A Delicious Return




August 28, 2020

 
Goldilocks Brazo de Mercedes



Make your next celebration fluffy, creamy and, yummy with Goldilocks’ famous Brazo De Mercedes, now back by popular demand! Enjoy the long-awaited return of this crowd favorite which now has even more luscious and creamy yema filling! 


And as a special promo, every order of Goldilocks' Brazo De Mercedes cake, will come with 3 FREE packs of Caramel Popcorn (small) as a thank you for patiently awaiting its' return. Grab this special promo from August 24 -31, 2020 at select Goldilocks Bakeshops Within Luzon! 


For more information, you may follow @GoldilocksPH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or visit the official Goldilocks website at www.goldilocks.com.ph.
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This Grade 12 artist can make awesome artworks with banana catsup

When hard times strike and traditional resources are out of reach, the most creative of us can find ingenious ways to make one-of-a-kind works of art.
This is especially true for Filipinos—and no one proves our resourcefulness and creativity more than this amazing Grade 12 artist, who didn’t need paint or pencils to create artwork. No, Vincent Dwight Paulo from Nueva Ecija uses banana catsup to draw portraits of famous personalities while staying at home during the community quarantine.


While he first started with a catsup portrait back in 2018, it was during the quarantine when he really started honing this unique art skill. “I really engaged myself in doing catsup art since school and art supplies shops were closed,” said Vincent. “I was running out of materials, so I used catsup instead.” With creating catsup art being only a hobby for him, Vincent never thought it would become as popular as it did.

Working with catsup
Catsup was not the first medium he had used to create art, but it was the one within reach at home—which is how he ended up creating portraits of celebrities like Liza Soberano, Kathryn Bernardo, Daniel Padilla, Taylor Swift, and One Direction.
“I really loved catsup because it is readily available inside the house,” Vincent shared. “I really love exploring and trying other mediums just to try something new. I don’t like to stick to the conventional and typical artworks that we see.”

Vincent’s resourcefulness led him to their kitchen pantry, where he used a bottle of UFC Banana Catsup to create one-of-a-kind portraits that went viral on social media.


Vincent primarily uses UFC Banana Catsup as it is the family’s favorite catsup brand at home. “It’s always what’s in our kitchen, and we really like fried foods dipped in UFC Banana Catsup because of its tamis-anghang taste,” he said. “I don’t want to try other brands for my art because I’m already used to UFC.”

Inspiring creativity in Filipinos
While Vincent wows admirers online with his amazing catsup art, his plans are a little more different, as he dreams of taking up architecture in college. He realizes that such a course could be expensive, hindering others from pursuing their passion, but with his work he wants to inspire fellow artists and creatives to be resourceful.



“Being more creative and resourceful really is my objective. Painting does not stop if you don’t have art materials,” he continued. “Alternative materials are everywhere; you just have to explore. If you could think of some other materials than those usually used in making art, that would be great.”

Artist Vincent Dwight Paulo received various NutriAsia products which the family can enjoy both for cooking and creating unique artwork


As a token of recognition for Vincent’s astounding creativity and resourcefulness, NutriAsia sent him and his family more of their products for their use—whether it’s for their food or for more of Vincent’s art.

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Alfamart reaches 900 store milestone amid quarantine challenges








It was all smiles and celebration as the latest Alfamart branch in Valdez, Floridablanca, Pampanga recently opened its doors to serve the surrounding community. Alfamart, the first and only Super Minimart chain in the Philippines, was able to pull this off despite current circumstances, thanks to the dedication of everyone in their team. 

“The first half of the year was definitely not easy,” said Alfamart Philippines COO Harvey Ong. “We were hoping to have our 900th store opening to coincide with our anniversary in June. But of course, we needed to realign -- to make sure that our frontline staff and employees were safe and well-equipped to deal with the challenges of the pandemic and the accompanying quarantine that came with it,” he continued. 

