Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Filipino Company says “Thank You” to EDSA Highway Patrol Group

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In a simple yet meaningful gesture, employees of Bounty Agro Ventures, Inc. (BAVI) recently went through the length of EDSA and gave hundreds of bags of roasted chicken, to members of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) to show appreciation for the HPG’s efforts in helping ease up the traffic in one of the country’s busiest highway.

“EDSA has become better”

The effort was spearheaded by the President of BAVI, Mr. Ronald R. Mascariñas. He shared his own experience on how his daily commute from Sta. Rosa, Laguna, to Ortigas has significantly improved ever since the HPG started handling EDSA. “Nag-improve talaga ang EDSA. On the first day na nag-step in ang HPG, naramdaman ko na may pagbabago. There was a semblance of order. You could see the HPG out there really taking control of the traffic. Hindi parin perpekto, but EDSA has become better.”

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Young cagers gathered and showcased their skills on the hardcourt as Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Philippines 2016 presented by Alaska went to Ateneo de Davao University, Matina campus on February 27-28 for the fourth staging of the Regional Selection Camp in Mindanao. Seven boys and four girls were selected from 543 kids who participated in this year’s program.

Alfonso Luis Candari, 13, of Ateneo de Davao; Lance Centeno, 13, of Ateneo de Davao; Joven Neil Deligero, 13, of Daniel R. Aguinaldo National Highschool; Louis Andre Joring, 13, of St. Mary’s School; Tryon Limar Langala, 14, of St. Mary’s School; Anscar Mamac, 14, of Holy Child College of Davao; and Rysan Villasenta, 13, of Holy Child College of Davao topped the boys division. Rozie Amatong, 11, of Modern International Learning Center; Aloha Marie Betanio, 12, of Malaybalay City Central School; Kate Buenaventura, 13, of Ateneo de Davao; and Marcila Grace Dellosa, 14, of F. Bangoy National Highschool topped the girls division.

The young athletes excelled in the skills stations and scrimmages and exemplified the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA core S.T.A.R. values of Sportsmanship, Teamwork, a positive Attitude and Respect throughout the camp. The kids will also represent Mindanao in the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Philippines National Training Camp this April and will try out with top players from the four Regional Selection Camps for the chance to be named as Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Philippines All-Star and participate in an overseas NBA experience.

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The Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship 4-1, a graduating class, will hold a grand seminar entitled “Filipino Entrepreneurs: Leading the Nation towards ASEAN Integration” on March 7, 2016 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm at Manila Room, Hasmin Hostel, M. H. Del Pilar Campus, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila.

Each year, the graduating classes of BS Entrepreneurship are holding grand seminars as part of their fulfilment of the course ENMA 3143: Seminar in Entrepreneurial Trends and Issues. This seminar will showcase what the students have grown into after 4 years in the course.

This seminar aims to cater audience’s additional knowledge about the topic. Since ASEAN Integration is unfamiliar for some, it will lead them step by step in knowing what ASEAN Integration is. In line with the study of entrepreneurship, the seminar aims to encourage the students to familiarize themselves with how the ASEAN integration can help in the free flow of goods between the Philippines and the other countries that are members of the ASEAN group. The seminar will also introduce the benefits of ASEAN integration in their future businesses.

BSEntrep 4-1 would like to thank the official sponsors of this grand seminar - zalora and the urban interior works as well as ClickTheCity and Wazzup Pilipinas as the official media partners.

Doors will be open from 8:00 am to 9:00 am for registration. See you all the, aspiring entrepreneurs!

To know more about the upcoming event, email us at 4thyearbsentrep@gmail.com and contact us at 09972105398 (jane).

Women Unite to Lead and Win the Battle against Hunger, Food Insecurity, and Gender Inequality

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Here is the SARILAYA statement to open its observance of the 2016 National Women’s Month. In commemoration, there will be a launch of an INQUIRY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS. The event will be held in a few hours today (March 1, 2016), at 6:00 a.m., Tuesday morning, ends around noon. The venue is the Quezon Memorial Circle.

"The Filipino nation opens today the 2016 celebration of women’s month in the country. Here at the Quezon Memorial Circle, we are holding thus motorcade rally to reaffirm our commitment to work for solutions to the burning women’s issues of our times. SARILAYA is honored to co-convene this event with the Commission on Human Rights, and we are delighted that we are joined here by representatives of several women, human rights, and environmental advocacy groups such as Engenderights, the Food first Information and Action Network (FIAN), Greenpeace-Philippines, Likhaan (Center for Women’s Health), the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), World March of Women, and the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). We are also pleased to welcome to our ranks some national, local government officials, and faith-based groups, who like us, want to put an end to hunger, poverty, gender-based violence, and other various forms of women’s rights violations."

