Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Days of Creation By Marc Gaba

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Galleria Duemila proudly presents Days of Creation, a solo exhibition by Marc Gaba. The works in Days of Creation rose out of the artist’s inexplicable desire to revisit the church in 2015, which led to analytic readings of the first chapter of the Bible. Unlike the second chapter which focuses on the so-called fall of man, the first chapter is pure magic--magic that is according to Giorgio Agamben, the key premise of happiness.

In Gaba’s readings, he was struck by how the first chapter consistently reimagines the creation of difference, of delineations, and that read as an architectural program, seems to prefigure God’s eventual invisibility, if not the curious absence. At this day and age, it is almost ridiculous to believe that the world was created—and yet, to walk down any street in the city while entertaining the idea imbues everything from lowly shrubs to sleeping beggar-children with a large sacredness that feels like an all-encompassing love. Everything was created. Gaba’s credo is that whether or not creationism is true, the world is an unfinished work of creation, and as long as we exist, we are still creating the world.

Marc Gaba’s art presents pictures of relation. A relation is invisible: to create an image of relation that forecloses it from its exclusively figural terms therefore involves serial delineations of conceptual territory as well as wagers on the existent. Multi-disciplinarity is one of the formal strategies of the practice. As spaces, images are simultaneously open and opaque; thus seeing his work subtly forwarding an ethic of experientiality, where relation is an active immanence. Each artwork is a claim that its image of relation is possible, and his work ventures that _within_ the sphere of the contemporary, only the possible is real.

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Harte Hanks , a leader in customer engagement and interaction-led marketing, is consolidating its Manila operations and adding room for hundreds of new employees with the opening on April 21 of the company’s BPO-call center at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Complex, in Pasay City.

Harte Hanks Philippines, a subsidiary of the US-based marketing company currently employs about 2,000 people in its main and secondary locations in Metro Manila.

The move allows the company, which has established its presence in Asia-Pacific with the launching of its call center in the Philippines over a decade ago, to integrate the secondary locations with the Pasay facility.

“We have been always impressed by the skill and dedication of our employees in Manila and look forward to sustaining our growth here,” said Jonathan Bondoc Harte Hanks Manila-based Site Director, in a statement.

Among Harte Hanks’ clients are companies known worldwide in information technology, computer software, sports media, banking, mobile phone and health insurance industries.

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With an increased number of travelers expected in the coming days due to the annual observance of Holy Week, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has launched Oplan Ligtas Biyahe: Semana Santa 2016 last March 18 to ensure the safety and reliability of various modes of transportation.

All transportation agencies have been mandated to implement heightened security measures at terminals and enhanced services, which include the deployment of additional personnel in airports, sea ports, bus terminals, and highways. To address passenger needs and emergencies, facilities, such as public assistance desks, first-aid stations, additional seats, and charging stations, have been set up.

More frequent worthiness inspections on aircrafts, ships, and buses and random drug and alcohol testing will be done to make sure that these means of transport are compliant with safety standards and the personnel are not under the influence while conveying passengers.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has instructed airline companies to deploy more personnel at check-in counters for efficient processing, shortening queues. Travelers are reminded not to bring prohibited items to the airport and to stow all belongings in one’s carry-on baggage for faster processing at the screening checkpoints.

Storytelling as a Basic Instinct: Egg Theater Company Presents the Filipino Translation of Martin Mcdonagh’s The Pillowman

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After the brief festival run of its productions, Maniacal (Fringe Manila 2015) and Schism (Fringe Manila 2016), Egg Theater Company presents its first full-run production with a Filipino Translation of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman.

Winner of the 2004 Olivier Award for Best Play and Tony-Nominated in 2005 for Best Play, The Pillowman is about a writer in an unidentified totalitarian state being interrogated about his gruesome and macabre short stories that has inspired a series of child murders. The Pillowman is a dark comedy that boldly exhibits the riveting power of narrative and how storytelling and invention of fantastical tales is a basic human instinct. With the coming elections and the incessant specter of dictatorships and martial law, this production resonates with its exploration of the fine line between the freedom of an individual to tell a story and its impact on the security of society.

Palanca awardee and Egg Theater Company co-founder, George de Jesus III in translating and directing The Pillowman, remarks, “In examining the dark side of imagination and creativity, the play probes into how stories are created, the motivation that drives a writer to tell a story and the responsibility of a writer on the impact of what he has written. Put that against a totalitarian-state setting and we get a play that are by turns disturbingly funny and emotionally shocking. Given that the play is set in an unnamed totalitarian state, translating it into Filipino affords us not only in making it somehow familiar but it also further fuels the idea of it possibly becoming real.”

