Author: Google News

The direct flight between Mactan Cebu International Airport to Bantayan Island will resume this coming April 2023 according to the announcement released to the media by the officials from the Cebu Provinciall Government and the MCIA.

The announcement was released to the media after the official inauguration of the newly improved Bantayan Island Airport runway on Wednesday March 8, 2023. 

During the said milestones of the airport, notable guests were attending the inauguration which includes Department of Transportation Usec. Roberto Lim, Director General Antonio Tamayo, MCIAA’s general manager Julius Neri Jr.

The general manager of MCIAA, Julius Neri, stated during the Bantayan Airport inauguration that with the upgraded runway, the airport in Bantayan island is now ready to welcome back aircrafts.

Bantayan Island Airport flights will resume after years of the pandemic according to the MCIAA official, however, he clarified that as of this moment the airport can only accommodate turbo-prop aircrafts such as Fokker 50 and the ATRs. 

Neri also explained that the airport is not yet a commercial airport as it still need more infrastructure and components to qualify it as a commercial airport, but commercial aircrafts, except jets, can already use the airport. 

Bantayan Island Airport which will served as the gateway to the white sandy beaches of the island started the upgrading of the runway last 2020 during the administration of Pres. Rody Duterte under the tutelage of former DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade. 

The upgrading of the runway was completed in late 2022 with the national government spending approximately P153 million in extending its length from 900 meters to 1,200 meters or 1.2 kilometers. 

The Cebu Provincial government who owns the 25-hectare lot in Bantayan Island together with the DOTr officials expressed optimism that the improved runway and the return of direct flights will help spur economic and tourism activities on the island, despite the fact that more work needs to be done to turn the airport into a commercial one. 

The island where the airport was constructed is composed of three towns namely the resort town of Santa Fe, the commercial center Bantayan and the fishing ground Madridejos. It is located approximately 140 kilometers northwest of Cebu. 

Source: PNA

One of the world’s leading stablecoin or even considered as the second-largest in terms of capitalization, the USDC Stablecoin from Circle Internet Financial, temporarily lost its peg to the U.S. dollar due to some reports and some of its funds being deposited in the controversial Silicon Valley Bank. 

USDC whose market cap is estimated to be worth around $42 billion was affected with the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which was shut down by government regulators after suffering a run on deposits. 

As of posting time, USDC is now worth around $0.955 cents, as it slowly climbs back to the one dollar peg after suffering from an all-time low of 1USDC equivalent to $0.879 as of yesterday’s trading based on coinmarketcap.com.

According to Circle’s announcement some of USDC’s cash reserves were parked at Silicon Valley Bank worth around $3.3 billion in cash deposits, representing about 8% of the total reserves backing USDC.

Numerous articles posted online confirmed that concerned investors redeemed over $1 billion of USDC tokens on Friday, causing the stablecoin, one of the most popular in cryptocurrency, temporarily lose its dollar peg on some exchanges and pushing the largest stablecoin swap pool on Curve into heavy imbalance. 

Cryptocurrency experts stated that stablecoins like the USDC are a crucial part of the crypto industry’s foundation, and when they deviate significantly from their peg particularly to the US dolalr, it raiss concerns about their financial footing. 

The Silicon Valley Bank fiasco is the main culprit of the recent devaluation of USDC according to some experts. The bank collapsed on Friday, March 10, 2023, following a bank run and a capital crisis, which resulted in the second largest failure in the history of the United States in terms of financial institution. 

Due to the collapse of SVB, the FDIC took control of the bank and will liquidate the bank’s assets to pay back its customers, including depositors and creditors. 

Silicon Valley Bank also announced that it had sold securities at a loss before Friday and would sell new shares to shore up its balance sheets. The bank is instrumental in the entire Silicon Valley area as key venture capital firms reportedly advised companies to withdraw their money from the bank, triggering a panic in the entire valley are of California. 

Source: Circle.com

The highly anticipated of gathering of Bitcoin believers dubbed as Bitcoin Island Retreat in Boracay, the first ever event to be hosted by the Philippines is expected to draw a huge crowd.

