...the Burger Flipper turned Franchiser

From burger flipper to franchiser


BusinessWorld
02 October 2019


The Entrepreneur Of The Year Philippines 2019 has concluded its search for the country’s most successful and inspiring entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur Of The Year Philippines is a program of the SGV Foundation, Inc. with the participation of co-presenters Department of Trade and Industry, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, and the Philippine Stock Exchange. In the next few weeks, Businessworld will feature each of the finalists for the Entrepreneur Of The Year Philippines 2019.

BILLIE JEAN KING once said, “Champions keep playing until they get it right.” In sports and in business, those who work hard and persevere are rewarded.

Rolandrei “Zark” Varona, 34, entered the game in unfavorable conditions with a failed franchise venture and dwindling capital.



Nevertheless, he paired his natural business acumen with an unwavering tenacity and grew from a humble stall owner to a food franchise powerhouse.

Although he lost his father at the age of two, he recalls many fond childhood memories with his mother and sister — especially their family meals after Sunday mass. The restaurants they frequented left a deep impression on him and by high school, he had his heart set on becoming a chef.

“I knew that I wanted my own restaurant someday,” he said.

It was natural that he went on to study Hotel and Restaurant Management in the Philippine Women’s University.

Even before graduating, Mr. Varona started with capital from his allowance and his salary as a paid intern for a famous steakhouse. He later had the opportunity to join a cruise ship as a cook, saving up most of his earnings for his future business.

Mr. Varona shared that he battled homesickness, but his determination to put up his own restaurant and the continuing support of his family pulled him through.

After two years at sea, he was 23 and had enough savings to start his own business. Wanting to learn the ins and outs of running a business, Mr. Varona decided to purchase a noodle house franchise. He personally filed the papers and got the necessary permits to open his stall in Divisoria.

He quickly realized that running a business was not easy. After a few months of operation, his stall was earning barely enough to break even and he was slowly using up his capital. He decided to close it down.

But Mr. Varona never faltered, he continued scouting for potential business locations. He found a small space along Taft Avenue, but thought that a food cart would not match the market.

However, something about the location kept drawing him back until he finally decided to create his own concept. He studied what kind of food would sell in the predominantly student market in the area. He realized that there wasn’t any burger joint with student-friendly prices. As a burger lover himself, Mr. Varona often felt frustrated that there were few options between fast food and gourmet burgers. With his experiences from travelling and his skill in cooking, he developed a concept that would address the market gap.

With a portion of his savings gone, Mr. Varona borrowed P200,000 from his mother to complete his P600,000 initial investment to make Zark’s Burgers a reality. Mr. Varona was in charge of almost everything — from filing permits, menu development, construction and interior design.

In 2009, Zark’s Burgers was finally unveiled to the public with a promise to deliver burgers that are fresh, huge and great.

Named after himself, Zark’s Burgers sports theme reflected Mr. Varona’s like for sports, big food and value for money.

“I don’t serve typical cheeseburgers,” Mr. Varona said of his culinary creations.

Customers have over 20 burgers to choose from — most of which are under P250 — with interesting variations such as the bacon wrapped burger and glazed donut burger.

Inspired by TV show Man vs. Food, Mr. Varona developed his own burger challenges — Tombstone and Jawbreaker — that captured his young market. The highly popular Jawbreaker challenge, where the winner wins a free shirt and has his picture included in a hall of fame, has become a standard dare for barkadas — inadvertently becoming part of youth culture.

In just seven months of operation, Zark’s Burgers was able to earn back Mr. Varona’s initial investment. Mr. Varona admits he did not expect the warm welcome he received from students. With this initial success, he was able to expand the original 16-seater space to 120 seats.

Soon enough, he started opening branches across Metro Manila and eventually entered the Visayas and Mindanao markets.

As he expanded, he started to struggle managing the company alone and realized that he couldn’t develop a sustainable business by himself.

“I was learning but it wasn’t at the same pace with the company’s growth,” Mr. Varona said.

Seeing his own limitation, he professionalized his team.

As a young entrepreneur, Mr. Varona knows he has much to learn and looks to seasoned professionals to gain insights on how to run the business. When he found out that his food cost was high, compared to industry standards, he approached one of his former mentors and worked with him to slowly improve efficiency at Zark’s Burgers.

