GOLDEN HAVEN Holds Golden Stars Annual Awards 2024

Folks from Golden Haven just recently held the annual Golden Stars Annual Awards for 2024 to recognize top sales performers for the past year. This is their way of making sure they know how valued they are in building the company's success. Golden Haven has been steadily growing these past few years and thanks to their dedication, they were able to attain this status in memorial care, something that sets them apart from others according to Estrellita Tan the COO of Golden Haven Memorial Parks in the Philippines. 

She dubs this as a testament of their hard work and passion and attributes it to Golden Haven's success. They held ceremonies over at Dusit Thani Lubi Plantation in Davao for the Visayas and Mindanao agents while the other was held in scenic Camp Netanya in Mabini, Batangas. They also did networking sessions and shared best practices so they could learn from each other, in hopes to further their careers too in the long run.

Awards were given to Top Sales Directors, Sales Managers, Sales Agents. Some of them are OFW's, part timers, home makers who chose to do this on the side and help in this industry.

Congratulations to all the winners, I'm sure you all deserve it!

5th PROPAK PHILIPPINES Slated February at the World Trade Center

Another day, another year for PROPAK PHILIPPINES. This is the largest processing, packaging and trade event in the country. They are celebrating their 5th year this 2025 and is slated to run on February 12 to 14 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City. 

Their secretariat expects over 250 exhibitors not only from the Philippines but also other countries. Foot traffic this time is around 12,000 composed of trade visitors, buyers, and business owners especially in the MSME sectors. This is the place to see the latest developments in packaging, designs and innovation. They also are gearing towards sustainability, and more tech that follows food safety standards.

Ms. Apple from Informa Markets says "We have been so grateful for DTI's support, and for their unending help on ProPak, we will make sure all tech will be available on the show store not just locally but also for international clientele. We have a platform for educating which will also coincide with the event."

Commissioner Joseph Jocson of Asian Packaging Federation says "In the past, we often go to Thailand for Propak and now it's here on their 5th, and we support the regional ProPak events in other ASEAN countries. This is the platform for knowledge sharing, and we continue to promote it with sustainability. By actively engaging with this, we contribute to the growth, knowledge and business development which will be beneficial for the industry. MSME's are an integral part of our economy and we can showcase the world of what we have here. New trends are coming out, and it is very crucial, and we have to embrace different solutions in the region. We have to localize packaging design, adapt, foster innovation and align global standards since we export them to other countries. Digitalization is a big help especially for those who couldn't do big inventories."

Ms. Grace from DTI says "For our MSME's, we have different activities and we are excited not just for them but our partner agencies, so they could see and provide information for their respective regions. They purchase machines, ask what they will do next and monitor, it doesn't end at just attending but know what interventions we need to do for stakeholders. They just need to go to the facility and pay for the packaging through these shared facilities. We also are checking how much job they generate. We partner with PROPAK and Informa Markets Philippines to bring more MSME's to help them when they are scaling. We are your partners for growth."

Lucky Lopez from Design Center of the Philippines says "We often present our packaging solutions including agriculturally sourced like Piñaper (made with Pineapple leaves) and increase the use of it in packaging. We need industrial grade manufacturing because it will lessen the price. It's one of the things we want to do to make it sustainable and replace plastic since we have so much of that. We also do trend forecasting seminars in packaging to develop not just your product but your packaging. We have MSME's and businesses approach us, and enable companies for market penetration to other countries."

Dr. Angel from the DOST says "We recognize the fast evolution of packaging so we are upgrading our facility and establish testing and R&D for materials and research ways to make it sustainable. In our division, we simulate it and do green packaging efforts to be at par with other partners and scientists in the packaging technology. For every project we do, we include local manufactures and know the source of the materials and check alternatives. We also collaborate with international organizations to make sure we follow industry standards."

The press conference was attended by Ms. Grace Baluyan of ROG DTI, Commissioner Joseph Jocson of Asian Packaging Federation, Dr. Angel Basbasan Jr. of the ITDI DOST, Mr. Lucky Lopez of the Design Center of the Philippines, and Ms. Apple Limbo - Salisa of Informa Markets - Philippines.

Companies such as Wolf, Middleby, Multivac, Heat and Control plus participants from Japan, Germany, China, Singapore, Taiwan and Italy will be bringing their top tier packaging and processing tech so lots of people could learn about it and what we could benefit from the IPACK IMA Italy and Informa Markets partnership. They will also showcase the recent winners of Packaging Innovation and Design Awards and the Asia Star Packaging Awards at the venue courtesy of the Australasian Institute of Packaging and the Asian Packing Federation. 

