NAITAS' Travel & Trade Show (NTTS) is Back!

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The waiting is soon over to get your best tour and vacation packages just in time when the coming summer comes in full swing. The NAITAS’ Travel & Trade Show (NTTS) is here anew. This year’s NTTS offers up to 80% discount on your outbound and inbound travel needs as well as on tourism allied products and services when you make bookings and purchases onsite. On the other hand, the “B2B Travel Networking” feature of NTTS 2017 provides a venue to local and international tour operators and travel agencies to nurture business relations or initiate profitable deals. All these happen on April 7, 8 & 9 at the SM Mall of Asia SMX Convention Center.

NTTS is a modest initiative of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies, Inc. (NAITAS), one of the country's biggest travel and tourism association, in partnership with the Department of Tourism and Tourism Promotions Board Philippines. 

 It is co-presented by the country’s flag carrier---Philippine Airlines (PAL) ,China Bank---the first privately-owned commercial bank in the Philippines and PLDT Smart SME Nation. NTTS has been supported all this time by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), Air Asia, Cebu Pacific, Duty Free Philippines, Organique, Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), and Hannah’s Beach Resort & Convention Center. This premier travel event is powered by PLDT Smart SME Nation, Amadeus, Sabre, Kyocera, TAG Cash and 52 Thomas.

To know more, NTTS can be reached at ntts.eventmanager@gmail.com, (63)977.6394830 (Globe), (63)949.4181479 (Sun) or 0922 8906612 www.naitas.com.ph.

Palo Alto Networks Boosts Cybersecurity Offerings with PAN-OS 8.0

Wazzup PIlipinas!

The Philippines remains to have the fastest GDP growth in Asia with economy growing by 6.8% in 2016 according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. It also is at 3rd spot for having the largest bitcoin users, and with 47 million active Internet and Facebook user, and is at 2nd place for having the most Millennials in ASEAN who are digital natives that embrace the use of online or the Internet integrated with their daily tasks.

Thus, there is no surprise that many Philippine companies are also on their way to include cloud computing among their technology so they could keep up with the rest with regards to being both locally and globally competitive.

With the continuing leap of many businesses towards cloud computing, the threat of cyber attacks becomes more critical especially for companies with large networks. Every Systems Administrator's objective is to keep away any form of unauthorized or suspicious intrusions that could endanger both the data and system of the company they are working for.

One can strengthen the prevention by having a complete visibility of their system or network, reduce the attack surface by proper identification of significant areas to watch out for and protect, and to prevent both known and unknown (zero-day attacks) threats.

Quick response to zero-day attacks could help save a company from losing valuable information to hackers who aim to sabotage companies by using malware, exploits, and new variants, or use the information they would acquire for negative purposes like selling them to competitors.

Palo Alto Networks, led by Kevin Chin, Country Manager of Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam together with Vincent Oh, Director of System Engineering, and Marc Lainez, Solutions Architect based in the Philippines, recently conducted a press briefing to launch their company's biggest product update that offers 70 new cloud features for its next generation security platform.

“The advancements made to the latest version of PAN-OS 8.0 address some of the key challenges customers in the Philippines face in their digital transformation journey. We provide a holistic approach in support of policies and programs in place to prevent successful cyberattacks. We help secure cyberspace so cloud computing can flourish unimpeded and all stakeholders can realize the promises of digital transformation.” says Kelvin Chin, Country Manager of the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Palo Alto Networks areas of innovation include cloud security, multi-method threat prevention, management at scale, new hardware, credential theft prevention which is unique for them and not available from other technology solutions providers.

Below is the official press release from the event so you would get most of the technical details regarding the new features.

Palo Alto Networks Extends Safe Application Enablement and Breach Prevention from the Network to the Cloud with Enhancements to its Next-Generation

Security Platform

New PAN-OS 8.0, Aperture Features and Virtual Firewall Models Enable Customers to Safely Embrace New Cloud Infrastructure; Achieve Security at Speed and Agility of the Cloud

Palo Alto Networks, the next-generation security company, today announced advancements to its Next-Generation Security Platform that extend the ability for customer organizations to safely enable applications, including SaaS options, content and users regardless of location; prevent successful cyberattacks; simplify security operations; and securely embrace the cloud.  

