i-ACT to Mall Operators: Cooperate with the Government to Decongest Roads

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (i-ACT) earlier reached out to various mall operators in Metro Manila to discuss measures on how they can cooperate with the government in an attempt to alleviate traffic congestion in the metropolis during the Christmas Season.

In the past years, authorities have observed that the conduct of mall sales cause traffic gridlock within the mall perimeters due to the influx of customers and vehicles going in and out of the malls. With this, i-ACT stressed out the necessity for mall owners to submit a detailed traffic management plan to the Council two weeks before their conduct of mall sales. The production of a traffic management plan is imperative for both the mall operators and the government, so as not to effect inconvenience to motorists during the conduct of such events.

Further, i-ACT required mall operators to not schedule any mall sales during weekdays, but rather schedule it on weekends so as not to contribute to traffic congestion. Both parties settled to implement the agreement starting October 21, 2016.

I-ACT likewise urged mall owners to start adjusting their mall operating hours from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm starting November 1, 2016.

In the coming weeks, i-ACT will set a dialogue with mall traffic managers to discuss requirements of the traffic management plan, as well as the terms of cooperation between mall owners and the government to address traffic issues.

“Companion” Animated Digital Video Gives Hope in 40 Seconds

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In just 40 seconds, 21-year old digital artist Vince Serrano aims to provide encouragement to emotionally-burdened people through the help of his animated digital video “Companion”, a story of a lonely boy who almost succumbed to the lure of death but received a second chance at life from a beacon of hope.

The young animator‘s short video bested 20 other entries in the “Hope in 40 Seconds” video competition launched in June by the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation (NGF), a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing depression to light. The awarding ceremonies were held on October 6 in observance of the National Mental Health Awareness Month.

“Although I heard a lot of suicide cases when I was still in college, I didn’t put much thought on them until I decided to take on the challenge of doing an animation for NGF. I had to research about mental health and that was when I realized that it is actually a hidden epidemic, a real issue which needs our attention. This further inspired me to do my best so that in my own little way, I would be able to help other people,” Serrano said.

The competition encouraged those suffering from depression as well as their loved ones to seek guidance from HOPELINE, NGF’s free 24/7 suicide hotline which can be reached via the following numbers: 804-HOPE(4673), 0917-558HOPE(4673), and 2919 (toll free for TM and Globe).

DOE to Celebrate Consumer Welfare Month 2016

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Energy (DOE) is to celebrate 2016 Consumer Welfare Month with the theme, “Consumer Protection: A Shared Responsibility.”

According to Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, the month-long celebration aims “to fully realize the protection of the rights and welfare of every consumer, with particular focus on supporting our underprivileged and underserved kababayans.”

The DOE-CWPO invited the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), Consumer Rights for Safe Food (CRSF) and Sun Life Financial Philippines to talk about consumer-related topics in their respective fields.

WHEN: October 18, 19 and 20, respectively at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: PNOC Mini Theater and DOE Training Room.

Specifically, MERALCO will discuss about “Kuryente Load” and “Net Metering” which are the new trends in the electricity sector. The Kuryente Load is a prepaid electricity system that aims to provide consumers an alternative way to save on their electricity consumption. Net metering on the other hand, is the company’s response in supporting the country’s thrust for renewable energy development in the household level.

The CRSF will orient consumers on genetically modified organisms and effect to humans and animals, while Sun Life will conduct a free financial planning seminar to attending participants.

Meanwhile, the 2016 Consumer Fair will be featuring products from S&R Membership Shopping and Dunkin Donuts, livelihood products and religious articles, home-made deli, eco-friendly baby diapers, locally-made clothing and toys, and gift items, among others.

WHEN: October 11 to 13, 2016 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

WHERE: DOE Data Bank Lobby

For more information and confirmation of attendance on the said activities, interested consumers may contact CWPO at (02) 840-2267 or at 0917-556-0759.

Power Up with Ekotek and DC Comics!

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Ekotek celebrates everyone’s inner geek with the official Ekonic DC Comics Gadgets! 

Right out of the comic books and into your hands, you can carry a piece of your childhood with you wherever you go. Grab your gear and get ready to suit up, these new gadgets will get you to style and strut like a superhero! 

Power up and save the day with Ekonic DC Comics Powerbank. Team up with your family and friends as you fight bad guys (and low battery) on the streets! Complete your daily arsenal with power-packed gear set to keep you fully charged for a jam-packed adventure.

SPECS:

Dimensions (mm): 155 x 74 x 12 (thickness)
Total capacity: 8000mAh
Battery type: Li-Pol
Input voltage: DC5V/2A
Output 1 voltage: DC5V/1A
Output 2 voltage: DC5V/2.1A

SRP: 1990

Catch our official DC Comics Gadgets for pre-order at Big Boys Toy Store and Geek PH!

Serial Killer President: That is How French Newspaper Liberation Depicts Duterte

Wazzup PIlipinas!

"Libération, a French daily newspaper, published an article about President Duterte and headlined its 4-page story “Serial Killer President."

As per Senator Dick Gordon's statement... Wow PI Philippines!...

People of France are welcome, visit one of our Most Famous Attraction, our Serial Killer President..

