Oklahoma City Thunder's Steven Adams and Former NBA Reggie Theus headline NBA 3X Philippine Presented by AXA

The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced today that Steven Adams of the Oklahoma City Thunder, former NBA coach Reggie Theus, and the Laker Girls will attend NBA 3X Philippines presented by AXA from July 22-23 at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall.  Registration for NBA 3X Philippines 2017 begins today on a first-come first-serve basis atwww.nba3x.com/philippines and runs until July 14 or until all slots are full.

NBA 3X Philippines 2017 will feature a 3-on-3 tournament featuring men’s and women’s teams of all skill levels as well as NBA entertainment throughout the weekend.  The 2017 edition of NBA 3X Philippines will begin with a preliminary tournament July 15-16 at Don Bosco Technical Institute Makati that will determine the participants in the finals at the SM Mall of Asia.  Additionally, the league will conduct an NBA Cares clinic for 10-14-year-old boys and girls at the indoor court of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines College of Engineering on July 19. 

“I’m looking forward to meeting the Filipino fans and experiencing the country’s vibrant culture,” said Adams.  “I’m also excited to work with the talented athletes from across the Philippines at NBA 3X.”

“This will be my first trip to the Philippines, and I can’t wait to see the passion Filipinos have for the game of basketball,” said Theus.  “With the inclusion of 3-on-3 basketball in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, NBA 3X is a testament to the growth and popularity of the game internationally.”

“We are excited to partner with NBA 3X Philippines and see this as a platform to elevate 3-on-3 basketball in the country,” said Raul Hora, President and CEO of AXA Philippines.  “In the same way that we assist clients in making sound financial decisions, we look forward to seeing boys and girls of all ages showcase their skills, exhibit teamwork, and execute their gameplan to win on and off the court.  With Steven, Reggie, and the Laker Girls in attendance, this event is a great opportunity to provide the NBA experience to fans.”

The competitive 3-on-3 tournament includes divisions for boys (under-13, under-16, under-18, and open category), girls (under-16 and open category), an invitation only Celebrity Division featuring local personalities, as well as a new division exclusive to AXA employees and distributors.

Adams, a 7’0” center from New Zealand, was drafted 12^th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2013 NBA Draft.  He was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2014.  During the 2016-17 season, Adams averaged 11.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1 block per game.

Theus was drafted 9^th overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1978 NBA Draft and selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1979.  A two-time NBA All-Star, Theus played 13 seasons in the NBA before playing internationally.  He was named head coach of Sacramento Kings during the 2007-08 season before becoming an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2009-2011.  He is currently the head coach of Cal State Northridge in the NCAA.

NBA 3X Philippines 2017 is presented by AXA Philippines together with official partners CloudFone, Globe At Home and Globe Prepaid, Panasonic, as well as supporting partners SM Mall of Asia and Spalding.  Official NBA broadcasters for the event are ABS-CBN Sports and Action, Basketball TV, and NBA Premium TV.

All participants in NBA 3X Philippines 2017 will receive an NBA 3X jersey with special prizes for the winners of each division.  Registration fees for the age divisions run at Php 1,000 per team, while open divisions run at Php 1,600 pesos per team.

For more information on NBA 3X Philippines 2017 and the registration process, log on to www.nba3x.com/philippines and followwww.facebook.com/nba3xasia. 

For more details on AXA Philippines and their product offerings, visitwww.axa.com.ph and www.facebook.com/AXA.Philippines. 

For all things NBA, visit www.nba.com and follow the league on Facebook at www.facebook.com/philsnba and Twitter atwww.twitter.com/nba_philippines.

About the NBA

The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association and the NBA G League.  The league has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 49 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents.  NBA rosters at the start of the 2016-17 season featured a record 113 international players from 41 countries and territories.  NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA App and NBA LEAGUE PASS.  The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with more than 1.3 billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.

About AXA Philippines

AXA Philippines is one of the leading and fastest-growing life insurance companies in the Philippines. It was borne out of the formidable synergy between Metrobank, one of the foremost financial institutions in the Philippines, and AXA, a global leader in insurance and asset management serving 107 million customers in 64 countries. At present, AXA Philippines has more than 800,000 lives insured and covered by individual policies and group life insurance. AXA Philippines has more than 3,000 financial advisers in 37 branches and 693 financial executives in 938 Metrobank and PSBank branches nationwide. In 2016, AXA Philippines entered the non-life insurance business with the acquisition of Charter Ping An, the 5th largest general insurer in the country.