While Mr. Varona was initially apprehensive about the possibility of franchising, he recognized the difficulty and cost of managing branches outside of Metro Manila — especially in the Visayas and Mindanao. He realized that in order to grow the business and eventually expand outside the Philippines, he had to franchise. He hired an expert on franchising and created a system for franchising. He would also partner with his long-time supplier to put up commissaries for burger patties and seasonings.

Now on its 10th year, Zark’s Burgers boasts of 60 branches nationwide and employs over 800 people across all facets of its operations.

For Mr. Varona, however, success is being able to do what you love and having the ability to give back. “Cheesy as it sounds, I want the economy itself to grow,” Mr. Varona said.

Apart from his regular outreach programs, he wants to transform lives by imparting to aspiring entrepreneurs the skills and knowledge needed to start their own business. He provides mentorship through Endeavor Philippines, Resto Coach, Go Negosyo and giving talks in universities.

Like many others, Mr. Varona embarked on his entrepreneurial journey armed with a dream. Unlike many, he never lost sight of his goal and persisted through every challenge. He tells aspiring entrepreneurs, “Look into yourself and find your purpose. From there, 

...the Asia's Top best Employer Brands

Home Credit Philippines named as one of Asia's Top 100 Best Employer Brands




Manila Bulletin
01 October 2019

Home Credit Philippines was distinguished as one of the Top 100 Best Employer Brands in Asia for 2019-2020 by the Employer Branding Institute and World HRD Congress at the 10th Asia’s Best Employer Brand Awards. 

Held last August 15, 2019 at the Pan Pacific, Singapore, the Asia’s Best Employer Brand Awards recognizes leading organizations within the region that have effectively built its employer brand through exemplary human resource initiatives and practices. 

This is the first time Home Credit Philippines has been awarded by the said award-giving body.

Alpha Omega Aquino, SHRM-SCP, Home Credit Philippines’ Head of Talent Acquisition, proudly dedicated the organization’s success to its people. “This [award] is for our more than 5 million customers in the Philippines and our 12,000 employees, who are our own brand ambassadors.”

...the environment-friendly country

Philippines joins Southeast Asian nations rejecting plastic waste


Jun Endo
Nikkei Asian Review
14 September 2019

MANILA -- The Philippines is getting serious about plastic waste imported illegally from developed countries, announcing in August that it would impose a three-month moratorium on waste-related imports.

Plastic waste is sorted at a new recycling plant in Metro Manila. The Philippines has seen its plastic waste imports rise 150% from 2016 to about 11,800 tons in 2018.

It has even sent some back to Canada, which had been discovered shipping waste illegally to the country for years -- a revelation that so infuriated President Rodrigo Duterte that he recalled his ambassador to Canada and threatened war.

"We are not the world's dump site," the outspoken president said.

To help deal with the problem, a new 25 million peso ($481,877) garbage-disposal plant in Metro Manila is scheduled to go online soon. The project is being headed by the Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability, a nonprofit organization consisting of global food and consumer goods giants such as Nestle, Coca-Cola and Unilever.

The facility will pulverize about 1 ton of plastic a day -- equal to about 400,000 sachets of shampoo and instant coffee -- to make sidewalk blocks and other products.

But while every bit helps, the plant will hardly put a dent in the roughly 60 billion plastic sachets said to be in circulation, the vast majority of which are destined for dumps. And because making road blocks from recycled plastic is about 14% more expensive than from concrete, the facility will encourage environmentally conscious infrastructure and construction companies to buy them.

"Our first goal is to make projects like this investable," said PARMS Executive Director Paolo Gonzales. "If we can prove that it will be profitable -- that we can gain a return on our investment -- we will be able to get other sources of funding and replicate it, maybe in other cities in Metro Manila."

More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the world's oceans each year, with China and four other Asian nations accounting for the majority of this. Meanwhile, the mountains of plastic waste produced globally had largely gone unnoticed until China began reducing waste imports in 2014 before banning them outright in 2018.

With nowhere to go, the waste found its way to Southeast Asia, with the Philippines seeing plastic waste imports rise 150% from 2016 to about 11,800 tons in 2018.

But the country has had enough. Following Duterte's tirade, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources announced the three-month moratorium. A department official urged businesses to take the waste matter seriously and promised to cooperate with them in their efforts to tackle the problem.