Security demands have evolved as new requirements and risks have been introduced, especially as organizations expand their IT architecture from traditional networks and data centers to private and public or hybrid cloud deployments.

The addition of SaaS application usage to the mix, and the need to secure all these architectures against ever-increasing, sophisticated threats and adversary techniques being used to gain access to assets and data regardless of where they are located – the network, in the cloud, or in SaaS applications – and organizations have a multitude of complex security and operational challenges to address to prevent cyber breaches and achieve the cloud speed and agility promise.

Traditional detect-and-respond approaches, cloud-only security capabilities, and siloed point products offer limited functionality and lack threat context from the network edge or at the user interface. This makes these options ineffective and administratively burdensome; causes holes in an organization’s security posture; and hinders operational agility, especially in cloud deployments.

The natively engineered Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform addresses all these challenges by delivering rich context from multiple points across all IT environments to provide consistent levels of visibility, management and security controls regardless of data location – from the network to the data center and private cloud, in the public cloud, or within SaaS applications.

Building upon existing capabilities in the platform, new advancements included in the Palo Alto Networks platform operating system, PAN-OS® version 8.0, Aperture™ SaaS security service, and new VM-Series virtual firewall models address security needs by extending protections from physical networks to the cloud, further simplifying security operations and infrastructure, and ultimately helping organizations establish an effective and consistent security posture.  

Palo Alto has integrated more than 70 new cloud and SaaS features in this next-generation security platform. The PAN-OS 8.0 feature highlights include the following:

·         Expanded security for public and private clouds, including optimized workflow automation features and integration with native cloud services that ensure the same security measures for a customer's physical environment can be easily applied to Amazon® Web Services, Microsoft® Azure®, or any other cloud. The cloud capabilities enable secure, scalable and resilient cloud-centric architectures with easy orchestration and management for operational agility. 

·         New SaaS application security capabilities, including enhanced visibility and interactive dashboards, new reporting, and automated features like instant quarantine and data sharing limitations. These features increase security, real-time monitoring and compliance enforcement capabilities on cloud-based assets. Additionally, extended application support (Slack and Secure Data Space), language support (German and Japanese) for DLP and machine learning, as well as new data centers in Europe (Germany) and Asia (Singapore), expand global usage and protection options and address regional data privacy needs.

·         Increased performance and three new VM-Series virtual firewall models that have been added to the existing virtual firewall family. The VM-Series, which now includes the new VM-50, VM-500 and VM-700, delivers industry-leading performance options ranging from 200 Mbps up to an industry-leading 16 Gbps of firewall throughput with App-ID enabled to deliver predictable performance in cloud deployments and address a variety of use cases from virtualized branch office to data center and service provider deployments.

Additional threat prevention, management and hardware highlights are also available with the introduction of PAN-OS 8.0. See these related press releases:

·         Palo Alto Networks Raises Bar with New Threat Prevention Capabilities for Its Next-Generation Security Platform

·         Palo Alto Networks Delivers Industry-first Capabilities to Prevent Credential Theft and Abuse

·         Palo Alto Networks Expands Range of Next-Generation Firewall Devices with New Hardware and Virtual Appliances

PAN-OS 8.0 in the Philippines

According to the 2016 Cloud Readiness Index published by the Asia Cloud Computing Association, the Philippines ranked #9 but scored only 3.5 in cybersecurity posture to effectively combat cyberattacks. A robust cloud computing outlook for the Philippines got an even bigger push when the recently-established Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) adopted a cloud-first policy, making the Philippines one of the first countries in the world to do so.

“The advancements made to the latest version of PAN-OS 8.0 address some of the key challenges customers in the Philippines face in their digital transformation journey. We provide a holistic approach in support of policies and programs in place to prevent successful cyberattacks. We help secure cyberspace so cloud computing can flourish unimpeded and all stakeholders can realize the promises of digital transformation.”

-          Kelvin Chin, Country Manager of the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam

PAN-OS 8.0 is now available globally to customers of Palo Alto Networks with a current support contract. 

