by admin | Jun 13, 2016 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, Major Events
TAGBILARAN CITY, June 13 (PIA)–Amidst pouring rains, Governor Edgar Chatto rallied Boholanos to continue making independence day relevant by continuing the struggle against poverty and inequality even as he translated the rains as a sign of nurturing the seeds to feed the country.
Speaking at the gathering of Boholanos in time for the 118th Independence Day Commemoration, Sunday June 12, at the Plaza Rizal, Chatto reminded everyone that the freedom which the country earned after the Spanish and American occupations is never completed.
“Freedom is not what we get after June 12, 1898,” Chatto stressed as rains pounded on the makeshift tents installed at the Plaza Rizal in Tagbilaran, from where the commemorative program was held.
“Every year, we remember the past and live with the challenges of poverty and inequality in wealth, opportunities, injustice and criminality” the governor who led the commemorative program after a wreath laying and Flag raising ceremonies said.
Urging for citizens participation in the task of guarding the freedom and realizing the dream of true independence, Chatto called people to make the call once they see service inefficiency.
“In fear, we are not free,” he stressed as he tried pitching for more participation in calling against being shortchanged in government.
Not calling against “inefficiency of services is corruption,” he stressed.
The governor, who has been largely engaging everyone to help in economically moving up and be a strong province, knew that Bohol used to frequent the bottom poorest provinces in the country.
Now with the tourism, trade and industry as well as combined effects of information technology and agriculture, Chatto again urged everyone to help analyze where the economic growth is going.
This, he said, “assures that more inclusive growth can be attained.”
Even then, he also engaged everyone to be reminded of their roles in the transformation of the nation.
According to the governor, “the bottom line is not just collective independence but collective partaking of our responsibilities.”
Amidst the pounding rain which kept independence day event attendees scurry under tents and shades to escape from the drenching rain, Chatto also thanked the President Aquino who is soon bowing out of service.
He cited the Administration’s help in the reconstruction and helping Bohol rise up from the calamities.
Everything we attained would be continued by the Boholanos, Chatto assured.
With a new Administration however, he called for support and prayers for the new leadership.
Gov. Edgar Chatto leads the Boholano officials in commemorating the 118th Independence Day anniversary in Bohol. After the commemorative mass, wreath laying and flag ceremonies, the Governor also led officials in releasing of doves to symbolize freedom. With him are BM Abeleon Damalerio, Mayor John Geesnell Yap, Administrator Alfonso Damaleio and BM Vincencio Arcamo. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
(rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
by admin | May 31, 2016 | Headlines, Major Events, National News
MANILA, May 31 (PIA)–Gipagawas na sa Department of Budget and Management (DBM) ngadto sa Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) ang P2.6 bilyon nga kinatibuk-ang pondo alang sa social pension ug uban pang social welfare programs niini.
Gawas pa kini sa pondo alang sa Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program o mas gi-ila usab nga Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
Parte usab kini sa “For Later Release” (FLR) appropriation ubos sa DSWD budget karong tuiga.
Matud pa ni Budget Sec. Butch Abad, apil sa pagapondohan niini ang Social Pension alang sa mga Indigent Senior Citizens, Protective Services for Individuals ug Families in Difficult Circumstances, Supplementary Feeding Program, ug kalamboan sa mga plano ug polisiya ubos sa buhatan sa Kalihim sa DSWD.
Ubos sa National Budget Circular 561, ang FLR appropriations nanginahanglan sa pagsumiter og special budget request, kauban sa financial plan, physical plan, ug monthly disbursement program. (ecb/PIA7-Bohol)
by admin | Apr 16, 2016 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, Tech Talk
The local tech community in Tagbilaran City and Bohol held the Startup Weekend Bohol 2 (SWB2) event at the Bohol Island State University on April 15 to 17, 2016. The winning teams of the competition will be announced on April 17.
Startup weekend is a 54-hour event that promotes the spirit of entrepreneurship, collaboration, and innovation in its affected community. SWB2 is sponsored by PLDT SME Nation, Auza.net, ANDAKIDZ, Virtual Innovations, Gwion, Savenearn, Alturas Group of Companies, LiveLingua, Spanish 2 Go, PrintBit, Nelson Buena, Tarsier Times, Dumaluan Beach Resort, Geeks On A Beach, Google, .co and Eventbrite. It is co-presented by Bohol ICT Council, Bohol Investment Promotions Center, TechTalks.ph Bohol, and FabLab Bohol.
Fellowship dinner with the judges, mentors, organizers and sponsors.
Voting for the best ideas
Pitching an idea in one minute.
Startup Weekend Bohol 2 Facilitators Angel Abella (L) and Goldy Yancha (R)
During the opening program on Friday, April 15, the participants came up with about 15 ideas and eight were selected for the competition: E-tricycle, Click Prio, Auto Feeder, Traveling Pants, Book Trade, Bohol Easy Realty, Nice Cat and Quick Cart. Teams were form for each selected idea with 3 to 5 members each. Each team is composed of both tech and non-tech participants.
