Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Two Task Forces to Ensure Power for May Elections

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The Department of Energy (DOE) together with Task Force Member Agencies is in full force to ensure reliable, stable, and secure during the critical summer period and May local and national elections.

“We have two operational task forces –the Power Task Force Election and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities–in which various national agencies and power stakeholders are conducting preparatory works, maintenance, and monitoring among other tasks just to provide power supply come election period,” said Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada. This follows as the government recognizes that the provision of electricity is crucial in striving for clean and unquestionable elections, especially that it is automated.

Upon the deputization of Commission on Elections on the DOE, National Electrification Administration, National Power Corporation, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the local electric cooperatives, the Power Task Force Election was created for the delivery of adequate, stable and reliable power supply before, during and after the national and local elections on May 9, 2016 by ensuring availability and operation of power plants and electricity market, carrying out strategic preventive maintenance of all power facilities, and providing enough technical manpower for emergency response and security of vital power infrastructures, among others.

Likewise, it has to be recalled that President Benigno S. Aquino III has created in February the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities (IATFSEF) to address the bombing incidents involving the transmission facilities that apparently escalated late last year, and the right-of-way issues faced by NGCP.

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In pursuit of its mandate of providing a comprehensive energy plan, the Department of Energy (DOE) strongly supports the increased use of renewable energy (RE) in the country under a level playing field and transparent implementation of incentives, such as the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) Program, which are key indicators for this.

Under the FIT System, qualified developers of emerging RE sources are offered on a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of their exported electricity to the distribution or transmission network. This scheme excludes the energy utilized from RE plants eligible for own use.

Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada said that “the government prioritizes energy security, and RE is one of the major contributors to increase the power supply especially that we are also moving towards clean energy technology.”

The DOE highlights that FIT subscriptions for RE resources has significantly increased to 806.82 MW from 646.65 MW installations since the start of 2016. The following are the FIT subscriptions to date: biomass has 11 power plants with a total capacity of 94.25 MW; hydro has four (4) accounting for 26.60 MW; wind has six (6) accounting for 393.90 MW.

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Five years after its successful network modernization program that saw mobile data exploding in the Philippines, Globe Telecom embarks on another nationwide infrastructure program that would enhance the country's Internet experience within homes and across businesses.

Globe announced that the bulk of the $750 million capex this year would be allotted to deploy fiber optic cables in 20,000 barangays all over the country to provide faster and more reliable Internet access in about 2 million homes nationwide. The infrastructure build is expected to take 5 years and will extend network coverage to more areas that currently have no connection or spotty service.

“Data access is currently one of the most important drivers of economic competitiveness and growth. For the Philippines to fully take advantage of new digital opportunities, we need to create an Internet superhighway and provide ultra-fast internet connection that will enable growth in every corner of our country. We want to make use of technological innovations to make Internet service experience at par with other countries in the world,” Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu said. He emphasized that elsewhere in the world, new digital trends such as cloud computing, mobile web services and e-commerce are already radically changing the digital landscape.

In line with its vision of ushering in a digital nation, the network build will also increase the capacity of its network for both mobile and wirelines using different technologies including 3G, LTE and even Wi-Fi. It will likewise replace the old copper wires that have been used for wireline connections in the past.

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ONE Welterweight World Champion Ben “Funky” Askren would like nothing more than to return to the cage and do what he does best and that’s to get in, dominate, and get out. The 31-year old former NCAA Division I wrestler from Arizona has been out of competition for nearly a year, but the good news is, he’s about a month away from climbing back in.

Askren (14-0) will face Russia’s Nikolay Aleksakhin (17-3) in a five round welterweight bout for Askren’s title. The bout will headline ONE Championship’s first event in Manila this year, called ONE: GLOBAL RIVALS.

Last April 2015, Askren battled hulkish Brazilian foe Luis “Sapo” Santos to a No Contest ruling after Santos deemed himself unable to continue after an inadvertent eye poke. A highly-anticipated rematch was scheduled months later in Singapore, only to have Santos miss weight and the bout cancelled at the eleventh hour.

In the first bout, Santos used his indomitable size and strength to throw Askren around like a ragdoll, manhandling him like never before seen in his career. Inevitably however, Santos began to fade and it started to look like Askren was about to take over -- and then the bout was cut short and the rest was history.

Since then, Santos has moved on for the time being, as he defeated Portuguese fighter Rafael Silva just last month in Jakarta, leaving Askren to deal with Aleksakhin.

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Three decades have passed since the longest running musical comedy variety show in the country started. As a new decade unfolds, you are bound to witness the rebirth of the show everyone has come to love.

On the 31st installment of Live Ang Istoryang Dinebelop ng Samaskom, more popularly known as Live A.I.D.S., the show’s brand of comedy has adjusted to the constantly evolving interests of the new generation― the millennials.

“The show wants to give the audience sort of an idea of how Live AIDS is going to be in the next years so now it is very timely especially this year that the subject of millenials are gaining interest and popularity,” Live A.I.D.S. 31 director VJ Santos said.

Officially dubbed as “Live A.I.D.S. HA-LOL-AN”, the show will take on the 2016 presidential elections as its main thrust, employing the satirical humor it is best known for. But this year, it has taken on a fresher and hipper angle that is fitting for the millennial generation. The audience can expect hot items from 2015 and 2016.

