Bigger 2LaBS Attended

The Laguna Cultural Center was once again packed for the 2nd Laguna Blog-
ging Summit.

About a thousand people were in attendance as the Laguna Blogging Summit had a second staging at the Laguna Cultural Center in the province's capital town of Sta. Cruz.

The two-day blogging summit proved to be even bigger than the first as no less than motivational speaker Chinkee Tan and SEO expert Ben Francia were among the key speakers.

Also doing a talk again were last year's speakers Pocholo Gonzales and COMELEC Spokesman James Jimenez.

Chris Lao, whose ridicule received from getting stuck at the height of heavy rain inspired him to stand up against cyberbullying, shared his current fight against it during the event.

Anakbayan chair Venzie Crisostomo and Wazzup Pilipinas head Ross Del Rosario also shared their tidbits on how social media helped them win the audience in their respective fields.

Gardenia once again gave free snacks to the attendance, while Greenwich took care of the lunch. Gift cheques from Zoomanity, AirAsia, and 2Go were also given away.

Gardenia’s Legacy in the Baking Industry

The Gardenia plant in Biñan City

Gardenia s roots go back to Singapore where, in 1978, it began as a humble in-store bakery. Increasing demand led to the opening of Gardenia s first-commercial bakery at Pandan Loop in March 1983. Gardenia has since been the market leader in Singapore and has expanded its operations in Asia to countries such as Malaysia and Thailand with the latest in the Gardenia chain of bakeries here in the Philippines.

It all began in 1997, QAF Limited through Gardenia International Pte. Ltd. established Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Inc. and started construction of its bakery plant in Laguna International Industrial Park (LIIP), Biñan City, Laguna.

Gardenia Philippines started its operations in 1998 with the state-of-the-art bread factory rated as one of the most modern large scale bread manufacturing facility in the country. Its major, highly-automated equipment come from the best bakery equipment suppliers from Germany, Holland, UK, and USA making it the leading manufacturing company in the Philippines.

Over the years, Gardenia has gained wide acceptance and is now considered as the most widely distributed loaf brand, reaching many parts of the country. 

Gardenia Philippines offers a wide array of superior bakery products including white, wheat and health breads, flavored loaves, pandesal and snack items like snack cakes, muffins and toasts. Gardenia breads are known for their good taste, freshness, softness, oven-baked aroma and nutritive value. The popular Classic White Bread is cholesterol free and bromate free, has zero transfat, and is vitamin and mineral fortified, exceeding DOH recommendations. Its product slogan "So good...you can even eat it on its own" best describes the product benefits.

Gardenia, being a consumer-focused and branded food company, is singularly driven in delivering superior consumer value through providing consumers with superior products. The Gardenia trademark means value and is respected all over Asia.

Gardenia has been awarded with International Organization for Standardization ISO 9001: 2000 certifications from 2003 to 2009 and has now upgraded to ISO 9001:2008 in compliance with Quality Management System and certification for product quality excellence. This assures that consumers only get the highest quality products in the market. Moreover, Gardenia is HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) certified since 2003 to present—proof of the company’s adherence to the systematic approach in the identification, evaluation, and control of food safety standards. From 2004-2010, Gardenia was accorded Superbrands status by Superbrands Ltd., an independent authority and arbiter on branding. This, on the other hand, re-affirms that Gardenia has met the stringent criteria of market dominance, longevity, goodwill, customer loyalty and overall market acceptance. Another notable award is the Annual National Consumers’ Award (ANCA) as the “Outstanding Bread Manufacturer” for five straight years.

These are some testaments which prove that Gardenia provides only the best products for Filipino consumers.

Gardenia Philippines pioneered a unique distribution system, ensuring that only fresh breads reach consumers every day. Gardenia strictly follows its international policy of keeping only fresh stocks on the store shelves. As soon as products come out of the factory, delivery vans leave the production plant as early as 4 o’clock in the morning to bring the products to specific locations in the country. Replacing unsold breads in store shelves with only freshly baked top-quality products during each day of delivery is a Gardenia practice unmatched in the industry.

