DOTr Rolls Out Oplan Ligtas Biyahe: Undas 2016

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In preparation for the influx of passengers during All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has activated Oplan Ligtas Biyahe: Undas 2016 to ensure the safety and reliability of various modes of transportation.

The DOTr has directed all its attached agencies to be on heightened alert status to guarantee the security and safety of passengers traveling during the Undas period. Attached agencies are expected to make sure that public concerns hotlines are operational and properly manned.

Road Safety and Public Assistance

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will conduct an inspection of buses as part of ensuring its road worthiness and safety of the passengers. Help Desks shall also be placed in terminals to ensure that queries and concerns of commuters will be swiftly and efficiently attended to.

Further, LTFRB shall issue special permits to bus operators valid from October 29 - November 3, as more buses will be needed to transport those who will be traveling to their respective provinces.

Similarly, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will enhance its public assistance programs by prioritizing tasks in line with guiding motorists.

Meanwhile, the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) will deploy additional personnel at toll plazas where traffic build-up is expected.

For its part, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has created a Management Team which consists of airport managers to personally oversee the operation during the peak days.  Passengers can also ask for assistance and information to Help Desks manned by MIAA Operations group, airport police and medical team.

The Philippine National Railways (PNR) will maintain the present number of train trips in the Metro Manila South Commuter and Bicol Commuter Services. There will be 36 daily from Tutuban – Alabang/Mamatid and four (4) in Naga – Sipocot. One-stop help desks will be set-up in terminals and stations and quick response teams will be activated.

Nationwide Inspection of Passenger Ships

Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) will monitor all domestic passenger ships prior to scheduled departures to ensure that applicable MARINA rules and regulations are complied, particularly the “No Overloading of Passengers and Cargoes” Policy.

i-ACT Deployment and Lifting of Number Coding

The Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (i-ACT) will deploy around 2,900 personnel to man the roads of the metropolis, i-ACT will likewise lift the Number Coding Scheme in Metro Manila from October 31 to November 1. However, in order to further assist commuters going to and from their provinces, Number Coding shall be lifted ONLY for provincial buses on November 2&3, 2016.

Short+Sweet Festival of 10-Minute Plays Now on its 2nd Week

Wazzup Pilipinas!

It's the second week of Short + Sweet (S+S) Theatre Festival Manila 2016 so i'm excited to watch another batch of these promising short and sweet plays. There's those lengthy plays that are so absorbing when seen in full, but it takes a lot of effort to be able to engage the audience with a play that's only 10-minute long. 

The challenge is to be able to effectively cram it all in within those few minutes of performance. That's not an easy thing to do, but on the other end, it may also be an awesome way to deliver a clever or intriguing thought or idea without getting the audience bored.

Short + Sweet (S+S) Theatre Festival Manila 2016 marks its third season this year featuring 30 short plays, 30 directors and nearly 100 actors.

Directors and actors are composed mostly of Filipino talents. The plays will be performed over the last two weekends of October and the first weekend of November at the Power Mac Center Spotlight at Circuit in Makati.

Short+Sweet Theatre, which originated in Sydney, Australia is a festival of ten minute plays and theatre pieces known as a far-reaching brand of short form theatre in the world. Each year, the festival showcases hundreds of bite-sized dramatic treats.

"We handpick over 400 ten minute plays, selected from thousands of scripts submitted, and present them in our Festivals. We utilise the talents of established and upcoming actors, directors, writers, and technical crew, to create some of the best short work theatre across the planet." S+S stated on its release.

Schedule of remaining performances are as follows:
Week 2 : Oct 28, 2016 (Friday) 8PM Oct 29, 2016 (Saturday) 7PM Oct 30, 2016 (Sunday) 7PM

Wildcard Shows: Oct 29 & 30 (Sat & Sun) 3.30PM

Finale : Nov 4, 2016 (Friday) 8PM Nov 5, 2016 (Saturday) 7PM

If you are interested to watch the shows, please confirm your attendance to Ms. Vaish- 09188770011.

Wazzup Pilipinas is a proud media partner.

Videos of Sandra Cam on Fugitive Drug Lord Kerwin Espinosa

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Here are most of the video coverage we had of the Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery Cafe featuring Sandra Cam. This was taken on the morning of October 25, 2016 where Sandra Cam revealed that she was the one who informed President Rodrigo Duterte and the PNP about the whereabouts of fugitive drug lord Kerwin Espinosa who was hiding at Abu Dhabi. This was after her staff tipped her off during her birthday on October 8. A birthday gift? Lol!

To protect the identity of her staff working at Abu Dhabi, Sandra Cam decided to come out in the open so the attention would be focused on her instead. She has security escorts provided by President Duterte so she will have a better way of protecting herself. But then again, she said she has been through two other previous administrations already so she is not really too much concerned of her life as long as she can help expose the anomalies happening within the government.

She also said that she truly admires the current presidency since it was only President Duterte who had the balls to go against the massive drug problem in the country. Even when Reuters recently reported that after interviewing top Anti-Drug Officers and examining PNP records that show the drug incident figures were exaggerated, she insists that they are merely rumors designed to discredit the President's War on Drugs.

There's actually a lot more stories to share but I will let the videos speak for themselves so you could all come up with your own interpretations.

The forum was moderated by Kamuning Bakey Cafe owner and Philippine Star columnist Wilson Lee Flores.

Enjoy!