BI's Viado to Meet IBMATA's Ayley To Address PH Border Management Challenges

 

While the Philippines sit on Earth's equator, it's total coastline is 22,548 miles which means management of it would prove challenging for any entity. This week, the International Border Management and Technologies Association's CEO Sharon Ayley will be in talks with the PH Bureau of Immigration very own Commissioner Anthony Viado to take serious steps in addressing what the Philippines is facing with regards to trafficking, security and border practices. 

Ayley says "We hold summits in 5 regions, find information and solutions. Trafficking is an important issue, and there's a need to talk about it, need to communicate not just for professionals but the community. Parents need to talk to children as they are targeting vulnerable people. The best way to protect themselves is by being informed. IBMATA does a series of workshops for this particular subject and this isn't an isolated issue in the Philippines, it is a global problem. The output of that is that technology can help with the problem, to protect the vulnerable people." 

She adds "With advanced analytics and AI tools, it can help us identify unusual travel patterns. It also helps monitoring watch lists, but it's not 100 percent. People in the front lines are working at higher pressure and have to make critical decisions. We need to make sure they have the tools, technology to make sure they have the information and trust their instincts. We need to get them training, help and support that they need."

Here's our talk about PH border challenges, and a few things that the country is doing good at; 

She puts emphasis on the country having multiple ports of entry (we have 7160 islands++) which makes it extra hard to do. She suggests to have it done with standards on each border. With systems in place like biometrics, and e-gates (where I think BI is already doing). This puts legitimate travelers with lesser hindrance so border agents get to concentrate on bigger issues like high risk cases to combat trafficking and other matters. It is here and is happening, we are 2nd globally according to statistics. 

She also suggests data sharing with not just government offices, but other ports elsewhere in the world (with ample security) and see it real time. This also includes biometrics to lessen identification concerns. This will also stop exploitation, and hopefully will put a stop with the issues mentioned earlier. Education, access to information is certainly the first line of defense. They have plans to hold future events and might take on other organization to help host it.

 

Here's hoping that the things they'll be covering this week will get some questions answered and actionable items be accomplished. 

Smart X Dark League Studios Coop in ESports and GIGA Arena

PLDT and Smart Chairman/CEO Al Panlilio

The folks at Smart Communications Inc. just inked a partnership with ESports Event Management and Production giant Dark League Studios in its aim to further grow ESports in the country. This is certainly the time to hone them from grassroots, to pros and eventually have them represent the country in international tourneys. 

This means they'll be working together through the Smart GIGA Arena platform and have folks needed tournament experience in games like Mobile Legends, PubG, CODM, League of Legends Wild Rift and many more. This will grow Smart's capability to host more tournaments especially for the 2 million users it already amassed in previous years. 

Smart President and CEO Al Panlilio says "Working with Dark League Studios means we will provide the best gaming experience for our customers including those in ESports. There are a lot of platforms for Filipinos to excel, it's something we could be proud of especially if they win in the local scene and globally. We offer technologies, bringing hosting locally and connectivity like no other, this is Smart's way of further developing the infrastructure and platforms." 

Alfrancis Chua of DLS says "Smart and Dark League Studios  share the same vision in the ESports industry. We will share our expertise especially in the gaming arena, in hopes to help Filipino ESports athletes to reach their dreams!"

Kelra and Ch4knu from Smart Omega

AC Valdenor, CEO and Co-Founder of Dark League Studios

This is just the start, if you want to know more about it, visit Smart's social channels and their site smart.com.ph.

Gwy Saludes Author of University Series "The Rain in España"

A couple years ago, I was scrolling on fandom Twitter posts when I suddenly found one that seemed to be a story. I went on opened the consecutive Tweets and saw how people have been reading it, getting obsessed, but no one knew back then that it was a 12 year old girl who wrote these things. Now, we finally got to meet the person who started it all. She's Gwy Saludes, a very talented writer and artist under OC Records.

Clad in a preppy shirt, this young lady is now 22 and taking up Legal Management at Ateneo de Manila University. Gwy says "It's about campus life, starting from a Twitter series which I likened to big 4 universities. When "Along Espana" became popular, I wanted to do a longer version of it hence the University series. Even then, there were a lot of people who took interest in it and wanted to know about the culture being in these schools. "The Rain in España" was made when I was already in college. It was all about my experiences, my friends and people around me during that time. It was in Wattpad when I started these all, but really blew up when I wrote book 3. I have 6 books in this series which includes "The Rain in España", "Safe Skies, Archer", then "Chasing in the Wild!", "Avenues of the Diamond", "Golden Scenery of Tomorrow", and "Our Yesterday's Escape". 

When asked about having her work become a series on television, she says "I'm very happy but at the same time, there is pressure because I know, there's a lot of people who are waiting for it especially the ones who read the books. I know they have a lot of expectations, I need to surpass this one when it gets shown when it gets adapted for TV. I act as a consultant for the show, I'm also very involved with the casting. I need to read and check the script, they listen to me if I wanted things to be changed since this is very collaborative." 

"The adaptation though does not include everybody else's thought bubble. We are a team and we need to meet in the middle for any decision. From auditions, to script reading, we really saw Marco and Heaven fit the role. The plot is very close to the book, you need to look at the value of friendship, love, academics, balancing it. Even if you don't read the book, you'll get to understand the story. It's up to you if you get hooked in the books, I've went twice while they were making the film."

Here's the rest of our chat with her over lunch a few days ago:

You may now stream "The Rain in España" on Viva One or watch it every Sundays on TV5 at 4PM. She also said that the next book might be coming real soon so if you haven't subscribed yet, you better do! Download the app on Google Play today!