MERALCO sends aid, PLDT

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has extended assistance to hasten power restoration activities and aid the families severely affected by the onslaught of Super Typhoon Egay.

The company promptly coordinated with the local government unit of Ilocos Norte and local power distributor Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC). Meralco also deployed 32 engineers and linecrew to help in power restoration and conduct clearing operations.

The Meralco contingent brought with them an essential fleet of vehicles to expedite the power restoration process in the province. These include four (4) pickup trucks, which will be used to survey and assess damage; four (4) basket trucks for the installation of power lines; and one (1) stake truck and two (2) cranes for the erection of new poles.

The team is also equipped with six (6) generator sets and 12 LED flood lights that will enable them to carry out restoration works safely and seamlessly even during nighttime.

Beyond aiding in power restoration, the company’s social development arm, One Meralco Foundation (OMF), along with the MVP Group of Companies, also mobilized a relief operation to cater to the immediate needs of and provide necessary relief to the affected and displaced residents in the devastated areas.

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) powered the first-ever hackathon of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), encouraging students to produce technology-enabled and purpose-driven solutions to create positive change.

PUP is one of the Group’s pioneer partners under the ‘Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program’ (SWEEP), the Philippines’ first and longest-running industry-academe linkage.

From approximately 60 teams of young innovators, five teams made it to the final round of the hackathon, who pitched their innovations to a panel of judges comprising PUP mentors, faculty from the University of Alicante in Spain, and tech leaders such as PLDT, Smart, and Samsung Philippines.

PLDT and Smart have underscored the value of inclusive learning and industry-academe linkages. As one of the founding members under the Digital Infrastructure pillar of PSAC, PLDT supports GoDigital Pilipinas (GDP), which aims to expand access to digital technologies and to narrow the digital divide by promoting digital literacy and building a sustainable digital ecosystem.

The 2023 PUP Hackathon: ‘Uthack ang Puhunan’ is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and co-sponsored by Samsung Philippines.

Next-gen tech firm BayaniChain is set to energize the stage at the upcoming Philippine Blockchain Week (PBW) 2023 this September to showcase its latest apps and wow the audience on the capabilities of Next Generation Technology in addressing real-life scenarios.

A blockchain-based tech company, BayaniChain will mainly be featuring its app called “R-Wards” that aims to revolutionize customer engagement. The app will enable businesses to take advantage of tokenizing digital assets for better brand love through membership and loyalty programs in the Next-gen Web ecosystem, thus opening new opportunities for potential revenue and operational advantages.

The Philippine Blockchain Week aims to bring together relevant government departments, next-gen tech companies, and well-known figures from the blockchain world to learn about the real-world applications of blockchain tech and understand how it can be harnessed to solve persistent issues and uplift lives. This year’s theme is “BRKOUT!” to encourage participants to break out of their comfort zones and embrace new opportunities in the blockchain space.

This year’s conference will be held at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, Newport World Resorts in Pasay City from September 18 to 22.

UnionDigital Bank, the digital bank subsidiary of Union Bank of the Philippines, forged a strategic partnership with Capital A, involving two key subsidiaries, namely BigPay and airasia Superapp. These collaborations were unveiled at the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) meeting press conference in Cebu on Sunday, attended by industry leaders and policymakers.

BigPay is the fintech arm providing accessible and secure digital financial services with the vision of improving financial wellbeing and accessibility in Southeast Asia, while airasia Superapp is the one-stop travel platform offering services from flights, hotels, ride-hailing, loyalty programs and more.

UnionDigital Bank will provide embedded finance in partnership with BigPay within the airasia Superapp travel platform, the main booking channel for AirAsia flights in the Philippines.

The partnership will enhance the travel experience of frequent fliers with flexible payment options through a Fly-Now-Payl-Later offer available in the airasia Superapp, and exclusive co-branding deals.

UnionDigital Bank’s partnership with BigPay, a leading mobile wallet providing financial services in Malaysia and Singapore, solidifies its expansion into the Philippine market. Through this partnership, BigPay will be able to serve Philippine customers with secure and frictionless financial services that will improve their financial health and management in the long-run.

