OTB brand BingoPlus partners with the PBA for Season 47

Wazzup Pilipinas!?



Basketball fans are going to have fun when the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) 47th Season begins.

Not only will the oldest professional basketball league in Asia have a guest foreign team to make the games more interesting, it will make fans enjoy the experience better with fun and leisure options on the side.

BingoPlus, the country’s first licensed Online Traditional Bingo (OTB) services, has partnered with the PBA for all the three conferences of its 47th season. The gaming company will have branded segments and content in the PBA coverage and will enable fans to participate in traditional bingo games played on their gadgets and cellphones.

“BingoPlus and the PBA share the same passion in bringing entertainment that adds value to their audience. This is why we see this as an ideal partnership. It’s long been in the works, and now that it is a reality, our common goal is to provide high-value entertainment and leisure opportunities for our combined target markets,” said Andy Tsui, Leisure and Resorts World Corporation president, the holding company that manages and operates amusement and recreation enterprises.

“This basketball loving country is always looking for what is new and exciting. Nowadays playing games online gives a new kind of thrill. Online Traditional Bingo, like basketball, requires focus, strategy and sportsmanlike conduct for one to stay the course. We want to teach these values to our audience too. We take pride in this partnership with the second oldest professional basketball league in the world because like them, we want to be recognized as the most reputable brand in our field, which is the gaming sector,” said Jasper Vicencio, AB Leisure Exponent, Inc. (ABLE), president. BingoPlus is ABLE’s newest gaming brand under the LRWC umbrella.

The PBA and BingoPlus signed a memorandum of agreement to jointly raise the level of entertainment and recreation of Filipinos through their combined undertaking, Wednesday, April 6.

BingoPlus plans to extend more support to the sports sector in the coming days, Vicencio said.

Charming Chapels of Negros

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Leading up Easter, the anchor fiesta in the Christian calendar, Negros Season of Culture reaches out to Negrenses and Filipinos the world over to stage yet another virtual “Visita Iglesia”, a tradition started by NSC in 2021.

This year, the event will be streamed live on Facebook, on Holy Thursday at 10p.m. Philippine Time, that’s 3p.m. in London, 10a.m. in New York, and 7a.m. in Los Angeles.

Adding local color and pastoral spirituality to the observance of Holy Week “panatas” or vows are video documentaries, this time on seven chapels in Negros Occidental, each with its distinct charm.

Three of them easily find significance in facing the health challenges of the time. Perhaps most representative of Negrense heritage is the Chapel of the Cartwheels in the town of Manapla. Standing in the middle of a sugarcane plantation and using discarded farm objects to create a bespoke architecture and interior design, the chapel is dedicated to Santa Rosalia of Palermo, Italy, the saint invoked in times of plagues and sickness.

Fresh air is a welcome breather to lockdowns. Up in the cool mountains of Don Salvador Benedicto, in a community that has become a choice escape for nature habitués, is the Manggapuri Chapel. Rising above the verdant landscape of Negros, it is at once magical and idyllic. And a spiritual tonic, being dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel who, among a few special roles, is sought for healing the sick.

Meanwhile, down by the shores of Talisay, the CICM Chapel, dedicated to Mary Mother of Christ, found new calling when social distancing became the order of the day. Here, members of the community enjoy the sea breeze while hearing mass practically on the beach. Mass by the beach is a concept whose time has come…what a blessing!

Comparatively new to the scene, and inspired by fallen trees that are common to typhoon ravaged Philippines, the quaint Patagoña Chapel of Silay City eventually took form and captured the hearts of many who visit.

Located in the highlands of Silay, the cool temperature lends to deeper reflection and prayer, helped along by design inspirations from a Benedictine Monastery, and then from among Trappist monks.

Artistry is embedded in the soul of the Negrense, and several chapels live up to that standard. The popularly known Chapel of the Angry Christ in Victorias, made famous by the significant works of Filipino-American abstract expressionist, Alfonso Ossorio, is actually dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker. The Santa Clara Chapel in Bacolod is highlighted by a larger-than-life image of the Virgen sang Barangay executed by Leticia Ledesma.

Tens of thousands of locally sourced shells were used. And leave it to Negrense national artist Leandro Locsin to re-imagine Greek classical architecture into clean, modern, minimalist lines, and so create the La Salle Chapel, far and away the most familiar to Negrenses, heirs to the great La Sallian education.

Benildean tops SineDisipulo filmfest in Cebu

Wazzup Pilipinas!

 

An award-winning student filmmaker from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde added another feather to her cap after her newest short film recently led the winners of the SineDisipulo X Film Festival in Cebu.

Dan Verzosa’s “Gapos sa Kadenang Walang Kandado” bagged the Misha Boris Anissimov Award, named in honor of the pioneer of SineDisipulo, which was previously just a film exhibition.

SineDisipulo provides filmmakers and film enthusiasts alike an opportunity to show and witness the talents of young filmmakers and artists. The film festival is organized by CINEMATA, a film organization based at the University of San Carlos.

In the film, a mother listens to her daughter’s cassette tapes one morning, months before the Philippine presidential elections. She recounts and reimagines the events that happened during her child’s thesis defense as she listens to the audio recordings from years before while waiting for her daughter’s return.

Verzosa recently received a Film Ambassador Award from the Film Development Council of the Philippines after her short animation “IAMANNIKA” bagged the Southeast Asia Audience Award at the third Craft International Animation Festival.

“Gapos sa Kadenang Walang Kandado” follows the heels of “IAMANNIKA” and “Malapit Na, ‘Nay!” (Almost There, Mother), her short film on extrajudicial killings, which dominated the 2019 CineMorayta Film Festival, 2020 Karapatan at Kabataan Film Festival, and 2020 CineMapua Film Festival.

Similar to her other works, Verzosa considers her latest project, which she made for her film production class, as more than just a film. “It’s a message. A message and a reminder that given the country’s upcoming presidential elections, we need to look back on history, the truth told by the people, and consider the past in order to make a choice for the future, our future, and the future of all.”

“This election has been stirring up dark memories of the nation’s past, the martial law imposed by the late President Ferdinand Marcos marred by violence and numerous human rights violations. Similarly, President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs resulted in numerous human rights violations and extrajudicial killings,” Verzosa added.

The filmmaker wanted to use film to talk about “how history seems to be revised and changed by society and the people in power and yet for the family of the victims, it will never be forgotten.” She made her film at a time when Duterte’s term is coming to an end and with Marcos, Jr. running for president.

As Jesh’s song, “Dahil Tao,” goes in the film, “Tayo raw ay malaya, ngunit bakit may tali.” (They said we are free, but our hands are tied.) This film is a reminder to open our eyes and wake up from the false illusion of freedom and make the right choices for the future of all,” she concluded.

The film “Si Ketchup at Si Mayonnaise” took home the Artistic Visionary and Aesthetic Excellence Awards while “11:11” was adjudged the Most Viewed Film at SineDisipulo X.

The jury is made up of filmmakers and artists Chloe Veloso, Kris Villarino, and Katherine Rivera.