Get ready to pack your summer essentials with Go Hotels Tacloban’s Summer Promo!

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Go Tacloban’s Summer on the Go! 

This cozy hotel recently reopened its doors last March 1, 2021, launching the extension of their “Live Love Local” promotion to all its local residents. This special offer can be availed for only Php2,000.00 from March 29 to April 4, 2021 – just present your travel documents as mandated by the local government unit. With this, all guests are entitled to a 5% discount at Patron Casual Dining, and to beat the heat, rate comes with complimentary access to Summit Hotel Tacloban’s iconic pool lounge. If you opt to just stay in, relax, and go on a movie marathon with the family, the room only promo rate of Php2,000.00 is valid until April 30, 2021. The fifth installment of the Summit brand showcases a contemporary design with a tropical ambiance which perfectly sets the atmosphere for that complete and affordable summer experience within a few steps away!

Guests would also be able to experience a whole new level of “New Normal” accommodation at Go Hotels anchored with Robinsons Hotels and Resorts’ elevated standard of hygiene and cleanliness based on World Health Organization and Department of Health and Sanitation protocols. This ensures a worry-free stay experience for our guests from pre-arrival to post-departure touch points implemented in all Go Hotels nationwide.

Moreover, since Go Hotels Tacloban is just adjacent to Robinsons Mall, guests can shop conveniently for travel essentials. Also, if you are looking for a place to process your government-related documents, the

hotel is just a few steps away from the Lingkod Pinoy Center, which provides services from various government agencies including Social Security System, Department of Foreign affairs, and many more.

For the complete terms & conditions visit us at www.gohotels.ph or call our Happy to Care hotline at (02-8-397-0111), 0917-888-7788, and 0998-888-7788.

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).