They are heavily supported by government sectors such as the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Science and Technology and organizations such as the Philippine Association of Food Technologists, Philippine Printing Technical Foundation, the Production and Operations Management Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association among others.

There will be over 50 conference sessions with over 60 speakers in the lineup for this event. You may pre register via https://bit.ly/PKP25prereg now to get information about this big event.

Elmer Lapeña Named Executive Managing Director of SAGA

Events and production company SAGA just recently announced the designation of Executive Managing Director to Elmer Lapeña. Aside from being a director and producer of different shows, he has been in the company for 20+ years taking on lead posts in different capacities, it is now his time.

This coincides with the announcement of the renaming of SAGA from its previous Saga Events Incorporated to now being a full fledged experiential company. For those who don't know, I've watched several Philippine Fashion Week Shows and International brand launches that have been handled and executed by their group. SAGA was founded by Robby Carmona in 1995 and this expansion means they'll be taking on not just production of shows and events but physical and virtual ones, experiential marketing, digital solutions and production of content following business plans and branding ideas accordingly.

Currently, they have clients including Shell, Xiaomi, Century Tuna, Under Armour, Spotify and a whole lot more availing their services. This includes online, hybrid or physical events, website and digital campaigns for them just to name a few. Albeit challenging these days, Lapeña says "Times have been challenging for us in the industry and the recent easement of restrictions bring us hope, to hopefully brighter days for SAGA and our clients. We are bigger, better, happy about taking on this leadership role. Cheers to all of us in the industry!"

Congratulations and hope to see you in your upcoming shows!

AutoDeal Releases 13th Insights Report

Getting a car these days are doubly hard and with the war happening in Ukraine, oil prices have skyrocketed in the past few weeks. This shouldn't be the case especially when purchasing a car, wether for business or family use. It should be seamless, and be adept to conditions like this pandemic - as everything should be personalized, so customers get what they need when they need it most.

Top online automotive market place AutoDeal has been in the business since 2014 and has been the go to place to buy, compare cars, and get offers on the latest models on the web. Daniel Scott, AutoDeal CEO and Co-Founder says "As car sales go through digital channels, AutoDeal is getting tons of inquiries per day gearing more sales for our partners even during these times. AutoDeal transactions amount to Php 28 Billion last 2021 from 24,835 transactions, and that's amazing."

They also released consumer reports and insights on the industry from the platform which gives valuable data that can helo it grow on a business and market standpoint. They've been doing it every year and has been analyzed by experts. The 13th edition includes performance metrics as the industry recovers from the troubles of the pandemic. This includes leads that specify location, brand, buying trends which would be helpful for car companies and consumers. This also includes the motorcycle market which has become a pretty significant market. You may visit bit.ly/2021ADInsights and download AutoDeal Insights Volume 8 for it. AutoDeal is currently partnered with 16 car/motorcycle brands and currently holds top spot as far as market sales volume is concerned in the country. You may visit autodeal.com.ph for your car and bike needs and visit their social channels for more information.

PH Contact Center Industry Lauded by Government

A tough and brazen partner in economic recovery, the local contact center industry was praised by the Philippine government for its efforts in making sure business is moving and for being resilient during the pandemic.

The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry says "We have seen your work despite the huge challenges of COVID-19, the third quarter of this year shows IT-BPM's recovery. It had posted moderate growth and is steadily rising in the last few months." This was mentioned during the Contact Islands '21 session on "Government and Private Partnership: Road to Recovery".

IATF Karlo Nograles also attests on how the IT-BPM industry has continued to lead in employment generation even on the countryside. He also mentions how Filipino IT-BPM workers have remained competitive and remain to be a crucial part of how we could transition to the new normal. CCAP Chair Benedict Hernandez reiterated how it is crucial for IT-BPM firms to have backing from the government as the industry was classified to be essential during these times and keep support intact for clients and keep their employees employed too. CCAP President Jojo Uligan on the other hand thanks the government for listening to the sector so they could remain in operation and complete procedures on protocols in work from home arrangements, so it would stay safe during these times. Lopez also said that the contact center and IT BPM industry continue to implement programs and reforms to continue the drive towards economic recovery. He's also keen this would create more opportunities and satisfy patrons even if needs are changing locally and internationally.

Cut! Print. Podcast Network Starts POD CON 2021

Just got off the POD CON 2021 this morning and I'm really excited about this. I've been listening to a few throughout the years and I've seen some of them in this joint. Cut! Print. PodCast Network is the brain child of Cut! Print. Productions who are the same people behind the acclaimed short film NAKAW.

