Inauguration of Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., as the 17th President of the Republic of the Philippines

 Inauguration of Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., as the 17^th President of the Republic of the Philippines

LOOK: In a solemn and traditional inauguration ceremony, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos, Jr. takes his oath of office as the 17th President of the Republic of the Philippines at the National Museum of Fine Arts in the City of Manila on June 30, 2022.

President Marcos, Jr. commences his six-year term as the nation’s Chief Executive with Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo administering the oath of office before guests and attendees of the inaugural rites at the historic building.

The National Museum of Fine Arts, formerly known as the Old Legislative Building, served as the inauguration site of Presidents Manuel L. Quezon in 1935, Jose P. Laurel in 1943 and Manuel Roxas in 1946.

After his inaugural address, the new President hosts a traditional Vin d’honneur for foreign dignitaries, diplomatic corps and other invited guests.

From the National Museum, President Bongbong Marcos, Jr. proceeds to Malacañan Palace where he is accorded with arrival honors at the Kalayaan Grounds.  Upon his entry to the Palace, the President ascends the main staircase for the first time as Chief Executive which is part of tradition.

Thereafter, the President administers the mass oath-taking of his Cabinet Secretaries, as well as the local government unit officials from Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, at the President’s Hall and Reception Hall.

Prior to the inaugural ceremonies, outgoing President Rodrigo Roa Duterte meets with President-elect Marcos, Jr. at the Malacañan Palace.  The outgoing President is accorded with departure honors after the meeting. (Presidential Communications Government of the Philippines)

MPIC expands biz in strategic partnership with Carmen’s Best Group

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY –The Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), a leading infrastructure investments company in the country continues to expand its business portfolio as it entered into a strategic partnership with Carmen’s Best Dairy Products, Inc., Carmen’s Best International Dairy Company, Inc., Real Fresh Dairy Farms, Inc., and The Laguna Creamery, Inc. collectively, the “Carmen’s Best Group” to further develop and expand the operations of its dairy farm and dairy products manufacturing facilities.

“The agricultural sector presents a wide range of possibilities that can help us achieve several goals –to strengthen the food supply chain and augment the accessibility of resources for all Filipinos as well as provide more opportunities for growth in an otherwise underserved business,” MPIC Chairman/President and Chief Executive Officer, Manuel Pangilinan said during the singing on June 27 at the MPIC Boardroom.

Under the partnership, the Carmen’s Best Group will integrate its assets and operations into The Laguna Creamery, Inc. (TLCI) with MPIC owning a 51 percent equity interest in TLCI and the Carmen’s Best Group retaining a 49 percent equity interest.

The transaction is valued at P288M for 100 percent and is conditional upon customary regulatory confirmation and approvals.

The Carmen’s Best Group is behind the home-grown premium ice cream brand, Carmen’s Best Ice Cream, and the country’s only locally pasteurized and homogenized fresh milk, Holly’s Milk. It produces artisanal cheeses under the Carmen’s Best Natural Cheese and Holly’s brands.

Earlier this year, MPIC announced that it is seeking to ramp up investments in the agricultural sector and reduce the country’s dependence on food imports amid ongoing global supply chain disruptions and high inflation. This transaction presents a significant growth opportunity for MPIC and the Philippines, as the country currently imports 99 percent of its annual dairy requirements. 

MPIC and Carmen’s Best Group envision transforming TLCI into a fully integrated dairy business, serving local demand and eventually competing globally. Carmen’s Best has always had family at the heart of its brand.

“From the humble beginnings of my father and his friend's dairy farming project, to the touch of creativity I added to turn it into a modest ice cream business. Welcoming MPIC into our family makes us appreciative that they see the value of what we already built, while also elevating it to a level beyond what we envisioned,” Carmen’s Best Group founder Francisco Delgado Magsaysay revealed. (Photos: MPIC/Carmen's Best FBs)

 

 

 

NNC7 launches #Newtrition2022 to strengthen food security scheme via social media campaign

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – The National Nutrition Council (NNC-7) in Central Visayas launches #NewtritionMonth2022, this year’s local Nutrition Month Social Media Campaign simultaneously with the region’s 48^th Nutrition Month celebration at the SM City-Consolacion, Cebu on July 1 with the theme, “New Normal na Nutrisyon, Sama-samang Gawan ng Solusyon!

NNC-7 regional nutrition coordinator, Parolita Mission said in a presscon Wednesday that this year’s celebration highlights the need to build public awareness of the importance of nutrition in building resilience and recovery from the pandemic with exciting line-up of activities using the social media advantage.

Mission said, #NewtritionMonth2022 campaign is expected to strengthen food security scheme, better calorie and nutrient intakes via dietary supplementation, reliable nutrition information via official social media accounts, adoption of a healthy lifestyle, and other nutrition enabling activities.

Various activities and events include the launching of the Phase 3 and Phase 4 of Tutok Kainan Supplementation Program; a reel making contest for a more creative way of nutrition information dissemination; an infographic contest to help netizens visualize nutrition information better; introduction of second season of the Idol ko si Nanay Nutrition School on Air via Facebook; and the re-introduction of new normal nutrition service packages and ending with the opening of the booth area of new normal nutrition services, NN7 bared.