Ong reiterated the fact that Alfamart employees were also frontliners who served the community. They needed to be safe so that they too can keep the customers’ shopping experience as safe and carefree as possible. “They are hard workers--dedicated to the core. We actually gave them freedom to choose whether they need to report to work or not during the quarantine. We were overwhelmed and surprised that a lot of them chose to still report to work, so, of course, we did everything in our power to make it easier for them to do their jobs,” he said. 

Even up to now, Alfamart staff are still given free shuttle rides, provided PPEs and sanitation materials, and regular tests to ensure their health and wellness. 

“We were fortunate that everyone in Alfamart adjusted well to the situation,” Ong continued. “We were eventually able to get our legs under us and continue with our plans to expand our operations further into Central and South Luzon,” he shared. 

One of the biggest adjustments Alfamart implemented was establishing cashless payments in all 900 stores. Currently, they are accepting GCash and are planning to accommodate more cashless options in the future. 

For more information regarding Alfamart and all its branches you may visit https://alfamart.com.ph.


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Eat Like You’re Dining Out



Eat like you're dining out! Goldilocks, the country’s number one bakeshop, introduces its PinoyDeli Food Selections rice and ulam meals in convenient ready to eat packs. Now you can enjoy your Goldilocks favorites safely at home. 

Choose from your favorite Goldilocks classics such as Kare-Kare, Dinuguan, Beef Caldereta, Boneless Chicken BBQ, and Laing.  New flavors are also available like Korean Beef Bulgogi and Chicken Teriyaki.  Each Food Selection pack comes with a serving of your favorite dishes plus rice.

Enjoy these yummy meals available at select Goldilocks stores all across Luzon! and for more information, you may follow @GoldilocksPH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or visit the official Goldilocks website at www.goldilocks.com.ph

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Jayda Avanzado is the new "Palmolive Girl"

Jayda Avanzado 

What do you think is the common factor for these famous Filipina celebrities like Anne Curtis, Julia Barretto, Carla Abellana, Megan Young, Janella Salvador and others have? Well, they all possess such long, shiny, healthy, well-managed hair that reflect to their vibrant personalities and they all become a true inspiration for us, girls! 

And now, introducing... the newest addition to the roster of beautiful "Palmolive Girls"... make way for the very fresh, sweet and talented, Jayda Avanzado! Yes, you've read it right, here. Jayda possesses those outstanding qualities a "Palmolive Girl" has. She exudes such a natural beauty with very pleasant personality and of course, positive aura and #fingercombedhair . Kudos to her celebrity parents Dingdong Avanzado and Jessa Zaragoza for raising her very well. 

Aside from being the latest "Palmolive" shampoo celebrity endorser, she had recently launched her single with very good friend Darren Espanto entitled, "Sana Tayo Na," under Star Music Ph. and is available for download on all digital platforms. 

Pretty Jayda has celebrated her "Quarantine birthday" (17th birthday) with her family last June 1. Thus, her father Dingdong Avamzado posted on his Instagram: 
“I just want to give a shoutout to everyone who made this day extra special. Beginning with our dear family and friends and her ever loyal fans, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was really touched to see how much you all care for Jayda by really going out of your way to help make this day another unforgettable moment for her despite the GCQ. Even though you guys couldn’t be here to celebrate with her, you still made it a point to make her feel as if you all were. We as a family are grateful and blessed. God bless you all. Happy 17th birthday my unica hija!”

More power to you Jayda dear and continue to share your wonderful talent and positive vibes! 








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Lark Disrupts Traditional Email with New Product Offering, Lark Mail

                                               August 11, 2020





● The next-gen digital collaboration platform flips email on its head and redefines business communications
● Lark continues to deliver innovative collaboration features such as Magic Share, a new video editing feature that allows everyone on a video call to edit content together Manila, Philippines, August 10, 2020 - Lark, a next-generation digital collaboration suite, has launched its latest product offering, Lark Mail, which redefines the email experience for enterprises in the Philippines. Breaking down the barrier of information silos by providing more transparent and collaborative communications, Lark Mail will now be seamlessly integrated with Lark’s suite of collaboration tools including Messenger, Video Calling, Docs and Sheets, Cloud Storage, and Calendar. As one of the most important business tools, email continues to be a siloed form of communication that keeps information away from teams who primarily communicate using digital collaboration platforms. Lark Mail has finally connected email to the other essential tools used in today’s workplace, allowing users to:

● Email a Chat Group: In the recipients field, users can input the names of not just individual colleagues, but also chat groups to send team emails to. 
● Keep Email Organized with Smart Inbox: Lark Mail automatically surfaces "Priority" emails first so users can see what's important at a glance. 
● Provide Quick Permissions: When sending a Lark Doc in an email, users can see clearly whether the recipients have access to it or not and give them the permission to read or edit the Lark Doc with one click. 
● Out of Office Reply: Create a personalized out of office reply to automatically respond to emails you receive when on a business trip or leave. 
● Gmail Integration: Instead of logging into Gmail each day, users can link their Gmail accounts to Lark to enjoy seamless integration between email, messenger, and drive. 

“Email remains a core component to the workflow of many organizations, but its separation from other collaborative tools such as messenger creates bottlenecks in productivity and makes it hard to stay on the same page," said Joey Lim, Lark VP of Commercial, Asia. "We strongly believe Lark Mail's integration of email with Messenger, Video Calling, Docs, Cloud Storage and Calendar will break down these barriers and transform the way email is used within our customers' organizations.”

In addition to Lark Mail, the company also recently introduced a new feature called Magic Share, which allows participants to edit content within the video call window, and view content being presented at their own pace. Magic Share eliminates the need to have multiple tabs open when working with colleagues on a collaborative document during a video call, and means users no longer have to worry about keeping up with a presenter that goes too fast or too slow. Once a document is shared, teammates can view it at their own pace and co-edit directly from within the video call window, effectively breaking down the wall between visual and written communication. Latecomers to a meeting can now scroll up to see material previously presented without interrupting the flow of the presenter, while presenters no longer have to worry about issues common to traditional screen sharing such as clients or internal stakeholders seeing inappropriate tabs on their computer or irritating notifications.

Lark Mail, along with the rest of Lark’s suite of collaboration tools consisting of 200GB cloud storage, 500GB email storage and unlimited video call minutes, are available free for businesses in the Philippines. Simply visit www.larksuite.com to switch over to Lark Mail from any email services. 




 
About Lark
Lark is the next-generation collaboration suite that enables teams to do their best work together. The suite primarily consists of Lark Messenger, Lark Docs, Lark Calendar, Lark Video Conferencing, as well as Lark Workplace which integrates third-party applications. All functionalities are deeply integrated into a single app, which is available on Mac, PC, iOS, and Android. 



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Smart launches new Giga Study data pack for learning



As the world continues to deal with the pandemic, many schools have resorted to online classes as a safe and innovative way for students to continue learning new knowledge and skills.

 

To help students adapt to this new normal, mobile services provider Smart Communications, Inc. has launched Giga Study, a prepaid data pack aimed at giving students simpler access to a selection of learning apps and productivity tools.

 

Register via *123# or the new Smart App

 

Available to all Smart Prepaid and TNT subscribers, Giga Study 99 comes with 1 GB of data for specific study apps every day for 7 days, plus 2 GB of open-access data for only P99. To register, simply dial *123# and choose Giga and select Study. Subscribers can also avail of the promo conveniently via the new Smart App.

 

Giga Study offers access to Google Suite, which includes Google Classroom, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, Meet, and Drive. Learning via video is also an option with YouTube and YouTube Kids. The data pack also offers access to Microsoft 365, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Teams, and OneDrive. 

 

Giga Study adds to Smart and TNT's line of Giga offers, which are designed to cater to the various lifestyle needs and passions of customers. Recently, Smart also introduced Giga Work for those who need access to work and productivity apps.

 

Country’s fastest mobile data network

 

Smart and TNT subscribers can enjoy all these Giga offers powered by Smart LTE, the country’s fastest mobile network, as certified by third-party mobile analytics firms such as Ookla and Opensignal.