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives has heavily criticized multinationals' reliance on single-use plastics, saying that nearly 60% of plastic packaging in the Philippines comes from 10 multinational companies, including Nestle, Unilever and Procter & Gamble.

Moreover, investors are beginning to focus on environmental, social and governance -- or ESG -- investment principles so businesses cannot afford to ignore the issue.

Many other Southeast Asian countries are also unhappy with multinationals over the vast amounts of plastic waste they generate. This has prompted about 40 companies -- including Dow Chemical and BASF -- to establish in January the nonprofit Alliance to End Plastic Waste.

At an August meeting in Bangkok, the Alliance announced it will invest $1 billion in Southeast Asia and elsewhere over the next five years to improve waste control systems and infrastructure needed to collect plastics.

"While our effort will be global, the Alliance can have the greatest impact by focusing on parts of the world where the challenge is greatest -- such as Southeast Asia, where more than half of the world's plastic waste has been found -- and by sharing solutions and best practices so that these efforts can be amplified and scaled-up around the world," said Antoine Grange, CEO of Recycling and Recovery of SUEZ Asia, an Alliance member.

The Alliance's ultimate goal is to build recycling-oriented economies in the region in cooperation with member companies.global

Researcher Ella Hermonio contributed to this report.

...the first US gold service Asian hotel

Filipino hotel brand is first in Asia to receive US ‘gold service’ certification

 

 

Sunstar.com

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

SEDA, AyalaLand Hotels and Resorts’ wholly-Filipino hotel brand, has been named a Certified “Gold Service” Property (CGSP) by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI).

It is the first hotel brand in Asia to receive this honor. The institute is a globally respected name in the hospitality industry with 15,000 hotel members worldwide.

Ed Kastli, AHLEI vice president, disclosed that being named a CGSP is an affirmation that an establishment’s front-liners meet the highest international standard of service. “It recognizes an establishment’s commitment to quality, service and hospitality.”

Seda is the first hotel brand in Asia which trained its staff in the customer “Gold Service” program. Hotel front-liners in the chain’s three properties – namely Seda BGC, Seda Abreeza in Davao City and Seda Centrio in Cagayan de Oro city – passed the individual certification.

Wilma Estaura, Seda’s group director for human resources and accredited trainor of the AHLEI’s Customer Gold Service program identified the goal: “We want our front-liners to anticipate the needs of guests and respond by offering service that is over and above their duty. This is what it takes to delight a guest.” She cites the case of front desk officers going out of their way to requisition for towels to offer guests who had been drenched by a typhoon, delighting those affected when they entered the hotel.

Seda’s group general manager Andrea Mastellone explained that the hotels monitor the comments of their guests online as well as in their daily interactions with Seda employees.

Management recognizes guest commendations as key indicators of delightful service. In December 2013, for instance, a guest traveling with family remarked: “The number one thing I like about this place is the service. You feel special because everyone remembers your name.” A guest from Riverside, California said in a post the same month: “Everyone was amazing. They made massage appointments, opened doors, did my laundry and room service – all with a smile.”

Kastli stated: “To create a lasting impression on guests, we encourage the staff to provide ‘wow experiences.’” Estaura relates that staff are trained to intuitively read a guest’s needs while remaining authentic and sincere and to respond promptly and selflessly. This special training ensures that each Seda destination will be offering the guest a distinctive and unique experience – “not a cookie-cutter approach,” said Estaura.

“To put it another way, we want guests to remember the staff who made their stay special… Mario, the hotel car driver, who gave his passenger a quick overview of the Philippines on the way from the airport to the hotel; Ivy, who serves during breakfast and remains pleasant even when the restaurant is packed; and so on. After all, it’s people who make all the difference.”

 

...the retail hotspot

PHL retail industry seen as 'hot spot' in intl investment

 

   

Published on Saturday,

17 August 2013 20:14

Written by Bianca Cuaresma

The country’s retail industry is poised to become a “hot spot” for local and international retail investments with the current boom in consumer spending and economic growth, a global investment consultancy group said.

 

Oxford Business Group (OBG), in its economic update last week, said the Philippines represents “an important new market” in retail sales and investment as they expect the growth in the economy and the Filipinos’ purchasing power to continue in the next few years.

