by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 13, 2021 | Food & Beverage
At a time when we are mostly apart, the bonds among family members and loved ones are more important than ever. And we can show them we care with thoughtful gifts when our presence just can’t be assured.
The coming Mooncake Festival on September 21 marks the end of the autumn harvest and it is traditionally a time to give thanks to the gods. As we adopt certain aspects of the Chinese culture, it has become symbolic and synonymous with expressing gratitude — something we can and should all do despite the challenges that have beset us since last year. Along with gratitude, the upcoming celebration also focuses on prayers and togetherness.
The Manila Hotel helps you plan for gifts for your loved ones to show them how much they mean to you. The special, hand-crafted mooncakes make the perfect gifts this season, and you can get them at a discounted rate when you order from now until August 20, 2021. The Early Bird promo gives buyers 30% off for purchases of Solo Boxes (PhP288 net) or Boxes of Four (PhP1,188 net) with no minimum order. They come in beautiful boxes that can be straight-away given out as gifts.
The hand-crafted mooncakes by the hotel’s premiere Chinese chef come in four flavors: the classic Single Yolk Ted Bean Paste, and Single Yolk Pure White Lotus Seed Paste; and the special flavors Taro Paste, and Red Dates Paste. The mooncakes can then be picked up after the promo period when the hotel is back in operations.
For more information or to pre-order, call 85270011 or 0998-9501912. The promo cannot be availed of in conjunction with other promos and government-mandated discounts like Senior Citizen and PWD discounts, among others.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 11, 2021 | Advocacy
Before the pandemic started, the Philippines was seen to have steady economic growth, becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia with an average GDP of 6.3% over the ten years until 2019.
However, the onset of the global health crisis brought the country’s economy into recession, breaking almost three decades of uninterrupted growth. Since the pandemic started, the country’s COVID-19 cases are now over 1.6 million as per the Department of Health (DOH) data.
Major metropolitan areas like Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao, posted the bulk of the COVID-19 cases, and various degrees of community quarantine are implemented to control the spread of the virus.
Helping alleviate challenges
Aligned with their mission and vision of understanding and meeting the real needs of people, Orient Euro Pharma Philippines (OEPP), a company creating innovative, affordable, and high-quality pharmaceutical products for cardiovascular, metabolic, and respiratory infections, initiated a program to help alleviate the challenges in the country.
Through their Project #Hope or Helping Our Patients Every day, OEP recently donated the much-needed Erdosteine to key government COVID-19 medical facilities.
Erdosteine is a mucolytic indicated for the treatment of acute and chronic bronchitis. It has been the subject of numerous clinical trials, showing to be effective as an add-on treatment to Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients for as long as 12 months.
Adding Erdosteine to the usual treatment therapy of hospitalized patients with COVID-related pneumonia and severe respiratory failure helps improve their overall health-related quality of life, says a study published in Multidisciplinary Respiratory Medicine 2020 journal.
Orient Euro Pharma visits VMMC
As part of their corporate responsibility program, OEPP’s #HOPE aims to support around 600 post-covid patients from hospitals, such as the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, the Philippine General Hospital Section of Pulmonology, and Quirino Memorial Medical Center.
Orient Euro Pharma visits PGH
“As we create more plans to help the people amid the global health crisis, we hope that this small donation initiative we did can have a huge impact on the patients’ lives. This initiative is also our way of giving back to the community and supporting the Filipino patients afflicted with this deadly disease,” said Sharon Ibay, Product Manager.
Founded in 1982, OEP is a full-scale, multinational pharmaceutical company. Their core competencies not only include pharmaceutical innovation, R&D, manufacturing, sales, and clinical trials but have significantly increased the company’s operational efficiency through vertical integration to provide customers with more complete services.
To know more about Orient Euro Pharma, check out their website at https://www.oepgroup.com/en-global.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 5, 2021 | Lifestyle
The kitchen has become the heart of the home. Therefore, consumers’ expectations for the modern kitchen are high. When it comes to the faucet: It needs to be a smart helper for daily tasks, be of high quality and aesthetically appealing and fit a limited budget. With the modernized update of the popular classic Eurosmart, GROHE, the global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, is offering a product matching every kitchen. With new design options, user-centric features, and hassle-free installation at an affordable price, GROHE Eurosmart enables installers and planners to offer a cost-efficient portfolio that fulfills customers’ needs.