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And the winner in the 2nd Presidential PiliPinas Debates 2016 is...... Luchi Cruz-Valdez!

This debate didn't help me figure out who I want to be President. What it did was help me figure out who I don't want to sit in the Malacanan Palace. The most important thing that Filipinos shall face right now is to assess the truth based from what they heard or seen - on and off camera?

Seriously, I think what happened behind the scenes can tell us a lot about the candidates' characters. Which ones are sincere and true to their words, but able to act accordingly? Choosing is not easy.

Something appealing, something appalling, it was a comedy because it was super hilarious. But definitely the remarks were superlatively serious yet extremely funny because it seems like fireworks exploded in this Cebu debate as the presidential bets tangle on and off camera.

Despite the delay caused by the Binay camp insisting on bringing in notes during the debate proper because the moderator told them they could, the 2nd #PiliPinasDebates2016 is still a big improvement from the first one done at GMA were the two moderators, especially Mr. Imbestigador, were more like a joke!

There were lots of minutes wasted on personal attacks and accusations! The issues were very slightly answered! Honestly, they are starting to look like nuisance candidates. We would like to inform the esteemed Presidential candidates that the Philippines has much bigger problems than your egos.

Wazzup Pilipinas Mobile App: Get Ready to Become Concerned Citizen Correspondents

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Philippines!!!! Get ready for the Wazzup Pilipinas Mobile App!!!!!

Soon to be developed is our very own Wazzup Pilipinas mobile app that will not only send to your mobile phones the latest news and stories from the Wazzup Pilipinas blog site, but it will also engage the readers to post their own breaking news, stories, announcements, warnings, even selfies and groupfies, using their smartphones and will be posted directly on a special section of our blog.

This will make our readers the citizen correspondents of Wazzup Pilipinas! Using the smartphone's camera, they can take photos of any ongoing crime, accident, disobedience, vandalism, theft, etc. It can also be used to give updates or warnings on disasters or calamities like storm, earthquakes, fires, landslides, etc. The fun side is our readers can also send in photos of noble deeds in action, and give praises to heroes such as taxi drivers who returned a passenger's wallet, a young man who helped an old lady cross the street, etc. Also, users can post selfies or groupfies with famous personalities, tourist spots, or shots of their food from a restaurant. ...and a lot more possibilities!

What makes this app different from what we currently have right now? It's fully customizable for the Wazzup Pilipinas blog site, the self-declared Pambansang Blog ng Pilipinas! This means all your requests for changes, modifications or enhancement can be done if appropriate and necessary. We will listen to you as communications will always be on a two-way basis.

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"Fuel your appetite! Amp up your taste buds with electrifying deliciousness! This is not your ordinary wash-and-go restaurant concept. Staying true to its goals of serving 1000 kilowatts of electrifying good food to everyone, not only do they serve Pizza, Burrito and Chicken to power-up their customers, but they also generate green energy to power-up our restaurant, contributing a solution to conserve energy one burrito at a time."

The Megawatt Tex-Mex Pizza Chicken Burrito Restaurant is impressively unique. I liked it for somehow being a Hollywood action superhero movie-themed restaurant. Upon entering the restaurant, you will feel like you're in a Marvel Comic's Ironman or Avengers movie setting. I believe the real intention was to create a sort of power plant themed restaurant but since most high-tech superhero movie has adapted similar looks for their superhero headquarters or base of operations, everything feels like you're taking part in a movie shoot.

While your eating their Burgers, Pizzas, Lasagnas, Tacos, Burritos, Rice Meals, Fries, or any Megawatt meal combos on disposable utensils, you may pair them with your choice of coffee, juice, beer, tea or imported drinks. Like pairing the Bundaberg's with a Jack Daniels Beef and Mushroom or Burritos - one of the best paired meal of the newly opened restaurant this year.

Tex-Mex cuisine is characterized by its heavy use of shredded cheese, meat (particularly beef and pork), beans, and spices, so it's very evident at the Megawatt restaurant. Your orders are served by men wearing full jumpsuit like that worn by mechanics or engineers. The theme is completed with a construction worker safety cap or head gear like what you can find in a Super Mario & Luigi brothers game. I may now consider this sport-action themed restaurant as one of my fave restaurants among the others like Howzat, Army Navy and National Sports Grill.