To learn more about the Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform, visit: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/products/platforms.html. 

TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 Watch Launched in the Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Seen above is the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 watch as seen at the media launch earlier simultaneous with that in Switzerland. The Manila launch, held at the Atrium of SM Aura in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, was simultaneously happening at other countries where the live streaming could be seen as well featuring the CEO of Tag Heuer himself, Jean-Claude Biver, who was seen as very energetic and enthusiastic of the latest product launched that day which allows customer to customize or personalize their watch.

Also seen at the Switzerland launch were Google and Intel representatives whose brand has formed partnership with Tag Heuer to create this particular innovation in watches. The launch was held at Brunnen, the place where Switzerland was born in 1291.

In Manila, Mr. Romain Cans, TAG Heuer Area Sales Director, introduces to us the watch by showing the one he is currently wearing. More photos will be uploaded at our official Facebook fan page.

The must have customizable smart watch. The possibilities are endless in appearance and functionalities because you basically get to make your own watch. It will carry forward the legacy of the swiss watchmaker, as a watch that is smart and oozes opulence. It's the first luxury connected watch bearing the Swiss Made label. Swiss tradition connected to the future.

With the option of a TAG Heuer Carrera watch face and working chronograph, the TAG Heuer Connected has all the functions of a mechanical watch, and so much more.

Why You Need a License to Practice Real Estate Service in the Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!

As the real estate sector continues to be one of the most buoyant sectors of the Philippine economy, more stringent measures are carefully placed to protect real estate investors and property buyers. In line with this, Republic Act No. 9646 or the Real Estate Service Act of the Philippines, which is more commonly referred to as the RESA Law, was enacted. This is the governing law that must be followed by all real estate professionals practicing in the Philippines.

As stipulated by the RESA Law, real estate brokers, appraisers, assessors, and consultants must all be duly licensed by the Real Estate Board of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). As the purchase of a piece of real estate is an important and expensive transaction, buyers’ interests must always be protected. For example, having a licensed real estate broker transacting on the buyer’s behalf greatly minimizes the risk of the buyer getting taken advantage of.

But more than just being a law-abiding citizen, there are more reasons why a professional license is your best means towards a successful real estate career. To shed some light on this important topic, top property portal Lamudi Philippines, compiles the best benefits of having a professional real estate license.

First and foremost, a PRC-licensed real estate broker is undeniably a more trustworthy agent when it comes to real estate buying. If you are an investor, would you entrust your investment to just anyone else? Credentials such as a PRC license assure buyers that they are dealing with a registered professional and should anything go amiss, they can always file a case in the PRC.

For example, real estate portal Lamudi only allows licensed real estate brokers and developers to post listing on its website. This is a rule that the company has implemented ever since its inception in 2014 functions as a security measure against online scammers and to protect consumers.

With credibility come opportunities. A credible and reputable real estate broker who has served a happy and satisfied clientele has one important advantage over unprofessional ones: the power of word of mouth marketing. Indeed, happy customers are only too happy to refer a great real estate broker to their relatives, friends, and acquaintance.

The road to being a real estate broker is tough and Lamudi Philippines recognizes the hard work and contributions of these important players to the industry. On March 30, 2017, Lamudi Philippines will award the best of the best licensed real estate brokers who are subscribed in the portal. More than 300 brokers will vie for various honors.

“This endeavor of Lamudi is not only aimed to recognizing the excellence of today’s top brokers. The winners will become great examples to their peers and will likewise teach a thing or two to many aspiring property professionals out there,” shared Bhavna Suresh Chathambeth, CEO of both Lamudi Philippines and sister website MyProperty.ph, a long-running local property portal acquired by Lamudi from Summit Media in 2015.

Filinvest is one of the major sponsors in the upcoming prestigious awards night. Other parties interested to partner with Lamudi Philippines in awarding the best brokers are invited to take part in this upcoming event, dubbed Lamudi Philippines Broker Awards Night 2017 to be held at the New World Hotel in Makati. They may contact events@lamudi.com.ph and avail of the early bird promo where they can get 30% discount on all booths if they book before March 6, 2017.

