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| (Image Source: Journal Online/British Council Philippines) |
The British Council continues to support the growth of the Filipino art scene through Carl Irving “Kulay” Labitigan featuring his work called the “7,642nd Island” in Nena Saguil‘s “LAKBAY: Voyages Into The Absolute”, a group exhibition curated by Marika Constantino featuring works of nine (9) Filipino artists in the diaspora held last February 8-12, 2025. 7,642nd Island captured how overseas Filipinos stay connected to home through video calls, online messages, and digital interactions, creating what he calls a “digital archipelago” that links Filipinos across borders.
Labitigan’s work invited audiences to reflect on what ‘home’ means in today’s digital world. It is a poignant reminder that no matter how far we travel, our culture, memories, and connections keep us rooted. He also led an artist talk during the event, offering audiences a closer look at his creative process and the personal inspirations behind his work. “For many Filipinos living abroad, home is more than a physical place — it’s a feeling we hold on to throughn technology and memory. I wanted to bring that idea to life through my art,” said Labitigan. Crafted using sustainable materials, including miniature balikbayan boxes filled with vibrant shredded paper, Labitigan’s work paid homage to Saguil’s signature abstract style, representing the fragmented yet enduring ties that bind Filipinos worldwide. More than an art exhibition, Saguil’s LAKBAY was a celebration of Filipino identity, migration, and creativity which highlighted the shared experiences of movement, adaptation, and belonging.
The exhibition was made possible through a collaboration between Art House, the Nena Saguil Foundation, and the Department of Tourism Philippines, with the British Council supporting Labitigan’s participation. This partnership underscores the British Council’s mission to create more opportunities for Filipino artists to expand their reach and impact globally. British Council Philippines Country Director Lotus Postrado emphasized the British Council’s commitment to help boost the local art scene, saying, “Supporting artists like Kulay reflects our commitment to strengthening creative connections between the Philippines and the world. Through opportunities like this, we aim to empower Filipino artists to engage with global audiences, foster cultural exchange, and share stories that resonate far beyond our borders.”
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Make-A-Wish Sets Sights On Impactful 25th Year
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| Make-A-Wish® Philippines donors, volunteers, and partners at 2025 Starlight Awards (Image Source: Orange Magazine TV/Make-A-Wish Philippines) |
As Make-A-Wish® Philippines celebrates its 25th anniversary, the foundation reaffirms its dedication to granting more transformative wishes of children with critical illnesses through a series of significant initiatives planned for 2025. Make-A-Wish® Philippines highlighted their community of donors, volunteers, and partners at the recently held Starlight Awards — an event honoring the wish community’s contributions to grant the wishes of children with critical illnesses. Corporate partners, individual donors, and volunteers were recognized with various awards, shining a light on their extraordinary efforts and generous support. With 2025 marking a huge milestone for the organization, this year is sure to be full of memorable and life-changing wishes waiting to be granted, culminating in a simultaneous wish-granting activity for critically-ill children across the country.
Make-A-Wish® Philippines is also organizing the “Swing for Wishes” charity golf tournament on October 24, 2025 at the Philippine Navy Golf Club. With the goal of granting 525 wishes this year, the organization aims to fund wish-granting activities with proceeds from the event. The foundation calls upon prospective event sponsors looking to help make children’s wishes come true, one swing at a time. Make-A-Wish® Philippines also reinforces its position as a partner of trusted brands and companies in creating meaningful change. Some of the foundation’s corporate partners include Fairmont Makati, Jollibee Foods Corporation, MaxiLife, Metrobank, The Hard Rock Cafe, The Marketplace, Toy Kingdom, RealMe, Macquarie Group Limited, and Business Networking International (BNI) Philippines, among others who continue to support through employee giving programs, company sponsorships, and other efforts to bring joy to every child through unforgettable wish experiences. They also partnered with inter-regional communications group COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises to highlight its 25th anniversary and to amplify its message of hope. These partnerships reflect the organization’s commitment to building a strong community dedicated to championing its wish granting mission.
