Neymar Jr’s Signature Football Tournament Finally Makes it Way to Manila!

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Neymar Jr’s Five is the Brazilian forward’s signature football tournament – and a truly global phenomenon. Across six continents and more than 50 countries, five-a-side teams battle it out in 10-minute matches with a twist. Every time one team scores, the opposition loses a player, which makes it fast, technical, tactical – and unique in the world of football. More than 65,000 players from 47 countries signed up to play in the first year of Neymar Jr's Five and 2017 promises to be even bigger.

This year’s tournament is open to teams of five to seven players aged 16 to 25, and for the first time two over-aged players are allowed in the squad. Competing teams will need to have their Philippine passports on stand-by when registering. The teams will set out with the hope of making it to the World Final in 2017, at the Instituto Projeto NeymarJr in Praia Grande, Brazil.

Qualifying rounds will happen on two back-to-back Saturdays; February 18th and 25th, with the finals taking place on the 4th of March – all to be held at SPARTA Philippines in Mandaluyong.

Sign your team up now – and who knows, you could soon be playing on Neymar Jr’s home turf. Dare to dream, and outplay them all!

FB Event Page: win.gs/neymarjrsfiveph
Registration: www.neymarjrsfive.com

New Solutions from Accenture and SAP to Help Oil and Gas Companies Achieve Benefits Across the Hydrocarbon Value Chain

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Accenture and SAP SE are expanding their collaboration in the oil and gas industry to develop two innovative digital solutions with cloud capabilities.

Both will be designed to improve bottom-line benefits including increased downstream operating margins with reduced risk and increased upstream production with lower costs.

The Connected Hydrocarbons Logistics solution (CHL) will provide real-time total inventory of oil and gas companies’ hydrocarbon supply chain. Cloud networking will connect companies with suppliers and partners, optimizing hydrocarbon supply chain movements, visibility into secondary costs, and reducing working capital. Using the latest SAP technologies such as SAP S/4HANA software and SAP HANA Cloud Platform, along with the role-based SAP Fiori user experience, CHL will complement and enhance the capabilities of SAP for Oil and Gas industry solutions and other SAP solutions with end-to-end visibility with real-time analytics and improved supply and demand planning.

Accenture and SAP will also expand their Upstream Production Operations collaboration which provides solutions and services supporting the upstream operations value chain including Upstream Operations Management, SAP UOM, and Accenture’s rapid deployment upstream SAP S/4HANA template, Accenture Upstream Direct. The SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service solution is also being extended to provide early identification of potential asset performance issues. This will enable upstream operators to enhance production volumes while reducing maintenance costs and planning.

“The hydrocarbon value chain is at the heart of the downstream business, and today’s fragmented and often outdated IT landscape prevents oil and gas companies from unlocking all of the available value,” said Andrew Smart, managing director who leads Accenture’s energy practice. “We look forward to working with SAP and our clients to use Connected Hydrocarbons Logistics to unlock this value by better managing changes in supply, demand and commodity prices. Similarly, the new predictive maintenance tool from SAP can help operators further enhance upstream operations, in an environment of sustained oil price volatility.”

“This expanded innovation program will deliver two key digital capabilities our customers are demanding; a real-time view of all their product inventories, and the ability to predict asset failures and prescribe their best sequence of repair,” said Ken Evans, Global Vice President, Oil and Gas Industry, at SAP. “Our digital readiness survey confirms that while over 80 percent of the industry sees these capabilities as important, less than five percent have either of them today. Our collaboration with Accenture expands the portfolio of solutions delivering such digital transformations to the oil and gas industry.”

The new solutions built for SAP S/4HANA will be co-developed by Accenture and SAP under their SAP S/4HANA collaboration with the participation of clients from both companies to ensure that specific industry needs are met. In October, Accenture and SAP announced their collaboration to develop the next generation of predictive analytics solutions for asset management in the utilities industry to enable condition-based maintenance.

For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Hontiveros Pushes for a National Multi-Sectoral Strategy vs. HIV

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday pushed for the implementation of a national multi-sectoral strategy to address the rising incidence of HIV and AIDS in the country amidst reports that there will be 133,000 people living with HIV in the Philippines by 2022.

In a press conference in Quezon City attended by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups and organized by the DANGAL National Network, Hontiveros said that from 6,015 total cases in 2010, HIV/AIDS incidence in the country rose to a total of 33,419 during just the first quarter of 2016.

"The situation we face is dire," the senator said.

"The rapid increase in the last six years reflects an alarming landscape: the HIV is expanding in urban centers of the country, affecting disproportionately populations and communities that are marginalized and vulnerable: young Filipinos, gay and bisexual men, transgender people, and people who use drugs," Hontiveros added.

As a response, Hontiveros, who is also the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, filed Senate Bill No. 376 or the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Bill to introduce an evidence-based, human rights-informed, and gender-transformative HIV prevention and treatment plan.

Hontiveros said her bill will formulate a six-year National Multi-Sectoral HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan, which will incorporate a prevention program that will have a strong focus on education and accessibility of reproductive health services.

“80% of new infections come from men having sex with men. The median age of those diagnosed with HIV is below 35 years old” Hontiveros lamented. “At a time when stigma overrules government policies on this important health issue, we need to underscore that the foundation of curbing HIV must be based on the protection of human rights” she said.

The Senator maintained that new developments in prevention and treatment are available and must be maximized by the government. “Early diagnosis leads to early treatment and saves lives. Prevention, early detection and treatment must be made available by the government”, Hontiveros explained.

Hontiveros’ bill also seeks a comprehensive, inclusive and localized response towards HIV-AIDS. If passed, it will repeal Republic Act 8504 or the Philippine HIV AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998.