Since the start of its operations, Gardenia s distribution had grown rapidly. Gardenia is now considered as the most widely distributed loaf brand in Metro Manila to as far as Isabela, Abra, Cagayan and Ilocos provinces in the North, the Bicol region in the South, and Negros, Samar, Antique, Aklan, Iloilo, and Leyte in the Visayas region. Increasing demand led Gardenia to reach Cebu, Bohol, Butuan City, Iligan City, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, and Davao City in Mindanao. From Gardenia s establishment in 1998, the brand’s success has been starkly evident with its continuous and rapid sales growth.

This combination of superior product quality, advanced bread-making technology and extensive system of distribution reflects the consumer-oriented vision of Gardenia Philippines that brings consumers the highest level of product satisfaction.

The reason behind Gardenia’s success is no secret; it is the people who made Gardenia what it is today and the goal of sustaining Gardenia’s leadership and excellence. Our enthusiasm to serve constitutes the “yeast that raises the dough” and with this, Gardenia will continue to take the lead.

Fibr: Home’s Most Powerful Broadband

If I were to create a character in the Hunger Games saga, I will name him "Speedy". Speedy will be too fast and quick to evade the opponent's weapons and will be that agile too to attack them to win the Hunger Games. Also, I can handle a lot of weapons at a time and use them almost simultaneously.

Speedy will be just like Fibr, PLDT Home's most powerful broadband. It's faster than other broadband networks. Also, because of Fibr, you can seamlessly and simultaneously experience the following:

1. Browsing of multiple websites

2. Stream hundreds blockbuster movies on-demand from Clickplay

3. Watch Cignal Digital TV Channels

PLDT Fibr is now available now in over 800 fiber-powered villages nationwide. Visit www.pldthome.com or call 101-FIBR (3427) for more details. Here's a creative visualization of how Fibr looks like:

Tiago Restaurant: Bringing Progressive Filipino Foods

The South Triangle area is home to the more well-known hangouts in Quezon City. However, inside the place where you can find the likes of Zirkoh, Vizio, and Amici is a place called Tiago. The restaurant serves "progressive Filipino cuisine". You may ask, "What is progressive cuisine?" I and my crew went to check the place out.

As I mentioned above, Tiago brings you Filipino cuisine, but the resto brings it to the next level. According to owner Sigrid Buendia, they intend to deliver a different kind of Filipino dining experience by fusing our favorite dishes with other dishes. That's what she calls "progressive cuisine".

Tiago owner Sigrid Buendia (R) with homie Grace Nicolas

One example of this progressive Filipino cuisine is the chopsuey salad, in which the well-known veggie dish is turned to a dessert or even an appetizer.

Also available at Tiago is the appetizer tilapia rolls--slices of fried tilapia and some rice rolled into mustasa leaves.

If you want more "fishy" jawbreaking, check out Tiago's tinapa rice, where your favorite sinangag is added by tinapa flakes.

If this fried rice is not yet enough for you, you can check out its other rice dishes like the adobo rice.

Also available at Tiago is the ever well-known sisig. It's delicious even if it's not on a sizzling plate.

The last main dish we tried at our visit was the pork humba.

Of course, what's our dining experience without some dessert? Tiago offers leche flan and a different kind of suman--unwrapped!

Aside from the desserts above, Tiago also serves flavors of ice cream different from the commercial ones. Here's the restaurant's ice cream menu (Yes! You can only find these types of ice cream at Tiago.).

Tiago Progressive Filipino Restaurant is located at Scout Fuentebella St. cor. Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City, infront of Bellagio Square. It's open daily from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM except on Mondays. For more inquiries, call (02)4130616.

2LaBS Pushes Through This November

The 2nd Laguna Blogging Summit (#2LaBS) will be on November 14 and 15, 2013 from 8am to 5pm with the registration that will start at 7am at the Cultural Center of Laguna inside the Provincial Capitol at the Municipality of Santa Cruz. For this year, the organizers invited different empowered and powerful influencers from the mainstream media and online who they tagged as Social Revolutionists for showing their advocacies without fear, conveying their voices effectively with action, influencing their communities and by being the representatives of social forces.

