Looking to splurge a little this weekend? Are you thinking of finally checking out items sitting in your cart? This Saturday, you can shop all you want with all the deals available at Shopee’s Mega Free Shipping Sale.

Aside from free shipping, you can enjoy big cashbacks, ₱1 deals, and discounts up to 90% off on Shopee Mall brands. You can also win up to ₱200,000 by tuning in to GMA 7 and Shopee Live this March 27.

Here are some ways to maximize all the perks at Shopee’s Mega Free Shipping Sale:

Shop guilt-free and redeem free shipping vouchers 

OFFMUTE is going to be a new avenue to bring music across the Southeast Asian region. Sony Music Entertainment just recently announced the launch of its new pan-regional label, OFFMUTE. Its focus is to champion new and emerging talents in the Southeast Asian region supported by the combined experience of Sony Music's entire Southeast Asian Team.

The Southeast Asian region has been mute for quite a time already, and it is about time to off that sound plug and let the musically talented people of the Region be heard by many.

A story created more than decades ago will be immortalized in this upcoming movie from A and Q Productions Film, Inc. The lucky actress who will portray the role is one of the actresses in the Kapuso Network, Winwyn Marquez. Just like Winwyn, the film Nelia will be an unpredictable story that will showcase mystery for its audience. It is something that the storyteller would like for the viewers to experience, the idea of exercising your mind into solving its mystery.

So, what story lies behind the name of Nelia? Well, for now, it is still a mystery as they just started filming the movie in a location somewhere in the central region of Luzon. All are taking precautions in doing this film as we all need to, because of the pandemic.

The tale of Nelia is actually a product of the creative mind of its writer and producer, none other than Atty. Melanie "Honey" Quiño. According to her, the story's premise was when she was still in college. To make the story relevant, Film Director Lester Dimaranan was tapped in adding flavor to the film. Making it more fascinating and mindboggling.

Here's a part of Atty. Honey's description about the movie Nelia, "...has so many twists hindi sya agad agad na predictable... it will give excitement sa mga viewers because ang tema ng story na ito... is not usual that we seen na love story, there's one, it will parang insight or insight sa mind ng mga tao makakapag-isip sila ng mas malalim sa movie na ito para malaman nila yong ending."

"Nelia" will become a name to remember, not only because of its characters portrayed by great actors but because of its relevance, a time when mental illness is prevalent because of the Covid-19 scare.

Just like with our health, prevention is better than cure. One of the best ways to prevent fire and damages on properties is to be informed. This month is the season to be more aware of the surroundings and situations.  The damage of getting your house razed by fire is insurmountable; fires at home can break out anytime and anywhere and can damage livelihood, household appliances, and more. In 2018, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) recorded a total of 14,316 incidents of fire from January until December.

Known for its spoken poetries and monologues, Ampalaya Chronicles once again brings an interesting love story from their series of monologues and poetry. For this hugot season of the anthology,  iWantTFC will bring one of the admired actresses from the 90s and until now, Ms. Ina Raymundo, who will play the role of Mrs. Cruz. Paired with Paulo Angeles, who will surely rock the world with his singing telegram thingy, together with the other cast, they will be making viewers bitterly happy with the iWantTFC and Ampalaya Chronicles' "Me & Mrs. Cruz" 

Caloy, a carefree and witty flower shop delivery boy from the province crosses paths with Eva, a sophisticated woman who loves to party as her way of coping after losing her husband. Intrigued by Eva’s mysteriousness, Caloy makes it his mission to free her out of the shadows of sadness.

In these challenging times, the series aims to show how God’s miraculous love is found in the simplest of things and to remind people that they are never alone in going through life’s trials.

In the series, Andrea plays Mira, a blind orphan whose faith and trust in Bro gives her a positive outlook in life. Despite her situation, Mira travels to the town of Hermoso to search for her mother. Joy (Francine), on the other hand, is a rebellious daughter who has completely lost faith in God due to her personal pains and longing for her family’s love.

