Foundations Pledge 2 Million for FutureSmart Grants for Edukasyon.PH

There exists brain drain and lack of IT professionals in the country. This includes sectors like programming, network engineering, software development, cyber security and more. While the population is available, it is quite expensive to send them to schools, and this is being addressed by private organizations like D!g!P|us and B!ng0P|us Foundation. 

These efforts were solidified by a MOA signing with executives from Edukasyon.PH, There exists brain drain and lack of IT professionals in the country. This includes sectors like programming, network engineering, software development, cyber security and more. While the population is available, it is quite expensive to send them to schools, and this is being addressed by private organizations like Edukasyon.ph, B!ng0P|us Foundation, There exists brain drain and lack of IT professionals in the country. This includes sectors like programming, cloud expertise, network engineering, software development, cyber security and more. While the population is available, it is quite expensive to send them to schools, and this is being addressed by private organizations like Edukasyon.ph, D!g!P|us and B!ng0P|us Foundation, Amazon Web Services Philippines and Greenfield for AWS ASEAN. So just imagine how much they could train for cloud services and tech using this initiative. 

They will begin with the AWS re/start program that runs for 12 weeks, something that could prepare them for cloud studies, then the folks from Edukasyon.ph will work on job placements that would hopefully land them one in 3 months including D!g!P|us and B!ng0P|us,.plus their affiliates. 

This part of their initiatives to increase work for Pinoys in this economy, as it already has changed over 5000 students, teachers through these efforts, and has already gotten them to win a Gold Stevie Award because of their huge social impact, as they plan to expand this to other areas pretty soon. D!g!P|us and B!ng0P|us will completely commit to help even more in the coming years, to hopefully develop more IT and cloud professionals as we get to become a bullish digital behemoth very soon. 

Head on to Edukasyon.ph if you want to become part of the movement or be one of their scholars!

RHIAN RAMOS, JC SANTOS Take On Complex Characters in PM Productions "MEG & RYAN"

A word was uttered around the venue when we were interviewing the cast of "Meg & Ryan", it was UNDERRATED, which we felt was certainly an apt one after meeting the stars of the movie under Pocket Media Films. 

Lead stars Rhian Ramos and JC Santos will be doing this romantic comedy film together with the cast award winning actor Cedrick Juan, Ces Quesada, Cris Villanueva, Jef Gaitan, JMee Katanyag, and social media stars Steven Bansil and Poca Osinaga, plus beauty queen Alison Black.   

While isn't first film to be directed by Direk Catherine O. Camarillo, this is somehow her first foray in the love story-romcom genre. "This is another masterpiece that I want to share with you, which I hope you would be able to give awareness to the audience, give them a fair chance to watch this in cinemas this coming August 5, 2025. (watched trailer, she became very emotional and said)  I am just overwhelmed seeing them on screen because they really look good together. Doing this was quite easy because I had some of the best actors to work with. It was quite to put them in what I envisioned in the film. I've done so many projects in the past that made me do compromises, I didn't have to do that here. I gave it my all, and got the ones I wanted to have in this project. I'm so happy I was able to do that in Meg & Ryan. I also felt the support of my cast, they respected the material, they loved this film as much as I did."

Rhian says "I haven't had drunk episodes where I wasn't aware of what I was doing. Either that, or may I just couldn't remember it. I really enjoyed the whole experience because JC is such a generous actor. If there's something he could do to help in the execution of a scene, he will. He will go farther than what is expected of him. It's not just the acting part that he's going to do, he contributes in the lines, change it to what feels more natural in the scenes. He really envibes what would Ryan do or say. It really helped me and made my job super easy! I really love complex characters, those with flaws, to make sense of people. Meg is an @lcoh0lic, opposites attract, I've seen Direk Catherine's previous films and wanted to work with JC which is why I wanted to do this. This is how I view love also, we have our own journey, when you find someone who understand that about you, it needs to be watched and told." 

JC Santos added "Actually everybody here was easy to work with. This is what's great about a collaboration because you can feel if you match. We enjoyed the process even the challenges, Rhian Ramos is a part of my bucket list and I'm seeing it now. I see how she gives the truth in her scenes. Even Tita Ces, Direk Catherine gives us freedom so we get our personalities in the mix. I also really wanted to work with Direk Catherine, and seeing the script, it's a different kind of love. It's something new, puberty at 35, he is complex, a bit difficult to do but I think we succeeded in creating this character."

