Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Tourism Promotions Board of DOT Signs MOA with Manila Shimbun

Domingo Ramon Enerio III, Chief Operating Officer of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), shakes hand with Nobuhiko Hashimoto, adviser of the Asian International Community Information, Inc. (AICI) after signing Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)

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An assortment of articles and photos on Philippine tourist destinations, specifically targeted to the Japanese outbound travel market, will be made available to the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism, to support its marketing communications programs.

The TPB recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Asian International Community Information (AICI), Inc. as partnership for the use of feature articles and high resolution photos published by AICI’s The Daily Manila Shimbun (TDMS), the publishing firm of the Navi Manila Magazine and the Navi de Cebu Magazine. AICI has copyrights to the articles and photos.

Navi Manila Magazine, a tourist guide for Japanese visiting the Philippines written in the Japanese language, with Navi de Cebu, tourist magazine for Japanese tourists and residents in Cebu, specialize in travel articles on tourist attractions in the Philippines. The contents of both magazines are appropriate for better marketing of Philippine tourism in Japan.

Precision M3800 and PowerEdge T20 Launched by Dell Philippines

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Dell Philippines recently launched the Dell Precision M3800 - their thinnest and lightest 15-inch true mobile workstation along with the Dell PowerEdge T20 - an entry-level uni-processor server at the Craft Rock and Grill at the Fort Strip last January 28, 2014.

The Dell Precision M3800 is a merging of a beautiful ultra-thin form factor design and workstation-class performance, while the Dell PowerEdge T20 enables users to consolidate data and applications from multiple devices into a single server where they can be shared more effectively.

According to Christopher Papa, Country Manager of Dell Philippines, due to the consistent evolution of our workplace, customers are requiring more portable systems without sacrificing performance. They also require a server that will allow them faster data transfers compared to using external storage, cloud storage or email.

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The Ajinomoto Umami Culinary Challenge (UCC) once again opened its doors to hundreds of young talents and provided them with a venue to learn from the best in the culinary and food service industry.

The event was held last Tuesday, January 28, 2914 at the Hall 2 of the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia.

Year after year, the contest successfully grows in size and coverage, gathering the Philippines' most creative and innovative foodies, culinarians, professional and aspiring chefs.

Accordinng to Chef Russel Bautista, UCC Competition Head and Resident Chef of Ajinomoto Philippines Corporation. "This one day event is a golden opportunity for us to witness our future chefs showcase their skills and masterpieces. Ajinomoto hopes to contribute in discovering and maximizing their true potentials."

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Google Street View initiates its very first 360-degree panoramic shots of the Philippines at Intramuros, Manila. We can now virtually look around certain places of the walled city using our online gadgets and computers. The sites now available for viewing are the San Agustin Church, Baluarte De San Diego, Plaza San Luis Complex and Fort Santiago.

This was revealed to us during the Google Street View Launch held at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia a few days ago with Department of Tourism Secretary Mon Jimenez as guest of honor.

It will continue driving Street View cars in the Philippines starting with places in Metro Manila to capture more panoramic images of the famous tourist spots in the country. This includes historic or heritage spots like the structures in Intramuros where they chose as a starting point of this project because of the vast number of structures there that are almost turning into ruins.

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We were informed about the Fila Polo Cup 2014 only a few days before the actual event so we had second thoughts about attending in such short notice. But it was surely a great decision to finally come and witness the great Gatsby-themed event sponsored by the Italian clothing brand Fila Philippines.

Aside from getting to see for the very first time the game of polo and how it actually works at the Manila Polo Club, it was a day filled with a momentous production number and a truly star-studded affair featuring several high-profile personalities from all levels of society.

We got to see famous people from the government, showbiz, sports, media and foreign guests, plus the beautiful elite people that you won't see everyday.

Aside from awarding the winners and runner-ups of the polo game which included Fila owner Butch Albert himself, there was a spectacular series of activities that made the day more grandeur. The day was ended with an astonishing dinner buffet that surprised everyone as it appeared so quickly prepared and assembled out form the curtains which covered the field where an amazing performance was held earlier.

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The very eloquent darling of Social Media, Bianca Gonzalez shares her Get-Confident secrets and shows off her awesome figure in the cover of Women's Health magazine January-February 2014 issue.

Looking really sexy wearing a cute magenta top revealing her belly button and paired with a short denim jeans.

