Globe Studios and Disney Launches Disney Princess: I Dare To Dream Web Series

Globe Telecom, in partnership with The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia, is redefining the landscape of local entertainment by launching the Disney Princess: I Dare To Dream, a first-of-its-kind digital reality-series produced by Globe Studios in collaboration with Disney and Maker Studios.

Inspired by Disney’s iconic princesses and their incredible stories and qualities, the 12-episodic web series will bring viewers on a magical journey of six young Filipino girls as they pursue their dreams with the help of various mentors headed by Disney legend Lea Salonga with theater actress Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, social educator Efren Peñaflorida, veterinarian Dr. Nielsen Donato, animator Tito Romero, chef Jessie Sincioco, and YouTuber and host Charisma Star.

Globe Telecom’s Chief Commercial Officer Albert de Larrazabal said, “Globe, with focus on enriching the Filipino digital lifestyle is now changing the way Filipinos consume entertainment. Through Globe Studios, we produce local original digital content for our customers that may be shared even with our global partners. This allows the local ecosystem of actors and producers to be part of the rich content offerings of global media creators like Disney.”

Part of a wider global Disney Princess initiative, Disney I Dare To Dream which will start on February 25 puts emphasis on the stories of these six young girls in parallel with the stories of the different Disney Princesses. Selected from a series of auditions last year, the six young Filipino girls aged 9 to 16 years old with a range of diverse interests, will show their journey of discovery and self-confidence, alongside the expert mentors, popular vlogger and host Janina Vela and Disney legend Lea Salonga in this first-of-its-kind digital reality-series.

“Every Disney Princess is the heroine of a unique adventure story inspiring kids with messages of hope and optimism. What people love about the Disney Princesses are their incredible stories and the qualities that help them achieve their dreams,” says Amit Malhotra, General Manager, Disney Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia. “We hope this initiative with Globe, will inspire and empower a new generation of girls in the Philippines to pursue their dreams and aspirations,” Malhotra adds.

“Inspiration comes from within. These kids have big aspirations in life and we want to support them all the way. We want to be there to see their dreams turn into reality and that’s what will make it a magical experience, and we want to share it with the public,” shares Quark Henares, Head of Globe Studios.

In the web series, the girls will be staying in a house where they will be mentored to reach their dreams. Only one girl will be chosen for a special trip of a lifetime – to walk down the red carpet at the Tokyo premiere of the upcoming live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic, Beauty and the Beast.

The six girls are Hya Leonardo, Sirach Catipay, Liana San Diego, Jaden Narvios, Stephanie Jordan, and Alexi Tan. Hya Leonardo wants to be a broadway actress and a singer. She has always been passionate about performing in front of a large audience. Sirach Catipay is an aspiring chef. The moment she started cooking with her mom, she realized that she wanted to be a chef someday and share her dishes to other people. Liana San Diego is an aspiring veterinarian, saying she wants to try and learn more about her passions. Jaden Narvios wants to be the next president of the Philippines. Stephanie Jordanis an aspiring Newscaster/TV Host, while Alexi Tan is an aspiring animator.

Watch these girls as they go through the last stretch of their Disney Princess: I Dare To Dream journey through an upcoming live concert extravaganza with their coach Lea Salonga and a star studded lineup of other Filipino music talent and featuring songs from Disney Princess movies on March 22 at the SM MOA Arena. The Disney Princess: I Dare To Dreamweb series will be aired on Globe Telecom’s YouTube channel and on www.idaretodream.ph. This will also be aired on Disney Channel and on the Disney Channel mobile app in May. (Source: Globe Corporate Communications, Angel)

Posted by Alicia Angelica L. Villanueva

(L-R:) Head of Globe Studios Quark Henares, Executive Director of Disney Southeast Asia Daniel Tan, Lea Salonga, President & CEO of Globe Telecom Ernest Cu, I Dare To Dream host Janina Vela, Chief Commercial Officer of Globe Telecom Albert de Larrazabal and Globe Retail Transformation and Stores Management Head Joe Caliro together with the 6 finalists.

