by Ferry Bayu | Oct 16, 2026 | Business
MANILA, Philippines — BRAND CON 2026 has named BNI Taguig Region as its Co-Presenter, bringing together a network of more than 600 member companies across 10 chapters and a shared mission to help Filipino businesses grow through stronger brands. The partnership connects BNI’s strength in business relationships and referrals with BRAND CON’s advocacy for strategic brand building, helping entrepreneurs and SMEs move beyond referrals to become recognizable, trusted, and preferred by customers. Beyond the five-day congress, the collaboration envisions year-round learning, mentoring, and knowledge-sharing opportunities that make brand-building expertise more accessible to business owners. Carrying the theme “Empowering Brand Builders,” BRAND CON 2026 runs November 24–28 at Newport World Resorts in Pasay City, featuring internationally recognized branding strategist Laura Ries, the RIES Positioning Masterclass, and the Brand Festival. Learn more at www.brand-con.com.
Strategic partnership combines BNI’s business referral network with BRAND CON’s mission to empower Filipino SMEs through stronger brand-building capabilities.
BRAND CON 2026 has officially welcomed BNI Taguig Region as a Co-Presenter of this year’s five-day brand-building congress, strengthening its mission to empower Filipino entrepreneurs and SMEs through greater access to brand-building education, mentorship, and professional networks.
The partnership was formalized during BNI Taguig Region’s Monthly Leadership Team Round Table Meeting, attended by the presidents and leadership teams of all 10 chapters in the region.
With more than 600 member companies, BNI Taguig Region brings an established community of entrepreneurs and business leaders to BRAND CON’s growing advocacy of advancing brand-building excellence in the Philippines.
Helping Businesses Grow Beyond Referrals
At the heart of the partnership is a shared belief that sustainable business growth requires both strong professional relationships and strong brands.
While BNI helps businesses expand through trusted relationships and referrals, BRAND CON advocates for the strategic discipline of building brands that customers recognize, trust, prefer, and ultimately choose.
“BNI has built an extraordinary community that helps businesses grow through relationships and referrals. At BRAND CON, we believe that strong brands enable businesses to grow beyond referrals by becoming the preferred choice of customers,” said Bingo Soriano, Founder of BRAND CON.
“This partnership brings these two powerful drivers of business growth together. Our shared goal is to help Filipino entrepreneurs build not just bigger businesses, but stronger and more sustainable brands,” Soriano added.
The collaboration recognizes that even businesses with excellent products, services, and referral networks face an increasingly competitive marketplace. Building a strong brand requires clarity of positioning, meaningful differentiation, and consistent delivery of a compelling value proposition.
These are among the critical capabilities that BRAND CON seeks to develop among Filipino entrepreneurs, business owners, marketing professionals, and future brand leaders.
A Partnership That Goes Beyond the Congress
The partnership was made possible through the leadership of BNI Taguig Region Executive Director Judee Quiazon, together with Cris Mananquil, Chief Executive Producer of Backstage Manila, BRAND CON’s official event partner and also a proud member of BNI Taguig Region.
Under Quiazon’s leadership, the region’s 10 chapters provide a strong platform for extending BRAND CON’s advocacy to an active community of entrepreneurs and SMEs.
“Our mission at BNI is to help our members build successful businesses through meaningful relationships. This partnership with BRAND CON gives our members another valuable opportunity to strengthen their businesses by learning how to build brands that are more differentiated, relevant, and competitive,” said Quiazon. More importantly, both organizations envision a collaboration that extends beyond participation in the annual BRAND CON congress.
The partnership opens opportunities for year-round brand-building education, practical learning sessions, mentoring, and knowledge-sharing initiatives that could help BNI Taguig members develop stronger brands and more competitive businesses.
The long-term vision is to make brand-building knowledge and strategic frameworks more accessible to entrepreneurs who may not otherwise have the resources to engage professional brand consultants.
Empowering Brand Builders at BRAND CON 2026
Carrying the theme “Empowering Brand Builders,” BRAND CON 2026 will take place on November 24–28, 2026, at Newport World Resorts in Pasay City.
The five-day event will bring together entrepreneurs, SME owners, corporate marketing professionals, business leaders, students, and the next generation of brand builders.
Among its major highlights is the RIES Positioning Masterclass led by internationally recognized branding strategist Laura Ries, alongside sessions featuring Filipino entrepreneurs, business leaders, and marketing practitioners sharing real-world brand-building experiences.
