5:10 p.m. April 7, 2026

DigiPlus Interactive Corp., the country’s pioneer and leader in digital entertainment, through its flagship sportsbook platform ArenaPlus, formally launched its P1 Billion Prediction Giveaway last Saturday, March 21, heralding a major step-up in its customer acquisition and retention strategy.

This initiative is anchored by a high-stakes prediction challenge designed to invite new users onto ArenaPlus, while also deepening player participation and reinforcing brand leadership in the Philippine online sportsbook space. Central to this campaign is the introduction of a localized tournament bracket game—a staple in American sports culture that ArenaPlus is pioneering for the local market.

“We want to bring some excitement for the Filipino basketball fans, especially since we know that the NBA is the most popular sport here. The bracket game is actually very common in the US. It’s been running there constantly for years, but the Philippines has never had that experience. We want to bring that here,” said ArenaPlus Head Erick Su.

By offering the ₱1 Billion Prediction Giveaway as a free-to-play initiative, DigiPlus enables fans to engage in the tournament without any monetary commitment. Su emphasized that the campaign is designed to provide a safe, entertainment-led experience, with the bracket format sustaining interest from the opening round of the Playoffs through the Finals, where one team ultimately prevails.

“I think the excitement will be from beginning to the end. Because the bracket game covers the whole stage of the Playoffs, fans can expand their predictions and go along with the whole process and expect that they can win,” Su said. “So that’s going to bring a lot of excitement. And this is completely free and very safe as we want to entertain Filipinos.”

Amplifying the campaign that launched at Mall of Asia Sky Deck Amphitheater in Pasay City was premier host and actor Luis “Lucky” Manzano, who was also introduced as ArenaPlus’ latest brand ambassador. Joining Manzano were fellow endorsers Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player Justin Brownlee, multi-time champion assistant coach Bong Ravena, and his son, international pro Thirdy, who are effectively raising ArenaPlus’ visibility while also broadening the brand’s demographic reach.

“At ArenaPlus, we are relentless with our commitment to elevate our players’ experience, making sports more fulfilling, more immersive, and more rewarding for every Filipino,” said ArenaPlus Marketing Head Hannah Bagui as ArenaPlus continues to differentiate itself by pioneering accessible digital sports entertainment.

While the campaign is designed to drive wide participation, ArenaPlus emphasized that it intends to maintain strict platform integrity through its rigorous eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer) process. Such a guardrail bolsters an already rich suite of responsible gaming tools built into ArenaPlus, such as options to set daily gaming durations, customize specific gaming schedules, and establish daily loss limits. This ensures that while the campaign achieves great reach, it does so within a secure, transparent, and compliant environment that builds trust.

Through these strategic customer activations and continuous platform innovation, DigiPlus Interactive Corp. continues to solidify its legacy as the definitive pioneer of the Philippine digital entertainment industry, driving growth while also redefining user engagement

11:39 a.m. April 5, 2026

BY NAZARENE A. LEYCO

In the heavy silence of Good Friday, April 3, the ordinary, familiar rhythms of Marikina fell silent before a higher calling. The ordinary gave way to the transcendent, as the city gathered for lenten Friday tradition, the two-thousand-year distance between Calvary and the present dissolved, transfiguring the stadium into a consecrated ground where the sacred drama was not merely remembered, but relived.

The evening was illuminated by “JESUS: A Grand Senakulo Musical Play,” a masterful rendition of the life, sacrifice, and triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ. This artistic endeavor transcended mere performance, becoming a living tapestry that wove together the dramatic narratives of faith, suffering, and redemption. As the story unfolded on stage, the audience was transported back 2,000 years, witnessing anew the pivotal moments that forever altered the course of human history.

Following this poignant portrayal, Global Evangelist Jonathan S. Ferriol stepped forward to deliver a sermon titled “What Happened at Calvary.” With profound eloquence and spiritual conviction, he unpacked the timeless truths encapsulated in that singular event. His words resonated deeply within the vast congregation, reminding all present of the immutable promise held within the Cross, a message that has echoed through millennia, steadfast and unchanging, offering.

“We are all dying in our sins before Christ came into our lives and delivered us from eternal damnation. No good works can save us all, otherwise, Jesus would not have come down from heaven to rescue us all,” the apostle enthused.

He also underscored that the message of the Cross remains unchanged from two millennia ago to this very day, a message of hope that pierces the darkest valleys, of forgiveness that wipes the slate clean, of freedom that breaks the weight of sin, of love revealed in a sacrifice beyond measure, and of triumph that conquers death and ushers in eternal life.

In a stirring response to this unwavering message, thousands rose from their seats, their hearts open and ready to embrace Christ as their Lord and Savior. In a magnificent display of faith and commitment, they immediately proceeded to receive water baptism, symbolizing their new beginning and profound connection to the divine.