President Rodrigo Duterte landed on the front page of one of France’s leading newspapers, “The Liberation” daily, which featured the Philippine government’s relentless antidrug drive in its four-page story. Duterte's first 100 days in office has been marked with the death of over 3,000 drug suspects.

The French daily Liberation’s front-page report is the latest criticism from the foreign media of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, which has drawn international flak for human rights violations and alleged summary killings. The article alleged that death squads in Davao helped the former mayor rid the city of rebels. The latest death toll in the war on drugs is nearly 3,700. Police operations accounted for less than half of the deaths, while the rest were reportedly committed by vigilante groups allegedly empowered by the state.

Isn't this enough to convince the government that what they are doing is wrong?

Whether they want to admit it or not, the perception of neighboring countries are significant and should be taken with utmost importance. We cannot deny that Duterte is nobody's sweetheart especially in his diplomacy.

That foul mouth that spews hate for almost everyone except China and Russia , that willingness to mass slaughter suspected drug dependents, and encouraging his people to kill even without any due process of law, and the promise to protect his men if they are ever caught killing, should never be tolerated.

We do not need a hard-headed president who is willing to starve his people just so he can proudly stand on his own without the aid or assistance from our allies.

What Keeps Us Getting Even Despite All Odds

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Our founder has this habit of talking too much. Well. it's more like writing too much.

The reason why friends suggested he writes a blog was for him to have an appropriate place where he could easily post his lengthy tirades.

Thus the https://bekindtoustrolls.wordpress.com/ was born. It was originally named "Be Kind To Us Trolls" because he was like trolling and sharing his incessant opinions at several discussion threads or open forums.

When he met a well known e-Commerce advocate, she cautioned him with the negative implications of the blog title, so he eventually changed it to "Be Proud of Us Pinoys." He met her for the first time when he participated in her program recognizing top emerging blogs. He actually won in the same program the following year.

The first time he attended her event, he was still writing on his original blog, but then got an idea to apply as a writer for a community blog site When In Manila (WIM). He got in as a writer, and after 3 months of active contributions attending and writing about events for them, they already promoted him as Senior writer.

But after his six month stint with WIM, he decided to create another blog that would fit promotions of events and brands. It was originally intended to be a travel blog as Wazzup Pilipinas under the blogspot domain http://wazzuppilipinas.blogspot.com

This was because he lost interest of writing for WIM when "politically motivated" agendas began sprouting in orchestrated by members who couldn't accept that he was raking in more events and inviting correspondents to take part. That was when issues against him were exaggerated that led to him leaving them. But they insist they kicked him out first. Lol!

Since he has more event invites than travel opportunities, and he wanted to make it a community blog, he decided to open it as a lifestyle blog that accepts contributions from everyone (fellow bloggers, students professionals, etc.,), and to make it more decent, he bought a domain WazzupPilipinas.com

2nd DLSU-D JFINEX Students’ Summit Presents Money Matters: Changing the Way You Think About Money

Wazzup Pilipinas!

As one of DLSU-D’s most active Recognized Student Organizations, Junior Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (JFINEX), together with Department of Finance and The Master’s Lighthouse Foundation as content partners, will spearhead the 2nd DLSU-D JFINEX STUDENTS’ SUMMIT with the theme “MONEY MATTERS: CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT MONEY” to promote financial literacy and to build a new perspective towards money.

The conference will be held on October 22, 2016, Saturday, from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm at the Ugnayang La Salle, DLSU-D. In this event, distinguished speakers from finance sectors are invited to talk to 2000 students and professors, as well as young professionals, from different universities and colleges within and around Cavite. This activity aims to enhance the knowledge of the students about the thought of money and its relation to various ideologies of a person's life.

This event’s line of top-caliber speakers and guests feature some of the country’s known motivational speakers and business professionals.

PR Director Goes Berserk with Open Letter to Bloggers

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Here's a PR Director's open letter re-shared by a blogger, and correspondingly countered by Wazzup Pilipinas' founder Ross Del Rosario, exposing what really happened by providing background stories about the mentioned incidents.

We are posting this here because the original posts got reported on Facebook and might be eventually removed. We felt it fair to let everyone become aware of the statements and let the people decide on their own.

This PR Director was not able to provide counter-accusations of her abuse being a volunteer at the said event she was part of. Ross only got involved when he got an invitation to collaborate or help out by inviting his fellow bloggers to promote the event via pre and post event articles in our blogs and social media accounts.

We need to emphasize that this PR Director was never in the loop of the online campaign of the event which were coordinated with another recruited social media manager that regularly updates the social media pages of the event. She was not even part of the meetings held for the event, at least during the months before it.

All communications were directed to the head of the event. We never passed through her or any third party or mediator.

Arrangements with the main organizer were done accordingly and were approved by both parties months before the actual event. It doesn't make sense if this PR Director feels it is excessive since both involved parties agreed to the final arrangement.

The following statements below branched out because of a request to Ross to explain his side on the blogger's thread of discussion which originated on his Facebook page.

