Singapore Airlines brings Christmas to NAIA

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Singapore Airlines spreads the yuletide cheer to its passengers with a surprise performance rendered by SIA's ground personnel and staff while ice cream in popular Filipino flavors were served. 

Pasko sa SQ is the airline’s way of sharing the spirit of Christmas with its customers.

Christmas Surprise from Singapore Airlines. 

Pasko sa SQ. Singapore Airlines adorns the airport with a belen and colorful lanterns that were creatively designed by Singapore Airlines ground staff using only local and recycled materials. Passengers were also invited to vote for their favorite lantern.

Singapore Airlines staff in Filipiniana attires for the airline's Christmas surprise to its loyal passengers. 

This special treat has been a tradition of Singapore Airlines over the years to celebrate the spirit of this well-loved season in the Philippines. 

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DepEd to open its recruitment online through Kalibrr

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The Department of Education (DepEd), along with four government agencies, signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Bagumbayani and Kalibrr to democratize the recruitment through widening the contracting net and the market reach of the government online.

[L-R] Bureau of Local Government and Finance OIC Executive Director Jocelyn Pendon, DepEd Undersecretary for Regional Operations Rizalino Rivera, Kalibrr Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder Paul Rivera, Department of Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Rene Limcaoco, Department of Social Welfare and Development Undersecretary Angelita Gregorio-Medel and Public-Private Partnership Center Executive Director Cosette Canilao in the MOA signing to democratize recruitment in government agencies through Kalibrr.

Kalibrr is a job-matching online platform for job seekers and companies. Its cloud-based platform enhances the way applicants find jobs and companies hire talents through its series of enhanced assessments. Bagumbayani is a youth organization consisting of civil servants promoting positive change and integrity in the government by sustainably recruiting young people into the civil service.

“To us in DepEd, better government service depends on having the right people for the right job to serve our Filipino learners in the best way we can. We look forward to maximizing our partnership with Kalibrr and Bagumbayani so we can cast our nets wider and allow for merit-based recruitment and talent sourcing that allows Filipinos anywhere in the world to be given a chance to take part in the deep and unique privilege of serving the Filipino people through government service,” said DepEd Undersecretary Rizalino Rivera.

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“We are not only helping people get jobs, we are making an impact to the trajectory of the Philippines by helping connect inspiring and progressive public servants to government. Through combination of technology and the desire to bring change, we are transforming what it means to find a job in government. I will give you an example: A job seeker in Davao can now by just being on the internet learn about and engage with the thousands of government jobs. Before Kalibrr, these jobs may have been online or may not have onlive and would require visit to that Department in its Metro Manila office,” Paul Rivera, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder of Kalibrr, said.

According to the Kalibrr CEO, this partnership will “break the notion that in order forsomeone to land a job in government, one should be connected with someone else inside.” This partnership intends to make government jobs accessible to all online.

“I have seen the challenges in the human resource and development in the bureaucracy. Sourcing is not really a problem for us. Talent pool management is not totally practiced in the bureaucracy. Our human resource is more on personnel administration role and we need to transform it into human resource reform,” Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Undersecretary Angelita Gregorio-Medel said.

The five new agencies—DepEd, DSWD, Department of Finance - Bureau of Local Government Finance (DOF-BLGF), Department of Transportation and Communications(DOTC), and Public Private Partnership (PPP) Center—are the second batch of government agencies to sign agreements with Kalibrr and Bagumbayani. The first batch of government agencies which signed on August 27, 2015: the Department of Finance (DOF), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Catch Up the Animation entries as HOOQ places student films in the spotlight at this year’s MMFF

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Join and enjoy the gateway to a world of unlimited entertainment.

HOOQ, Asia’s largest video-on-demand service, gives you unlimited access to over 10,000 movies, indies and animation and TV series. Discover endless adventure, eternal drama and non-stop laughter at your fingertips.

It's time to widen your world of entertainment, as HOOQ, has signed a groundbreaking deal with the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) to screen a selection of the official entries on the app. 

“Everyone has to start somewhere and for many directors, that happened while they were in school. Young filmmakers from schools like Ateneo de Naga University and DLSU-CSB made it as finalists in this year’s MMFF” said Jane Walker, HOOQ Philippines Country Manager. 

“It is very encouraging that their animated films were chosen among hundreds of entries to take part in this festival,” she added. 

HOOQ is the exclusive presenter for the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival and its New Wave Category, a partnership geared towards promoting quality Philippine entertainment. 

For the first time in the 41-year history of the film fest, the entries under the New Wave category will be simultaneously available in theaters and online, exclusively through HOOQ. 