GROHE Eurosmart Kitchen – a perfect match for every project
Grohe Eurosmart single lever
Whether an installer or planner is involved in a large-scale project or a private kitchen renovation, customers want to have a choice when it comes to kitchen products. With the relaunch of Eurosmart, GROHE equips installers and planners with a wide portfolio of variants and features in an entry price segment, thereby making the Eurosmart kitchen a perfect fit for budget-driven clients with high expectations of quality.
GROHE Eurosmart features U- and C-shaped low, medium, and high spouts and two finishes – a brilliant Chrome or matte Supersteel. Moreover, it is also available as a wall-mounted faucet.
Convenient performance features add another level of comfort: Pull-out and swiveling spout variants as well as different spray options provide full flexibility in the kitchen. Additionally, specific variants with sustainable features make the kitchen future-proof: Equipped with GROHE SilkMove ES, Eurosmart faucets, compared to regular faucets, help users save energy because cold water flows at the mid-level position. Furthermore, Eurosmart faucets with GROHE EcoJoy feature a mousseur that reduces the water flow without compromising on performance – perfect for saving valuable resources while cleaning the dishes.
GROHE Eurosmart offers further advantages in terms of safety and health: Thanks to its innovative zinc die casting process, Eurosmart offers customers safe water enjoyment. Not only is the surface of the faucet seamlessly closed so that impurities cannot enter, but there are also dedicated inner waterways to make sure that the water is lead- and nickel-free. There is no contact between these inner waterways and the body material. There is a barrier between hot water and the external surface, which helps prevent scalding on hot surfaces. This makes GROHE Eurosmart faucets extra safe, especially for households with children.
Easy installation thanks to GROHE Fast Fixation Plus
GROHE Fast Fixation Plus ensures hassle-free installation of the Eurosmart kitchen faucet in simple steps. The quick assembly system saves time – fitting time is cut by up to 70% – and thus enables installers to satisfy customers’ demands efficiently. For complete kitchen solutions, GROHE also provides a broad product variety of matching sinks, accessories, and waste systems – there is no easier way to provide customers with a smart kitchen update.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 4, 2021 | Lifestyle
The Summer 2021 GUESS Originals collection is returning with its newest essentials line coined the GUESS Originals Kit Program. The program continues to be refreshed seasonally with essential core fits and colors featuring premium fabrics and timeless designs for both men and women. The GUESS Originals capsule and Kit Program includes the brand division’s most contemporary denim styles and is available beginning July 16, 2021, in select GUESS retail stores and guess.com.ph.
GUESS Originals Collection
The Summer GUESS Originals Collection for both men and women takes inspiration from the California surf scene and features surf-inspired graphics from the archives. The relaxed California lifestyle inspires the pastel colors and softer washes in this delivery. The summer collection features timeless silhouettes with a fashion-forward approach.
The Men’s Collection
The men’s collection offers an array of tees, tanks, sweat shorts, slim and straight leg denim in light, dark, and black washes. Jogger pants, hoodies, and crew neck sweatshirts return in gray, black, and white tones and provide a laid-back look to your style. All denim pieces from the GUESS Originals seasonal offering also feature the iconic triangle logo on the back pocket.
The Women’s Collection
The women’s capsule incorporates a selection of tanks and crop tops in pale banana yellow and jet black. Knit sets in the form of button-ups, provide ultimate comfort to your wardrobe. A two-piece matching crop top and short set-in daisy prints are the ultimate go-to summer styles that are both lightweight and fashion-forward. The denim options are available in the form of cropped mom jeans, high rise, carpenter fit denim, and the debut of a retro-inspired wide-leg style.
GUESS Originals Kit Program
Each style featured in the GUESS Originals collection pairs back to the core styles offered in the Kit Program. Each silhouette included in the program emphasizes premium denim and heritage styles from the brand’s design archives. The Kit pants are an assortment of elevated light twill cargo pants, light chino khaki woven pants as well as light to dark stonewash denim. The Kit Program also includes chambray shirts and pocket tees for men. The women’s GO Kit Program offers a variety of ribbed tanks, bodysuits, mid-thigh shorts, as well as a light and dark stonewash denim jacket.
