Taiwan Set to Hold "Your Song of Excellence: Duo Legacy Grand Finals" at Market! Market!

Connecting through music, Taiwan's External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) will be holding "Your Song of Excellence: Duo Legacy" Grand Finals at Ayala Malls Market!Market! this coming August 31, 2024. This is a nationwide competition of duo singers and from thousands of entries, only three made it to the finals. They are Haranajeeb Duo, The Unexpected Duo and the Mandarhyme Duo.

This is hard to do because from their eliminations, they are now asked to compose 2 songs of 3:30 minutes each that will be performed on stage with one of the entries being the jingle with the theme "The Best Made in Taiwan". Catch is, it should contain the words "Taiwan Excellence" and will be judged through their core values of innovation, interests, sustainability and quality. This is supported by their home grown brands Acer, AOPEN, Aorus, ASUS, D-Link, Gigabyte, Kymco, MSI, PC Express, ROG, Tatung and Zyxel. If you would like to know more about the event, follow them on social channels by searching TaiwanExcellence.ph.

Judges include industry greats such as Kean Cipriano, Yeng Constantino, Ice Seguerra, Nicole Asenso, Paulo Zarate and more. Who knows, they might also perform that evening too. Make sure to be there primetime!

Still Dishing Out Freshly Squeezed Content: Orange Magazine Celebrates 14 Years!

I've had the opportunity to know about Orange Magazine a couple years ago, well decades, maybe even more. It's been 14 years of showcasing some of the freshest and orangey celebrities, companies, brands, and they've really done well in making sure to put their message across. 

Orange Magazine Editor Jeman Bunyi Villnueva has been a friend. One that you can talk frankly with if you're in a rut. You can say we're some of the more experienced bloggers in the industry together with a few common friends who's been here the longest. Every year, he's managed to celebrate their milestones and showed how much he's thankful for those who have supported his website and social channels. 

 

In his 14th year, we were all invited to his gathering at Joy Nostalg Hotel and Suites (Managed by Accor). At The Roof, they had a program featuring Filipino Canadian artists DK Tijam, DK Talents Keyleigh Cerezo, Keeana Cerezo and local acoustic guy Destiny Palisoc who opened the event. DK Tijam by the way will be having a concert at the Music Museum on August 16th with power belter Dessa and Troy Laureta. They will also be joined by Antoinette Targa, Chelsea Star and Bella Magbag plus other surprise guests. They properly call it "By Request: Your Playlist Live on Stage", and they'll be performing some of their OPM favorites plus a few RnB and Pop numbers which is equally exciting!

Orange Magazine has been given accolades and recognition from different bodies. Jeman was a bit emotional thanking the PR agencies, brands that have returned the favor and made their presence felt during the occasion, they even sent some goodies plus a few prizes for blogger/influencer guests amounting to almost 250K to be given just on this day.

"Orange Magazine and I would like to thank their sponsors Beautéderm (for all the beauty products they sent), PLDT Home, AirAsia, airasia MOVE (who gave local and international flights to lucky winners), Grab (who gave Grab credits), Narr8 PH, M360 PR+Activations Agency, LG Philippines (who gave LG products for lucky participants), DITO Telecommunity, foodpanda, EON PH, TikTok Shop, RLC Residences (who also gave Robinsons GC's), realme (who gave audio devices), AGENTS, International Persuasion Specialist, Launch & Meet, maya, COMCO Southeast Asia, Midea, LadyBug, FuentesManila Public Relations, GCash, Eggshell PR, Metrobank, Bridges Creative Ideas & Strategies, OPPO, Doogee, HONOR Philippines, Buensalido Public Relations, Stratworks, Dominguez Marketing Communications Inc., Pau Bautista, Potato Corner (who gave potato corner GC's), Cherry Philippines (who gave the Air Purifier which I won), Kingsford Hotel Manila (for us who won the hotel stay!), Grand Westside Hotel, Ardent Communications, BrandComm, Grupo Agatep, Mang Inasal, Full Circle Communications, Precious PR, WSP, Tai Chi Rub & VCO Liniments, Moringa Vita, JG Superstore (who gave some tripods to lucky ones), Manila Marriott Hotel, Novotel Manila Araneta City, ibis Styles Manila Araneta City, Centaur Marketing, SceneStealer, SAFC, Spark It Philippines, DMNA, Home Credit PH, Michael Cruz (of the Home Credit PH peeps), Corner Magazine PH, Shigetsu, Kleenfant, Mikana, ALPAS Consultancy, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Moonton (who gave us lucky ones Diamonds for the game), Lorem Ipsum Consulting Inc., Whip Public Relations & Communications, Lilee & Kukael by Gus Villa, City of Dreams Manila, Phillippine Integrated Advertising Agency (PIAA), The Bellevue Manila, Nawa Wellness, Calatagan, ASUS, Swissotel Clark, Widus Hotel Clark, MSL Influence Impact, Greenwich, Goldilocks, The Farm at San Benito, A-List & Partners Consulting Group Inc., Pascual Laboratories, Ascorbic Acid Poten-Cee (which gave their best products to lucky ones), BrandIt, SKECHERS (gave a pair of shoes to Rod Magaru), MODE DEVi Media Inc., Chuck Gomez, Sip & Chug Coffee (owned by Sai Montes, had good drip coffee!), Pix Republik/Reel Republik Studios (for our official photos), Ogilvy, Epson, DigitalHog, Reneue Beauty and Wellness, CAT PR, Rain Ferdinand, IPR, Utterly Techie, Renjie Tolentino Photography (a good friend who also did shots for the event, he does it professionally)."