 

“Strong economic growth is boosting consumer purchasing power in the Philippines, driving retail sales and creating opportunities for investment by both local and international chains,” OBG said.

 

The report, titled “Retail in the Philippines set to soar and spread,” noted the Philippine Retailers Association’s (PRA) expectation of a double-digit growth in the retail industry to kick in this year, following the 10-percent growth in 2012.

 

Paul Santos, national vice president of the PRA, told OBG the country’s retail sector would be worth P1.61 trillion by 2016, up from P1.43 trillion in 2011.

 

OBG also said officials from international retailers have seen the benefits of investing in the Philippines.

 

“In July 2013 Ian Wade, executive advisor to Sainsbury’s, the UK’s second-largest supermarket chain, said the retail sector needs to market itself more to international brands, praising the Philippines as offering many advantages, compared to its nearby markets.” OBG said in its report.

According to OBG, Wade said the Philippines offers better value for money than its peer countries like Hong Kong.

 

“It has a greater variety of stores than most countries; some of the biggest malls in the world are all in one city. From a retail point of view, the Philippines has a lot to offer,” Wade said.

 

OBG also noted that international retailers expressed their interest in the Philippine market.

 

Earlier this year, the fashion chain H&M said it was in the final stages of penetrating the Philippine market to join other international clothing lines that already launched their brands in the country such as Forever 21 and Uniqlo. In domestic investments, OBG also cited the growth of one of the growing supermarket chains in the country, where the store openings exceeded the administrations’ expectations.

 

“We were supposed to have 200 stores across the country by the end of 2015, but now we’re predicting that for the end of this year,” Leonardo Dayao, Puregold supermarket chain president, told OBG.

 

The Philippines, however, has yet to improve on online shopping as about only 3 percent of Filipinos use e-commerce.

 

OBG said the challenge for online sellers is to find the right payment mechanism for the country.

“Growth in online shopping is just one important change in a rapidly changing retail market, as consumers continue their shift their purchases from informal outlets to chain stores, both local and international,” OBG said.

 

...the top performing Jollibee outlet

Jollibee in Singapore is fastfood chain’s top performing outlet worldwide

The Straits Times-Asia News Network

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013

 

 

SINGAPORE—The Jollibee outlet at shopping center Lucky Plaza in Singapore is the fast food chain’s top performing outlet worldwide.

The Philippine-based Jollibee, famous for its fried chicken dish Chickenjoy, has over 800 outlets across the globe and opened its first Singapore outlet on the sixth floor of Lucky Plaza at Orchard Road on March 12.

Jollibee vice president for international operations Dennis M. Flores told The Straits Times that the Lucky Plaza outlet attracted 35,000 customers in its first week but did not elaborate on customer numbers so far. Jollibee is looking to open another outlet by the end of the year at either Tampines or Causeway Point in Woodlands, he added.

Jollibee formally marked its first milestone store in Singapore on Wednesday with a celebration officiated by its global chief executive and chairman Tony Tan Caktiong. Among the invited guests were former president of Singapore, S R Nathan, and Temasek Holdings’ chief executive and executive director Ho Ching.

 

...the Cannes Festival of Creativity top awardee

Entertainment

Pinoys roar at Cannes Lions 2013

byRappler.com
06/21/2013

 

 

STRIKING AND IMMEDIATE. The Schick Icons graphics won in the Outdoor Lions category. Photo courtesy of Zak Yuson

MANILA, Philippines - Pinoy pride fueled an overflow of creative juices as Filipinos took home the top awards in the 60th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

DM9JaymeSyfu, JWT Manila, Y&R Philippines, and Ace Saatchi & Saatchi took home a total of 8 Lions in different categories, with campaigns ranging from public service to ambient media.

Touted as the world's biggest celebration of creativity in communications, the Cannes Lions is an annual gathering of advertisers and marketing professionals. Each year, tens of thousands of delegates from over 90 countries convene to celebrate their industry and compete to take home the coveted Lions.

Pinoy Lions

DM9's campaign for Smart Communications was awarded the country's first Mobile Lions Grand Prix, the highest distinction in the category, for its literacy campaign via mobile technology, "Smart TXTBKS."

