...the PH tube

PHL version of YouTube debuts, a first in Southeast Asia

 

 

10/13/2011
GMA News

 

A Philippine version of YouTube was officially unveiled on Thursday, becoming the first localized flavor of the online video site in Southeast Asia and the 34th in the world.

YouTube, which is owned by Internet giant Google, cited the prolific video habits of Filipinos in launching the localized service and noted the discovery of Filipino singing artists Charice and Arnel Pineda through the site.

Charice, who rocketed to fame after being discovered in a YouTube video while singing in a Korean talent contest, sent a video message for the launch during the event held at the Blue Leaf Tent in Taguig City.

The YouTube Philippines site offers a local interface and aggregates videos that are relevant to Filipinos. Users can go to the localized site by choosing “The Philippines" as the location setting at the bottom of the YouTube homepage.

The YouTube Philippines team and content partners. PHOTO CREDIT: NEWSBYTES.PH

To provide a unique feel, the video site signed up local content partners which include TV networks GMA, ABS-CBN, and TV5, as well as the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (Filscap) and multinational Procter and Gamble.

Also launched during the event are the updated presidential channels from Pres. Noynoy Aquino III at www.youtube.com/govph and www.youtube.com/rtvmalacanang.

Company executives also disclosed Aquino will also participate in YouTube’s World View live interview series where the questions come directly from citizens.

Aquino will be the first Asian head of state to participate in the program on November 4, officials said. US Pres. Barack Obama is also scheduled to take in the online interview series.

Julian Persaud, managing director for Google Southeast Asia, said video sharing in the Philippine is one of the highest in the Asean region.

“The Philippine online population is even bigger than the actual population of most countries in Southeast Asia," Persuad noted.

Adam Smith, head of YouTube for Asia Pacific. PHOTO CREDIT: NEWSBYTES.PH

Adam Smith, head of YouTube for Asia Pacific, added that Filipinos upload tremendous amount of videos to YouTube – also one of the highest daily averages among Internet users.

Despite its increasing presence in the country, Google executives refused to comment if it has plans of putting up a local office. The company is currently represented in the country by a consultant, Aileen Apollo.

Google executives said the local YouTube channel has the capability to livestream local events such as concerts. Last year, a concert of Irish rock band U2 was also broadcast to the global audience via YouTube.

As for local partners GMA-7 and ABS-CBN, the networks said they would put many – but not all – of their TV shows on the online video site. The content providers expect to generate revenues when advertisements are displayed in their videos uploaded in YouTube.

YouTube also described its Content Identification technology that will find unauthorized uploads of content owned by its partners, who would then have the option of either deactivating it or counting the page views as their own and collecting any revenues from the pirated videos.

Filscap, meanwhile, signed a deal with YouTube to allow Filipino music artists and composers to receive payments from their associations when rights holders distribute them.

Ricky Carandang, head of the presidential communications group, said the two YouTube presidential channels would also give Filipinos here and abroad the ability to expose corruption and the same time showcase their talent.

“Since it is impossible to reach all of our people, this initiative would provide a powerful, relevant way to inform our countrymen what this administration is doing," said Carandang.

With the localized site in the Philippines, the company also announced that opening of the YouTube Partner Program to enable regular video content creators in the country to become content partners with YouTube and monetize their work on the site through advertising.

...the Pinoy 3D film nominee

'RPG Metanoia' nominated in Asia Pacific Screen Awards

abs-cbnNEWS.com

10/12/2011

'RPG Metanoia,' the first Pinoy full-length 3D film, is nominated in the 5th Asia Pacific Screen Awards

MANILA, Philippines – Star Cinema and Ambient Media’s “RPG Metanoia” was nominated in this year's Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), which is said to be the region's highest accolade in the film industry.

"RPG Metanoia" will be competing in the Best Animated Feature Film category against Japan's "Hoshi o Ou Kodomo," Korea's "Madangeul naon amtak," Singapore's "Tatsumi" and Russia's "Gadkiy Utyonok."

APSA said winners will be announced in a ceremony at the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia on November 24.

"RPG Metanoia," an entry in last year's Metro Manila Film Festival, is the Philippines' first full-length 3D animated film.

It featured the voices of famous celebrities including Aga Muhlach, Zaijian Jaranilla, Vhong Navarro and Eugene Domingo.

