Press Release
SMART supports Visayan homage to Child Jesus
[January 14, 2010/ Manila] - Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) will be one of the main partners of the organizers of this month’s Sinulog festival in Cebu, Ati-atihan in Kalibo, Aklan and Dinagyang in Iloilo.
As tourists and residents of the three Visayan provinces pay homage to the Child Jesus with song, dance, and religious fervor, SMART pulls out all the stops to add color and make more exciting the merrymaking that the festivals are known for worldwide.
“Our yearly participation in these festivals signifies our commitment to not only provide high-quality communications services in the Visayas, but also to help promote this uniquely Filipino tradition of celebrating the Santo Niño,” said Steve Alcoseba, head of SMART’s sales and distribution team for Visayas and Mindanao.
During Sinulog, SMART products and services will be available in strategic areas in Cebu City, and will come with exciting freebies.
Among these products are the new Smart Buddy Super SIM 4, now with the Quick Access Menu, and the Zip 188, Smart Buddy’s most affordable 3G phonekit.
Those who will subscribe to any of the Smart Buddy unlimited mobile internet packages – as mlow as P20/day/website, P50/day, or P1,200/month – will also receive freebies such as duffel bags, gadget bags, among others.
For those who prefer postpaid, advanced BlackBerry, HTC, LG, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson handsets will be bundled for free or at huge discounts with regular Smart Gold or Gold Lite postpaid plans that cost as low as P300 per month.
Smart Bro Plug-It prepaid kits will also be sold for only P995 in strategic areas in Cebu, Kalibo, and Iloilo during the festivals, and every kit will come with free P300 worth of broadband access. Smart Bro will also partner with Level Up to hold a two-day online gaming tournament at Caltex Mango Avenue in Cebu on January 16 and 17, and at the Emcor Parking Lot in Smallville, Iloilo on January 23 and 24.
For Ati-atihan, SMART is bringing to Kalibo the popular band Hale, for an evening of “Ati-atihan, Ulit-ulitan, Saya’t Sayawan” at the Magsaysay Park on January 16.
Those who will buy a Smart Buddy SIM and load P15 will receive a ticket to the concert plus a stub to join a raffle where home appliances and cellular phones will be up for grabs.
Those who already have a Smart SIM just need to load P30 to be able to watch the concert and join the exciting raffle.
To help ensure the safety of Sinulog, Ati-atihan, and Dinagyang participants, SMART has partnered, as it has done over the past six years, with the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) for the provision of a SMART-Red Cross First Aid Station during the festivals.
These stations will be manned by First Aid-trained SMART employee-volunteers, and will be open to assist and administer First Aid to all injured festival revelers.
In Cebu, SMART-Red Cross First Aid Stations will be at the Basilica del Sto. Niño on January 16, and at the University of San Carlos Boys’ High, PLDT Jones, and Imus on January 17.
The First Aid Station for Ati-atihan will be at Magsaysay Park on January 16, and at the YMCA along J.M. Basa St. in Iloilo City on January 24.
At the end of Sinulog, employee-volunteers from SMART and its parent company PLDT will take out their broomsticks and garbage bags to help assist Cebu City government cleaners in a clean-up drive of strategic areas. The same activity will be done in Iloilo City, after the Dinagyang festivities.