Cebu City Is Most Searched Location Outside Metro Manila for Real Estate

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Helped by a significant number of searches for houses and lots for sale, Cebu City is ostensibly the most in-demand among online property-seekers looking to buy or rent properties outside of Metro Manila.

Gathering onsite search data from the first to third quarters of 2016, Lamudi Philippines, the leading real estate marketplace in the country, determined that the Visayas’ center for business and commerce is the most searched area outside Metro Manila among Lamudi users. Expectedly, the country’s third most important city (and largest in terms of land area), Davao City, comes in third as well.

The most recent data also indicated that traditional house and lots remain the most popular property type searched for among those looking outside Metro Manila, despite the rise of new apartment complexes and condominium developments in some of these areas. The latter two property types, however, were the following two most searched property types.

In Cebu City, for instance, 55% of property-hunters who visited the Lamudi website from January to September 2016 were looking for houses, followed by apartments and condos. In the cities, the proportion of those looking for houses is even much higher: almost 87% in Antipolo, 84% in Bacoor, 85% in Santa Rosa, and 78% in Imus. It is interesting to note that these cities are dubbed as “bedroom communities”—places that are home to a large number of people who commute to and work in Metro Manila.

Percentage of search volume by property type in the top 10 most searched cities outside Metro Manila

CITY	Houses	Apartments	Condominium	Land	Other property types
Cebu	55.48	20.34	14.56	7.39	2.23
Davao	73.94	7.83	4.39	13.19	0.65
Tagaytay	78.06	0.00	4.62	14.80	2.51
Antipolo	86.94	0.35	0.00	12.33	0.37
Bacoor	84.61	10.19	0.00	4.45	0.74
Baguio	72.23	5.25	4.19	17.12	1.21
Imus	78.50	18.37	0.00	2.18	0.94
Santa Rosa	85.27	1.90	2.43	8.13	2.27
Lapu-Lapu	80.70	11.77	4.33	2.35	0.84
Mandaue	24.58	57.04	9.90	5.97	2.50

Other areas that were tops among most searched areas outside Metro Manila were Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City, two places included in Metro Cebu. Baguio City, the long-time Summer Capital in the Philippines, was the area sixth most searched, where its real estate landscape resulting in houses and lots being the most looked for in the city.

While the data gathered was centered on placed outside Metro Manila most searched for property for sale or rent online, it must be noted that four of the top 10 areas are relatively a short distance away from the Philippine capital, and are places considered part of the Greater Manila area. They are Antipolo, Bacoor, Imus, and Santa Rosa. On the other hand, Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue, which are both parts of Metro Cebu, generated a huge amount of search as well. In addition, traditional touristy places Baguio and Tagaytay generated plenty of online searches, most likely from people looking for vacation homes.

Designer Kaye Morales is Out to Change PH Fashion

Wazzup Pilipinas!

During Philippine Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2016 run, designer Kaye Morales made waves not only for her rainbow-splashed collection, Rebel, but also for her revelation. As her models strutted down the runway for their final walk, Morales’s words lit up the screen overhead: “I am coming out of the prison of judgment. And these are the things that make me who I am. This is my revolution of self. I am out and proud.”

Drawing inspiration from her own struggles as a woman, the designer, make-up artist and occasional painter shared, “I’m a lesbian and I want to (be) open (about) myself while making the fashion industry a welcoming place for all types of people. I want (others) to understand the different types of sexuality, especially mine, as I come out in this industry.”

Morales’s latest collection serves as a throwback of sorts to her humble beginnings as a student at the School of Fashion & the Arts (SoFA), during which she made her first serious foray into the industry with Schizo, a ready-to-wear line for the young fashionable set inclined to making punk style statements.

Closing in on her first decade in the fashion industry, Morales showed early promise when she won Best Collection for Octopodes at the SoFA’s graduation show in 2010. She had previously attended De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde where she took up production design and interior design. With a slew of short courses, she rounded out her fashion education at Central Saint Martins – University of the Arts London.

Aside from Octopodes and Rebel, the designer has come out with four other collections: Melancholia; Debauchery included in Vancouver Fashion Week’s 2013 line-up; Centipede presented at LA Style Fashion Week 2014; Katana seen at Philippine Fashion Week’s Fall/Winter 2015 cycle. Her latest, pegged as “tailored streetwear,” is to be shared with the who’s who of local fashion at Philippine Fashion Week’s Fall/Winter 2016 show.

On the side, Morales has tried her hand in bridal wear with Enchanté, which features dreamy wedding dresses at competitive price points. Being an avid fan of water sports and a certified diver, the multi-hyphenate also came out with a bag line to complement her Spring/Summer 2016 collection. Seen on the runway were backpacks and shoulder bags made from vinyl and cassette tapes; and neon-tinted transparent backpacks for beach use.

Tagged by Buzzfeed as one of “17 Incredible Lesbian Pinays You Need to Know,” Morales will have critics and fans alike wondering what she’ll have up her sleeve for this year’s fall/winter cycle. And judging by seasons past, it will be nothing short of exciting.

Follow the ‘Kaye Morales’ page on Facebook; @mzkayemorales for personal updates and @kayemoralesintl for designs and collection updates on Instagram. For the designer’s portfolio, visit kayemorales.com.