Eye Can Succeed, an advocacy campaign dedicated to improving Filipino lives by improving sight, won its first global award, the Golden World Awards for Excellence in Public Relations – Healthcare category.




Held at the Hotel Catalonia, Barcelona Plaza in Spain and attended by delegates from 60 countries worldwide, the GWA awarded Essilor’s Eye Can Succeed for successfully providing free eye care services to 10,000 Filipino senior high school students and distributing prescription glasses to those in need. Eye Can Succeed campaign was spearheaded by Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF), the philanthropic arm of Essilor. Dubbed “Oscars of PR”, the annual Golden World Awards is organized by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the leading global network for Public Relations professionals.




It is the world’s most prestigious PR award-giving body that recognizes best in public relations practices worldwide in different categories. Receiving the gold award in behalf of Essilor Philippines were (from left to right) Essilor Spain Consumer and Categories marketing manager Hugo Velasco, PR manager Adriana Garcia, and FuentesManila president Edd Fuentes.

Children gathered over a breakfast treat prepared by SM Malls in Baliwag and Pulilan during the ChriSMiles program at Kids of Bethlehem House of Bread in Baliuag Bulacan.

It was never too late to spend the holiday with the ones who matter most and with the people who are worth the help as SM Malls in Bulacan stood as one in giving gifts of cheers and love across three children homes in the province.

Dubbed as “ChriSMiles”, volunteers from SM City Baliwag, SM Center Pulilan, SM City San Jose del Monte and SM City Marilao shared their time off from work to spread love and joy through gift giving and a little entertainment to the less fortunate children.

Beginner and seasoned triathletes prevailed over the first-ever MediCard Sprint Triathlon at Fontana Leisure Park in Clark, Pampanga with teenager Adrian Thomas Dionisio (male category aged 15-17) clinching the top spot at 1:07:46 and Julie Somoso (female category aged 50 and above) leading her age group at 1:59:28.




The triathlon included a 600-m swim, 20-km bike, and 5-km run course. Athletes took several laps in the Olympic-sized pool and went on to a one-loop bike course around the Clark grounds, and to a single-loop run on the resort. It also featured a relay category for family, friends, or teammates.




“This is one of the best ways to encourage everyone – from little kids to adults, even the more senior ones – to exercise and move,” said MediCard president Nicky Montoya.




Ian Banzon of Sante Barley (F, 30-34) reached the finish line at 1:19:53 while Gianmarco Anton Sibayan (M, 25-29) clocked in at 1:11:38, followed by Pierce Tan (M, 18-24) at 1:11:49. Ma. Lourdes Cabero (F, 35-39) finished the course to claim second-fastest female spot at 1:29:51, whereas Alfie Yu (F, 40-44) finished third.




Among the top 10 male finish times were the performances of older age group champions Levy Ang (45-49), clocking in at 1:15:31, and Rune Stroem (55-59) with 1:16:39.




Other age-group female champions in the MediCard Sprint Tri were Therese Malapad (15-17), Isabel Parco (18-24), Alessandra Castaneda (25-29), and Ymelle Reyes (45-49). Male champions include Angelo Leaño (35-39), Brett Petrillo (40-44), Jerry Santos (50-54), and Chicho Mantaring (60 and above).




Champions in the relay category were Team Fuego (all-female), Team Pukers (all-male, mixed), and Team ActiveHealth (family).




MediCard is a leading health maintenance organization (HMO) in the country dedicated to providing accessible healthcare to Filipinos. Visit www.medicardphils.com or call (02) 884-9999 for your healthcare needs.

GAOC Founder and CEO Dr. Steve Mark Gan with Dato’ William Ng, President of Enterprise Asia (leftmost) and Undersecretary Zenaida Cuison Maglaya, Regional Operations Group, Department of Trade and Industry (rightmost) at the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards held at Manila Marriott Hotel.

Dentist to the Stars Dr. Steve Mark Gan, Founder and CEO of the Gan Advanced Osseointegration Center (GAOC), the undisputed leader among dental clinics in the Philippines and one of the best in Southeast Asia, again, adds to his already impressive roster of achievements as he was awarded in the Outstanding Category, Hall of Fame, of the much coveted Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards (APEA) 2018.