“Now, as a millennial as well, I want to show to the audience what kind of comedy the younger generation now appreciates and would want to see because now, at the dawn of social media, everything is going digital, so comedy should also follow that track of progress,” director Santos said.

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ZEN Rooms (powered by Rocket Internet) confirms its #1 position in the South East Asia budget hotel sector by announcing the opening of operations in 4 new countries: Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Philippines.

In line with its slogan Sleep Well, Pay Less!, ZEN Rooms has assisted thousands of travellers on short and long stays in Indonesia, who looked for quality rooms and concerned with personal safety. Travellers exploring Jakarta, Bandung, Bali, Bogor and Yogyakarta choose ZEN Rooms as the preferred choice and double rooms start from as low as US$10.

Through its strict quality vetting of each room on the network and ongoing curation, ZEN Rooms ensures guests always experience the same quality service on what matters most: Free WIFI, clean rooms, comfortable double beds, air-conditioner and in-room shower.

“Following hundreds of excellent reviews posted online by our guests, customer satisfaction at ZEN Rooms has fortunately been very clear. This geographic expansion is a logical next step for us.” says co-founder Nathan Boublil.

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Harte Hanks, a U.S-based leader in customer relationships, experiences and interaction-led marketing, helped Samsung grab attention and build engagement when it launched its Galaxy Note 4 in 2014.

Harte Hanks is well-known for creating many brand success stories for their clients that include Hewlett Packard Software EMEA, Microsoft UK Enterprise, Sony, and Samsung, will be opening a BPO-call center at the Mall of Asia Complex, in Pasay City on April 21.

Now, the Samsung campaign has been awarded Direct Marketing News’ 2016 Marketing & Tech Innovation Award in the Mobile Marketing category.

The campaign, directed at an under-30 audience, focused on using social media to turn someone’s bad day into a good day. The campaign dubbed #NoteMyDay, helped turnaround bad days for those young people who tagged social media with #NotMyDay.

“Research tells us, millennials use social channels to share everything, even the bad things,” says Alan Kittle, creative director at Harte Hanks. “But we'd never seen a brand take direct action and find ways to make the bad days better, even though turnaround stories are popular. Using smartphone features to create happy endings felt so unusually emotional.”

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While wandering in Baguio city, a friend recommended going to Tsokolateria Café. I'm glad I followed her tip because I was not disappointed of this new discovery. Let me tell you why.

First, the place, located in Igorot Stairs, Upper Session Road, Baguio City, is so nice. It was very accessible to get there because Baguio is very well known for fair and courteous taxi drivers. It is just a short walk away from the SM Baguio mall.

Inside, you'll see that their interior is simple yet relaxing, as it is an outdoor café embracing the cold breeze of Baguio.

Secondly, from the name itself, it is a haven for chocolate lovers. Like who can’t get away with CHOCOLATES?! They showcase artisan chocolates. Definitely all in their menu are made by hands. Their HOT CHOCOLATE BATIROL IS DEFINITELY A WINNER!

Third, their craft is not only bounded by chocolates; they also offer different kind of dishes for lunch and snacks but all of them are of the same rate of deliciousness.

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With a good phone, there is no need to buy a camera.

In an economy where smartphone ownership and internet usage continue to grow, the number of traditional camera users is seen to decline, according to a Flickr review. In fact, the report added that popular smartphone devices like iPhone took the sweet spots in the most used camera category, leaving traditional cameras in seven other seats of the top 20 list.

This trend is evident in the number of gadgets being shipped in 2014, where more than 1.3 billion smartphones were shipped globally in contrast to the sharp decline of digital camera shipments. It was revealed that only 65 million cameras were shipped in the same year, less than half of the count in 2010.

With the increasing penetration of smartphones and their more and more powerful photography performance, traditional cameras have been marginalized. For consumers, smartphones not only have easy-to-use camera features that are enough for everyday use; this also makes photo-sharing easier and faster.

To meet the demands of these always-on-the-go consumers, many smartphone manufacturers ventured into improving their devices that integrate powerful photography features. This gave rise to ‘mobigraphy’ or mobile photography, the new art of capturing images and editing them—all in one place.

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Telecommunications company Globe Telecom announces the highly-successful pilot run of the Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP), the award-winning brainchild of Optus and Singtel first deployed in Australia. It was designed to increase high school students’ knowledge of digital citizenship and cyber safety by taking a critical look at their online behavior and helping them develop insights into the influences of the online world and the choices they are making.

“By empowering a generation of students with digital savvy and leadership skills, Globe is giving them a way to understand the individual impact of their decisions and actions as well as enhances their view of how technology can be used to create a #WonderfulPH,” said Fernando Esguerra, Director of Globe Corporate Social Responsibility.

He added: “The youth is greatly represented in the online community. Thus, to prepare them for the immense benefits that a digital nation brings, we want them to learn how to discern proper online behavior, be aware of technology’s impact on their social activities, and develop skills on how to use technology to help them achieve life goals.”

An assessment conducted by global consulting firm Karrikins Group of Australia showed that DTP had a very high impact among students of the two pilot schools ---- Dasmarinas East National High School in Dasmarinas, Cavite and Sico 1.0 National High School in San Juan, Batangas --- particularly on the topic of privacy and security settings on social media platforms.