‘The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition’ Premieres in Asia on AXN

Wazzup Pilipinas!

“The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition” premiered across Southeast Asia, China, and India with its inaugural episode Thursday evening. The show debuted on AXN, its official Asia broadcast partner, with additional free-to-air broadcasts to follow.

ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, his Advisor Niharika Singh, ONE’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy, and Task Captain Dom Lau, ONE’s Circle and Ring Announcer, were all introduced in Episode 1 of the toughest “Apprentice” in history, which was shot in Singapore.



Meet the Candidates

The premiere also introduced the show’s 16 candidates from around the world: Alvin Ang, Clinton Tudor, Eugene Chung, Irina Chadsey, Jessica Ramella, Joy Koh, Kexin Ye, Lara Pearl Alvarez, Louie Sangalang, Monica Millington, Nazee Sajedi, Niraj Puran Rao, Paulina Purnomowati, Roman Wilson, Sho Takei, and Teirra Kamolvattanavith.

These global candidates are competing for a one-year, US$250,000 job offer to work directly under Chatri as his protege at ONE Championship.

First Physical Challenge: Relay Race

For the first time ever on “The Apprentice,” physical challenges have been included, which Chatri described as being designed to push candidates beyond their limits not just physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Chatri grouped the candidates into two teams. Roman, Paulina, Niraj, Alvin, Joy, Eugene, Lara, and Nazee made up the blue team, which became known as Team Conquest. Clinton, Kexin, Jessica, Teirra, Irina, Sho, Monica, and Louie made up the red team, which became known as Team Valor.

The teams competed in a relay race that featured escalating degrees of toughness, with Louie propelling Team Valor to victory.



First Business Challenge: “ONE at Home” Fan Experience

The drama shifted to the boardroom, where the candidates competed in their first business challenge. Nazee of Team Conquest and Clinton of Team Valor were chosen as Project Managers to lead strategy and implementation.

The teams were tasked with curating a “ONE at Home” essentials kit, featuring a bundle of ONE Championship merchandise for fans. Each team was also asked to create a marketing plan that would be pitched to Chatri and Niharika.

Clashing personalities dominated the cutting-room floor, as each team scrambled to piece together its final product.



Saved from the Chopping Block

In the end, Team Valor took home another victory. With Team Conquest losing the challenge, Nazee, Alvin, and Lara were sent to the chopping block, where they were grilled by Chatri on their performances.

In the biggest surprise of the episode, Chatri revealed this was a non-elimination challenge, and that no candidate would be sent home.

Episode 1 of “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition” set the stage for the most unique and exciting iteration of the hit reality franchise to date.

More information on the Apprentice and “How to Watch” can be found at:
https://www.onefc.com/the-apprentice



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

DOTr, PPA inaugurate three (3) port projects linking Palawan to other parts of PH, nearby countries

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, together with Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago, inaugurated three completed port projects in Palawan – the Port of San Fernando in El Nido, the Port of Bataraza in Brgy. Buliluyan, and the Borac Port in Coron today, 19 March 2021, fulfilling the promise of the Duterte administration to link the island province to other parts of the country and to nearby countries.

The inauguration also marks the start of operations for the newly constructed seaports that aim to boost economic progress, not just of Palawan, but the whole of the MIMAROPA (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan) region as well.

Also in attendance at the triple event were Palawan Governor Jose Ch. Alvarez, Palawan 2nd District Rep. Cyrille Abueg-Zaldivar, Palawan 3rd District Rep. Gil Acosta Jr., El Nido, Palawan Mayor Edna G. Lim, and other local and national officials.

The ports of San Fernando, Bataraza, and Borac are among the 424 completed seaport projects of the DOTr and PPA, under the massive "BUILD, BUILD, BUILD" infrastructure program of the Duterte administration.

“Ngayon ay magpasinaya tayo ng hindi isa, hindi dalawa, kundi tatlong Puerto, kasagutan sa pangarap ng Palawan. Kasama ang tatlong puerto na pinasisinayaan natin ngayon, sumatutal na puerto na ginawa ng Kagawaran ng Transportasyon at ng PPA ay 19 ports ‘ho, ito yung nagawa na, kasama na rin ‘ho ang tatapusin. By any numbers, 19 is not small, it is not medium, it is big pagkat ang Palawan ay malapit sa puso ni Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte, ang Palawan ay malapit sa puso ng Duterte administration,” Secretary Tugade said.

