Brandon Vera Back in Philippines, Has Close Eye on Potential Heavyweight Contenders

Wazzup Pilipinas!


Reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera recently flew from his home in Guam back to the Philippines to wrap up a few commercial obligations, visit family, and just simply check out what he missed.

Vera and wife Jessica welcomed their first child together, Atreyu Timothy Craven Vera, last year in the US territory, and have remained there to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time Vera has returned to the Philippines since.

“We’re back here in the Philippines to come home for a second, finish filming our movie we started about a virus, before the real virus, and a couple of endorsement commercials,” said Vera.

One thing Vera will be doing this week is keeping a close eye on a couple of particular heavyweight matchups at ONE: UNBREAKABLE II.

ONE: UNBREAKABLE II, a previously recorded event from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore, scheduled for global broadcast this Friday, 29 January features former ONE Heavyweight World Title challenger Mauro "The Hammer" Cerilli of Italy who takes on Russia's Abdulbasir "Dagestan Machine" Vagabov. 

Also scheduled for action is four-time Muay Thai and Kickboxing Heavyweight World Champion Alain "The Panther" Ngalani of Hong Kong, who will face Senegalese sensation "Reug Reug" Oumar Kane.

The four men are highly regarded heavyweights, and are all trying to fight their way into a shot at Vera’s ONE Heavyweight World Title.

The 43-year-old Filipino-American combat sports veteran has held the title since winning the inaugural belt in 2015, and reiterates that he’s more than willing to put it on the line against a worthy challenger.

“These guys are amazing heavyweights, each with their own attributes to solve and figure out. I’m excited to see this event, and even more excited to watch and learn. I’m beyond hyped for all the recent signings of world-class heavyweight talent. It makes me nervous, which in turn, makes me train even harder,” said Vera.

“All of them are future opponents. Everyone is when you’re the champ.”

In a recent Global Conference Call with ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, ONE Championship announced its latest renewed partnership with Turner Sports in the United States. On the call, Sityodtong fielded questions from media from all over the world, who asked about a wide range of topics, including the status of the heavyweight division and when Vera can expect to be back in action.

The promotion stated that logistics and contracts were still being figured out, but that fans would not have to wait long to see “The Truth” return to the Circle.


Currently, Vera is expected to face rising star Arjan “Singh” Bhullar of India in his next world title defense, although nothing has been finalized yet and a date has yet to be confirmed. Vera did, however, teased his impending return.


“I would say abangan ‘nyo (wait for it) for the first half of the year,” Vera said.

More People Are Likely to Try Out Esports Betting During the Pandemic

Wazzup Pilipinas!

It may go against all believes and logic to say that any type of gambling would increase during times where a lot of people are suffering economically. I will, however, make the claim that what’s happening right now is actually beneficial for the eSports betting industry. 

Not everyone will gain from the pandemic though

As you may or may not know, eSports betting in the Philippines is highly popular, though once the pandemic is over only a portion of the industry may be left, if any at all. The country’s online gambling industry has already faced concerns about tax increases and even threats about being banned completely.

With lockdowns happening as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, several online gambling offices have been forced to shut their doors as the government have considered their businesses unessential. Reports have told us that many operators are gone for good and that expansion plans have been cancelled.

What’s happening may even be the tipping point for the suggested ban to take place in the country. In other words, it’s not looking great for the Philippines. 

But other markets aren’t having the same issues

Malta is widely known for its online gambling with hundreds of casino and sports betting companies having their headquarters on this tiny Island which is one of the world’s smallest countries. Here, the pandemic is yet to strike as hard as the country relies on its gambling businesses. People still go to work as usual, unless they work from home which has become quite a common thing.

But just because businesses aren’t shutting down, how could this ever mean that eSports betting is increasing during the pandemic, which is what I am claiming? 