Incredible Skills by our Pinoy App Developers in ASUS Philippines’ First Ever Hackathon Event Organized Dubbed as Zenfone AR: A New Reality

ASUS Philippines’ latest smartphone – the Zenfone AR – takes center stage as aspiring mobile app developers competed for the ultimate prize in the Zenfone AR: A New Reality Hackathon

The final six teams come together for a photo with the Zenfone AR: A New Reality hackathon judges, Mr. Solon Chen of GDAP, Mr. Dominukus Susanto of Qualcomm, spearheaded by ASUS Philippines Systems Group Country Manager, Mr. George Su (center stage), and USEC. Mon Ibrahim of The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). ASUS Philippines recently launched the Zenfone AR, the world’s first Tango enabled and Daydream-ready smartphone with 8GB of RAM, through a 48-hour hackathon event, dubbed as the “Zenfone AR: A New Reality Hackathon”, held last June 22 to 24 in Whitespace Manila in Makati City. In line with its commitment to search for the incredible, ASUS together with VR Philippines, a commmunity of virtual reality developers and enthusiasts who promote the advancement of VR technology in the Philippines, and key industry partners from the private and government sector, collaborated to organize a one-of-a kind hackathon event that aims to develop Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) applications that benefits the lives of Filipinos and address challenges through the power of  AR and VR. “As you may know, Augmented and Virtual reality are still in their infancy stage and it needs more awareness to properly understand its full potential,” said ASUS Philippines’ Product Marketer for Smartphones, Mike Santos, as he welcomed the teams on the first day of the event. “Hence, AR and VR are game-changers that can make our lives better; especially now in this ever-changing digital world.” “ASUS Zenfone AR is the world’s first Tango enabled and Daydream ready smartphone with 8GB of RAM that is available in the market. We, at ASUS, believe that the Zenfone AR will be a great tool for professionals and early adaptors who are keen to further explore the power of Augmented and Virtual reality to maximize their profession and expertise. “We are on the verge of going beyond what we know and hand-in-hand, we will be exploring endless possibilities and ways in making reality far better than what it is today through the innovative power of the Zenfone AR.” Santos concluded. An incredible 48-hour hackathon experience The teams being briefed on the first day before they formally begin the hackathon. For a chance to win PHP 100,000.00 and undergo an exclusive immersion at ASUS Headquarters in Taiwan, six (6) teams were chosen as finalists from different parts of the country. The six finalists were: Team ARBotics from Quezon City, Team Studio 3 from Makati City, Team ImagineAR also from Quezon City, Team MB from De La Salle University in Taft, Team Semicolon STI Global City, and Team Dark Fire from Cebu City. These teams spent 48 hours in the confines of Whitespace Manila to develop Augmented and Virtual reality applications that were special to the capabilities of the Zenfone AR. To further challenge the app developers, the teams picked 2 different fields of specialization, which they had to provide AR or VR innovation into an application. Each team convened in their respective workstations, working on their application. Bound by time in a hackathon that made use of 2 technologies that were quite new – each team displayed critical thinking and camaraderie as they worked hard to develop the application that aims to solve key problems in the Philippines. Fortunately, while still far from their perfected states, all six (6) teams prevailed in creating different applications that they feel would be best solutions to the problems that they were assigned to. Going Beyond Reality – the Hackathon awarding Zenfans and media guests enjoy the Zenfone AR experience booths as they wait for the event to begin. Media guests, Zenfans, private and government sector members and as well as various IT movers-and-shakers arrived on the final day of the Zenfone AR: A New Reality Hackathon, last June 24. Attendees during this day did not only celebrate the arrival of the much-anticipated arrival of the Zenfone AR in the Philippines, but also reveled in the brilliance each team displayed through the applications they made over the span of over just 48 hours, which they had the pleasure of experiencing during the second half of the evening. Left to Right - Mr. Solon Chen, GDAP Head of Membership, Mr. Dominikus Susanto, Qualcomm Marketing Lead for SEA Region, Mr George Su, ASUS Philippines Country Manager, and USEC Monchito Ibrahim, Undersecretary of Management and Operations of DICT, the hackathon judges with Mr. Mike Santos, ASUS Philippines Product Marketer for Smartphones. Missing in this photo, Mr. Carlo Ople, PLDT Enterprise and International Carrier Business Vice President for Digital Marketing Strategy The panel of judges were composed of individuals who were well-versed in their fields and already utilized augmented reality and virtual reality in their respective areas of expertise starting from the Head of Membership for GDAP, Mr. Solon Chen, Vice President for Digital Marketing Strategy for PLDT Enterprise and International Carrier Business, Mr. Carlo Ople, from the Marketing Lead for the SEA Region of Qualcomm, Mr. Dominukus Susanto, and the Undersecretary for Management and Operations of DICT, USEC. Monchito Ibrahim. ASUS Philippines’ very own Country Manager, Mr. George Su, who sat as the Chairman of the judges during the hackathon event. Ranging from various problems on IT/Telco and Medical to Lifestyle and Design, each team was judged according to the following criteria: 25% Relevance, 15% Creativity, 30% Usability, 20% Problem Solving, and 10% Popularity Vote from media and fans. With the presented benchmarks, 3 teams were crowned winners of the first ever ASUS Philippines Hackathon, while teams who did not place were given PHP 10,000.00 as consolation prizes and, in addition, Google Philippines gifted all participants all-access pass to Google events in the Philippines. The 3rd place, with the reward of PHP 50,000.00, was presented to Team ImagineAR, a team from UP Diliman and Los Baños that established the ImagineAR mobile games company in Quezon City, which developed “EngineAR” application – an augmented reality application on Engineering and Transport that allowed users to envision and design their automotive. The 2nd place, with the reward of PHP 75,000.00 was granted to Team Studio 3, a team of game developers from KLab Cyscorpions, Inc. based in Makati, for their “kwARrto” application, which tried to solve concerns on Lifestyle and Design with an augmented reality application which permitted the users to view rooms, and personalize them accordingly to what they want. Team ARBotics, a group of UP Diliman Students and Haraya VR/Diwata-1 engineers from Quezon City and Navotas City. The team was led by former Diwata-1 developer, Juan Paolo Espiritu, and won the 1st place by showcasing a virtual reality application that aims to solve IT-Telco and medical issues through their application called “AR/ER”. ARBotics developed the application for on-the-go medical practitioners who would need access to a body scanner, in the event of an unforeseen accident. They were awarded not only the PHP 100,000.00 cash prize but also the 5-day exclusive immersion in ASUS Taiwan, under the Research and Development AMAX department, slated for October 2017. Team ARBotics stand together with the Zenfone AR: A New Reality judges, Mr. Solon Chen of GDAP, Mr. Dominikus Susanto from Qualcomm, Mr. George Su the Country Manager for ASUS Philippines (center stage), USEC. Monchito Ibrahim of DICT upon winning the 1st place. The Zenfone AR: A New Reality aims to empower the new generation of app developers. It was truly a celebration of going beyond reality by using a powerful and innovative smartphone device for AR and VR – the Zenfone AR. Moreover, George Su, Systems Group Country Manager of ASUS Philippines shared that the search for the incredible would not end with just the hackathon. Su added, “The hackathon is only one way to help Filipinos understand this new kind of technology present today. Fans and enthusiasts can expect more efforts from ASUS Philippines to support AR and VR efforts spearheaded by industry leaders, Google Developer Groups, The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and as well as the private sector. We believe this effort is only a beginning towards the incredible.” ZENFONE AR AVAILABILITY IN THE MARKET The Zenfone AR is available for pre-ordering from July 6 to 16! Pre-order now to get the Zenfone AR together with its exclusive bundle of the ZenPower Ultra, exclusive Zenfone AR Clear Case and Tempered Glass, as well as the Zenfone AR VR Cardboard. For more information on local ASUS events, the Zenfone AR, and other incredible products available in the market, tune in to ASUS Philippines’ Official Facebook Page.

