The Ilocos Times

Oscar-winning actress, producer, and entrepreneur Charlize Theron   The Philippine Digital Convention (PH Digicon) 2021 will feature Oscar-winning actress, producer, and entrepreneur Charlize Theron. As the celebrity headline speaker, Ms. Theron will speak about her personal experiences in different facets of life, including relevant issues in the business industry such as women’s empowerment. This October, PLDT—through its B2B arm PLDT Enterprise—will hold the most prestigious thought leadership event in the country. With the theme “REVOLUTION,” the event seeks to encourage businesses to embrace revolutionary change and explore possibilities to stay ahead in the dynamic business landscape. In its seventh iteration, the annual convention will feature Ms. Theron, her thoughts on empowering women entrepreneurs and executives in male-dominated industries, and fostering gender equality and economic empowerment, among others.   The award-winning actress founded Denver and Delilah P

By Noralyn Onto Dudt Watch what you eat. You eat the wrong stuff and your arteries will be clogged, your pain will be worse, and your brain will be fogged.   Blame inflammation which comes from a chemical reaction initiated by your immune system. Inflammation is the immune system's response to injury and infection. It is the body's way of signaling the immune system to heal and repair damaged tissues as well as to defend itself against foreign invaders. The attacker could be a foreign body, such as a thorn, an irritant, or a pathogen. Pathogens include bacteria, viruses, and other organisms which cause infections. When you cut your finger, white blood cells produce chemicals to combat the invader and to protect the infected area.   These chemicals are then released into the bloodstream, increasing blood flow to the area, causing inflammation.   In cases like these, inflammation is temporary and promotes healing. However, there are times when the immune system does not sw

Manila —PLDT Enterprise, the B2B arm of the largest fully integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines, called for innovative solutions that would address the threats to the well-being of students and teachers as they continue eLearning in the next normal. During PLDT Enterprise’s recently held eBossing Online Class—dedicated for the members of the   Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU)   and their 3,000 university and colleges heads, faculty members, and admin officers—Dick Perez, PLDT Enterprise Assistant Vice President and Corporate Relationship Management Head for Academe & FMCG, said that the toll of increased workload on teachers and other associated effects of the pandemic should not be underestimated. A study from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) found that more than 28 million students, educators, and parents are grappling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also affects their heal

Manila —Globe is partnering with Phil-Tower Consortium, Inc (PhilTower) to ramp up its aggressive network rollout in more areas in the National Capital Region and Luzon. Boosted by the Bayanihan 2 law which streamlined the permitting process, the partnership aims to install 500 new cell sites within the year.  Globe believes the partnership with PhilTower will boost the company's response to its customers’ ever-increasing need for better, reliable and accessible connectivity in the new normal. “Our partnership with PhilTower will help us accelerate our cell site expansion. Consequently, this will bring better services to Globe subscribers in more locations in the country,” said Vincent Tempongko, Globe Vice President for Site Acquisition.  PhilTower, on the other hand, emphasizes its role in advancing the telecommunication infrastructure in the country. “As a communication solutions enabler and digital infrastructure provider, we help power critical digital network expans

By Noralyn Onto Dudt We have not gotten out of the "COVID-19 woods", yet. The Delta variant is sweeping the globe and new laboratory research on this swiftly spreading variant is highlighting the threats posed by viral mutations. It's an urgent call for accelerated vaccination efforts across the globe. First, it's important to understand how this version of the virus emerged. Viruses cannot live alone and, technically, they are not living things. They need a host, a living host.   They invade the host's cells and hijack their machinery to get energy and replicate, and find ways to infect other living organisms and start the process over again. The coronavirus can mutate when it replicates, especially when circulating at high rates (a.k.a. the absence of vaccinations). Mutations involve changes in the sequences of an organism's genetic code.   As we have learned, viruses typically mutate more rapidly than human cells do. This is because human cells have me

