Tourism Lifestyle & Business Expo Entertains Everyone at Glorietta

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The first Tourism Lifestyle & Business Expo at the Glorietta Activity Center held last April 26 to 28 filled the crowd with information and entertainment for the whole family.

The Makati Branch of the Center for Pop Music Philippines showcased their roster of talents during the first day, which includes the Center Teens and their rendition of popular songs. The Center for Pop Music is the training school popular singers such as Charice Pempengco, Sarah Geronimo, Rachelle Ann Go and more.

On the second day, the candidates of Miss Tourism Philippines 2016 did their Summer Fashion Show which gathered a big crowd of spectators, media and supporters at the venue. Afterwards, they roamed around the exhibits and checked out the products and services there.

The final day is filled with travel know-how as bloggers from different places have spoken about their experiences and cultures during the Usapan sa Glorietta Discussion Day. In addition, a raffle was done and gift certificates from Slimmers World have been given away to six lucky visitors.

Metropolitan Theater Cleanup and Restoration: A Wonderful METamorphosis

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Like a lowly caterpillar wrapping itself in a cocoon with the hope of one day emerging into a beautiful butterfly, so is the vision for the long-abandoned Metropolitan Theater which fell into disrepair and left covered in dirt and rust after an ownership dispute five years ago.

Not much is left of the theater's former grandeur after decades of erosion and abuse. Its colors have faded with time. Graffiti were painted along its arcades and glass shards and pieces of broken tiles have reduced this once renowned monument into an urban ruin.

The theater’s bid to regain its former glory was not lost to some employees who volunteered recently for #METamorphosis, a clean-up and restoration campaign also participated in by UST College of Architecture students and several other individual volunteers. The main goal -- to clear the theater’s arcades, trim the surrounding grass, sweep the scattered debris, and collect trash – jobs which the volunteers happily accomplished.

Lyber Taruc was one of the volunteers whose interest in the arts led him to help in the restoration drive. “Although it will definitely take time for the theater to be completely restored, I still believe that if we make an effort to save this piece of cultural heritage -- one that has witnessed the growth of Filipino Art over the years -- perhaps one day, we can witness its complete metamorphosis unfold,” he said.

Astro - Globe Strategic Partnership for Tribe OTT Service in Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (Astro), a leading content and consumer group in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, and Globe Telecom Inc. (GLOBE), number one mobile brand in the Philippines, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to offer Tribe over-the-top (OTT) video services to Filipino customers. The agreement also reflects the strategic intent of both parties to collaborate on content opportunities that will be distributed on Tribe and other platforms across the region.

Tribe is an OTT service for ASEAN video consumers, which was recently launched in Indonesia offering live and on demand content comprising live sports, Asian movies, and TV series including popular Korean entertainment.

Henry Tan, Chief Operating Officer of Astro said, “As part of our ASEAN expansion, Tribe is exploring opportunities to extend its reach to the Philippines by partnering with Globe. This is a win-win collaboration leveraging off Tribe and Astro’s invested platforms and core competencies to deliver great content to Filipino consumers. Recognizing the importance of local and differentiated content, Tribe and Globe look forward to more discussions on the collaboration of content tailored to the Filipino audience, for distribution on Tribe and other available platforms. 

Additionally, Tribe welcomes participation from content creators and producers in the Philippines and across the region. To differentiate itself from traditional OTT players, Tribe focuses on building a community of fans who are highly and socially engaged with each other around the content they consume. We will achieve this by enabling fan driven participatory activities to heighten the consumption experience, which we expect will align well with the social nature of Filipino consumers, particularly the younger demographic”.