The event will also feature the Brand Festival, providing additional opportunities for learning, networking, and engagement among the country’s brand-building community.
For BRAND CON, the partnership with BNI Taguig Region represents another step toward its broader ambition of making brand-building excellence more accessible to Filipino businesses.
As Soriano emphasized, “Our mission is not simply to organize an annual conference. It is to help build a community of Filipino brand builders who understand that a strong brand is one of the most valuable long-term assets any business can create.”
For event details, program updates, and registration, visit www.brand-con.com.
Sealing the Co-Presenter partnership between BRAND CON 2026 and BNI Taguig Region are seated (from left) Bingo Soriano, BRAND CON Founder; Judee Quiazon, Executive Director of BNI Taguig Region; and Cris Mananquil, Chief Executive Producer of Backstage Manila, together with the presidents and leadership teams of the BNI Taguig region.
This press release has also been published on VRITIMES.
by Ferry Bayu | Oct 16, 2026 | Business
Cebuana Lhuillier has long recognized that its people drive its mission of financial inclusion every day. To further strengthen this culture of recognition, the company introduced the ORO Regional Awards 2026, its first regional recognition platform covering all nine regions and bringing the Gold Standard of Excellence closer to the Ka-Cebuanas who embody it.
Jean Henri Lhuillier, President and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier, highlighted the importance of recognizing employees across the organization: “ORO marks an important step in our longstanding recognition tradition, bringing recognition closer to our nine regions and honoring the Ka-Cebuanas whose dedication and hard work contribute to our success every day.”
Named after the Spanish word for gold, ORO represents excellence built over time through dedication, hard work, perseverance, loyalty, and meaningful contributions. The program brings recognition closer to Ka-Cebuanas across all nine regions, celebrating the people whose efforts drive the company’s performance and make a difference in the communities they serve.
The pilot run of ORO Regional Awards 2026 covers all nine regions, recognizing Ka-Cebuanas across categories ranging from 10- and 15-year service milestones to the Regional Manager (RM) Cup. The RM Cup underscores the Regional Manager’s role not just as a leader, but as a mentor who inspires excellence, nurtures talent, and recognizes the people who bring out the best in their teams.
It celebrates leadership that sees potential, encourages growth, and brings out the best in people. Other categories include special performance awards, individual achievements, branch and area distinctions, customer experience, community impact, and overall regional performance.
Jose Miguel Jimenez, Senior Vice President and Branch Sales Group Head, emphasized the importance of recognizing employees where the company’s mission is carried out every day: “ORO brings recognition closer to where our mission comes to life every day—in our branches and the communities we serve. It is here that our people make a direct impact, making it important to celebrate their contributions where they happen.”
Beginning in 2027, ORO will also serve as the pathway to the Brillo Awards, Cebuana Lhuillier’s national stage for excellence established in 2009. This gives outstanding regional performers the opportunity to advance to the national level, making regional achievements an important part of the company’s broader recognition program.
Through ORO, Cebuana Lhuillier continues to strengthen its culture of recognition and commitment to employee engagement. By celebrating achievements across its nine regions, the company affirms that the Gold Standard of Excellence is built through the people whose dedication, consistent performance, and meaningful contributions drive its success and advance its mission of financial inclusion.
by Ferry Bayu | Oct 14, 2026 | Business
Cebuana Lhuillier, through its parent company PJ Lhuillier, Inc., has been named one of only 10 global finalists for the Award for Diversity and Inclusion at the Investors in People Awards 2026, making it the only Philippine organization recognized in the category. The Investors in People Awards recognize achievements in people practices, making the distinction a significant international recognition of Cebuana Lhuillier’s four-year journey toward building a more inclusive workplace.
“An organization can only truly serve a community with different backgrounds when it first understands and values the individuality within its own people. Our journey toward greater inclusion is about creating an environment where every Ka-Cebuana can bring their experiences, talents, and perspectives to the table and know that they have a meaningful role to play,” said Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier.
At the heart of that achievement is Cebuana Lhuillier’s belief that inclusion must begin from within. With more than 12,700 Ka-Cebuanas serving approximately 30 million customers nationwide, the company has made creating a workplace where people feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute an integral part of its culture and employee experience.
