A Celebration of Filipino Cuisine, Arts, Music, &More at &More By Sheraton

Wazzup Pilipinas!?


Sheraton Manila Bay pays tribute to all things Filipino at “ALAB: Poetry, Craft Beers, &More” event on August 25, 2022 held at the hotel’s newest food and beverage hub &More by Sheraton and Unspoken Bar.

Fittingly named Alab that translates to passion or flame in Tagalog, the evening showcase fiery performances from talented local artists in music, arts, and spoken word poetry. Guests, gourmands, and media partners also delight in bespoke craft beers from the proudly local brewery Crazy Carabao and delectable Filipino-fusion bar chow platter prepared by the hotel’s culinary team. The platter selection includes bite-sized serving of Kilawin Spring Roll (Citrus Marinated Tuna, Chili Vinegar), Beef Pares Gyoza (Beef Floss, Pares Sauce), Baked Sisig Quiche (Pork Sisig, Kesong Puti), Adobo Churros (Chicken Liver, Spicy Adobo Dip), Truffle Flower Fat (Pork Flower Fat, Truffle Oil, Sinamak), and Sausage Inasal (Homemade Vegan Sausage).

Diners were serenaded by the rhythmic gongs of Kulintang played by world-class percussionist Tusa Montes. Afterwards, renowned poets of Spoken Word Manila—Charms Tianson and Hannah Pauline Pabilonia, performed sentimental and moving original poetry pieces which truly encapsulated the very essence of the event.

Another highlight of the ALAB experience is the LikhaAngono Painting Exhibit. The LikhAngono Painting Exhibition, in cooperation with JAV Talent Unlimited Foundation, feature 15 select artworks from youth artists from Angono, Rizal, touted to be the Art Capital of the Philippines. The exhibition with run until September 2, 2022 where part of the proceeds from the sale of the pieces will be donated to San Lorenzo Ruiz Home for the Elderly and Bahay Tuluyan, a non-profit organization for children's welfare.

The event was hosted by Sheraton Manila Bay’s Marketing Communications Manager, Stephanie Cabrejas and was officially opened by the hotel’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Juvy Agudon who relayed an inspiring welcoming message about passion.

“This event is inspired by the word ALAB, a root word of “Mag-alab” which in English means to be aflame or to burn with emotions, become excited with strong feelings or a deep level of enthusiasm or passion. Passion is something that is hard to define. It is something that we feel, rather than something we see. It is what compels us to do the things we love, and drives us to be the best we can be. For me, passion is all about creating and experiencing beauty. Whether it is through writing songs or poems, painting, or simply appreciating food in general, we find immense satisfaction in beauty. Passion is our fuel” said Juvy Agudon, Sheraton Manila Bay Director of Sales and Marketing.

&More by Sheraton is located in the Main Lobby of Sheraton Manila Bay, M. Adriatico cor. Gen Malvar Street Malate, Manila. For reservations please call +632 5318 0788 or email reservations.manilabay@sheraton.com. Like us on Facebook and Instagram @sheratonmanilabay and Twitter at @sheratonmnlbay. For more information, please visit our website at www.sheratonmanilabay.com.

PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival will celebrate its 21st edition by returning to the big screens in Manila, and extending to Malaysia and Australia

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

From October 5 to 16, 2022, the 21st edition of PELÍCULA-Spanish Film Festival will return to face-to-face screenings. After two years of having a virtual festival, PELÍCULA will screen around twenty movies in three venues of Metro-Manila including Shangri-La Plaza, Cine Adarna at UP Diliman, and Instituto Cervantes Intramuros branch.

Since its creation in 2002 by Instituto Cervantes de Manila, PELíCULA has been an annual attraction in Philippine theatres. After the height of the Covid-19 crisis which forced cinemas to close worldwide and caused audiences of PELíCULA to migrate online, the festival returns to the big screen, on a first-come, first-served free admission basis. Furthermore, the Festival will also host face-to-face online screenings in Malaysia and Australia, as well as the Philippines.

In the Philippines, the Festival will open on October 5 with El buen patrón (Fernando León de Aranoa, 2021), a comedy starring Javier Bardem. Other comedies in the line-up include La boda de Rosa (Icíar Bollaín, 2020), El test (Dani de la Orden, 2022), Con quién viajas (Martín Cuervo, 2021). The official entries also include documentaries such as A las mujeres de España. María Lejárraga (Laura Hojman, 2022), dramas such as Maixabel (Icíar Bollaín, 2021) or El olvido que seremos (Fernando Trueba, 2020), and thrillers like La hija (Manuel Martín Cuenca, 2021).

PELÍCULA will also feature Latin American films such as the Colombian documentary Jinetes del Paraíso (Talia Osorio Cardona, 2020), the Panamenian comedy Algo azul (Mariel García Spooner, 2021), and Competencia oficial, a Spanish-Argentinean comedy directed in 2021 by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, and featuring Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Oscar Martínez.

Just like in the previous editions, audiences may vote for their favorite films in the Audience Choice Awards. Established in 2004, the award will be given to the film that the viewers have voted as the best of the Festival. Since its establishment in 2004, it has been a very popular tradition in the Festival and is kept alive even through the festival’s transition online. In its 21st edition, both face-to-face and online audiences will be able to rate the films right after having viewed them. The film with the highest ratings will again receive this year’s Audience Choice Award and will be screened again during the closing of PELICULA 2022, on October 16.

