by admin | Oct 3, 2015 | Opinion
Filipinos may experience some level of improvement on our Internet access service as PLDT and Globe are already in talks on an IP peering agreement between the two telcos. IP peering means that Internet traffic originating from Globe going to PLDT and vice versa will no longer be routed through international peering exchanges. In other words, local traffic will be kept local.
There are no commitment dates though but at least this is already a step into the right direction.
Already PLDT has signed into an agreement with DOST’s Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PHOpenIX) which will improve access to government websites.
Majority of the data traffic accessed in the Philippines originate from North America and Europe. So aside from local IP peering, the telcos should also increase data caching within their networks to reduce the data traffic through the international fiber optic networks. PLDT has announced they will increase their caching capability next year.
Also we are awaiting for a third player in the telco industry to start operations. The new player is Telstra, an Australia based telco, who will enter into the Philippine market in partnership with San Miguel Corporation. The presence of a third player may spur better competition and thus better service and lower prices.
It remains to be seen if the Philippine telcos can keep up with the data demand. Users access images, videos and audio content which have larger data sizes compared to just plain text data. Our use of Facebook, Youtube and other multi-media heavy websites ad applications will continue to increase. This will put more pressure on our telcos to increase capacity while the users will continue to raise their expectations.
by admin | Oct 1, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita
TAGBILARAN CITY, Sept 28 (PIA)–In preparation of a training center for teachers and students taking the agriculture track in the K 12 implementation, Regional Development Council-7 led by Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto pushed for the inclusion in 2016 budget the proposed Bohol Agricultural Training and Research Center (BATRC).
Via RDC Resolution No 33, (s. 2015), the regional council endorsed the P 163.309 million BATRC for funding by the Department of Education, Department of Agriculture and the Environment and Natural Resources in the calendar year 2016-2018.
The lot of the proposed 150 hectares school farm in San Pascual Ubay, is currently owned by the Department of Agriculture and is currently used by the DepEd pursuant to an agreement stipulated by a Memorandum between them and DA signed in 1996.
At this, the proposed funding from the DepEd to complete the project is P139.31, the amount to cover advocacy and social mobilization, infrastructure development. curriculum development and enhancement, acquisition of equipment, hiring of personnel, training and accreditation, research and development and monitoring and evaluation.
Meanwhile, from the DA, project proposed funds for the rehabilitation of farm to market roads, bridges and culverts, trainings on natural farming technology, post harvest handling and food processing which is worth P23.09 million.
From the DENR, a P900,000 fund is proposed for the tree planting component in the site.
The project aims to provide sustainable quality training and research programs on natural farming technology, post harvest handling and food processing, according to the RDC.
When endorsing the project, the RDC argues that the project is supportive of two objectives of the updated Regional Development Plan.
“It improves access to quality education and training through the provision of adequate education facilities and resources while it also builds the capacities of service providers to effectively deliver education services while the center also increase productivity of the agriculture sector through the improvement of the agricultural extension services'” RDC said.
Project proponents eye teachers who would undergo training in the center and senior high school students who would pursue technical-vocational livelihood tracks, which according to an initial DepED survey, numbers approximately in 2016-2017.
Moreover, proponent, Bohol PDC as pushed by its private sector representatives, sees agricultural communities to be able to avail themselves of the center’s technical services. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
by admin | Sep 26, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita
Kumon K of C students receive recognition awards during the Kumon Advanced Students Forum (ASF) held at the Radisson BLU in Cebu City on September 26, 2015. The awards were based on their performance as of May 31, 2015.
Jeorgieann C. Suaffield, the first Math completer of the Kumon K of C center, received her recognition award as Math completer. She also received the Math award as well as top ten in Math (#1 for P7 level). Jeremiah E. Auza received the Math award and recognition as top ten in Math (#3 for P1 level). He also received the Reading award and recognition as top ten in Reading (#4 for P1 level).
“Jeorgieann and Jeremiah deserved these awards as they demonstrated the discipline and self learning skills that the Kumon program teaches its students. They inspire other students and their parents because they are an example that Kumon students will become their very best as they discover their potential when they go through the program.”, Kumon K of C Chief Instructor Dr. Elva Evasco-Auza said.