...the big market

Philippines aims for bigger share of BPO market

Associated Press

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine outsourcing companies say they are aiming to snag up to 10 percent of the $270 billion global industry by 2016 and are focusing on training more workers to keep up with demand.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines says the country is now the world’s top supplier of call center operators and other voice services. It accounts for up to 7 percent of the overall market that provides banking, transcription, engineering, and other services to overseas clients — a far second to India’s 51 percent share.

Association chairman Alfredo Ayala said Tuesday the Philippines hopes to raise the number of workers from the current 600,000 to 1.3 million and to grow revenues from $11 billion this year to $25 billion by 2016.

...the Play in Hollywood

Filipino play to be shown in Hollywood for the first time

By Karen Valeza | Yahoo!

Southeast Asia Newsroom 

12 October 2011

Bernardo Bernardo (Screen grab from Kababayan LA telecast)

For the first time, a Filipino play will be shown in Hollywood.

“Ang Romansa ni Magno Rubio” kicks off the winter season of the prestigious Ford Theater this November.

The play is the Filipino adaptation of Lonnie Carter’s “The Romance of Magno Rubio.”  It is based on  writer Carlos Bulosan’s story.

“Magno Rubio” is the first Filipino play with Filipino actors to be shown on mainstream Hollywood stage.  It tells the story of Filipino immigrants in the `30s.

Veteran actor Bernardo Bernardo, who also performed in the 2004  “Magno Rubio”  translated and directed the current version.  Bernardo has been based in the US for years.

Important cultural event

“This is probably one of the more important  American cultural events in Los Angeles this year. Ito ang kauna-unahang pagkakataon na ang isang play is in Filipino and English, and on mainstream theater," Bernardo said in an interview with “Bandila.”

He added that this play opens opportunities for Filipinos to be more recognized and heard. It will also depict the  Filipinos’ history in the US.

A chance to be heard

“Parang all of a sudden, nagkaroon ng pagkakataon, nagkaroon ng puwang para marinig ang boses ng Pilipino, makita ang mukha ng Pilipino, malaman ang kanyang kasaysayan," he added.

The play will run for six weeks  starting November 4 and will have five performances per week. It also has an English version.

Jon Jon Briones, whose credentials include  “Miss Saigon” and “Sons of Anarchy ” will play the title role in the Filipino and English versions. Jon Jon said this project is very special and close to his heart.

“The story's very timely. It's about forgiveness, understanding, love, rising above hardships, and the strength of the human spirit,”  he explained.

...the FIl-Am designer aspirant

Fil-Am Joey Galon reaches finals of US reality design show

ROSE-AN JESSICA DIOQUINO, GMA News

10/08/2011

Filipino-American designer Joey Galon is making waves in the international fashion  scene after reaching the finals of a new TV reality design show in the United States, the "24-hour Catwalk."

Galon, a pageant coach based in Las Vegas, will be one of the four designers to test the spotlight in the show where the participants are tasked to create a three-piece collection within only a day.

Lifetime Television— which also ran the hit reality show “Project Runway"— has ordered 10 one-hour episodes of the unscripted fashion competition produced by New York-based Jane Street Entertainment.

The show will be hosted by British model and TV personality Alexa Chung.

The contestants’ works will be judged by designer Cynthia Rowley, publicist James LaForce, and New York Times fashion editor Derek Blasberg.

'Make it happen'

Galon, whose parents hail from Visayas, said he is “terribly excited" about the project, especially after the “tedious" process he had to go through.

“They asked me a lot of questions, there’s a lot of phone interviews. They had me create an audition video, had me describe myself… I had to put a video together and they cast me from there," he told TheFilAm.net’s Elton Lugay.

Despite the difficult audition process, Galon said he would be disappointed if he did not make it.

Galon did make it and he is now crossing his fingers for a good run in the competition.

“I have something to give. I have years and years of fashion and creativity experience and I wanna bring that forward. So whatever it takes I’m gonna make it happen," TheFilAm.net quoted him as saying.

In an interview with the Asian Journal, Galon said, "I hope that [the show], my networking and my determination to succeed will give me exposure to potential investors that will [put their money on] my talents."

Galon said he wanted to take his fashion design company to the next level and mass produce his gowns worldwide.

Pageant coach

The designer, who has quietly worked with classic looks for 15 years, owns an atelier in Las Vegas, which he officially launched at the Miss USA pageant only last year.

“I was given a booth to showcase my gowns at the Miss USA tradeshow. It was my first time to showcase my work," he told the Asian Journal.

Before the launch, Galon enjoyed two successful decades in pageant coaching and events planning.

