by admin | Nov 10, 2015 | Editorial
In the past weeks, we heard the lonely voices from the wilderness.
The call was a scream for accountability, but nobody seemed interested in listening.
No less than the environmental advocates who have now claimed the call for advocacy has long been over resounded the wail of frustration.
Baptizing themselves as environmental activists, leaders of farmer sector groups led by the band of brave and diligent men and women of the Bohol Nature Conservation Society (BONACONSO) took the cudgels to blast on the alarming inaction by authorities against the syndicated abuse to Bohol environment.
It is syndicated, they alleged as it has become a systemic kind that puts the government itself in a situation that makes them part of the problem.
The government is mandated to protect and conserve the environment, but apparently,
by admin | Nov 9, 2015 | Editorial
In two days beginning Thursday last week, police authorities from 47 stations all over Bohol spun to action.
Whether it was ordered or not, police stations stirred and their chiefs of police called their men to a command conference to swoop down on drug personalities and effect the biggest raid in the history of Bohol.
The plan was to offer the heads of 50 or more drug personalities by the 50 raids, to appropriately mark a big day for Bohol police.
Historic, it would be as it would be a tribute to the 50th birth anniversary of Bohol’s top cop, PSSupt Dennis Agustin.
PNP senior officials, or whosoever conceptualized the move, have every reason to do so.
Agustin, upon assumption to Bohol, took to heart the order he received from Police General Prudencio Bañas, who shared a dreamy goal of declaring Bohol as the first drug-free province.
Both Bañas and Agustin had less than a couple of months in newly assigned posts: Bañas to head the regional police while Agustin has the provincial force under him.
What the two apparently did not know was that, they were pitifully dipped in a cauldron where drugs is allegedly stirred into distribution by forces beyond the commerce of men who have no balls of steel.
PD Agustin proved he was no less than that, by horning his way into the police organization and spearheading that infamous crusade that took his some of his finest officers despite shaking a hornets nest which is too close to Camp Dagohoy.
Police officers and station commanders of less timber, have to play it cool, and looked the other way.
Not on the 50th birth anniversary of the provincial police chief.
Those two days netted for Bohol and the police organization P5 million worth of drugs and money, over 50 personalities and an undetermined number of hassling trial appearances for police officers involved in the raids.
We need to congratulate the police for doing so.
The subliminal message beyond these raids however is that: the police have just shown us a reason to believe that they all know who in their respective areas of jurisdiction are into drugs.
For them to be able to sweep a massive raid in two days netting that much number of personalities, drugs and paraphernalia, it must indeed be a huge and sweeping problem, this drug affectation is.
Secondly, another troubling message we get from this is: (and authorities can refute us) the drug campaign in Bohol can all be called “artificial” and “half-hearted” on the very least.
No matter how successful the raids convey to all of Boholanos, the sub-currents tell us, how come the police stations, on non birth days of local officials could not muster the same magnitude of raids, if this was not just for show?
Would this bolster the claim a topnotch lawyer has been persistently announcing on the air: that police, who happen to be getting lifeblood from the local leadership, could do nothing with the problem, if they want their lifeline to be alive?
If this tells us that, then nobody in the high ranks of the police organization in Bohol realized the repercussions of a seemingly harmless, in fact gloriously planned sweeping raid.
The biggest realization we prayed not any ordinary Boholano can connect, is that by the raid, police have just haphazardly shown a drama which projects how extremely powerless and how farcical this local drug enforcement is.
This should not also connect the allegations that, not much of court convictions happen especially to the big-boys in the industry. The courts, according to out information, has been a beneficiary of monetary allowances from the provincial government.
Feeding the hand that feeds, still remains to be one act Boholanos could not do.
Well, except for the Boholanos who claim to be one, but their heart and soul, they have sold to the devil.
So therefore, the 50 raids for the 50th birthday of the police director shown a 50/50 image of the police and drug enforcement. And we hope they will live through this, alive.
by admin | Nov 9, 2015 | Editorial
Before a new and fancier tale of the “daang matuwid” can be spun, let us be a good-news spoiler, and let us state this in the language that majority of our supra-politicized citizens will not always understand.
The World Bank, in its 2016 Ease of Doing Business report, said that, of 189 countries it studied, the Philippines did not improve its ranking from 95th to 65th, as the Aquino Administration expected and short of announced for 2016. The ratings moved, sliding down from 95 to 103 among the 189 countries.
The ease of doing business is a global indicator of the good business climate an investor can expect when coming with a business in a country.
The International Finance Corp. (IFC) recently broke the downgrade news: a rain in the parade now readied by the Aquino Administration. Next week, Aquino plans an elaborately embellished Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministers’ forum in Manila. Here, leaders of the world’s biggest and most dynamic countries fringing the Asia Pacific region will be in Manila.
President Aquino sees this opportunity as one he can show how the Philippines is faring as the new Asian economic tiger. Or more correctly, how World Economic Forum billed “Asia’s new economic miracle” is governing.
And the WB report can be, finally proven to be hoax.
On this, the Department of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima locks and loads its verbal arsenal shooting at the WB, whom it claims as erratic and questionable. We pity the visibly incensed Purisima. After all, as an avid insurance broker for the Philippines, painting rainbows over death is a classic line he uses always. He put on the country’s dreamy but false economic make-up, using a cash stash of tax money to buy credit ratings from the world’s top credit rating agencies.