 

Ookla, the global leader in internet testing and analysis, recently named Smart as the country’s fastest mobile data network in the first half of 2020 after it achieved a Speed Score™ of 18.33, with average speeds of 15.94 Mbps for download, and 7.57 Mbps for upload, based on 2,810,963 user-initiated tests taken with Speedtest®.

 

On the other hand, Opensignal, an independent mobile analytics firm, reported in its April 2020 Mobile Network Experience Report for the Philippines that Smart remained ahead of the competition in terms of Video Experience, Upload and Download Speed Experience, Voice App Experience, Games Experience, and 4G Availability.

 

 

For more details on Smart’s products and services, follow Smart’s official accounts on Facebook at www.fb.com/SmartCommunications and Twitter and Instagram at @LiveSmart.


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Introducing Lark, the Ultimate Collaborative Suite for Your Business

                                              August 09, 2020 





In response to the present global pandemic, more and more businesses have shifted to remote working arrangements for employees and teams. Working from home has gradually become the new normal - an adaptive measure allowing businesses to continue operations, with reduced risk to the health and safety of their workforce. Thus, creating a growing need for tools and apps that enable efficient virtual collaboration, in the absence of face-to-face interaction. Lark is the next generation collaborative suite that integrates multiple essential functions into a single platform, eliminating the need to juggle between apps while working.

Signing up for a free account on Lark equips your team with the necessary tools to boost their productivity from anywhere. With Lark Messenger, team members can instantly exchange information with one another. Emojis make messaging fun and interactive, and allow for quick reactions within the team chat, reducing noise by eliminating multiple replies to the same message. The team calendar may be viewed within the chat window, making it easy to check everyone’s schedules and reduce unnecessary notifications for team members in the group chat, all in one place. And more one-click translations are also available in Lark Messenger, eliminating the language issue for cross-country collaboration, if any.

Pulling up a group chat or accessing a video call from a Lark Calendar event is easy to do as well. This smart calendar also features a multi time zone view, to avoid scheduling confusion among team members around the world. A free Lark account gives users UNLIMITED Video Conferencing with advanced screen sharing capabilities. You can share editable content within the video call window, allowing real time revisions and additions to documents during virtual meetings. Its new live streaming feature opens up even more possibilities for online collaboration, allowing larger audiences to join in and view broadcasts. Lark also offers a wide range of advanced video conferencing features optimized for remote working environments, including blurring your background, touching up your appearance and reducing background noise and the sound of keyboard typing. Lark Docs enables multi-user collaboration on online spreadsheets and documents. 

For easy reference, you can simply tag other Lark docs, team members, and even chat groups within a document. No more time wasted searching through folders for what you need. Lark's powerful universal search feature allows you to locate information from within your organization's unlimited chat history, documents and calendar events instantly. With 200GB cloud storage included in a free Lark account, there is more than enough room to store your work files, images, and videos.

Finally, access other productivity and monitoring tools by connecting external apps through Lark Workplace. Some add-on features provide customizable attendance and approval workflow. Lark Workplace also supports a wide range of third-party integrations, including project management tools such as Asana and Jira, analytics monitoring through Google Analytics, and CRM solutions such as Salesforce and Zendesk. Available on Mac, PC, iOS and Android, teams can continue working together flexibly and effectively inside and outside the office with Lark. Watch this video to see how you can use Lark for your business. 

 For video embed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciqbZ466XSQ&feature=youtu.be


To learn more about Lark, visit www.larksuite.com. About Lark Lark is the next-generation collaboration suite that enables teams to do their best work together. The suite primarily consists of Lark Messenger, Lark Docs, Lark Calendar, Lark Video Conferencing, as well as Lark Workplace which integrates third-party applications. All functionalities are deeply integrated into a single app, which is available on Mac, PC, iOS, and Android.
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Shopee Celebrates ASEAN's 53rd Founding Anniversary by Joining the Inaugural ASEAN Online Sale Day

On August 8, shoppers can enjoy up to 90% off on various products from ASEAN markets



Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, participates in the ASEAN Online Sale Day to celebrate ASEAN’s 53rd founding anniversary on August 8. The ASEAN Online Sale Day supports the transformation of the retail landscape in the Philippines and across the region, where Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) ventures online to sustain and grow their businesses. It also aims to boost regional digital trade, enhance stronger partnerships between stakeholders and businesses, and promote transborder e-commerce activities in ASEAN.

