Belo helps Pia Wurtzbach prepare for her wedding day this year

by Manila Bulletin Entertainment

Discovering the skin-nourishing elixir that allows her and a million other ladies to show off their skin at its barest and healthiest, Pia Wurtzbach’s partnership with Belo Exosomes, the most advanced skin solutions in the market today, signals her meticulous preparation for her impending wedding day with fiancé Jeremy Jauncey.

The couple got engaged in May last year and are looking at a wedding to happen this year, 2023.

The Belo Exosomes treatment uses the revolutionary ASCE+ cell-signaling system that plays the role of skin-saving messengers that deliver information and instructions to regenerate cells, making it a breakthrough in anti-aging technology. It is first brought to the country by the Belo Medical Group. 

Available in all Belo clinics, Belo Exosomes is a topical or injected treatment that may be done as an add-on to a basic Belo facial or incorporated into RF micro-needling treatment for faster skin replenishment and regeneration.

The effective nutrients our skin knows and loves are the following: fibroblasts that secrete collagen, immune cells that improve skin healing and regeneration, hyaluronic acid for hydration, glutathione for skin brightening, and other vitamins, minerals, peptides and growth factors that transform the skin. The result is exponentially youthful and vibrant skin, as famously sported by Pia Wurtzbach herself. 

“I’m confident facing the world in my natural self and in my own skin,” Pia shares. Veering from the curated, glamorous world of beauty pageants, Pia has come to reveal the raw parts of herself—from meaningful experiences with her family, personal time with her fiancé, to off-duty barefaced moments while traveling or working out. Indeed, being comfortable with your own skin is an X-factor in itself, and it’s because of this outstanding trait that Belo handpicked Pia Wurtzbach to be the face of its newest skin solution, Belo Exosomes.

The Belo and Pia Wurtzbach relationship is a collaboration that was always bound to happen—after all, why wouldn’t the Philippines’ premier beauty authority and one of the premier beauty queens of the country come together? Being ‘confidently beautiful’ plays on both of these beauty behemoths’ strengths, and with Belo Exosomes, now everyone can have skin they’re confident in.  

Belo Exosomes is a progressive skin solution that continuously improves skin without the need for surgery or invasive procedures, helping the skin look visibly younger and healthier instantly and over time. This is what makes Pia Wurtzbach the perfect face for the product.

As she prepares for married life, Pia has again found ways to transform herself with Belo Exosomes. And in her words, Pia reflects on her Belo Exosomes ambassadorship by tying it back to her recent athletic success finishing with a medal at the renowned New York City Marathon last November 2022.

She ends, “Belo Exosomes is like training for a marathon—it gets better and better the more you do it.”

So, expect a glowingly beautiful Pia when the big day finally arrives!

Feast of Saint Arnold Janssen on Jan. 15

Published January 13, 2023, 9:54 AM

by Christina Hermoso, MB

Devotees will celebrate on Sunday, Jan. 15, the feast day of Saint Arnold Janssen, the revered founder of the Society of the Divine Word, marking his 114th death anniversary.

St. Arnold Janssen (Facebook)

Commemorative masses will be offered at the St. Arnold Janssen Shrine in Cainta, Rizal, and at the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Arnold Janssen in Cebu and in parishes dedicated to his honor and memory. 

Novena masses will be held from Jan. 6 to 14.

Saint Arnold was the founder of the missionary congregations Society of the Divine Word (1875), the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, also known as the blue sisters because of the color of their habit (1889), and the Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration, also known as the pink sisters (1896).

The well-venerated saint worked for the unity of Christians, developed the apostolate of the press, and pioneered sending women to foreign missions. A man of prayer, he began his ministry as a teacher and was known as a great devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Born in 1837 in Goch, Germany, he has ordained priest in 1861. He died in 1909 and was canonized by Saint John Paul II on Oct. 5, 2003. 

Today, there are more than 6,000 Divine Word missionaries working in at least 63 countries all over the world including the Philippines

 

Marcos is only ASEAN leader to attend WEF in Davos

by Argyll Cyrus Geducos, MB

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will be the only leader from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) who will attend the 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (Malacañang photo)

DFA Undersecretary Carlos Sorreta said this ahead of the President’s trip to Switzerland from Jan. 15 to 20, 2023. 