JWT Manila was awarded a Gold Lion in the Outdoor Lions category for its Energizer Schick Icons poster campaign. The campaign marketed the men's razor brand through black and white graphics (the lead photo of this report) portraying such icons as Charlie Chaplin, Salvador Dali, the Guy Fawkes mask and Mr. T.

The jurors were impressed by the ad. In an interview with Adobo Magazine, Tony Granger, who presided over the Outdoor Lions category, said he found the image "striking and immediate" and "a solid Gold Lion."

A member of the JWT team, art director Danielle Lim, expressed elation over the news. She noted that the outdoor category is "one of the toughest" in the competition.

Y&R Philippines' earned 3 Lions for Maynilad Water's "Dengue Bottle" campaign – a silver in the media category and two Bronze Lions in the outdoor category and the promo and activation category.

Ace Saatchi & Saatchi's "Screen-Age Love Story," a campaign for PLDT MyDSL presenting the personal side of digital communication, won a silver and a bronze in the media category, while its Ariel "Olympic Shirt Flag," upholding nationalism and Pinoy Pride, was awarded a bronze.
Watch the highlights of the festival here:



- Rappler.com

 

...the Filipino supermodel

Model man

How a career in fashion found Paolo Roldan, Filipino-Canadian male supermodel

By Maris A. Mortel

 

 

Manila Bulletin

Published: June 7, 2013

 

Paolo Roldan at the press interview session at the Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2013.

 

With his 6’2” height and sculpted, muscled physique, it’s not surprising to know that international runway and print model Paolo Roldan didn’t initially dream of becoming a professional model.

Instead, he wanted to become a professional basketball player. Born in the Philippines, Paolo moved to Canada with his family as a young boy. But he would later return to his birth country to try to pursue a career in the sport. “Actually, my first passion was basketball,” shares Paolo in a one-on-one interview during his recent trip to Manila for the Bench Body Holiday 2013 show. “I actually came back to the Philippines to play basketball. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for me.” It was after this frustrated attempt that he decided to take up civil engineering as his undergraduate course. Yet after completing his studies, Paolo chose to heed the call of another path. “I went back to Toronto and a friend advised me to try something new. And that’s how I got into fashion. I started as a retail guy, and from there I became a buyer, then a creative director, and so on and so forth.”

It was when he was on a trip as a fashion buyer in New York that Paolo’s life began an amazing twist, where he was discovered by no less than Boss Models New York founder and owner David Bossman. Despite having the model build, Paolo never saw himself modeling while he was growing up. “I mean, I’ve always been asked [to] since I was younger. But my parents were all about just getting your education, getting a normal job,” he says. “[When I got asked again] I just thought maybe I should try it because it keeps happening over and over.” And the rest is history in the making.

Paolo began his modeling career on a high note, walking the Fashion Weeks in New York and Paris, appearing in the buff in a daring editorial for Vogue Paris—which certainly increased his profile—and landing a major Givenchy ad campaign. While his early body of work may precede him, three years into the industry and he is still going strong. This year, Paolo has walked the men’s show for designer brands Michael Bastian, Giorgio Armani, Diesel, Phillip Plein, among others; his most recent catwalk being for Bench Body during the Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2013 show.

Paolo sees his entry into the fashion industry as a “natural progression,” an interest he credits to his mother, “who’s been dressing me up since I was a little baby!” and something that is in his blood, “an uncle of my dad is actually a designer here in the Philippines, Aureo Alonzo.” Today, Paolo’s personal style changes according to his moods. “Right now I love heritage brands, mainly Double RL, it has a very manly look. But I do like to get suited up and look dapper once in a while.”

One could say that modeling for a popular underwear brand is also a natural progression, reason why today Paolo is Bench Body’s latest endorser. The campaign, shot in New York, was styled by Noel Manapat and photographed by Brent Chua, also an international male model. This could be the reason why Paolo was immediately comfortable with Brent and relaxed at the shoot, even though it was their first time to meet. “Bench contacted my agency in New York. I was actually foreseeing or hoping, at least, for something like that happening. So I was really happy and my agent contacted me about it,” shares Paolo. The images show off his perfectly sculpted body in Bench Body’s athletic-inspired underwear, designed with colorful piping and in contrasting colors.