Jett Pangan hosted the show and according to Patsy Ferrer the PodMother "We bring in creators and independent talents so we can help them produce. I've talked to Jett Pangan initially and after that, we got several independent podcasters to help them produce content and create their original shows. Now we have 22 of them, all went through our incubation program and some of them will be in the panel later. It's been a good year even under the pandemic, but podcasts now have more reach because people started listening more during the period. We just concluded our event last month and released new shows from our incubator programs. We help them organize their content and put them on trainings, more like a school for podcasters. We have POP Emergency which is a pop culture show, Earpods Pro talks about mental health, Covert Operations which is about slight of hand magic, Chubby Cheeka is about body positivity and women, Kumaretalk Podcast is about current events and topics that matter, Sa San Isidro is about radio drama, Geeks and Gamers Getting By is about how gaming can help you in your daily lives, The Undertaker is about a paranormal raido drama, Now Open is about sex ed and discourse on sexuality, Blogtalk Hollywood is about Hollywood news, Ang Atty Co is about legal matters done in layman terms, Thirsty and Thirty talks about smarter love, The Design Pod is about visual and graphic design and a whole lot more in store for you soon."

Bonnie Pequeña of The Round Table says "Podcasting has not been maximized yet in the Philippines but there's an exciting future for it. Now people are consuming audio content, it's progressing. I've been doing speaking engagements now with schools to talk about young relationships."

Lucena based Jeck Jaca who does Jeck Does Tech "I started this podcast a long time ago, and didn't have the courage to post it. I was initially making it for myself, it gathered listeners so I went really serious about it. I was happy to have been able to do talks in Cultural Center of the Philippines, it brings comfort to have been able to do that and it gave me confidence doing things later on. We have a lot of things in the pipeline, please watch out for that, you'll love this thing we're cooking."

Juan Timay of Nays Juan Sessions says "Based in Mindanao, I first started doing this because I didn't love editing vlogs. Podcasting had a lot of similarities so I just made it as an audio journal which was for personal consumption. I used Binisaya because I could express more, not just in the region, but elsewhere in the world. I made use of that because, why not? Cut! Print. Podcast Network taught me editing and recording, a whole lot about podcasting. I'm currently in the network, and their support is nothing but phenomenal, I felt it is the podcast network for me and for everyone. Soon, we're going to have negosyo sessions, we'll also have collaboration with really nice stories to share."

Shawntel Nieto of Sustainarumble says "I'm excited to be here. I'm a sustainability advocate, and we met last year while I was talking about my movement. We started to formulate the idea of having a podcast that discusses solutions for sustainability for the ordinary joe. We believe podcasting is slowly growing, a lot of people can benefit, be knowlegeable, easy to comprehend our efforts and have a cool place to talk about this topic. Because of this, we received The Diana Award (yes the Princess Diana!). It's quite an achievement more so to be the first Filipina to have it. I've been active in sustainable development in communities, provide food in our cities, and do efforts for our frontliners, partner with restaurants and businesses here in Cainta and nearby towns as well. It's about making it a conversation, about making it not data heavy, explain it casually so people in the community feel they're part of it and easily understand things. We also ask experts we invite, so anyone who listens to it can learn from Sustainarumble."

As a Dungeons and Dragongs based podcast it's not that easy to make it into a show. Jethro Parolan and Dan Areola of You Have Six Seconds says "I've had the pleasure to do this initially on our own and the content was more role playing, and when creating conecpts, it had to be structured. We will try to have our content be right with the holidays of the year, soon, we're going to release this like one shots, a non canonical story. So you'll have horror, more holiday inspired story lines."

Taryn Navarro and Angela Tiotangco-Alvarez of Career Mo 'Te "It's an advocacy for women empowerment, with a multimedia platform posting about it on social media. Now we're producing our own show thanks to Cut! Print. Podcast Network. We're just starting and we can't wait to have more episodes released soon on our podcasts."

Issa Litton hosted the second part of the press conference. She introduced an ASMR podcaster Joshua Von Drake, GMA Network's voice George Boone, Marites for all season and Tiktok Superstar Justine Luzares, actor and The Dawn frontman Jett Pangan, and top voice actor Inka Magnaye. They are part of the talent roster of Cut! Print. Podcast Network.

Patsy says "We manage talents too. It's a lot different on podcasters, talents are the ones we manage. Inka already got a Hollywood stint, we want to see them move forward.