The Filipino-American is known in the pageant circuit as part of organizing committees. He later put up “Runway 4 Life," which offers personal development, coaching, and wardrobe styling services to pageant contestants.

Because of his dedication to the area—which began in the early 1980s—Galon was made official model coach of “Model Latina," a reality search for the next top Latina model.

Proud Pinoy

Galon is hoping that people would realize what he's capable of doing, whether he wins or loses in the competition to be broadcasted in fall.

The Bay Area-raised designer also intends to make his kababayans proud by making it big like Hollywood-famous Monique Lhuillier and Josie Natori.

“I was raised by parents that instilled the importance and values of my Pinoy roots. It has always been my focus, my passion, and my desire to learn my roots and most certainly embrace that side of who I am," he told Asian Journal. - VVP, GMA News

...the Pinoys in the Big Apple

New York mayor hails outstanding Filipino-Americans

By Cristina DC Pastor
TheFilAm.net

Monday, October 10th, 2011

NEW YORK—‘It was like waiting for the ball to drop on New Year’s Eve.’

Roland Ubaldo

Filipinos in New York and elsewhere celebrated on Facebook the victories of former fashion model Bessie Badilla, U.S. Marshals spokesman Roland Ubaldo and nine others in the first The Outstanding Filipino Americans in NY awards honoring 12 notable Filipinos in the region.

A presentation of awards will be held Oct. 29 at Carnegie Hall. Badilla won in the Arts & Culture category. Ubaldo garnered the highest votes in Public Service.

Pulitzer Award-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, whose controversial coming-out as an undocumented immigrant was both cheered and criticized, won the Courage of Conviction award versus Catherina Cenzon DeCarlo, a Mt. Sinai Hospital nurse who refused to participate in an abortion procedure for religious reasons.
The voting, which started on July 18, ended midnight of October 8, as family and friends scrambled to ‘Like’ the nominees’ photos on the TOFA-NY Facebook page. It was a tight race for votes in some
categories.

The rest of the winners are:


Business & Entrepreneurship

Bessie Badilla

Grace Hufano-Labaguis
Community Service & Advocacy
Philippine Forum
Entertainment
Sounds of Manila
Fashion & Style
Jerry Sibal
Food & Restaurants
Rena Avendula
Health Care
Dr. Lorna Bayes
LGBT & Advocacy
Michelle Manangan
Media & Publishing
Don Tagala
Youth & Sports
Filipino School of New York and New Jersey

Jose Antonio Vargas

“Thank you to the organizers for the honor of being nominated among the finest talented Filipinos in New York,” Badilla said in a statement. “I salute my co-nominees Michael Dadap, Roz Li, Philippine
American Friendship Committee, Philippine Fiesta and The Philippine Independence Day Council, and I challenge them to continue sharing their talents and showcasing the true Filipino spirit through Arts and Culture.”

Comic Air Tabigue, who lost by only one point to Sounds of Manila band in the Entertainment category said, “The dream is over…LOL…but it was an honor just to be nominated for this award.”

Philippine Consul General in New York Mario de Leon and business and community leader Loida Nicolas Lewis will award the winners on October 29 at Carnegie Hall in a simple ceremonies to be hosted by singer Mig Ayesa and TV reporter/journalism professor Ernabel Demillo.

The 12 winners will be jointly honored with Heritage Awardees Lea Salonga, the Filipino American Human Services Inc., the Filipino Reporter newspaper, Filipino American National Heritage Society Metro NY, Filipino American National Heritage Society New Jersey, and the dancing team of youngsters Craig & Samantha.

Lea Salonga

“New York has always been proud to be a city of promise and opportunity for people of every background, including generations of Filipino Americans,” said Mayor Mike Bloomberg in a message to the awardees. “We take this opportunity to honor the men and women who contribute to our city’s amazing energy and spirit.”

Kiran Ahuja, executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, said in a separate message: “I applaud TOFA-NY for giving recognition to individuals and organizations that have raised the profile of Filipino Americans in a unique and positive way.”

...the Maid in Hong Kong

Filipino maid in Hong Kong can’t believe she made history

By Yolanda Sotelo
Inquirer Northern Luzon

Sunday, October 9th, 2011

POLARIZED HONG KONG. Foreign maids gather in Central, business district in Hong Kong. A Filipino maid in Hong Kong won the opening legal battle in her fight for permanent residency after a court ruled that an immigration provision excluding the city's hundreds of thousands of foreign maids was unconstitutional. The decision has polarized opinions in Hong Kong and has also prompted different reactions among maids themselves. AP photo/Kin Cheung

URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan—Evangeline Vallejos is happily incredulous that she won her case for permanent residency in Hong Kong, for which she had been fighting for three years.