Despite the tough, bad-boy look his images project, with his serious stares and stoic face, “I’m not technically a bad boy (laughs),” says Paolo. “I may look (does serious face), I mean that’s what looks best. But I’m very (smiling, makes a heart sign with his hands).” A trait that is certain to make him even more irresistible.

 

...the Asia's first NBA Cafe

Asia's first NBA Café to open in Bonifacio Global City

May 6, 2013

GMA News

 

The first NBA Café in Asia will be located in the soon-to-open SM AURA Mall in Bonifacio Global City, according to the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the cafe's manager Hoopla Inc. on Monday.

This is the second league-owned restaurant set to open outside the U.S.; an NBA Café will also open in Madrid this year.

Scheduled to open here in September, the NBA Café will feature memorabilia displays, NBA highlights and programming, and an NBA retail area. It will also host viewing parties and appearances by NBA talent.

The menu will feature American bar and grill favorites and a selection of Asian-Filipino classics.

NBA legend Muggsy Bogues (third from right) dons a hard hat to visit the NBA Café construction site with NBA Asia and Hoopla executives.

 

 

 

NBA legend Muggsy Bogues, who was in the country for the finale of the Jr. NBA program, visited the cafe site.

“This is my first time in the Philippines and I’m overwhelmed by the passion the people have for basketball here,” said Bogues. “NBA Café will be a destination where fans here can watch games in an entertaining atmosphere that captures the history and excitement of the NBA.” — BM, GMA News

...the pollution-free Philippines

Painting a pollution-free Philippines

By Bayani San Diego Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

April 18, 2013

“This Filipino invention has caught the attention of first-world countries. It’s inspiring. We wanted to tell our countrymen and the world that air pollution is a major concern and that there is a Filipino invention that can help combat pollutants especially in urban centers” - Marnie Manicad

 



MARNIE Manicad filmed on Edsa for several days and nights

 

Quite appropriately, a new documentary on an environment-friendly Filipino invention will premiere on Sunday on National Geographic Channel—a day before Earth Day.
 

The docu, entitled “Asian Innovation: Knoxout,” is part of the NGC’s series “Innovasians.”
 

Documentarian Marnie Manicad, the docu’s director, told the Inquirer: “The ‘Innovasians’ series features different inventions from all over Asia. I wanted to showcase a unique invention from the Philippines: air-cleaning paint.”
 

Manicad was tasked to make the 10-minute docu on a type of paint that contains photocatalytic titanium dioxide (TiO2) which turns ordinary water vapor to free radicals that break down two components of smog: NOx (highly reactive gases containing nitrogen and oxygen) and VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
 

A Filipino company Pacific Paint is behind this innovation—which it developed with United Kingdom’s Cristal and is now available in the market under the brand name, Boysen KNOxOut, Manicad clarified.
 

Solid info
 

Manicad made sure that the docu’s informative component was solid—so that it wouldn’t come across as mere propaganda or an advertorial piece.
 

“From the very start, we made sure that we balanced the facts and information that will be included in the docu,” she explained. “Of course, it is factual to mention the product and what it can do to the environment, but we made it a point [to ensure] that our resource persons’ interviews were backed by studies.”
 

Rest assured, the docu passed through the network’s stringent screening process—the same drill that Manicad had become familiar with when she directed the docu “Inside: Malacañang” for  NGC last year.
 

“The channel is very strict with content and technical quality.
 

Our script was screened by NGC teams in Hong Kong and Washington DC before it was voiced by (narrator) Joonee Gamboa,” she recalled.
 

As such, she made certain that she was equipped with “extensive research” before embarking on this project.
 

“NGC is one of the most credible documentary channels in the world,” she said. Since the docu will be aired on NGC, it will “highlight a Filipino achievement and invention to combat air pollution” on an international platform.                                                  
 

Telling this story in an engaging manner was a big challenge, she owned up. “We not only needed to come up with the best visuals, but viewers need to be able to feel, smell and appreciate those images.”
 

Feel-good docu
 

“This Filipino invention has caught the attention of first-world countries. It’s inspiring. We wanted to tell our countrymen and the world that air pollution is a major concern and that there is a Filipino invention that can help combat pollutants especially in urban centers,” she explained.
 

Last year, Manicad and her team began filming all over Edsa, Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare, which now features murals that used the air-cleaning paint. “We shot on Edsa for several days and nights while the murals were being painted.”