 

How many times have I mentioned that I plan to buy a house? Well, I think I have been telling that for the nth times already. Since I started a family, I have been dreaming and planning of owning our so-called home sweet home. No matter how small it is, as long as we are protected, we can somehow adjust.

Ironically I have been attending events and talks about real estate conducted by Lamudi.com and Envision Expo. And I even visited some of the model units of rising real estate developers like Lancaster in Cavite. In the end, I still don't have my own house.

Now, the kids are growing fast, and it seems that the cute house that we are living in right now is not enough to accommodate us. We can't even have more than two visitors because it would be a bit crowded, especially now that we are experiencing the pandemic, we need to have social distancing. How can we implement this so-called social distancing if we can't move around freely in the house? It is like a small puzzle that every time you walk, you'll bump with each other.

If only I could bring back the time when we found a good price deal of lot somewhere in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. During that time, the place was all bare, and it's only starting its development stage. Now, look at the changes in this City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, there are constructions from left and right. It was affordable at that time, and the only problem we had was we don't know much about real estate. And perhaps we can also add that both of us are busy working, we don't have time to make an appointment in different agencies to verify the lot. I think that time there is no available mortgage calculator online that can help us estimate the expenses we may incur. Note that it was more than fifteen years ago.

Today, the areas near Metro Manila are developing and starting to be part of the Greater Manila Area. It is one move of the government to decongest the population in the capital city of the Philippines. I remember it was last year, right before the pandemic, I happened to accept freelance research work about the landscape of the construction and real estate development in the Philippines. It's not thorough research, but I was able to give the client what they wanted. It is a piece of information about the progress of constructions in the country.

Part of the research I did led me to the Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA) website, which shows data about the number of approved construction permits for infrastructures of the government. Some of the constructions are railways, bridges, schools, water sources, and highways, which happens to be the requirement of developing real estate. These constructions are from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. So, basically, the population is growing, and the Pinoy family like ours requires new houses.

In all of the property developers I know, probably for me, the best land developer is Ayala. Why? Well, I somehow have witnessed how they progress in developing their lands. They usually start their developing stage by conducting outdoor events on the estate. The main reason is to attract investors and potential clients. And I happen to be in these events like the Bike Night Carnival in Vermosa located in Cavite and the Sandbox Outdoor activities in Alviera located in Porac, Pampanga.

For now, it is probably easier to find your dream house, but the only problem would be how to finance it since most of the industries today are down and striving. Like me, I want a home for my family, but I couldn't afford it right now. Working freelance is not stable to finance that dream house.

What I can do right now is make a plan and probably check some mortgage calculators online to estimate the expenses. As my usual practice from the previous works, I always get three different sources to verify and compare the results. I got these three online calculators, one local (I think) - Security Bank Calculator, one is known locally and abroad - Bank of the Philippine Islands Calculator, and the last one is from abroad - Mortgage Calculator from the UK. You can also do this kind of process whether you're checking up the mortgage or even the prices of the pens you buy for your kids.

So, overall I will still have to plan everything first. How about you? Will you buy a new house at this time of pandemic?

 

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, various countries have been striving to find ways on how to deal with this global crisis that continues to affect the world today.

One year after the first declaration of a lock down in the Philippines, Filipinos remain determined and resilient in their fight against this pandemic, including other social and economic issues caused by it.

It’s remarkable how various sectors are coming together in ensuring that Filipinos are healthy, safe, and protected, most especially the marginalized and vulnerable.

Businesses are coming up with ways to extend assistance to those who are in great need. Companies’ CSR programs aim to improve health facilities, support the frontliners, and provide food and financial assistance to affected communities.

As a follow-up to last year’s successful virtual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Summit of World Vision in the Philippines, distinguished business leaders from Cebu are coming together to share their experiences and learnings during the pandemic at World Vision’s virtual CSR Summit in Cebu this March 23, 2021 at 2:00 pm, streamed live on World Vision Philippines’ Facebook page.