On Saturday April 16, the teams worked on their ideas to come up with a minimum viable product to be pitched to the judges the next day. The teams were advised by the following mentors: Robin Gurney of ANDAKIDZ, Thomas Ridenour, a React Native Mobile Developer, Dan Pantinople, a Creative Lead of Symph, Paolo Rigotti of Gelateria Milano and Sharon Sesaldo of TechTalks.PH.
The judges for the competition are as follows: Albert Padin, Chief Technical Officer of Symph, Pip Cimafranca, a Senior Ops Manger, and Aimee Lim of Gerarda’s.
The event lead organizer is Ashley Uy of Symph and Jay Paul Aying of Bagol Labs, and were assisted by Jane Alcantara of Auza.Net, Ben Skelton, Charles Barette of Fab Lab, Ms. Lai Biliran of The Bohol ICT Council and Zion Campo of Tarsier Times.
The facilitators of SWB2 are Goldy Yancha of Ideaspace and Angel Abella of TechTalks.PH.
The sponsors, organizers, judges and mentors had a fellowship dinner at Gerarda’s after the mentoring activity on Saturday.
by admin | Apr 2, 2016 | Local News / Bohol Balita, Tech Talk
Still on the fence about joining Startup Weekend Bohol 2? Worried that it might just be a time waster? Curious if is it really for you?
Well, worry no more. We’re compiling a list of a couple of things you’ll learn and pick up during this intensive 3 day weekend event.
1. Validate your idea
Now, most of you probably have ideas that you want to pitch during Startup Weekend Bohol 2 and that’s great. Startup Weekend is a good platform to get a chance to see if your idea is really something people want. The fire pitch is the first stage of Startup Weekend and it’s where your idea either gets voted and validated or shafted and forgotten.
Congratulations!
If your idea gets pass the voting stage then your idea is a little bit closer to being validated. But you still have a long way to go and the 3 day event will be stepping stones to taking that idea from just an idea to something people actually want. During the event, you’ll get the chance to get out and get customer feedback from your prospective customers and see if they are really willing to pay for your product.
Startup Weekend will provide you a chance to test that idea you’ve been cultivating in your head into something more than just idea. After all, ideas are dime a dozen. Execution is everything.
2. Learn
Startup Weekend Bohol isn’t just an event, it’s like an educational camp too. You learn by doing and not just theory alone. You only have 54 hours to work on the startup so you’ll get pushed to do more than you think you’re capable of. You’ll be able to challenge yourself and discover skills that you might not even know you have. You’ll be able to wear many different entrepreneurial hats.
Startup Weekend Bohol will allow you to create your own plans, formulate a strategy and test it. What better way to learn something than to dive head on.
3. Step Into The World of Entrepreneurship
Startup Weekend Bohol isn’t just an ordinary event. It’s an event that will give you a chance to see if entrepreneurship is your piece of cake. Many people want to start their own businesses but most people don’t understand how hard it is to start one. Startup Weekend Bohol will help you decide if entrepreneurship is really for you!
During the 54 hour event, you’ll get to taste the different flavors of the entrepreneurial world. You’ll get the chance to validate your idea with customers, figure out your business model, develop your business strategy and execute it.
You won’t only learn the skills needed to start a business but you’ll experience the many emotions an entrepreneur goes through. You’ll get high from happiness because people say they love your idea, but you’ll also get stung by sadness when you realize that people only like your idea but don’t really want to pay for it. The painful love affair will be too much for some and they will end up giving up along the way. But there will be a few who are willing to endure the heartbreak and continue.
Entrepreneurship isn’t for the weak hearted. It takes guts to work hard for many years despite the numerous number of people telling you your idea won’t work until you prove them otherwise. Startup Weekend Bohol will help you decide if being an entrepreneur is what you really want or it’s just a fleeting fancy that you’re just interested in but not passionate about.
4. Find your people
Aside from the education, Startup Weekend Bohol will give you a chance to connect with people who have the same interests as you.
Entrepreneurship is a lonely road. But when you know that there are people out there going through the same things as you are, you’ll feel a lot better knowing that you really aren’t alone after all. They say entrepreneurships are a crazy bunch and they probably are right. What Startup Weekend provides is a way for you to connect with other crazy individuals who want to start a business or probably change the world. It’s great to know you aren’t the only crazy guy out there. A support group, a community, just something that will provide you with comfort that there are other people out there experiencing the same things you’re feeling.
Aside from a support system, Startup Weekend is a great way for you to find a cofounder. It’s a good place for cofounder dating and finding your team. Even if the startup you worked on over the weekend, falls apart, being able to network with many awesome people isn’t that such of a bad deal.
5. Have fun
It’s the weekend! Don’t fret too much. Don’t focus all your energy on winning. Focus on enjoying the experience. Startup Weekend isn’t all work. There’s free flowing coffee. Good food. Great people. And an infectious electrifying energy that will get you riled up and pumping.
Don’t go into Startup Weekend thinking that you’ll create a billion dollar startup out of the event. It’s like a teaser trailer for a movie. The real work is what happens after.
