PLDT Enterprise enables nationwide operations of Don Benito’s

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

PLDT Enterprise announced its partnership with Don Benito’s, a Filipino delicacy store,to ensure the company’s business continuity in its branch operations nationwide with Smart LTE connectivity plans.

Amidst the disruptions during the past year, PLDT Enterprise has been making a positive impact by enabling businesses with its end-to-end technologies to ensure more efficient and simplified operations. As many companies have been struggling to survive, Don Benito’s is one that has adapted to the changes in the business landscape and is continuously innovating through the solutions of PLDT Enterprise.

Mitch Locsin, PLDT FVP and Enterprise Revenue Group Head, says, “We thank the management of Don Benito’s for tapping PLDT Enterprise and Smart to enhance their omnichannel strategy. At PLDT Enterprise, we always give great value to the relationship of our clients and their customers. By providing the digital solutions, we are proud to be part of Don Benito’s plans to deliver good customer experience to its patrons. Our partnership with Don Benito’s is a testament on how we are empowering MSMEs to survive and thrive during these challenging times.”

“It’s been a daunting year for a lot of businesses, including us,” says Atty Karlo Benito Cruz, Owner and President of Don Benito’s. “We needed to adapt in order to survive and thrive. We are very happy to partner with PLDT Enterprise because its LTE mobile network will definitely help us manage better our day-to-day operations in all our branches. It’s high time we evolve and interact with our customers through other ways than the usual in-store transactions.”

PLDT Enterprise advocates for digital adoption which is one of the key elements to business continuity. In its latest campaign, “You are Unbreakable,” PLDT Enterprise highlights the importance of the Filipino entrepreneurs’ resilience in times of adversities to reinvent their businesses and continue to grow using appropriate digital technologies for their operations.

PLDT Enterprise also supports the recalibration of operations, whether they are companies now implementing work-from-home setups, moving to e-commerce, or simply ensuring that their contactless operations are seamless, through its wide range of fixed, wireless and ICT solutions.

For more information on PLDT Enterprise and its products, visit www.pldtenterprise.com.

Portraits of Magellan at National Museum of Fine Arts

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

As part of the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the world, the National Museum of the Philippines brings to public view, for the first time in many years , a pair of portraits depicting the navigators Hernando de Magallanes (Ferdinand Magellan) and Juan Sebastián Elcano, who together and with their crew achieved this great feat.The two portraits can be found, starting March 31, at the Spoliarium Hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts, where they will remain for a full year. 

These are the only portraits of these famous men in the Philippines originating in the Spanish colonial period, when they were considered illustrious heroes of the history of Spain in our archipelago, and are therefore priceless and highly significant to our nation’s cultural and historical heritage, both today for us in this quincentennial year and for future generations of Filipinos.

Part of a larger set that included Christopher Columbus and Hernán Cortés, these portraits were commissioned in Spain from Manila by the wealthy businesswoman and philanthropist, Doña Margarita Roxas de Ayala, in 1856 and painted in Madrid by an unknown artist. They were thought to have been copied and adapted from earlier portraits then existing in Spain.

Why Doña Margarita sought to have these portraits made and brought to the Philippines is unknown. There is no record either of where they were displayed. Much later, in 1914, her daughter, Doña Trinidad Roxas de Ayala, viuda de Zobel, donated them to the National Library of the Philippines. The National Library then was responsible for the fine arts collection that eventually was incorporated anew under the National Museum of the Philippines.

Around 1938, President Manuel L. Quezon had these portraits transferred to Malacañan Palace, the official residence and seat of the President of the Philippines, where they were hung around the upper landing of the main stairs. By this means did they fortuitously survive the war, as the Palace escaped largely unscathed in the Battle of Manila in 1945 (unlike the National Museum and National Library which were destroyed).

In the decades since, they have remained at Malacañan Palace and are presently under the care of the Presidential Museum and Library, part of the Office of the President. We are grateful to our colleagues there, led by Director Edgar Ryan Faustino, for the opportunity to borrow them for a temporary exhibition, as well as to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea for approving our proposal to loan and feature them to the public during this historic anniversary.

Indeed, the opportunity for people to view and appreciate these portraits has, throughout the 165 years since they were painted, been very rare, such that they are little known, even to historians here and abroad.

We hope that our visitors will be able to see these portraits soon when we are allowed to reopen our museums in Manila. In the meantime, please abide by the prevailing Enhanced Community Quarantine and take care to stay safe as we continue to strive to #BeatCovid19.
 

References: Presidential Museum and Library, Office of the President of the Philippines.

Philippine Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 5 (October, 1929).

Catalog of Paintings, Sculptures and Historical Objects, National Library of the Philippines (1938).

Brandon Vera, Sage Northcutt join The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition Candidates in Episode 5

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

IF last week's episode is already intense enough, you haven't seen what's next.

ONE Championship's longest reigning titlist made his presence felt in episode 5 of The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition as reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon "The Truth" Vera paid the candidates a visit as a guest athlete.

The Filipino-American champion is definitely a winner in every sense of the word, as evidenced by him being the division's first and only champion since the organization introduced the belt in December 2015.

Vera has knocked down every challenge that came his way, amassing an impressive 25-8 (1 NC) mixed martial arts record, including emphatic title defenses against the likes of Igor Subora, Paul Cheng, Hideki Sekine, and Mauro “The Hammer” Cerilli -- all of whom falling in the first round.

But it could also offer a glimpse of what's in store for the future, all the more with budding contenders like Arjan “Singh” Bhullar and “Mighty Warrior” Kang Ji Won hot on Vera's heels and aching for a shot at the reigning champion.

That alone should make the candidates listen to every advice Vera would be willing to hand out as he provides an imposing presence in the episode's physical task.

But Vera isn't alone in providing their inputs to the candidates as "Super" Sage Northcutt will also be joining the ONE Heavyweight World Champion in the episode.

His good looks may captivate everyone watching, but the 25-year-old lightweight's brute force is no joke as he proved to everyone before that he's not just a pretty face.

Northcutt will be a welcome presence for the candidates as he awaits his next foe after having his ONE on TNT 4 match against Shinya "Tobikan Judan" Aoki in April 28 cancelled.

He, after all, knows a thing or two about being hungry to come back after suffering a first round defeat to Cosmo Alexandre at ONE: Enter The Dragon in May 2019 to go down to an 11-3 win-loss record.

Vera and Northcutt are just the latest from the top-caliber athletes who have appeared on the show after mixed martial arts legends Georges "Rush" St-Pierre and Renzo Gracie, and ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee.

Other athletes set to guest star in future episodes include former ONE Welterweight World Champion Ben Askren, ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Champion Demetrious Johnson, Indian Wrestling Champion Ritu Phogat, and ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion Xiong Jing Nan.

The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition invited 16 contestants handpicked from around the world to compete in a high-stakes game of business and physical challenges. The winner will receive a US$250,000 job offer to work directly under Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong for a year as his protege in Singapore.



“The Apprentice” is one of the biggest non-scripted reality television programs in history, judging the business skills of candidates who are competing for a job offer under a high-profile CEO. It has aired in more than 120 countries. The first season of “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition” consists of 13 episodes and will be seen in the Philippines on Thursdays, 8:50 pm on AXN cable network and on Mondays at 9 p.m. on One Sports.