Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Friday, February 26, 2016

One Big Phi Spotlight: Front and Center

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The Phi Kappa Mu Fraternity and the Phi Lambda Delta Sorority of the UP College of Medicine, in partnership with John Robert Powers, Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park, and Zalora, in cooperation with Mont Albo Massage Hut, Life Support Medical Equipment and Supplies, David's Salon, Royal Star Appliance Store, Crescendo Audio and Music Depot, brought us ONE BIG PHI SPOTLIGHT: Front and Center.

Last Monday, February 22, 2016 at the Chill Bar, Bocobo, we chilled with Ebe Dancel, Bullet Dumas, and Johnoy Danao together with various acts from UP Manila such as the A Band, Class 2020 Band, Noise From the Attic, RSO Band, PHI Band, and the newest batch of brods and sisses, Stormtroopers and PHI6ht Club, took center stage and performed the night away!

Everyone sat back and unwind as talented performers, together with various acts from UP Manila, take center stage and perform the night away!

The proceeds of this event will be coursed through PROJECT HERФ, a comic book project on cancer awareness, as well as EmpoweRED, the Phi Lambda Delta Sorority's project on HIV awareness.

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Congratulations to the DLSU-D Junior Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (JFINEX) for the successful holding of its annual fashion competition and fund raising activity entitled Executive Looks: Pastel Play on February 24, 2016. The event aimed to accumulate funds for the "Golden Patriot Scholarship Fund" through ticket selling by the contestants.

The new reigned Mr. and Ms. Executive Looks 2016 are Roi Leonard Digma and Raven Jean Tabilin respectively.

Roi Leonard Digma is a current first year student taking up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Major in Human Resource Development Management. When asked how he feels being the new reign Mr. Executive Looks 2016, Roi said "I feel great and blessed to think that it’s my first time to join such competition. Executive Looks 2016 was a great experience for me. I’m looking forward for more opportunities like this to come." He dedicates his success to his friends, family, and oto the whole HRD family who have supported him throughout the competition.

Raven Jean Tabilin is a current third year student taking up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Major in Management Accounting - specialized in Business Analytics. Raven said joining the pageant is already an honor, and winning the title is beyond exceptional. She feels blessed and thankful to the Lord and to the people who helped her achieve this success. And most especially, she feels very inspired to show other people the importance of business ethics and wearing of proper business attire to promote professionalism.

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As always, your favorite VIGATTIN (Victory In Governance And Technology Through Information Network) radio show had an awesome line-up of guests last Saturday, February 20, 2016, namely Thomas Neil Brill Wagan and Lope Doromal, the Brand and Communications Officer for External Relations, and the Chief Technologist of IBM Philippines respectively, and Christina Lopez, the Program Assistant for Gender and ICT of the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA).

Also as my co-anchors were Leonel Fred Alea Ador aka Ads from AMA Online University and Mitchie Tabirao from 8Layer Technologies.
IBM Philippines discussed about Cognitive Computing and its possible applications to our everyday lives. We also tackled about IBM Watson, a supercomputer who once beaten others in a Jeopardy TV game show, and can now also function as an expert in Medicine with the role of a Doctor, and even concocting up dishes like a Chef just by letting it know what are the available ingredients on our fridge.

This technology is a lot bigger than mere Artificial Intelligence and it was an overwhelming experience knowing such a computer now exist. I could probably accurately say that most of the technologies from our Science Fiction movies are quickly becoming a reality. Both Lope and Thomas were all eager to share with us their knowledge and the bright hi-tech future we will soon be witnessing thanks to tech companies like IBM. Ultimately, the world, the universe rather, will continue to be "rewritten" in software code, while the "cloud" is now the new platform for digital builders.

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The Department of Energy (DOE) through the Renewable Energy Management Bureau is ready to validate the projects of renewable energy (RE) developers rushing to meet the 15 March 2016 deadline for the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) System for Solar.

The procedure for the Certificate of Endorsement (COE) for FIT Eligibility was outlined in the Department Circular No. DC2013-05-0009 entitled “Guidelines for the Selection Process of RE Projects under FIT System and the Award of the Certificate for FIT Eligibility.”

Under DC2013-05-0009, the DOE is tasked to validate “successful commissioning” and affirm the date of start of commercial operations within 15 working days from the date thereof, and issue the COE-FIT Eligibility on a first-come-first-serve basis. RE developers may request for validation at 80% electro-mechanical completion of the project. As a gentle reminder, only RE developers with complete documentary requirements for solar energy projects, including a valid Renewable Energy Service Contract (RESC) and confirmed Declaration of Commerciality (DOC), shall be considered and shall be required to send a formal letter addressed to the DOE Secretary for final validation.

The validation activities shall be based on the approved DOC, particularly on the designed development scheme, and any deviation shall be subject to prior approval of the DOE. Only projects which are 100% commissioned and in commercial operation upon final validation will be eligible for COE-FIT.

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Microsoft Philippines has been chosen by The Manila Hotel to further upgrade its world-renowned 5-star standards.

Considered as the Philippines’ flagship hotel since 1912, the luxury establishment has been the premiere choice of both distinguished local and international guests, which include former British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, US President John F. Kennedy, and iconic entertainers such as Michael Jackson and The Beatles.

While it has always been known for being a traditional Filipino landmark that is rich in local heritage, The Manila Hotel recently decided to modernize several aspects of the establishment. It underwent a series of dramatic renovations in 2008, wherein all guestrooms were redesigned to showcase more updated Philippine interior design. However, the team went beyond just making aesthetic improvements by equipping the guestrooms with more modern facilities and amenities.