Globe Telecom’s Chief Commercial Officer Albert De Larrazabal talks about how Globe reinvents entertainment in mobile and home through Globe content partners such as Disney.

Ant Financial and Ayala Corporation to promote equal access to financial services in the Philippines with investment in Globe Telecom’s Mynt

MANILA and HANGZHOU – February 17, 2017 – Leading Philippine mobile operator Globe Telecom today announced that Ant Financial Services Group, one of the world’s leading digital financial services providers, has entered into a strategic partnership with Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc. (Mynt), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Capital Venture Holdings (GCVHI) under Globe Telecom, and Ayala Corporation, one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, to accelerate financial inclusion and upgrade payment services in the Philippines.

Ant Financial, parent company of Alipay, and Ayala Corp have signed the definitive documents to enter into an investment via subscription to new shares in Mynt, which operates GCash and Fuse Lending. GCash is an internationally-acclaimed micropayment service which can be used to buy prepaid load, pay bills, send money, make donations, shop online, and purchase goods without the need for cash. Fuse Lending offers personal and business loans to unbanked and underserved Filipinos through the use of mobile technology, alternative data, and innovative credit scoring methods.

Subject to the closing of the transaction, Ant Financial, will own a substantial minority interest in Mynt while Ayala Corp will acquire a minority interest. GCVHI will hold the remaining equity interest.

The fresh capital infusion will help Mynt achieve its vision of becoming a world-class online and offline payment provider as well as scale up its mobile wallet services and quickly expand its digital financial services.

The deal represents Ant Financial’s first-ever investment in the Philippines and demonstrates the company’s confidence in Mynt and its management team to upgrade digital financial services in the region. With this partnership, Ant Financial, whose suite of digital financial services includes Alipay, will share with Mynt its know-how in using technology to provide equal access to financial services.

“A world-leading digital financial services provider has decided to partner with us. We are confident that having a strategic partner for Mynt will help fulfill our mission of providing financial services in a non-traditional manner that will benefit the majority of our population who are unbanked. With this partnership, we are set to democratize financial services in the Philippines,” said Ernest Cu, Globe President and Chief Executive Officer.

“We look forward to working with Mynt’s innovative management team to provide simple, secure, low-cost and accessible digital financial services to unserved and underserved individuals and small and micro enterprises in the Philippines, thus helping individuals to live a better life and helping SMEs to grow and create more jobs,” said Eric Jing, Chief Executive Officer of Ant Financial. “Ant Financial is committed to building an open, technology-based ecosystem with our partners.”

“We are happy to be part of Mynt and capture the exciting opportunities in financial technology,” said Ayala Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala. “We believe this is a great platform to redefine the country’s financial services space amidst a robust consumer market and an increasingly digital environment. With the combined strengths of Ayala, Globe, and Ant Financial, we believe we can help more Filipinos gain access to safer, more convenient, and extensive payment and lending platforms.”

Leveraging the power of mobile and digital technology, Mynt is pioneering initiatives that provide financial services that previously were not available to most Filipinos. It is currently the biggest mobile money base in the Philippines with over 3 million registered customers and ₱1 billion worth of transactions per week.  Mynt is also the only company in the Philippines that serves as a one-stop shop for fintech services for consumers, merchants, and organizations through GCash and Fuse Lending. (Source: Globe Corporate Communications, Angel)

Posted by: Alicia Angelica L. Villanueva

Globe to continue ramping up deployment of 700 MHz LTE sites

Globe Telecom will continue to ramp up deployment of the 700 megahertz (MHz) band, with a target to increase utilization of the spectrum by more than 300%, in support of its bid to improve internet experience of its customers.

Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu said the company plans to roll out within the year the LTE 700 in close to 1,800 sites, more than three-fold increase from the 500 sites that it was able to deploy last year.  “We continue to maximize the use of the previously unutilized 700 MHz because at the end of the day, our basic product is still the network. Globe has consistently delivered superior mobile services and as the country’s network of choice by smartphone users, we want to be able to stay ahead of the demand curve, taking into account our customers’ growing requirement for bandwidth-intensive content,” said Cu.

