Harte Hanks Increases Its Philippines Investment

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Harte Hanks , a leader in customer engagement and interaction-led marketing, is consolidating its Manila operations and adding room for hundreds of new employees with the opening on April 21 of the company’s BPO-call center at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Complex, in Pasay City.

Harte Hanks Philippines, a subsidiary of the US-based marketing company currently employs about 2,000 people in its main and secondary locations in Metro Manila.

The move allows the company, which has established its presence in Asia-Pacific with the launching of its call center in the Philippines over a decade ago, to integrate the secondary locations with the Pasay facility.

“We have been always impressed by the skill and dedication of our employees in Manila and look forward to sustaining our growth here,” said Jonathan Bondoc Harte Hanks Manila-based Site Director, in a statement.

Among Harte Hanks’ clients are companies known worldwide in information technology, computer software, sports media, banking, mobile phone and health insurance industries.

Oplan Listas Biyahe: Semana Santa 2016

Wazzup Pilipinas!

With an increased number of travelers expected in the coming days due to the annual observance of Holy Week, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has launched Oplan Ligtas Biyahe: Semana Santa 2016 last March 18 to ensure the safety and reliability of various modes of transportation.

All transportation agencies have been mandated to implement heightened security measures at terminals and enhanced services, which include the deployment of additional personnel in airports, sea ports, bus terminals, and highways. To address passenger needs and emergencies, facilities, such as public assistance desks, first-aid stations, additional seats, and charging stations, have been set up.

More frequent worthiness inspections on aircrafts, ships, and buses and random drug and alcohol testing will be done to make sure that these means of transport are compliant with safety standards and the personnel are not under the influence while conveying passengers.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has instructed airline companies to deploy more personnel at check-in counters for efficient processing, shortening queues. Travelers are reminded not to bring prohibited items to the airport and to stow all belongings in one’s carry-on baggage for faster processing at the screening checkpoints.

Storytelling as a Basic Instinct: Egg Theater Company Presents the Filipino Translation of Martin Mcdonagh’s The Pillowman

Wazzup Pilipinas!

After the brief festival run of its productions, Maniacal (Fringe Manila 2015) and Schism (Fringe Manila 2016), Egg Theater Company presents its first full-run production with a Filipino Translation of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman.

Winner of the 2004 Olivier Award for Best Play and Tony-Nominated in 2005 for Best Play, The Pillowman is about a writer in an unidentified totalitarian state being interrogated about his gruesome and macabre short stories that has inspired a series of child murders. The Pillowman is a dark comedy that boldly exhibits the riveting power of narrative and how storytelling and invention of fantastical tales is a basic human instinct. With the coming elections and the incessant specter of dictatorships and martial law, this production resonates with its exploration of the fine line between the freedom of an individual to tell a story and its impact on the security of society.

Palanca awardee and Egg Theater Company co-founder, George de Jesus III in translating and directing The Pillowman, remarks, “In examining the dark side of imagination and creativity, the play probes into how stories are created, the motivation that drives a writer to tell a story and the responsibility of a writer on the impact of what he has written. Put that against a totalitarian-state setting and we get a play that are by turns disturbingly funny and emotionally shocking. Given that the play is set in an unnamed totalitarian state, translating it into Filipino affords us not only in making it somehow familiar but it also further fuels the idea of it possibly becoming real.”