Philippines' UNTV Holds 1st Rescue Summit for Emergency Preparedness

The Public Service Station UNTV is holding its first UNTV Rescue Summit as part of its 10th anniversary celebration on June 25th and 26th, inviting people to take part in getting themselves educated and prepared in the face of different calamities and emergency situations.

This year, UNTV's anniversary theme is "Big 10. Bigger. Better. Broader." Those following this station grow will see the significant and positive changes and impact this channel under the helm of veteran broadcaster Daniel Razon has contributed to nation-building and general welfare of the marginalized.

Ten years ago, UNTV was that small telvision station situated in a small studio in Ortigas, Pasig City with most programs dedicated to public affairs and public charity works. Today, this station has become the Philippine's only channel with focus on cause-oriented and public service programming and services, earning the brand, "Your Public Service Channel" so deserving of commendation.

News and Rescue Cause

News-and-rescue or its "Tulong Muna Bago Balita" (Rescue First Report Later) is one of its pillar causes, a pioneering move from this station known for finding and digging for opportunities to help, especially the marginalized and neglected in society.

In 2010, Tulong Muna Bago Balita or the idea of turning its reporters and crew into rescuers was announced during its sixth anniversary. This bold initiative caught the attention of industry observers, with some initially critical of the idea of dismissing breaking news first for the sake of saving lives.

"It doesn't matter if we come late in reporting if we come first in giving aid," said Razon in the vernacular during UNTV's year-end presentation of 2011.

Daniel Razon, CEO and Chairman of Breakthrough and Milestones Productions International (BMPI), was unfazed and beefed up even more the incorporation of the news-and-rescue cause in the bloodstream of UNTV's operation.

Over the years, UNTV has launched and deployed hundreds of news-and-rescue mobile units initially in the National Capital Region to assist massive emergency situations during the peak of New Year revelry.

Razon or Kuya Daniel also launched its UNTV News-and-Rescue Command Center, a Rescue 911-like hotline that people can call for help during emergencies and rescue operations. Unlike Rescue 911, UNTV's free of charge.

UNTV Rescue Summit

The 25th and 26th event of June will be two days complete with the following programs and services: 

• Rescue seminars - Seminars that will prepare and educate attendees the best ways to prepare and respond to emergency cases. Best and experienced rescuers will provide the lectures.
• Security Expo - Self-defense training, showcase of security equipment and state-of-the-art displays of guns and ammunition.
• Rescue Equipment Exhibit - Use and demonstration of rescue equipments will be taught.
• Medical Equipment Exhibit - Cutting-edge medical equipment will be showcased.
• Rescue Vehicle Show - Rescue vehicles used for rescue will be exhibited.

UNTV Rescue Summit 2014 takes place on June 25-26 at the World Trade Center, Pasay City.

Caring for the Elderly Theme

Another theme it adopted for its 10th year celebration is "Caring for the Elderly" advocacy. UNTV has been waging campaigns to promote awareness about the significant contributions of the seniors in nation-building. 

Kuya Daniel wants the station to adopt new programs geared for senior citizens, stressing the importance of paying attention to the senior citizen sector's needs. 

To empower the elderlies, UNTV will hold Elderpowerment 2014 during its 10th year celebration at the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) at the Sen. Gil Puya Ave. cor Roxas Blvd, Pasay City.

UNTV is Bigger, Better, Broader

Its 10 years of existence has proven to all that being like UNTV, with or without the advertisement revenues poured in by big brand names, is still possible. 

Being a Public Service Channel is difficult where year after year, the stakes at becoming better, bigger and broader run higher amid challenges. The numbers of people that needs helping are also not getting any lesser. 

But Kuya Daniel has always patterned the works he is introducing at UNTV from the same biblical principles he subscribes to - that doing good will not reap evil.

So long as God gives him or the station years or more opportunity to help and contribute in building better communities, there is no stopping UNTV from moving forward. 

Congratulations and more power, UNTV! Saludo po ako sa inyo! And am thanking God for this big big heart given to its CEO, Kuya Daniel Razon and your mentor, Bro. Eli Soriano.  