The plan is also in fulfillment of its target of providing mobile coverage to about 95% of cities and municipalities in the country within a 3-year period, as committed to the National Telecommunications Commission, explained Cu.

In addition to the LTE 700 sites, Globe is also expanding coverage and increasing capacities for 1000 sites using the 2600 MHz band. Globe gained access to the 700 MHz and obtained additional allocation in the 2600 MHz following a partial acquisition of San Miguel’s telecommunication assets. Prior to the acquisition, such spectrum assets were idle and unutilized.

According to Cu, the new LTE 700MHz and LTE 2600 MHz sites will be deployed in densely populated areas, mainly in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao, where majority of customers using LTE-compatible devices are located. Globe began deployment of LTE sites using the 700 MHz band in June this year following a partial acquisition of San Miguel’s telecommunication assets, which also included spectrum resources in the 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2600 MHz.

In line with its commitment to improve internet state in the country, Globe also plans to deploy 425,000 high-speed broadband bands within 2017 in line with target of rolling out 2 million home broadband lines with speed of at least 10 Mbps by 2020 in support of commitment to improve fixed internet in the country. To date, over 260,000 home broadband lines have already been deployed. Progressive roll outs will be done within the next 3 years until 2020 to serve at least 2 million homes.

Globe also deployed free WiFi services in 500 major areas of convergence that include airports, bus terminals, Ayala Malls, Starbucks chains, convenience stores and MRT and LRT stations, Cu added.

However, the company’s aggressive bid to expand its telecommunication infrastructure is being hampered by circuitous permitting process for the establishment of telecommunication infrastructure such as cell sites. For instance, Globe has a backlog of around 3000 sites amid difficulties in securing permits from various local government units, homeowner associations and other government agencies. (Source: Globe Corporate Communications, Angel)

Posted by: Alicia Angelica L. Villanueva

Globe At Home subscribers fly to the U.S. for the NBA All-Star Weekend!

“The NBA All-Star Weekend is one of the most exciting sporting events in the world, and we want to create winning moments for our subscribers by bringing them where the action is,” says Martha Sazon, Senior Vice President of Globe At Home. “Watching an NBA All-Star game live is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we want to share with the winning Globe broadband subscribers.”

Lucky broadband subscribers flew to New Orleans this weekend for the 2017 NBA All-Star festivities and got the MVP treatment with their tickets, accommodations, and airfares care of Globe At Home.

Late to news? Don’t fret! More subscribers will get a chance to watch live games in the U.S.! The next batch of winners will be drawn on February 27, 2017 where two winners will win two NBA regular season tickets with roundtrip airfare and hotel accommodations. The last batch of winners will be drawn on March 20, 2017 who will get to watch an NBA Finals game and the 2017 NBA Draft live!

“Globe At Home strives to create a seamless experience for all subscribers, and this extends to our promos as well,” says Sazon. “All of Globe At Home’s subscribers will be automatically added to the raffle with the NBA LEAGUE PASS.”

Subscribers to Globe At Home Plan 1299 and higher service offerings have six months of free access to NBA LEAGUE PASS. The NBA LEAGUE PASS is a subscription service that lets users watch NBA games live, complete with multi-game views in high-definition quality. Globe At Home subscribers are eligible to join the raffle by simply activating the promo code sent to their account. Broadband subscribers will get the same number of raffle entries as the denomination of the plan.

Join us as we celebrate the NBA All-Star Festival from February 18 to 19 at the Bonifacio High Street Activity Center, where you can catch the NBA All-Star Weekend live, participate in exciting on-court activities and exhibition games, as well as win amazing prizes.