With the generous support of the wish community, Make-A-Wish® Philippines continues to transform the lives of Filipino children nationwide, recently granting its 5000th wish and reaffirming its commitment of creating life-changing moments. As Make-A-Wish® Philippines marks its 25th year, the organization calls on donors, volunteers, and partners to be part of this significant milestone and help bring joy, hope and strength to more children facing life-threatening medical conditions. “We started 2025 strong with a celebration of our community, and we hope to keep that momentum going throughout the year as we grant more wishes for children with critical illnesses. On this 25th year, we strive to have a bigger impact on our wish kids, and to create joyful experiences and unforgettable memories for them and their families,” shared Make-A-Wish® Philippines Executive Director Aleah Ortiz. As the organization plans to create more life-changing wish experiences this year, Make-A-Wish® Philippines calls on the support of more corporates and individuals to join their community of Wishmakers.
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ZTE Showcases Digital Innovations At Philippines Cloud & Datacenter Convention 2025 To Drive Southeast Asia’s Digital Future
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| (Image Source: Manila Standard/ZTE Corporation) |
ZTE Corporation, a global leading provider of integrated information and communication technology solutions, has unveiled its latest advancements in digital infrastructure at the Philippines Cloud & Datacenter Convention 2025. The innovations, designed to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and localized support, reinforce ZTE’s commitment to accelerating digital transformation in the Philippines and across Southeast Asia.
ZTE introduced its latest full-stack server innovations, developed through a robust R&D effort involving more than 1,500 R&D engineers and over 1,400+ core patents (including 200+ granted) . The company enables 100% proprietary innovations in critical components like motherboards, BIOS/BMC, and intelligent NICs. With smart factories in Türkiye, Brazil and China, total production capacity reaches 550,000 units annually, ZTE enables 48-hour rapid deployment. ZTE is committed to providing 24-hour technical support services to ensure the safe and stable operation of the network and services. In addition, ZTE has an advanced after-sales service system with over 10,000 engineers in 107 countries, providing “factory services” to all customers worldwide. ZTE also showcased its sustainable data center solutions. Sustainability remains a core focus with energy-efficient cooling solutions including cold plate liquid cooling, immersion liquid cooling,and indirect evaporative cooling, designed to reduce energy consumption. Modular data center construction further enhances efficiency, cutting project timelines by 40% while meeting LEED/BERDE certifications. At the end of 2024, data center solutions have more than 450 cases worldwide, which have already been successfully deployed in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and other countries contributing to the region’s growing digital economies.
ZTE’s customerized cloud, storage, and intelligent computing solutions support local enterprise digital transformation. The company is collaborating with Southeast Asian industry leaders to advance smart city, fintech, and low-carbon infrastructure projects. Through a dual strategy of technology sharing and localized operations, ZTE aims to accelerate the adoption of intelligent digital solutions. With a robust R&D portfolio in containerized data centers, iDCIM platforms, and sustainable construction practices, the company is poised to accelerate intelligent technology adoption across industries, fostering a greener, smarter digital ecosystem.
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NotebookLM Launches New Features For Students And Researchers
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| (Image Source: MegaBites/Google) |
To better facilitate proper research and study on NotebookLM, Google announced the addition of new features on the platform designed to enhance and streamline the process of gathering and understanding information from the internet. This innovation leverages the power of Gemini to provide users such as students and researchers with a curated collection of relevant sources, significantly enhancing the efficiency of research and learning. The new tools on NotebookLM help the thousands of people already using it to better visualize connections, discover study materials, and understand complex documents more effectively. The new additions are:
• Discover Sources: The Discover Sources feature allows students and researchers to discover relevant web sources directly within NotebookLM. By describing a topic and clicking “Discover”, students can quickly access up to 10 high-quality background information and research papers, streamlining the resource-gathering process. NotebookLM users can then import these web sources with a single click and utilize them alongside Briefing Docs, FAQs, and Audio Overviews. The imported sources remain accessible within the notebook, enabling people to read the original content, engage in chat-based inquiries, and utilize NotebookLM’s citation and note-taking tools.
• Mind Map: The new Mind Map feature generates interactive visual diagrams, enabling students to understand complex topics by illustrating the relationships between ideas. Users can zoom in on specific areas and click on concepts to access summaries, facilitating enhanced comprehension and retention.
• Enhanced PDF Understanding: NotebookLM now offers improved support for PDFs, recognizing all content, including images and graphs. This update addresses user feedback and ensures a more comprehensive understanding of complex documents.