Untitled 11072012

Writing, alone
Air harping deeply
Muted gaze reveals
War inside, war outside
All wanting to drop within
Pages of tensed heart
Stirring Oh's and Haha's.
Like blinding stop signs.

Of this. Oh this.
Far land. Near yet far.
Reaching to touch souls.
With stories I dreamed to tell.
Spaced-dived to nowhere.
Like a Martian rearing its head.
Strange dreams, sweet reveries.
When to start, when to end?

At a certain time
At a certain place
The desire is irresistible
Talk of the hidden man
Passion to create
Till this urge break
Like a once a upon a time
News waiting to break.

Mind's both awake and cold.
Lightning's speaking of gems.
Lightning's message is clear.
Rains falling, overflowing
Soundless fury of memories.
Water running to dry tears.
Softly landing in pages.

Still, time's belated break.

On Writing

Hi!
I want to become a writer.
I would like to know how.
Can you please be kind?

Still there?
Don't hesitate. Help me dear.
It's hard I know. But I will try.
Err, I will write.

Still listening?
Trust me. I am not joking.
With all my best and might
Let's start now.

Wait!
Hard and easy it might come.
Oh, maybe, sometimes not.
Volumes of rejections?
Oh come on, I get that.

P.S.
Make me see the way
Of what writing's about.
Don't break my heart.
Break or make. Still I will.

P.S.S.
With help from God above.

6 Nov 2012

3:30 p.m.

Pampanga

For inspiring and transforming lives through the Gospel, Ang Dating Daan Turns 32

The Ang Dating Daan religious program hosted by Bro Eli Soriano is celebrating its broadcast anniversary this month of November. That is a very good news for a program, especially to audiences seeking an informative and intelligent show playing anywhere today be it on radio, television or the Internet. Thirty-two years is no mean feat after all.

According to its website, the show today can be heard at UNTV Radio La Verdad and watched its telecast at UNTV, a UHF channel in the Philippines. Its first public airing was through radio as a 30-minute program managed by three people, including Bro. Eli as the host, Kuya Daniel Razon of UNTV as program director and editor, and Sis Luz Cruz, as the researcher.

Unlike any religious program in the Philippines, Ang Dating Daan is the kind where people flock its studio during its early 90s broadcast to throw their questions live and get answers live from the televangelist who would soon become the most sensible of all the other evangelist with radio and television programming.

To watch the show is like watching a symposium ala-Knowledge Channel or National Geographic Channel docs fest only Bro. Eli as the Bible Scholar is the narrator who reads the script out of the verses and passages from the Bible. You got religion and at the same time science, health, technology and family affairs rolled into one show. The Bible will answer is how Ang Dating Daan is introduced where Bro. Eli is the mouthpiece and reader of the verses as answers to questions of people.

Meanwhile, what is a hero without the antis? As soon as the popularity of the program has become undeniable so are the rise of detractors and enemies who would later fight Bro Eli via a concerted effort through a series of malicious attack to the International Evangelist's person. To the thinking public, the accusations are purely malicious and libelous even suicidal. While many local courts are convinced that there's nothing wrong with Bro Eli to even prove the preacher's innocence and what he's doing on television, still the enemies are desperate to win in this war of public opinion.

Even though the program has been blocked from one station after another to the point of being stopped from airing on television, the program has gained more airing time abroad where Bro. Eli's program is now brought to its Spanish and Portuguese-speaking audience in South America, Europe, and Africa. Ang Dating Daan is also being heard in India.

Now 32 years, this officially makes the program one of the longest-airing radio-television religious program in the Philippines and probably Southeast Asia.

On Sunday, November 4, at around 6 p.m. (PHT time), the program is hosting a special Bible Exposition, see the video below.



My warmest congratulations to an always sensible program and televangelist, Bro. Eli Soriano.