For more information on Globe At Home, call 730-1010, visit www.globe.com.ph/broadband or the nearest Globe store. For more information about the NBA Fly Away Promo, visit www.globe.com.ph/surf/plan/nba/fly-away-promo. (Source: Globe Corporate Communications, Angel)

Posted by: Alicia Angelica L. Villanueva

 

Enjoy WiFi on your own terms with Globe Prepaid Home WiFi

Looking for an internet connection at home that gives you the flexibility you need for your family’s lifestyle? Globe introduces the Globe Prepaid Home WiFi. Enjoy a fast internet speed that’s 50% stronger, plus, stay connected and stream your favorite shows with no installation required and no monthly fees needed. Take it home with you for only P1,999 with 10GB free data allocation!

Prepaid Home WiFi (Globe Telecom)

“We understand that our subscribers lead different lifestyles, so we’re offering more ways for them to enjoy our plans,” shares Martha Sazon, Senior Vice President of Globe At Home. “Our Globe Prepaid Home WiFi is perfect for those who do not want monthly fees but still want to provide the best for their families.”

With the Globe Prepaid Home WiFi, users can enjoy these through Globe’s various GoSURF promos, like GoSURF15 (40MB for two days), GoSURF50 (1GB for three days), GoSURF299 (1.5GB for 30 days), GoSURF599 (4GB for 30 days), and GoSURF999 (8GB for 30 days).

“Internet connection is becoming a necessity, and we’d like to offer the Globe Prepaid Home WiFi to everyone, regardless of budget and location,” says Sazon. “With this product we could bring home WiFi to more households,” she adds.

Globe Prepaid Home WiFi is now available in Globe stores nationwide. You can buy your prepaid home WiFi load at any Globe reloading stations nationwide. (Source: Globe Corporate Communications, Angel)

Posted by: Alicia Angelica L. Villanueva

Globe Telecom tops Asiamoney’s Best Managed Companies Poll

Globe Telecom gained another recognition for coming out on top of Asiamoney’s Best Managed Companies poll for large-cap companies in the Philippines.

Globe Telecom (thewutzup.com)

Companies were nominated on the basis of product/service innovation; rising market share; leadership in its industry; financial performance, consistency of performance; executive leadership and corporate governance. The poll covers the markets of Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

“This recognition affirms the company’s excellent execution of its strategy of providing customers not only with the most innovative products and services but also the best possible experience in terms of network speed and reliability,” said Globe Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto said.

Last year, Globe was conferred the Frost & Sullivan Philippines Telecom Service Provider of the Year Award and Mobile Service Provider of the Year Award for having demonstrated exemplary growth and performance in 2015. Both awards were evaluated based on the number of subscribers, subscriber growth, revenue growth, EBITDA margin and net margin.

The company was also named by Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific as Telecom Service Provider of the Year award for 2016, also in recognition of the company’s impressive business performance in the previous year. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development.

Globe delivered a record performance in 2015, surpassing the company’s previous year’s record performance, posting new highs in service revenues, EBITDA, and earnings. Even in the face of intense industry competition, the company registered broad-based data-driven growth across its key services. Globe solidified its leadership in the digital space by focusing on improving customer experience and by riding with the shift toward greater data consumption across all segments.

In 2016, Globe sustained the top line growth momentum as consolidated service revenues reached a fresh record of P120 billion, up 6% from the P113.7 billion recorded in 2015.  The company’s effective efforts in providing market-relevant data offers, the best of breed solutions to cater to the evolving needs of its customers, backed by the significant improvements in its wireless and wired data networks, have paved the way for its continued success.

Globe also spent P36.7 billion in capital expenditures in 2016 to support the growing subscriber base and its aggressive data network expansion. Of the total capex, 65% was spent for data-related initiatives. This also include spends on the deployment for LTE on 700 MHz. (Posted by Alicia Angelica L. Villanueva)

Miracle Oil: The Next Big Thing of Alternative Medicines

Filipinos are known for their very hardworking character, spending most of their time in working to be able to provide for their family inevitably causing them to suffer pain and illnesses. Trying to save more money instead of using it for buying treatments and medicines, they would just endure the pain.

THE BRILLIANT MIRACLE IN DIFFERENT SCENTS

Instead of buying pain reliever medications, Filipinos look for cheaper alternatives to ease the ache caused by every hard work and effort they exerted. One of these alternatives that Pinoys commonly use is massage oil made of menthol or eucalyptus.

