Watsons Card Gives You More

It’s been a good week, after a few countries, I got to relax in Manila and got treated to a movie premiere of Captain Marvel courtesy of our friends from Watsons. You see, this is my go to place for medicine because most of my maintenance stuff cost a lot less here than the other drug stores. I also get my grooming supplies from this place because they’re well organized, have fresh stock, and very easy to lineup and pay. You see, these small things make a difference on how customers feel when you’re inside a store. I take that matter seriously and if I want things to be in one place, they do that as well. Now apart from giving you convenience, they’re giving you perks as well with the new Watsons Card.

Vicki Encarnacion, Director for Customer Affairs for Watsons says “I am here because I give what our customers want. Like you, who want to watch Captain Marvel, we will treat some of our customers to watch it to. We make it happen in all our stores by going the extra mile in all transactions. If you want it online, you may go to Watsons.com.ph even your maintenance medicine. It is packed with so many benefits, happening nationwide plus three locations and is exclusive only for members.”

The new Watsons Card will make you get more, you earn points 5x on your birthday, double on some items. Lifetime Membership too so no renewals needed!

I am sure, members will get more with Watsons! I did because they gave me a 5,000 worth voucher with it. You’ll get that too if you apply for one now!

“Istorya Ng Pag-asa” Film Festival 2019 Now Accepting Entries

This is a festival adopted from “Araw ng Pagbasa, Araw ng Pag-asa” in 2016, now they’ve grown bigger and have expanded to different partner cities like Cebu, CDO, QC, Naga, Baguio, Palawan and Dumaguete. This year, their mission is to feature short films with stories of ordinary Filipinos that aim to showcase perseverance amidst life’s adversities. The launch was witnessed by press, bloggers, Meg Seranilla (INP Third Prize Winner), Florence Rosini (INP Grand Winner) and our Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo. Last year was a very successful one.

Vice President Leni Robredo says “Thank you for accepting our invitation, first, we are promoting our second run. This started in 2016 in Ayala Museum, I was one of those featured and I was touched by the stories of ordinary Filipinos which was featured there. One of them was Hidelyn Diaz, it was encouraging, then a lady turon vendor Nanay Lorna struggling to make ends meet and left the venue inspired about it. We want to do something about the negativity, I am a victim of that and I talked to the organizers in Ayala to do a roving photo gallery. They have stories that succeeded amidst adversities, every Filipino had that story, we collected a lot from different parts of the country. We had tons of partner universities and colleges. We had 73 entries, had to put a few screenings, some of which have won accolades for the country. You should watch the past entries and look forward for the new ones because it is a good avenue to understand the plight of different Filipinos. One of them is about Tourettes Syndrome, a story with Marlon Fuentes. It was a good feeling the last time, so we decided to do it again this year.”

You must submit your 3-5 minute film (one with subtitles, one without subtitles) in H.264 format, application form, resume with 2 2x2 photos, copy of government ID’s and letter of consent (if a minor) to the Office of the Vice President at 100 11th Street Barangay Mariana Quezon City 1112 on or before March 25, 2019. For full contest mechanics, visit istoryangpagasa.ovp.gov.ph. Make sure it is shot at 1920x1080 resolution or higher.

They will be also introducing their ambassador Dingdong Dantes and looking for entries that could win Best Director, Best Script, Best Cinematography. The Best Film will win 80K, 50K and 30K for 1st and 2nd Runner Up entries. They will also choose an entry for People’s Choice Award and a Special Award from Ayala Foundation.

Make sure you submit your entries on time, do your best and who knows, you might be discovered!

Dingdong Dantes Endorses Persian Avenue

Shawarma, Pita and all things nice about the handy snack from the middle east has bitten the Filipinos like a bug, and it’s spreading. There are tons of brands in the market and it is continually growing, one of which is a family owned business with humble beginnings. Brothers RJ and Paulo started with a 100K capital and took their beefy masterpiece for a run. They usually are put up in areas where there is high foot traffic and maintained it affordable despite market issues, now they’re gunning for more and needed a good representation of who they are as a company. This is why they got Dingdong Danes as their first celebrity endorser.

Dingdong says “Thank you for the trust, I am really excited to see how I will fulfill my duties as the face of Persian Avenue. My experience shooting with the ad was fun, I heard their short story, how they hands on they are and the whole family how they gained success by giving quality food, run by a family that helps each other, I believe in that. Their pita bread, their beef, perfect quality. I am the third endorser, these two owners are the first ones, I promise to do great helping you promote the brand. I literally ate the beef which was supposed to be a material for the shoot. It’s fun to see my family getting big, I am taking care of that. Thank you for being here to witness our partnership, I plan to also have a franchise.”