"Coffee or Tea for Poem" to Promote Love for Poetry

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"Poetry is an act of peace." – Pablo Neruda

To promote love of poetry, “Coffee or Tea for Poem” will be held on March 21, 2017 the whole day Tuesday to celebrate UNESCO’s “World Poetry Day” for the second year in Quezon City’s pioneering, 78-year-old, artisanal/pugon-style Kamuning Bakery Cafe. Customers can pay for their coffee or tea drink with their original poem in any language that day at No. 43 Judge Jimenez St. corner K-1st Street, Kamuning, Quezon City.

All published poets who bring their book or magazine with their original poem shall also be given FREE coffee or tea on that day.

The verses will be published on Kamuning Bakery Cafe’s Facebook page. Kamuning Bakery Cafe also hopes to publish a literary journal, primarily celebrating poetry. KBC owner Wilson Lee Flores is a writer who started writing poems in four languages as a student, his late mother educator Mary Young Siu Tin also wrote poetry.

On March 21 morning, the special guest of Kamuning Bakery Cafe’s “Pandesal Forum” with media and intellectuals will be Singapore Ambassador Madame Kok Li Peng. Apart from hosting the tertulia-inspired, non-partisan “Pandesal Forum” for newsmakers and leaders, Kamuning Bakery Cafe hosts other cultural events for artists, thinkers and poets.

Kamuning Bakery Cafe also hosts book launchings, such as those by ex-President Fidel V. Ramos, former Senate President Edgardo Angara (whose late cousin theater artist Zenaida Angara Amador was a neighbor and “suki” customer of Kamuning Bakery), and the only Filipino winner of USA’s American Book Award, New York-based author and activist Ninotchka Rosca. Kamuning Bakery Cafe welcomes art exhibits on paintings, photographs, etc.

8 reasons why “Coffee or Tea for Poem” project at 78-year-old Kamuning Bakery Cafe?

— Highlight the rich legacy of poetry in the Philippines and Asia
— Encourage the love and writing of poetry, an art which ennobles & humanizes people.
—Promote more poetry readings
— Help in bringing poetry out of classrooms & literary circles into public places like a cafe
— Highlight importance of poetry to culture and better quality of life
—Help promote poetry to the mass media and social media
— Encourage more publication and distribution of poetry books
— Encourage better appreciation of and support for poets and poetry

How to Maximize Your Online Presence as a Real Estate Professional

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Technology plays a vital role in the success of many if not all industries today. Luckily, if you know how to play your cards right, a well-executed online campaign might be all that you need to be ahead of the game.

This is specifically true with the real estate sector. Leading property portal Lamudi Philippines have noted that more and more house-hunters are going online to search for properties. Be it for serious buying or just merely researching for future investments, the Internet is the top-of-mind resource to get quick and accurate real estate facts.

To help the dedicated players of the property arena, Lamudi Philippines compiles the best strategies on how to establish and enhance your online exposure to get a plethora of leads and eventually secure that sale.

Subscribe in an Industry-focused Portal

Instead of shelling out your advertising funds in printing a bunch of flyers, why not direct your ad budget in a platform where you can post your real estate listings. MyProperty.ph and Lamudi Philippines are two top property-focused local websites where you can upload listings and be sure to be seen by the right target market. A trustworthy and credible website complete with all the relevant real estate information is surely an excellent approach to improve your business.

Be a Social Media Titan

The quickest and also cheapest way to your client’s eye is through social media. You can take advantage of a number of platforms that can be used for free such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and use it to promote your property listings. Just remember that you must not use your social media pages to hard sell your listings. Sharing an exciting trivia, a nice photo, or elaborating the experience is a sure way to get noticed without boring your followers.

Be Mobile

The fast-paced lifestyle of today almost expects real-time results in every activity. Because consumers are turning to their mobile devices as their number one mode of communication and the fastest way to mine data, it is also imperative to ensure mobility in your day-to-day operations. This will not only show that you are prompt and active but it will highlight that you are reliable and serious in your profession.