It was May of last year when Cebu City was recorded as having the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country. But in only six months, data scientists from the University of the Philippines’ OCTA research group and the Department of Health said Cebu City had flattened its curve. The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) applauded both the public and private sectors for helping Visayas fight the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in Cebu, Negros Occidental, and the rest of Western Visayas.

Through this CSR Summit, World Vision aims to discuss the significant role and relevance of a company’s CSR during critical times, and to inspire businesses and other organizations in the private sector to develop and implement CSR campaigns to be able to reach and improve more lives.

"World Vision is privileged to once again hold the Corporate Social Responsibility Summit in Cebu. God’s work is truly amazing as we witness how our partner organizations implement their CSR initiatives,” shared World Vision National Director Rommel Fuerte. “Let’s continue working together to improve the lives of the most vulnerable children, their families and communities."

Business industry leaders joining World Vision’s virtual CSR Summit in Cebu are Cebu Chamber of Commerce, Inc., Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, Golden Prince Hotel & Suites, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., Rotary Club of Cebu, and the Singapore School Cebu.

World Vision would like to thank the following event partners—Cebu Chamber of Commerce, Inc., JCI Cebu, JCI Plaridel del Pilar, Public Relations Society of the Philippines, and Rotary Club of Cebu. To know more about World Vision and its other initiatives, you may visit www.worldvision.org.ph or follow World Vision’s official social media pages /worldvisionph on Facebook, @worldvisionphl on Instagram, and @worldvisionph on Twitter.

Furthering its commitment to leveraging its technology and platform to create a positive social impact on the lives of many Filipinos, Grab Philippines, together with Zagana - the Philippines’ leading agri-social enterprise is launching its Salamat Sa Ani initiative on 17 March 2021.

Through the Salamat Sa Ani initiative, Grab is leveraging its technology and platform to encourage more Filipinos to show care and gratitude to their loved ones and frontliners who have been helping them to cope with the challenging times. At the same time, the initiative will also provide support to the farming communities that Grab helped digitalize since the Enhanced Community Quarantine phase, as contents of the Salamat Sa Ani gift sets are sourced directly from Zagana farmers in Benguet, Pangasinan, and Cavite. Each Salamat Sa Ani gift set - which includes fresh corn, bananas, and lime, is exclusively available on GrabMart for only PHP 299.00.

Salamat Sa Ani is one of the latest GrabForGood initiatives led by Grab Philippines where Grab’s technology and platform are leveraged to support the needs of the Filipino communities and help improve their lives and livelihoods. During the height of the pandemic, one of the key GrabForGood initiatives led by Grab Philippines is GrabBayanihan - a program that leveraged Grab’s technology and platform to provide much-needed support to driver-partners, frontliners, displaced individuals, farming communities, and local governments.

Leveraging Grab’s technology and platform to help local farmers overcome supply chain challenges

As highlighted in the June 2020 Report of the World Bank, the supply chain of fresh produce and agricultural products in many parts of the Philippines was greatly impacted since the implementation of the lockdowns. With limited logistics options for transporting the produce from the farms to the public markets and groceries and the sharp decline in customer foot traffic in physical marketplaces, the livelihoods of Filipino farming communities - as well as the food security across many households, were at risk to certain points that farmers were forced to throw away their produce.



Through Grab’s technology, platform, and its partnership with the Department of Agriculture and Zagana, fresh produce from farming communities were given wider market access through the Grab app through the Department of Agriculture’s 2020 Program Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita. Now, with a few taps on the app, Grab consumers get to enjoy fresh produce from local farmers, delivered straight into their doorsteps in as quick as less than an hour and at the same time supporting the local farming communities.