Pricing for the GUESS Originals collection + GUESS Originals Kit Program ranges from P1,698 to P3, 898 for tops, bottoms, dresses, hats, and denim.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jul 29, 2021 | Awards and Competitions
Two teams from the Philippines, GiveSight and World MAQI, are selected by the United States space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as global finalists for the all-virtual Earth Observation Dashboard Hackathon held last June 23-29. With 4,300+ participants from 132 countries and territories, the week-long event featured 233 projects to solve challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic using data from the Earth Observing (EO) Dashboard, an interactive data resource giving policymakers and the public a unique tool to probe the impacts of pandemic-related restrictions implemented around the world through the lens of Earth observation satellites.
GiveSight
The Geo-Intelligent Visualization of Earth Systems in Graphical and Historical Timelines (GiveSIGHT) seeks to improve the current EO dashboard by highlighting significant changes of the COVID-19 pandemic through visualizations and guided insight for prospective users. The proposed dashboard is intended to visualize economic proxies through night lights, economic activities, and a lock-down timeline in the Philippines.
The team is led by Gabriel Kristopher “Cricket” Soong, an electrical engineer and emerging technologies consultant, and members include software engineer Mark Barretto and Adamson University computer engineering students Angelica Mhay Salazar, Karl Adrian de Guzman, and Joshua Bungcaras.
Mobility over Air Quality Index
The Mobility over Air Quality Index (MAQI) is derived from the fusion of mobility statistics provided by Google with air pollutants like nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from Earth observations. While the COVID-19 pandemic initially led to decreased mobility and improved air quality, countries around the world have begun to lift their quarantine restrictions, triggering air pollution once again. Through MAQI areas and communities with improved mobility and air quality may be identified and recognized.
The team is composed of space data researchers and hackathon veterans. Data analyst Dominic Vincent “Doc” Ligot and data engineer Mark Neil Pascual led the conceptualization and prototype development, while Michael Lance M. Domagas, a computer science master’s student, reunited with his undergraduate thesis adviser, Arturo “Art” Caronongan III, an assistant professorial lecturer from De La Salle University, to do research and concept validation for MAQI.
Pinoy pride and ingenuity
In 2020, Art Caronongan’s team placed as a global finalist in the NASA Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge for Snail Space, an app giving a “safe space” by providing mental care and comfort during times of social isolation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, Doc’s team developed Advanced Early Dengue Prediction and Exploration Service (Project AEDES) which used Earth observations for data-driven dengue detection and nowcasting, bagging the global award for the best use of data in the prestigious NASA International Space Apps Challenge. Since then, the initiative has garnered more accolades: recognized in 2020 by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) for applying Earth observations towards the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and more recently last May 2021, vetted and approved by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as a Digital Public Good (DPG), putting the Philippines on the map as a DPG pathfinding pilot country.
A team from CirroLytix Research Services, a Philippine-based startup leading the charge in using big data for social impact founded by Doc, developed Global Impact Detection from Emitted Light, Onset of COVID-19, and Nitrogen Dioxide (GIDEON), a data portal that used satellite data and news feeds to measure economic and social impacts of lockdowns and pandemic interventions. In 2020, GIDEON also won the best use of data global award in the NASA Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge.
Cricket Soong and Mark Pascual are also from CirroLytix, and in late 2020 were Space Apps global nominees for Global Hazard Exposure and Resiliency Trends by Earth observation and Analysis Tools (Global HEARTBEAT), an interactive tool providing geo-located information on natural and human hazards surrounding communities within the Philippines and Canada.
Winners of both space hackathons are invited to visit NASA and partner agencies’ facilities but are responsible for covering their own costs. Although travel has been on hold since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, invitations shall resume once travel is deemed safe.