The inaugural event that will take place this coming March 27 to 29, 2023 at the famous white beach of Boracay will feature prominent venture capital leaders who will served as keynote speakers. 

Boracay Island is considered as the most Bitcoin-friendly community in the Philippines. The Bitcoin event will be held at the Henann Regency Resort and Spa. 

According to the lead organizer of the Bitcoin Island Retreat, Pouch.ph CEO Ethan Rose, the list of speakers during the event includes HCM Capital founder and managing partner Jack Lee, Mimesis Capital Founder, CEO and chief investment officer Louis Liu, former Sequoia Capital crypto investor Augie Ilag, and Lightning Ventures general partner Mike “Muzz” Jarmuz.

Some of the most prominent names in cryptocurrency and financial experts will be in attendance also such as Elijah Tan, Vice President of operations at Coins.ph, considered as the largest crypto exchange and digital wallet in the Philippines. 

Ethan Rose revealed that Elijah Tan, who once served as fiat exchange lead at Binance, will discuss bringing crypto and Web3 use cases to solve challenges in the global markets. 

Prominent speakers of the event also include Albert Buu, founder and CEO of Vietnam-based Bitcoin-only startup Neutronpay. He will be giving his take on the growth of Bitcoin and Lightning Network in Southeast Asia. 

Renowned Bitcoin Educators will also participate in the said event. Here’s the List of educators and entrepeneurs:

• Lyman Manzanares, founder of Lightning Coop
• Max Webster, founder of Hivemind Ventures
• Jiro Reyes, founder and CEO of Bitskwela.com
• Gillian Kok, entrepreneur and holistic therapist
• Chris Tan, entrepreneur and creator
• Stephan Livera, podcaster and head of education at Swan Bitcoin
• Mary Imasuen, Bitcoin podcast host
• Joey Miyamoto, Bitcoin and Lightning researcher
• Hodling Carla, founder of Hodling Apparel
• Rafael Padilla, legal director of Farcove Consulting
• Roy Miclat, president of 1 Cooperative Insurance System of the Philippines
• Bill Hill, community lead of Bitcoin Island.

The first Bitcoin Island Retreat in Boracay will surely entice Bitcoin builders and enthusiasts to flock the said venue to network, pitch ideas and share announcements. 

Attendees will also get to experience living completely off of Bitcoin after Pouch.ph enabled more than 250 locations, such as restaurants, hotels, and even sari-sari stores, to accept Lightning payments and receive instant, find settlements in Philippine Peso with no fees. 

Pouch.ph also announced that aside from the actual event, Bitskwela, a key partner in the event, will also host a parallel education track where hands-on sessions will touch on topics such as how to get businesses to sign up for Bitcoin payments, how to give technical demo, how to gain complete control of your Bitcoin. 

The highly anticipated and inaugural Bitcoin Island Retreat is co-presented by Coins.ph and sponsored Bitskwela and Orange Pill App. 

The organizer of the said Bitcoin event, Pouch.ph is one of the most innovative startups in the Philippines, enabling faster more affordable and more borderless payments via Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. 

Source: Pouch.ph

The Philippines’ first and only educational technology firm, Bitskwela announced through an official press release that they will gather key leaders and influencers for an online Web3 debate and one of their key partners is the Hive blockchain. 

Bitskwela is turning to Twitter Space to host an online debate titled “The Limits of DYOR: A Debate on Web3 Influencers and Promotions. The hour-long debate will start at around 7:00 PM this coming June 9, 2023. The Web3 Debate on Twitter also coincides with the FrolicBlock event in Mati City. 

The gathering of the country’s most prominent public figures and influencers is made possible through the initiatives of Bitskwela who is guided by its mission to provide Filipinos with logical, factual, and insightful Web3 education. Bitskwela, the company led by youngsters Jiro Reyes and JC Macalintal will host the Twitter event. 