The organizers are very happy to announce that Governor ER Ejercito is in full support for this historical event. Last year, the event received more than 700 attendees from different schools such as Laguna State Polytechnic University (LSPU), AMA, STI, and UPLB. For this year, students of De La Salle Zobel are coming to #2LaBS to learn more about the importance of Online Marketing, effectiveness of Social Media in todays business, Cybercrime Law, Anti Cyber Bullying, Blogging 101, and why 33% Filipinos are online recently.The 2nd Laguna Blogging Summit (#2LaBS) will be on November 14 and 15, 2013 from 8am to 5pm with the registration that will start at 7am at the Cultural Center of Laguna inside the Provincial Capitol at the Municipality of Santa Cruz. For this year, the organizers invited different empowered and powerful influencers from the mainstream media and online who they tagged as Social Revolutionists for showing their advocacies without fear, conveying their voices effectively with action, influencing their communities and by being the representatives of social forces. 

The organizers are very happy to announce that Governor Jeorge "ER" Ejercito is always in full support for this historical event. Last year, the event received more than 700 attendees from different schools such as Laguna State Polytechnic University (LSPU), AMA, STI and UPLB. For this year, De La Salle Zobel from Alabang, Muntinlupa City are coming to #2LaBS to learn more about the importance of Online Marketing,  effectiveness of Social Media in today's business, Cybercrime Law, Anti-Cyberbullying, Blogging 101 and why 33% Filipinos are online recently.

According to former 2nd District of Laguna board member and current assistant secretary general of Philippine Red Cross Neil Andrew Nocon, "The 1st Laguna Blogging Summit last year contributed to the Laguna influx flow of tourist." This statement from the one in charge last time of the Laguna Tourism Office only proved how effective social media is in giving awareness and hitting the right target market.

For this year, different companies shows support to the 2nd Laguna Blogging Summit. Greenwich Pizza made possible for the organizers to meet at their different restaurants/outlets in Metro Manila most especially at Philfirst Building at Makati where Greenwich has a conference room. The event's first social media launch and website launch happened also at Greenwich Pizza Philfirst Building outlet and attended by Philippine Red Cross and Zoomanity Group.

The newly elected 3rd District of Laguna Representative Marisol Aragones shows also her full support to the event.

The 2nd Laguna Blogging Summit Final Program and Set of Speakers with their respective topics:

1st Day November 14, 2013 Thursday

8:00am-8:15am Philippine National Anthem

8:15am-8:20am Opening Remarks-Dr. Nestor De Vera (President- Laguna Science Polytechnic University) 

8:20am-8:25am Keynote Speaker-Gov. ER Ejercito (Province of Laguna)

8:25am-9:00am  Engr. Grace Bondad Nicolas (Social Media Ethics)

9:00am-10:00am Chinkee Tan (Finding your Passion)

10:00am-11:00am  Eyriche Cortez (Power Tips For Blogging)

11:00am-12:00pm Alvin Cloyd Dakis (Bashers in Your Blog: A Survival Guide)

12:00pm-1:00pm Lunch/Raffle

1:00pm-1:30pm Rhodora Espiritu  (EduBlogging)

1:30pm-2:30pm James Jimenez (Social Media in Voters Education)

2:30pm-3:00pm Bert Guevarra  (Environment & Social Media)

3:00pm-3:30pm Snacks /Raffle 

3:30pm-4:30pm Venzie Crisostomo (Advocacy online/offline)

4:30pm-5:00pm Janette Toral  (Bloggers as Digital Influencers)

2nd Day November 15, 2013 Friday

8:00am-8:15am Philippine National Anthem

8:15am-8:20am Opening Remarks-Neil Andrew Nocon (Assistant Secretary General-Philippine National Red Cross) 

8:20am-8:25am Keynote Speaker-Mayor Girlie Ejercito

8:25am -9:00am Dr. Tess Termulo (Health Advocacy)

9:00am-10:00am Atty. Chris Lao (Anti- Cyber Bullying and Cybercrime Law)

10:00am-11:00am Ben Francia (Search Engine Optimization)

11:00am-12:00 pm Art Samaniego (Journalism  in the Age of Social Media)