One example of this massage oil is the Brilliant Miracle Oil invented by Victor Tobias. It has started when he himself suffered from stroke.  Through thorough and in-depth research, Tobias finds out that the every organ of the human body needs minerals such as zinc for the brain and manganese for the nervous system.

With the curiosity in mind and with what he has found out, Tobias invented Brilliant Miracle Oil which is made of and extracted from plants. From the word “brilliant” and “miracle”, Tobias comes up with the best description for the instant effectiveness of the oil.

“’Pag ginamit mo, instant ito e, instant result. Brilliant na lang siguro, kasi magaling talaga…’Pag gumamit ka ng brilliant oil, makakaranas ka ng amazing result, now na,” he explained.

As a proof of the effectiveness of the Miracle Oil, Tobias testified that for just two weeks, he has started to recover from stroke and after two months, he is fully recovered. He said, “Two weeks pa lang ako nito na gumagamit, finormulate ko ito, maganda na agad ang epekto sa’kin. Tapos two months, fully recovered ako.”

To help other people who are suffering from pains and illnesses, experiencing the usefulness of the miracle oil for a short period of time, Tobias shares the magic of the Brilliant Oil to others. Surprisingly, the brilliant oil effectively treated some people who have arthritis, rheumatism, wound, burn, and body aches with just a few seconds.

“Kung meron ka nito, botika sa isang bote…Kapag binulsa mo ‘to, para kang may botika sa bulsa,” said Tobias.

In fact, one of the users who testifies the effectiveness and efficiency of the Brilliant Miracle Oil is Dr. Jylene Dizon, who accidentally discovers the magic of the oil.

She tries it one time for her headache and surprisingly, the pain has disappeared in an instant with just a rub on her forehead. Now, practicing acupuncture in her clinic, she also recommends it to her patients who are suffering body pains whether young or old.

“I have a lot of patients and experiences already with this Brilliant Miracle Oil…It’s very miraculous talaga,” Dr. Dizon shared.

Brilliant Miracle Oil comes from different sizes and forms such as roll on for eyes, perfume, hair grower, facial cream, and as energy drink (coffee and chocolate)

As different illnesses and diseases continue to spread and grow anytime, it is a good thing for a person to immediately treat himself especially when he is alone.. However, with just one bottle of the Brilliant Miracle Oil, with just one rub of it, you do not have to endure the pain and you can now say goodbye to body aches. (Charles Arvin E. Dantes & Alicia Angelica L. Villanueva)

Agricultural Advancements still the Aim for the Future

Monsanto Company announced updates of their annual Research and Development (R&D) pipeline over the past year. The company showed their commitment in giving innovative research projects to help farmers all over the world to work and meet the needs of the society while using natural resources more efficiently. The Monsanto’s pledged in creating different ways of protecting crops and promoting the different ways of engaging pests, weeds, diseases and environmental shifts resulting from climate change.

Dr. Robert Fraley, Monsanto’s Chief Technology Officer, discussed about how big the role of agriculture plays in our daily lives including the world’s growing needs and how to preserve the biodiversity and the natural resources. “Science is helping us identify new solutions to help farmers and this mark a record year for our R&D pipeline – with 14 projects advancing to launch and the first unveiling for more than 35 projects in the Climate pipeline.” Fraley said.

Monsanto’s R&D platforms span five years of agricultural technology: data science, plant breeding, plant biotechnology, crop protection and agricultural biological. These platforms support sustainable agriculture practices by delivering solutions that:

1. Reduce the footprint of the global agricultural production through better harvest.

The world is under great pressure due to the continuous growth of the population, resulting into expanding needs for the society. Farmers should find a way to use the agricultural land into a much more efficient way while reducing the impact of the sufficiency of needs in our natural resources. In order to solve the on-going problems, the Monsanto and the company Novozymes made an alliance to support the use of the BioYield platform – an example of this growth through expansion to new crops and development of next-generation projects that are designed to help improve yield potential by helping crops use nutrients in the soil more efficiently. While the Climate FieldView platform will allow the farmers to analyze the field data from multiple sources, including soil, field and atmosphere. This kind of research is considered as one of the most widely adopted digital agricultural platforms in the industry.