Maximize Your Tech Tools

Attract your clients with high-resolution photos, panoramic shots, aerial angles taken by drone cameras, and virtual reality. These are just some of the best tools you can use to capture the beauty and sell the experience. As technology continues to advance, it is only fitting to take full advantage of different gadgets and put more color and vibrancy to your real estate offerings.

Content Is Mighty

Never get tired of sharing valuable bits of information to your readers and followers. You can start a blog and post relevant real estate tips that will not just impress your clients but will also arm you with knowledge. This might come in handy in a problematic transaction that you will certainly face in the sea of customers.

These are just some of the online promotion schemes that have been proven effective by hundreds of professional real estate brokers across the Philippines. Come March 30, 2017, Lamudi Philippines will award the best of the best-licensed real estate brokers who are subscribed in the portal. Various honors will be given away.

Filinvest Land, one of the major sponsors in the upcoming prestigious awards night, joins Lamudi in recognizing the contributions of real estate professionals in the field and their technical know-how that enabled them to succeed in the modern business landscape.

The Lamudi Philippines Broker Awards Night will be held at the New World Hotel in Makati.

Expanded Maternity Leave Law To Address "Multiple Burden" of Pregnancy

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Saying that pregnant women carry a "multiple burden," lawmakers from both the Senate and House of Representatives close ranks to push for the passage of a bill that seeks to double the paid maternity leave of working women.

In a press conference today in Quezon City, Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros and Atty. Joy Anne Lai, Chief of Staff of Diwa Partylist Representative Emmeline Aglipay-Villar said that the government should address the "physical, mental and economic burden of pregnancy.”

"The physical demand of pregnancy alone is challenging. A nine-month pregnant woman carries an average weight of 15 kilos. This is as heavy as a regular hollow block or mid-size microwave oven. Yet, this is but a small fraction of the multiple burden of pregnancy,"Hontiveros said.

"The mental and economic challenges of pregnancy are also daunting. The existing maternity law doesn't give enough paid maternity leave for working mothers to fully recover from childbirth, properly care for their child and establish a stronger mother-child bond through breastfeeding. An expanded maternity leave bill does not mean a vacation for mothers. We want women to have the chance to take care of their children and their health and well-being without worrying about the economic costs of being away from employment," Hontiveros added.

For her part, Lai called on Congress to reciprocate the action of the Senate in passing its version of the Expanded Maternity Leave bill. She said that the country's alarming statistics on child malnutrition are the result of a lack of a progressive maternity Leave policy. Citing a study by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in 2011, Lai explained that 65.4% or 4.3 million of Filipino children are suffering from long-term chronic malnutrition. Malnutrition was also blamed for about one-third of deaths of children below five years of age.

"The number of paid maternity leave days granted to working women are not enough for their new-born children to be properly fed. Thus, nursing mothers who need to return to work are often forced to stop breastfeeding and shift to infant formula. Two-thirds of deaths among malnourished children are associated with inappropriate feeding practices,” Lai explained.

To dramatize the "physical and multiple burdens" of pregnancy, Hontiveros presented bags of sand and hollow blocks weighing 15 kilos each. She asked members of the media to lift them in order for them to temporarily experience the physical challenges of pregnancy.

Last week, the Senate passed the Expanded Maternity Leave Law of 2017 granting all female workers, regardless of civil status or legitimacy of her child, 120 days maternity leave with pay and an option to extend it for another 30 days without pay. 30 days can also be allotted to fathers and alternate caregivers.

 

Photo by Rence Chan

Angela Lee Retains One Women's Atomweight World Championship with TKO Over Jenny Huang

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The largest sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship™ (ONE), made a triumphant return to the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand for another exciting evening of world-class MMA action at ONE: WARRIOR KINGDOM. Fans were treated to an amazing showcase of courage and skill, delivered by the absolute best in local and international MMA talent. In the main event, Angela “Unstoppable” Lee retained her ONE Women’s Atomweight World Championship with a masterful display of striking, stopping previously unbeaten Jenny Huang within three rounds.

