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OFFICE OF CIVIL DEFENSE LEADS DISTRIBUTION OF BOTTLED WATER

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) led by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDDRMC) Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, activated the pre-agreement with United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) ARISE Philippines network and partner Nature Spring, with the 1st batch delivery of 43,000 SM Bottled Water to various frontliners in Metro Manila, dealing with the COVID-19 health emergency. ARISE is the Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies, the DRR network of private sector entities in the Philippines. SM Prime is the UNDRR ARISE secretariat, headed by Hans T. Sy, Chairman of the Executive Committee, and its lead partner is the National Resilience Council (NRC). ARISE network pre-agreements are signed MOUs between members of the public and private sectors for immediate assistance with goods and services during times of calamity or crisis.

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Microsoft celebrates the 3rd anniversary of Teams: The hub for teamwork and productivity

Microsoft marks the third anniversary of Teams this week – a platform that is continually shaping a new culture of work and collaboration worldwide. Thousands of organizations, large and small, have been using Teams as a hub for daily work, helping them to stay connected and engaged. Worldwide, 44 million people are using Teams on a daily basis*, including 93 of the Fortune 100. Industry leading organizations are rolling out Teams enterprise-wide -- in fact, 20 customers have more than 100,000 employees actively using Teams, including Ernst & Young, SAP, and Continental AG, as well as Accenture, which has 440,000 employees actively using Teams. “Since we launched Teams three years ago, it has evolved to become the hub for teamwork -- a place where you can meet, chat, call, and collaborate all in one place. We will continue to improve and expand experiences for all workers to be as productive and connected as possible. As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to push people everywhere into

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SM SUPERMALLS TO WAIVE TENANT RENTALS NATIONWIDE

The SM Supermalls announced today it will waive rentals to all tenants nationwide from March 16 to April 14, 2020. This is to offer tenants some relief during this trying time, so that they can in turn lend more assistance to their employees during the period of Community Quarantine. “We share our tenants partners’ concerns at the unfortunate situation and will waive rental charges for those affected and unable to operate during this period,” said SM Supermalls President Steven T. Tan. This support forms part of SM’s commitment to fight the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, in addition to its recent announcement that it has allocated PhP100M to provide protective equipment and supplies towards hospitals for the safety of medical front liners, as they actively fight the spread of COVID-19.”  

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Epson honors 100 years of Philippine Cinema at Art Fair Philippines 2020

Marking 100 years of Philippine Cinema, Art Fair Philippines in partnership with Epson Philippines presented The Unconfined Cinema—Art Fair’s inaugural film section which showcased masterful local films as a collective representation of Philippine Cinema without boundaries. Curated by film critic Philbert Dy, film composer Erwin Romulo and film archivist and historian Teddy Co., The Unconfined Cinema utilized three Epson EB-L1505 high brightness laser projectors to screen various Filipino films from February 21-23 at The Link in Makati City. Showcasing the power of Epson’s 3LCD technology, the films were projected with uncompromised quality, delighting the audience with stunning images and vibrant colors which brought more life to some of the country’s best films. “The cinema experience wouldn’t have been complete without proper projection. The short throw distance gave us a lot of flexibility in designing our space, helping us truly become an unconfined cinema.” Philbert Dy, Curator

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Canon Philippines and Philippine Red Cross send aid to help Taal volcanic eruption evacuees

In line with its corporate philosophy of Kyosei, which enjoins all people to live and work together for the common good into the future, Canon’s four companies in the Philippines and its staff have pledged a total of PHP290,000 to the Philippine Red Cross. This donation is dedicated to Filipinos affected by the Taal volcanic eruption. “Canon Philippines has always been an advocate of spreading delight even beyond the industry and we want to take part in helping Taal volcanic eruption victims the best way we can,” says Kazuhiro Ozawa, President & CEO of Canon Philippines. “We hope that our donation will aid those that were greatly affected by the calamity.” he adds. Aside from the monetary donation by the companies, their employees also contributed to the cause. Canon Business Service Centre Philippines, Inc. staff sent relief goods, Canon Marketing (Philippines), Inc. staff shared preloved clothes, while staff of Canon Business Machines Philippines, Inc., located in Batangas, pooled