PLDT Enterprise , the B2B arm of the   country’s largest fully   integrated telecommunications company   PLDT,   has provided   fiber connectivity and   internet solutions to all 23 barangays of Piddig, Ilocos Norte   to support   online learning   initiatives and   improve   the   governance capabilities of the municipality. The group recently teamed up with the local government and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation of Piddig for connectivity plans that would support the online education and online businesses of its constituents. “Our goal at PLDT Enterprise is to make a positive impact on every single business, which includes our local government units. We have consistently been extending our innovative services to different LGUs and municipalities in the country to support their needs in improving overall public governance, and this latest partnership with Piddig, Ilocos Norte is a testament to that,” said Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & head for PLDT

Emerging data center market poses potential to be next big economic driver    Manila — The global pandemic has been a catalyst for digital transformation as there was a steep rise in the usage of consumer applications from social media to video streaming, gaming, e-commerce, online learning,  and  telehealth,  among others . The pandemic has also pushed the enterprise and public sector over the technology tipping point by accelerating their cloud adoption  by increasingly migrating workloads to the cloud and massively using collaboration platforms supporting work from home arrangements.  Speaking earlier this year at Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT) 2021, Jeff Mendoza, Asia Pacific Regional Head of PLDT Enterprise said, “The digital transformation dictated by the pandemic among the enterprise and consumer sectors have pushed the hyperscalers  in the cloud and content provider space to step on the gas with their data center deployment

Manila—PLDT Enterprise, the B2B arm of the largest integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines, stressed the need for the adaption of creative education technologies that would better promote student engagement in eLearning. During PLDT Enterprise’s eNDUSTRY Online Forum for eLearning, PLDT Enterprise Assistant Vice President and Corporate Relationship Management Head for Academe & FMCG Dick Perez said that while eLearning has been the top educational trend for the past year, it still requires continuous innovation for a more effective learning experience for the students. “In eLearning, learners are just soaked in knowledge through viewing or reading content. The competition in the education industry now lies on which school have the more interesting and engaging digital platform,” he said. Perez said that gamification, or the application of gaming principles in non-game contexts, could help keep learners engaged in online learning despite numerous distraction

Family Picture of Nemesio Ventura Pedro and Juana Alcaraz Lorenzo in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Philippines in 1945. (From left) parents Juana and Nemesio, Fernando, the 4th and youngest child, Esperanza, 3rd child, standing: Jose, the 2nd child and his wife Marciana Victoriano, Isaac the eldest child and his wife Mizue Teresa Baba. By Leticia Pedro Cagayat Nemesio Ventura Pedro was the acclaimed “Pioneer Music Man of Laoag”. He was a gifted musician. He was the original composer of the Ilocano zarzuela. This was inspired by the Spanish zarzuela which is a theatrical play that alternates between spoken and sung scene. One of his favorite compositions was “Anching”, dedicated to his dearest daughter Esperanza. He was a versatile band master. He was the founder of the Modernista Band. It is the first and the longest existing band in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. He was the conductor of the choir of St. William Church in Laoag for many years. He taught music, solfeo to young folks at his hou

By Noralyn Onto Dudt COLLABORATION is one of those terms with both positive and negative meanings.   Unfortunately, a younger me used to associate the word only with mischief as in "collaborating with the enemy" in time of war; or collaborating with someone to cheat the system; or to do harm to others.   And then about four decades ago when I was tasked to edit scientific reports for publication in journals, I came to recognize and appreciate its positive meaning:   The Action of Working with Someone to Produce or Create something.   When a research scientist writes a paper explaining the result of an experiment for publication in a scientific journal, he or she cites his references—those past experiments that he/she tried to replicate or ones that had similar theories but also went beyond or diverged into other direction for other goals. For example, a theory might be: "if patients with metabolic syndrome have dysregulation of cellular lipid metabolism, could it be be

By Noralyn O. Dudt The adage , "NECESSITY is the mother of invention" comes to mind when we pause to take stock of where we are in this COVID-19 era and see that 11 vaccines are currently in use worldwide.   Certainly, a technological feat, as it has only been barely a year when the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. Those 11 vaccines are being successfully injected into people's arms but they are not enough to fulfill the global need in the short term. According to Science News, only about 1.9 percent of the world's more than 7 billion people have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus as of April 5 th . As the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines need to be stored in freezers, transporting them to far-flung areas can be logistically challenging. The necessity for other types of vaccines that would not require refrigeration has spurred scientists to think "outside the box."   To reach herd immunity around the globe we need as man