Cebuana Lhuillier’s inclusion journey has evolved through initiatives that progressively created more opportunities for its people to listen, understand one another, share their experiences, and see the value of their individual contributions. Intertwined opened conversations around diversity and mutual respect, while iBelong gave employees a platform to share their stories and perspectives. Last year, Amazing Cebuana brought those conversations closer to the people by celebrating the different experiences and contributions of Ka-Cebuanas, while this year, Tatak Cebuana, Proud Ka-Cebuana: Work That Impacts Lives builds on that foundation by connecting employees’ individual contributions to the work they do and the lives they impact. Together, these milestones have helped move inclusion from a conversation into an increasingly embedded part of Cebuana Lhuillier’s culture.
Employee participation has helped strengthen this culture, with more than 250 Tatak Cebuana influencers championing inclusion and bringing these conversations into everyday experiences across the company.
“Over the years, we have seen how these efforts can bring our people closer together and create a workplace where everyone feels they have a place. What makes this journey meaningful is that inclusion is no longer just something we talk about. It is something our people are helping shape and live out every day. This recognition is a reflection of that collective effort,” said Jo-Ann Tacorda, First Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Cebuana Lhuillier.
This growing culture of inclusion also supports a more engaged employee experience, strengthening how Ka-Cebuanas connect with one another and, ultimately, with the customers and communities they serve.
For Cebuana Lhuillier, an inclusive workplace is integral to its purpose of serving Filipinos from all walks of life. Being named a global finalist recognizes the progress made so far and marks another milestone in building a culture where every Ka-Cebuana can belong, contribute, and make an impact.
by Ferry Bayu | Oct 14, 2026 | Business
A teacher from Surigao City receives ₱10,000 to help pay household bills, while five others receive ₱500 GCash rewards.
MANILA, Philippines — October 12, 2026 — Ginto Privilege Club (GPC) has confirmed six winners from its first Ginhawa Support Draw, held live on October 1, 2026, at 8:00 PM Philippine time.
The draw awarded a total of ₱12,500 in prizes, including a ₱10,000 main reward and five ₱500 GCash bonus rewards, marking an important milestone for GPC’s new one-off Pack model.
₱10,000 Ginhawa Support Helps Winner Cover Household Bills
Teacher Wyzyn Patosa from Surigao City was named the main winner of GPC’s first Ginhawa Support Draw.
After completing the required eligibility and identity verification, Wyzyn received the ₱10,000 prize through GCash on October 5, 2026.
Wyzyn shared that the reward would help pay the family’s electricity and water bills, providing welcome financial relief for everyday household expenses.
“Malaking tulong po ang ₱10,000 Ginhawa Support prize sa amin, lalo na sa pagbabayad ng aming kuryente at tubig. Maraming salamat po sa Ginto Privilege Club!” Wyzyn said.
Alongside the main winner, five other participants each received a ₱500 GCash bonus reward:
Maria Ira P. – Surigao del Norte/Caraga
Rosalie P. – Sta. Ana/Pampanga
Josefa P. – Tuguegarao City/ Cagayan
Ferdinand R. – Surigao del Norte/Caraga
Jennifer L. – Catanauan/Quezon
GPC Highlights Transparency and Prize Delivery
“Our first draw is an important milestone for GPC, but what matters most is seeing our winners receive their prizes,” said Kristine Henderson, Co-Founder and CEO of Ginto Privilege Club.
“We want every participant to feel confident that our draws are transparent, our winners are properly verified and our prizes are delivered as promised.”
All six winners completed GPC’s verification requirements before their prizes were confirmed.
Winners were not required to pay any fees to claim their rewards.
To support transparency and public confidence, GPC maintains a dedicated Winner Proof page featuring confirmed winners, available prize delivery records and updates on reward fulfilment.
GPC also conducts its winner announcements through Facebook Live, allowing viewers to watch the computerized winner selection process.
GPC Continues Weekly Draws with ₱30,000 Smartphone Upgrade and Upcoming ₱10,000 Prize
On October 8, 2026, GPC held its second promotional draw, naming Ferdinand Rodriguez of Surigao City as the verified winner of the ₱30,000 Smartphone Upgrade Reward.
The prize provides store credit towards an eligible smartphone purchase. Ferdinand is currently completing the merchant selection and redemption process.
The next GPC draw, ₱10,000 You Win–You Pick, is scheduled for October 15, 2026, at 12:30 PM Philippine time, offering six prizes: one ₱10,000 main reward and five ₱500 GCash Bonus Rewards.