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UnionBank drives financial inclusion in PH, brings rural bank partners to cloud with Microsoft

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) partnered with Microsoft and Swiss software company Temenos to bring Filipino banking to the cloud platform Azure and expand opportunities for financial inclusion and innovation in the Philippines. Under the tripartite agreement, UnionBank’s fintech arm, UBX, now has the capability to enable rural banks, microfinance entities, and cooperatives in the Philippines with technology to power their financial operations quickly and bring financial services within the reach of more Filipinos. Over the recent years, the adoption of technology in the Financial Services Industry (FSI) has grown exponentially, with recent strides on various innovations such as blockchain, virtual currency, instant payments, and robotic process automation. In the Philippines, digital banking has also seen rapid growth, raising financial literacy among Filipinos. People who used to have no access to financial services can now enjoy a myriad of options through various cust

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Eastern Communications wins two Anvil Awards

Eastern Communications, one of the country’s leading telecommunications companies, took home two Silver Anvil Awards for its 140th Anniversary celebration and Link VIP Club program at the recently concluded 55th Anvil Awards Gabi ng Parangal at the Manila Hotel. The first winning entry, Eastern @ 140: A Celebration of 140 Years of Strong Connections under PR Program Directed at Specific Stakeholder (Employee), was focused on Eastern’s year-long anniversary celebration for employees.  This campaign includes employee incentive and recognition programs, recreational activities, employee empowerment seminars and even CSR activities. The anniversary was an opportune time for Eastern Communications to strengthen employee engagement as the company recognized achievements and the employees who have made their successes possible. Eastern Communication’s Elevating the Customer Experience: The Eastern Communications Link VIP Club also won a Silver Anvil for the PR Program Directed at Specific S

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PH the next hotbed for tech innovation

The Philippines is all set to cement its role as the next hotbed for fintech and tech innovation with all the necessary ingredients to tech up already present in the Southeast Asian country. A solid financial and business ecosystem with projected 6.2% GDP growth in 2020; an innovation-ready regulatory environment; a large, young, and increasing population with an internet penetration rate of 63% — most of them through mobile devices — the Philippines is certainly ripe for fintech growth. “We strongly believe that this is a pivotal moment for us to become more relevant and competitive in the global marketplace. DTI has always been supportive of the growing fintech industry because of its massive potential for financial inclusivity for our people. With all the work and tech innovation building up in the country in recent years, we are ready to expand our horizons,” shared Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Dr. Rafaelita “Fita” Aldaba. She underscored the significanc

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Epson launches new dye-sublimation printers with enhanced usability

Epson has announced the launch of its new 64-inch, dye-sublimation printers, the SureColor SC-F9430 and SC-F9430H digital textile printers. The printers have been developed to deliver outstanding quality and high- volume printing, for sports apparels, fashion apparel, home decorations, outdoor signage as well as other printed merchandise. A first for Epson, the SC-F9430H printer offers businesses the additional feature of printing fluorescent colours using the new Epson genuine fluorescent yellow and fluorescent pink inks. The new Epson Fluorescent Color Collection library in Edge Print software enables colour processing for fluorescent inks, bringing customers more colour variation during processing. “The introduction of Epson’s genuine fluorescent solution provides new value to our customers. Customers can now get a wider application of sports apparel, fashion wear, home decorations and even soft signage with our fluorescent inks, opening the doors to greater creativity and express

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Online mortgage broker Nook launches in the Philippines, taps top banks for easier loan applications

Recognizing the need for an easier and more efficient property loan application process in the Philippines, online mortgage broker platform Nook launches in the Philippines. The first in the country, it would enable Filipinos to conduct entire property search, do loan comparisons, and experience a seamless loan application process online. With the increasing purchasing power of Filipinos and thousands of new residential options built each year, the property market is projected to see a continuous surge on both office and residential demand from locals and foreign nationals alike. According to the numbers released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in the first half of 2019, there is an increase in the share of real estate loans to the industry total loan. Banks reported that over 73 percent of residential real estate loans (RREL) were used for the purchase of new housing units, wherein most RRELs granted in the National Capital Region were used for the acquisition of condominiu

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