Some of the most notable names who will be present during the Twitter events includes YGG country manager Luis Buenaventura, Bitcoin firm Pouch.ph CEO Ethan Rose, CNN “The Future w/ Jared, Kate, and Dan” co-host Jared Dillinger, Suzuverse PH and web3 games influencer Em “Kaisaya” Dangla, Web3 content creator MJ Aguilar, and Favx Capital and Cryptoverse Academy CEO Marvin Favis. 

According to Jiro Reyes, Bitskwela’s energetic CEO “The key to Web3 mass adoption is education, and Bitskwela has always been keen on working with key operator leaders and decision-makers in the space to forward education. Through Bull or Bear, we’re able to provide level-headed education on pivotal Web3 topics.” Jiro Reyes, Chief Executive Officer of Bitskwela explained.

The highly anticipated June 9, 2023 event which is co-presented by GCash and Blockceler8, is just part of a bigger Bull or Bear debate, which will be held in Cebu City. 

This event in Cebu is backed by the big names not only in the crypto industry but also by the government through the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), GoDigital Pilipinas, Ayala Malls, and the country’s flag carrier, the Philippine Airlines.  

Co-presented by GCash and Blockceler8,  the upcoming online debate serves as the inaugural side event to Bitskwela’s “Bull or Bear: Philippine Web3 Debate 2023” Cebu leg, prior to the onsite debate about NFTs and fine arts at Imahica Art Gallery, Mandaluyong City on June 16 and a grand debate at Ayala Malls Central Bloc, Cebu IT Park, Cebu City on July 15.

Some of the most prominent brands and names in the Web3 space partnered with Bitskwela for the highly anticipated online event such as the community-based blockchain Hive and the decentralized social media dapp D.Buzz. 

Hive is best known in the crypto world as a decentralized and truly Web3 ecosystem that empowers users to create, share, and be rewarded with their content and contribution to the blockchain. 

D.Buzz on the other is the first decentralized micro-blogging platform based in the Philippines and built on top of the Hive blockchain. It is founded by visionary entrepreneur Chris Rice and self-thought coder Nathan Senn who both live in Davao City. 

Bitskwela also partnered with Bitget, a crypto exchange and copy trading platform, and Tekkon, a Web3 app that promotes social good by empowering users to help fix their local community’s infrastructure. 

The Edutech company based in the Philippines will introduce an interactive debate format where audience members can cast votes online, with results announced after each round, as they underlined the importance of participation.  

Bitskwela has hosted discussions with Web3 leaders in recent months including GCash Head of Partnerships for Crypto Mark Nunez, new Coins.ph country manager Jen Bilango, Filipinas NFT’s Patty Tiu, and Stanible Co-Founder Harry Santos.

Source: Bitskwela

Who is Hope Marie Uy, one of the most promising Boholana developer and real estate venture capitalist who now owns the P25-Billion Panglao Resort Development. She is considered as one of the youngest business owners not only in Bohol but also in the entire Visayas Region. 

The 34-year-old native from Bohol whose dreams of building her own hotel is about to come true in a really big way. 

Hope Marie Uy is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Panglao Shores who considered the Province of Bohol to be her home. Uy and her siblings are raised in this beautiful destination. 

The family of Uy lived the island lifestyle since they were kids and she stated that her family are rooted in Bohol, this is the reason why they wish to develop and preserve its riches for future generations. 

The Uy family of Bohol is behind the 50-year-old Alturas Group of Companies (AGC), which is engaged in retail and several other businesses such as malls and supermarkets all over Bohol. 

The family business also operated a rice mill, piggery, poultry and aquaculture business and most of all, the Alturas Group is the company behind the widely popular pasalubong cookie brand Peanut Kisses of Bohol. 

According to the company’s disclosure, Panglao Shores now headed by Hope, is the first mixed-use community development venture of AGC. 

The company’s timeline revealed that within a ten-year period there will be six hotels and resorts, 37,000 sqm. of retail an commercial space, over 1,000 residential units, and an international medical facility will rise on a 57-hectare property in Bohol. 

In an interview with the media, Hope Marie Uy was quoted as saying “Sustainability and social responsibility will be seamlessly woven into the fabric of the low-density mixed-use estate project.”