2. Protect harvests from increasing threats:

Insects, weeds, diseases and environmental variables, these are some of the most notorious threats against the agricultural industry and the main reason of food loss in the field and after harvest. The Agricultural Alliance of some notable names in the industry comes up with different solutions from each specific problems.

Collaboration with Bayer, Acceleron ® Seed Applied Solutions – Enhanced Disease Control, is aimed at managing disease infections during key stages of the growing season.

Next-generation insect and weed control technologies – including Bollgard ® 3 XtendFlex ® Cotton and Fourth-Generation Herbicide-Tolerant Corn, respectively – are poised to offer farmers new ways to mitigate challenges from damaging pests and weeds. Herbicide-tolerant technologies help enable greater flexibility in weed management, including allowing farmers the ability to adopt and maintain conservation tillage practices which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Broad, integrated solutions to address yield-limiting diseases, for example:
A package of insights to identify and predict disease vulnerability and diagnose key crop diseases are planned to be added to Climate FieldView™ offerings. Also a breeding research that aims to curb the effects of disease on both vegetables and row crops, including Downy Mildew-Resistant Lettuce and the DEKALB ® Disease Shield TM corn hybrids platform.

3. Deliver Continuous improvement to Global Agricultural Production:

The Monsanto’s is not only working to protect the crops and deliver better harvest, but also to continue to improve the on-farm solutions and practices that farmers and agriculture sectors should be aware about in the global agricultural production.

The Agricultural Alliance conducted a research to promote the health of honey bees, which are critically important pollinators for our food system. Honey bee hives are routinely impacted by the Varroa mite – a threat which introduces viruses into the bee’s home and greatly reduces their numbers and productivity. Research underway at Monsanto, called BioDirect TM Technology: Bee Health Varroa Control, represents an innovative biological approach to target this devastating threat to bees.
To help more of the world’s farmers increase productivity with digital tools, the company plans to continue to grow the Climate FieldView™ platform geographically, with expansion expected in the U.S., Brazil and Canada this year – and Europe, South Africa, Australia and Argentina over the next few years.

Continued development of NemaStrike TM Technology, a novel seed-applied nematode-control solution, has demonstrated the ability to control pressure from multiple nematode species. Nematodes are one of the largest pest challenges in agriculture.

As the Monsanto and the different sectors and companies continue to produce innovative products and research for the Agricultural Industry, We can all agree that the world still has a chance to prevent the mass crisis of needs with agricultural products due to high demand of the society.

The Monsanto believes that the agricultural innovation, continuous improvements in farming practices, and collaborations across the public and private sectors can truly make a difference for farmers, the consumers they serve and the planet.

Additional information on Monsanto’s R&D pipeline, the projects outlined in this release and others, are available online at www.monsanto.com/pipeline. Monsanto’s R&D pipeline was showcased as part of the company’s fiscal 2017 first quarter earnings announcement earlier today. For more information about today’s earnings announcement, the news release and supporting resources are available at www.monsanto.com. (Charles Arvin E. Dantes)

DOST to launch book of stories on R&D

 

People outside the science community may understand and appreciate research and development projects better if told in language understood by most. Common, familiar language bridges the gap between science and the public.

 

The Department of Science and Technology, for the first time in its history, produced a coffee table book featuring stories on research and development (R&D) written by the researchers themselves. Called “Bridge”, the book will be launched on the 30^th anniversary celebration of DOST- Science  and Technology Information Institute  (STII) on February 27, 2017 at the Manila Hotel.

 

STII, established in 1987 through EO 128, is the information and marketing arm of the DOST.

 

Said coffee table book contains 83 stories culled from R&D projects funded by DOST from 2010 to 2015, particularly in the areas of agriculture and aquaculture; health and nutrition; and industry and emerging technologies. As researchers wrote their own articles, they were able to share significant insights as they worked on their respective R&D projects.