12:00 noon-1:00pm Lunch/Raffle

1:00pm-2:00pm Pocholo De Leon Gonzales (Branding)

2:00pm-3:00pm Lloyd Luna (Blogging Inspirational Life Stories)

3:00pm-3:30pm Raffle and Snacks 

3:30pm-4:00pm John Cueto (Niche)

4:00pm-4:30pm Carlos Celdran (Why I do, What I do)

4:30pm-5:00pm Zero Basura Blog Contest Launch under Earth Day Network Philippines & #2LaBS

Oriang and 100 Miles Cafe in Taguig and Tiago Progressive Cuisine at Quezon City helped the organizers too by providing the venue and food to some of their meetings while Zoomanity Group, Air Asia, and 2GO Travel provided gift certificates to be raffled off for the attendees. 

The organizers would like to thank Pro Friends, Gardenia Bakers Philippines, Elabram Systems, Commission on Election (COMELEC), PATAS, and Philippine Health Bloggers Society (PHBS) for their invaluable support to make the event possible not to mention our media partners such as Kliping Times, wheninmanila.com, The Tribune Post, Ronda Balita, Royal Cable, Magic Expose, wazzuppilipinas.com, Blog-PH.com, Webby Thoughts, and Manila Channel. 

The event hosts are Rod Magaru and Florencio Jusay Jr. 

Organizers; Grace Bondad Nicolas, Dianne Salonga, Mac Vasquez, Pepi De Leon, Ross Del Rosario, Rod Magaru, Florencio Jusay Jr, Katrina Capili, Odessa Escaler, Cindy Nicolas, Mark Acsay, JayL Aquino, John Cueto, Jojo Busayong and Ivan Saldajeno. 

For more information:

Official Website: http://www.labsph.com

Twitter: @labsummit #2LaBS

Facebook: The Laguna Blogging Summit

"Pare Koi" Wins Big in Nuvali Indie Filmfest

Directors (L-R) Jade Castro, Jeffrey Jeturian, and Paul Soriano judged the
NuCinema Outdoor Film Festival in Sta. Rosa City.

"Pare Koi", and independent short film directed by Marco Subido, was the biggest winner of the NuCinema Outdoor Film Festival after it bagged the top prize in the professional category during the awarding night at The Fields in Nuvali in Sta. Rosa City.

"Pare Koi" bested two other short movies in the pro level, and Subido walked away with a scholarship for an advanced course in motion picture production.

"Pare Koi" is about a kid who encountered Hanako, a spitting koi fish. The encounter led to him catching the fish and befriending it.

Finishing second in the pro category was Hello Goodbye by Zoraya Lua. Lua received a scholarship for a basic filmmaking course.

In the novice category, Dorina Naraval's "Bugtong" got the top prize, while Athena Mendoza's "Jose Pedal" was the runner-up. A total of 11 short films made the shortlist in the novice category.

Renowned directors Paul Soriano, Jeffrey Jeturian, and Jade Castro and Spring Films producer Lucky Blanco judged the 14 short films, which will be considered for a full-length film conversion.

Aside from the free viewing of all the finalists in the filmfest, the crowd at The Fields also watched a free showing of Oscar-nominated "Transit" and Vilma Santos' "Ekstra".

Meanwhile, another one-year filmmaking scholarship is up for grabs as the voting for the People's Choice Award continues.

The movie which garners the most votes on Youtube and on Facebook will be the People's Choice winner, and the director will get the grant.

The voting is until November 9, and you can vote through Nuvali's Youtube channel or on its Facebook page.

Calamba Gets to Design Own Havaianas Flip-Flops

The Make Your Own Havaianas series goes to Calamba! The event series where the loyal Havs shoppers can design their own flip-flops came to All Flip-Flops SM Calamba Branch at the heart of the city.

The event, which ran for four days throughout the weekends, was well attended by the shoppers looking to get their own custom-made pair of Havaianas.

Also, limited edition glow-in-the-dark Havs made exclusively for the Make Your Own Havaianas series this year went on sale.

This is the first time the MYOH was held in the bustling Laguna city, and Havaianas Philippines hopes that there will be a repeat next year.