To celebrate the 21st edition of the cinematographic showcase, there will be a short series of movies coming from the Basque Country (featuring Handia, and Oreina, among others); plus a special selection of classic Spanish films, to be shown online. These films are Esa pareja feliz (Juan Antonio Bardem & Luis García Berlanga, 1951), Muerte de un ciclista (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1953), Mamá cumple cien años (Carlos Saura, 1979) and El sur (Víctor Erice, 1983).

Since its first editions PELíCULA has programmed activities aiming to be a meeting point between the Philippine and Spanish cultures. In line with this, the Festival is honored to premiere Con tu latido. Fillipinas canta a Aute, the film of a concert-tribute to Spanish-Filipino musician and artist Luis Eduardo Aute, born in Manila in 1943. The screening is scheduled for 11 October, at Instituto Cervantes (Intramuros branch).

Philippine cinema was born in the Spanish language and almost all film-related terms in Filipino are in Spanish (such as pelikula, sine, direktor, aktor, contrabida, etc.), proof of the rich cinematic history shared between Spain and the Philippines. With this in mind, PELíCULA will be holding “En corto: Short films from the Philippines and Spain”, an activity which will feature recent short films from both countries.

PELíCULA 2022 is an initiative of Instituto Cervantes in Manila and Sydney, the Embassies of Spain in the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia, and the AECID, in collaboration with the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Instituto Etxepare, Filmoteca Vasca, the Embassy of Colombia in the Philippines, the Embassy of Panama in the Philippines, the UP Film Institute, the University of the Philippines, Intramuros Administration, Vibal Foundation, Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Rustan’s, and La Pícara.


All the movies are in Spanish (or their original language) with English subtitles. For updates on the Festival, please visit the website of the Festival (https://pelikula.org) or the Facebook page of Instituto Cervantes de Manila: www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila

5 Tips for Planning a Successful Business Lunch Meeting in Doha

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Going to Qatar for a business trip means making the most of your visit here.

Whether you’re here to speak with your venture partners or investors, search for a business location, hire possible employees, or meet your team or clients, you need to maximize every minute you spend in the country.

One way you can make the most of your visit to Qatar is by hosting a business lunch meeting at one of the best restaurants in Doha.

A business or work lunch meeting is less formal than a traditional get-together with your business partners, investors or team, enabling everyone to feel more comfortable and encouraging them to speak more freely.

Although the atmosphere is more relaxed and conversational, you can stay focused on the agenda when you properly plan the business lunch meeting.


Hosting a Productive Business Lunch Meeting

If you are organizing a business lunch meeting in Qatar for the first time, ensure its success by following these tips:


Choose the right restaurant.

Although you can host the business lunch meeting in your office if you have one, having it in a restaurant offers more advantages so it’s worth considering this option.

As mentioned, restaurants have a relaxed ambiance, which can encourage the participants to speak and engage more. Moreover, there are fewer interruptions during the meeting when you host it out of the office.

However, you must choose the right restaurant to have a successful business lunch meeting.

First, ensure all the attendees won’t have any difficulty getting to the venue. The restaurant should be easily accessible to them by public transportation.

It should also have ample parking space for participants who will bring their own vehicles.

In most instances, the best mall in Doha meets these requirements. As such, consider hosting the business lunch meeting in a restaurant here.

If you have shortlisted a possible venue, find out if there is ample seating room in the main dining area. If you need privacy and a quieter place, check if the restaurant has a function room you can rent.

Additionally, find out if you can reserve a table or the function room in advance so that you won’t have to wait to be seated and served on the day of your meeting.

Lastly, you would do well to check the menu of your preferred restaurant beforehand. Find out if it has an assortment of dishes so that attendees with dietary restrictions can still enjoy a meal.


Create a lunch meeting agenda.

Since out-of-office business meetings tend to be more relaxed, there is a chance that you and the attendees may not be able to touch on or discuss some important details.

You can avoid this problem by using a meeting agenda.

Make an outline of everything you want to do and the topics you need to cover during the meeting. Create a schedule for each activity or subject to ensure you go through all of them.

Have someone help you stay on your schedule to avoid skipping anything important.

If you have a small group for the meeting, try to find ways to get each attendee to participate.

Make sure your schedule also includes sufficient time for everyone to enjoy their meal.


Send your meeting invitations in advance.

Once you have your venue and meeting agenda, create your meeting invitations and send these to your guests.

Keep in mind that some of your intended attendees might have busy schedules every day and need to be informed in advance to include the meeting in their timetable.

Sending your invitations as soon as possible allows your attendees to adjust their plans and attend your meeting.

Moreover, emailing your invitations in advance allows the participants to add this event to their calendars and create reminders quickly.

Consider adding your meeting agenda to the invitation so the attendees know what to expect and can prepare their questions or anything they want to say during the event.


Inform the attendees about the menu choices.

Asking the meeting participants to order during the meeting could take plenty of time.

You can minimize the time the attendees need to decide what they want to order by sending them copies of the restaurant menu and asking them to choose what they want to eat in advance.

Sending the menu items in advance also allows you to know if one or more of your attendees can’t order anything from it due to allergies or dietary restrictions.

In such a situation, you can ask the restaurant staff to prepare dishes that your guests can safely eat.


Assign an official notetaker.

Even if the meeting takes place in a restaurant, you need to have notes of everything that gets discussed.

Notes let you keep track of a multifaceted meeting. These can also help you remember a list of the key meeting takeaways.

If you have an assistant, ensure they take notes. If not, ask a team member to do this during the event.

Having someone handle this can help you fully immerse yourself in the meeting and engage in more meaningful discussions with the attendees.

A business lunch meeting allows you to discuss important matters with people you need to meet and speak with in Qatar. It is also an excellent way to sample the amazing food offerings in this country.