Casino Plus Energizes Bacolod During ‘Hataw MassKara!’ Opening; Crowns First-Ever Miss Casino Plus Bacolod

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, 13 OCTOBER 2026 — Casino Plus, one of the Philippines’ leading PAGCOR-licensed digital entertainment platforms, joined the City of Smiles in opening MassKara Festival 2026 as the festival’s official presenter and major sponsor, kicking off the celebrations with the Hataw MassKara! opening concert on October 9 at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC).

The digital entertainment platform also introduced a new title to this year’s festival, crowning the first-ever Miss Casino Plus Bacolod during the Miss Bacolod MassKara pageant.

The Cultural Soul of MassKara

Unlike many Philippine festivals rooted in religious tradition, MassKara was born out of hardship. In 1980, Negros Occidental, the country’s sugar capital, was reeling from a collapse in global sugar prices. That same year, the sinking of the inter-island ferry MV Don Juan took hundreds of lives, many of them from Bacolod.

In response, local leaders, civic groups, and artists brought the community together for a street celebration built around smiling masks, a deliberate statement that the city’s spirit would endure. The festival’s name joins “mass,” for a multitude of people, and “kara,” from the Spanish cara, meaning face.

More than four decades later, MassKara’s smiling masks remain a symbol of hope and the source of Bacolod’s identity as the City of Smiles. For Bacolodnons, the festival is an annual reaffirmation of heritage, community, and optimism.

Setting the tone with Hataw MassKara!

On October 9, thousands of festivalgoers, residents, and visitors filled the BCGC grounds for an evening of retro-inspired dance performances, cultural showcases, and live entertainment, setting the tone for the city’s annual celebration.

Bacolod City Mayor Greg Gasataya led the official launch of the city’s “10-Day MassKara High,” featuring around 50 major activities that celebrate Bacolod’s cultural heritage, creativity, and community spirit.

“As we kick off MassKara 2026, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who helped make this year’s festival a vibrant and joyful celebration,” Gasataya said during his opening address.

For Casino Plus, its participation in MassKara reflects its commitment to supporting local celebrations that bring communities together and showcase Filipino talent and culture.

“MassKara captures the energy, creativity, and resilience of the Filipino spirit. We are proud to be part of a celebration that brings people together through culture, entertainment, and shared experiences,” said Evan Spytma, CEO of Casino Plus. “Our partnership with Bacolod goes beyond supporting a festival. It is about helping create memorable experiences for the community, celebrating local talent, and contributing to an event that brings so much pride and joy to the City of Smiles.”

Crowning the first Miss Casino Plus Bacolod

The festivities continued on October 11 at the Miss Bacolod MassKara Coronation Night. From a field of 15 candidates, 25-year-old Daniella Louisse Merelos was named the first-ever Miss Casino Plus Bacolod. She received a Casino Plus crown, a sash, and a ₱50,000 cash prize, presented by Casino Plus Head of Branding Roj Tirona.

As Miss Casino Plus Bacolod, Merelos will join social media personality and Casino Plus brand advocate Zeinab Harake Parks at the Electric MassKara float parade on October 16, one of the festival’s most anticipated events. She will also be invited to take part in official Casino Plus activities.

A shared commitment to culture, talent, and ‘gugma’

The Bacolod Gugma Foundation, organizer of this year’s festival activities, described its partnership with Casino Plus as a meaningful contribution to MassKara 2026, one that extends the festival’s support to local performers and communities.

“MassKara 2026 is really about making the festival matter beyond the celebration itself,” the Foundation said. “Our theme this year is ‘Share the Smile. Celebrate Gugma.’ Gugma means love, and for us, that love is expressed through our people, our culture, our communities, and the many individuals who work together to make MassKara happen.”

“When a partner like Casino Plus comes in, we see it as more than a commercial partnership. It becomes an opportunity to create more experiences, provide additional support to our communities and performers, and help us make MassKara more meaningful,” the Foundation added.

Casino Plus will continue to support MassKara Festival 2026 through its remaining events, joining Bacolod in celebrating its cultural heritage, homegrown talent, and enduring spirit of togetherness.