Security Bank Foundation, Inc. (SBFI) celebrated its classroom donation in Naga, Camarines Sur with the planting of Pili tree seedlings at the open grounds of Camarines Sur National High School, one of its beneficiary schools. The Pili, symbolic as the Bicol region, is the largest exporter of delicacies made from the plant.

Naga, Camarines Sur is the second town where SBFI piloted its Build a School, Build a Nation Program. In 2012, one-story prefab classrooms were donated to three public schools in Naga.

With the rapid increase of student enrolment, limited buildable space, and challenging weather conditions, SBFI shifted to donating concrete two-story school buildings. SBFI went back to Naga to turnover 16 concrete classrooms consisting of a two-story, six-classroom school building in Naga City School of Arts and Trades and a two-story, 10-classroom school building in Camarines Sur National High School.

Naga City Mayor Hon. Nelson Legacion lauded Security Bank Foundation for helping the city minimize their backlog in classrooms.

SBFI now has 691 classrooms turned over to 122 schools located in 69 cities and municipalities nationwide.

On the first edition of The Legal 500 GC Powerlist Philippines 2023, Newport World Resorts (NWR) chief legal and administrative officer Atty. Walter L. Mactal and NWR director for legal services Atty. Michico Rizza G. Oi-Daquil were recognized among top players in the profession.

On July 6, The Legal 500 held a reception at the Rainmaker Lounge of the Villaraza & Angangco’s V&A Law Centre in Makati City for awardees. The event saw a grand gathering of leaders in the country’s in-house legal community, including general counsels, chief legal officers and legal heads of various industries.

NWR chief legal and administrative officer Atty. Walter L. Mactal recognizes the importance of having a competent and inspired team, especially given the integrated resort’s industry, ”Our in-house legal team is structured to efficiently respond to the needs of the organization, and currently handles regulatory, data privacy and corporate compliance, industrial or labor relations, contract drafting and review, among others.”

Media giant GMA Network stays true to its advocacy of continuously extending help to Filipino families, treating loyal mamimili and sari-sari store owners nationwide to big cash prizes and a chance to win a brand new house and lot as it launches the ‘Kapuso Bigay Premyo Panalo (BPP) Season 7.’

GMA Network’s Kapuso Bigay Premyo Panalo has given away millions of prizes to thousands of winners all over the Philippines since 2021. Now on its seventh season, KBPP is set to roll out more than P8M worth of prizes to almost 1,000 winners from NCR, Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao – including P200,000 cash and a brand new house and lot unit from Camella.

Basta may entry, may chance namanalo as Kapuso BigayPremyoPanalo Season 7 drop boxes are accessible nationwide. Alongside Mercury Drug branches, mamimili and sari-sari store owners can drop their entries in all GMA TV and GMA Radio stations all over the Philippines.

The Kapuso Network reminds the public to be careful of scam texts and fake Facebook accounts using the names of GMA Network, GMA Promos, or Kapuso Bigay Premyo Panalo to solicit money. GMA will notify winners via voice call and SMS using its official numbers, and will not ask for money or anything in exchange to claim prizes.

HONOR 90 5G is confirmed to arrive in the Philippines on August 15. HONOR 90 5G will debut massive improvements across multiple key areas pertaining to the user experience, to deliver human-centric innovation that offers great value to consumers around the world.

The HONOR 90 5G comes with a Flagship 200MP Main Camera with a large 1/1.4-inch Sensor, a 12MP Ultra Wide and Macro Camera, and a 2MP Depth Camera capturing incredible amounts of detail and recreating stylish bokeh effects. Revolutionizing shooting in Portrait mode, the HONOR 90 5G is also upgraded to support 2x zoom to generate portraits that are more homed in and make the key subject stand out more than ever before. You can also take better selfies with its 50 MP Front Camera.

The HONOR 90 is equipped with a best-in-class 6.7-inch Quad-curved Floating Screen which supports HONOR’s industry-leading and TÜV Rheinland-certified eye protection technology.

Launching brand new AI technology for video capture, the HONOR 90 5G is equipped with AI Vlog Assistant and AI-powered noise reduction allowing for quick video production and the ability to capture clean voice recordings that are free of ambient background noises.