Mozilla Philippines, IECEP QC Chapter and St. Paul Tuguegarao on Vigattin of Radyo Inquirer

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Last Saturday's episode of Vigattin rdaio at Radyo Inquirer DZIQ 90 AM was composed of three sets of guests, two personally in the studio and one on phone patch all the way from Tuguegarao.

We had Bob Reyes from Mozilla Philippines who talked about their initiatives toward a more connected experience with the development of connected devices. It's like the everyday appliances and gadgets conspiring with one another to keep us on the loop and well-informed via devices that can sense our needs and communicate with us when necessary.

People usually think of the Firefox browser when you mention Mozilla since it was the more popular competitor of the other browsers back then. Bob says they are different for being non-profit and prioritizing security and confidentiality above anything else.

Meanwhile, MJ Guttierez from the Institute of Electronics Engineers of the Philippines (IECEP) -QC Chapter, talked about the future projects of their school organization including their social responsibility programs, their career development program, leadership training seminars and many more. MJ is keen on joining the mother IECEP organization which caters to the ECE professionals already.

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It was not my first time in Pampanga as I was there for so many times already. One of the most memorable is my visit to Porac where we went to a resort called Poracay, one of the most popular weekend destination in Central Luzon. You get there by first passing through seemingly dangerous terrains made out of ashfall - what once destroyed Pampanga after the volcanic eruption has become part of the tourist attraction. Poracay was composed of several swimming pools, a man-made lake where you can go kayaking and a zipline that will take you from one side of the lake to the next.

The next memorable was the culinary tour in Pampanga which Museo Angeles sponsored. Our tour was not limited to Angeles as we also went to nearby parts of Pampanga aside form the talks held at the museum. One of the speakers was celebrity Chef Claude Tayag, known worldwide as one of the Philippines celebrated chef for he rose into fame when he was one of the personalities interviewed by Anthony Bourdain, world-renowned chef, bestselling author and multiple Emmy-winning television personality.

Chef Claude Tayag was interviewed by Anthony Bourdain at his Bale Dutung restaurant which is sort of a high-end restaurant in Pampanga serving innovative Pampango cuisine with that special and unique touches of chef Claude Tayag. Bale Dutung means House of Wood, and is the home of Chef Claude Tayag and his wife Maryann. the house turned restaurant is inside Villa Gloria Subdivision of Angeles.

This is our visit to another restaurant venture of Chef Claude Tayag called Downtown 1956 Cafe by Bale Dutung. They got so many offers to bring his brand in Manila but the chef has his reasons why he remains at his hometown.

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Here are three experimental short movies I did using the slow motion video capturing feature of the Microsoft Lumia 950XL. It's becoming my real favorite in taking photos and videos during coverage of events as it is more convenient and lighter than my Sony mirrorless camera.

I am actually considering making it as my primary camera for my blog post rather than my original camera. The only thing I am disappointed with about the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is on taking videos using the front camera. The audio recording is too weak and you couldn't hear me do a video selfie. There's no problem using the rear camera for taking videos as the audio can be clearly captured.

Another shortcoming of the Microsoft Lumia 950XL is that it heats up when you leave it on, or when the last use was of the camera. Even if you put the screen off, I think the internal processing within the Windows phone is till running thus heating up when left unused for a long time.

Just like a desktop computer, there are also occurrences of hangs every now and then, and also slowdowns when viewing the grid view of all my photos.

However, as mentioned earlier, it works well when taking photos and videos at all kinds of events, as long as you use the rear camera, and it fits fine on my selfie stick or monopod despite being of a bigger size.

Solstice Bistro and Boulangerie: Rockwell's Newest Must-Experience Restaurant

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Your Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas was among the very few select bloggers who got an invite to taste the dishes being served at one of the newly opened restaurants located in Rockwell, Makati city. The restaurant is fairly new and opened just around the last quarter of last year (2015), and being just a few months old, they are still at a stage where they are experimenting on their food offerings including serving sizes and presentations.

When a good friend scheduled me to visit after a scheduled affair attending the opening day of the four-day Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, I immediately Googled for Solstice Bistro and Boulangerie, the name of the restaurant, so I can get a peak of what they are all about. It is a modern European restaurant concept that is now making a noise as one of the must experienced restaurant in Rockwell.