Now, he's got a whole team he calls Team Orange who helps him with events and coverage. They're pretty good people. Jeman knows how to also discern folks, and to this day, he's still going to be talking a lot, writing a lot, and connect to even more people. I only wish him all the best, because that's exactly what he has been doing. Plus he wants a love life happen soon, maybe that would make it complete. 

Congratulations to Orange Magazine! From us at KUMAGCOW.COM (meaning me), we'll be cheering you on to reach even greater milestones in the coming years!

Stories of the Road: The Origins of Banaue Rice Terraces

 

Learning from books is one thing, but learning from people who lived and breathe it would be something so much better.

Dubbed as the 8th wonder of the world, the Banaue Rice Terraces remains as one of the things we all marvel at because yes, as it says, it's impressive to know that it was not made with much tools but with just bare hands. The folks from Stories of the Road (a YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Storiesoftheroad ) wanted to find out from locals the actual origins of it. Armed with a drone, a few film cameras, they arrived in Ifugao and got the surprise of their life. The community wasn't just plainly taking it easy that day, they were celebrating and yes, it was an opportune time to get to know more about the culture and its people.

This is the handy work of Eric Gamorot (the Director), Rhett Paul Bolivar (the Producer), John Paul Bolivar (Production Assistant), and Marky Ramone Go (Writer). They were in the quest to find out the origins of the Banaue Rice Terraces. It was a different perspective because it didn't come from historians, but the folks who had their own stories passed on from generation to generation. They feel this was a more accurate narrative. They also got DK Tijam to do the narration for the episodes, so make sure you listen in on their conversation.

Eric talked about this lengthily during the Orange Magazine 14th anniversary event, please watch this:

Here is the first episode:

 Here's the newest episode which includes their experience witnessing a full on festival in Ifugao!

 

Their goal would be to go to other places in the country to do the same. They've gotten really good feedback upon releasing their first episode, and recently released their second one on the channel. If you would like travel content like this, you may subscribe to their channel and follow their social media accounts to get updated about their content.

Chavit Singson Wishes Yulo Family Unity: Offers Hefty Reward

Gymnast Carlos Yulo brought home 2 Olympic Gold Medals for the country and a worthy heroes welcome was made for our golden boy, 2 of our bronze boxer medalists Nesthy Petecio, Aira Villegas, and our hard working Olympians this week.

While the whole country celebrates, part of the media noise that was hounding Yulo's win was about his family, his Mom's press conference and previous statements on social media. Mogul and former Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson recently pronounced his offer of over 5 Million pesos, to be accepted by Carlos' family, and his partner, together.

The former governor expressed that this reward is not solely about his recent medals but an offer for the unity of the Yulo family. He says "This reward I hope would be a message for the people that stand by them, those that offer love, their guidance and support."

He also wants this to be an inspiration for Filipino families to do the same, to become the needed support if they're overcoming challenges or winning in life.