Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Saturday, August 22, 2015

The Health Cost of Using Traditional Fuels

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By the time you finish reading this article, over 10 people would have died from health complications caused by air pollution.

Worldwide, over 8 million premature deaths can be attributed to air pollution every year and it is a silent killer that nobody seems to be doing much about. The burning of traditional fuels like firewood and charcoal for cooking and diesel for transportation, all contribute to what the World Health Organization (WHO) has singled out as a major health hazard - air pollution.

Ironically, the “cure” for air pollution has already been around for over 100 years, just not applied well - LPG. LPG is a clean fuel that burns without emitting noxious fumes and particulate matters that get into your lungs and causes cancer, asthma and other respiratory diseases. LPG is not only clean, it is portable, versatile and efficient, and can be used for thousands of applications, including cooking, driving, generating power, and even, mowing the lawn! More importantly, LPG is already readily available throughout the Philippines.

But isn’t LPG expensive? Surprisingly, the solution is not uneconomical to implement. A 2006 cost-benefit study by the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that investing US$13 billion a year to provide LPG access worldwide would halve the number of people cooking with solid fuels by 2015 and in turn generate a return of US$ 91 billion in health and other community benefits. Not many investment projects can boast a 700% return on investment that investing in access to LPG will bring.

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Two senators have added fire to the growing excitement being generated by the approaching World Cup qualifying match between the Philippines and Uzbekistan on September 8 at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan.

In separate tweets, Senators Sonny Angara and Pia Cayetano made known their interest in the forthcoming match, with the latter calling on fans to support the Philippine national football team during games.

“Let’s support our Azkals in the World Cup qualifiers, esp in their hometown matches!” Cayetano tweeted to her 401,900 followers and attached a link to a Philippine Star article.

Angara tweeted to his over 70,000 followers “#azkals gearing up for #WorldCupQualifiers on #sept8 at the #philstadium.”

Earlier, mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Fil-Am Brandon Vera also tweeted to urge fans to support the Azkals and watch the game on September 8.

Dan Palami, Philippine Azkals team manager, expressed appreciation over the support being given by well-known personalities to the national football team.

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One of the highlights of the province of Camarines Sur is the CamSur Watersports Complex (CWC) which boasts of wakeboarding facilities for both newbies and professionals. It is the most frequented place in the province where both local and foreign tourists can enjoy an entire weekend of wakeboarding water sports for leisure or competition.

The venue has regular wakeboarding events where you can compete and proudly come out as a winner since the sport caters to both fit and flabby. You don't really need to be as slim as a fashion model or as muscular as a body-builder as long as you know how to perfectly balance your body and surf smoothly through the waters.

We had a chance to personally see the good looking and youngest Governor of the world, Migs Villafuerte, so we will show those scenes in upcoming posts here in the blog. The very young governor is among the other Villafuertes that holds a position in their locality. The CWC is actually owned by the local government but it was the Villafuertes who led the project.

For now, we can show you the interview we had with the fabulous couple of John and Monique in charge of the CWC Wakeboarding Nationals - an annual event held at entirely at CWC simultaneous with other activities like a beauty pageant, a series of night concerts, and so on in line with the Kaogma Festival.

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The Children’s Museum and Library, Incorporated is a youth leadership organization that promotes the welfare, development, and empowerment of the Filipino youth through its conventions, competitions, seminars, and tournaments. As it celebrates its 58th year, CMLI aims to help realize the opportunities that the ASEAN integration will bring to the country and the vital role of the country’s youth as it happens.

With the theme, “CMLI and the Filipino Youth: Trailblazing a Filipino Identity in the Global Society”, the 36th Annual National Graders Convention will be held at Teachers’ Camp, Baguio City from September 3, 2015 to September 7, 2015. The convention will gather over 700 grade school delegates and teachers nationwide (from both public and private schools) to empower them through leadership training, talent development, social awareness, and national friendship.

The commission discussions, handled by trained youth facilitators from CMLI’s Junior Council-National Executive Board, will be the avenue for the delegates to tackle the convention’s theme in a more interactive manner. Delegates are randomly assigned to commissions to maximize their interaction with their co-delegates from all over the country.