 

“’Bridge’ would not only serve as very useful information resource but also as an inspiration and motivation to our scientists, engineers, and researchers as we pursue our purpose – “Science For The People,” said DOST Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña.

 

Meanwhile, former DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo, who laid out the idea of this book back in 2015 said, “We owe it to the citizens of the Philippines to bring these products of scientific inquiry to the public, written in laymanized language that they could understand.

 

By publishing “Bridge”, we hope we could help raise awareness and appreciation on how hard and conscientious our researchers work, and how the fruit of their scientific inquiry could help us have a better life, he said.

 

Aside from DOST’s R &D projects, articles on some of the most successful beneficiaries under DOST’s

Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program, as well as stories of former DOST scholars are also included in said coffee table book.

 

Produced by the Department of Science and Technology- Science and Technology Information Institute, Bridgefeatures 82 inspiring stories on researches and their researchers, as well as scholars and entrepreneurs. The coffee table book will be launched on Feb. 27 at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel during the Institute’s celebration of its 30^th Anniversary. (Allan Mauro V. Marfal, S&T Media Service, DOST-STII)

Monsanto Philippines Conducts University Outreach Program and Animation Viewing in Visayas

As part of its UOP or University Outreach Program, Monsanto Philippines toured schools in the Visayas, January 26 and 27, all the while bringing the story of Lina’s Town Rises Again in these campuses.

The company broadened its OUP reach with Lina’s Town Rises Again Animation Viewing, being conducted nationwide,visiting the University of the Philippines-Visayas (UPV) Donato M. Pison Elementary School and Nabitasan Elementary School in Iloilo- a promising region for corn production.

Monsanto has earlier visited state universities and elementary schools in Luzon and Mindanao, primarily briefing students and faculty members from various disciplines such as Agriculture, Science, Communications and other related courses of colleges and universities with “Monsanto & the Work That We Do”.

This covers topics such as Sustainable Agriculture, the use of biotechnology in farming, careers in the agricultural industry, and the company’s corporate social responsibility programs.

“Monsanto remains committed to providing and promoting the use of modern biotechnology and agricultural solutions to help farmers address their challenges. Our university outreach is an opportunity to share information with important stakeholders who can help improve agriculture in the country,” Monsanto Philippines Corporate Affairs Lead and the author of Lina’s Town Rises Again, Charina Ocampo said.

Ocampo also shared that aside from opening opportunities for partnerships with academic institutions, the outreach program and animation showings aim to provide students with knowledge and updated information on agriculture which hopefully they will find very useful now and in the future.
Meanwhile, the animation showing of the book Lina’s Town Rises Again is an activity being conducted with elementary students which aims to develop a basic understanding of the impact of biotech corn in social, economic and environmental terms amongst students.
Lina’s Town Rises Again is the first storybook about biotech corn which touches on the themes of sustainability, collaboration and safety by narrating the true and inspiring story of a lady farmer from Sultan Kudarat, Aling Consolacion Reyes. It narrates how biotech corn seeds positively transformed Aling Conching’s life, and enabled her farming community to recover economically in the aftermath of a devastating typhoon.

About 400 students and faculty members are expected to participate in the two-day activity. This early, the company is already expressing appreciation for the support the officials from the said university and elementary schools have extended to promote sustainable agriculture.
Ocampo is also among the speakers in the briefing with the students along with Monsanto Philippines Human Resource Lead Cherie Lou Ocampo, and Regulatory Affairs Lead Dr. Gabriel Romero.
“Monsanto & the Work That We Do” started in 2014 and has engaged in more than 2000 students and teachers from several universities in Luzon and Mindanao. While, the recent showing of the animation version of the book, Lina’s Town Rises Again was held last November in two elementary schools in Quezon City with almost 800 students.

The said activity was co-organized with the Biotech Coalition of the Philippines as part of the celebration of the National Biotech Week.

Peter Paul Duran