Visit the official ONE: WARRIOR KINGDOM photo gallery by clicking: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ivh34n9pza3q94o/AADwuMwRg-gnDecd5AIBoQyTa?dl=0

In the main event of ONE: WARRIOR KINGDOM, reigning and defending ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela “Unstoppable” Lee of Singapore retained her title with a dominant striking performance, unveiling a new dimension to her evolving skillset by putting together dynamic combinations to stun her opponent Jenny Huang of Chinese Taipei. Lee overwhelmed Huang from the beginning of the bout, peppering her with a volley of punches, elbows and knees. Huang tried her best to weather the storm but Lee kept coming, stalking Huang to no end. By the middle of the third round, the champion had the challenger pinned down on the mat as Lee unleashed ground-and-pound to earn the stoppage.

Angela Lee, ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion, stated: “Well I have had some time to work (on the striking) because I haven’t fought in a while, so it feels really great. It feels like I’m back home here in the ONE Championship cage. It feels amazing, I cannot describe what I’m feeling right now. Thank you guys for coming out. I have to say thank you to my opponent Jenny [Huang] for being such a courageous warrior. She brought out the best in me.”

In the co-main event, local hero Shannon “OneShin” Wiratchai sent a message to the lightweight division, asking for a shot at the ONE Lightweight World Championship belt after easily taking care of debuting opponent Richard Corminal of the Philippines. Wiratchai, one of the most dynamic strikers in the promotion, put his world-class boxing skills on full display, staggering Corminal with punishing lefts and rights against the cage fence. The end came fittingly as Wiratchai connected on a right hook that turned the lights out on Corminal.

Top strawweight contender Joshua Pacio of the Philippines and former ONE Strawweight World Champion Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke of Thailand fought to near exhaustion, pushing each other to the limit over the course of an intense three round bout. Dejdamrong stalked Pacio all throughout the ONE Championship cage while his younger opponent looked to take matters to the ground. Once on the mat, Pacio dominated Dejdamrong, keeping the Thai fighter on the canvas with high-level wrestling. Action continued in the second round as Pacio continued to batter Dejdamrong, even scoring on an emphatic slam. In the third round however, Dejdamrong came to life and started to pressure Pacio with his world-class Muay Thai combinations. Both fighters were able to make it to the final bell with Pacio being awarded a close split decision for his efforts.

In one of the most exciting matchups of the evening, Yodsanan Sityodtong of Thailand and Ramon Gonzales of the Philippines put on a spectacular showcase of aggression to the roar of a packed crowd. Sityodtong, a former boxing world champion nicknamed “Little Tyson”, is known for his very powerful fists. Gonzales used takedowns to stay away from Sityodtong’s power, but spent a lot of energy trying to pursue a guillotine choke that Sityodtong was able to escape from. In the middle of the second round, the two fighters engaged in a skirmish at the center of the cage which left Gonzales unable to continue. Sityodtong earned the submission via verbal tapout after Gonzales signalled to referee Yuji Shimada.

Thai-Japanese female atomweight prospect Rika “Tinydoll” Ishige brought her hometown crowd up to their feet with a spectacular performance, besting Malaysian fighter Audreylaura “Ice Comet” Boniface to win by technical knockout before the end of the first round. The two women wasted absolutely no time at all, going to battle at the center of the cage with a scintillating striking exchange at the sound of the first bell. Once the fight hit the ground however, Ishige’s grappling skills took the spotlight as she stifled Boniface with a series of submission attempts. In the end, Ishige wound up in full mount and finished the fight with ground-and-pound.

Sagetdao Petpayathai of Evolve MMA was successful in his ONE Championship promotional debut, defeating game challenger Kelvin Ong of Malaysia. The local Lumpinee Stadium Muay Thai legend lit up Ong with his powerful striking, tagging the Malaysian with lightning quick kicks and thudding punch combinations. After a brief feeling out period, Petpayathai opened up his hands and drove Ong against the cage fence where he unleashed the fight-ending sequence to clinch the victory by technical knockout.