“Technology plays a major role in offering world-class services to our guests,” said Nian Liwanag-Rigor, Assistant Vice President for Public Relations and Corporate Communications. “That’s why we wanted to innovate to provide the right network and infrastructure so that our guests are always connected.”

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The Philippine Junior Marketing Association once again pulls off one of the most hype-generating, out of the ordinary conferences held in the Mall of Asia Arena last January 31, 2016.

This groundbreaking event has been attended with 8,000 delegates from all over the country, making it the biggest student conference of the year.

“McDonalds Digital Disruption”

Setting the benchmark as the first speaker, Ms. Margot Torres, the Executive Vice President of McDonalds Philippines, the official TRENDSETTER who launched plenty notable McDonald’s campaigns setting the bar for all fast-food trends, shared her expertise in high-return value risk-taking when utilizing emerging trends. Indeed risk has its rewards especially in marketing; Ms. Torres confirmed this strongly.

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Start blocking an average of 300,000 messages a day. Globe Telecom has stepped up its anti-spam/scam campaign, utilizing a more comprehensive and fully automated mechanism to rid its network of unwanted and unsolicited text messages, bringing the daily average of blocked messages from 17,000 to 300,000.

The new mechanism involves setting up a new hardware and software solution with complex anti-spam algorithms, with a capacity that can filter up to 1 billion SMS a day. The establishment of the new platform was undertaken in partnership with Xura, a US-based technology company that specializes in digital services addressing network vulnerabilities such as transmittal of spam and scam messages. Project cost is estimated at around $4 million.

“The establishment of a new mechanism to block the transmittal of these messages brings us a step closer to having a spam-free network. Globe will never allow the use of its network by individuals who want to take advantage of our customers. As Globe steps up its campaign to purge its network of spam and scam messages, we expect this number to increase further moving forward,” said Anton Bonifacio, Globe Chief Information Security Officer. The new mechanism allows the telecommunications provider to continuously optimize and expand the reach of its anti-spam/scam campaign, he added.

According to Bonifacio, the new mechanism will also address election-related spam messages ahead of national and local elections in May of this year. He added the new mechanism now covers majority of the company’s postpaid and prepaid customers totaling 53 million at the end of 2015.

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The People Power Experiential Museum is a makeshift setup at Camp Aguinaldo created for the 30th People Power celebration and open for free to the public from February 25 to 26. However, according to Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, there has been talks about having it as a permanent attraction by transferring it to the newly constructed Quezon City Museum.

On our way to the People Power Experiential Museum inside Camp Aguinaldo, a special van took us inside the camp from the Gate 5, but for regular visitors, there is also bus outside Gate 5 that will bring you in. But be early as it gets full quickly. The museum is still open until February 26, 2016.
The organizers assigned buses to pick up visitors from the Gate 5 of Camp Aguinaldo, and then take them to the location of the People Power Experiential Museum inside through the Gate 5 entrance. You need to fall in line and register first at the area near Gate 5. Gate 5 is near the People Power Monument along White Plains, Quezon City.

Once inside the location, if there are too many people, you get to wait for a while seated at the grandstand since the tour involves live presentation of actors, so people are allowed inside the museum only by groups and at certain time intervals only after the previous group is done. There is a video presentation about Ninoy Aquino being shown at the grandstand so you will have something to watch while waiting. There's also a few guidelines presented to advise everyone to follow.

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Since its launch in 2012, Bleeding Heart Rum Company, makers of Don Papa Rum has made waves in the spirits industry, both locally and internationally.

Don Papa recognizes that there is a commonality between its own design aesthetic and the works created by the Philippine artistic community – bold, complex, and multifaceted. The first ever Don Papa Art Competition aimed to engage the artistic community and harness their creativity by way of conducting a visual arts competition.

The Don Papa Art Competition was an open call to Filipino artists to reimagine the Don Papa secondary packaging design. The art competition was launched last November 11, 2015 at the Bonbon Club in an intimate party gathering media, art galleries, curators, and artists. The artists were encouraged to go beyond the current art work and reinterpret its design based on their own notions of the island of Negros, Papa Isio, and of course the rum itself.

The artists entered the competition through an online registration and were required to submit different mediums. The artists were given a 10-week period to complete and submit their artworks to the Don Papa Rum headquarters.

History’s Vikings Season 4 Stormed Asian Homes

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The #1 series in its timeslot in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, continues to draw a bigger audience.

The season four premiere of HISTORY’s critically acclaimed scripted drama series Vikings pummeled the competition on Friday night, as the #1 show in its timeslot beating all English language cable channels in Singapore, Malaysia (excluding Movies and Sports channels) and the Philippines (excluding Kids channels).

Singapore saw an increase of +320% Cable 15+ viewers, Malaysia drew in 218% more viewers aged 15+, while the Philippines brought in 644% more 25+ ABC1 audience on its debut night, all more than its prime time average.

The new season of Vikings will introduce its first Asian character, “Yidu”, who will play a pivotal role in the series. Asian-Canadian actress Dianne Doan joins the stellar cast as “Yidu”, the mysterious slave who fascinates Viking chieftain Ragnar.

Vikings season four airs as a same day telecast with the United States, every Friday at 9pm on HISTORY.

HISTORY™ is available on SKYCable Ch 67; Cable Link Ch. 43; Dream Satellite Ch 30; Destiny Cable Ch 57; and Cignal Ch 125.