Island Cove’s New Business Venture

Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park is known to be the most sought resort in the province of Cavite. The company has provided leisure, relaxation and amazing dining experience to the  Filipinos in the past 20 years. As the company grows, new business developments are realized.

Since Island Cove is known for its events and functions, the company has opened its first ever food service solutions called Island Cove Food Services, Inc. (ICFS). ICFS provides catering service solutions for socials and corporate events held outside the resort, volume food preparation and delivery, pre cooked/ portioned food supplies and healthy meal plans.

Island Cove has seen the potential of sharing its expertise in the field of Hospitality Management to individuals who wish to polish their craft. Because of this, the company has decided to open its first learning institution – the International Skills Learning Academy or ISLA. ISLA offers TESDA courses (such as Housekeeping) and lifestyle courses such as Kiddie Cooking Class, Baking Class and Events Management. ISLA also offers FoodSHAP Food Safety courses. Completers of the course will be accredited as licensed food handlers by the Department of Health.

Island Cove is also very much excited to address the laundry service needs of the nearby hotels and accommodations as it offers its own Laundry Service. The Island Cove Laundry Service offers state of the art industrial sized washers, ironers and dryers that are managed by experts in the field of Housekeeping and Laundry Service.

To know more about Island Cove’s new products, you may call: (046) 434 4313 or 0917 706 1406   or look  for  Zarny  Zaragoza ( CPM  Business  Development  Manager-  Island Cove Food Services/ Int’l Skills Learning Academy / Island Cove Laundry Service )

Visit here: https://www.facebook.com/IslandCoveHotelandLeisurePark/