Solstice is actually all about the astrological transitions that happen in June (summer solstice - the longest day of the year) and December (winter solstice - the shortest day of the year). This is what inspired the Solstice Bistro and Boulangerie to be all about transitions.

Surprisingly, only one blog about the restaurant existed, and so it was an honor to be among the second group to dine at this particularly considered high-end establishment. This is where I've learned that it was newly opened and owned by two prominent restaurateurs namely Joseph Assad of One Way Restaurant, and Jack Rodriguez, the innovator behind the Bistro Group (TGI Fridays, Italiannis) and Global Restaurant Concepts (CPK, IHOP), and a third partner from the Antonino family.

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Here's what transpired with my online discussion with friends on Facebook about the failure of telecom companies, specifically PLDT Home, in immediately correcting our Internet service provision at home. I've been experiencing repetitive down-time or slow-time from our Internet connection taking into account the limited bandwidth available especially on the uploading part.

When my connection was first installed, I was uploading large-size video files, as big as 30-minute averaged videos on my YouTube account, but after a few months of usage, the connection will take an hour or more to upload even just a 6-minute video.

How do the PLDT contractors resolve the problem. They call somebody at PLDT and they correct it on their side. The contractor merely checks if the problem is with the physical lines, or with the desktop/laptop admin configuration setup.

They could not return my Internet connection to the original download and upload speeds. It seems they've intentionally capped the speeds to be able to support other subscribers. They keep on enticing the public to subscribe to their services even when their infrastructure could not handle the load. You see them flaunt bandwidth-hungry applications and services, they accept subscriptions so fast, and yet they remain inefficient for after-sales services where complaints about their poor network and slow action to resolve issues rise and last for several weeks to months.

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We should buy a product not because of its famous endorsers, lavish events and extravagant promos. We don't really care who the ambassadors or endorsers are, who are performing at their events, or what amazing prizes they are giving away, as long as the products are good, we will still buy them regardless of the promotional gimmicks.

But if the products are nothing but junk, not even the most adored celebrity love teams, sports superstars, rockstar performers, iconic personalities - all of them combined - can never persuade me to buy junk.

Only bad brands conduct grand events because their products cannot really sell on their own. Remove all that glamorous hype and let them honestly inform everyone what their products really are made of, and the damage it does to the body, for sure "lalangawin ang kanilang produkto."

Help us with our advocacy against softdrinks. Everyone should know that this junk is damaging to our health especially the youth who are growing addicted to these and turning obese and poor in nutrition. Let us not be attracted with their grand events, advertisements, endorsers, promotional campaigns, and other elaborate schemes that brainwashes people to think they promote fun and happiness. The product offers nothing beneficial and should never be drank by anyone in his right mind.

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What's up with Madonna getting all that flak from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and some netizens. NHCP is set to study possible violations committed during Madonna's 'Rebel Heart' concert in Manila.

I believe Madonna's use of the Philippine flag as a cape was meant to honor the country. She did the same thing at her concerts in other countries. Her performances were literally almost the same except for a few modifications based on the country she's performing at and the requests/reactions of the audience.

The Philippine authorities have also suggested the concert organizer may be sanctioned over the flag incident. "Malacañang is keen on banning Grammy award winner and Queen of Pop Madonna from performing in the Philippines for disrespecting the Philippine flag in her concert," said Sec. Sonny Coloma from the Presidential Communications Operations Office. The singer and concert producers could be held liable for the violation even if they were unaware of the law.

She also sparked ire from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) after the singer somehow “disrespected” religious symbols as well. Cavorting on a giant cross-shaped stage during her two-nights concert on February 24 and 25, 2016 was never an easy sight for religious leaders and their loyal followers. Catholic officials even encouraged fans not to show up to Madonna's concert. But how many listened to them?

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SM's Art For Everyone art fair is happening from February 27 to 28, 2016 simultaneously at 6 premier SM Malls. You'll see different works at every mall so that's one of the many reasons why you should visit all the malls participating. All works on display are for sale so you better see them before they all get sold.

SM plans to do this as an annual event to help Filipino artists get more exposure. It showcases a curated selection of paintings and artworks and includes SM Megamall, SM North EDSA, SM Aura Premier, SM Southmall, SM City Cebu, and SM Lanang Premier.