The main winner can choose from eligible prize options including groceries, food, beauty, or everyday essentials, depending on what matters most to them.
Entries close at 11:30 AM Philippine time on October 15.
The five ₱500 Bonus Rewards are available to eligible Sulit and Ginto Pack participants, subject to the official draw mechanics.
GPC offers three one-off Packs:
Try Pack – ₱49: 7 days of Partner Deals access and 1 free draw entry.
Sulit Pack – ₱149: 14 days of Partner Deals access, 6 free draw entries and eligibility for the ₱500 Bonus Reward.
Ginto Pack – ₱349: 30 days of Partner Deals access, 20 free draw entries and eligibility for the ₱500 Bonus Reward.
Participants may purchase multiple GPC Packs, with no limit on the number of Packs purchased, subject to the official draw mechanics.
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) can also purchase GPC Packs for their loved ones in the Philippines, allowing eligible family members to participate in upcoming draws. Purchases must be registered using the Philippine recipient’s name and contact details.
Each Pack is a one-time purchase with no membership, subscription, automatic renewal or referral requirement.
For more information:
Buy a GPC Pack
View Current Draw and Official Mechanics
View Confirmed Winners and Prize Records
GPC Draws are open to eligible Philippine residents aged 18 and above. Official mechanics, eligibility requirements, entry cut-offs and winner verification conditions apply.
About Ginto Privilege Club
Founded in September 2025, Ginto Privilege Club (GPC) is a consumer platform serving the Philippine market through one-off GPC Packs, access to Partner Deals and scheduled promotional draws.
GPC aims to provide accessible rewards and practical lifestyle benefits through clearly published Pack inclusions, transparent draw mechanics and verified prize fulfilment.
GPC operates without memberships, subscriptions, referral commissions or multi-level marketing structures.
by Ferry Bayu | Oct 13, 2026 | Business
Sprout Solutions, a Workday Innovation Partner, positions local payroll as an addition to a company’s global HR setup, not a migration away from it
MANILA, PHILIPPINES. Multinational companies and large local employers that run Workday as their global HR system of record can address Philippine payroll and statutory requirements without replacing, rebuilding, or migrating away from that investment. Sprout Solutions, a Workday Innovation Partner and the People-first AI Platform for payroll, compliance, and work, can integrate Sprout Payroll with Workday through APIs, so that local payroll execution can run alongside the global HR environment instead of competing with it.
For multinationals operating in the Philippines, that removes a common friction point: meeting local statutory requirements without unwinding the global HR system they already run.
Global HR and local payroll solve different problems
Workday gives organizations a centralized and consistent employee record across countries. Philippine payroll operates inside a separate framework of statutory contributions, filing schedules, contribution rules, and labor regulations, and those requirements apply regardless of which HR platform a company has standardized on.
For most multinationals, the practical question is not whether the global HR platform can be asked to do more. It is whether local payroll can operate alongside it without duplicate records, parallel maintenance, or disconnected processes.
The manual load sits between systems, not inside payroll
Philippine payroll teams rarely struggle with the calculations themselves. The load tends to come from preparing each pay cycle: moving employee changes from one system to another, validating attendance records, and reviewing and reconciling compensation inputs before every cut-off. When the global HR system and the local payroll platform are not connected, those steps fall back on manual transfers, spreadsheets, and duplicate encoding.
The resulting operational risk is not always visible. A missed employee update can affect payroll. A discrepancy between systems can delay processing. A late correction can carry downstream effects into statutory filings with agencies such as the Social Security System (SSS), PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
A Philippine payroll layer, not a second HR system
Sprout Payroll handles Philippine payroll processing and statutory compliance, including SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, and BIR requirements, along with the local payroll rules that global systems typically do not compute natively: night differential, holiday pay, rest day pay, and final pay. Sprout monitors regulatory developments from those agencies and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), so that payroll reflects statutory changes as they take effect rather than being configured once and left in place.
How the integration works, and what stays in Workday
Sprout’s API capabilities can support integration with Workday, with the specific setup scoped to each organization’s Workday configuration, data requirements, and governance model. Workday can remain the authoritative source for employee data, while Sprout Payroll works with only the information it needs to process local payroll accurately. Connecting the two systems in this way can reduce re-keying, duplicate maintenance, and the reconciliation work that builds up when two systems hold overlapping records.