Now, no amount of make up can de-odorize the country’s overall ranking decline in most of the 10 sub-indicators of the Doing Business program.
To Purisima’s side is Guillermo Luz, of the National Competitiveness Council, who also came out flaring about the report alleging its use of unsound and erratic methodology.
But, protest, the Administration may, the whole world would always see this as a bitter country for failing to make good its miracle concoction. And so, BizNews Asia, bannered in its cover story. “If you want to start a business, don’t start it in the Philippines.”
Considering that there are 189 economies, the Philippine rankings belie the claims of Daang Matuwid.”
Coming still as a time when an international embarrassment of the planting bullet scam greets APEC leaders at the airport, there might be no stopping the tag that this government has been led by incompetent and corrupt. This time, unfortunately, there is no President Arroyo to blame.
One good thing from this, it’s telling the Aquino Administration that the few good things they have owned credit will now be ascribed to somebody else’s.
This is something the businessmen leaders of APEC will smell. For us, Ave Maria Purisima.
by admin | Nov 7, 2015 | Tech Talk
San Miguel Corporation, the potential joint venture partner of Australian firm Telstra, holds an ace up its sleeve. It currently owns 90% of the 700MHz frequency range that is said to be the ideal frequency for mobile data service.
The 700MHz frequency allows the service provider to use lesser cell sites because the signals at this frequency can travel further compared to the higher frequencies used by the existing large mobile data players Globe and Smart.
In 2005, Globe requested the National Telecommunications Commission or NTC for an allocation of the 700MHz frequency but was denied. Just recently, PLDT joined the call for redistribution of the 700MHz frequency through an auction. Globe reiterated their request for allocation this year.
This is probably why Telstra was confident in its announcement last month that if the joint venture with SMC will push through, they would be able to provide much better service than Globe and PLDT.
However, some netizens interpret this move by Globe and PLDT as an attempt to prevent a 3rd player to compete. Others say that such requests are just excuses of the poor service provided by the two telcos. Others commented that Globe and Telco should just reduce advertising expense and spend the money instead on better infrastructure.
by admin | Nov 7, 2015 | Opinion
By: Jerome Auza
To the embarrassment of many Filipinos, the “laglag bala” or “tanim bala” scandal at NAIA became viral throughout the world on social media. The scheme involves planting of bullets in a passengers bag before or during the x-ray inspection. The passenger is then threatened with a being filed a case for illegal possession of ammunition. Because the passenger wouldn’t want to miss the flight, he or she is then offered an option to pay money in order to be cleared.
The matter became viral as more and more people who were became victims to the scam publicized their own experience on social media. Unfortunately, the national government’s response is slow and most of the time, just sending to the public the wrong message.
It has been featured in various international news networks. There is even a newly developed mobile app game that is a parody to this modus operandi. In Japan, someone created a parody of the scheme in a comedy show.
Here are some statements from our government:
“It’s just an isolated case.”
“Put issues in the proper context.” – referring to the thousands of passengers going through the airport without problems versus the “few” being victimized.
“Allegations of laglag-bala or bullet-planting scheme must be validated first before the government takes the necessary long-term actions”
Add to this a callous comment from a presidential candidate endorsed by the current administration: “Kung nagpasok ka ng contraband sa airport, paano naging problema ng gobyerno ’yun?”
This just creates the impression that the government isn’t giving this issue a priority. They should have responded more swiftly at high priority. The APEC conference is happening later this month with government officials from the APEC members traveling through NAIA. Now with this issue gaining international attention, the government needs to exert much more effort to assure the safety of travelers.
Meanwhile, a plastic wrapping service at the airport is happy with the brisk business every day as more people line up to have their luggage wrapped in clear plastic to avoid being victimized.
I travel fairly frequently and my last trip in October was a stressful one as I had to be extra watchful as I stepped out of the plane and got into the NAIA terminal. My very early morning flight deprived me of sleep. So while waiting for my connecting flight, I was fighting to stay awake. I wanted to ensure that my bags were not going to be planted with contraband.
With all the fees and travel taxes I have to pay, I can’t even relax at the airport anymore. I use a very well traveled backpack that has several pockets that are fairly easy to access. The laglag bala operators can easily slip in a bullet in one of those pockets. I should replace it with a much secure bag.
What our government should realize is that social media will spread news very fast across the Internet. Specially if it is bad news. It should respond differently and much faster compared to the way they do now. It should carefully draft its statements so that they are seen as serious in solving an issue. Their recent statements created the impression of a “wait and see” attitude which is unacceptable for the public.
The government may have huge influence over the traditional media firms but they can’t control the community of social media users and independent bloggers who would just voice out their opinion immediately. An inappropriate statement from the spokespersons can be taken out of context unintentionally or intentionally to the disadvantage of the government. They won’t have any influence at all on the international news agencies.
Downplaying the issue is simply an incorrect response because just one tanim bala incident out of thousands of passengers is enough to sow fear among travelers. Maybe our government officials need training about social media so they understand the impact of their actions or inaction on issues similar to the laglag-bala scheme.