Jeorgieann is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Jeorge Suaffield and is a student at the Philippine Science High School in Tagbilaran City this school year. She started her Kumon program a few years ago at the Kumon K of C center located at the K of C Recreation Center. She will also soon complete her Reading program later this year.
Jeremiah is the eldest son of Mr. Jerome Auza and Dr. Elva Auza. He is currently a grade 2 student at VDT-ALC. He started the math program when he was four years old and the reading program at seven.
The Kumon K of C center is located at the K of C Recreation Center near the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. Center days are on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The center admin days are on Mondays and Fridays. To inquire, please visit the center between 9:00am to 5:00pm or contact chief instructor Dr. Auza at 038-5107848.
Kumon Philippines President Masanori Tsuji (center) with Jeorgieann Suaffield (at right) and Jeremiah Auza (at left) and their family after receiving their awards during the Kumon Advanced Students Forum at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City on September 26, 2016.
by admin | Sep 23, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita, National News
TAGBILARAN CITY, Sept 23 (PIA)–The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) municipal election offices await for the remaining 38,704 voters in Bohol who have yet to validate their records to be able to exercise their rights to vote come May 2016.
This as the COMELEC counts less than 30 days before they close the registration by October 31, 2015, at 5:00 PM.
Moreover, the poll body added that registration would be suspended on October 12-16 to allow the COMELEC to accept the certificates of candidacies; the days being allotted as the officials dates for filing of certificates.
With that, Boholanos would only have less than 30 days to have their registrations validated, entries changed or certificates of transfer filled so they could still get into the final list, according to the COMELEC.
Bohol Comelec Supervisor Atty. Eliseo Labaria then urges Boholanos, especially from the island barangays to go visit their municipal election offices for registration validation, through the taking of one’s biometrics.
Over 10,000 voters have not registered from the towns of Ubay, Inabanga, Tubigon and Talibon, Comelec records bare, which leads them to believe the island registered voters may have yet to come to the mainland to be validated via the biometrics.
The validation by biometrics essentially cleans the old list in as much as this exacts from the voter his picture, fingerprint and signature which it stores in a databank that can be used to identify similar features in a person.
The biometrics, according to Atty Labaria has a feature called automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) which puts up red flags as soon as a person logs into the election voters list using one’s already data-banked fingerprint.
The same automated feature allows the computer networks to compare one’s facial features with the thousands across the country and puts up notifications for double registrations.
He also warned voters who might have falsely believed that having a COMELEC issued identification card is enough.
“The law provides that biometrics would be the basis for the final list of voters, and not the Comelec voter’s identification cards,” Labaria said.
For new registrants, or those who would be 18 by May 9, 2016, all they need to bring to the Comelec offices are Identification cards with dates of birth, or simply birth certificates, which could be PSA authenticated or the ones that can be obtained from the local civil registrars, he said. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
by admin | Sep 23, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita
Talking about relentless tourism promotion for Bohol, nobody beats us.
For years now, Bohol’s presence in Travel Marts and product fairs relating to tourism has been so far excellent. Our tourism product development has never been short of spectacular and the choreographed partnership between the public and the private sector is unparalleled as yet.
Until the last Travel Mart.
From keeping and wearing the crown, the seal and the belt as the country’s best tourism destination, this year proved to be a failure for Bohol.
No, not that our losing to South Cotabato in the Travel Mart’s recent Best Booth competition is already a portent of the lost tourism revenues.
The contest, which was based on the visual presentation as much as the number of visits that one booth or pavilion gets from fair visitors, Bohol only mustered enough to stay next to someplace else.
If looks were the mere barometer, Bohol pavilion could fare very well, compared to the winner who allegedly spent over P2 million for their product showcase at the fair.
But even then, why had the contender amassed that much visitors compared to Bohol?
On this, our sources came up with two theories: Bohol has not worked hard to make its new products just as interesting as its main destinations. And two, tourists have had so much of Bohol to seek the new thrill elsewhere.
On theory number 1, we believe it is, on the very least unfair to JICA and the Bohol Ecotourism Council who has wrapped 60 new packages.
On number 2, that could well be the reason.
A Department of Tourism data said most of the local tourists in Bohol have been coming back several times and apparently couldn’t get enough of Bohol. But why this?
Our contention is simple. Returning local tourists, who apparently were there scouting for more fun at the Travel Mart knew getting and staying in Bohol is never fun.
