More Flights to Qatar: PH-Qatar Sign New Air Services Agreement

Wazzup Pilipinas!

An air service agreement increasing the number of flights between Manila and Doha, Qatar has been signed.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade announced yesterday that Philippines and Qatar have agreed to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on air services, amending a 2015 agreement, to pave way for more flights. The MOU was signed by DOTr Undersecretary for Aviation Capt. Manuel Antonio Tamayo and Abdullah Al Subaey of Qatar.

The new MOU increased the traffic rights between Manila and Doha, from the current 14 flights per week to 18 flights per week for the designated airlines of each country.

Qatar Airways currently operates 14 flights per week to Manila and seven flights per week to Clark, while Philippine Airlines currently operates four flights between Manila and Doha.

The new MOU will increase the flights of Qatar Airways to Manila by four additional flights. This is considered a landmark agreement because it also includes as a condition for Qatar Airways to have flights from Davao within 1 year from commencement of the four additional flights to Manila.

The target for commencement of operation of the four additional flights to Manila is October 2017, at the beginning of the winter schedule.

The expansion of traffic rights is seen to enhance connectivity, facilitate trade, investment, services, and people to people exchange between the two countries.

More importantly, the inclusion of Davao in the route structure of Qatar Airways will provide the much needed linkage for Davao to the major markets of the world. Qatar is directly connected to 161 international destinations. This connectivity will support Davao's emergence as a major economic and commercial hub of the Philippines.

Microgenesis Business System Awarded Sophos Partner of the Year for ASEAN at 2017 APJ Partner Conference

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Microgenesis Business System has won the award for Sophos Partner of the Year for ASEAN at the 2017 APJ Sophos Discover Partner Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference, held at the Marriott Marquis Queens Park 30 May - 2 June, is designed to celebrate the successes of Sophos partners throughout the APJ and to help them take advantage of the latest business opportunities within the fast-moving IT security marketplace.

Microgenesis Business System won the award for their outstanding performance in the past year and their commitment and dedication to selling Sophos.

Joergen Jakobsen, Regional Vice President & Managing Director, Asia Pacific & Japan, Sophos said, “It is always a great pleasure to be able to meet our partners face to face at these events as they play a crucial role in our success as a business. It’s a fantastic opportunity to gather feedback, to hear our partners’ validation of our strategy across the endpoint and network and to see it helping to make their businesses a success. I am delighted Microgenesis Business System has won the award for Sophos Partner of the Year for ASEAN. They have had a fantastic year and it’s very well deserved.”

“We are honoured to be named Partner of the Year and believe this award is testament to our commitment to Sophos for the past 15 years. With the support and dedication from Sophos, we have been able to integrate our market insights with Sophos’s expertise and product suite, to deliver our promise of making IT easy for businesses. We are motivated by the constant developments at Sophos which aims to address evolving security concerns of customers, and look forward to working closely together to lend greater value to enterprises in Philippines,” said Jeffrey Choa, Executive Director, Microgenesis Business System.

The APJ conference in Bangkok is the last of Sophos’ three annual partner conferences this year. It saw Sophos CEO Kris Hagerman and the executive leadership team deliver keynote sessions on Sophos strategy, its partner commitments and the broader future of the IT security industry, in front of more than 650 people attending the Sophos sales and partner event. Partners also attended a packed agenda of breakout sessions delivered by key business, product, technical and sales experts.

First Philippine Paralympics Summit to Rally Support for Para Athletes

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Alay PARA Atleta Program launched; preparations underway for ASEAN PARA Games, Asian Para Games and Paralympic Games

The Philippine Paralympic Committee (PPC) and the Philippine Sports Association for the Differently Abled (PHILSPADA) will hold the first Philippine Para Sports Summit that will focus on the Parlympic movement in the country on June 9, 2017 at the Microtel, Technohub in Quezon City.

PPC, the National Paralympic Committee of the Philippines and PHILSPADA are the organizations spearheading the activities and operational requirements of elite athletes with a disability (orthopedic disability, cerebral palsy, visual impairment and mental disabilities).

With the theme “Transcending Barriers Through Sports”, the one-day gathering of sports officials, athletes, coaches and trainers, sports doctors, marketing experts and policy makers who are the key players in the industry will look into the state of Paralympic Sports in the Philippines to identify local and international goals to enable Filipino para athletes to achieve sporting excellence to excite and inspire the world.

Another goal of the convention is to find ways to develop para sports as a tool for changing the lives of Filipinos with disabilities while contributing to the development of an inclusive society. One hundred participants are expected to attend from various sports organizations including national sports associations, non-government organizations, private corporations and the government sector.

The past decade saw the rise of Filipino Para athletes in the global arena such as Josephine Medina, the para table tennis player who gave the country its second Paralympics Bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, sixteen years after powerlifter, Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta, got the first ever Bronze medal in the Sydney Paralympic Games in year 2000 and Ernie Gawilan, the legless swimming sensation discovered from Davao City, who is a consistent Gold medalist in the ASEAN Para Games ever since becoming a member of the national team. There has also been an increase in number of para athletes and their participation in local, regional and international competitions. Support and recognition from government and private partners, have also improved over the years.

The summit hopes to provide PPC-PHILSPADA with additional muscle and momentum as it strengthens itself to capably enact its comprehensive Mid-Term National Para Sports Development Program. The program will open up more opportunities for para-athletes from grassroots to the elite level of competitions.

With sights set on the 9th ASEAN Para Games in Malaysia this September 2017, the Asian Para Games in Indonesia in 2018, the 10th ASEAN Para Games in Manila and the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2020, the para sports summit envisions key partnerships with government and private sector to further inspire and equip para-athletes who are only too eager to compete and do their part for the country’s glory.

Key speakers in the summit are: Chairman William I. Ramirez of the Philippine Sports Commission; Mr. Peping Cojuangco, President of the Philippine Olympic Committee; Michael Barredo, President of PPC-PHILSPADA; noted sports medicine expert Dr. Raul Canlas; Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation expert, Dr. Raul Cembrano; Sec. General and former Olympic swimmer Gerardo “Ral” Rosario; para-coaches Joel Deriada of Athletics and Vernon Perea of Wheelchair Basketball; as well as para-athletes Gawilan, Medina and Dumapong-Ancheta.

An interesting sidelight of the event will be a Wheelchair Dance Sport exhibition while the high point of the summit will be the launch of the “Alay Para Atleta” program, a nationwide campaign that will enable the general public to participate in the Paralympic Movement via a P50 annual contribution through mobile phone access.