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About IGO Digital High Technology, Inc.

Casino Plus is a PAGCOR-licensed online casino platform in the Philippines, providing secure, regulated, and responsible online gaming experiences for Filipino players. The company is committed to providing a secure, fair, and engaging digital entertainment experience, guided by the principles of responsible gaming and player protection. With its continuous expansion, Casino Plus is now regarded as one of the country’s leading online casino platforms, combining entertainment excellence with meaningful corporate social responsibility initiatives.

BRAND CON 2026 Names BNI Taguig Region Co-Presenter, Expands Brand-Building Advocacy to Over 600 Businesses

 

 BRAND CON 2026 has named BNI Taguig Region as its Co-Presenter, bringing together a network of more than 600 member companies across 10 chapters and a shared mission to help Filipino businesses grow through stronger brands. The partnership connects BNI’s strength in business relationships and referrals with BRAND CON’s advocacy for strategic brand building, helping entrepreneurs and SMEs move beyond referrals to become recognizable, trusted, and preferred by customers. Beyond the five-day congress, the collaboration envisions year-round learning, mentoring, and knowledge-sharing opportunities that make brand-building expertise more accessible to business owners. Carrying the theme “Empowering Brand Builders,” BRAND CON 2026 runs November 24–28 at Newport World Resorts in Pasay City, featuring internationally recognized branding strategist Laura Ries, the RIES Positioning Masterclass, and the Brand Festival. Learn more at www.brand-con.com.

Strategic partnership combines BNI's business referral network with BRAND CON's mission to empower Filipino SMEs through stronger brand-building capabilities.

MANILA, Philippines — BRAND CON 2026 has officially welcomed BNI Taguig Region as a Co-Presenter of this year's five-day brand-building congress, strengthening its mission to empower Filipino entrepreneurs and SMEs through greater access to brand-building education, mentorship, and professional networks.

The partnership was formalized during BNI Taguig Region's Monthly Leadership Team Round Table Meeting, attended by the presidents and leadership teams of all 10 chapters in the region.

With more than 600 member companies, BNI Taguig Region brings an established community of entrepreneurs and business leaders to BRAND CON's growing advocacy of advancing brand-building excellence in the Philippines.

Helping Businesses Grow Beyond Referrals

At the heart of the partnership is a shared belief that sustainable business growth requires both strong professional relationships and strong brands.

While BNI helps businesses expand through trusted relationships and referrals, BRAND CON advocates for the strategic discipline of building brands that customers recognize, trust, prefer, and ultimately choose.

"BNI has built an extraordinary community that helps businesses grow through relationships and referrals. At BRAND CON, we believe that strong brands enable businesses to grow beyond referrals by becoming the preferred choice of customers," said Bingo Soriano, Founder of BRAND CON.

"This partnership brings these two powerful drivers of business growth together. Our shared goal is to help Filipino entrepreneurs build not just bigger businesses, but stronger and more sustainable brands," Soriano added.

The collaboration recognizes that even businesses with excellent products, services, and referral networks face an increasingly competitive marketplace. Building a strong brand requires clarity of positioning, meaningful differentiation, and consistent delivery of a compelling value proposition.

These are among the critical capabilities that BRAND CON seeks to develop among Filipino entrepreneurs, business owners, marketing professionals, and future brand leaders.

A Partnership That Goes Beyond the Congress

The partnership was made possible through the leadership of BNI Taguig Region Executive Director Judee Quiazon, together with Cris Mananquil, Chief Executive Producer of Backstage Manila, BRAND CON's official event partner and also a proud member of BNI Taguig Region.

Under Quiazon's leadership, the region's 10 chapters provide a strong platform for extending BRAND CON's advocacy to an active community of entrepreneurs and SMEs.

"Our mission at BNI is to help our members build successful businesses through meaningful       relationships. This partnership with BRAND CON gives our members another valuable opportunity to strengthen their businesses by learning how to build brands that are more differentiated, relevant, and competitive," said Quiazon. More importantly, both organizations envision a collaboration that extends beyond participation in the annual BRAND CON congress.