In order for the company to prove that they are indeed serious with their vision, Panglao Shores tapped six leading architects, interior designers, and green development specialists to lend their unique expertise to Panglao Shores. 

Some of the prominent names in the industry includes Patricia Ho Douven (White Jacket); Princeton University-trained architect Patrick Keane (Enter Projects); resort masterplanning expert Chris Singer (SCSY Studio); multi-disciplinary design consultant Phillip Pond (Atelier Pond); sustainability specialist John Farrell (XCO2 Energy); landscape construction, resort design connoisseur Drew Anderson (TOPO Design Studio); and hospitality, tourism and real estate advisor Bill Barnett (C9 Hotelworks).

Based upon the project’s timeline, Phase 1 involves the construction of 188-room South Palms Resort, is currently ongoing and is scheduled for completion in 2024. Dubbed as an “eco-sensitive resort,” the five-star destination, says Uy, will “introduce the unique culture and community spirit of Bohol to visitors from all around the world.”

The highly anticipated project will be nestled in a 6.4-hectare beachfront lot on the south coast of Panglao, South Palms Resort / MGallery will also have four restaurants, a swimming pool with a bar, a fitness center, spa, a meeting space, a ballroom, and a club for children. 

According to Hope Marie Uy, who assumed the post as the CEO ten years ago, when she was just 24 years old, she considered tourism and real estate advisor Bill Barnett, sales and marketing director Fe Ginete, and her father Marlito Uy as her mentors in the industry where she belong right now.

Since the family business of the Uy family acquired the Panglao beachfront property during her colelge years, she already saw her work experiences as preparation to embark on AGC’s flagship leisure development project.

Hope Marie Uy is now managing an ambitious undertaking with 400 employees under her watch but she always stated that she treated all her employees as equals, because she listen to them and learn from them. 

Source: ABS-CBNNews.com

A game-changer in the internet mass adoption in the Philippines is happening right now after Converge ICT Solutions Inc., unveils the prepaid fiber offering for mass market. Converge which is also known as ComClark, is a telecommunication service provider in the Philippines. 

Converge ICT, one of the leading Fiber broadband provider, formally announced on Thursday, March 16, 2023, that a new low-cost prepaid fiber service targeted at the mass market is now part of the company’s offering to its loyal subscribers. 

The prepaid fiber product is dubbed as Surf2Sawa (S2S), is directly aimed at the entry-level segment who cannot avail post-paid fiber broadband service for their homes. 

Converge ICT CEO and the company’s founder Dennis Anthony Uy stated during the launch that “It is our believe that digital access is now a right of everyone. Thus, we want to provide our people with the Internet that they don’t just deserve but they can afford as well. In this digital age, we want to make sure that no one will be left behind,” Dennis Uy said. 

The veteran businessman said that S2S is now available in over 400 cities and municipalities across the country, including key areas in Bulacan, Batangas, Quezon, Bicol, Panay and Negros. 

Dennis Uy also revealed during the announcement that 90 percent of mobile subscribers in the country are on pre-paid as he stated that his company are seeing good traction in the uptake of their prepaid fiber with an average month-on-month growth of 20% in total subscribers with the now micro-entrepreneurs in the communities. 

S2S provides fiber Internet without data cap at 25 Mbps speed per household. It is offered in the following packages: P50 for one day, P200 for 7 days, P380 for 15 days, and P700 for 30 days unlimited data.

Converge ICT also explained that there is also one-time installation fee of P1,000, which already includes the cost for the router with only six devices can connect all at once per household. 

The company under the tutelage of Dennis Uy, Converge ICT continued to aggressively expand its network with total homes passed reaching 14.9 million at the end of 2022, accounting for 56.2% of total Filipino households.

This is indeed way ahead of the company’s commitment to reach 55% of the population by 2023. In terms of total ports deployed, Converge revealed that the company reached its peak at eight million across the country, staking its claim as the country’s broadcast fiber-to-the-home network. 

