First Dine Out for 2023 at Yoshi-meat-su Unlimited Yakiniku Cainta

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

First dine out for 2023, and we chose eating Korean Samgyupsal at Yoshi-meat-su Unlimited Yakiniku Cainta branch....located along Ortigas Extension just a few blocks away from Cainta junction.

We picked this branch since it's nearer to our Pasig residence. We came from our Montalban, Rizal residence where we spent the new year, and on coming back to our Pasig residence, we decided to have lunch out....something heavier and filling than usual so we chose samgyupsal which is among those we missed during the pandemic.

We enjoyed every meat and side dish served. Pero lugi talaga kami sa mga unli at buffets dahil hindi na kami malakas kumain...medyo health conscious na talaga kami kaya bawas na sa pagkabundat....but that's okay, we are already full and satisfied after just a couple of reordering tasty meats and side dishes.

Located at the second floor, the restaurant is very spacious, clean and orderly. Surprisingly, the place did not smell of smoke from all the grilling. We did arrive at around 2pm coming from Montalban, Rizal.

We were actually very hungry all the way from our 11:30am departure. Waze made us take the Sumulong Highway route which was quite a long travel time.

Kudos to the server who helped to manually reorder our meats, side dishes and calamansi juice drinks, since we were too focused on grilling and eating and wanted to skip using their digital system of reordering. We were using one hand in grilling our meats and the other to hold the lettuce, so both hands were too occupied. It's quite a hassle to have to let go, clean our hands and reorder for replenishment.

Though we don't really eat as much as before,  having to use the smartphone to reorder still means getting our phones dirty.

So we would again like to thank the male server who kept coming back to our table asking what we want to eat next. He was actually multitasking doing several tasks while  courteously attending to the diners.

Also thanks to the other server who informed us that each of us gets free ice cream bars for dessert.

The female crew, and apparently also the cashier, who welcomed us at the restaurant, was also very helpful in answering our inquiries.

Per person is charged P649 so our bill for two is almost P1300. The dining experience was worth every peso.

#WazzupPilipinas #Yoshimeatsu #samgyeopsal

Society Pass/Thoughtful Media Group Acquires More Media, Indonesia-based Digital Design and Branding Agency

Wazzup Pilipinas!?



Thoughtful Media Group Inc ("Thoughtful Media" or "TMG"), the Thailand-based social commerce-focused, premium digital advertising network of Society Pass Incorporated ("SoPa") (Nasdaq: SOPA), Southeast Asia's (SEA) next generation, data-driven, loyalty, fintech and e-commerce ecosystem, today announces the acquisition of More Media, a leading Indonesia-based creative design and branding agency. The More Media acquisition extends TMG's social commerce and influencer advertising business reach beyond Thailand and Vietnam and into the booming Indonesia digital advertising sector.


Founded in 2021 as an international caliber design and branding agency serving up-and-coming Indonesian companies in the beauty, F&B, e-commerce and logistics sectors, More Media has grown its client base through quick deployment of value-added services and understanding of the local market tastes. With its focus on storytelling and providing end-to-end branding services, More Media has onboarded a diverse roster of clients such as Langsre, Emilia, Kei Dining, and Allino. Post acquisition, More Media is re-branded as Thoughtful Media Indonesia with its Co-Founder, Eugenia Agnes Gusti, appointed as VP of Business Development for Thoughtful Media to drive sales and onboard Indonesia clients onto the regional TMG digital advertising platform.

Mr. Dennis Nguyen, Society Pass Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer/TMG Chairman, exclaims, "We are so excited to welcome Eugenia Agnes Gusti, Ursula Michelle and the rest of the More Media into our ever-expanding TMG platform. More Media seamlessly blends into our product and geographical growth strategy for TMG as we enter yet another leading SEA market. By combining More Media's market leading design and branding capabilities in Indonesia with TMG's social commerce and influencer advertising focused MPN, we leverage our storytelling capabilities and amplify SoPa's upcoming loyalty offering. And with this acquisition, TMG now operates in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Since SoPa acquired TMG back in July 2022, TMG has grown from strength to strength with headcount growing from a dozen professionals to over 30 staff in just a matter of months. As we enter Singapore, Philippines, and Malaysia markets in 2023, TMG is uniquely positioned to be the premier SEA regional digital advertising agency offering a significant value proposition for advertisers, merchants and influencers in SEA's biggest economy."

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the influencer advertising market grew to US$16.4 billion in 2022 and the value of social commerce sales growing to US$958 billion in 2022. And according to Strategic Market Research, with Asia representing 70% of the market, the global social commerce market size is expected to reach US$7 trillion by 2030, representing a CAGR of 30% from 2021. Well-positioned to benefit from these growth forecasts, Indonesia's digital advertising revenues are expected to soar this decade as increasingly more consumers make direct purchases on social media platforms, as social media sites are adopting innovative buying criteria and features, and as merchants incorporate shoppable posts and buy buttons on their respective pages. In addition, socially conscious consumers are influencing the evolution of the entire online retail industry. This trend comes as a result of the shifting inclination of brands from traditional celebrities to online influencers to endorse their products. Indeed, influencer marketing is quickly becoming an indispensable part of the mainstream branding strategies across organisations of all types.

