(DOTr-OTS intercepts 1,880 prohibited items at various airports nationwide

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

The Department of Transportation’s Office for Transportation Security (DOTr-OTS) intercepted a total of 1,880 prohibited items at various airports nationwide for the entire month of March.

Forty-nine (49) of the intercepted items were suspected live bullets, while 81 were “non-live” bullets kept as amulets, or shell casings taken as souvenirs from firing ranges.

Since 2016, under the strict instruction of President Rodrigo Duterte and DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, bullets kept as amulets or souvenirs by passengers are simply confiscated and recorded. The passenger is then allowed to continue with the flight without any undue delay.

Meanwhile, 1,750 items of the total number seized included lighters, liquid items in containers of more than 100 mL, air guns, knives, scissors, workers’ tools, cutters, and other similar sharp and pointed objects.

Pagadian Airport reported the highest number of intercepted security restricted items with 31 incidents and 644 items, followed by Tacloban Airport with 24 incidents and 399 assorted security restricted items intercepted.

OTS Administrator Undersecretary Raul L. Del Rosario lauded the vigilance of OTS airport Security Screening Officers (SSOs) who act as the first line of defense at the airport.

“Pansin natin na pataas nang pataas 'yung vigilance ng ating airport SSOs despite the pandemic na kakaunti 'yung volume ng mga bumibyahe. Nakita rin natin na malaki ang naging tulong dito nung mga karagdagang advanced x-ray machines at other security screening equipment na nabili natin noong mga nakaraang buwan. 'Yung bawat sentimo ng budget na binibigay sa amin, sisiguraduhin namin na mapapakinabangan nang malaki ng mga Pilipino,” Usec. del Rosario said.

“Magmula noong pandemic, siniguro rin natin 'yung health and safety ng mga pasahero at pati na 'yung aming mga empleyado. Kaya in line doon sa ICAO standards and recommended practices, nag-issue kami noon ng policy on Modified Security Screening, kung saan effectively, na-minimize natin yung physical contact ng mga tao through the use of advanced security screening technologies gaya ng full body scanner at hand held metal detectors,” he added.

Viet Mart Supplier Inc. Opens New Branch of VMART “Taste of Asia” in Sherwood Place, Taft Avenue Manila.

 

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Viet Mart Supplier Inc. (Vmart.ph), an international-based growing start-up grocery business in the Philippines, establishes its second physical store in Sherwood Place in Taft Avenue, Manila in its initial expanding efforts.

When Jenny To, CEO of Vmart.ph, established the first store, currently located at 174 Yakal Street Makati City, its primary goal was to serve and bring Vietnamese products to its ex-pats living in Makati. Then, after a short period of business in the country, they have decided to integrate their business into the local scene.

“Our products originally and majorly are Vietnam products. We’re currently looking into the Vietnam market in the Philippines then start to expand to the local market here. We want to stretch to the local market now and try switching from Vietnam-centered market to the local,” said To.

Vmart.ph primarily has Vietnamese goods, but it also includes Korean, Thai, Chinese, and some Filipino products.

 Vmart.ph products vary from consumable goods to health and beauty products, mobile phone accessories, international fruits and vegetables, medical supplies, pet care products, meat and poultry, and various beverages.

 Vmart.ph also has a joint business with VMart which is Annam.ph, a Vietnamese mainstay restaurant, located beside the Makati branch.

“We want to bring the Vietnam products here in the Philippines, but we also brought with us Thai, Chinese, and Korean products to our store,” said To.

“When we first opened here, our first goal was to cater to Vietnamese ex-pats living in the Philippines,” explained To.

Vmart.ph’s second store was strategically established in Sherwood Place in Taft Manila to cater, not only to ex-pats living near Taft Avenue but also to target De La Salle University-Manila students, who they think has the greater interest in trying international products because of their “traveling tendencies.”

“When we opened in our second branch in Sherwood Place in Taft Manila, we wanted not to focus only on Vietnam ex-pats living around Taft but we are also targeting students from De La Salle University. We think that most of these students are there well-traveled,” said To.

“We know most of the students from LaSalle go on and about to different countries to we figured that they are the specific market that would appreciate and try out the products,” said To.

For 2021, Vmart plans to establish a total of three stores in the country’s capital region, also strategically choosing from either Quezon City, Clark Pampanga, Pasay, or Cavite.

“We are planning to put a maximum of three stores. Maybe one or two more for this year. We are looking into either Clark in Pampanga or Cavite. We are also searching either in Quezon City, Cavite, Pasay, or Pampanga but were still looking for the best spots to put up the stores,” said To.

VMart “Taste of Asia” is open 24 hours, seven days a week and delivers from 7:00 AM to 4:00 AM.

For additional information, please visit www.vmart.ph.

ePLDT launches first disaster recovery facility in Cebu

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

ePLDT, the ICT arm of PLDT Enterprise and the premier provider of holistic digital business solutions in the Philippines, recently launched its first disaster recovery (DR) facility in Cebu.

Housed in ePLDT’s VITRO Data Center Cebu 2—the biggest purpose-built data center facility outside Luzon—the disaster recovery facility will enable Cebu-based enterprises in developing their own Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and becoming compliant with global standards. It benefits from all the service level agreements (SLAs) available within the facility which includes physical resiliency and power redundancy—making it an ideal business continuity site for manpower relocation and a backup site for IT infrastructure in the event of a disaster.

A disaster recovery facility serves as a data backup site or alternative office space which companies can use to recover and restore its IT systems or operations in the event of a failure or natural disaster. The site is a crucial component of any company’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and part of standards on operational risk management. Highly regulated industries such as banking & financial institutions are required to abide by a clear and complete BCP to keep its services running no matter the circumstance. This is especially true given crucial role of the BFSI industry in the country’s economy and the daily lives of Filipinos.

Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups, says that “the Cebu DR facility is part of ePLDT’s initiatives to fortify businesses’ BCPs as we continue to face disasters and disruptions. We believe that disaster recovery is key to strengthen the resiliency of businesses.”

The disaster recovery facility will have 100 DR seats available for enterprises. With an area of roughly 250 sqm and has a shared conference room, the VITRO Cebu 2 facility offers both dedicated or shared seats options.

Nico Alcoseba, VP & Head of ICT Business for PLDT Enterprise, mentions that “with the mission of becoming the top-of-mind back-up facility for enterprises, Cebu’s DR facility is also assured of being seismic zone-4 compliant, which means it is able to withstand strong earthquakes, and with 12 layers of security, businesses are assured of its safety and security.”

These features ensure the operational continuity of businesses in the event of power failures, which is further backed by ePLDT’s 24/7 security and customer support. The facility is designed to minimize vibrations on the building where the servers are co-located, therefore ensuring optimum protection of the customer’s equipment.

VITRO Cebu 2 is one of the first three data centers in the Philippines to receive the ANSI/TIA-942 Rated 3 Facilities Certification and is also recognized by NTT Communications as a Nexcenter-accredited facility, complying with the global design standards of the world’s most competitive data centers.

In 2019, ePLDT inaugurated the largest DR site in the North, the first stand-alone DR with the VITRO Clark DR Site, to service Philippine enterprises. Strategically located beside the VITRO Clark Data Center, the site is the country’s largest facility to date, boasting of an expansive 6909 sqm floor area.



For more information on ePLDT, go to epldt.com. #