Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) won 14 coveted honors at the 19th Philippine Quill Awards of the International Association of Business Communicators.
MPIC’s accolades included recognitions for media relations, events, publications, and corporate social responsibility, primarily its COVID-19 initiatives.
“Our goals remain unchanged—to achieve national progress and uplift the lives of our countrymen. Seeing how our work helps Filipinos is, by itself, rewarding. But being recognized for our passion adds more fuel to our fire,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan,MPIC chairman, president & CEO.
Of its 14 awards, MPIC garnered five excellence and 9 merit trophies.
MPIC’s 2020 Annual & Sustainability Report and In the Heart of MPIC, its six month-long radio engagement with DWIZ, both gave in-depth narratives on the strategic moves the group has made to keep the country going.
Metro Pacific Investments Foundation’s (MPIF) one-year food security program Bayan Tanim! and its alternative livelihood program Puhunang Pangkabuhayan were recognized for the opportunities it provided for Filipinos to get back on their feet.
MPIF continuously mobilized Shore it Up! In January 2021, the Foundation inaugurated its third Mangrove Propagation and Information Center in Cordova, Cebu.
The MVP Group of Companies and Tulong Kapatid directed towards providing support to frontliners and vulnerable communities were also recognized. The MVP Group GABAY Concert served as the launchpad for the group’s six GABAY Advocacies for a Sustainable Philippines.
SM bags best IR, Corporate Governance in SE Asia awards
SM Investments Corp. tops two award categories in the recent Alpha Southeast Asia magazine awards based on a poll of industry investors.
In this year’s 12th Annual Institutional Investor Poll, SM Investments clinched the top spot for the Most Organised Investor Relations, its 11th win; and Strongest Adherence to Corporate Governance for the eighth time.
“We are honored by this recognition from Alpha Southeast Asia and its support over the past years in recognizing the company’s efforts towards excellence in investor relations and corporate governance,” said Timothy Daniels, SM Investments consultant for Investor Relations & Sustainability.
The company also ranked among the top for the Best Senior Management IR Support and Most Consistent Dividend Policy categories for a total of four awards.
SM Investments recognizes the essential role of good corporate governance practices in the long-term growth, sustainability and success of the company. As such, the company continuously develops its corporate governance culture to keep pace with the regional and global best practices.
According to the Hong Kong-based magazine, they were able to account for votes from more than 557 investors and analysts across Southeast Asia as well as the United States and Europe. The awards were announced in July.
PLDT Group, Huawei team up with ARK
Four farming communities in the Municipality of La Libertad in Negros Oriental have been reached by the sustained collaboration between PLDT Inc. and its wireless arm Smart Communications, Inc., Advancement for Rural Kids (ARK), PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF), and Huawei Philippines, to improve farmer-entrepreneurs’ digital skills to boost their livelihood.
To support ARK’s Arkita-Kita program which seeks to provide budding entrepreneurs with basic business skills that will empower them to pursue their own businesses, PLDT and Smart, PSF and Huawei have formally turned over smartphones to ARK’s local managers and storytellers, and distributed 5G-powered SIM cards to farmer-entrepreneurs.
The group has cascaded their Digital Literacy Program to farmers in Barangays Cangabo, Elecia, Kansumandig and South Poblacion. These farmers were upskilled with basic knowledge on mobile photography, social media and agricultural apps, social media marketing, and internet safety—to help increase salability of their produce and reach more buyers online.
Smart has also offered retailer SIM cards to interested participants of the training to provide them with other livelihood opportunities.
GMA Network inks CBA with employees’ union
The GMA Network management and the GMA7 Employees Union signed the 2022-2024 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in a virtual ceremony held on August 25.
Regarded as one of the highest bonuses to be given by a broadcast company to its rank and file employees, the agreement contains a signing bonus of P100,000 for employees with a tenure of less than five years; P115,000 for those with five to 10 years; and P130,000 for those with more than 10 years of tenure. There will also be a wage increase of P3,000 for 2022 and P3,000 for 2023.
There will be increases as well in employee benefits including calamity pay, fire and/or calamity assistance, hospitalization, and optical benefits.