Featherweight fighters Ma Jia Wen of Tianjin, China, and Yohan Mulia Legowo of Solo, Indonesia, went head-to-head with intense striking tirades as well as high-level wrestling and grappling. Known for his fast and furious starts, Ma went straight at Legowo and opened up with a fierce punching combination, punctuated by a high kick that landed right on Legowo’s temple. In the second round, Ma turned up the aggression once again and began to tee off on Legowo, connecting on a devastating stream of punches and elbows to force the stoppage.

In the second preliminary bout of the card, Thai wrestling champion Kritsada “Dream Man” Kongsrichai of Thailand delivered a sensational performance, forcing opponent Adrian Matheis of Indonesia to succumb to strikes in the very first round. The two strawweights went on the attack as soon as the bout began and although it was Matheis who landed the more telling blows, it was Kongsrichai who put his world-class wrestling chops on display. The end came when Kongsrichai wound up on top and homed in a series of elbows to force the referee stoppage.

ONE: WARRIOR KINGDOM got off to a great start when feisty strawweight contenders Rabin Catalan of the Philippines and Pongsiri Mitsatit of Thailand locked horns to the delight of the capacity crowd. After a few brief exchanges both on the feet and on the ground, local fighter Mitsatit was able to deliver a series of knees to Catalan’s midsection which proved too much for the Filipino to overcome, earning him a thrilling technical knockout victory in the very first round.

Official results for ONE: WARRIOR KINGDOM

ONE Women’s Atomweight World Championship bout: Angela Lee defeats Jenny Huang by TKO (Strikes) at 3:37 minutes of round 3

Lightweight bout: Shannon Wiratchai defeats Richard Corminal by Knockout at 3:37 minutes of round 1

Strawweight bout: Joshua Pacio defeats Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke by Split Decision (SD) after three rounds

Catchweight bout (62.0kg): Yodsanan Sityodtong defeats Ramon Gonzales by Submission (Verbal) at 3:21 minutes of round 2

Atomweight bout: Rika Ishige defeats Audreylaura Boniface by TKO (Strikes) at 4:32 minutes of round 1

Featherweight bout: Sagetdao Petpayathai defeats Kelvin Ong by TKO (Strikes) at 2:20 minutes of round 1

Featherweight bout: Ma Jia Wen defeats Yohan Mulia Legowo by TKO (Strikes) at 0:59 minutes of round 2

Strawweight bout: Kritsada Kongsrichai defeats Adrian Matheis by Submission (Due to Strikes) at 2:51 minutes of round 1

Strawweight bout: Pongsiri Mitsatit defeats Rabin Catalan by TKO (Strikes) at 4:45 minutes of round 1


In case you missed the action log on to www.onefc.com/livestream for the full replay of the fights at only US $9.99.


For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc.com, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.

Broader Cloud Adoption Calls for New Approach to Security

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Fortinet, the global leader in high-performance cyber security solutions, cautions APAC organisations that traditional security solutions are no longer adequate in protecting today’s agile and highly distributed cloud environments and expanding attack surfaces.

While cloud service providers offer compelling new services, they also create isolated data silos that have to be managed separately, and impose unique security requirements on organizations. IT teams are already overburdened with managing their network transformation, and now must also learn how to deploy, configure, monitor, and manage dozens of additional cloud security tools.

The lack of additional resources, combined with the growing security skills gap, leaves security technicians with no good way to establish consistent policy enforcement or correlate the threat intelligence each of these devices produces.The result, in many cases, is that today’s hybrid cloud environments are recreating the same data center security sprawl that organizations have spent years trying to streamline and consolidate.

“For many organizations, their cloud-based infrastructure and services have become a blind spot in their security strategy. And cybercriminals are prepared to take advantage of this,” said Michael Xie, Founder, President and CTO for Fortinet. “A critical lapse in visibility or control in any part of the distributed network, especially in the cloud, can spell disaster for a digital business and have repercussions across the emerging global digital economy.”

