7.6 quake hits off Philippines

[Updated 9:52 a.m. ET] A tsunami warning has been lifted for Japan, Taiwan and several Pacific islands, but a warning remains for Indonesia and the Philippines, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's tsunami center said Friday.

[Updated 9:50 a.m. ET] The U.S. Geological Survey has revised the magnitude of an earthquake that struck off the coast of the Philippines to 7.6, down from an initial reporting of 7.9, the agency said Friday.

[Posted 9:01 a.m. ET] An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 has struck off the coast of the Philippines, the U.S. Geological Survey said Friday.

The quake prompted a tsunami warning for parts of Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Guam and other areas, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours," the tsunami warning center said.

The quake, which was about 20 miles deep, struck just before 8:50 p.m., the agency said. Its center was about 65 miles southeast of the town of Guiuan, in the Philippine province of East Samar.

Ed Serrano, the head of security at the Marco Polo Hotel in the city of Davao, about 250 miles south of Guiuan, said he felt the ground shake.

"The quake was very strong and the hotel guests were panicking. Most of them went outside," he said. "But now the situation is under control and we are waiting for official reports on how strong the quake was."

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Aboitiz Partners with City Hall, eco Group in Celebrating Earth Hour 2012

The Aboitiz Group is taking its efforts to reduce carbon footprint a step higher by partnering with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Cebu City Government in celebrating Earth Hour 2012.

On March 31, the Aboitiz Group and its partners will join the rest of the country and the world in shutting off lights for an hour, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., as a way to conserve energy and lessen carbon dioxide emissions.

In line with this year’s Earth Hour theme “Uniting Filipinos to Protect the Planet,” the WWF will present a live streaming broadcast of the other Earth Hour activities taking place in Manila and Davao.  It will also show video messages of President Benigno Aquino III and international leaders of WWF.  

Also before lights will be shut off, Earth Hour co-founder Andy Ridley will deliver his keynote message, which will also be shown through live streaming.

Activities in Cebu will kick off with essay-writing and poster-making contests among high school and college students, respectively, at The Persimmon Plus in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.  There will also be an eco-bazaar that will display items from recycled waste and organic food.

At 5:30 p.m., Aboitiz Group team members and residents of Cebu City’s 80 barangays will walk from the Fuente Osmeña to the Plaza Independencia as their way of supporting global environmental initiatives.

Aboitiz Group President & CEO Erramon Aboitiz will lead Group executives in the shut-off ceremony.  He will be joined by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Miss Earth 2008 Karla Henry, Miss Cebu 2012 Pierre Anther Infante and her court, and WWF representatives.

The Aboitiz Group has adopted sustainability as a strategic goal in the operations of its various businesses. Sustainability is striking a balance among People, Planet and Profit. Various activities are being developed across the Group through its five sustainability pillars of Reduce, Reuse/recycle, Rejuvenate nature, Renewable energy and Recharged communities.


Caption: Erramon Aboitiz, President and CEO of Aboitiz Equity Ventures joined by Ms Cebu 2011, Mia Faridoon during the ceremonial switch off last year held at The Persimmon.
Photo contributed by Danny Ybanez

The Strategic Selling

The Sales Professionals' Guide
To Immediate and Sustainable Sales Success

"Find out why this seminar is a much sought after sales training by companies who want to reach their bottom line goals!"

What's In It For You?

-Learn the difference between Strategic Selling vs. Tactical Selling
-Master the 4 companents of Strategic Selling that enables immediate and sustainable sales success.
-Learn the difference between SIMPLE and COMPLEX sales cases
-Learn the hurdles of every sales call and gain control over them
-Create significant improvement in your bottom line and listen to the "PING" in your cash registers!


Chief Training Facilitator

James Osorio Fantone is an international certified trainer. He was a former Advertising Sales Manager of World's Executive's Digest, a Publishing company whoses main clients are CEOs and Presidents of Multinational Institutions. He also was a former Sales Director of Superbrands Philippines Publications. James als became the Sales and Training Director of Morinda Internal, distributor of the famous Tahitian NoNi Juice, before becoming its first Filipino Country Manager. he also became a sales and training consultatnt for various companies such as Procter and Gamble, Agel International and Neways Philippines to name a few. He is currently the Executive Director of THe Academy for Creating Enterprise, a business school bases in Cebu established to teach, train and motivat aspiring individuals to start and build sustainable enterprises.

Testimonials 

"Nxt level's Strategic Selling helped my sales teams achieve their sales quota all at the sames time, It is the first time that this ever happened in our happened in our company and I am very happy and satisfied with the results of the training."

_maridan Sollesta, CEO, Maridan Industries Inc.

-After the training I immediately applied the learning and I have closed my biggest accounts ever."

Paul Canete, Sales Manager, Alcoy Agri industry

"I have learned a lot of valuable lessons from it. I would highly recommend for other persons engaged in business to attend his seminars,"

Cristine Dalogdog, General Manager
Airland Cargo Inc.

"Strategic Selling Seminar gives you practical steps to achieve sustainable sales. It gives you a competitive adge in making transactions as a salesman and as an entrepreur. In other words, it is a modern tool you can use that will eventually lead you to greater success."
Andrew Donggay, Class President MBA Xavier University/Enterpreneur

"Mr. James Fantone is excellent and his techniques are timely & resonate well beyond the classroom. I look forward to more learning sessions w/ him and my VisMin team."
Dave Acenas, Cebu Holdings Inc./ Ayala Land Inc.
Sr.--Property Specialist Cebu & CDO