Lamudi will Touch Hearts in Newest TV Campaign

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Aiming to cement its position as top-of-mind choice for online property hunters, leading portal Lamudi will launch its very first and heartwarming TV advertisement

Already recognized as the number one real estate website in the Philippines based on online visibility and monthly website traffic, Lamudi Philippines is now bringing its game a notch higher by launching a new TV campaign. The new advertisement aims to strengthen Lamudi’s position as the go-to website for all Filipinos who are looking for a home of their own.

Lamudi, a frontrunner in the online real estate space, is bringing a fresh take to its own branding by creatively telling the story of a family who is finally coming home to a place of their own. The TV and out-of-home ads will run on various cable channels and will be featured in prominent billboard locations around Metro Manila.

This advertising milestone is a first for the young startup. Through this campaign, the company expects to reach offline property-hunters who do not normally look for properties in the Internet, and to introduce to them new and modern ways to search for properties.

“Lamudi since 2015 has been the most visited online real estate portal in the Philippines, but we are now elevating the website to make it the top-of-mind real estate portal in the Philippines, shared Bhavna Suresh Chathambeth, CEO of Lamudi Philippines and MyProperty.ph. The latter is a website the former acquired from Summit Media in 2015.

Ms. Suresh also stressed that 2017 will be a big year for the top real estate portal, as this year, Lamudi is focusing on being more consumer-centric. “We have already built a strong online brand, especially among real estate brokers and developers. Now, we are reaching to the traditionally offline market to encourage them to use the Internet to find properties.”

The timing couldn’t be perfect, shared Ms. Suresh, as Lamudi has a lineup of exciting consumer-focused events this year. One will delve exclusively on the affordable housing sector, while another housing fair scheduled in mid-2017 will be held in Cebu City and will focus on the exciting real estate market of the city and the Visayas. These two on top of a host of offline marketing campaigns intended toward Filipino homebuyers can be expected from the top property website this year.

Hontiveros: Stop the Victim-Blaming, Pass the Anti-Discrimination Bill

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros called for a stop to the culture of victim blaming and gender discrimination during the second round of interpellations of the Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB) on Monday.

Answering questions from Senators Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao and Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Hontiveros explained that the proposed bill seeks to protect a person’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) from discrimination and harm.

During the course of the interpellation, several such cases were discussed, among them the murder of Jennifer Laude, a 26-year-old Filipino transwoman Jennifer Laude, at the hands of United States Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton. When Pacquiao suggested that Pemberton was deceived by Laude into thinking she was straight, Hontiveros responded by saying that the victims should not be blamed for the heinous crime.

“Siya na nga ang pinatay, siya pa ang may sala. This is unacceptable. Let us not resort to victim-blaming in an attempt to excuse crimes on the grounds of someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros explained that Pacquaio was actually using the “gay and trans panic defense”, a homophobic and transphobic defense against charges of assault and murder.

“This line of defense and logic has already been widely discredited. In fact in California, this so-called legal defense has been officially banned in murder trials, with the American Bar Association (ABA) strongly suggesting that other states should do the same,” Hontiveros said.

Questions were also raised about which restrooms were appropriate for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. Hontiveros said that transwomen can use female restrooms while transmen and gay men can use male restrooms. The lady senator also cited the practice of gender-neutral restrooms, particularly in places such as coffee shops and business process outsourcing firms.

"We need to pass this law in order for people to be more gender sensitive and better understand the different dimensions of gender identity and sexual orientation. Hindi lahat ng bakla ay tinuturing ang kanilang mga sarili na babae o gustong mag-CR sa restroom ng babae,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros is the current chairperson of the Senate committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality.

People First Over Profits; Prioritize Peoples’ Rights and Demands in ASEAN!

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Philippine CSOs to the ASEAN Economic Community: “People First Over Profits; Prioritize Peoples’ Rights and Demands in ASEAN!” 

On Valentine’s Day, around 100 red-clad members of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum 2017 (ACSC/APF 2017) Philippines National Organizing Committee (NOC), marched to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to deliver the Philippine CSOs’ position and demands on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). 

The NOC, led by its co-conveners Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and PhilWomen on ASEAN, asked that its statement be tackled also at the 31 st meeting of the High Level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration (HLTF-EI) the following day. 

A number of the groups that have been engaging DTI on trade and investment issues and free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations are also part of the ACSC/APF 2017 NOC. 

A big Valentine’s card containing the CSOs’ statement was handed over to the Philippine representative to the HLTF-EI, DTI Undersecretary and official-in-charge of trade policies Ceferino Rodolfo who later invited the CSOs to a dialogue in a big meeting room at the Board of Investments. 

“The ACSC/APF 2017 Philippines NOC sees the Philippines Chairship of ASEAN for 2017 as a good opportunity to advance the peoples’ critique of the AEC and the current direction espoused by ASEAN’s economic integration agenda.