Leading dental clinic, Gan Advanced Osseointegration Center (GAOC), led by its President and CEO Dr. Steve Mark Gan recently feted loyal clients, partners, and employees to a special block screening of the blockbuster romantic drama ‘Kasal’, in support of stars Derek Ramsay, Bea Alonzo, and Cherie Gil, all of whom are proud members of the growing GAOC family. Photo shows Dr. Steve Mark Gan and Derek Ramsay.
Thomas Buberl, AXA CEO
AXA, the leading global insurer, reaffirms its commitment to sustainability as it joins the fight against climate change. Thomas Buberl, AXA CEO, announced several initiatives and decisions that are to be set in motion in the areas of investments, divestments, and insurance.
“As a global insurer and investor, we know that we have a key role to play and are proud to have taken these decisions and to have inspired others,” said Buberl. “In the spirit of the Paris Agreement, we want to accelerate our commitment and confirm our leadership in the fight against global warming.”
In the investments front, AXA aims to reach Euro 12 billion in green investments by 2020, which is four times the 2015 achieved target of Euro 3 billion. This accelerated target is twice as high as the recommendation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is to invest 1% of assets into green and clean technology by 2020.
In the area of Divestments, AXA decided two years ago to divest Euro 500 million from the coal industry, targeting companies, which derive over 50% of their revenues from coal. Today, AXA has decided to increase its divestment to a record fivefold or Euro 2.4 billion, this time targeting companies that derive more than 30% of their revenues from coal, have a coal-based energy mix that exceeds 30%, actively build new coal plants, or produce more than 20 million tons of coal per year.
Similarly, AXA also announced the divestment of over Euro 700 billion from the main oil sand producers and associated pipelines, signaling the discontinuation of investments in these businesses.
In the field of Insurance, AXA said that as a group, it would no longer be insuring new coal construction projects as well as main oil sands and associated pipelines.
AXA has also partnered recently with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in spearheading an innovative USD 500 million fund to support climate related infrastructure projects in emerging countries.
AXA is currently the second largest life insurance company in the Philippines, based on Total Premium Income. Since 1999, AXA has focused on life insurance and providing solutions for savings and investments, health, education, income protection, and retirement. It pioneered bancassurance operations in the Philippines, which is the distribution of insurance products through banks.
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Government employees are relatively happy and fulfilled at their jobs, a new study by JobStreet Philippines has found. This runs contrary to the popular belief that government workers are unhappy, as well as the unfounded stigma that the government isn’t beneficial to work for.
In the study, 1,008 government employees – 257 government employees and 751 from JobStreet’s database – were asked to rate their happiness in various criteria related to work environment, such as management/leadership team, job security, and work-life balance. They would rate their happiness in each category on a scale of 1-7, with 7 being the highest. Government employees recorded an average of 4.85 points on this scale. Indeed, in 2017, government emerged as one of the top 3 happiest sectors, alongside hotel/hospitality and food and beverage/restaurant workers.
The biggest drivers of government employees’ happiness were reputation of government agency, relationship with immediate boss, and the mission, vision, and values of their agency. Meanwhile, pain points included lack of travel opportunities, lack of performance bonuses, and low salary.
Job happiness is an important element of work performance and employee health – happier employees are 12% more productive, physically and mentally healthier, and stay with their jobs longer.
The purpose of the study was to inform JobStreet’s government partners what makes jobs in the government attractive to those who work in the private sector, determine the factors that contribute to job happiness in the government, and help partners form strategies to maintain current employees and secure new ones.
“Through the data gathered from this study, we aim to encourage more Filipinos to look past the stigma and prejudice and be more open to working for the government. After all, it does have its wonderful perks,” said Christine Sevilla, JobStreet Philippines’ Senior Manager for Government.
JobStreet also found that 80% of candidates want to work in the government, especially due to the benefits of job security, retirement plans, and career growth, yet only 37% are actually eligible for government work.
This research comes hot on the heels of the recent Civil Service Examinations, held last March. It’s up to JobStreet’s government partners to more efficiently and adequately disseminate information about eligibility for civil service, including the different levels of eligibility associated with the CSE-PPT exam. Another exam is coming up in August, and candidates should be well-informed about what to expect, and how to achieve their desired positions.
“With these results, we recommend that government human resources divisions conduct their own happiness surveys from time to time to help identify areas of improvement for the job satisfaction of their employees, as well as bolster efforts to improve areas where happiness is already at a high level.” said JobStreet Philippines General Manager Philip Gioca.
All dogs go to heaven, that is what they say. I certainly hope it is true because the thought of our little ones not being in heaven right now would break my heart.
But I guess that correct term is “break my heart even more”. On May 30, 3 days after birth, Little Mary passed away. She waited for me to get home, allowed me to give her vitamins and a little milk, cuddled in my hand and a few minutes later, breathed her last breath.
I cried buckets. My chest hurt so much it physically felt like my heart was breaking in two. Tears rolled down my cheeks and wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t help but think that there must have been something I missed, something I failed to do that cause her to die.
I was in denial. I kept hoping that there was actually a way to revive her. I even put her in a towel and held her against my chest as I brought her to the vet all the while massaging her chest, hoping to stimulate a pulse. But when I got there Doc Allan took her from me, checked her for himself. He tried to massage her chest, check for a heartbeat, etc. He then looked at me with a sad face and said there was nothing we could do.
You see, he had seen the pups at 8am that same morning and noticed how much smaller and thinner Mary was than the other pups and he told us that we had to forcefeed about 1 ml. of milk 30 minutes to support her. It was all for naught. We tried our best but she just wasn’t strong enough.
After Mary passed away there was one more tiny one left and we called her Ylli. She was a little stronger than Mary and because of what happened with Mary we were extra vigilant with Ylli. We took turns feeding and cuddling her. We made sure she had first dibs on Princess’ milk before letting her sibs anywhere near, just to be sure she does not starve.
At night when it gets cold she slept with me and yesterday morning she opened her eyes for the first time and (I hope) was able to see me. I was so happy! I thought, yes! This one will make it! In my mind I was even thinking “this pup we will keep”. An hour or two later her sibs also opened their eyes.
Ylli grew a little bit and was no longer skin and bones but she was still only 1/3 the size of her sibs. Doc warned me that it was possible that like the first one, she could also have a weak heart and that if she survived she would never be as strong as her siblings.
Now I am left with 3, three precious darlings – more precious to me now than they were before. These three are strong and healthy but I still can’t help but worry.
And though I truly believe that all dogs go to heaven I don’t want them to go there too soon.
Lord, allow them to live long, happy, and healthy lives here on earth. Give them the opportunity to be loved not just by me but also by the families that will adopt them.
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