The invitation had magic and music written on it and so I got intrigued both at the event and the product.  So when the announcer called on everyone to get inside the theater I took a big bite off the fish fillet and gulped it down with soda, then took a seat reserved for the media.

The program started with an opening number by PLDT's version of the Village People who can give the Masculados a run for their money dancing to the official jingle of PLDT and SMART's newest product. 

After the number, in came Giselle Sanchez who hosted the event along with magician Lou Hilario who was wearing a mask.  Following some introductions and a couple of spiels, Lou went about performing his tricks.  But what really caught my attention were the illusions he did like making his assistant get into an abaca basket that was not big enough for a person to squeeze in; twisting and turning his assistant's head and was separated from her body (I must admit at this point I wasn't looking at the stage anymore but instead was watching the screen.) and suspending her in the air.  DDB's Bonjin Bolinao and I were trying to explain how the tricks were done but we were stumped when the assistant was suspended in thin air.  No strings, no nothing.  But there must have been something, maybe an anti-gravity device hidden somewhere that kept her from falling.

Following the magic, the Whiplash dancers made a dramatic entrance wearing hooded robes that reminded me of a similar move from a cheer dancing movie that's repeatedly shown on HBO.

Unless I forget what the evening was all about, Cristina Balingit, PLDT Assistant Vice-President for Card Services Retail Marketing, garbed in magician's clothes complete with a wand, together with PLDT Senior VP for Retail Business Group Butch Jimenez officially launched the Pwede! card - the all-in-one reloadable card.

The Pwede! card is the country's first reloadable PIN-based prepaid card.  It is all-in-one because it can be used for PLDT landlines, PLDT and SMARTalk Payphones, SMART and Talk 'N Text mobiles, NDD, IDD, and PLDT Vibe.  However, the card's value cannot be used for texting or for Pasaload.

Call rates for Pwede! are definitely lower than the regular rates both for mobile and landline calls.  Local calls cost only P2.00 per call with unlimited talk time (I'd better tell my friends who are on Teletipid to get this one instead so they don't have to tell me to call them when they call me.)  PLDT landline to mobile calls cost only P6.50 per minute; NDD calls cost P5.00 per minute; IDD calls at P8.00 per minutes; and access the Internet via PLDT Vibe at P5.00 per hour.

"Unlike before, there is now no need to buy separate cards for each service because you can do all these and more with one powerful solution, the multipurpose Pwede! card", that's according to Balingit.

The Pwede! card sells at P30 and is reloadable in increments of 30, 60, 115, 200, 300, and 500 pesos.

The introduction of the Pwede! card does not mean that all the other cards will no longer be available.  The Pwede! card, as Giselle said, will co-exist will all the other prepaid card services.

Ogie Alcasid, Pwede! card's celebrity endorser graced the evening and sang two unknown songs which is part of his new album.  You must have seen the TV ads by now.

With the Pwede!  card, PLDT and SMART has proven itself to be way ahead of the competition.