For Benguet-based farmer Ardan Copes, the partnership between Grab and Zagana provided new technology to farmers like himself who are used to traditional models for distributing and selling their produce. His main challenge when the pandemic hit was that there were too many vegetables wasted due to the absence of buyers brought by the quarantine. Copes shares that “through Grab’s technology and platform, Zagana farmers like himself were able to better reach and serve new consumers.” The partnership also gave farmers like Copes “a good market price for their produce which is why they did not hesitate to join the platform.” Copes adds that they “were able to continue with their livelihood despite the challenges of ECQ, which gave them a huge relief.”

Co-creating positive social impact within and beyond the Grab platform

Committed to contributing towards the Philippines’ longer-term socio-economic recovery and development, the Grab platform not only provides its consumers with the everyday value and convenience, but it also allows its users to co-create a positive social impact - within and beyond the Grab platform, with every transaction made on the Grab app.

With every order of fresh produce made on the Grab app, users are able to support the livelihoods of tens of thousands of driver-partners, MSMEs, and local farming communities who are also facing the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has truly impacted a lot of lives. Our partnership with Grab has allowed us to continuously serve our customers and support our local farmers, by leveraging Grab’s platform and technology to provide our kababayans access to fresh produce, delivered right at their doorsteps while providing livelihood for both the delivery partners and local farmers during these uncertain times,” said Zagana Chief Executive Officer Joshua Aragon.

“Using our platform and technology to help improve the lives and livelihoods of many Filipinos is what differentiates Grab as a community partner. We are grateful to have made a difference in the lives of millions of Filipinos through our GrabForGood program and we will continue with our commitment of using technology and our platform to encourage meaningful collaboration within our communities and help our kababayans overcome their daily struggles,” says Grab Philippines Country Head Grace Vera Cruz.

To know more about Grab and Zagana’s Salamat sa Ani initiative, visit: http://grb.to/salamatsaani

Hear from the two live streamers on how they are maximizing Shopee Live for this 3.3 - 4.4 Mega Shopping Sale:

Miccolo Solis, Shopee seller and influencer, shared that he uses the poll feature the most. “It helps me engage with viewers. I can check their opinion on certain topics, especially about the products,” said Solis. Polls also allow him to inquire about his customers’ specific requests, budget range, and preferred styles. In addition, Solis also hosts games on Shopee Live to keep his viewers interested.

For fellow influencer Quinito Villarosa, it’s the latest ‘Mine’ feature that gives him feedback on what content customers want to see next, or what items they want to see featured or reviewed. To maintain a strong relationship with viewers, Villarosa connects with them even after the live stream ends. “I do a lot of ‘OffLive’ engagement. I still interact with them after the live streams, usually inside the many group chats we have on Facebook Messenger and even Instagram,” said Villarosa.

Solis is excited to utilize the new Shopee Live Co-streaming feature as it gives him the opportunity to interact directly with viewers, making the live stream session more fun, enjoyable, and engaging. Villarosa, on the other hand, is already prepping for his next live stream. “I’m already asking my viewers what they want to see during my live stream so I can order it ahead of time. Being able to hold the items personally makes for a more interactive live stream experience,” he said.

With in-app features like Shopee Live, Shopee continues to improve the platform to make e-commerce more accessible and engaging for everyone. Solis and Villarosa encouraged other influencers to take advantage of Shopee Live and its many features as well. “Just do it, it always starts with one step. Make it a habit and always enjoy the live videos. Watch other live streamers, observe what they are doing, and apply best practices to your own live stream,” said Solis.

Villarosa added that doing live streams is an opportunity to widen their networks. “Every day I wake up feeling blessed with this opportunity. I literally meet new people each time I open the Shopee app and prepare for another run of live streaming.”

Shopee 3.3 - 4.4 Mega Shopping Sale

The Shopee 3.3 - 4.4 Mega Shopping Sale, which runs until April 4, 2021, will feature up to 70% off on authentic brands such as Havaianas Philippines, Huggies Philippines, Realme, P&G Beauty, Pampers, Nestlé, Garnier, Enfagrow, Unilever Beauty, Vivo, and Xiaomi, on Shopee Mall.

For more information on the best deals during the 3.3 - 4.4 Mega Sale, visit https://shopee.ph/m/3-3.