Since the films will be on the HOOQ app, you can now watch them wherever you are, anytime you want. With just one app, you can stream, download and enjoy thousands of movies and TV series. All from your phone, laptop or tablet.

The MMFF New Wave category has been around since 2010 to give the opportunity to independent filmmakers to showcase their entries and the chance to take home prize money that could potentially be used to fund future film projects. This year’s finalists were selected by a jury out of hundreds of national submissions which was then trimmed down to five finalists each. 

Here are the entries for animation:

The Seed 

The Seed by Joven Maniaol shows the relationship of a man and his wife’s dog, with whom he does not favor, and how this relationship develops when the dog irrevocably ruins an anniversary surprised prepared by the husband. The film was inspired by the Pixar animated film UP and French film “Floating in my Mind.”

Buttons

Buttons was created by Marvel Obemio, Francis Ramirez & Jared Garcia of De La Salle College of St. Benilde. It is a story about 2 voodoo dolls living in a world where others seem to not notice their existence until one day, a mysterious voodoo doll shows up. 

The taboo nature of voodoo one of the pulls that attracted the creators to animating this story.

Geo 

Geo was written and directed by John Aurthur Mercader of Puppeteer Animation Studio has previously won the grand prize for Animahenasyon, the biggest animation film festival in the country. His team also won best in technical quality, Best Animation in Category B (6-30 mins.), and the Hero TV Choice Award in Animahenasyon. The short is about young Geo with a wild imagination, whose mother must always come to his rescue whenever he takes it a step too far.

Little Lights

Little Lights by was written and directed by Rivelle Mallari, the only finalist submission that claims no affiliation to a school or studio. It is a touching story about a physically weak yet strong-willed firefly named Charlie who struggles with his fear of darkness and finding his place within the firefly community. 

Alamat ng Giraffe

Alamat ng Giraffe, directed by Alyssandra Kyle Mallari and written by Karl Marlo Gonzales and Mel Jeffrey Jabido of De La Salle College of St. Benilde, tells a made-up legend on how the giraffe came to be.

Each film is under 10 minutes and (will be) screened started December 17 up to 24 at Glorietta 4, Robinsons Movie World Ermita and SM Megamall. All ten entries will be available on HOOQ from December 18.

In addition to the New Wave shorts and animated films for this year, HOOQ has close to a hundred MMFF past winners and finalists among its huge collection of local TV shows and films, made available for streaming and download on multiple devices. 

New users can enjoy a 30-day free trial by signing up at www.HOOQ.tv. 

Monthly subscription is available at only P149 and can be charged on your Globe mobile bill or via credit card, or it comes free with Globe Home Broadband plans P1,299 and up.

Chevron donates P1 million to Red Cross for rebuilding communities damaged by Typhoon Lando

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Photo above shows PRC Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang (second from left) receiving the cheques from CPI General Manager for Philippine Products Peter Morris (rightmost), CHPI General Manager Kee Teek Hong (third from left), and CMLLC Asset Manager Sabino Santos (leftmost).

As communities in northern and central Luzon struggle to get back on their feet more than a month after being ravaged by Typhoon Lando, Chevron companies in the Philippines recently donated a total of P1 million to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) to help in the rehabilitation efforts.

Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), marketer of Caltex brand of fuels and lubricants gave P400,000; Chevron Malampaya LLC (CMLLC) P450,000; and Chevron Holdings Inc. (CHPI) P150,000 respectively. The donation will go to PRC’s post-Landodisaster recovery and rebuilding efforts in Chevron’s host communities such as San Fernando City, La Union; Baguio City; Kalinga; and North and Northwest Palawan.

“Chevron and Philippine Red Cross have a long history of partnership in disaster response and volunteerism, which becomes stronger especially during disaster management efforts. We are very grateful for this latest donation from Chevron as this will come a long way in providing assistance to a large number of the population which are still in need,” said Pang.

Chevron companies have donated millions of dollars to the PRC which helped in the rebuilding efforts caused by the most destructive typhoons to hit the country such as Frank, Ondoy, Pablo, Sendong and Yolanda. Chevron employees also support PRC blood donation drives.

HOOQ up with Metro Manila Film Festival’s indie entries for the very first time

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This 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival in partnership with HOOQ, Asia’s largest video-on-demand service, presents the entries under the New Wave category and will be simultaneously available in theaters and online, exclusively through HOOQ.

For the first time in the 41-year history of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), and now the exclusive presenter for the 41st, MMFF New Wave category has a new Short Film Competition for amateur and professional filmmakers.

It's open-themed and for films ten-minute films. The Metro Manila Film Festival New Wave category features progressive works of independent and student filmmakers to express themselves through the powerful medium of film.