This massive social media campaign hopes to influence the community’s health and nutrition choices by providing correct and timely information about nutrition that could address the region’s nutrition situation, Mission added.

NNC-7 data showed that there are over 72,000 children under five years old are suffering long-term malnutrition or stunting and 17,884 children are shown to be acutely malnourished or wasted.  The council noted the sudden change in lifestyle brought about by the new normal has also affected overnutrition with 23,441 children under five years old assessed as overweight in last year’s Operation Timbang (OPT).

With these scenario, NNC-7 called on its partners and stakeholders to scale up nutrition implementation to cope with the impact of COVID-19’s new normal, stimulate healthy discussions on leveling up nutrition interventions and to engage more communities in promoting good and balance nutrition at homes, in schools and in business establishments.

The Nutrition Month regional launch is in collaboration with the Municipality of Consolacion and the Province of Cebu to highlight the government’s nutrition services for individuals and communities.

With this year’s Nutrition Month celebration, NNC hopes to come into agreement with partners and stakeholders on key actions to build back better the design, delivery, and scale-up of nutrition interventions in the country. (Photos: NNC7)

  

Electric buses to ply in major routes in Cebu

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – The Aboitiz Group in partnership with GET Philippines launched the GET Cebu, a fleet of low-emission, air-conditioned and pollution-free COMET Buses developed by electric vehicle manufacturer GET Philippines and introduced the fully-electric COMET buses at Aboitiz InfraCapital’s (AIC) Mactan Economic Zone 2 Estate.

GET Cebu’s COMET Buses will serve four routes, namely; the Cebu North Route from SM City Consolacion- Cebu IT Park; Cebu South Route from Minglanilla- Cebu IT Park; Cebu Mactan Route from Gaisano Grand Mall- Cebu IT Park, with a pick-up and drop-off point at The Outlets at Pubelo Verde in MEZ2 Estate and Cebu City Route from Shopwise Mambaling-Cebu- IT Park.

AIC-Economic Estates Head Rafael Fernandez de Mesa said, the push for a sustainable and eco-friendly transportation network like GET Cebu is key to future-proof the estate and laying the foundation for next-generation smart cities.

“We want to create resilient spaces where we can also ensure the overall health and wellness of our community and the environment. Strategic land use, a good, flexible development plan, and a transport network that addresses traffic and congestion with minimal environmental impact essentially prepare us for the future needs of the communities we serve,” Fernandez de Mesa said during the launching event in April this year at The Outlets at Pueblo Verde in Mactan.

GET Philippines President Freddie Tinga said, the development of the COMET Buses will address the need for safe and sustainable transport with a positive impact to the environment.

“We’re seeing two things that are happening in the world today that could be ideal if we could bring them to the Philippines. One is the rise of the electric vehicle to replace internal combustion engines, and the other is the app as a transport solution,” Tinga bared

Philinsure and Cebu Leads Foundation President Gordon Alan Joseph on the other hand said that the vision for GET Cebu is anchored on sustainability as the new normal.  “If there’s anything that the pandemic taught us, plus the [natural] disasters we’ve had before…We cannot keep doing what we are doing to the environment. We cannot let our commuters sit in diesel smoke from poorly-designed and poor-quality vehicles,” Joseph said.

Officials and guests from the Aboitiz Group Anton Perdices, Jokin Aboitiz, Anthony Noel, with VECO President and COO Engr. Raul Lucero and Engr. Raymund Villar from the Mactan EnerZone joined the drive test of the buses around the routes. (Photos: Aboitiz Group/AIC FB)

 

 

RAFI’s Tree Growing program now DepEd-Cebu's responsibility

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY—More than half a million grown trees are now the responsibility of the Department of Education (DepEd)-Cebu Province Division after a successful School Community-based Tree Growing program under the "One To Tree" (OTT) project initiated by the partnerships of Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI), Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (AFI), Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) and the Department of Education (DepEd)-Cebu Province Division in October 2017.

After five years, the program successfully planted and grown 508,031 trees with 96 percent survival rate with 42 species of native trees planted and grown; engaged 51,677 students in 314 partner schools and trained 347 teachers as tree-growing partners, RAFI-OTT executive director, Anthony Dignadice bared this during the official turnover ceremony Monday, June 27 at the RAFI Kabilin Center.

“We are officially turning over the project to the DepEd-Cebu Division because we are confident that they can do the job and continue to manage and care for the trees planted and monitor their growth and survival. We are glad to have involved our learners in the process of tree growing and we hope that this truly planted a deeper seed of love for the environment and for Cebu within them,” Dignadice said.

Schools Division Superintendent, Dr. Marilyn Andales accepted the project including all its challenges and committed to sustain and manage the School Community-based Tree Growing Project within the DepEd-Cebu Province Division.

Andales even posed some challenge for future projects such as planting and growing more endangered native species to address its rapidly dwindling numbers.  “To grow more native and indigenous trees as there are still wide areas and vacant lands in most school campuses,” she bared.