The Women’s Health Philippines magazine’s latest issue also features "Workout Strategies For Your Fitness Level," Stay Healthy Shortcuts", "How to Slim Down for Good", "Tips From Leading Dermatologist On How To Get Flawless Skin," "Five Fresh Approaches to Solve Life Dilemmas", "Secrets to Mind Blowing Sex", among others.

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Preview magazine strips down the hottest love team of the moment in the season's bare essentials. Kim Chiu and Xian Lim revisit the 90s and sweet talk their way to the February 2014 issue.

With a title of "Dare to Bare" does this mean the two love teams are now willing to show off more skin in this issue or in the near future in other forms (TV, movie, etc.)?

The love team to beat are wearing only a few clothes and no sign of any accessory, clearly states they might be taking off a few more to expose their assets.

Why not? Both celebrities have the body to show off to the world and flaunt whenever and wherever they want. It's a free world and the more daring you get, the more you get noticed.

Are the two almost pass their wholesome love team image and getting ready to bare more in a rebellious theme?

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

PNP Wheel of Torture: Your Luck May Run Out Soon

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I've heard about the Philippine National Police's (PNP) dreaded-by-detainees "Wheel of Torture" where punishment is given to a detainee based on outcome of the spinning multi-colored wheel.

Do you think it's a horrifying treatment to be served to the detainees? I can imagine right now how the police pokes fun of the condition of the men, mostly drug traffickers, behind this so-called detention facility located at Binan, Laguna. What is even a lot cruel is that the detention facility is not even a legally run PNP facility as claimed by being non-existent from their records as if it was kept a "secret".

Under the game, detainees were punched if the “torture wheel” stopped at “20 seconds Manny Pacman,” referring to a nickname of popular boxer Manny Pacquiao, or hung upside down if it stopped at a punishment called “30-second bat.”

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Keep staring and get PHOEM! Phoemela Baranda is FHM Philippines’ February 2014 issue cover girl!

Our sexy showbiz news reporter goes delectably daring on the February issue of FHM Philippines magazine. At the cover, we see her wearing nothing but her little white panties. It looks like many men will be drooling soon when they get the chance to buy a copy of the magazine.

The February 2014 issue is now available in supermarkets, newsstands, and bookstores everywhere! Grab a copy now! Digital copies will soon be available for download at this link.

Click the link for a sneak peek at her cover photos.

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Wow! Another award for Wazzup Pilipinas! The year 2014 has been a blessing for our blog!

It was only last January 23, 2014 when Wazzup Pilipinas received a National Award for Most Outstanding Filipino Community Blog Site for 2013 from the National Customers' Choice Awards for Business Excellence.

Now, I just received another e-mail earlier today congratulating us for winning another award for Best Filipino Community Blog Spot conferred by the Golden Globe Annual Awards for Business Excellence.

OMG! We are so thrilled and honored for being recognized for our efforts to make our blog the most preferred online media partner in the Philippines!

Awarding will be held at 6 pm on March 22, 2014 at the Centennial A Grand Ballroom of the Manila Hotel.

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I attended an event at Cordillera Coffee or Cordicoffee’s advocacy, The Coffee AID Jam after braving traffic from a tourism conference in BGC. It was a night of homegrown music and coffee featuring independent musician Tao Aves and Ukelele Manila ambassadors.

Cordillera Coffee serves organically and highland grown pure Arabica coffee from Kalinga and Benguet. It has a unique taste due to the rich soil and unpolluted environment of the Cordillera region, they also have the exotic civet (alamid) coffee which is well-known in the region for strong aroma and good taste. If you are in the area it is worth the trip, they have good concoctions and great dishes such as house specialties, pastas, sandwiches, and toasts. Well-loved dishes include Chef Gene Gonzalez' Cordillera Risotto and new menu item Pinoy Kaya Toast, and home baked goodies like the Cordi tsokolate brownies and tsokasuy (chocolate with cashew) cookies, and their Tablea Arabica cupcakes.

One of the very reason why I attended is that, I’m an avid supporter of our local artists, advocacies, indigenous cultures and products and social enterprises. I heard from cordicoffee volunteers the sad fate of many cordillera coffee growers, some are exploited by businessman and not really getting the fair share, and the hardships of growing coffee in the mountains specially during rainy seasons. Coffee AID advocates fair trade and help support local coffee growers. The event is also the perfect time to sign up as a volunteer for their outreach activities like coffee tree-planting, harvest and processing, as well as community workshops.

