Friday, 26 January 2018

WATCH: Pinoy celebrities on YouTube is the new trend

MANILA, Philippines - If you haven’t seen Kris Aquino’s new house, or don’t know the items she keep in her bags, you’re missing out! Since the Queen of All Media, including Social Media, has invaded YouTube with her channel, The Aquinos, Kris has gotten over 21 million views and close to 150,000 subscribers.

Bimby with mom Kris Aquino, Judy Ann Santos, Doug Kramer and Cheska Garcia (Team Kramer)
L-R: Bimby with mom Kris Aquino, Judy Ann Santos, Doug Kramer and Cheska Garcia (Team Kramer) | Screenshots from YouTube

And it’s not just Kris who’s catching up on how YouTube actually helps celebrities reach out to fans in a more personal way. Celebrities on YouTube are becoming a new trend, to the fans’ delight.


Jolina Magdangal started her YouTube channel, Jolina Network, on her birthday last November, and also announced that baby number two is coming.

Dr. Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho’s full wedding video has received over 100,000 views on Vicki Belo’s channel.


Judy Ann Santos has taken on a new but very personal role with YouTube’s help -- a foodie sharing her culinary skills. In her most-watched video over Judy Ann’s Kitchen, Juday shows how to prepare red velvet ala mode with homemade ice cream and dulce de leche.


Celebrities are also bringing out their inner gurus to YouTube to share a life hack or two. Solenn Heussaff dabbles on sharing tips on make-up, cooking and painting, and shares other fun videos that show a different side of her on her self-titled channel Solenn.ph.

Bianca Gonzales-Intal, whose channel is inspired by her book “Paano Ba ‘To?,” presents a treasure chest for people who may need an advice or two. In her most-watched video moving on from a breakup with advice from Angelica Panganiban, Bianca has touched thousands of lives who needed to “move on”. According to Bianca, sharing life hacks brings her closer to people. “I think joining YouTube has helped me reach a different kind of audience,” Bianca said. “It’s a big deal for me that people who don't know me personally are willing to open up about their deepest fears and biggest worries.”

Michelle Madrigal’s channel, Michelle, has the former Star Circle Quest finalist sharing workout tips for moms to help them get fit and feel good about themselves even without a gym membership.

From tips to everyday glimpse, celebrities are also sharing more and more about themselves without scripts and directors.

The Ms. Alex Gonzaga channel catches precious spontaneous moments from Alex’s camera, some of them shared with sister Toni. So spontaneous are they that Alex gets surprised to see clips she didn’t remember taking. Alex considers receiving comments like ‘your videos made my day’ and ‘your videos are my stress reliever, thank you’ as one of the best compliments one can get as a celebrity. “I think with YouTube, people get to know me more and feel closer to me because I share what I do outside my showbiz career,” said Alex.


Celebrity moms are also making the most out of YouTube.

Andi Manzano’s crazy, fun world with baby Olivia enjoys over 50,000 subscribers on YouTube. Kylie Padilla’s baby Alas Joaquin also get an enormous amount of viewership on YouTube, along with one of the original YouTube tots, the Team Kramer kids. Cheska Garcia-Kramer shared that Team Kramer’s channel make them reachable to audiences, including children. “Sometimes, Scarlett, Kendra, and Gavin get surprised when other children would sit on their laps or join in their playtime. With YouTube, we get to interact with viewers every now and then on the comments section, and it makes them feel that they are a stone’s throw away from us.”



And while Scarlet Snow Belo is a superstar on YouTube and other social media platforms, mom Vicki reveals she has other uses for YouTube. “I love how YouTube helps me when I look for information, and of course now that I have Scarlet, most of my searches are her favorite cartoons,” she said.

From old timers to recently opened channels, different stars are doing their own thing over YouTube.

Michael V’s channel, #BitoyStory, is just over a month old with four videos but already his subscribers are more than 100,000 and his views are over a million.


Mikael Daez, Xian Lim, Elissee Joson, Kristel Fulgar all have their own channels too, which they started way ahead of the pack, from 2011 to 2015.

More and more celebrities are going on YouTube, and for good reason. YouTube is where they can explore their passion apart from showbiz and share them with a wide range of people, and be closer to their fans in a very real and personal way.

— The Summit Express

WATCH: Luzon Spine Expressway Network is Duterte’s P107-billion traffic decongestion plan

MANILA, Philippines - The Luzon Spine Expressway Network is the Duterte administration’s answer to help decongest the traffic in Metro Manila and busiest parts of Luzon.

The Luzon Spine Expressway is a 1,040 km network that aims to build an additional 18 expressways with a total road length of 655 km.
The ambitious project aims to decongest EDSA and other major roads | Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Mark Villar

The Philippines has one of the worst traffic in the world. Under President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was tasked to build an expressway that would connect the northern and southernmost part of Luzon.

The Luzon Spine Expressway is a 1,040 km network that aims to build an additional 18 expressways with a total road length of 655 km. It would then connect to the existing 12 expressway network spanning 385 km.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar hopes that the new high standard highways will significantly ease the traffic and cut down travel time. Once the ambitious project is completed, the travel time from Metro Manila to San Fernando, La Union will be reduced from six (6) hours and 55 minutes to three (3) hours and 10 minutes. La Union to Bicol travel time will also be reduced from from 19 hours and 40 minutes to eight (8) hours and 15 minutes.

Included in the expressway network are the NLEX Harbor Link Project, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, Central Luzon Link Expressway, Plaridel By-Pass Road Phase II, Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3, NLEX-SLEX Connector Road, among others.

The NLEX Harbor Link Project is a 5.7 km expressway, which traverses Karuhatan in Valenzuela City, Governor Pascual Avenue in Malabon City, and C3 road in Caloocan City.

The Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX) is a 30-km expressway, which runs through the municipalities of La Paz, Zaragosa, Aliaga, and Caalibangbangan, to connect Tarlac and Cabanatuan.

The Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) 3rd section is a 25.83 km expressway which extends the existing 63.02 km alignment traversing Tarlac, Rosales and Urdaneta to Binalonan, Pozzurobio and La Union.

The NLEX-SLEX Connector Road, an 8 km four lane expressway that will reduce travel time from NLEX to SLEX from 2 hours to only about 20 minutes.

The Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3, a 14.8 km, 6-lane expressway which will connect Balintawak in Quezon City to Buendia Makati. This will significantly ease traffic in EDSA especially during peak hours.

Duterte’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program
The project is part of Duterte’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program | Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Mark Villar

In the next six years, Sec. Villar confirmed that the Build, Build, Build program costs P8.4 trillion.

The Duterte administration has allocated DPWH the second biggest budget this year, amounting to P428 billion. From that, traffic decongestion programs were granted the biggest chunk of P107.8 billion. Second biggest budget is project on liveable, sustainable and resilient communities with P104.4 billion. While P95.9 billion goes to the integrated and seamless transport system. A budget of P18.8 billion goes to convergence and rural road development program.


— Sally, The Summit Express