Converge also noted that their company continues to invest in backbone improvements with its early adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology into the conduct of its network operations. 

Source: Converge Official Website

The highly anticipated SummerFloric 2023 in Dahican Beach, Mati City will be held this coming June 10-11, 2023 and the organizers release the official line-up of local and international artists who will be performing during the two-day event. 

Famous international acts such as Bonka, Marnik, Standerwick, and Sandro Silva while local artists includes Ron Poe, Patty Tiu, Jenil, Katsy Lee, Jet Boado, Parnassvs, DJ Young, Victor Jao, McBoo, Jams, and MJ Collarga.

The first international artist being announced by FrolicFox, the organizers of SummerFloric was none other than Australia’s most sought-after lord of mash-up, Bonka. 

Bonka is a duo made of Lachlan and Connor who is best known as exciting DJs and producers who worked with the likes of The Chainsmokers, Timmy Trumpet, Deorro, Tujamo, Tommy Trash, and TJR. 

Some of the chart-topping music from Bonka includes All Your Love, Braks On, Hello Techno, I Like It, Be Alive, Requiem, We Like Forever, Escape, and Bang Boom. 

Watch Bonka’s Performance:

Marnik is an Italian progressive house due formed by Alessandro Martello and Emmanuele Longo. The duo made a name for themselves with their hit “Children of a Miracle,” a collaborative effort with Don Diablo and Galantis singer Reece Bullimore. 

The famous European duo, Marnik was responsible for some of the most popular tracks in the dance and music scene such as Bella Ciao alongside Steve Aoki and Hymn featuring Danko. 

The Italian phenomena have more than 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, topping the dance charts worldwide with their “Bella Ciao” version with Japanese DJ Steve Aoki, being included as one of the soundtracks in the “Money Heists” documentary on Netflix. 

Watch Marnik’s Performance:

Watch Standerwick’s Performance:

The last but certainly not the least in the official line-up of SummerFrolic 2023 is no other than Sandro Silva from The Netherlands, who established himself as one of the pioneers in modern electronic dance music. 

Sandro Silva discovered and embraced at a young age by the likes of Tiesto, David Guetta and Calvin Harris. 

During the year 2011, Sandro Silva made worldwide fame for his astronomical hit record Epic together with Quintino. 

He made a steady rise in the music industry for his collaboration with the likes of  W&W and 3 Are Legend, and remixed similar key players like David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Steve Aoki and Laidback Luke.

Aside from hist Epic song, he also collaborated with Quintino in another hit song titled “Aftermath.”

Watch Sandro Silva’s Performance:

These are the list of international acts and artists who will be performing in the highly anticipated SummerFrolic 2023 in Dahican Beach, Mati City, Davao Oriental. 

Don’t forget to mark your calendar this coming June 10-11, 2023 as we also join the event, but before that we encouraged you to participate in the Pre-Event, the FrolicBlock summer blockchain which will be held also at Dahican Beach. 

D.Buzz the Philippine-based and the very first micro-blogging platform built on top of the Hive blockchain will be there in SummerFrolic to join the community after the FrolicBlock event wherein the co-founders of D.Buzz, Nathan Senn and Chris Rice will make a presentation and as part of the panel discussion about Web3 and blockchain. 

ou can also join D.Buzz and Hive, and the best part of it is the fact that once you are on-boarded to the blockchain, you can have your very first blockchain wallet, if you don’t have any wallet yet.

A total of P24.13 Billion worth of budget was alloted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for ICT-Related Expenditures from the P5.268-Trillion National Budget for 2023. 

The allocation was disclosed by DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman during her keynote speech at the Carmela Resort on Thursday, March 23, at the annual convention of the Philippine League of Local Budget Officers (PHILBO). 

script async=”” src=”https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js”>

DBM revealed that the budget allocation for ICT covers funding for the Free Public Internet Access Program, National Government Data Center Infrastructure, National Broadband Plan, and the National Government Portal, among others. 

Secretary Pangandaman was quoted as saying ““Under this budget, some P3.56 billion was given to the Department of Finance and its attached agencies, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Bureau of Customs, to improve government revenue collection through digitalization,” she said.

