United City Football Club (UCFC) caps its full roster with Anthony Pinthus

Wazzup Pilipinas!

United City Football Club (UCFC) caps its full roster announcement, ahead of the FIFA transfer window deadline this week, with the signing of 22-year old Fil-Swiss goalkeeper — Anthony Pinthus from the Azkals Development Team (ADT), who also served as a goalkeeper for the Philippine Under-23 National Men's Football Team, during the 30th South East Asian Games (SEA Games) campaign.


Prior to his ADT stint, Pinthus was also affiliated with clubs such as FC Kosova, FC Wohlen, and GC Zurich U21.

According to UCFC co-founder Eric Gottschalk, “True to our mission of developing young players, we have signed Antony Pinthus, on loan from ADT. This was also agreed on by both clubs and supported by Philippines National Head Coach Scott Cooper, to expose Pinthus to the AFC Cup competition. “

“He is the most promising goalkeeper of the Philippines after Neil and Roland and we are happy that he decided to join us for this season, as we believe that UCFC is the right platform to expose him to top Asian football, while learning from our veterans such as Stephan Schroeck and Bienve Maranon.”

Gottschalk continues, “The signing of Pinthus marks the completion of the roster ahead of the transfer window deadline this week. As for the position of Head Coach, we have prepared a shortlist of a number of highly qualified individuals and we will make an announcement in due time.”

Pinthus joins the roster, along with Stephan Shrock, OJ Porteria, Sean Patrick Kane, Ron Bayan, Jun Badelic, Angelo Marasigan, Robert Mendy, Arnie Pasinabo, Tristan Robles, Dennis Villanueva, Joshua Dutosme, Takashi Odawara, Hikaru Minegishi, Bienvenido Maranon, Mike Ott, Manuel Ott, Pocholo Bugas, Jordan Jarvis, Jorrel Aristorenas, and Jose Miguel Clarino.

TaskUs: First BPO to Announce WFH Until End of 2020

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TaskUs, a leading next-generation provider of customer experience and content moderation, continues to put its people’s health and safety first as it announces the extension of work-from-home (WFH) through the end of 2020 through a video posted on its Facebook page.

As soon as President Duterte imposed an Enhanced Community Quarantine over the entire Luzon on March 16, TaskUs Philippines immediately shifted to WFH while other companies remained business-as-usual. Bryce Maddock, TaskUs CEO and co-founder, said the decision to transition and stay WFH is part of their frontline-first culture.

“We want our employees to earn a living, but we also want to make sure they are safe,” Maddock shared. “Unless a critical program requires on-site support, we are going to stay WFH until the end of 2020 for all TaskUs sites except Taiwan since their government did not impose any lockdowns. This decision provides our Teammates with the ability to plan their lives between now and the end of the year. Our employees remain our top priority,” he added.

However, there are some exemptions. Less than 3% of TaskUs Philippines’ workforce may still be asked to return on-site due to security or technical requirements. The company has made additional investments to ensure expanded safety measures and protocols are in place to further safeguard people’s health.

“I think this pandemic has served a lesson not only to the BPO industry but to all industries. At TaskUs, COVID-19 was a chance to live by our core value and prove that we truly put our #PeopleBeforeProfits,” Maddock stated.

TaskUs has over 15,000 employees in the Philippines with sites located in Quezon City, BGC, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Clark, La Union, and Bohol.

To know more about TaskUs, visit its social media pages @TaskUsPH or www.taskus.com.

#SaferNowPH Webinar on Biomedical HIV Prevention Methods

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In celebration of the community-led 2020 Philippine National HIV Prevention Month (NHPM), the #SaferNowPH campaign will hold a webinar on biomedical prevention methods on August 15, 2020, at 5:00 PM.

Utilizing the Philippine NHPM social media pages @HIVPrevMonthPH, the webinar will tackle the prophylactic medicines for HIV, including Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP

PrEP is a daily medicine that prevents people, especially those at risk, from acquiring HIV. If taken correctly and consistently, PrEP can provide up to 99% protection.

PEP, on the other hand, is an emergency medicine taken immediately within 72 hours after a possible HIV exposure and continued for 28 days to reduce the risk of HIV infection by over 80%.

Learn more about these innovative HIV prevention methods with guest HIV physicians: Dr. Patrick Eustaquio of LoveYourself, Inc. and Dr. Kate Leyritana of Sustained Health Initiatives of the Philippines (SHIP) during the PrEP and PEP day celebration for NHPM 2020. The doctors will be discussing the effectiveness, safety, access to, and administration of these HIV preventive medicines.

Additionally, industry experts from the HIV community and service providers are invited to entertain inquiries about each method. HIV experts include Danvic Rosadiño, the lead convenor Kalasag PrEP Network, Dr. Mary Ann Joy Aguadera, the HUB chair at Manila Doctor’s Hospital, and Kenneth Samaco, HIV consultant of the World Health Organization Philippines.

This year is the first-ever holding of the Philippine NHPM, which was kicked-off last July 31. To be celebrated every July of each year, the NHPM is an initiative aligned with Presidential Proclamation No. 971, signed last June 23, declaring the second week of July as Infection Prevention and Control Week.

This year’s NHPM theme is “SaferNow,” which promotes the HIV combination prevention methods, including condoms and lubricants, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and antiretroviral treatment as prevention (TasP). The “SaferNow” campaign has a series of online activities scheduled during the month-long celebration:

• July 31 – Kick-Off and Launch

• August 8 – Condoms and Lube Day

• August 15 – PrEP and PEP Day

• August 22 – Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) Day

• August 29 – Culmination Activity

This intensified effort is also in response to the DOH’s report of 2,818 newly diagnosed Filipinos with HIV from January to March 2020. The age group of 25-34 year-olds has the highest incidence with 1,359, followed by 15-24 year-olds with 834.

The NHPM is spearheaded by the Global Fund Sustainability of HIV Services for Key Populations in Asia (SKPA) Program and CHAMPION Community Centers network; co-presented by AIDS Healthcare Foundation; sponsored by Rotary Club of Cubao Quezon City District 3780; also brought to you by Durex, Lauvette, 3M, Bliss Four, LUBIE, ChloRelief, Usana Philippines, EZ Lubricating Jelly, Premiere Condoms, Liquor Bouquet Philippines; and supported by UNAIDS Philippines, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, APCOM, and LoveYourself, Inc.

Community-based organizations around the country offering HIV-related services will conduct parallel activities to support this national event.