The cloud has been a powerfully disruptive technology, transforming traditional network architectures that have been in place for decades. Housing workloads on cloud have allowed local businesses to be more agile, responsive and available than ever before. Networking experts predict that by 2020, cloud data centres will house as much as 92 percent of all workloads.According to Gartner, total spending for public cloud services in Asia Pacific is expected to increase to US$12.4 billion by 2019 with Software as a Service (SaaS) being the most progressive segment of the market with a growth rate of 22.5 percent and forecasted revenue of US$1.67 billion. (Source: Gartner)

So while organizations are re-engineering their networks, they have also begun to retool their security model and solutions. Security budgets for existing traditional networks are being reassigned to the adoption of specialized security tools, such as data center protection, web application firewalls, security for mobile devices, thin clients, secure email gateways, advanced threat protection, and sandboxes.

Fortinet advocates an integrated Security Fabric strategy that ensures data and security elements across an organization’s various cloud environments are integrated, cohesive and coherent, like a seamlessly woven fabric. Such a strategy allows companies to see, control, integrate and manage the security of their data across the hybrid cloud, thereby enabling them to take better advantage of the economics and elasticity provided by a highly distributed cloud environment.

Fortinet’s Security Fabric addressses three fundamental requirements necessary to meet today’s advanced networking and security requirements of the cloud:

1. Integration

Security, network and cloud-based tools need to work together as a single system to enhance visibility and correlate and share threat intelligence.

2. Synchronization

Security solutions need to work as a unified system for simplified single-pane-of-glass management and analysis, and enabling coordinated responses to threats through such methods as isolating affected devices, dynamically partitioning network segments, updating rules and removing malware.

3. Automation

For security solutions to adapt to dynamically changing network configurations and respond in real time to detected threats, security measures and countermeasures need to be applied automatically, regardless of where a threat originates, from remote devices to the cloud.


“To securely meet today’s digital business requirements, organizations need to be able to cut through the cloud security hype and intentionally select security solutions designed to be part of an interconnected, end-to-end security framework that can solve evolving physical and virtual IT challenges regardless of the deployment option. Security needs to be designed to meet this new challenge not only now, but into tomorrow as organizations continue to evolve towards a fully digital business model,” said Jeff Castillo, country manager for Fortinet Philippines.

Probe on Funeral Parlors Raking in Huge Profits from EJKs

Wazzup PIlipinas!

“Twice the victim.”

This is how Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros described many of the victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) whose families were charged by funeral homes with exorbitant fees for funeral and burial services.

Senate Resolution No. 325 filed by Hontiveros on Monday called for a Senate inquiry on the alleged exorbitant charges imposed by government-sanctioned funeral homes on victims of EJKs.

The senator said that there is an immediate need to impose proper penalties and/or halt the funeral parlors’ alleged unscrupulous practices, as well as determine if liability can be attached to the police officers in charge of their accreditation.

According to the reports received by Hontiveros’ office, it has been observed in many communities after the government declared a violent war on drugs, funeral homes accredited by the Philippine National Police- Scene of the Crime Operatives (PNP-SOCO) charge as much as P 35,000 to P 60,000, sometimes even amounting to as much as P 95,000 -- several times for funeral and burial services, more than the previous rates of P 7,000 to P 12,000.

Hontiveros said that due to the inability of many families to retrieve their loved ones from the said funeral homes, many bodies have been left in piles in unsanitary and demeaning conditions, posing health and sanitation risks.

“This is morally reprehensible. No one should charge exorbitant fees and rake in super profits from the suffering and tragedy of poor and helpless people, particularly those who were killed by extrajudicial killers. The victims of the families affected by these ruthless killings are already suffering from shock and trauma, yet they are made to deal with the stress of cobbling together the funds necessary to provide a decent burial for their loved ones,” Hontiveros added.

Since the start of the government’s war on drugs, several funeral services have been involved in controversial cases. It was reported that the remains of Jee Ick Joo, a Korean national who was allegedly kidnapped and killed by rogue police officers, were brought to a funeral home where they were cremated. The ashes were allegedly flushed into the funeral parlor’s toilet bowl.

Last year, 250 unclaimed bodies were recovered from a funeral home that had not complied with the government’s sanitation code and was operating without the required business permits for the last three years. According to residents, bodies from the Manila Police district (MPD) were often seen delivered to the funeral home.