Review and audit trails stay with HR, Finance, & IT
“Choosing Workday and choosing a Philippine payroll provider solve two different problems, and organizations get better results when they treat those as complementary decisions rather than competing ones,” said Kislay Chandra, Chief Operations Officer at Sprout Solutions. “Workday stays as the system of record. Our job is to make local payroll execution fit naturally into that environment, with the review steps and audit trail that HR, Finance, and IT already expect from every other business process.”
Companies keep their existing Workday governance model and global HR configuration. Depending on how the integration is scoped, HR, Finance, and IT can review employee changes before payroll processing begins, approve what moves into payroll, see exactly what information is being shared, and retain a complete audit trail across the workflow. The intended outcome is less manual payroll preparation, stronger compliance controls, audit-ready records, and fewer reconciliation issues at cut-off.
That governance layer matters most in large, multi-layered organizations, where additional approval steps, more complex reporting structures, and multiple payroll schedules make undocumented manual handoffs harder to defend.
Where Workday customers in the Philippines can start
Companies already using Workday with employees or operations in the Philippines can talk to Sprout about adding Philippine-compliant payroll to an existing setup and scoping an integration based on their Workday environment and requirements at https://discover.sprout.ph/workday-x-sprout-compliant-payroll/.
The Sprout Solutions partner profile is also available on the Workday Marketplace at https://marketplace.workday.com/en-US/pages/find-a-partner/partner-profile?vendor=d7df0e78-e008-45e5-9c3c-6d51eda378ef.
About Sprout Solutions Phil Inc
Sprout Solutions is the People-First AI platform for payroll, compliance, and work. Launched in 2015 and recognized as the Philippines’ largest homegrown SaaS company, Sprout serves over 2,000 client organizations and more than 400,000 active users, and processes over ₱135 billion in payroll annually. The platform spans core HR and payroll, talent management, employee retention, and operations management, extended by workforce analytics, Sidekick AI assistants and agents, and managed services for payroll and compliance execution. Built for Philippine labor law, Sprout is ISO 27001 certified and was named Payroll Software Supplier of the Year 2026 at the Global Payroll Awards. Learn more at https://sprout.ph.
This press release has also been published on VRITIMES.
by Ferry Bayu | Oct 12, 2026 | Business
The 44th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) and its Associated Meetings and the 26th ASEAN Energy Business Forum (AEBF-26) officially commenced today in Manila, Philippines, bringing together ASEAN energy ministers, industry leaders, and stakeholders to advance regional energy cooperation.
The Joint Opening Ceremony was held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) and officially opened by H.E. Sharon S. Garin, Secretary of the Department of Energy of the Philippines and Chair of the 44th AMEM, after a special remarks by H.E. Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of ASEAN.
As ASEAN Chair in 2026, the Philippines has set out the Priority Economic Deliverable (PED) and Annual Priorities (APs) for the energy sector. The PED for 2026 focuses on the ASEAN Power Grid (APG), with efforts centred on the operationalisation of the Enhanced APG MOU and the development of legal and regulatory guidelines for a regional submarine power cable framework.
Alongside the PED, ASEAN is advancing seven Annual Priorities (APs) under the Philippines’ Chairship:
- 9th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO9)
-
ASEAN Nuclear Power Plant Financing and Human Resources Development Study
-
ASEAN CCUS Assessment and Business Model Study
-
Upstream Oil and Gas Fiscal Benchmarking Study.
-
Sustainable ASEAN Energy Management Certification Scheme (SAEMAS).
-
Study on Accelerating Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Advanced Technologies for Variable Renewable Energy Integration.
-
Study on Cross-Border Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) Market and Financial Assessment.
Held in conjunction with 44th AMEM is the 26th ASEAN Energy Business Forum, which provides a platform connecting government, industry, financial institutions, development partners, and other stakeholders to exchange perspectives and explore opportunities supporting ASEAN’s energy priorities.
About the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE)
The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) is an intergovernmental organisation driving multilateral energy cooperation and policy coordination among ASEAN Member States. Formally established on 1 January 1999 in Jakarta, Indonesia, ACE serves as the regional energy think tank, catalyst, and knowledge hub for ASEAN. Hosted by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia, ACE’s office is located in Jakarta, Indonesia. For more information: aseanenergy.org.
For further inquiries: co***********@*********gy.org.
You must be logged in to post a comment.