The Philippine Beat

WWF-Philippines and Grieg Foundation partner to help reduce plastic waste by 50% in certain Philippine ports

Posted on February 10, 2022February 10, 2022 by jane

Remember the Titanic? It was the largest ship of its time during the early 1900s, a product of a British passenger line, the White Star Line. The Titanic weighed over 46,000 tons! That is roughly 104.6 million pounds!

Well, here is some trivia from the sea and it is NOT looking good. According to a study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), in a project funded by Grieg Foundation, a Norwegian foundation, Filipinos consume about 2.15 million tons of plastics in a year (equivalent to 41 Titanics!) from which 9% are recycled and 35% leak into the open environment. Just imagine — 35% of all that plastic ends up as plastic waste in the ocean EVERY YEAR!!! And the major pathway that leads to plastic waste in oceans is through ports where there is a high level of activity and traffic.

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UNIQLO launches its Museum of Modern Arts, Art Icons UT Collection on February 7

Posted on February 5, 2022March 1, 2022 by jane

The New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was founded in 1929 by three women. It was the first museum dedicated to new art that included paintings, drawings, film, design, and performance. UNIQLO and MoMA have been partnering since 2013 to make art more accessible to the world.

The latest offering of this partnership is the UNIQLO T-Shirts (called UT) Collection where an array of authentic pop culture and art graphics from around the world can be found on UNIQLO’s t-shirts and sweaters. UTs offer an array of authentic pop culture and art graphics from around the world that express wearers’ individuality. Both UNIQLO and the Museum of Modern Art aim to make art and museums accessible to as many people as possible under the concept of Art For All. What better way to share modern art with the world than convert them into wearable art!

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Loving my BlendJet 2 portable blender!

Posted on February 3, 2022February 3, 2022 by jane

The ad of BlendJet had been popping up on my Facebook feed for some time already and while we have a blender at home, this personal blender caught my fancy because it looked so easy to assemble and clean (unlike our blender here that has to be disassembled and parts washed separately). I also thought it was a great idea for blending stuff on the go, when I am at the office all day, or traveling.

I finally gave in and ordered right after New Year.

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WWF-Philippines releases its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) roadmap to address plastic pollution

Posted on January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 by jane

World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWF-Philippines) recently released an updated report entitled “Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Scheme Assessment for Plastic Packaging Waste in the Philippines”. In the first edition of this report released in 2020, it was reported that in 2019, the number of plastic items consumed by Filipinos was 2.15 million tons per annum. Thirty-five percent (35%) of the consumed plastics leak into the open environment, while 33% are disposed of in sanitary landfills and open dumpsites, with only 9% recycled because of our lack of capacity to recycle both high and low-value plastics.

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Tidying the home using the Konmari method while cleaning the ROIDMI way

Posted on January 30, 2022 by jane

ROIDMI, a leading brand offering cordless vacuum cleaners, recently held a media event with my dear mommy blogger friend, Christine Dychiao as main speaker. Tin, as we call her, is the first certified KonMari Consultant in the country and trained under no other than Marie Kondo herself.

(L to R from the top): Christine Dychiao (KonMari Consultant), ROIDMI emcee, Miguel Abiog (Iontech Product Manager), Zhong Yan (ROIDMI Marketing Manager)

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Got a budding chef in the family? Check out this comprehensive culinary site, culinaryschools.org

Posted on January 27, 2022January 27, 2022 by jane

There was a time in my kids’ lives when two of them entertained the idea of taking up a culinary course. Well, sort of. They were in high school and to be honest, they were not really that active in the kitchen so I was not sure then if it was just wishful thinking or a serious career plan.

Our dilemma then was that we knew next to nothing about the culinary arts. My husband and I were both graduates of business courses. What did we know about baking and cooking? Our kids eventually ended up studying in the school of their choice (the blue school in Katipunan) taking other courses. That blue school, many years later, opened its own culinary school, Le Cordon Bleu, but by then, all my kids had already graduated. What one of my daughters does now when she suddenly gets the culinary urge is to enroll in short courses offered by a popular local chef. Another daughter who now lives far from us has learned on her own how to cook several dishes. Her Facebook photo album is now filling up with different kinds of dishes she has learned to whip up.

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Unionbank takes over Citi’s consumer banking business in the Philippines

Posted on December 28, 2021December 28, 2021 by jane

WOW, THIS IS BIG NEWS! I was a Citibank customer for several decades and I am currently a Unionbank depositor. So this is big news for me as I never saw this coming. Citigroup is selling its entire consumer banking business to Unionbank of the Philippines.

What does this acquisition by Unionbank include?

This includes Citi’s credit card, personal loans, wealth management, and retail deposit businesses. The acquisition also includes Citi’s real estate interests in relation to Citibank Square in Eastwood, 3 full-service bank branches, 5 wealth centers, and 2 bank branch lites.

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A yearender review looks at the top 10 achievements of UnionBank for 2021

Posted on December 20, 2021 by jane

In a year-ender version of its long-running virtual media roundtable series E-TalkTales, UnionBank gave a rundown of its accomplishments and milestones for 2021.

UnionBank Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer, and Chief Transformation Officer Henry Aguda talked about some of the Bank’s achievements for the year.

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Go natural on your oral care with SPLAT and get it at up to 21% off on 12.12

Posted on December 10, 2021December 11, 2021 by jane

I’ve been switching to products with natural ingredients for some time now and that includes toothpaste. So I am happy to hear that SPLAT – a family-run business and a global pioneer in natural oral care – has come to the Philippines. Even better, you can get their products for up to 21% off this December, exclusively at Watsons stores or online at Watsons Lazada & Shopee or ShopSM.

The SPLAT line of oral care includes toothpaste that uses natural antibacterial agents and ingredients for gentle teeth whitening. SPLAT’s toothpaste, mouthwashes, and foams contain natural ingredients, essential oils, and medicinal plant extracts. Their toothpaste does not have all those ingredients I would consider potentially harmful to people, animals, and the planets, such as SLES, triclosan, chlorhexidine, aluminum lactate, peroxide, petroleum-derived products, synthetic antiseptic agents, sodium lauryl sulfate, and saccharinate.

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Pru Life UK and Prudential Cambodia team up to provide OFWs with financial protection

Posted on December 4, 2021December 7, 2021 by jane

There are about 7,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Cambodia. Recently, the team-up of Pru Life UK and Prudential Cambodia was announced to make life protection more accessible to them through Pulse by Prudential, an all-in-one AI-powered health and wealth management app.

Through this partnership, geo-targeted advertisements of PRUMySafety, a digital protection product available through Pulse in Cambodia, will be communicated to OFWs there. PRUMySafety provides daily cash benefits upon hospitalization, bone fracture and death benefit, against road accidents in just a few clicks.

Once OFWs have purchased the coverage in Pulse, they can also get advisory services from Pru Life UK agents who can cater to the OFWs’ needs and give them access to other protection and investment products which they can readily purchase once they go home to the Philippines.

Pru Life UK President and Chief Executive Officer Eng Teng Wong said “This collaboration between Pru Life UK and Prudential Cambodia allows the opportunity for Filipinos working and living in Cambodia to be given access to life protection products. This will empower them to take control of their health and wealth, and help them make the most out of life”.

You may download the Pulse app for free from Google Play and App Store and visit prulifeuk.com.ph to learn more.