Here's the press conference in full:

Aside from being shown in the Philippines, this will also have a theater run in Australia and New Zealand on August 14th. Please support Filipino films as these don't come cheap in production. They're taking a huge risk because they want to help the industry. The love story between Meg & Ryan was created by prolific writer Gina Marissa Tagasa. The soundtrack is also a fun version of Torete, which will make you feel a bit of nostalgia. This took a while before it was released, but from the looks of it, it has all the ingredients to make you connect with the story of Meg and Ryan. Go watch it on theaters, and see the trailers on their social channels because they already have 2 out!

Meet The Newest PPOP Girl Group in Town: VVINK

After covering one of the biggest PPOP collabs just a few days ago, here we go drowning ourselves in PPOP content with the arrival of a new female group called VVINK through their debut showcase held today at the HYPE club in Quezon City.

While they've already released songs in the past, that was their pre-debut which mostly showcased their individual talents. This time, they will be taking a huge leap with their new single TULALA under their label FlipMusic.

They took the risk to do this so their listeners would be able to get to know them at their best. The group is composed of their leader Angelika, main vocalist Jean, main rapper Ayaka, main dancer Odri and the all rounder Mariel. This new song has a very dreamy vibe, quite upbeat, while trying to express the feeling of one's first love. This is just the first of a plethora of songs they plan to release in the next few months which will be included in the album expected to be done til the 2nd quarter of 2026.

These ladies come from different places, but were all hand picked by their COO Jumbo Belen and CEO Jeli Mateo to become a part of this group. Unconventional as it may have seem to be launched like this, they were able to showcase their individual voices and genre. They also feel that with the training they went through, that it was all worth it. Here's the press conference in full on video:

Later in the day, they gave us a glimpse of their upcoming singles (to be launched this year til the 2nd quarter) and by the looks of it, they absolutely killed it on stage. The titles include "Tatlong Hiling", "Baduy", "Kailan Aamin", "Ikaw Lang Ang Kulang", and "Tulog Pa Si Ganda". Aside from being singers, some of them are talented songwriters and are pro choreographers. They contribute what they can for VVINK.

I think I loved what I saw today, and if you're raring to support these girls, make sure to follow their social channels by looking of VVINK PH on FB, IG and others, become VVINKies as they start their journey to conquer the world!

PUREGOLD OPMCon 2025 Makes History: OPM Generations Showcased!

I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't despise going to the Philippine Arena because 1, it's too far, 2, travel is too tiring, and 3 if the artist is worth it. I reckon it's the same sentiment for almost anyone from Manila right? Well the folks from PUREGOLD got me thinking because as members, they'll be giving us VIP treatment plus a lineup of artists that NOBODY in the right mind could ever resist. Imagine, the BIGGEST acts in Filipino entertainment all in one place. The boys from SB19, girl group BINI, top band Sunkissed Lola, vixens G22, rising KAIA, artists Skusta Clee and talented Flow G in one stage made me say a resounding YES as soon as I heard it. Whatever hardship I'll be experiencing traveling there will all be worth it just as long as I see them all.

As you can see on the top photo, I'm a silent A'Tin and have that guy Ken as my bias. But no, that doesn't mean I don't like the rest, because I do. There's a reason why, because they've continued to represent the country, and really, they've made us all proud! This goes the same with the other groups in the list, and I just can't believe it happened. Plus, there's more. 

BINI with James Reid

KAIA

Sunkissed Lola

G22 was so hot!

Flow G

Skusta Clee

They did a collab too!

When SB19.went out, everybody just lost it!

The finale song was super sweet, a fitting end to see them all singing one song!

At the event, they also surprised us with other iconic artists that performed with them. Names like James Reid, Rico Blanco, Mayonnaise, Yeng Constantino shocked us. . . then went on and did collabs with each other. It was really crazy, but crazy good. I felt I was witnessing history, thanks to Puregold who put this together out of their own pockets. They also had free stuff given away by their partner brands like Nestle, Nescafe, Koko Krunch, Chuckie, Tide, Safeguard, Cream Silk, Surf, Champion and Colgate. There were more but I didn't get to see them so they will remain unnamed haha! 

PUREGOLD OPMCON 2025 was certainly one for the books! It made history, seeing them all in one place was just a dream come true. Whoever says there was a group or fan war must be crazy. They're literally friends, and I'm sure this is not the last time that PUREGOLD is doing this. Thank you PUREGOLD!