Joshua Von Drake plays the role of the perfect virtual "boyfriend on demand" and will have a collaboration with Inka Magnaye in a future show. They will also be doing ASMR which I'd love to see in a future episode. In the show, Joshua says "It is me, just a little bit unfiltered." George Boone is also doing a Masterclass on his podcast, the legendary voice of GMA is willing to share his expertise in voice acting and the different facets of it. Trending with a total of 10 accents is Justine Luzares and he's glad to have been able to work with Cut! Print. and manage his new found niche. Jett Pangan on the other hand touched on efforts they've been doing with Congress to help the music and creative industry, saying "Governments change but the creative people will stay the same. We hope you check out CreativeIndustriesPH for that cause."

Inka Magnaye has been with the podcast network for over a year. She says "It was an interesting experience to be able to work in this industry and I felt nervous judging there, they work so fast in Eat Bulaga. I needed to step up and observe, learn how to banter and I love every bit of it. The Hollywood film "Surprise!" happened when the producer messaged me on Instagram. Matt Marlowe asked if they wanted me to be part of it and it was an interesting thing that TikTok talents were part of it. We were like their dream cast, they were happy about it because they had to shoot from different countries. South Africa, LA, Manila, we were checking with each others schedules and every time we shot we were like awake in the wee hours of the morning. It makes the world so much smaller. It was shot entirely on zoom. The film is around 10 minutes, I'm so happy about that!"

 

I asked Inka and Joshua about creeps who message them and Inka says "I get a lot of creeps all the time, how do I handle it? I fight them, when they're really bad it feels more like swatting a fly, an aggressive response." while Joshua on the other hand says "I don't really get a lot but I do get some in my socials and email. I respond to them professionally."

Podcasts still have a long way to grow in the country but these people are flourishing. Faster internet, access to it will become easier in the coming years and it's such a nice moment to be in the first POD CON 2021, hearing from these success stories, I'm optimistic that the future for it is bright! Thanks to Cut! Print. Podcast Network for inviting us on their first salvo. Hope there will be more of this soon, if not next year!

How I wish I could start my own podcast no?

Taiwan Excellence’s “Stay-At-Home Economy” Starts Fight Versus Pandemic and Boredom

COVID-19 has affected tons of people, closed businesses and wreaked havoc in the economy. People stayed at home for the most, and got bored in the process. They started doing things left and right, and let their creative genius take the wheel.

Taiwan sets a good example of how to successfully contain the virus. Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) Deputy Director General Guann-Jyh Lee attributes these with the cooperation of all citizens and industries plus the measures they have taken while they stay-at-home. They want to share how they did it. For better health, they encouraged home workouts, to stay warm after sweating and be hydrated by water to fend off disease.

Taiwan Excellence selected three award-winning companies namely Strength Master, Victory and the AROFLY for the latest home exercise trends. Things that could better cardiopulmonary conditions, muscle strength, and overall health. Strength Master’s cycle boxer has interactive boxing games that can simultaneously train brain response. It also imoroves cardiopulmonary function. This makes it fun to do boxing! Muscle strength training also improves physique and immunity. Victory, got Olympics Weightlifting silver medalist Ying-Chi Lu to do weight training on Victory’s shock-absorbing mats. It reduces vibration and noise while lifting barbells. It just makes training at home an enjoyable feat. AROFLY used smart technology to move cycling into homes. Now with stats, everyone can workout smart at home and burn fat effectively.

This also raised sales of home and fitness products by 20 percent, helping tons of businesses survive during the pandemic. Taiwan Excellence has chosen the best of the best Taiwanese companies putting their seal on it. There are tons more of them who would likely celebrate Taiwan's zero new coronavirus cases, I envy them! Make sure to look for the seal when you buy products, Taiwan Excellence takes good steps in making your home smart and disease free, you're doing your share to fight against the disease and boredom.

Now I want my own bike from Taiwan :(

MODÈLE Philippines Go-See Schedule

I hope my model friends get to see this!

PMAP or Professional Models Association of the Philippines is such a big deal in the industry that almost every model I know wants to be in it. True to form, they've launched some of the most illustrious careers, whether domestic or international, plus the current Ms. Universe Philippines 2016. So to say, they're the best there is in the industry and now they're looking for new models of influence in a search called "MODÈLE PHILIPPINES". 

The GO-SEE will be held this Saturday, May 7th at the F1 Hotel in BGC. Female models are required to wear little black dresses, minimal makeup whilst the men are required to wear black muscle shirts and jeans. You will also be required to wear swimwear for the go-see. If you see this apt for you, go ahead and contact them through 09178304300. I'll also be there to cover so you better be ready!

For more information about their search:

PMAP

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Visit their official website

http://www.pmap.net.ph/