The prestigious Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards (APEA) is a Regional Award Recognition programme recognizing entrepreneurial excellence, honoring business leaders and organizations who have shown outstanding performance and tenacity in developing successful businesses, whilst not neglecting the social responsibilities that come with leadership.







The APEA recognized Dr. Gan’s contributions to the field of dentistry and dental implantology in the Philippines. Specifically, this honor was bestowed on Dr. Gan for his “uniquely personal triumph in search for excellence”; and his “steel-willed determination and vision amid unspeakable challenges.”







Additionally, the GAOC Group of Companies also received the Corporate Excellence Award, in the Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, and Biotechnology category, for “having established a mark for upgrading, humanizing and even glamorizing the practice of dentistry.”







“I’m truly humbled by this recognition,” says Dr. Gan. ”More than anything, it serves as an inspiration for me to strive harder in the advancement not only of GAOC, but of the
whole field of dentistry in the country as well.”







At present, GAOC owns and manages 10 state-of-the art dental clinics and is at the forefront of innovation through the utilization of digital dentistry, the latest global trend in the field today.

Manila, Philippines – Live streaming app Nimo TV together with the country's well-known game streamers are giving away prizes for its lucky viewers this Holiday.

From December 16 to 31 2018, lucky spectators will have a chance to win a Xiaomi mobile phone, prepaid loads or gaming items daily. To win, a spectator should watch the live streaming of the scheduled gamer of the day, and it will be drawn randomly via Nimo TV’s in-app draw feature.

Hosting the promo are various gaming stars from Nimo TV’s streamer pool. One is TNC Predator Pro Team’s Armel and Tims who will host on December 18-20 from 8:30 to 10:30 PM; December 21 from 1:30 to 3:30 PM; December 26 from 8:30 to 10:30 PM and December 27 – 28 (exact schedule will be posted via Nimo TV FB Page). Popular Fliptop Artist / Gamer Sinio have recently hosted the giveaway last December 16 and scheduled to do another round on December 23 and 30 from 9:00 to 11:00 PM.
Watch out for the upcoming schedule of some streamers via Nimo TV’s official Facebook page.

Enjoy a truly merry Christmas with Nimo TV! For more information on the promo follow Nimo TV’s official Facebook page and go to Nimo.TV to watch out for the live streams.

Download the NiMO TV app at Apple app store and Google Play store. Click link here. https://nimotv.onelink.me/B6cW/25ba46b7

Top-level leaders, entrepreneurs, and HR, organizational development and training professionals discovered different life coaching, innovation coaching, and executive coaching techniques during the CEO, HR, and Senior Leaders Conference held at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.




The one-day conference is an ITD Mega Guru event that featured world-renowned executive coach Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, ITD World president and CEO Dr. Peter Chee, and ITD World Philippines country head Serely Alcaraz as they shared insights on how executives can achieve ultimate results and happiness not only in their jobs but also in their personal lives.




Life coaching

The 1st Asian ranked among the top 6 global coaching gurus, Dr. Chee engaged participants on how strategic coaching, executive coaching, and life coaching can be used to achieve sustainable success and holistic happiness. Emphasizing on life coaching as the key to sustainable and holistic love, happiness, and success, the ITD World president and CEO shared six “must do’s” for executives as a life coaching tool: listen fully and deeply, ask the right questions, appreciate and encourage, use positive voice and body language, simplify and focus on what’s important, and move to action and commitment.




Dr. Chee noted there are three important life coaching must do’s that Filipinos can adopt— encourage and appreciate people, ask the right questions, and listen with empathy. “The coach makes the coachee feel like a champion by appreciating and encouraging them, and by asking them the right questions to unleash their power and unlimited potential. Through listening to them with empathy, a coach can really pull out what’s best in them.”