I like the chicken and chips, it taste good with the secret 12 spices of crunchiness that was just right. The packaging and serving are undeniably creative. Each dish in the menu was crafted to almost perfection by a group of friends who love to eat and cook. You can feel the seemingly Ironman Megawatt energy flowing within as you grab a bite of every dish.

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Save the date! April 29, 30 and May 1!!! 3 events in the most beautiful island of Boracay!

We invite you to once again Unleash The Animal Within in Boracay, our country's most notorious party beach, for 3 massive nights of parties!

First up, Jungle Circuit Party Neon! A black light & paint party on April 29, Friday at the beachfront of Wave Bar & Lounge, station 2!

Music by 10 of the Top DJs of the Philippines plus 1 of the most sought after international circuit party DJs in Asia!

Tickets will be available on march 23 at all SM cinemas nationwide.

For inquiries and reservation kindly contact 0917 861 5747. Follow us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts.

SuperCharge Your Summer with TropicalSwells SurfCamp

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Wouldn't you want the summer season to happen all throughout the year? It's the most highly anticipated time of the year when most can enjoy a long vacation minus the rainy or gloomy weather. Now that March is here, summer is just around the corner, and everyone is hoping it would last longer and go beyond the months of June!

Since the Philippines has its fair share of wet months, the sunny months would be the busiest time for resort owners especially when their location also has many popular attractions that guests can visit while staying at the their hotel.

And, what does that mean? Sun. Sand. And SURF! Why not?

You can have all three if you visit the beaches where the waves are high and strong enough to keep you afloat above your surfboard. I would love to learn but since I'm a bit overweight and too old to always bum in the beaches, I may Beach is a favorite thing to do with the family as it offers an opportunity to bond while having fun at the same time.

All of us already know that surfing is an exhilarating extreme sport. Immersing yourself into a surfer’s culture brings benefits that make it one of the most unique and fulfilling experiences of your life.

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A formal signing of the agreement between the Department of Tourism (DOT), Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Authority (TIEZA) and GrAT - Center for Appropriate Technology will be held on March 21, 2016 at Hotel Jen Manila.

The agreement concerns collaboration within the Project Zero Carbon Resorts (ZCR) towards Sustainable Development of the Tourism Sector in the Philippines and Thailand. The project aims at contributing to sustainable development in the tourism sector and its value chain.

It has a focus on value creation with less resource consumption and CO2 emissions. The project helps SMEs in the tourism sector to reduce energy and resource costs with a proven methodology to continuously improve the energy and resource efficiency.

Over the last 4 years the ZCR methods have shown remarkable results in economic returns, environmental improvement, and international recognition for the participating companies (www.zerocarbonresorts.eu). This project is funded by the European Union´s (EU) SWITCH Asia program to promote sustainable consumption and production.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: Highly Recommended for Mobile Photo and Video Coverage

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For selfies, groupfies, and other photo ops, the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL definitely gives you what you paid for, and even more, as it's a very powerful smartphone that is a small computer by itself using the familiar Windows operating system. As a blogger, it's the better valued choice for its price range.

It is the smartphone I used to take all the awesome photos and videos during many events and travels.As a blogger, it's highly recommended. It's really great in mobile photography and videography.

If you've seen some of my photos and videos, some of them were taken using the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL. I used it for the coverage of some of the activities in Binondo including a video of a long dragon passing thru Chinatown. It was also used for the coverage of the dry run opening of the Trampoline Park in Mandaluyong, the coverage of the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta where we did a lot of activities which led to the printing of a coffee table book where all our Pampanga adventure were immortalized in print.

It was also the one I used for food photography at the new Solstice Bistro and Boulangerie located at Rockwell in Makati, of Skippy's Bar and Grill located in Bonifacio Global City, and of Eight and Co. Restaurant somewhere in Addition Hills of Quezon City. This means it's also great for food photography.

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Do you want a hassle-free and comfortable commute to avoid the inconveniences of driving, or sharing an overloaded bus ride that takes eternity stopping at every bus stop?

You'll also never have to worry about the stresses of driving and expensive parking by taking Froehlich Tours' Point to Point (P2P) bus service. Froehlich Tours continues to make a mark as a popular transport service. True enough, Philippine transportation services is gearing up to become world class thanks to Froehlich Tours.