“It took only the political will of President Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the cooperation of the local government to say enough is enough, let us put all our actions so that the dreams that we have will come true. And today, those dreams will have to be a reality because they will bring convenience and comfort not only to the people of Palawan but more importantly to the people of the Philippines and also to the people of the neighboring ASEAN,” Secretary Tugade added.

For his part, GM Santiago said that aside from the 13 completed out of the 19 seaport projects in Palawan, the agency also has four (4) more ongoing projects in the province.

“Dito sa Coron, bagamat nagawa na ang bagong pantalan dyan sa Borac, yung luma sa Coron town ay iimprove pa natin yan. Kailangang ayusin ang Port Operations Building dyan para mas maganda ang serbisyo ng PPA sa port users at kailangan continuously ina-upgrade ang ating mga pier, bugbog po talaga ang pantalan na yan sa dami ng biyahe. Dito naman po sa Aborlan ay kung papano mai-improve ang maliit na pantalan doon para makapag-silbi hindi lamang sa mga mangingisda kundi para masilbihan din ang mga deretsong kargamento as an alternate port po sa Southern Palawan other than Puerto Princesa,” GM Santiago said.

Meanwhile, Palawan Governor Alvarez commended Secretary Tugade and the PPA for the completion of the said port projects, which he noted as the government’s fulfillment of the ASEAN agreement for the enhancement of interconnectivity in the region.

“Kung walang political will mula sa isang Secretary [Secretary Tugade] na halos hindi na natutulog matapos lamang ang proyekto, hindi matatapos ang mga proyekto ni Pangulong Duterte,” Governor Alvarez said.

“Ang Palawan ay masyadong bantog sa Kota Kinabalu and the whole of Sabah, where we have 1.3 million Filipinos, sila po ay malayang pupunta rito sa Palawan pag konektado na tayo sa RORO,” the Governor added.

The completed projects at the Port of San Fernando include the construction of a Back-up Area with RORO (roll-on, roll-off) Ramp, a Causeway, and Access Road, as well as a reinforced concrete (RC) wharf with a RORO ramp.

Development works on the wharf, back-up area, and the port lighting system were meanwhile accomplished at the Port of Bataraza.

On the other hand, projects completed at the Borac Port include the development of its back-up area, construction of concrete pavement, as well as the supply and installation of lamp posts, rubber dock fenders, and mooring bollards

Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day in Guiuan, Eastern Samar to mark the 500th anniversary

Wazzup Pilipinas!


The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) will conduct a special program in line with the annual Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day on March 18 in Guiuan, Eastern Samar.

This is to mark the 500th anniversary of the Philippine-Spanish Contact which happened in the said town exactly 500 years ago on the said date. This was made possible through the recorded compassion and generosity of our ancestors exhibited to the starving, undernourished, and scurvy-stricken Magellan-Elcano expedition, the first to circumnavigate the world. It also happened to be the documented contact of our ancestors and the Spaniards.

According to NHCP Chairperson and concurrent National Quincentennial Committee (NQC) Executive Director Rene Escalante, “Unfortunately, a lot of Filipinos, as well as foreign nationals, do not know this episode in the history of the first circumnavigation of the world.”

To commemorate the cordial contact, the NQC adopted Humanity as part of the theme of the 2021 Quincentennial Commemorations in the Philippines (2021 QCP), the branding of the thirty-four major quincentennial milestones in Philippine history which include the 500th anniversary of the Victory at Mactan and the 500th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in the Philippines. The committee, created through the Executive Order No. 55 in 2018 by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, collaborated with the NHCP in installing historical markers in 34 sites in the Visayas, Palawan, and Mindanao that were part of the route of the first circumnavigation of the world in 1519-1522.

“We are glad that today, we are marking that episode through this historical marker we are about to unveil,” Escalante noted. “This marker shall be a perpetual reminder to those who will visit this place of our heritage of compassion which we are known at.”

The Municipality of Guiuan and NQC will also host a solidarity night commemorating the contact on March 18 in front of the historic Guiuan Church.

The Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day is an annual observance every June 30 by virtue of Republic Act No. 9187. It commemorates the compassion extended by the young Philippine Republic under President Emilio Aguinaldo to the last Spanish soldiers who were left out inside the Baler Church from June 1898 to June 1899. The NQC notes that the Philippines and Spain forged friendship 500 years ago in Guiuan and both parted ways in Baler bannering the same. These two events are hoped to serve as inspiration and motivation for both countries to continue friendship.