Shopee's participation in the first ASEAN Online Sale Day demonstrates its long-term commitment towards digital transformation and empowering MSMEs to succeed online. This year, Shopee stepped up its efforts with the success of the Seller Support Package that helped MSMEs kickstart their e-commerce journey. In addition to that, MSMEs can build on their digital momentum at the ASEAN Online Sale Day, which offers them product exposure and wider audience reach on Shopee. 

Ruoshan Tao, Head of Marketing at Shopee Philippines, said, “We are excited to be part of the first ASEAN Online Sale Day. The robust growth of e-commerce in our region has created new opportunities for sellers and MSMEs, and this initiative can help them reach more customers and grow their online business. As e-commerce takes on greater importance in people’s lives, we will continue to innovate and improve our platform to equip and empower our sellers to succeed online.”

ASEAN Online Sale Day on Shopee The ASEAN Online Sale Day this coming August 8 is the inaugural launch of the event and will take place yearly. During the sale, shoppers can enjoy up to 90% off on featured products from ASEAN countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Users can also enjoy ₱88 off with ₱800 minimum spend on ASEAN beauty products, fashion items, and food and home commodities on Shopee. 

To avail of the special promo, shoppers can use the code ASEAN88. For more information about the ASEAN Online Sale Day, you can visit https://shopee.ph/m/asean-online-sale on August 8. 

Download the Shopee app for free on Apple App Store or Google Play Store. 



About Shopee 

Shopee is the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. It was launched in 7 markets in 2015 to connect consumers, sellers, and businesses in the region. Shopee offers an easy, secure, and engaging experience that is enjoyed by millions of people daily. It offers a wide product assortment, supported by integrated payments and logistics, as well as popular entertainment features tailored for each market. Shopee is also a key contributor to the region’s digital economy with a firm commitment to helping brands and entrepreneurs succeed in e-commerce. Shopee is a part of Sea Limited (NYSE:SE), a leading global consumer internet company. In addition to Shopee, Sea’s other core businesses include its digital entertainment arm, Garena, and digital financial services arm, SeaMoney. Sea’s mission is to better the lives of consumers and small businesses with technology.
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All Day taps PayMaya to bring safer and seamless cashless payment options online and in-store




To provide a safer and more convenient experience to its customers nationwide, All Day will provide contactless payment options online and in-store powered by PayMaya. Through the partnership, All Day Supermarket will accept cashless payments including PayMaya QR, using the One by PayMaya terminals in their 76 convenience store branches nationwide.

Additionally, grocery shoppers who wish to buy their day-to-day essentials at home can use any debit or credit card as well as their PayMaya accounts to shop via the All Day Market website (https://www.alldaymarket.com/) powered by PayMaya Checkout.

“Our current situation has changed the way Filipinos shop for groceries and we continue to adapt to their changing needs, particularly during this time. As we begin building towards recovery, we are grateful to partner with PayMaya in providing payment convenience and safety to our customers as well our cashiers because it allows faster transactions that also eliminates the problems of handling cash,” said Jacqueline Cano, All Day Business Unit Head.

All Day, supermarket, mini-mart and convenience store chain, aims to provide a refreshed grocery shopping experience through its uniquely-designed store and world-class grocery selections. During the community quarantine, it continued to expand and innovate their services as it recently opened two new stores in Cavite, launched a personal shopper service for customers, and started the All Day Market e-commerce website to cater to customers who are unable to go out.

"We are excited to enable All Day Supermarket with cashless payments solutions from PayMaya as they blaze the trail in this shift towards digital. Safety and convenience is a topmost priority for All Day and we're happy to provide our end-to-end digital payments solutions, especially as we all move towards the New Normal,” said PayMaya Philippines President Shailesh Baidwan. 