I've seen them on the roads for the Point to Point (P2P) projects where they travel EDSA non-stop from point A to point B (Trinoma to Glorietta 5 P2P bus service) and I've seen announcements that there will soon be many more points like the upcoming one in Ortigas to Trinoma.

I've also seen their buses being used at the City of Dreams in Pasay, and plenty of posting on social media where people see their buses at other locations, so they are really almost everywhere.

This is what prompted me to contact Chris Bauer, CEO of Froehlich Tours for our Pampanga Hot Air Balloon and Restaurant Tour scheduled from February 10 to 11 at Clark, Pampanga.

Can you guess where I had the opportunity to find and talk with Chris? It all happened in Facebook. We had a common friend so I made an effort to chat with him and I was surprised that he agreed already even before he let me finalize the arrangement with his team.

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One year and few shirt designs later, 1st Draft Manila Clothing continues to grow bigger than ever with fabulous shirt designs that are themed with Filipino culture.

I bumped into these guys at one of the event where I was invited to cover as a blogger and their shirts designs are just too good to ignore. You'll definitely want to have a closer look as the designs are good to look at from afar and much better appreciated when up close.

The designs include Sabong (a combination of cockfighting and Alibata/Baybayin ancient Filipino writing), Novena (an act of pious Roman Catholic devotion consisting of repeated prayers), Supremo (featuring Andres Bonifacio), Kuwentong Barbero (as a tribute to barber rumors), Litson, Balut (the foreigner-dreaded hard boiled egg with partially-developed chick), Pacman and Fight of the Century (featuring our Pambansang Kamao).

We got to try four designs for our Wazzup Pilipinas five-man team which covered the 20th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark, Pampanga on February 11 to 14, 2016.

The team wore the shirts on the first day of the event, but on the way to the venue a day before, I already gave each member of the team their shirts. Jayson got the the Balut, Peter got the Novena, Jimmylyn got the Kuwentong Barbero and Allan got the white shirt with the bestseller Supremo design. I also got the Novena design as I think those are the ones available in Extra Large sizes.

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Seafood is my weakness and they have it in great quantity at Mequeni of Holiday Inn Clark. The delightful crabs and shrimps would be among my first picks together with other choices that were most probably meant to pamper your cravings for excellent buffet offerings.

Our visit at the 20th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta led us to stay at the luxurious Holiday Inn hotel in Clark. This hotel should be your preferred accommodation if ever you're around Clark as it boasts of international standards making it top of the line.

Thanks to the organizers of the Philippine Hot Air Balloon Festival, specifically Captain Joy Roa of Ads Asia, the hotel provided us with two rooms for our team of five. But we are not here to showcase the hotel just yet. We would do that on a separate article.

What we would want to feature here first is their amazing buffet at a restaurant they call Mequeni. The buffet restaurant is located at the ground floor of the hotel, just a few steps from their spacious lobby, and just opposite their elevators leading to the different floors of the hotel.

The hotel management gave the Wazzup Pilipinas team a quick tour of the hotel and we would tell that story soon just in time for the travel season. You have to come back to read about how we toured the different areas of the hotel including their two other restaurants that are more like bars, their huge pool area, and the other parts of the hotel.

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Summer is early at Pradera Verde as we were recently invited to join the Pradera Verde Summerfest. Together with celebrities and media friends, the organizers arranged a special challenge for us similar to the Amazing Race challenges involving speed, wisdom and teamwork.

To break the news immediately, I would like to proudly announce, and flaunt, already that our team won the challenge so all seven of us in the team got to bring home our own GoPro Hero 4 Silver! Yippeee!!!

Incidentally, we called our group Team GoPro, and luckily, we were destined to win the GoPro grand prize. I would like to thank my team for all the effort and determination especially to our team leader who was even waiting for me as I desperately try to run, even when I was running out of breath and lagging behind. He was concerned that I might suffer a heart attack or a heat stroke because of the scorching heat of the sun. We were actually dehydrated already so thank you for the bottled waters at every challenge area.

But that's just part of the amazing experience we enjoyed at Pradera Verde where their wakepark was the prime attraction. The challenged happened on the second day so it might be best if I start this story on the first day and post a continuation on a separate blog because this may be too long to share oin just one blogpost. The three day event was a very memorable experience especially for me now that my dream action camera is now in my hands.