The partnership opens opportunities for year-round brand-building education, practical learning sessions, mentoring, and knowledge-sharing initiatives that could help BNI Taguig members develop stronger brands and more competitive businesses.

The long-term vision is to make brand-building knowledge and strategic frameworks more accessible to entrepreneurs who may not otherwise have the resources to engage professional brand consultants.

Empowering Brand Builders at BRAND CON 2026

Carrying the theme "Empowering Brand Builders," BRAND CON 2026 will take place on November 24–28, 2026, at Newport World Resorts in Pasay City.

The five-day event will bring together entrepreneurs, SME owners, corporate marketing professionals, business leaders, students, and the next generation of brand builders.

Among its major highlights is the RIES Positioning Masterclass led by internationally recognized branding strategist Laura Ries, alongside sessions featuring Filipino entrepreneurs, business leaders, and marketing practitioners sharing real-world brand-building experiences.

The event will also feature the Brand Festival, providing additional opportunities for learning, networking, and engagement among the country's brand-building community.

For BRAND CON, the partnership with BNI Taguig Region represents another step toward its broader ambition of making brand-building excellence more accessible to Filipino businesses.

As Soriano emphasized, "Our mission is not simply to organize an annual conference. It is to help build a community of Filipino brand builders who understand that a strong brand is one of the most valuable long-term assets any business can create."

For event details, program updates, and registration, visit www.brand-con.com.

Sealing the Co-Presenter partnership between BRAND CON 2026 and BNI Taguig Region are seated (from left) Bingo Soriano, BRAND CON Founder; Judee Quiazon, Executive Director of BNI Taguig Region; and Cris Mananquil, Chief Executive Producer of Backstage Manila, together with the presidents and leadership teams of the BNI Taguig region.

Join Enjoy Korea Introduces Two Korea eSIM Plans, Premium and Value, for Filipino Travelers

Less hassle, more Korea. Join Enjoy Korea's new Korea data eSIM means no physical SIM to swap and no pocket WiFi to pick up or return. Filipino travelers just scan a QR code sent by email or Messenger and connect on arrival. Choose Premium (10GB) or Value (300MB), and both keep going at [5 Mbps / 3 Mbps] after the high-speed allowance runs out.

Join Enjoy Korea Launches Unlimited Data eSIM for Trips to South Korea

Join Enjoy Korea, the Korea travel arm of Island Resort Club Tour Services, Inc. (IRC), is rolling out a Korea data eSIM lineup for Filipino travelers, developed in partnership with FreeT, a Korean telecommunications provider. Both plans maintain a guaranteed minimum speed even after the daily high-speed allowance runs out, on premium Korean networks (SKT, KT, and LGU+).

What Makes the “No Speed-Trap Throttle” Guarantee Different?

While many standard eSIMs found on online marketplaces promise unlimited data, they severely drop speeds to a crawl (128–384 kbps) once a daily limit is hit rendering essential apps like Google Maps, Grab, and Instagram unusable. Enjoy Koreadoes things differently. Our plans guarantee minimum baseline speeds of 3 Mbps (Value) or 5 Mbps (Premium) for the remainder of the day, ensuring you always have enough bandwidth for seamless navigation, messaging, and standard video streaming.

What Are the Plan Options? Two lines are available for Filipino travelers:

Premium: 10GB total data for 5 days, then unlimited data at up to 5 Mbps after the 10GB high-speed allowance. Starting at PHP 1,250 for 5 days.Value: 300MB total data for 5 days, then unlimited data at up to 3 Mbps after the 300MB high-speed allowance. Starting at PHP 890 for 5 days.

How Does Delivery Work? Travelers receive their eSIM digitally via email or Messenger before departure, activate it through a QR code, and connect the moment they land in Korea, skipping the long pickup lines at Incheon Airport.

One of the most common complaints we hear from first-time travelers is slow or unreliable internet once they land in Korea,-Hyok Choi, CEO of Island Resort Club. “We wanted our travelers to stay connected for maps, translation apps, and sharing their trip in real time, without worrying about hitting a data wall.”

About Island Resort Club Tour Services, Inc.