“Unbelievable,” she said on Saturday when reached by the Inquirer in China where she was vacationing with her employers. “But I am very happy I won. Ang tagal kong hinintay ito (I have long waited for this).”

Vallejos, 59, has been employed as a maid in Hong Kong since 1986. She said that while she was not sure she would win the case, she trusted the law granting permanent residency to foreigners who had lived in the Chinese territory for seven years.

She said many Filipino workers in Hong Kong were happy about the court decision handed down on Sept. 30 because it paved the way for thousands of others to seek permanent residency.

But in Barangay Paurido where Vallejos’ family lives, there was hardly a stir when news broke of her legal victory.

Family members took pride in her achievement. But while a door has been opened for them to live in Hong Kong, Vallejos’ husband, Zacarias Oria, said they were not planning to do so.

And Vallejos—who is using her maiden name as it appears in her passport—has not discussed with the family the possibility of settling there, Oria told the Inquirer in an interview recently.

In reports, Justice Johnson Lam was quoted as saying in his decision that the immigration provision denying foreign maids the right to gain permanent residency after seven years, which is granted to other foreigners, was inconsistent with Hong Kong’s Constitution.

But the Hong Kong government will appeal Lam’s ruling, the reports said.

Fighter

Oria, 60, said he received a call from his wife shortly after the decision was issued.

“It was a very brief call. She just said, ‘Nanalo ang kaso (The case won),’ then the phone went dead. Then I saw the news on TV the next day,” he said.

Oria, a tricycle driver, has visited his wife in Hong Kong only twice. “Life is difficult there, and there are no available jobs for men. Most jobs there are for women,” he said.

Vallejos’ legal fight and her eventual victory did not come as a surprise for Oria and their five adult children.
Oria described his wife as “a fighter who will not stop fighting for what she thinks is right.”

“Matapang siya, palaban (She’s brave, aggressive),” he added. “That’s why I was not afraid when she decided to pursue the case for her permanent residency.”

The children, all now employed and raising their own families, said they were proud of their mother.
“Imagine, she is only a maid and a high school graduate but she managed to fight for her permanent residency in Hong Kong,” said her third child, Ryan.

Vallejos managed to send the children to college with her earnings as a maid.

Reggie, 36, has a degree in electronics and communication engineering; Renante, 34, in architecture; Ryan, 32, in accountancy; Gilbert, 29, in nursing; and Jaime, 27, in business management.

Helping hand

According to Ryan’s wife, Shiery, Vallejos is helping other maids in Hong Kong who are grappling with various problems, including abuse by their employers, early termination of work contracts, and illness.

“Siya ang sumbungan (They take their problems to her). She never lets them down. She goes with them to the labor department to seek settlement of the cases. Most of the time, she is able to get help and benefits for distressed OFWs (overseas Filipino workers),” Shiery said.

It helps that Vallejos’ employers, whom she has been serving for 25 years, are kind and supportive of her advocacy. It was they who encouraged her to pursue the permanent residency case, Shiery said.

She said the house of Vallejos’ employers was always open to her fellow Filipinos as well as her guests from the Philippines.

Vallejos has apparently become so close to her employers that one of them flew to the Philippines in July to stand as sponsor at the wedding of her youngest son.

Shiery and another daughter-in-law, Erna (Renante’s wife), also worked in Hong Kong as maids on Vallejos’ prodding.

“She wanted us to experience her life as a domestic helper,” said Shiery, a management graduate. “We stayed there for two years. It’s a difficult job.”


Happy family

Before she went to work as a maid in Hong Kong, Vallejos was a washerwoman in Urdaneta City.
Oria said he and his wife had agreed that she would work overseas and he would stay to tend to their children.

“Ang hirap kasi ng buhay namin noon. Inaapi kami dahil wala kaming pera (Our life was so hard then. We experienced being oppressed because we had no money),” Oria said.

It was inevitable that the children, some of whom were mere toddlers when their mother left, grew closer to their father.

Recalled Ryan: “Sometimes she would be jealous because of our close relationship with our father. She would say, ‘I know I did not raise you.’ But ours is a happy family. We would make her laugh and everything would be all right again. She would laugh again.”

The children also said their mother tried to make up for her absence by constantly phoning and talking to them.

They said she always reminded them not to fight and to always stand by one another.