Andales went on that she was thinking of coming up with a program similar to ‘Kahoy Ko, Kaugmaon Ko’ where elementary school kids can start planting and growing native species and make money from the trees they have planted since their elementary years upon their harvest in the future.

RAFI chief operations officer, Riella Mae Chista Guioguio on the other hand, also thanked all partners of this project and lauded the DepEd-Cebu Province Division for engaging the students and learners the value of taking care of the environment.

Guioguio noted that the project has encouraged volunteerism and other skills in growing trees. What is unique of this project is the planting and growing native trees, that needs to be sustained to provide and see the positive impact of this project in the long run.

“We hope this will be the beginning of more commitment to the environment and continue with the partnership for climate change adaptation advocacy to somehow slow down the huge impact of climate change in our communities today,” Guioguio said.

The Tree Growing Program in retrospect

RAFI-One To Tree (OTT) executive director, Anthony Dignadice said that the goal of the School Community-based Tree Growing Program was to plant and grow 500,000 trees with 150 partner schools and to engage some 50,000 students and train 150 teachers as tree growing partners and to take more active steps towards recovering the tree cover lost in the country.

“It was a daunting endeavor,” Dignadice said.  The project components included the establishment of nurseries, seedlings and trees plantations in various partner schools; maintenance, monitoring and evaluation on the survival and status of the trees planted and the entire components of the project.

Dignadice revealed that the project’s challenge was to revolutionize the mind shift from the low survival rates of trees planted to the healthy and successful tree growing with a high survival rate in mind. DepEd ably achieved this challenge.

The project partners led by RAFI with its OTT program, challenged the DepEd students and learners to plant native tree seedlings in their school gardens or in the backyard of their homes.  Each student received the “Tree Growing Booklet” where they would record or log the progress of the seedlings they planted.

RAFI and partners conducted extensive seminars and training to support its partners and provided the partner schools with other physical resources as incentives for participating actively in the program.

The project gave out 88 TV sets, 51 projectors, 130 portable sound systems, 45 water pumps, 314 printers, 314 hand wash kits and 33 mobile phones for monitoring to participating schools while the students’ incentives included 25,000 school supplies (sets of notebooks, pencils, ballpens and rulers) and 50,000 student COVID kits (alcohol and masks).

“We cannot thank AFI, AEV and DepEd Cebu Province Division enough for all their support. Together, we have taken significant steps in helping our environment and combating climate change.  This project is a great example of shared community spirit, where one community works towards a greener Cebu,” Dignadice concluded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bukid Tres, a restaurant inspired by a story of nostalgia

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – Looking for a relaxing place with the City view, good food and an ambiance that keeps you grounded amid the busy streets of Cebu City?  Bukid Tres is the place, a vast area of 5,705 square meters, sitting on top of Nivel Hills in Barangay Busay, Cebu City. 

Bukid Tres, a City view grill and the newest addition to a growing trend of open-air outdoor dining in Cebu, owned and managed by Choobi Choobi of Stan Tanchan and family, the place can sit a total of 300 diners and a parking area that can accommodate 40 to 50 cars and motorcycles too.

According to Stan Tanchan, Bukid Tres owner that the name “Bukid Tres” was inspired by a story of nostalgia.  It is rooted from “Bukid Uno” and Bukid Dos” which were the popular hangout places in the 90’s.

“When I was younger, with my friends, we came to “Bukid Uno and Bukid Dos” those were our favorite hangout, homey, affordable food and the city view ambiance was really very relaxing especially during the evening,” Stan told the media during Bukid Tres opening on June 17.

Stan added that those restaurants were closed a long time ago and so with this revival, those who are familiar with those places would not want to miss the Bukid Tres experience. 

Bukid Tres is open daily from 5:00pm to 1:00 am.  The restaurant is designed with a traditional and modern Filipino-themed ambiance and a fusion of materials seen around the area. A re-purposed container is used to create the main façade and also serves as the kitchen area.

There are 15 nipa huts around the main level which can hold up to 16 people for the big huts and up to 8-10 diners for the small huts. The lower level of Bukid Tres is the Al Fresco dining which is suitable for bigger groups and occasions.

The food offerings of Bukid Tres is the traditional Pinoy favorites such as lechon kawali, manok inasal, linagang baka, sinugbang isda, and more with a mixture of dishes such as cheesy scallops and sizzling sisig. 

“But of course, one cannot get away from the favorite and popular Choobi Choobi signature dishes that include the Stan’s Black Pepper Shrimp and the Shrimp in a Bag.  All these are good for sharing, the favorite dining setup for Pinoys,” Stan said.

Bukid Tres is very accessible by public transport and the ‘Habal-habal’ motorcycle rides because the restaurant is just 5 minutes away from JY Square Mall and located at the side of the highway at Nivel Hill, Busay via the Transcentral Highway.

For reservations just contact 09175622659 or Choobi hotline, 09171603000 and for updates visit its official Facebook page @bukidtresbychoobichoobi. (Photos: mbcnewman/Choobi FB/Bukid Tres)