Innovation coaching

Leaders play a crucial role in coaching to achieve breakthrough results in product development and service improvement. For #1 master trainer and ITD World chief coach Alcaraz, this begins with establishing an innovation coaching culture within an organization. This includes crafting an innovation strategy, championing innovation, allocating resources, developing innovation skills, providing management rewards and metrics, cultivating the culture, involving the enterprise, and collaborating with customers and stakeholders.




The second step in innovation coaching is ideation or generating creative ideas that can improve an organization’s product, service, process, or strategy, even in the face of competition. Among the ideation methods presented were mind mapping, wherein Alcaraz challenged executives to not only “think outside of the box” but to completely remove the “box” in coming up with ideas and solutions. Through a short exercise, the attendees were also introduced to Brainwriting, an activity where people in a group take turns in providing new and unique ideas on a key topic.




Alcaraz also talked about SCAMMPERR, a set of innovation techniques that can help executives find new ways to improve their product or service. SCAMMPERR stands for substitute, combine, adapt, magnify, modify, put to another use, eliminate, rearrange, and reverse.




The third step in innovation coaching involves subjecting selected ideas to “throughputs”, a development cycle wherein product ideas undergo research and refinement, rapid prototyping, testing, further research and refinement, solution development, pilot testing, additional research and refinement, and launch. “Throughputs is not so much about being thorough. Aim for quick wins. Don’t take too long about doing this because you still have results evaluation and building customer acceptance which is equally important in introducing a new product or service,” Alcaraz cautioned.

Executive coaching

In his executive coaching session, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith focused on improving or changing a person’s behavior as he talked about the feedforward exercise as a tool for coaching and learning from employees. It encourages leaders, decision makers and people from all levels of the organization to let go of the past and focus on future goals, offer ideas and help as much as they can, and listen to suggestions without judging and learn as much as they can.




The best-selling author also outlined guidelines on how everyone in an organization can change their behavior and develop themselves to become good leaders, at work and at home. The guidelines include asking others how one can be a better person, listening to suggestions or advice, thinking things first before doing something, thanking others for their help, responding to suggestions through positive actions, involving support groups to help achieve their goals, changing for the better, and following up on the goals.




Among these, Dr, Goldsmith sees three guidelines that Filipinos can readily adopt—asking, responding, and following up on suggestions. “Filipinos tend to be hesitant to give negative feedback, face-to-face. So, I like confidential feedback and if leaders ask for these, it is very important to teach them how to respond to feedback, to talk about what they want to improve. Then on the follow-up, especially important here is what I call a feedforward, where they ask for ideas which is much more positive.”




The CEO, HR, and Senior Leaders Conference was presented by ITD World, the global leadership development expert, with event partners IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines, Philippine Society for Training & Development, Asia Select Culture Solutions Company, Stratworks Marketing Communications and National Book Store, and exclusive media partner ANC. For inquiries, email itdmanila@itdworld.com, call (632) 887-7428, or visit www.itdworld.com.

Teleperformance Philippines leaders with De La Salle University – Dasmariñas students  during the site tour at Teleperformance Aura

Students appreciated the spacious operations floor, as well as the workstations that follow the “clean desk” configuration at Teleperformance. They also experienced the fun and cozy employee amenities such as the fitness gym, game room, cafeteria, sleeping quarters, training rooms, and meeting rooms. Jojo Pacis, Teleperformance Philippines Vice President for Capability Development, led the students to a customer journey demonstration that gave them a deeper understanding of a how a seamless omnichannel customer experience can make a difference in today’s world.




Teleperformance Philippines Assistant Marketing Manager Fel-Isra Belarmino, who guided the students throughout the tour, shared how the BPO industry offers a variety of career opportunities for them. “Contrary to popular awareness, this industry is not just about taking calls. There are several departments and business programs to choose from – such as finance, human resources, marketing, or IT – where one can equally employ strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Whether you’re fresh out of college or looking to follow a different path, a career at Teleperformance might just be the one for you.”




Qualified candidates may apply through Facebook at facebook.com/teleperformance.philippines. They can also call the recruitment hotline #8353 (#TELE) or simply walk into any of these recruitment centers located across the Philippines.

