BGC Arts Center Festival: Revealing Facets Of Modern Filipino Performance Artistry

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Firing off a passionate start for 2017, the BGC Arts Center will celebrate its identity as the home of the Filipino artist. True to its word, it will launch a 2-day Arts Festival on January 14-15, hosting performances and events that will illuminate the many layers that modern Filipino artists are animating to give voice to the range of the human condition.

The BGC Arts Center is the centerpiece of BGC’s Cultural District. A project of the non-profit, Bonifacio Art Foundation, Inc., it is the first and only stand-alone theater established through private donations. It is dedicated to providing a cultural and educational experience that will inspire the public to explore their creative side and embrace Filipino artistry. A collaboration by award-winning architects and designers, the BGC Arts Center is composed of the Maybank Performing Arts Theater, the Alveo Central Plaza, and the Sun Life Amphitheater.

The BGC Arts Center Festival is aligned with how the Bonifacio Art Foundation, Inc. (BAFI) recognizes the integral role of culture, the appreciation of art and its meaning, in a city’s identity. Aiming to keep art alive and accessible through various cultural activities, BAFI endeavours to make art a way of life that everyone can share together.

Making BAFI’s mandate come alive is the range, from totally original Filipino creations to brilliant local adaptations of works with universal themes, that the BGC Arts Center Festival is offering.

As such, the festival will have children’s plays from Artist Playground and Kids Acts Philippines, several dance performances by STEPS, staged readings of selected scenes by The Egg Theatre Co., a performance of an original play by Artist Playground, a supremely engaging performance by a pioneer Filipino Improv group, SPIT Manila, an acclaimed local production from Twin Bill Theater, an award-winning original Filipino musical from Philippine Stagers, and opera pieces from MusicArtes, Inc.

Completing the Arts Festival are art talks, outdoor events such as BGC Art Mart that regularly feature the work of local artisans and other surprise offerings at the Sun Life amphitheater.

Check out the BGC Arts Center Festival event page on Facebook for the schedules and details of the performances.

NEC Appoints New President for NEC Philippines to Lead Next Phase of Growth

Wazzup Pilipinas!

NEC Philippines announced today the appointment of Elizabeth Tirona Pangan as its new President, with effect from today. She will be responsible for strengthening and growing NEC’ business in the Philippines.

Ms Pangan has 28 years of business management and operations excellence experience in the IT industry, having worked extensively in sales and operations roles in multi-national companies based in the Philippines.

She started her career at IBM Philippines in 1988 and held several management roles in back office operations. In 2000, Ms Pangan was appointed as Business Partner Relationship Manager where she honed her management skills in building partner and customer relationships which resulted in her achieving consistent sales targets in the organization.

From 2004 to 2012, she worked at Microsoft Philippines and held key roles where she was mainly responsible for business and marketing planning, and drove sales revenue. She later rejoined the company in 2014 as enterprise sales lead, developing and executing sales and organizational strategies for the Enterprise Commercial division of company.

Prior to that in 2013, Ms Pangan was Director of Sales and Marketing in NEC Philippines where she led and managed the Enterprise Sales, Channels and Marketing teams.

“It is an honor for me to be appointed as President of NEC Philippines. NEC Philippines has built a strong reputation in the industry and achieved steady growth by providing its technologies, solutions, services and expertise to the public and private sectors. I look forward to working with the NEC Philippines team to co-create social value with our customers and lead NEC’s next phase of growth in the Philippines,” said Ms Elizabeth Tirona Pangan, President, NEC Philippines.

Ms Pangan replaces Ms Agnes Gervacio who resigned the company in November 2016.

Vitaly Bigdash Dismisses Challenger's Fight Experience Ahead of Title Tiff

Wazzup Pilipinas!

A tough test awaits Vitaly Bigdash as he defends his ONE Middleweight World Championship title for the first time against Burmese mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Aung La N Sang.

The five-round championship clash is scheduled to headline ONE: QUEST FOR POWER, which takes place at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia on 14 January.

Bigdash was originally penciled to make his first title defense against Marcin Prachnio, but the highly-touted Polish prospect was forced to withdraw from the bout due to an injury.

Stepping up to the plate is Aung La, who is riding high on a remarkable four-fight winning streak in ONE Championship and has won three of his cage assignments in 2016.

Bigdash, who captured the intricately-crafted ONE Middleweight World Championship belt with a scintillating knockout victory over Igor Svirid in October 2015, is facing the most experienced foe in his nearly five-year prizefighting career.

Aung La has fought in 29 professional matches and has squared off with some of the top middleweight fighters across the globe.