This sacred assembly at the Marikina Sports Center was more than just a gathering; it was a powerful reaffirmation of the Cross’s timeless relevance in an ever-changing world. It underscored that while modalities evolve, the core tenets of freedom, hope, forgiveness, love, and triumph remain the eternal anchors of humanity’s spiritual quest. Each soul touched that evening became a living testament to a message that, two millennia later, continues to transform lives and inspire multitudes, proving that the essence of Calvary’s sacrifice is as potent and transformative today as it was in the beginning.

In a time marked by unrest, uncertainty, and the quiet exhaustion of a world searching for answers in all the wrong places, the significance of that night becomes even more pronounced. 

What unfolded was not a retreat into tradition, but a confrontation with a truth that refuses to age or lose its claim on the human soul. The same fractures that defined humanity centuries ago. sin, despair, brokenness, persist today, only clothed in more modern forms, and no advancement has yet resolved them. This is why the need for Christ is neither outdated nor optional, but enduring and absolute. 

The Cross does not merely belong to history; it speaks with urgency into the present, meeting the deepest needs of every generation. And in that gathering, it became unmistakably clear: as long as humanity wrestles with darkness, there will remain an unending, unrelenting need for the light that only Christ can give.

Capping the second leg of the HFGC with a resonant message of hope and love,  the PMCC gathered at daybreak to celebrate God’s absolute victory over death, where the silence of the tomb was finally shattered by the joy of the risen Christ.

6:39 p.m. July 18, 2025

(NVIDIA PR) The U.K. has officially joined the premier league of global AI infrastructure — and it’s not starting small.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS), leaders today unveiled Isambard-AI, the most powerful AI supercomputer ever built in the U.K.

U.K. Secretary of State Peter Kyle was joined by leaders from across academia, industry and government, including Simon McIntosh-Smith, director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, and Neil MacDonald, executive vice president and general manager  for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s server business.

“And as we press this switch to activate the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, we are embarking on Britain’s super future where AI contributes towards the delivery of better public services, greater public prosperity, deeper scientific discovery and stronger national security,” Kyle said.

 The numbers back up Kyle’s statement:

• 21 exaflops of AI performance
• 5,448 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips
• Set to rank 11th worldwide on the latest TOP500 list of world’s fastest supercomputers
• More than 10x faster than the next-fastest supercomputer in the U.K. More computing power than all other U.K. supercomputers combined
• Ranked fourth globally for energy efficiency

Engineering teams working collaboratively to maneuver and install components within the supercomputer’s data hall, illustrating the complex and coordinated effort behind the build.

Why It Matters

Isambard-AI gives U.K. researchers and businesses a once-in-a-generation leap in computing power. It’s a platform to accelerate breakthroughs in:

• AI-driven drug discovery
• Advanced climate modeling
• Materials science
• Large language models (LLMs) tuned to U.K. languages and laws

Backed by £225 million in government investment and built with NVIDIA, HPE, the University of Bristol and others, Isambard-AI signals a clear ambition: to lead in AI, the U.K. must lead in compute.

Simon McIntosh-Smith, director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, with Simon Appleby, AI business lead at HPE.

A glimpse into the project’s strategic planning, showing a screen outlining the ambitious goal of installing multiple supercomputers, including Isambard-AI’s phases, within 12 months.

A Turning Point for UK Science

Named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel — the 19th-century engineer who reshaped Britain with railways, bridges and ships — Isambard-AI brings that same scale of ambition to AI research.

And like Brunel’s projects during his era, it moves fast. Having gone from conception to deployment in just under two years, including the construction of the modular data center in 48 hours, the supercomputer is already running live projects aligned with national priorities.

Early flagship projects include:

• Nightingale AI: A sovereign, multimodal health foundation model trained on National Health Service (NHS) data to support earlier diagnoses and personalized care.
• BritLLM: A U.K.-developed LLM project supporting British languages like Welsh, alongside English, to promote inclusivity and better public service delivery in healthcare, education and public services.
• UCL Cancer Screening AI: Developing the first scalable AI system for prostate cancer detection via MRI, aiming for faster diagnoses and tailored treatments.
• EIMCRYSTAL (University of Liverpool): Using AI to search 68 million chemical combinations to discover greener, more sustainable industrial materials — reducing reliance on rare or toxic inputs.
• EgoAI (University of Bristol): Using AI to analyze recordings from wearable cameras and other smart devices to help people perform tasks better at home. This holds immense promise for assisting dementia patients in the future.

A technician carefully installs a server blade equipped with direct liquid cooling, demonstrating the hands-on precision involved in assembling Isambard-AI’s advanced computing infrastructure.

Built Fast, Built Smart

How do you build a supercomputer in half the usual time?

“We treated the project like a high-performance processor,” said Simon McIntosh-Smith, director at BriCS. “We executed everything in parallel.”

Key to this speed:

• Parallelized project management
• Early procurement of critical hardware, particularly GPUs
• Prefabricated modular data halls shipped in and assembled in days
• Relentless optimization of delivery timelines
• Ground broke in June 2024. By June 2025, the full 5-megawatt system was live: built, tested and running at a global scale.