I've met with Jonjon San Agustin, the SVP of Marketing from SM Supermalls, and is seen here on a photo beside several paintings showing the old interiors of SM Megamall. He personally showed this to me as one of the works he truly appreciates as it depicts what SM megamall used to look like back then. I've learned that the paintings were created way back around 1995 by an artist during his student years and did these for his thesis.

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What should be the main difference between freelance bloggers and employed journalists?

Bloggers should be able to speak out loud and stand firm and upright for something, without getting worried our publication outfit will restrict or stop us, for being biased and truthful. We are a joke and not credible enough if we remain neutral or intentionally ignoring and neglecting the very obvious negative realities. We need more gutsy individuals in this country that would be determined to fight for what is right.

Kailangan natin ng "ma-dramang" leader dahil kawawa na po ang ating mga kababayan na patuloy na naghihirap dahil ang kaban ng bayan ay napupunta lamang sa iilan. Kung sino pa ang masagana ang buhay ay siya pa ang nabibigyan ng oportunidad na mai-angat pang muli ang kanilang pamumuhay samantalang barya-barya lamang ang napupunta sa tunay na nangangailangan at dapat na magkaroon ng karampatang pagkakataon na makipag-sabayan sa komersiyo ng mundo.

For example, di ba ninyo napapansin sa isang pagtitipon kung paano ang discrimination ay patuloy na umiiral. Kung sino pa ang dapat na "public servants" ay sila lang ang nabibigyan ng importansiya ngunit ang ordinaryong sambayanan ay dinadaan-daanan lang. Maliit na ehemplo pero diyan mo makikita na ang trato natin sa ating mga government officials ay parang hari samantalang ang mamamayan ay alipin. It should never be that way. Tayo dapat ang binibigyan ng halaga.

Napakarami pong kababayan natin ang talentado ngunit naaagawan ng pagkakataon at puwesto dahil sa mga maimpluwensiyang mga nakaupo na sa gobyerno. Huwag po nating hayaang magpa-ikot-ikot lamang sa kanila ang pamumuno sa bayang Pilipinas. Ang responsibildad sa pagpapatakbo sa bansa ay napakalaki para ibigay lamang ng paulit-ulit sa iilang tao.

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There’s no stopping two-time UFL Champion GLOBAL FC now.

Loyola Meralco Sparks FC saw a formidable opponent in GLOBAL FC last Saturday, Feb. 27, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium as GLOBAL FC blanked Loyola FC, with a 2-0 score.

The Saturday night crowd at Rizal Memorial Stadium saw players Omid Nazari and Arthur Kouassi contributing 1 goal each in behalf of the Leyte-based team.

First goal was by Arthur Kouassi, during the 42nd minute of the first half of the match, while the 2nd goal taking place at the 2nd half of the match.

Omid Nazari, who became a marked man after his hat trick during GLOBAL FC’s UFL opening game against Pasargad FC, was named Man of the Match.

Coach Leigh Manson says,“On Thursday we will have the Ceres game, which is obviously the most challenging among the recent games we’ve had. We are not yet where we should be, but I think slowly, we are gaining momentum which is good. I think with Ceres next week we probably have to go higher (take it a notch higher). But when we play against each other, I think you’ll find that the teams lift themselves because there’ll be a lot of Azkals players, playing against each other, they know each other very well and nobody wants to lose that game.”

“GLOBAL FC fans are also encouraged to root for their team this Thursday, March 3. There is nothing like a stadium full of screaming fans”, Coach Manson adds.

GLOBAL FC vs. Ceres FC takes place on March 3, Thursday, 8:30 p.m. at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Top Eight Things to Remember As a Correspondent for a Publication

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There are so many publications out there that share the daily news. It is one of the tasks I find fascinating as I admire people who can deliver the stories as precise and comprehensive as possible using their very little time for preparation and research but able to come out with a newsworthy reporting.

I also admire the correspondents who are more than eager enough to come out with their best work especially when the news need to come out as soon as possible to be timely and relevant to the season or occasion.

If you're planning to accept an assignment as a correspondent for a publication, whether it's online or a daily printed news, there are a few important things that you need to remember to be effective.

It is highly important to remember that news is more significant and relevant if it follows certain criteria that will give it a better impact.

Here are some pointers that will prove useful for beginners or newbies who would like to stand out and make some real noise - not just the noise that sensationally controversial "chismis" about showbiz or political personalities make, or the noise that viral or trending scandals or disasters stories make, but the noise that reverberates when you come out with stories that is timely, relevant and the best of all, (for columns and blogs) emotionally-laden and full of personal insights.