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A musical adaptation of India’s greatest epic closes Dulaang UP’s 38th season. Ang Nawalang Kapatid, adapted from The Mahabharata by acclaimed playwright Floy Quintos, with original score by Ceejay Javier, directed and choreographed by Dexter M. Santos, is a re-telling of the epic battle between the Kaurava and Pandava families. The story focuses on the anti-hero Karna, a brave young man who must choose between loyalty to his family or to the state which made him a prince.

Ang Nawalang Kapatid was originally written as a children’s play for the Ateneo Children’s Theater and was first produced for their 2011 season. This new version allows for many more of the complexities of the original material to be dramatized. New arrangements of the original songs were created by Ceejay Javier, whose original works include “Isang Panaginip na Fili”, “Astig”, “Alex in Wonderland”, “Break Away Antigone”. He is best known as Musical Director for Atlantis Productions’ “Next To Normal”, Disney's “The Little Mermaid”, “Carrie”, “Addams Family”. As expected, the new staging will showcase Dexter Santos’ flair for images and movement as seen in his previous works “Maxie the Musical”, “Collection”, “Orosman at Zafira”.

In adapting the Indian epic, Floy Quintos has chosen to highlight the story of family and blood ties, and the conflicts that these bring about. Karna, who in Indian literature is traditionally the anti-hero, is now a young man searching for his dharma, his truth and destiny, while unaware of his true blood ties. The young and energetic cast is made up of the Dulaang UP Ensemble, with a live band. Krina Cayabyab is vocal director.

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Spam in 2013 decreased by 2.5 percentage points compared last 2012. Kaspersky Lab experts said this is because more and more Internet users and subscribers are likely becoming aware of these spam materials.

However, Kaspersky Lab noticed that they see more fraudulent and malicious messages appearing and cybercriminals are adopting new tactics to steal confidential data, especially passwords and logins to banking systems.

The experts at Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, have summarized spammer activity for 2013:

The proportion of spam in email flows was 69.6% in 2013, which is 2.5 percentage points lower than the previous year
The percentage of emails with malicious attachments was 3.2% - 0.2 percentage points lower than in 2012
32.1% of phishing attacks targeted social networks
The biggest sources of spam were China (23%) and the USA (18%)
The proportion of spam in email traffic continues to fall. In the last three years, the share of unsolicited messages has fallen by 10.7 percentage points.

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Magnus Eventus Inc. grand opening of 2014 Mega Job Fair yesterday Tuesday January 28, was indeed a huge success. Attended by 1756 jobseekers, more than 40 employers, event partners, LGU officials namely Councilor Bong Liban of QC District 2 and Councilor Candy Medina of QC District 6, PESO Manager Mr. Carlo Abella, POEA representative Ms. Cathy Magda, DOLE representative Tita Nora and Ms. Angelu De Leon - Rivera the MEI Official Endorser.

During this day, Ms. Angelu De Leon-Rivera also announced the new co-endorser of Magnus Eventus Inc. namely, the showtime Ka-Loka-Like semi finalist, Ms. K Brosas , Jed Madella, Julia Clarete and Chariz Pampengco.

There are a total of 30 Participating Companies from different industries and supported by 10 Event Partners. The Magnus Eventus Mega Job Fair at Trinoma will be only until today January 28 between 10 am until 6 pm.

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Damn! It's currently the blockbuster news that's still scorchingly hot due to more shocking revelations coming out from both parties involved....and also from third parties joining the bandwagon of extreme controversy. It has overshadowed all other news in the Philippines, even the privilege speech of almost namesake senator with the name of "Bong."

Vhong Navarro says it couldn't be rape since Deniece Cornejo and him already had a previous sexual relationship. Apparently, Deniece had performed oral sex on Vhong several days before the "attempted rape" broke out and created a resounding noise all over the Philippine archipelago.

The CCTV footages at Forbeswood Heights condo also seems to side with the declarations of Vhong seemingly making it strong that it was a planned and deliberate setup. Poor Cedric Lee and his minions which includes a Mixed Martial Arts expert and body-builder friend. You guys are the bad guys in this movie.

Now former MTV Philippines VJ, Kat Alano, enter the picture, and blows the story to a whole new level once again. While Alano never mentioned names in any of her posts, Twitter was immediately abuzz with speculation that she may have been a victim of Navarro’s advances. Her strong cryptic social media posts about rape believed to be in support of Deniece, Kat is now widely believed to be a victim of Vhong 9 years ago.