To God be the glory!

iPad Mini Launch to Climax Year 2012 for Apple ... and what's ahead

The iPad Mini has arrived and as expected it sports a 7-inch frame, and all the features one would expect from this new line of tablet device (expect, which is relative to what's been swirling around the rumour mill). It is also incredibly thin and lightweight that it is also legit it could steal the suffix Air from Macbook.

This medium small device (or its measure that's toss between the iPod Touch and iPad tablet sizes) and now as how Apple has dubbed its new gizmo: "every inch an iPad" because it's like "The whole package. In a smaller package." All the reactions about its beauty and form factors will remain to be just expectations until shipping starts and the new device lands in the hands of early adopters; also when word-of-mouth impressions start to spread.

Further to the long introduction, the iPad Mini launch, alongside many big reveals made recently by Apple including some refresh of its other existing products like the thinner iMac desktop and a Retina display-sporting Macbook Pro could just be the final biggest moment coming from Apple to fittingly end a year by a new Apple with Boss Tim Cook at the helm.

Precisely and in many regards, this can now be claimed to be a whole new Apple event. Also, a year when Apple unveiled so many new devices and product revamps. Could all these be symbolic of what's ahead the Cupertino-based company and among its fandom of where it stands in the heating arena around techville - from smart phones to music players down to tablets and laptops/desktops spaces?

Plus, another glaring omission is the seeming lack of the big, bold claims and words coming from a legendary folk hero like Steve Jobs to echo around a dark, closed theaters. "Magical" and "revolutionary" are nowhere to be heard nor expected come every Apple event. The tides have really changed and we can expect more big moves to unfold and surprise us. And unsurprisingly, it will.

Apple has also become a little bit of everything from the personality standpoint. Both bold and shy, it also has become innovator and follower. And all these and more could be what the iPad Mini launch are what it simply Apple is meaning to impress - to tell the present and future Apple.

While Apple can be perceived of as having or lacking the edge over its other rivals like Google and Samsung, the undeniable truth is that Apple is and remains to be a still-dominant player in the tablet computer sector. It also continues to enjoy a comfortable spot as the preferred product of choice among many consumers in almost all the major product space that it is a part of.

The company's nearest rivals are Android-based products who are making a dent and fast-leading as the preferred new toy because they are cheaper for giving more features and choices.

The gap on what can explain Apple's recent action recently can be divided into whether it is in a defensive or offensive mode or both at the same time. One that's among the most vocal around is Gizmodo, who has already started to air that Apple as a follower.

After all that's been said and done, it is still too early to tell if Apple is redefining its new service philosophy. Is it still quality over quantity? Or more to ride out the competition and play the game squarely? Or it is both? Sure we cannot tell right away.

For the meantime, I will just wait for November 2 and observe how the consumer market will respond and see how the new gizmos will fare come the yearend shopping spree of many consumers around the globe.

How about you?

Ciao.

Start All Over Again

Writing a blog after a very long hiatus is hard. I've regretted the missed opportunities and times that I refused to listen to my heart's dictate to write at least a single post everyday. Writing is still something I will always miss doing.

Anyway, I have a little excuse. I was very busy for the last three months. I was also lazy to blog (which of course is contextual and a handy excuse because I've been juggling multiple projects for a living and for that something that you do to give back to the community).

Now, am at a crossroad where multiple signposts cry: Where to begin? What topic to write? What to talk about? Now walking, walking, walking down the path of no return (with God's help), I hope that I will be writing again for good.

As a bit of an announcement, I would like to start a new baby which was the result of my love for writing and my passion in covering technology. A pet project focused on technology, gears, gadgets, web, and everything in between but mainly its impact to Filipinos. Will give a heads up once everything is settled.

Excited enough?

Manila flooding: a window to the Filipino soul

Finally this Thursday, the Filipinos very warmly welcomed the sun rising for the first time again after over 12 days of coldness and darkness. It was not that the earth is ending but Manila experienced unstoppable raining that caused flooding and destruction. And Filipinos believe the vacationing sun should now stay.