• I’m Feeling Curious: NotebookLM also takes it a step further to enhance the learning process. For new users, the “I’m Feeling Curious” button offers an engaging introduction to NotebookLM’s source discovery capabilities. This feature generates sources on a random topic, showcasing the platform’s ability to quickly identify and summarize relevant information.
These new additions are the latest in a series of planned NotebookLM features that tap the power of Gemini AI to enhance source collection and analysis. Try out the new NotebookLM features by heading to notebooklm.google.com.
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AirAsia Philippines Cautions Summer Travelers Amid Summer Booking Rush
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| (Image Source: Punto! Central Luzon/AirAsia Philippines) |
As summer travel demand surges and long weekends are coming, AirAsia Philippines reminds guests to stay vigilant against online travel scams. Recently, AirAsia received reports of online scammers posing as legitimate travel agencies, using fake business registrations to convince travelers of their legitimacy and lure them into booking.
To ensure guests’ protection, AirAsia strongly advises against booking through unverified websites and social media pages, especially those requesting personal information or promoting deals that seem too good to be true. In 2024 alone, AirAsia Philippines blocked 51 accounts associated with scam incidents, demonstrating enhanced detection measures against fraud. AirAsia Philippines Communications and Public Affairs Head, First Officer Steve Dailisan, shares, “As technology evolves, scammers constantly advance their tactics to keep up with the ever-changing landscape. We strongly advise travelers to book flights only through airasia.com or the airasia MOVE App. To verify legitimacy of promos and seat sales, guests can cross-check via our website if they are reflected on our system.”
As the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline, AirAsia remains committed to providing the best value for travelers, offering frequent promos almost every week, ensuring affordable fares without the need to book through unverified Facebook pages or unauthorized websites. Furthermore, passengers can look forward to lower fare promos this April, following the Civil Aeronautics Board’s (CAB) adjustment of fuel surcharges to Level 4. This change means guests can expect reduced fees ranging from Php117 to Php342 for domestic flights and Php385.70 to Php2,867.82 for international flights, depending on the destination.
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Virgin Labfest XX Writing Fellowship Program Now Accepting Applications For Aspiring Playwrights
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| (Image Source: adobo Magazine/Cultural Center Of The Philippines) |
Young aspiring playwrights can now apply for the Virgin Labfest XX Writing Fellowship Program (VLF XX WFP) until April 30, 2025. The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), through its Artist Training Division, spearheads the VLF XX WFP, a two-week mentorship program on the study and practice of dramatic writing for the stage. The VLF XX WFP is open to applicants 18 to 29 years of age; a college student or a young professional; have not been involved or won in any professional playwriting and screenwriting platform; and can commit to whole days throughout the entire duration of the program, rehearsals, and performance for the Culminating Showcase. Chosen Writing Fellows will settle a minimal registration fee of Php2,500.
Interested applicants must submit a duly accomplished application form that can be downloaded at bit.ly/VLF20WFPFellowshipApplication, one (1) to two (2) samples of their stage plays (maximum of 10 pages total) in .pdf format written in either Filipino or English. They may submit these requirements through ccp.vlfwfp@gmail.com with the subject heading “VLF 20 WFP – 'surname'” until 11:00 pm of April 30th. Announcement of accepted applicants is on May 20, 2025. Accepted Fellows will partake in a series of lectures, discussions, and workshops about playwriting and script critiquing. They will also be presented with perks such as tickets to festival plays, opportunity to participate in talkbacks with known playwrights and directors, and a chance to exhibit their newly-acquired writing skills in the Virgin Labfest XX Writing Fellowship Program Showcase on June 29, 2025. The Fellowship will run on June 17-29, 2025 and will mobilize through a hybrid set-up with online sessions via Zoom and onsite meetings at the CCP. Full details of the program can be viewed on the CCP Arts Education Program Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19DJNeZm5R/).
For inquiries on the Fellowship Program, applicants may contact the CCP Artist Training Division via landline through 8832 1125 loc. 1605 and look for Ms. AJ Jara or send an email to ccp.vlfwfp@gmail.com. The Virgin Labfest is an annual festival of unpublished, unstaged, untried, and untested works of playwrights, directors, and actors produced by the CCP, Tanghalang Pilipino, and the Writer’s Bloc.