Aside from All Day grocery in-store and online, PayMaya will also be deploying One by PayMaya to 18 AllHome branches nationwide. As part of its goal of building a cashless ecosystem for the New Normal, PayMaya has been empowering businesses such as groceries and supermarkets with cashless payment options that give their customers a safer and more convenient way to pay.

PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines with platforms and services that cut across consumers, merchants, and government. Aside from providing payments acceptance for the largest e-Commerce, food, retail and gas merchants in the Philippines, PayMaya enables national and social services agencies as well as local government units with digital payments and disbursement services. 

Through its app and wallet, PayMaya provides millions of Filipinos with the fastest way to own a financial account with over 40,000 Add Money touchpoints nationwide, more than double the total number of traditional bank branches in the Philippines combined. Its Smart Padala by PayMaya network of over 30,000 partner touchpoints nationwide serves as last mile digital financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved with access to services. 


To know more about PayMaya's products and services, visit www.PayMaya.com or follow @PayMayaOfficial on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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PH schools go cashless in the 'new normal' with the help of PayMaya


As schools embrace alternative learning methods this year, PayMaya is empowering over 40 schools nationwide with cashless payment solutions online and in-school, providing students a safer and more convenient way to pay for enrollment fees and other educational expenses.

Major learning institutions such as the University of the Philippines (UP), Ateneo De Davao University (ADDU), La Salle Green Hills, Don Bosco Technical Institute of Makati Inc. (DBTI-MAKATI), Nord Anglia International School Manila (NAIS Manila), Malayan Colleges Mindanao (MCM), University of Immaculate Conception (UIC), among others are beginning to adopt PayMaya’s end-to-end digital payment solutions such as the PayMaya’s Online payment gateway for their online channels and the One by PayMaya Point of Sale (POS) device for school cashiers.

“As we prepare to open another school year, ensuring that health and safety measures are implemented across learning institutions is important to protect both parents and students. By implementing PayMaya's suite of cashless payment solutions on their online and physical channels, our school partners are adapting to provide continuous quality education to students in a safe and convenient way even amid the current crisis,” PayMaya President Shailesh Baidwan said.

As schools transition to the ‘New Normal’ in education, UP, ADDU, La Salle Green Hills, DBTI-MAKATI, NAIS Manila, MCM, UIC, are among the schools enabling their online student portals with PayMaya’s online payment gateway, which allows them to easily process tuition and other payments using debit and credit cards and e-Wallets such as PayMaya.

These institutions are also equipping their school’s cashiers with the One by PayMaya POS device to allow safer and more seamless payments by using the scan-to-pay via PayMaya QR feature or by tapping or dipping using their credit, debit, and prepaid cards.

These efforts are in response to the Department of Education’s directive to implement blended learning that utilizes both online and in-person modalities for education, where students are encouraged to utilize online classes, printed modules, and educational TV and radio broadcast as main learning channels this school year.

PayMaya’s cashless payment solutions play a critical role in the schools' shift to blended learning while at the same time helping keep school personnel safe by eliminating risks of cash handling in light of the current public health situation.

Aside from these digital payment innovations, PayMaya has previously rolled out cashless payment ecosystems starting with the PayMaya-powered student ID card in schools including University of the Philippines, La Salle Green Hills, LPU-Batangas, and STI, among many others. Students can easily link the PayMaya-powered student ID card to their PayMaya account and maximize for payment transactions even outside the campus at Bancnet-powered payment terminals and ATMs nationwide.

PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines, with platforms and services that cut across consumers, merchants, and government. Aside from providing payments acceptance for the largest e-Commerce, food, retail and gas merchants in the Philippines, PayMaya enables national and social services agencies, as well as local government units, with digital payments and disbursement services.

Through its app and wallet, PayMaya  provides millions of Filipinos with the fastest way to own a financial account with over 40,000 Add Money touchpoints nationwide, more than double the total number of traditional bank branches in the Philippines combined. Its Smart Padala by PayMaya network of over 30,000 partner touchpoints nationwide serves as last mile digital financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved with access to services. To know more about PayMaya's products and services, visit www.PayMaya.com or follow @PayMayaOfficial on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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