“Some of the most inventive techniques are shown in short films,” said Jane Walker, HOOQ Philippines Country Manager. “We’re very proud to showcase this and the creativity and talent of Filipino filmmakers.”

A partnership geared towards promoting quality Philippine entertainment, HOOQ and MMFF to address the growing needs of the digital natives to consume content at their own time; through streaming and download of the finalists’ animation and short film entries.

The MMFF New Wave category has been around since 2010 to give the opportunity to independent filmmakers to showcase their entries and the chance to take home prize money that could potentially be used to fund future film projects.  

This year’s finalists were selected by a jury out of hundreds of national submissions which was then trimmed down to five finalists each. 

There are five finalists from the short-film medium and another five from the animated genre. 

The complete list of entries are listed below.

Short-film finalists:

Daisy (Bryan Reyes of Colegio De San Lorenzo)

Ding Mangasyas (Justine Emmanuel Dizon of Kayumanggi Pictures)

Lapis (Maricel Cariaga of Center Stage Productions)

Momento (Jan-Kyle Nieva of UP Film Institute

Mumu (Jean Cheryl Tagyamon of UP Diliman)

These entries for short film feature:

Daisy, a story about a wife and mother Barbara who orders a Proxy Daisy robot to take care of household duties, only for Barbara to have a growing realization that there may be something very wrong with the robot that she has let into her families’ lives.  Written and directed by Bryan Reyes of Colegio de San Lorenzo, this is his first film competition that he joined on a whim and shot two days prior to the contest deadline.

Ding Mangasyas

Ding Mangasyas (Tough Guys) centers on 2 brothers who have had a lifelong love-hate relationship filled with violence. They’re faced with the emotional reality of separation as one of them packs up to work in the US. The film was directed by Justine Emmanuel Dizon and written by Jason Paul Laxamana of Kayumanggi Pictures, who was initially discouraged by the rejection of this same film in another competition. This is his first national competition, and he is proud to show off the “homegrown” talents of his team who are from Pampanga like him.

Lapis 

Lapis follows the career shift of a pencil artist in his 50s as he applies for a job as a graphic artist only to be confronted by the realization that his medium of expertise is defunct in a modern world.  This moving film that addresses the conflict of analog vs. digital artistry was inspired by real stories of unemployment in the country.  Written and directed by Maricel Cariaga of Center Stage Productions, this is her third competition after UP POV 11 and Sinkwento International Film Festival, wherein she placed top 3 for both.

Momento

Momento features an ageing couple, Teresita and Ronaldo, as they celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary--despite Teresita having made a terrible discovery earlier in the film that “marks the darkest hour of their relationship.”  Written and directed by Jan-Kyle Nieva of the UP Film Institute, Nieva states that he enjoys disturbing films and made this film to challenge himself into delving into a genre that he has not previously explored.

Mumu

Mumu is about a fresh grad named Kara who resists pursuing a nursing career despite her nagging mother and pressure from witnessing the success of her friends.  She also finds herself being haunted by a ghost – a character she had played in a blockbuster horror film. Mumu is directed by Cheryl Tagyamon from UP Diliman, who also wrote the film.  Mumu has thus far won 3rd place in the National Digital Arts Awards 2014 Motion Graphics Category for Students, and in the UP Film Institute’s Black Beret Film Festival it won the Audience Choice Award, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Performance.

The short films and animations under the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival’s New Wave category will be shown simultaneously on the country’s biggest subscription video-on-demand platform. Anyone with a HOOQ subscription can watch the shorts on just about any screen they own, on the same day the films are being shown in theaters.

Each film is under 10 minutes  and screened started December 17 and up to 24 at Glorietta 4, Robinsons Movie World Ermita and SM Megamall.  All ten entries will be available on HOOQ from December 18.

HOOQ has the largest collection of Pinoy movies and TV series, which includes close to a hundred winners and finalists of the Metro Manila Film Festival such as “Baler”, “Tanging Yaman”, “Mulawin the Movie, “Pedro Penduko” and many more.

New users can enjoy a 30-day trial by signing up at www.HOOQ.tv.  

Monthly subscription is available at only  P149 and can be charged on your Globe mobile bill or via credit card, or it comes free with Globe Home Broadband plans P1,299 and up.

Catch these Animation finalists too! 

Animation finalists:

8 (Johanna Kaye Boncodin of Ateneo De Naga)

Geo (John Arthur Mercader of Puppeteer Animation Studio)

Little Lights (Rivelle Mallari)

Buttons (Marvel Obemio, Francis Ramirez, Jared Garcia of De La Salle College of St. Benilde)

Marvino’s League of Superheroes (Ja Marti Escandor of Ateneo De Naga)