th year of the Malasimbo Festival, the organizers have decided to strongly entice the much younger audience, specifically the teens, by giving the second weekend a different vibe that's perfect for the young filled with passion and spontaneity.

At a press conference held on January 22, 2015 at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila, the organizers of the Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival, are ever so excited to share with us what they have planned for the two weekends. This time, we'll have no excuse missing on these magical weekends - there I go again! I keep saying the word magical in every paragraph. Why not? The Malasimbo event is truly a magical experience that everyone should include it in their travel plans for March.

On the photo above is Department of Tourism - Tourism Promotions Board COO Domingo Ramon Enerio III and Puerto Galera Mayor Hubbert Christopher Dolor with Hubert d’Aboville and Miro Grgic, the organizers of the biggest music and arts festival known as the magical Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival, plus the Malasimbo Lights and Dance Festival. Everyone is in full support of the festival ensuring its continued success for many years to come.

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Online portal BPOCareerHub.com (BCH) is pleased to announce the re-launch of its website www.BPOCareerHub.com. The initiative to improve the site was meant to simplify the web user’s experience as well as help position BCH as a highly relevant online enabler for the Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry and more. There is still much to be done but BCH is very much on its way in helping more Pinoys find and get their dream jobs!

As one of its initial treat, BCH will be holding its 1st BCH Online Job Fair on February 16-28, 2015 (http://bpocareerhub.com/OnlineJobFair) - in cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and with the Bureau of Labor and Employment – which will virtually connect and require “less prep time, less effort, and less resources” from jobseekers and recruiters alike. Go to http://bpocareerhub.com/faq to learn more about this new and exciting event.

To date, there are already 18 participating companies - and several more are expected to sign-up soon – that are looking for the top talents that will help boost their operations. Hundreds of jobseekers have already pre-registered and hundreds – if not thousands - more are anticipated to join the online job-hunting bandwagon soon.

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If you're not smiling after a hot shower in the New Year, then it's time to ditch the boring soap you've been using and switch to something that your skin would thank you for later.

The Cream Factory is an exciting and new US brand of bath and body creations. The Cream Factory, the first soft soap in the world that combines the goodness and skin benefits of Netherlands goat milk and 100% active botanical ingredients sourced from around the world, is so good on your skin you're going to want to take a bath again and again. Friendly warning: this stuff can get addicting, and the number of “addicts” is rising!

A look at the 12 variants of The Cream Factory bath creams and scrubs and you'd think you're reading the dessert menu from a restaurant. In a way, you are – “dessert for your skin” – because most of the active botanical ingredients are, in fact, edible. There are variants that feature Honey, Seaweed, Almond, Açaí Berry, Avocado, Cinnamon, and Yogurt. Yum!

“We want people to change the way they take a bath and think about baths. We want them to step out of the shower and feel good about themselves. When you feel good about yourself, chances are you're going to have a much better day overall,” said Ched Dayot, the “executioner” (which is a fancy way of saying “product manager and brand ambassador”) of Because, Inc., the company that imports The Cream Factory into the Philippines.

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According to Wikipedia, language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits because non-humans do not communicate by using language. The capacity to make use and comprehend language is also more complex than the researcher thought it would be, ever since being aware about technicalities such as syntax, phonetics, semantics and the like. Once the brain is capable, it automatically computes all these and either conveys or comprehends language without us giving it the measliest notice.

Needed for the success of the ongoing program we call K to 12 is the process we all went through called first language acquisition. Though we are currently focused on grades ten, eleven and twelve, first language acquisition should still be taken into account. This is because before we even start and enter the world of learning, each of us should be primarily equipped with one thing necessary for communication- language.

There are numerous languages in the world. In the Philippines, despite of Filipino being our national language, we also have quite a number of dialects like Pangasinense, Ilokano, Bisaya, Hiligaynon, Kapampangan and the like. Each of us was taught through different means, like flashcards, videos, even through things as simple as oral, and eventually, written imitation and repetition. Each of us also utilizes, refines and polishes our use of it in a different way. People learn language differently, and to prove this is the fact that the way we communicate with it is different from someone else’s. Things like the environment-a person’s home, his school, his peers, and so on-also influence this.

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This New Year, treat yourself with these new Torque DROIDZ series of Affordable Octa-Core Smartphones: The DROIDZ Octave and DROIDZ Marvel HD.

These Torque Android Smartphones cater high-end features like Octa-Core processors, slim design, High resolution cameras, High Definition Displays and Long battery life, at very affordable prices!

DROIDZ Marvel HD

The notable feature of this smartphone is its 5-inch HD IPS OGS Touch with 7mm body that is SUPER SLIM. Also, it sports a DragonTrail 3 Glass display, meaning it was designed to be ultra-tough (scratch resistant). In terms of Operating System, it runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat running at 1.7 GHz Octa-Core processor that makes its performance faster. DROIDZ Marvel HD has 8GB ROM and 1GB RAM of storage enough to play and run apps. It has 13MP rear camera with LED flash and 5MP front camera that is best in video chatting and other photo-op. It supports Dual SIM, Quad band GSM, 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Micro-SD. Marvel at it for only P6899!