The convention also features competitions for excellence and entertainment, both aiming to develop and emphasize the talents of the youth. The competitions for excellence are: News Writing, Essay Writing, Poetry Writing, Poster Making, Comic-Strip Making, Extemporaneous Speaking, Story Telling, and the Pop Quiz Hot Shots. The competitions for entertainment are: Solo Singing, Hip-Hop Dancing, Talent Variety Show, Character Portrayal, and the Mr. and Ms. GradersCon 2015 Pageant.

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The Department of Tourism (DOT) recently signed an ASEAN Tourism Agreement (ATA) with other member states, establishing among others a Regional Secretariat that will oversee and facilitate the full implementation of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Tourism Professionals, which was previously signed in November 2012.

The said ATA underlines cooperation of member states in facilitating travel into and within ASEAN; further cooperation in the tourism industry among ASEAN member states in order to improve efficiency and competitiveness; less restrictions on trade in tourism and travel services among member states; the development and promotion of ASEAN as a single tourism destination with world-class standards, facilities, and attractions; enhanced mutual assistance in human resource development and cooperation in developing, upgrading and expanding of tourism and travel facilities and services in ASEAN; and the creation of favorable conditions for the public and private sectors to engage more deeply in tourism development, intra-ASEAN travel and investment in tourism services and facilities.

The MRA on Tourism Professionals, on the other hand, aims to facilitate the mobility of tourism professionals, the exchange of information on best practices in competency-based education and training for tourism professionals, and to provide opportunities for cooperation and capacity-building across ASEAN member states. It was established by ASEAN as an active response to the booming tourism demand in the region, raising the bar in the quality of service delivered by tourism professionals. At present, there are thirty-two (32) work positions covered under the MRA, ranging from housekeeping, front office, food and beverage services, and food production for hospitality, to travel agencies and tour operator for tourism enterprises, among others.

Celebrity Chef Boy Logro Demonstrates How to Cook Panlasang Norte Pinoy Dishes

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This is a portion of the cooking demonstration done by GMA 7 Kapuso celebrity Chef Boy Logro at the Pilmico Foods Mahalin Pagkaing Atin Panlasang Norte event held at Mercato Centrale night food market.

The Mercato Centrale food market which offers varied food stalls located under one roof at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig is owned by UNO Editor-in-Chief RJ Ledesma and popular Food Blogger Anton Diaz. They also have other food markets located at other areas within Metro Mnaila. Their food markets has also been the venue for many events catering to food-related launches, initiatives and programs especially those that are owned or managed by the small and medium sized (SMEs) Pinoy entrepreneurs or startups.

Chef Boy Logro has become a household name due to his popularity in hosting a GMA-7 television cooking show. His show is frequented by celebrity guests who helps him out in his many delightful cooking demonstrations highlighted by his unusual flair for creativity and taste.

We see Chef Boy Logro cook up a few popular dishes at the event but we only get to show you one for now. The entire cooking demonstration for this particular dish is divided into three parts averaging 10 minutes in length.

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The 1st day of the Geeks on a Beach 2015 ended with the grand photo ops of all participants who were all requested to gather together upfront to immortalize this moment, together with the winners of the International Pitching Competition, everyone gave their best smiles to the many photographers and members of the media who are covering this event.

There was supposed to be a drone to fly and take our photos from the air but due to some technical difficulties in getting a signal, the drone had to flew manually thanks to this guy who took the initiative to "fly" the drone around the crowd. Lol!

We would like to congratulate the winners of the Geeks on a Beach 3 International Pitching Competition led by the grand champion and even a winner of special prizes - Near Circles represented by Suresh.

Coming in second place is Mobkard, and Protees positioned in third place.

Special prizes from Venture Labs goes to Mobkard and Iskwelahan, while Smart awards their special prizes to Iskwelahan, Mobkard and Near Circles.

There were originally 28 applicants for the pitching competition. 10 got shortlisted and even shortened to 5 who pitched on August 20, 2015!

