El Masfino Hotel & Resort: Your Exclusive Getaway in San Rafael, Bulacan

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Some Bulakenyos are probably still unaware that there's a luxury hotel and resort that exists within their province. In our case, it's the first time we've heard of the place, and we were surprised that it took them a long time before they went full blast on promoting the place. This place is just too good to be kept hidden from people who deserve the best option for their weekend getaway.

Though they've said they've been featured on some television programs, most of us, especially the Millennials, nowadays no longer watch television unless they have a livestreaming component where their shows could also be viewed online. My children are always online since it's easy for them to jump from one story to the next without being burdened by interruptions of lengthy commercials or ads. In my case, I only watch the morning and evening news, thus, it is not surprising that we are still unaware of the existence of El Masfino Hotel and Resort. 

Now that they've considered tapping bloggers or online influencers, I'm sure that there will be more and more people coming in to check out the resort. Online gave way for such terms as "viral" and "trending" so it is without any doubt that people will soon flock the resort as more people will now consider making El Masfino Hotel and Resort part of their travel itinerary.

More than a dozen of us were invited to experience El Masfino Hotel and Resort on a Friday and Saturday (June 23 and 24), yet an overnight at the place was still not enough for us as there are just too many ways to spend your entire day, and night, that will surely make you scream out that "time really flies so fast when you're having fun!."

DOTr to Mark Five Stations of Manila-Clark Railway Project

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) will lead tomorrow the Station Marking of five (5) stations of the Manila-Clark Railway Project, the line that will connect Manila to Central Luzon.

The 106-km railway project that will run from Tutuban, Manila to Clark, Pampanga is among the high-impact projects of President Rodrigo Duterte under the government's 'Build Build Build' infrastructure program. Five of the 17 stations will be marked in a ceremony: Marilao and Meycauayan in Bulacan, Valenzuela, Caloocan, and Tutuban in Metro Manila.

"Itong malaking proyektong ito, dati ay usap-usapan lang. Ngunit sa administrasyong Duterte, gagawin natin itong katotohanan," DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said. “For the first time, a rail project will connect Manila to Central Luzon and it will be completed under the Duterte administration.”

With this rail project, the 2-hour travel time from Manila to Clark will be cut down to just 55 minutes. The rail system stands to benefit 350,000 passengers daily on its first year of operations.

Apart from the marked stations, the 12 other stations are: Solis, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto, Malolos, Calumpit, Apalit, San Fernando, Angeles, Clark, Clark International Airport, and the proposed New Clark City in Pampanga.

Philippine National Railways (PNR) General Manager Junn Magno said the project is seen to decongest Metro Manila and spread economic gains throughout the country.

“This project will ease traffic congestion and help thousands of commuters coming from Bulacan and Pampanga who travel daily to their workplaces or schools in Metro Manila,” Magno said.

According to the DOTr, the project will start construction in the last quarter of 2017 and will be completed by the last quarter of 2021. The project costs PHP 255-Billion and will be funded through Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan. The whole line will have 13 train sets with eight cars or coaches per train set. Each train can reach a maximum speed of 120 km per hour.

Heads of infrastructure agencies, economic managers, and concerned local government chiefs were present at the station marking event.

IPC Receives Updated ISO 9001 Certification for Top-Notch Service

Wazzup Pilipinas!

IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.), pioneering local cloud services provider and data center operator, was recently awarded the new international standard for Quality Management Systems (QMS), ISO 9001:2015. This is the most recent revision of the ISO 9001:2008 standard which IPC previously held. IPC also holds an ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) certification.

Both certifications were issued by TÜV Rheinland Philippines, Inc., an affiliate of the TÜV Rheinland Group - a leading provider of technical services worldwide; with a mission and guiding principle that is to achieve sustained development of safety and quality in order to meet the challenges arising from the interaction between man, technology and the environment.

IPC Chief Executive Officer Reynaldo R. Huergas says, “This certification reinforces our commitment to provide world-class and highly secure services. In our line of business, data security and consistency are top priorities. We regularly review and improve our work processes to ensure the quality of our offerings for cloud and data management, and to stay at par with existing global standards.”

The ISO 9001:2015 certification measures the quality of an organization’s processes by reviewing a number of principles, including strong customer focus, top management leadership and decision-making, process approach, and continual improvement.

A Quality Management System helps a company meet its customers’ needs as well the organization’s requirements, achieved through streamlined processes, less waste, lower costs, among others. The ISO 9001:2015 is by far, the most recognized and implemented quality management system standard in the world.

Meanwhile, ISO 27001:2013 (ISMS) demonstrates the security and reliability of a company’s information-based business processes. As a data center operator, IPC continuously implements rigid policies and procedures to safeguard the data of its stakeholders.

IPC offers a wide range of cloud services powered by its own robust internet data center facilities and network infrastructure. IPC’s state-of-the-art data centers are telco-grade and carrier-neutral, allowing IPC to provide colocation services, data and network security, disaster recovery, business continuity and other customized enterprise IT solutions. IPC is also the country’s only Salesforce.com Silver Consulting Partner, and a long-time Google Partner providing SaaS licenses, solutions consulting, and deployment services.

IPC is a cloud computing advocate and encourages local organizations to ThinkOutCloud.

Photo Caption:

From Left to Right: Pinky Zamora-Villacrusis, Sr. Manager of Sales and Marketing and Mr. Tristan Arwen Loveres, Managing Director of TÜV Rheinland Philippines, Inc. award IPC’s ISO 9001:2015 certificate to IPC Chief Executive Officer Reynaldo R. Huergas and IPC Vice President for Data Center & Network Operations