Startup Weekend is held on the weekend so you won’t have to worry about work too much. Instead, you’ll get to work on something you love, express your creative juices and mingle with likeminded people.
by admin | Mar 12, 2016 | Local News / Bohol Balita, Tech Talk
By:Zion Campo
This coming April, Bohol will have its second Startup Weekend and another big step into promoting Bohol as a prime competitive innovation hub.
The tech community is slowly and surely starting to grow into its own and with the influx of attendees, sponsors and mentors for this coming Startup Weekend Bohol 2, it just proves that us Boholanos are committed to change.
But what exactly is Startup Weekend Bohol all about?
In a gist, Startup Weekend Bohol is a 54-hour event that promotes the spirit of entrepreneurship, collaboration, and innovation in its affected community. But behind the fancy schmancy words, there’s a whole lot of hustle that needs to be done. After all, you’re starting a business in just 3 days!
We’ll outline a little bit about what happens during the event in this article, so here goes:
The Fire Pitch
After the registration, the Startup Weekend attendees are all given the chance to take center stage! The fire pitch round begins. Everyone in the area will be asked to pitch their idea. If you don’t want to pitch, then that’s totally fine but for those who do, they only have a minute to describe what their startup idea is all about.
It’s quick, it’s somewhat nerve wracking but it’s totally worth it.
Once the last of the fire pitches are done, the elimination round begins.
You’re Idea Isn’t Worthless, People Just Don’t Understand It
The elimination round is probably the most brutal phase in Startup Weekend Bohol. You come to Startup Weekend Bohol thinking that your idea is different, world changing, something people will all love but when the votes prove otherwise, that utter depressing feeling sinks in seeing that there isn’t one vote, one single vote on your startup idea.
It’s around this round where the best ideas get chosen and the ones that people can’t connect to get lost in the sea of just ideas. But even though if your idea isn’t picked, there’s still a chance that it gets to the next around if you have enough people rallying to support your idea despite the number of votes it gets.
And for those ideas that didn’t get a chance to go into the next round, don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world for you. Your idea might not have been just understood by people or maybe, just maybe, it really isn’t a great idea as much as you think it is.
After the elimination round, it’s time to find your team.
People Pitching
After you’ve pitched your idea, now it’s time to pitch people to help you with your idea.
Thinking about an idea is easy, finding people to help you execute your idea is hard, very hard.
This is where most people fail, a good idea can only come a long way without a good team. You need to find a well rounded team, a designer, a hustler, and a developer. That’s probably the three core people your team needs to have if you want to win Startup Weekend Bohol or to start any business at all. We encourage you to work with other people, not with your friends. It will be a good learning experience when it comes to hiring people for your startup.
The Weekend
Now this is where all the hustling and thinking happens.
After you’ve formed a team, it is now time to sit, deliberate and execute. There is a whole lot of things that happen during a Startup Weekend (the first night is already crazy).
You think about the market, the possible prototype, the business model, the design, how would you sell it, if your idea truly is needed by people. All these things you need to work on in a short span of time.
Validating your idea is probably the number one thing you should do. Go out and talk to customers. Come back and and work on the feedback you’ve gathered. The ones that typically win Startup Weekend are the ones that have gone out, received feedback and improved their idea.
So, don’t hesitate to get down and dirty with your customers. Ask questions. Dig deeper. Because at the end of the day, your product is useless if people won’t actually buy it.
Prototypes and Practice Pitches
Do I need a prototype?
Well, a good working prototype does add something, it shows that this team can execute! But a good pitch without a prototype can still stand on its own.
Working prototypes prove that your team knows how to get things done, how to turn ideas into real things people can actually use. So you might want to consider that too!
Don’t forget to practice your pitch though! Pitching is the art of selling your idea and if you aren’t able to properly sell your idea to your judges, how will you be able to sell your idea to your customers. So, practice practice practice.
No need to memorize every single detail. Just make sure you have a good flow of things. Make your pitch clear!
The Final Showdown
It’s finally here!
The 54 hour weekend is final over!
The Final Pitching Showdown is where all your hard work will be showcased. The sweat and stress of working on a startup is finally over.
Remember, nobody goes home a loser.
Joining Startup Weekend Bohol is already a big win for you. Not everybody takes the risk of going out there and getting stuff done. According to Henry David Thoreau, most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.
What Thoreau said is true. We all want to change the world, but only few actually do something to change it.
Let Startup Weekend Bohol be one of your stepping stones to changing the world, or maybe, just something for you to enjoy. There’s a lot of good people to make friends with, and it is truly an experience.
So, what to expect during Startup Weekend Bohol?
Talented people and inspiring world changers, a fun exciting environment, and a great dose of infectious entrepreneurial spirit.
Startup Weekend Bohol is on April 15-17.
If you would still like to support Startup Weekend Bohol 2, contact us at bohol@startupweekend.org for further details. For those interested in participating at the event, buy your tickets at www.swb2.eventbrite.com!
See you there!
