PHLPost releases traditional games special stamps to promote physical well-being amid pandemic

Wazzup Pilipinas?!

With school classes suspended due to Covid-19 threat, the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) launched the “Larong Atin! traditional games” special stamps to promote Philippine heritage and culture.

The Larong Atin! se-tenant block of four stamps features the following games: bato-bato-pik / jack-en-poy (rock-paper-scissors), bahay-bahayan (playing house), luksong tinik (thorn hurdles), and trumpo (spinning top). The souvenir sheet for Larong Atin! shows jolen (marbles), piko (hopscotch), tumbang preso (knock down the prisoner), and saranggola (kite). These Philippine Traditional Games sharpen problem-solving skills, promote teamwork and healthy competition, and encourage activities for youth from all walks of life. Each game has a story to tell about our values and traditions.

More importantly, "These traditional Filipino indoor and outdoor activities promote physical well-being and strengthen family ties in preparation for the new normal", PHLPost said.

“Parents and kids can stay active at home playing their all-time pinoy favorites like “bahay-bahayan and bato-bato-pik” while ensuring a safer environment during this pandemic. We also share the advocacy of preserving Filipino heritage in collaboration with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. (FHFI)”, Postmaster General Joel Otarra said.

Philippine traditional games can be considered living “intangible heritage”, the preservation of which is supported by the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Also called “laro ng lahi”, these games are recreational activities that introduce children to Filipino values such as pakikipagtulungan (helpfulness), pakikiisa (cooperation), and pakikisama (getting along well with people), among others.

PHLPost has printed a total of 100,000 copies of the four (4) different design of the stamps sold for P12.00, P14.00, P15.00, P17.00 each. A special 5,000 pieces of the “limited collector souvenir sheet stamps” were also printed to be sold at P100 each. The stamps were designed by in-house graphic artists Rodine C. Teodoro and Eunice Beatrix U. Dabu in coordination with Judith Neric of Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. (FHFI).

Stamps, Souvenir Sheets, and Official First Day Covers of “Larong Atin! Philippine Traditional Games” are now available at the Philatelic Counter, Manila Central Post Office, all Mega Manila Post Offices, Postal Area 2, San Fernando, La Union, Postal Area 4, San Pablo, Postal Area 5, Mandaue, Postal Area 6, Iloilo, Postal Area 7, Davao, and Postal Area 8, Cagayan de Oro.

Stamp collectors will have the option to purchase the stamps by ordering online (www.phlpost.gov.ph) or through telephone (8527-0132/85270108). Specially designated postmen or “wheel riders” will deliver these stamps and collect payments through Cash-on-Delivery (COD), a convenient method of payment upon receipt of items.

Philippines in Full Force at Hong Kong FILMART Online and HAFF 2020

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Fourteen companies from the Philippines are part of the 24th Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART) while four Filipino film projects are included in the 18th Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF).

The virtual Hong Kong FILMART will take place from August 26 to 29 and the online HAF will be held from August 27 to 29. The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) will have a Country Session webinar at the HK FILMART upon the invitation of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).

The FDCP has sponsored production companies for the Philippine Pavilion in the HK FILMART to provide them opportunities to find project collaborators, seek project funding, pursue sales and distribution possibilities, and expand their network of contacts in the international film circuit.

This year, the FDCP's Virtual Philippine Pavilion will have 11 production companies: Philippine Film Studios, Inc., Project 8 Projects, Betsy D. Film Productions, Epicmedia Productions Inc., Atom & Anne Mediaworks Corp., Indiego Productions, CMB Films, Sisu Productions, Beginnings At Twenty Plus Inc., VY/AC Productions, and Blindwill Pictures.

Pavilion meetings will take place on all four days of the FILMART, and these will be concluded by the FDCP’s “Let’s Create Together!” webinar on August 29. Through the live one-hour event, the FDCP will promote three FilmPhilippines incentives to international productions. These are the Film Location Incentive Program (FLIP), International Co-production Fund (ICOF), and Film Location Engagement Desk (FLEX).

Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño-Seguerra will lead the “Let’s Create Together!” presentation together with the FilmPhilippines Office. The Country Session will premiere two video collaborations of the DOT and FDCP for the “Let's Create Together!” campaign. The 11 companies in the Philippine Pavilion will also be introduced during the webinar.

Department of Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones will be in attendance together with Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) Assistant Director Anthony Rivera, Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Danilo Lim, and League of Cities of the Philippines National President Evelio Leonardia.

Other attendees are Consorcio Olivan of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Maria Teresa Loring, Rodrigo Aguilar, and Gliceria Cademia from the DTI. Representatives from the DOT include Woodrow Maquiling, Jr., Sharlene Batin, Howard Lance Uyking, Elisa Jane Camunggol, Ernesto Teston, and Dee Mandigma. National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Chairman and Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) President Arsenio Lizaso and NCCA National Committee on Cinema Head Rolando Tolentino are also confirmed attendees.

The Film Academy of the Philippines will be represented by Director General Vivian Velez, Director for Business Development & Communications Ed Totanes, Director for Programs and Events Peter Serrano, and Harlene Bautista and Njel de Mesa of the Project Advisory Committee. Meanwhile, other participating companies in the HK FILMART are GMA Network, VIVA Communications, and Rocketsheep Studio.

As for the HAF, “Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah Vs. The Amazonistas of Planet X” by Avid Liongoren and “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking” by Petersen Vargas are among the 24 fiction projects featured alongside nine documentaries. Liongoren and Vargas wil get to seek international support and cooperation for their projects at the HAF.

Other projects in the HAF lineup are productions or co-productions from Taiwan, China, Canada, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, South Korea, Israel, Mexico, Bangladesh, Thailand, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, Singapore, the Netherlands, and France.

The Filipino-French project “Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah Vs. The Amazonistas of Planet X” is fresh from its success at the Open Doors Locarno where it won the Development Support Grant. The project is co-produced by Liongoren of Rocketsheep Studio and Franck Priot of Ghosts City Films in France.

The action-comedy animated full length feature is about a shy gay hairdresser who transforms into a flamboyant female superhero after he swallows a magical space rock. In July, it won the B.I.G (BIFAN Industry Gathering) Award from the Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) Project Market of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in South Korea.

The Philippine project “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking” by Vargas is a drama about a wealthy teenage runaway who joins street hustlers on a road trip. The street hustlers want to fulfill the final wish of their friend who passed away, which is to go home. At the 2019 Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC), the project bagged the SEAFIC Award and SEAFIC-HAF Award. “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking,” produced by Alemberg Ang and Jade Francis Castro, is under VY/AC Productions.

Two more Philippine projects made it to the HAF in the Works-in-Progress (WIP) platform that aims to help filmmakers get post-production funds, sales agents, and film festival support. These are the documentary project “Last Days at Sea” by Venice Atienza, who is also the producer alongside Wu Fan, and fiction project “The Double” by Adolf Alix, Jr. The project with elements of drama, horror, and suspense is produced by Alix, Jericho Rosales, and Kim Jones. There are 12 documentaries and 10 fictions in the WIP.

The HK FILMART and HAF were supposed to take place early this year concurrent with the 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival slated from March to April. The latter was cancelled due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, while it was decided for the HK FILMART and HAF to proceed online.

The Wolf of Wall Street Philhealth Edition

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chair Richard Gordon showed a video wherein PhilHealth Regional Vice President for Region 4-B Paolo Johann Perez's birthday celebration, where a scantily dressed dancer performed while surrounded by his colleagues, was exposed during a Senate hearing. The woman came out of a box and danced in his office as a birthday present.

Perez is among 8 PhilHealth officials tagged as members of an alleged mafia in the Senate panel report.