Island Resort Club Tour Services, Inc. is a fully licensed Philippine travel agency and designated partner of the Korean Embassy in the Philippines. Established in 2002, IRC continues to set the standard for Korean tour excellence, connecting Filipino travelers to Seoul and beyond through its Join Enjoy platform. For media inquiries or partnership opportunities, contact IRC at https://joinenjoy.com.ph/ or call +02-7000-4497.

Building Resilience at Home: How ASSIST’s Master of Disaster Game Solves the Household Preparedness Gap for IDDRR 2026

 

To mark IDDRR 2026, ASSIST is bringing the UN theme, "Resilience Starts at Home," straight to communities. By gamifying disaster prep with its Master of Disaster board game, ASSIST helps parents and kids build actionable safety routines together.

To mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) 2026, Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST) is bringing the United Nations’ theme, "Resilience Starts at Home" straight to local communities. Moving beyond top-down emergency response, ASSIST brings parents and children together to build practical home safety plans.

While the Philippines ranks #1 on the WorldRiskIndex 2025, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative studies show that while 58% of households discuss emergency planning, only 20% maintain an actionable disaster plan. Without a practiced routine, families are prone to act out of panic and make poor decisions in times of emergencies.

To help build those critical routines, ASSIST created Master of Disaster (MOD). Replacing dense safety manuals with an engaging and innovative board game for all ages, MOD strips away jargon to translate knowledge into engaging and hands-on decision-making tools that even young kids understand. 

MOD gamifies learning about various types of disasters and how to prepare for times of emergencies.Through interactive challenges like "Act It Out," MOD gamifies learning on emergency prep, packing Go Bags, hazard response, and offline meetup spots. Community sessions even bring parents together to play alongside their peers and children, fostering collaborative learning and turning preparedness into a shared household habit. 

“It’s about building a readiness mindset,” says Francis Macatulad, Director for Business Development at ASSIST. “More than emergency equipment, evacuation centers and response plans, disaster resiliency requires a mindset shift for the whole community. This is what ASSIST Asia's Master of Disaster brings: practical, localized knowledge that unites families and schools to protect their communities and build a lasting mindset of preparedness.”

ASSIST partners with schools, local officials, and CSR sponsors to run MOD play sessions, train student and parent volunteers to lead local playgroups, and distribute readiness kits.

For teachers, the hands-on approach makes a critical difference. Teacher Cherry Talirongan of Fr. William F. Masterson Elementary School in Cagayan de Oro shares how gamified learning resonates with young minds: “Malaki ang maitutulong nito, lalo na sa mga batang hindi pa alam ang gagawin sa isang disaster. Sa paglalaro ng Master of Disaster board game, mai-aapply nila ang natutunan at magkakaroon ng ideya sa tamang gawin sa ganitong sitwasyon.” (“This will be a huge help, especially for young children who don't know what to do during a disaster yet. By playing the Master of Disaster board game, they can apply what they’ve learned and gain a clear idea of the right actions to take in emergencies.”)

To date, the MOD initiative has achieved major milestones:

471 MOD Rollouts deployed across schools, barangays, and youth councils (Sangguniang Kabataan).

703 Local Champions Trained, equipping teachers, students, parents, employees, and community leaders with practical disaster kits.

To leave no community behind, ASSIST is translating MOD into Taglish, Vietnamese, and Tamil, while the physical board game ensures offline learning reaches every home. 

As IDDRR 2026 calls for disaster preparedness to begin at home, ASSIST invites LGUs, corporate partners, and CSOs to adopt family-centered DRR tools that transform disaster anxiety into active self-reliance.

To learn more about bringing Master of Disaster to your school, barangay, or organization, or to explore sponsorship and partnership opportunities, visit assistasia.org or fill out the Partnerships Form.

About Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST)

ASSIST (Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation) is a self-sustaining pan-Asian NGO working at the intersection of social impact and sustainable transformation. True to its role as a Partner for Progress, ASSIST collaborates with corporate and institutional funders to deliver co-created initiatives as well as award-winning flagship programs that convert social investments into lasting local capacity. Explore our work and partner with us: www.assistasia.org