Maniolas

WITH the Asean integration just two years away, the need for quality management is even more apparent for local entities to compete with their global counterparts. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) hopes to make local organizations aim for quality excellence by participating in the Philippine Quality Awards. Patterned after the Baldridge Performance Excellence Program, the Philippine Quality Awards (PQA) is a set of criteria for assessing an organization’s performance and is the country’s highest level of recognition. The program guides organizations in achieving performance excellence. Program DTI 7 Director Asteria Caberte said all organizations strive for quality but only few have succeeded in understanding what it takes to achieve it. Phillip Jason Roque, trade and industry development specialist under the DTI’s Center for Industrial Competitiveness, explained that organizations that aim to better themselves apply for the PQA program and get criteria to conduct self-assessments andare subject to external assessments. Roque also enumerated the benefits of applying for the PQA, which include gaining an outsider’s perspective of an organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement, achieving greater success and increasing employee involvement and organization capabilities and sharpening of organizational tools for achieving business success. If selected to receive the award or any recognition level, they will receive a PQA trophy in Malacañang from the President of the Philippines and they can use it for publicity. Feedback More importantly, Roque said the feedback report from the assessors can guide an organization’s quality and productivity improvement efforts. “The award is secondary. All Read More …

By Dan E. Nino Pangasinan beauties after the coronation. From left: Charisse Lim Maravilla (Miss Dagupan City/Miss Charity), Brittany Paula Khoo (Miss Bayambang/Miss Peace), crowned Miss Pangasinan-USA Alyssa Veloria Soto (Miss Mangatarem), Ilen Mandapat Estrada (Miss San Carlos City/Miss Unity) and Melissa Marie Caringal (Miss Urdaneta City/Miss Hope). Photo by Mike Mandapat Alyssa Lauren Veloria Soto, representing Assn. of Mangatarem Overseas Residents (AMOR) of Southern California was crowned as Miss Pangasinan-USA in a scintillating Beauty Pageant that coincided with Pangasinan Brotherhood-USA’s 35th Anniversary Foundation Gala Night at the Embassy Suites Anaheim-South near Disneyland. Miss Soto, 20, a junior Pre-Med student at California State University-San Marcos also won the Miss Photogenic category and Evening Gown competition. What most likely earned the judges’ nod was her straightforward and articulate response to a judge’s question: “With the standard of beauty being portrayed as fair or light skin in a Beauty Pageant like Miss Pangasinan-USA, what message would you convey to girls who don’t fit this standard?” Miss Soto’s instant reply was: “Throughout my childhood, I was constantly being bullied because I was either too short, my hair was too long and thick or too curly, my skin wasn’t clear, and yes I was either too dark or too light skinned. My message to girls that face this problem and to anyone for that matter is you should not be judged by the color of your skin. True beauty comes from within. What makes you beautiful is your ability to portray yourself in a positive light, the way you carry yourself as Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Broadcasting Company has released the list of Filipino choirs that qualified from the nationwide auditions held for “Sing N Joy Manila 2013,” the international choral competition that will be held at the Aliw Theater complex in December. TIP Choral Society,  Kinaadman Chorale, Enharmonica Singers, Coro Amadeo,  UP Manila Chorale, Pasig Catholic College, Vox Angeli, Himig Bulilit of St. Paul College Parañaque, the University of San Agustin Troubadours, St. Mary’s University Choral Society, Regina Coeli, Tabor Hill College OAD Choir, Coro San Nicoleno, Calasiao Children’s Chorus, the Ateneo Boys Choir, University of Manila Singers, Vox Amigos, Juan Luna Elementary School, the Davao Girls Choir, Lyceum of Alabang, Tining-Ang Koro ng Letran Calamba, Coro Obcento, Agoo Children’s Choir, Isabela State University Chamber Choir, Cebu Central School Children’s Choir, and the Central Luzon State University Maestro Singers made it to the list of choirs whose participation will be subsidized by the broadcast network. Former MBC National Choral Competition champions Coro de Manila, Hiyas ng Pilipinas, St. Louis University Glee Club, and the Laoag City Children’s Choir are also included. Initial registration forms submitted by the different groups show them signing up for the different categories including mixed choruses and youth choirs, with the folkloric, pop, and sacred music genres as popular choices. Choirs from other countries in the Asia Pacific region are expected to see action when the international competition unfolds in December under the aegis of Interkultur Germany and the Philippine Choral Directors Association, through the generous support Read More …

If one were to ask for the secret of Ilocos Norte’s newest resort hotel, we would quickly answer Rolando Lawas, its resident manager who everyone calls LanLan. Small wonder his boss Danny Jacinto quickly left us in his care to spend four days at his hotel. Upon landing at Laoag’s airport, an hour’s flight on Airphil from Manila, we were whisked off to the Plaza del Norte Hotel & Convention Center in the midst of desert and hills, and after breakfast we were given a service vehicle to take in everything we could on the first day and to be able to relax on the other days. Our companion and friend Adolfo Timuat was only interested in the Juan Luna Museum. Aside from being a renowned Flamenco guitarist and Luthier (builders of guitars) in Spain, Adolfo was also a collector of Luna drawings. Juan Luna is decidedly the country’s greatest painter, instrumental for placing Philippine arts and culture on the world map. His most famous works were the Spoliarium, La Batalla de Lepanto, The Blood Compact, People and Kings and Ecce Homo among many others. We found students lined up for a visit at his Shrine in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, a reconstruction of the original house that burned down in 1861. Juan Luna was a co-worker of Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, Marcelo H. Del Pilar and other Filipino reformers in Europe. All over the city are popular eateries purportedly put up by current Gov. Imee Marcos. Called the Johnny Moon Read More …

RICHARD and Michelle Santiago Every day, Richard and Michelle Santiago face the finish line in the morning and the business bottomline at night. As entrepreneurs, the couple behind Ineng’s Special BBQ has worked hard in the last 14 years to grow their business from a small market stall in Cubao to a restaurant chain and franchiser across the country today. As triathletes, Richard and Michelle would run, bike and swim in long distances and even join competitions held around the country. They swim, bike, run and extend this discipline in managing their business. “At the end of the day, it’s all about commitment,” says Richard. “It’s hard work but it’s worth it.” Richard knows whereof he speaks when he talks about commitment—and won’t run away from it. In the last 10 years, the Santiago’s motivation to do good business was not just to save money but to also pay a debt in millions that they didn’t even incur. Early in his career as a milkfish raiser in Pangasinan, he was conned by a man who had cost the couple their life savings. The couple met the man during their wedding who claimed to be a scion of a prominent family. The man asked Richard to guarantee a loan on his behalf but disappeared when the sum had to be settled. Devastated at first, the couple did not give up and decided to negotiate with the loan patron. “Ninong was kind enough to give us a chance to pay in installments Read More …