In the early 1990s, Andrew Gotianun Sr. saw there could be more to a grazing ground for livestock in Alabang. His company, Filinvest, won the bid over the 244-hectare Alabang stock farm and transformed it into his vision of a complete environment conducive to meeting the demands of global businesses and enriching the lives of those working and residing in the city. With that vision, the Filinvest City masterplan—one that is sustainable, future-ready and responsive to the needs of an ever-changing metropolis—was drawn up.




Today, the 244-hectare Filinvest City embodies the ideals Andrew Gotianun Sr. set years ago. Filinvest City is very much of the present and even as it looks forward to tomorrow, introducing key enhancements to its masterplan: green system, districting and improvements to “mega-blocks” resulting in a well-balanced live-work-play environment.




Filinvest City is currently registered to the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification—a first for the Philippines—under the Neighborhood Development plan, further proof of its commitment to build a truly progressive and sustainable CBD.




The first phase of the Filinvest City master plan enhancement is defining Filinvest City’s public domain and green spaces which includes the introduction of a green system consisting of more open spaces, parks, greenways and pocket resting areas—active and passive facilities for a more meaningfully built environment.




These include the Spectrum Linear Park, a recently-completed three-section linear park spanning almost a kilometer that dissects the city from north to south. It is a beautifully landscaped green spine along Spectrum Midway with tree-lined paths, lighted seating areas and stimulating outdoor art installations.




Also part of Phase 1 is the development of a creek side park, stretching further down from the Spectrum Linear Park to a creek, which features meandering paths with seating areas, a bridgeway, bike lanes and a viewing deck. When completed, this will be connected to the al fresco retail strip—the River Park at Festival Alabang.




Included in the pipeline of Phase 1 is the Central Park where a botanical garden, bike racks, a dome structure for events and an expansive lawn will be built. This is envisioned to be one of the major public event spaces within Filinvest City where people can either enjoy a picnic on the sprawling lawn or come together to celebrate an outdoor concert.




Filinvest City has also earmarked its megablocks—parcels of land that Filinvest is retaining that will add as the value enhancers in the city. Part of the masterplan is the maximization of Festival Alabang as the City Center with its major phase by phase expansion and the construction of a chapel near the River Park, the construction of a Convention Center which will be connected to the transport hub, and the Filinvest Axis Towers which will define the Filinvest City’s skyline.







Filinvest City’s design divides into districts, all bearing the four pillars of the City but each with its own distinct character: Northgate District which houses Northgate Cyberzone, the IT-BPO (information technology-business processing outsourcing) hub; the Civic Plaza that houses a variety of public services and institutional facilities like firestation and healthcare establishments; Westgate, the upscale retail and lifestyle center; the Woods, the more green campus-like and relaxed setting; the Palms District, the highest point and site of exclusive developments like Botanika Nature Residences; South Station, the transport hub; the City Center, where the Festival Alabang, the biggest regional mall, is located; and the Spectrum district as the economic core of Filinvest City and is home to prestigious businesses, as well as high net worth families and individuals. These areas are steadily being transformed into self-contained live-work-play districts.




Filinvest City takes a more prudent approach to city enhancements, proceeding at a steady and calculated pace. These developments bolster Filinvest City’s position as a world-class CBD, ultimately ensuring that land values in the area continue to rise and creating a community responsive to the needs of locators and the people living there today and tomorrow.

“One Dream, One Decade, One Family”… SM City Baliwag celebrates 10 years following the said theme with a series of meaningful activities that marked the milestones the mall have gone through the past 10 colorful years.

SM City Baliwag is SM Prime’s 33rd Mall opened in the country last December 12, 2008. With a complete line of stores as in all other SM Prime malls, the mall served as a one-stop destination for shopping, dining, entertainment, health and wellness for Bulakenyos at the first class urban municipality of Baliwag in Bulacan.


On 2015, SM City Baliwag went through a remarkable expansion with the introduction of four-storey extension building that highlighted health, beauty and wellness services, specialty restaurants as well as state-of-the-art Cyberzone and SM City Baliwag Central Terminal to provide customer convenience, efficiency, comfort, and security and safety while traveling.