Rj and Paulo who owns Persian Avenue says “Before we got Dingdong, we only thought of him for our brand. We witnessed how he has been in show business, his integrity. Marketing might have a challenge but with him in the helm, it could only be him, it’s a no brainer how we got Dingdong as our endorser. Our team was very excited, our pictorial had a different feel, when I saw him holding the beef pita, I realized how lucky we are that we are now branded. We have 44 stores but we want to have 150 before the year ends. The business was good in the supermarket areas but we wanted to expand and we have uncovered a lot of struggles and we listen to people, we do act on it and solve it like a family. From our managers to service crew, our success came from them. The name stands for shawarma and wraps, it is our best seller, but we always do it with a Filipino twist.”

Persian Avenue is available in leading malls, stalls, shops around the country. Visit their social media channels if you want to get a franchise, I heard business is still good. There were franchisees during the event and they attest how hands on the owners were. If that’s the case, no wonder they are successful!

Looking forward to eat more Persian Avenue stuff tomorrow!

IBC 13 Back With New Shows, News on their 60th Year!

It pains to see how IBC 13 is struggling to pay their debt and operation expenses, making privatization the only way they could get back in shape. This new leadership under madame Kat De Castro looks very promising to keep them all afloat and begin a new era of broadcasting for the KAIBIGAN channel, it’s the new monicker they thought of to promote more content that only start good vibes for every Filipino. They are also planning to acquire new technology to have clearer signals and ramping up their streaming/social media capabilities.

Kat De Castro added “I just came back from Japan and I am glad to be back. I am the current President and CEO starting October 2018 of the channel. I started as a reporter, then did MGB, then Trip na Trip which is a Travel show, then Swak na Swak for business: I guess this is in my blood. The challenges strengthening IBC 13 is the need to improve signal on free TV. Hopefully next month it will be better, even live stream featuring beloved shows on social media. We had problems with people retiring in the station but we have addressed that. We are positioning it as a source of good vibes, to show good news, the good things the government do, IBC will be the KAIBIGAN network. We will be focusing also our efforts on doing Tutok 13, even more new shows introducing personalities, people from the government, those running for public posts and doing public service. We will show what the government offices are doing, my Dad asked me about it but I know I have to listen to the people at IBC, to listen to them openly. I couldn’t get my Dad because of his high talent fee (she kids), I plan to work with Erwin Tulfo and talked to him, but he has to concentrate on his partylist organization. I want to improve the channel’s online presence, a grand one. The channel is up for privatization so if there are people who want to show interest just let me know so we can work things out. By the way, there will be new KULTURA shows coming and it won’t be replays, you can expect that. At the same time, hit shows that have been done before will be shown again. We welcome talents from any network, just let their managers talk to us so we can do more things. I will also be behind the scenes in some shows, support the block timers who will show series in the channel including a 60th Anniversary documentary this Friday (The Golden Age of Philippine TV). Joey De Leon will be touring you around the studios, but now we have a compound beside Broadcast City where IBC 13 resides. There are tons of interested parties, hopefully the privatization will push through.”

She adds “I will be talking to the people responsible showing those Japanese anime shows to put them back ok the channel, to put them back again on the number one slot.”

“We are also looking for Digital shows so we would be able to put them all in our channel, they need exposure, we have the platform and hopefully we would get them there. We are already working with bloggers and vloggers now and hopefully we will get our own talents.”

Vincent says “I was an actor before and now I am delving into newscasting. I love what I do. Tutok 13 will not be investigative, it will be touring you in places, telling you good news, sharing positive and no fake news. I am blessed to have been able to work with Ms Kat who has the same outlook as I do, I was previously managed by Eric John Salut but I had to work in IBC 13 everyday, and I felt I really wanted to do this. It made me hungry for more.”

Right now, they also plan to put the best and freshest anime content to IBC (they are currently in talks with a provider from Japan) and the classic reruns of the shows that made the channel the original number one. In hindsight, just the mere fact that they are putting efforts to do these things content wise and also do reportage on some dates, it might actually resuscitate the ailing channel and bring it back to its glory days. This is also their 60th year, the perfect time to also watch their documentary hosted by Chiqui Roa Puno, with interviews with Tito Sotto, Joey De Leon, Bert De Leon, Kitchie Benedicto, Nova Villa, Linggit Tan, Manny Castaneda, Lily Yap, Marvin Arayata and Lilybeth Rasonable. It starts 9:30pm later and will be replayed on March 11, Monday same time.

Are you excited about their shows? You should be, because they’re back on air!