It all boils down to the fact that people will watch more eSports

It is already known that more and more people are getting interested in eSports, which is due to increased media attention, Twitch streams and an overall increased interest in gaming. With the pandemic many people are either working less than they used to or working from home, which frees up a lot of time either way. This translates to time that can be spent on gaming and watching streams.

Of course, not everyone will magically get into the world of eSports, but those who are already interested in gaming (which is a lot of people!) and are locked inside have limited things to do. This will naturally lead to an increasing number of people finding their way to competitive gaming and we already know that people love to bet on sports whether it’s soccer, basket or games.

Adding one plus one together and we get the reasoning behind my thoughts of people being more likely to bet on eSports during the pandemic. 

 
But aren’t people less likely to spend money during these times?

Those who have lost their jobs probably are. However, gambling is one of those things that actually do quite well during recessions. Research shows that casino gambling stagnates during economic crisis, while lottery gambling remains intact or even increases (which happened in Iceland in 2008 when three major banks went bankrupt).

As eSports betting is quite a new phenomenon, we don’t know a lot about how it behaves during recessions. However, my belief is that it will increase due to the fact that people have more time to spend in the gaming vertical and the fact that eSport tournaments continue to be hosted as they do not have to be held live.

ePLDT honored with two major awards at Microsoft 2020 Partner Awards

Wazzup Pilipinas!

ePLDT Inc., the country’s leading enabler of digital solutions in the Philippines, was given two significant awards at the recently concluded Microsoft Philippines Partner Awards and Appreciation Day—further fortifying its leadership in the local ICT space.

For excellence in driving transformation with their own organization and in their customers’ organizations, ePLDT was given the Tech Intensity Award. This recognition fortifies its leadership in the tech industry, sustaining strategic partnerships with technology providers in the business.

Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups, reiterates its gratitude to Microsoft Philippines for its long-standing partnership, saying, “this award is testament to ePLDT’s relentless efforts in developing our capabilities in delivering technologies that matter to our customers. We are looking forward to another great year of collaboration and partnership with Microsoft as we pursue our vision of making a positive impact on every single business.”

At present, ePLDT has evolved to be the innovative and active partner of Microsoft, having created a wide range of cloud-based solutions with include cloud productivity, collaboration, and infrastructure services.

ePLDT has joined the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Program to further enhance its technical expertise in terms of delivering cloud solutions to customers. ePLDT continuously deploys its sales, pre-sales and operations team for Microsoft certifications trainings to equip them with the right skills and knowledge in delivering Microsoft solutions to its customer base.

“These efforts are all in line with ePLDT’s goal which is to simplify the complex for our customers, and at the same time make a positive impact on every single business, as we continue investing in the latest technologies to better serve our customers,” Hernandez added.

“To date, in ePLDT we have more than 50 Microsoft certified professionals. As a result, we achieved 9 Silver and Gold Level competencies in various Microsoft practice. ePLDT aims to add more competencies by the end of the year,” said Fay Ocampo, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances of PLDT Enterprise.

Aside from this, ePLDT also received “Para Sa Bayan” special award for its efforts to enable remote learning for school and students nationwide with Microsoft For Education solutions. The Para sa Bayan Award recognizes key initiatives of Microsoft’s partners in response to COVID-19, celebrates innovative and outstanding solutions or programs that helped organizations and communities respond to and recover from challenges created by the pandemic.

Nico Alcoseba, VP & Head of ICT Business for PLDT Enterprise, is honored with Microsoft’s Para sa Bayan award, saying that “our strong partnership with Microsoft especially during the global health crisis, has proved very helpful to many businesses and many industries. We are happy to have been recognized with these key awards.”

ePLDT was also a finalist for two other categories namely Customer Centricity and Teamwork Excellence at the said awards. Meanwhile, its subsidiary AGS came as a placer for the BizApps Customer Recruit category.

Microsoft Philippines held its 2020 Partner Awards, as part of a global circuit that recognizes Microsoft’s partners for their outstanding, innovative efforts to positively impact customers every year.

For more information on ePLDT, visit epldt.com.