Leading the CBA signing were GMA chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon, president and COO Gilberto Duavit Jr., executive vice president and CFO Felipe Yalong and GMA Union president Ronaldo Condestable.
SAP appointment
SAP SE announced the appointment of Rudy Abrahams as the new managing director, SAP Philippines.
In his new role and building on SAP’s 27-year history in the Philippines, Abrahams will be responsible for SAP Philippines’ customer-centric and innovative approach to driving digital transformation in the country. His focus areas include helping customers, partners, and communities tackle the biggest issues they face, such as business transformation in the cloud, building a resilient supply chain, and creating a sustainable future.
Abrahams brings over 25 years of ICT experience in the public and private sector, with expertise in large-scale digital transformation and a leadership style that puts people first.
Huawei, Stitch partnership
Stitch Tech Solutions and Huawei Cloud have entered a partnership to expand their client base and diversify into new markets.
According to Stitch chief operating officer Alex Aquino, Huawei’s geographical infrastructure locations and rich industry experience would minimize latency and allow Stitch clients to improve the efficiency of their applications and systems more quickly.
According to Melvin Paul Liew Wing Cheong, sales director of Huawei Cloud, his team is looking forward to working with Stitch because it would allow them “to push innovation even further and to better serve businesses.”
Stitch and Huawei also plan to introduce new products and services including enterprise resource planning systems, AI chatbots, and advanced AI applications that will run on existing infrastructure.
Barangay Shopee launched
In time for the much-awaited double day sale, the 9.9 Super Shopping Day, Shopee launched Barangay Shopee, the newest initiative under its Shopee Bayanihan CSR program, designed to help communities in need by enabling Filipinos to win a sponsored community project for their barangay.
Through this contest, Shopee users from all over the Philippines have the chance to win a community project that will help address the needs of their barangay. Winners of the contest can choose their own community project that all members of their barangay can benefit from, such as a new basketball court, multi-purpose hall renovation, public school supplies, and other community-building projects.
Until September 9, users can join Barangay Shopee by posting video entries on Facebook and submitting the link via the Barangay Shopee page in the app. Joining the online contest can be by creating a 1–2-minute video with at least 3 barangay members answering the questions: Bakit kayo ang dapat tawagin na “Barangay Shopee”?; Paano pwedeng tulungan ng Shopee ang inyong Barangay?, and posting the video on Facebook, with the tag @ShopeePH and hashtag #BarangayShopee in the caption.
The video should be submitted via the Barangay Shopee page in the Shopee app.
Toyota among Port of Batangas’ top revenue contributors 
Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) was recently recognized as the second top importer by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) – Port of Batangas (POB) for the period January to July 2022.
The country’s largest automotive and mobility company remitted to the government a total of P16.46 billion in the form of duties and taxes. The amount is the second highest collected by the POB, contributing to the Port’s higher revenue performance versus the same period last year.
TMP operates with the POB for the importation of automotive products including various Toyota and Lexus vehicle models, multi-sourced parts for production, and service parts from the Asia Pacific region.
POB serves as a major gateway for TMP’s distribution of automotive products to Toyota dealerships in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
Cebuana Lhuillier bags 4 distinctions
Cebuana Lhuillier was awarded four Quill Awards from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Philippines in the 19th Philippine Quill Awards.
The company’s financial literacy campaign “Iponaryo” won the Excellence Award for Communication Management.
The company’s 2021 Mother’s Day video campaign “Dakilang Ina” also clinched the Excellence Award for Communication Skills and was nominated for the Top Award in the same category.
Cebuana Lhuillier’s internal COVID-19 response communications “Ka-Cebuana COVID-19 Healthwatch” earned a Merit Award for Communication Management.
The company’s annual internal publication “Benedizioni” won an Excellence Award for Communication Skills.
Ortigas Malls receives int’l recognition
Ortigas Malls brought home two awards at the recently held 2022 International Business Awards (IBA)–a Silver Stevie Award for PR Campaign of the Year in Community Engagement for its Elite Pet Society campaign and a Bronze Stevie Award for Most Valuable Corporate Response for its pandemic efforts.
The brand won a bronze award for its corporate pandemic response for being one of the first mall chains to have 100 percent of its staff fully vaccinated and boosted.
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