"More Media is proud to officially merge with TMG. By joining forces with TMG's broad advertising network and SoPa's extensive ecosystem and large user and merchant bases in SEA, we are thrilled about expanding our business to fully become an end-to-end digital marketing company. According to Grand View Research, the global influencer marketing platform market size was valued at USD 10.39 billion in 2021 and is now expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.4% from 2022 to 2030. With this explosion in influencer advertising and social commerce throughout SEA, Thoughtful Media Indonesia is well positioned to generate significant revenues in 2023 and occupies a central position in Indonesia's large and fast-paced growing advertising market, both online and offline," explains Ms. Eugenia Agnes Gusti, Co Founder, More Media.

About Society Pass Inc.

Founded in 2018 as a next generation, data-driven, loyalty, fintech and e-commerce ecosystem in the fast-growing markets of Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, which account for more than 80% of the SEA population, and with offices located in Angeles, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila, and Singapore, Society Pass Incorporated (Nasdaq: SOPA) is an acquisition-focused holding company operating 6 interconnected verticals (loyalty, digital media, travel, telecoms, lifestyle, and F&B), which seamlessly connects millions of registered consumers and hundreds of thousands of registered merchants/brands across multiple product and service categories throughout SEA.

Society Pass completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SOPA in November 2021. SOPA shares were added to the Russell 2000 index in December 2021.

SoPa acquires fast growing e-commerce companies and expands its user base across a robust product and service ecosystem. SoPa integrates these complementary businesses through its signature Society Pass fintech platform and circulation of its universal loyalty points or Society Points, which has entered beta testing and is expected to launch broadly at the beginning of 2023. Society Pass loyalty program members earn and redeem Society Points and receive personalised promotions based on SoPa's data capabilities and understanding of consumer shopping behaviour. SoPa has amassed more than 3.3 million registered consumers and over 205,000 registered merchants and brands. It has invested 2+ years building proprietary IT architecture to effectively scale and support its consumers, merchants, and acquisitions.

Society Pass leverages technology to tailor a more personalised experience for customers in the purchase journey and to transform the entire retail value chain in SEA. SoPa operates Thoughtful Media Group, a Thailand-based, a social commerce-focused, premium digital advertising network; NusaTrip, a leading Indonesia-based Online Travel Agency; Gorilla Networks, a Singapore-based, web3-enabled mobile blockchain network operator; Leflair.com, Vietnam's leading lifestyle e-commerce platform; Pushkart.ph, a popular grocery delivery company in Philippines; Handycart.vn, a premier online restaurant delivery service based in Vietnam; and Mangan.ph, a leading local restaurant delivery service in Philippines.

SSS records P236.3-B benefit disbursements from Jan-Nov 2022, up 13.2%

Wazzup Pilipinas!?


The Social Security System (SSS) disbursed a total of P236.3 billion in benefits from January to November 2022, a growth of 13.2% from the P208.8 billion benefit disbursements it recorded for the same period last year.

SSS President and CEO Michael G. Regino said the rise in disbursements this year is driven by the increases in number of benefit claims, number of members and pensioners, and amount of benefit releases for retirement, disability, and death.

“For the first 11 months of 2022, we have received 4.58 million benefit claims. This is 7.3% higher than the 4.27 million benefit claims we received for the same period last year,” Regino said. “Our pensioners, which stood at three million in 2021, grew to 3.18 million by November 2022, while our retirement, disability, and death benefit monthly disbursements, which averaged at P16.6 billion in 2021, increased to P19.53 billion for January to November this year.”

From 2016 to 2021, the amount of SSS benefit disbursements and the number of claims also grew by an average of 11.4% and 7.9%, respectively, despite the 1% decrease in both in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The upward trend in SSS benefit payments in recent years is also attributed to the grant of additional monthly benefit, implementation of a new benefit program, and higher salary base for benefit computation.

In 2017, the SSS granted a P1,000 additional monthly benefit for pensioners pursuant to a Memorandum from the Executive Secretary dated 22 February 2017, by authority of the President of the Philippines.

In 2019, Republic Act (RA) No. 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018 was implemented, which, among other provisions, expanded the SSS’ mandatory membership coverage, introduced the Unemployment Benefit Program and Workers’ Investment Savings Program (WISP), and increased the minimum and maximum monthly salary credit (MSC).

In the same year, RA No. 11210 or the 105-day Expanded Maternity Leave Law was implemented, increasing the number of compensable days of maternity leave, from 60 days for normal delivery and 78 days for caesarian section delivery, to 105 days for live childbirth, regardless of the type of delivery, plus an additional 15 days if the female worker qualifies as a solo parent. The law also extended the maternity leave to every instance of pregnancy, miscarriage, or emergency termination of pregnancy (ETP), regardless of frequency, from the previous limit of only for the first four deliveries or miscarriages.

“With all these changes, we were able to disburse P1.20 trillion benefits through 23.87 million claims in less than six years, specifically from January 2017 to November 2022,” Regino said.

From 2011 to 2016, SSS’ benefit disbursements reached P606.47 billion for 16.79 million claims.

“As we continue to see higher benefit payments through these developments, it is equally important for us to also implement the scheduled reforms provided under the Social Security Act of 2018 that aim to strengthen the SSS fund for us to continue serving our current and future members and their beneficiaries,” he concluded.

Starting January 2023, the SSS will increase its contribution rate by 1%, making it 14% from the previous 13%. The employer's share of the contribution will rise to 9.5%, while the employee's share will remain at 4.5%. Self-employed, voluntary, and land-based Overseas Filipino Worker members, on the other hand, will shoulder the 1% increase. The minimum and maximum MSCs will also increase from P3,000 to P4,000 and P25,000 to P30,000, respectively.