Michael Lance, a lead local organizer of Space Apps, appeals for support in recognizing these global winners and finalists, “Having both led and participated in these hackathons, I can attest to the world-class quality of our local innovators but sadly support for these innovators has been minimal. In the same way, we Filipinos love to cheer our athletes and beauty queens who represent our country, I hope we can find value in supporting our Philippine technologists, who also bring our country pride through their innovation.”
EO dashboard hackathon winners shall be announced in early August 2021.
About EO dashboard hackathon
From June 23- 29, coders, scientists, entrepreneurs, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists, technologists, and space enthusiasts from around the world joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for the all-virtual, global Earth Observation Dashboard Hackathon.
During this week-long event, participants will create virtual teams and solve one of 10 challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic using data from the Earth Observing Dashboard (the “EO Dashboard” for short). The EO Dashboard is an interactive data resource that gives the public and policymakers a unique tool to probe the short-term and long-term impacts of pandemic-related restrictions implemented around the world through the lens of Earth observation satellites.
During the hackathon, participants will have the opportunity to form virtual teams, interact with experts from NASA, ESA, and JAXA in our chat channels, and submit projects. The winning teams will have the opportunity to incorporate their solutions into the EO Dashboard – making a lasting impact on its long-term legacy!
The EO Dashboard Hackathon celebrates the one-year anniversary of the EO Dashboard’s launch and builds on the success of the Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge.
About CirroLytix
CirroLytix Research Services is a social impact data analytics company. Its mission is to help governments, non-profits, researchers, international and local organizations succeed at addressing collective social problems around the world by harnessing the full power of their data. CirroLytix strives to enable social impact professionals and entities to make a positive data-driven change in the lives they seek to uplift.
About Dominic Vincent “Doc” Ligot
Dominic Vincent “Doc” Ligot is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of CirroLytix Research Services. A former bank risk manager and technology executive turned data scientist and researcher, Ligot has made it his life’s mission to push data-driven innovation for the Philippines and apply data to social development areas such as public health, human rights, education, and fighting disinformation.
A co-founder of the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP), and co-developer and active faculty of the Master in Applied Business Analytics (MABA) program of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), Doc envisages the Philippines as a global talent pool for data science and artificial intelligence. According to him, “What we’ve always tried to do, ever since we started our work at CirroLytix, is show that social problems are data problems, and our local talent is up to the task in solving these data problems. Data science and AI are great equalizers, and the disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic is the glaring opportunity for the Philippines to flex its muscles in STEM and we should make a massive effort to push data education and literacy for all.”
Doc is also a key resource of Smarter Philippines through Analytics R&D Training and Adoption (Project SPARTA), a nationwide initiative to train 30,000 Filipinos in Data Science and Analytics funded by the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCIEERD), and implemented by the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP), and Coursebank with key partnerships in the national government and local government units.
About Michael Lance M. Domagas
Michael Lance Domagas
He is a freelance software developer, digital marketer, events host, and community leader, organizing events and activities supporting the technology and developer community in the Philippines. He is the lead organizer of NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge and a participant in the EO dashboard hackathon.
Aligned with their mission and vision of understanding and meeting the real needs of people, Orient Euro Pharma Philippines (OEPP), a company creating innovative, affordable, and high-quality pharmaceutical products for cardiovascular, metabolic, and respiratory infections, initiated a program to help alleviate the challenges in the country.
The Summer 2021 GUESS Originals collection is returning with its newest essentials line coined the GUESS Originals Kit Program. The program continues to be refreshed seasonally with essential core fits and colors featuring premium fabrics and timeless designs for both men and women. The GUESS Originals capsule and Kit Program includes the brand division’s most contemporary denim styles and is available beginning July 16, 2021, in select GUESS retail stores and guess.com.ph.
Two teams from the Philippines, GiveSight and World MAQI, are selected by the United States space agency 
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From June 23- 29, coders, scientists, entrepreneurs, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists, technologists, and space enthusiasts from around the world joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for the all-virtual, global 
Dominic Vincent “Doc” Ligot is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of CirroLytix Research Services. A former bank risk manager and technology executive turned data scientist and researcher, Ligot has made it his life’s mission to push data-driven innovation for the Philippines and apply data to social development areas such as public health, human rights, education, and fighting disinformation.
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