Photo credit: Rey Tamayo Jr., Photoville International

The weeks-long raining spree followed after Typhoon Saola blanketed the Manila skies dark a few weeks back. Definitely long enough, the incessant raining was enough to paralyze the capital Manila and nearby provinces. News reports even mentioned that the wet spell that Manila experienced easily claimed the record of providing a month's worth of rain in just over two days.

The unrelenting raining caused massive flooding to shoulder-deep levels and landslides. And as if the devastation is not enough, the monsoon rain delivered 300,000 people to emergency evacuation shelters. Over two million Filipinos were affected by the flooding, according to one BBC report.

One of the emergency shelters in Alabang, Muntinlupa. Photo credit: Mark Aiven Antang/Photoville International

And yet for another moment, we witnessed the Filipino soul in the works.

The social networking platform have served the Filipinos well in these calamitous times. My Facebook news stream updated me with the goings on from the many different cities around the National Capital Region. Twitter was also helpful for supplying me with hotline numbers of government agencies to contact, relief mission drives, and announcements of classes and office work suspensions.

While social media proved itself relevant for info dissemination and a useful tool in giving me with personalized info about the what's up from families, friends and colleagues, the Web has become a mirror of the Filipinos' resilient spirit. Netizens were witnesses to the birth of a meme called "The Filipino spirit is waterproof."

From @coloissu

The Filipinos' resiliency appears the most unique and infectious. Amidst the calamity and storm, we, Filipinos, can still manage a smile and inject some laughs even while walking from waist-deep floods.

The Recto underpass even became an 'Olympic' diving board. Australian and French tourists were also reportedly game with some Filipino kids to swim in the floods. And more TV reports and Internet posts of diverse kinds have more than enough proof of how we can make even the most hostile of calamity into a world of fun.

Photo credit: PSG (Perfect sa Ganda)

We also seem to have the most compassionate of heart. Filipinos' merciful spirit was shown the biggest out of the massive charity works and relief missions mounted by Filipinos for fellow Filipinos. This is definitely a clear reflection of just how much we Filipinos love our neighbors as much as we show that love to our families and friends.

Two example Filipino groups who are very busy helping the depressed are UNTV 37 and the religious group, Ang Dating Daan group being led by Bro Eli Soriano. The major coordinating centers of the Ang Dating Daan were even opened to the public and converted into temporary emergency shelters.  Relief operations from the two groups included the giving of food, drinks, clothing, free rides, and more.

 

Photo credit: Mark Aiven Antang/Photoville International

More than serving as a window to the positive side of the Filipino soul, the recent Manila calamity must serve also as a mirror to show the other side of that soul. We are sometimes unmindful of preparations. This is not limited to emergency preparedness, but the preparations to ensure that mammoth flooding will never again be experienced.

Usually, when a bad weather or calamity has calmed, we no longer checked back to see what we can do to trace or resolve our problems.  Take for instance how some government officials exploit disasters like these for media exposure. These public servants must be guilty of using the social good efforts to project their positive persona in the press for campaign purposes. Responding to crisis situations must not end in doling out relief supplies. As public servants, their true responsibility is to ensure the welfare of their constituents even when the disaster or calamity is away.

Yet the government cannot be blamed for everything. We must be reminded that we are also to blame to the flooding and landslide. We are also a party to the declining health of our environment or why some projects are failing for lack of support and cooperation from people. While another similar devastation might once again happen and prove the positive Filipino character, we must not forget, however, our priorities in ensuring a long-lasting solution to our dilemma.

As a start after the flooding, we must not return to the unbreakable bad habits of throwing away our garbage everywhere or not recycling our wastes. And now that the sun is here, we should start cleaning our drainage or checking roof holes to seal. We can also join tree-planting efforts. We must commit to change for the better and say no to complacency.

But even more important than citizen involvement and being aware of our roles as responsible citizens, we must be mindful of the spiritual. Powerful typhoons or calamities are strong reminders to us that we are helpless and powerless in the sight of God. It is a call for us to be humble and to always remember to pray and seek God's help and mercy in all the waking moments of our lives.