Don't forget to shop, buy load, and pay bills with ShopeePay to enjoy discounts and rewards. Top up at least ₱300 on March 2 for a chance to win ₱20,000! Check out https://shopee.ph/m/shopeepay-3-3-top-up-promo for more details.

Download the Shopee app for free via the App Store or Google Play.

The hype is really up, DC fans and enthusiasts are expecting to watch this "Zack Snyder’s Justice League" on March 18. Accordingly, it has more to offer to fans in this superhero-stacked film featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg. I know if you're also a fan or an enthusiast you'll for sure watch this. 

Pinoy Big Brother Connect just concluded this year's season with Liofer Pinatacan from Zamboanga Del Sur hailed as the PBB Connect Big Winner, the "Dong Diskarte fo Zamboanga Del Sur."  

We all love online shopping! Admit it or not we're like it very much! One of the best things about online shopping—aside from the thrill of adding to a cart and the joy of finally receiving your package, of course—is how it enables you to make the most of your hard-earned sweldo. You can choose from a wide variety of products, negotiate with sellers, and enjoy plenty of sales. Shopee offers all these and more, including exclusive discounts, coins cashback, and even big prizes, to create rewarding shopping experiences for all its users.

Planning a shopping spree this payday? Make the most out of your sweldo at Shopee’s Payday Sale this March 15 with these helpful tips below:

Always check for free shipping

Who doesn’t love free shipping? Before checking out, double-check if free shipping vouchers are available. Your favorite shops also often offer free shipping vouchers on select items. This Payday Sale, get your carts ready—you can enjoy all-day free shipping with no minimum spend from thousands of participating shops.

Avail of cashback rewards

Shopee coins are cashback rewards you can use to get discounts on your next purchases. Every peso counts, so try to earn as many coins as you can while shopping. To earn more, click on the "Daily Check-In" button on the Coins Rewards page, rate and review your purchases, play Shopee Games, and watch live streams. Want more coins? Shop during the Payday Sale to enjoy all-day 15% cashback, capped at 200 coins, with no minimum spend!

Go cashless with ShopeePay for more perks

Shop, buy load and pay bills with ShopeePay, Shopee’s built-in mobile wallet, to enjoy safe transactions and rewards. Use ShopeePay during the Payday Sale to enjoy all-day sitewide free shipping and 15% coins cashback. You can also enjoy ₱1 deals from Jollibee, Dunkin’ Donuts, and McDonald’s with ShopeePay. Buy ₱10 mobile load for only ₱6 all day, and enjoy bigger discounts at 12 AM-1 AM, 12 NN-1 PM, and 5 PM-6 PM. You also get 20% cashback when you pay your bills using ShopeePay for the first time.

Get exclusive discounts on Shopee Mall

Check out the Payday Sale to enjoy up to 90% off on top Shopee Mall brands such as Penshoppe, L'Oréal Paris, Logitech, Unilever Homecare, Unilever Foods, Omega Houseware, Xtreme Appliances, and Huggies. Use the code MALLPAYDAY15 on all Shopee Mall items to enjoy 15% cashback, capped at 200 coins, for ₱500 minimum spend. For more discounts, you can also apply multiple shop vouchers per order.

Bonus: join Shopee Prizes to win exciting rewards

Get a chance to score big prizes by playing fun Shopee Prizes! Play Shopee Hourly Prizes to win a gadgets bundle worth ₱15,000, Shopee Farm for a Nintendo Switch, Shopee Candy for a pair of Galaxy Buds, and Shopee Bubble for a Huawei Matebook Bundle.

With these tips, you can indulge this coming payday without hurting your wallet! For more information on the Shopee 3.15 Payday Sale, visit https://shopee.ph/m/payday-sale.

Download the Shopee app for free via the App Store or Google Play.

One more sleep and LOVE LA UNION DIGITAL TRAVEL AND TOURISM EXPO will start, so get ready and be the first to check it out!