Our judges in the pitching competition were @alquemiepartner @e27co @ICTOffice @tchae @BikeshL & Paolo Azzola @PayMaya

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Inspired by the lyrics of Vehnee Saturno, Stages Production Specialist Inc. is unveiling a musical comedy poised to become this season’s theatrical hit.

Saturno, a multi-awarded composer best known for creating popular hits such as Be My Lady (Martin Nievera), Sana Kahit Minsan and Simple Lang (Ariel Rivera), Isang Lahi (Regine Velasquez), Mr. Kupido (Rachel Alejandro), Bakit Pa? (Jessa Zaragoza), Wala Na Bang Pag-ibig and Dahil Tanging Ikaw (Jaya), celebrates his 35th anniversary in the industry with Chuva Choo Choo – The Mr.Kupido Musicale, where his most popular compositions will be featured.

Directed by seven-time Palanca winner George de Jesus III, the musical tells the story of two sisters, Dina and Darla, played by Joanna Ampil and Morisette Amon, who go from amateur singing contestants to national stars. After being unwitting witnesses to an altercation between the town Mayor and the contest organizer, the pair head off to Manila to seek refuge where they begin to work as female impersonators. The sisters then face a series of hilarious misadventures in their quest for stardom and true love.

Chuva Choo Choo, which is set to open on September 25 will run at the Power Mac Center Spotlight—a 300-seater black box theater. This multi-purpose venue with flexible seating set-up and lights and sound system is patterned to compliment interactive, dynamic, fresh and innovative performances. It is designed to showcase diverse Filipino talents and numerous entertainment options.

DOST-ICTO Launches Philippine Roadmap for Digital Startups at GOAB 3

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There's no stopping the emergence of support for the Philippine startup community as many are now aware of their overall significance. It will not be surprising to see it grow exponentially within the next few years as investors from all over the world are now looking into our country as a potentially profitable source of investment.

The press conference for the Philippine Roadmap for Digital Startups was recently launched by the Department of Science and Technology - Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) on August 20, 2015 at the Geeks on a Beach 3 which is now currently ongoing at the Crown Regency Hotel in Boracay Island in Aklan.

Present in the panel during the press conference were Christian Besler of Kickstart, Jojo Flores of Plug and Play Technology Center, Earl Martin Valencia of Ideaspace, Jay Fajardo of Proudcloud, Cristina Laskowski of STAC Silicon Valley, Tina Amper of Techtalks.ph, Bery Li of Philippine Roadmap for Digital Startups, Karl Sapinigan of Senator Bam Aquino's office, Arup Maity of Blastasia, and Mon Ibrahim of DOST-ICTO. Senator Bam Aquino was supposed to be among the panelist but due to the death of his uncle, Butch Aquino, he was unable to join the press conference.

Geeks on a Beach is one of the biggest international startup events in the country and is very appropriate venue for the launch of the Philippine Roadmap for Digital Startups. The roadmap provides a framework for developing Philippine Startup ecosystem which are mainly composed of Internet-related innovations.

WD Expands Its Performance Level Desktop Hard Drives to 6 TB Capacity

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WD, a Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) company and a world leader in hard drives, today announced the expansion of its award-winning WD Black line of performance hard drives up to 6 TB capacity. Shipping now, the 3.5-inch, 7200 RPM drive is the perfect solution for gamers and professionals in need of high-performance desktop systems and workstations.

WD Black hard drives combine 7200 RPM spin speed, 128 MB cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 6 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor to deliver ultimate performance in a maximum-capacity drive. The WD Black 6 TB is up to 29% faster than the previous WD Black 4 TB version in maximum data rate throughput and 10% faster in PCMark Vantage.

“Combining maximum system performance with generous capacity, the expansion of WD Black to 6 TB allows gamers, enthusiasts and creatives to push the boundaries of personalization without compromise,” said Cindi Grace, senior vice president of WD storage technology group. “In choosing WD Black hard drives, WD desktop customers get the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability to handle intense desktop computing with ease.”