DOTr to Mark Five Stations of Manila-Clark Railway Project

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) will lead tomorrow the Station Marking of five (5) stations of the Manila-Clark Railway Project, the line that will connect Manila to Central Luzon.

The 106-km railway project that will run from Tutuban, Manila to Clark, Pampanga is among the high-impact projects of President Rodrigo Duterte under the government's 'Build Build Build' infrastructure program. Five of the 17 stations will be marked in a ceremony: Marilao and Meycauayan in Bulacan, Valenzuela, Caloocan, and Tutuban in Metro Manila.

"Itong malaking proyektong ito, dati ay usap-usapan lang. Ngunit sa administrasyong Duterte, gagawin natin itong katotohanan," DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said. “For the first time, a rail project will connect Manila to Central Luzon and it will be completed under the Duterte administration.”

With this rail project, the 2-hour travel time from Manila to Clark will be cut down to just 55 minutes. The rail system stands to benefit 350,000 passengers daily on its first year of operations.

Apart from the marked stations, the 12 other stations are: Solis, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto, Malolos, Calumpit, Apalit, San Fernando, Angeles, Clark, Clark International Airport, and the proposed New Clark City in Pampanga.

Philippine National Railways (PNR) General Manager Junn Magno said the project is seen to decongest Metro Manila and spread economic gains throughout the country.

“This project will ease traffic congestion and help thousands of commuters coming from Bulacan and Pampanga who travel daily to their workplaces or schools in Metro Manila,” Magno said.

According to the DOTr, the project will start construction in the last quarter of 2017 and will be completed by the last quarter of 2021. The project costs PHP 255-Billion and will be funded through Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan. The whole line will have 13 train sets with eight cars or coaches per train set. Each train can reach a maximum speed of 120 km per hour.

Heads of infrastructure agencies, economic managers, and concerned local government chiefs were present at the station marking event.

IPC Receives Updated ISO 9001 Certification for Top-Notch Service

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IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.), pioneering local cloud services provider and data center operator, was recently awarded the new international standard for Quality Management Systems (QMS), ISO 9001:2015. This is the most recent revision of the ISO 9001:2008 standard which IPC previously held. IPC also holds an ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) certification.

Both certifications were issued by TÜV Rheinland Philippines, Inc., an affiliate of the TÜV Rheinland Group - a leading provider of technical services worldwide; with a mission and guiding principle that is to achieve sustained development of safety and quality in order to meet the challenges arising from the interaction between man, technology and the environment.

IPC Chief Executive Officer Reynaldo R. Huergas says, “This certification reinforces our commitment to provide world-class and highly secure services. In our line of business, data security and consistency are top priorities. We regularly review and improve our work processes to ensure the quality of our offerings for cloud and data management, and to stay at par with existing global standards.”

The ISO 9001:2015 certification measures the quality of an organization’s processes by reviewing a number of principles, including strong customer focus, top management leadership and decision-making, process approach, and continual improvement.

A Quality Management System helps a company meet its customers’ needs as well the organization’s requirements, achieved through streamlined processes, less waste, lower costs, among others. The ISO 9001:2015 is by far, the most recognized and implemented quality management system standard in the world.

Meanwhile, ISO 27001:2013 (ISMS) demonstrates the security and reliability of a company’s information-based business processes. As a data center operator, IPC continuously implements rigid policies and procedures to safeguard the data of its stakeholders.

IPC offers a wide range of cloud services powered by its own robust internet data center facilities and network infrastructure. IPC’s state-of-the-art data centers are telco-grade and carrier-neutral, allowing IPC to provide colocation services, data and network security, disaster recovery, business continuity and other customized enterprise IT solutions. IPC is also the country’s only Salesforce.com Silver Consulting Partner, and a long-time Google Partner providing SaaS licenses, solutions consulting, and deployment services.

IPC is a cloud computing advocate and encourages local organizations to ThinkOutCloud.

Photo Caption:

From Left to Right: Pinky Zamora-Villacrusis, Sr. Manager of Sales and Marketing and Mr. Tristan Arwen Loveres, Managing Director of TÜV Rheinland Philippines, Inc. award IPC’s ISO 9001:2015 certificate to IPC Chief Executive Officer Reynaldo R. Huergas and IPC Vice President for Data Center & Network Operations

More Police and Family Drama Unfold in the Returning Season of “Blue Bloods” this July on AXN

Wazzup PIlipinas!

The Reagan family is back to uphold the law at all costs in the latest installment of the crime drama series Blue Bloods, which premieres on AXN in July.

For years, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) has been at the forefront in fighting criminality in New York City. With the help of his sons, detective Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and police officer Jamie (Will Estes), daughter Erin (Bridget Moynahan), the assistant district attorney, and a great deal of advice from his father, they face the toughest criminals in the city’s violent underworld.

The new season opens with the Attorney General’s Office getting new evidence against Danny for shooting a serial killer in self-defense. Frank is pressured to back an investigation into police brutality. Jamie has his hands tied as his fellow officers believe that his father is holding him back, while Erin prepares for another court showdown with her lawyer ex-husband.

Despite personal issues at home and at work, Frank has to maintain the balance between running the police department and running his family. If he cannot, he will be placed in a difficult position to choose – to serve the force or to serve his family.

Blue Bloods Season 7 premieres on July 7 and airs every Friday at 11:35pm.

AXN is available on SKYCable Channel 49, Destiny Cable Channel 61, Cignal Channel 121, Dream Satellite TV Channel 20, G Sat Channel 51, and Cablelink Channel 38. AXN HD is available on SKYCable Channel 247.