The ICT-Related budget includes the P2.06 billion allocation for the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) to fast-tract its rollout and deployment. 

script async=”” src=”https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js”>

Aside from the PhilSys budget DBM also revealed that a portion of the P7.24-billion financial assistance was also allocated to LGUs to be used for ICT systems and infrastructure developments such as the establishments of an Integrated Business Permit and Licensing System, and digitalization of payments for collections and disbursements. 

The DBM is also lobbying and working with Congress for the enactment of the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized Governance or the PBBM Governance Bill. 

“This is hope to institutionalize the Integrated Financial Management Information System and strengthen implementation of the Cash Budgeting System,” Pangandaman said.

She said the DBM has identified digital transformation as a key pillar for government reforms.

Source: PNA

One of the Philippine’s highly anticipated blockchain events this year is the FrolicBlock by Mad Project and Davao Defi Community and it will be held in the most popular beach destination in Davao Oriental in Southern Philippines. 

Photo Credit: Mad Project & DDC

FrolicBlock is the premier blockchain gathering of Web3 enthusiasts this coming June 9, 2023, in the beautiful Dahican Beach of Mati City. It is a pre-event held a day before the most popular dance and music festival, the SummerFrolic 2023. 

The blockchain event aims to promote Dahican Beach, Mati City to be the premiere destination in the Philippines for any blockchain gathering in other words it could be the Capital of Web 3 community events in the country.

According to the official announcement made by FrolicBlock organizer Mad Project on Facebook, FrolicBlock is the perfect event for blockchain professionals or anybody who is just starting out and wants to learn from industry leaders who will share their knowledge and insights on the future of blockchain technology. 

The blockchain and Web3 enthusiasts gathering will be held at Menzi Beach Dahican, Mati City, considered the most popular beach destination in Mati City and the entire Davao Province. 

Dahican Beach is even dubbed by some local and international tourists as the quiet version of Boracay Island. It is also home to the best skimboarders in the Philippines. The waves of Dahican are even comparable to the more popular surfing destinations on Siargao Island. 

Attending the FrolicBlock event will connect everybody with like-minded individuals and companies, as they build relationships, and explore potential business opportunities. 

FrolicBlock is followed by one of the most awaited Summer Events in the Philippines, the SummerFrolic 2023 which will be held this coming June 10-11 and will feature some of the Philippines’ most popular DJs, artists, and musicians. 

SummerFrolic 2023 will also feature some of the world-renowned DJs with the likes of Bonka, Marnik, Standerwick, and Andro Silva. Local artists include Ron Poe, Patty Tiu, Jenil, Katsy Lee, Jet Boado, Parnassvs, DJ Young, Victor Jao, McBoo, Jams, and MJ Collarga. 

FrolicBlock the hottest summer blockchain event in the South is brought to us by MAD Project in collaboration with Davao Defi Community and it will be held at the Menzi Beach Park and Camp Site, Dahican, Mati City.

For inquiries and ticket reservations, the MAD Project and the DDC used EventBrite as the platform to secure your tickets. They announced earlier that the first 100 participants will be free of charge as well as SummerFrolic ticket holders while the remaining participants will have to shell out P100.00 per ticket.

Tickets for the SummerFrolic Event in Mati City are also available through DavaoDeFi.org official website.

Image Credit: Hive User @Doze

The world’s leading community-backed blockchain, Hive, and the first micro-blogging platform built on Hive, D.Buzz are major sponsors of the FrolicBlock Event in Dahican Beach, Mati City this coming June 9, 2023.

D.Buzz is the first decentralizing micro-blogging platform built on top of the Hive Blockchain. The Web 3 project was founded by Chris Rice and Nathan Senn in the year 2020 and it is based in Davao City Philippines.

The organizer of FrolicBlock, the MAD Project is a well-intentioned organization that recognizes the importance of technology in today’s society and seeks to equip individuals for the ever-evolving world of technology.

Join D.Buzz by Visiting this LINK