Today, SM City Baliwag continue to bring the best of global brand concepts such as Miniso, Payless and Watsons. There’s also a lot of foodie fun at new concept stores like Dakasi, Snow Panda, Snack Attack and specialty restaurants like Wendy’s, Terawo, Persian Avenue, BonChon, Gerry's Grill, Kuya J, Kenny Rogers and Barrio Fiesta. Soon to open is Specialty shop Hoton Retail, a new haven of home and office essentials.

As such, the coming years will be a breakthrough as SM City Baliwag will mark another milestone with its forthcoming developments.



To kick off the 10th year Anniversary celebration, SM City Baliwag officials and employees gathered to a Thanksgiving mass presided by Rev. Fr. Ventura P. Galman. Followed by a meaningful exhibit formally opened through a ribbon cutting lead by Assistant Vice President- Mall Operations North Luzon Junias Eusebio with Regional Operations Manager Ana Datu, SM City Baliwag Mall Manager Arch. Andrew Cristobal, Assistant Mall Manager Rodora Tolentino and the rest of Mall Administration officials.




The exhibit featured special memorabilia that highlighted SM City Baliwag’s best memories for the past 10 years. From the photos of the mall opening, notable events and programs conducted, to the respected officials behind SM City Baliwag’s success down to the employees who contributed to the success of the company all throughout the years, the exhibit served as a quick journey to SM City Baliwag’s 10 fruitful years.

SM City Baliwag Assistant Mall Manager Rodora Tolentino shared “Seeing these pictures mean so much to everyone because it goes with all the memory and all the experiences that we encountered; all the challenges that we had, at the end of the day, we have succeeded.”

News articles and special features, recognitions, awards and even best kept documents shared by employees are also found in the exhibit. 

The country’s leading fast-food chain’s Jolly Kiddie Meal makes school recess and playtime breaks more refreshingly fun for kids with its Jolly Tumblers! The colorful and jolly-looking beverage containers are one of the convenient ways for young ones to bring their favorite drinks to school, the playground, and to their playmate’s house.




With the new Jolly Kiddie Meal Tumblers, young ones can enjoy their favorite fruit juices, iced tea, milk and chocolate drinks, or water anytime and anywhere with their most-loved Jollibee and Friends mascots.




With its built-in straw, kids can easily sip beverages from their rainbow-colored Jolly Tumblers. They can also play with Jollibee, Hetty, Popo, Twirlie, and Yum by turning the gear and seeing the Jollibee and Friends mascots rotate on top of their tumblers.




The Jolly Kiddie Meal Tumblers come with every purchase of a Yumburger (P80), Yumburger Meal with Drink (P100), Jolly Spaghetti (P95), Jolly Spaghetti Meal with Drink (P105), 1-piece Burger Steak (P95), 1-piece Burger Steak Meal with Drink (P105), 1-piece Chickenjoy with rice (P120), or 1-piece Chickenjoy Meal with Drink (P135), each with its own Jolly Joy Box.




Get all five collectible Jolly Tumblers from December 1 to 31 and make your kids’ recess more refreshingly fun!

• Scaled up partnerships with leading brands: To date, Shopee has widened its product assortment to around 800 leading brands and retail partners on Shopee Mall; including Maybelline, Platinum Karaoke, Vivo, The SM Store, Head and Shoulders, Asus, Robinsons Appliances, Bosch, and Xiaomi. This year, Shopee also partnered with top brands to hold major events; including a beauty workshop in partnership with Maybelline and Palmolive to celebrate female empowerment, and an exclusive fashion show with Avel x Matteo in line with the launch of Shopee Celebrity Club.

• Deepened engagement with users: Launched popular in-app games to drive user engagement, including the iconic Shopee Shake; and the latest in-app game, Shopee Quiz, which saw 400,000 participants throughout the entire Shopee 12.12 Big Christmas Sale.

• Extended reach across the Philippines: Worked closely with top Filipino celebrities including Anne Curtis, Shopee Philippines’ first brand ambassador; and Jose Mari Chan, Shopee’s Christmas ambassador; to reach out to even more users and fans across the country.