In a pre-departure briefing in Malacañang, Sorreta said Marcos is also one of the two leaders from Asia to attend the forum, noting this would be an excellent opportunity to tell world leaders how ASEAN can play a role in the global economy.

“The President will be the only leader from ASEAN to be in Davos, and he will be only one of two leaders from Asia,” he said on Thursday, Jan. 12.

“He would be in a wonderful position to represent not only our country but how our own region, ASEAN and the East Asia Region, can be the engine of growth for the world economy,” he added.

The theme for this year’s WEF is “The Cooperation in a Fragmented World.” According to Sorreta, President Marcos wants to present Asia as an essential factor in “bringing together the fragmented parts of the world.”

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“What we present to a fragmented world, because of our great economic potential, is a promise of progress and prosperity,” he said.

“If the causes of the fragmentation can be addressed, we can promise that once peace is achieved, there will be progress and prosperity. So that is what we offer the world as an incentive for the causes of fragmentation– meaning, without me getting into specifics, conflicts to be resolved,” he added.

What to discuss?

According to Palace Press Briefer Daphne Oseña-Paez, the WEF will allow the Philippines to explore new investment, trade, and infrastructure systems amid the economic downturn.

She said the WEF is also an opportunity for President Marcos to push the country’s priorities on food and energy, security, digitalization, climate action, attracting investments and promoting beneficial trade, addressing inequality, and providing accessible social services. 

The forum is likewise a chance for the Philippines to partner with other countries, businesses, civil society, and other stakeholders and to collaborate with the WEF on their initiatives.

Aside from the WEF, Marcos will also meet with business leaders and the members of the Filipino community. However, due to the tight schedule, he may not have a bilateral meeting with any world leader.

The World Economic Forum is the premier forum for world and business leaders to get together, interact, and come up with ideas and plans to address challenges and opportunities facing the global economy.

 

The need for continuing adaptation

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

WHEN Christ said, “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse,” (Mk 2,21) we are somehow reminded that in our life there is always need for continuing adaptation due to the changing situations, circumstances and conditions we are bound to encounter.

He reiterated this point when he said, “Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” (Mk 2,22)

We cannot overemphasize this need to adapt. And we just have to learn how to deal with it, considering that it will demand of us a lot of sacrifices. Perhaps that’s one reason Christ told us that if we want to follow him, we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr. Mt 16,24) 

This aspect of an authentic Christian life should be taught as early as possible to everyone. While it’s true that each one is somehow defined by his own peculiar personality, temperament and character, we need to realize that as persons we are meant to relate with each other and, thus, need to learn to properly adapt with everyone and with everything.

But given the temper of the times that somehow foster self-indulgence, there’s a strong trend for people to become self-absorbed and isolated in spite of the apparent stream of communication due to our new technologies.

Yes, there can be an appearance of vibrant social intercommunication among ourselves, but it cannot be denied that strong and divisive biases and prejudices are also being developed.

Obviously, while we need to have some kind of inventory of how each one of us is, going through our strengths and weaknesses, we have to realize that the art of continuing adaptation can ultimately be achieved if we identify ourselves more and more with Christ, the master of adaptation.

Imagine how he adapted himself to us! As God, he became a man just to identify himself with us. In his preaching, he used human and natural devices to impart spiritual and supernatural lessons. To reach out to sinners, he made himself like sin without committing sin. Ultimately, he forgives us of all our sins by offering his life on the cross.

Definitely, we cannot simply rely on our human means to adapt, even if we have to make full use of them. Not even some comprehensive philosophies or ideologies, heavily propped by the sophisticated modern sciences and technologies, can hack it.

Their ways and means can only go so far. They cannot last long. They cannot bear doing the same things over and over again everyday, because they cannot see further than what is on hand at the moment, or even what is simply of worldly value. They are highly perishable items, with a very short prescription period and brief effectiveness.

It’s the grace of God that does it. It’s when we are driven with love for God and for others that we can manage to escape the grip of routine and drudgery that can easily come to us if we happen to be doing the same things everyday. And for most of us, we happen to be doing the same things everyday. It’s God’s grace and love that can transcend the limitations of any earthly interest.

This is the ultimate adaptation—that’s when we poise ourselves to take a leap to the supernatural order of God who wants us to share his life and nature, divinizing ourselves as we ought since we are God’s image and likeness!

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City