That's what you called "multitasking". Nag-eenjoy habang ngtatrabaho.

Mula noon hanggang ngayon problema ng mga nasa gobyerno ang pagnanakaw. Basta naupo sa pwesto tiyak may magiging issue kundi corruption e conflict of interest naman ang ginagawa, pero pinakamatindi ito!

Asan na ang mga katagang not even a whiff of corruption sa aking termino. "Papatayin ko talaga kayo". Sige nga. Sample nga.

Trash. Nagpapakahirap mga tao, ang daming may COVID tapos ganyan kayo? Nakakaawa din naman yung babae for sure just for money din yan. Bayad yan. Corruption and sexual objectification in one scenario.

Grabe! Ang lupit ninyo. Pinayagan ninyo talagang mag-perform in front of your office staff. Malamang ito wala pa din mangyayari kasi hindi naman siya ang nag hire ng agogo dancer.

Madami pa napromote ni Morales na mga kauri nyang kawatan. Absuelto iyan panigurado. Malakas ang kapit sa itaas.

Gordon wants removal of all PhilHealth regional VPs, believes they are the 'mafia'

He said several PhilHealth VPs have been committing irregularities but still remain in office, with some occupying their posts for 22 years already.

He also said PhilHealth regional officials have been "abusing" cataract case rates since 2009, with claims amounting to P17.35 billion in a decade.

PhilHealth allegedly disbursed P68.65 billion for 4.76 million pneumonia patients from 2014 to 2020, but DOH data show there were only 2.44 million cases of pneumonia in the country from 2015 to 2020.

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommends removal of all PhilHealth regional directors, abolition of some positions in PhilHealth, says insurance firm needs to be reorganized through legislation.

They also recommend "regular lifestyle checks" for PhilHealth officials, "including their relatives up to the 4th degree of consanguinity / affinity."

They want PhilHealth's "information technology systems, including the procurement of hardware, software, security, network, and related technologies, must be contracted out."

They urge the Ombudsman to conduct investigations, file plunder charges vs some officials, including former DOH Sec. now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, PhilHealth regional vice presidents.

Gordon on alleged inaction vs erring PhilHealth officials: "The Senate makes laws... Bakit hindi ginagawa ng executive yan? Bakit hindi ginagawa ng DOJ? Bakit ang Ombudsman nanonood lang?"

"I'm very confident as a lawyer that we can prosecute these people [in PhilHealth]. 'Pag nakalusot pa yan, bulok na talaga ang sistema natin."

"Hindi lang sila dapat matanggal. They have to be prosecuted. We have to make the people believe that there is justice in this country... We should know there are people who will stand up if this is wrong."

"Corruption has been allowed to take over the agency because of poor leadership... There is no vision, no continuity and no punishment for the wicked."

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee wants criminal charges filed vs former Budget chief Butch Abad, former Heath Sec. Janette Garin over alleged irregularities in PhilHealth during the Aquino administration.

The problem embedded in Philhealth is a case of corruption & incompetency. The board appointed unqualified senior officers to be their bagmen, people who came from the ranks and knows the monkey business down to the bottom.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has been in the board for a very long time. He was accused of being the "godfather" of an alleged “mafia” in  PhilHealth which is under probe for corruption, told senators that he will do some soul searching if his best was not enough.

Many hospitals, many in the provinces, get as much as 5x more than what they should reimburse from Philhealth.

That is how the mafia works. Philhealth officials, particularly the regional directors and the hospital cohorts, have a special place in hell as these funds equate to lives.

That's why there's no room for promotion. Directors stay in their posts to make sure that their scheme continues to generate money no matter who sits as president. GMA admin started this. Duque was DOH Sec then too, right?

So this means it's nothing new. It's been going on for a long time.

Corruption in PhilHealth to take advantage of a pandemic is worse than the deadly coronavirus itself because of its evil intent and purpose... Soul searching is only for people who have souls.