The airplane fares are elitist. The airport landing is dangerous and plane schedules are as fickle as the health of the planes landing.
The transfer from Cebu airport to the port to Tagbilaran is horrendous. The fastcraft restrooms are eeky. The tricycle drivers are vultures and the hotel rooms are overrated as they are over-priced.
Then vacation is a luxury for those needing the comfort or a traveler, Bohol can never be, unless somebody gets the right fix going.
by admin | Sep 19, 2015 | Tech Talk
By Jerome Auza
In the past weeks I’ve discussed what I think is the reason for poor Internet service in the country. However, this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to be on a remote sandbar somewhere off Bien Unido, Bohol and my phone had consistent 3G signal and fast Internet service. So I posted a panorama picture of the island.
For sure, we were at least a few kilometers away from the nearest cell site as it took 30 minutes by banca to reach the sandbar. The banca, by the way, was a twin engine model which means it was double the noise of regular bancas. And it was faster.
So why the fast connection out there? There were actually some factors that favor a good connection. First, I can see a few cell site towers at the main land which means there were no obstruction between my cellphone and the cell site it connected to. Compare this with the situation when you are in Tagbilaran City where the cell site could be just a few hundred meters away but there are a lot of obstructions like buildings and trees.
Second, I presume there aren’t that many users in that area thus the cell site is not as congested as it could get if it was in an area with a high density of users.
Lastly, my impression was just based on an hour there and only occasionally using Facebook and checking email. I know, I shouldn’t have checked email because I was on an outing but I had to test the connection.
If such connection is consistent, then I would say there is really some level of capability of doing outsourced services there. If the outsourced service does not require real-time interaction, it might just work.
Makaina islet/sandbar off the coast of Bien Unido, Bohol.
by admin | Sep 19, 2015 | Opinion
By Jerome Auza
What do you get when you have 11 million tweets in less than 24 hours? Popularity, bragging rights and more commercial contracts. And possibly a new Guinness Book of World Records entry.
The number of Twitter tweets is used as one of the measures of popularity of a certain topic or hashtag. A recent great example of the proper use of this social media platform is Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye, a comedy series that mixes studio and street scenes and a unique love story where the pair communicate only via dubbing of songs and hand written notes.
The longest running noon-time show in the country Eat Bulaga surprised its fans two months ago with the new comedy segment which includes a love story between Yaya Dub, played by Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards. Mendoza, who became popular on Youtube because of her hilarious Dubsmash videos, is a new talent introduced by the show. Richards is a budding actor who was paired with Mendoza in the segment.
The other characters in the segment played by hosts Wally Bayola, Jose Manalo and Paolo Ballesteros while the original trio of Eat Bulaga Tito, Vic and Joey act as if they are directors and commentators adding more comedy into the already hilarious conversations of the characters Lola Nidora, Lola Tidora and Lola Tinidora among others.
The segment is a completely new concept in the Philippine television industry and has made Eat Bulaga capture the coveted number 1 position in TV ratings for noon-time shows. It combined traditional TV promotions and social media techniques to increase its popularity.
The show’s excellent use of the social media platforms Twitter and Facebook prior to the start of the segment helps build excitement among the fans. Each segment ends with a cliffhanger scenario and the fans are left wondering and discussing in Twitter and Facebook what might happen next. So they keep watching the segments.
It also helps that the segment has the kind of unpredictability because it mixes reality and acting into the love story of Alden and Yaya Dub. All the while Lola Nidora tries to keep the two apart and wants them to wait for the “tamang panahon” or the right time. Even the real life parents of Mendoza and Richards tweet about the show. And so the conversations on social media continue every day, building up to a major event every Saturday.
For marketing professionals, it is worth studying how Eat Bulaga used social media in promoting the Kalyeserye episodes. 11 million tweets is a big deal because it means there are millions of unique users tweeting about it. And there are way more Twitter users who don’t tweet but see the hashtag and links and therefore exposed to the topic. Just imagine the commercial endorsements that Eat Bulaga can make because of this popularity. In fact, they already have two major commercials based on the Kalyreserye concept.
by admin | Sep 15, 2015 | Opinion
Governor Edgar Chatto has been insistent about a synchronized fight against drugs, a fight that will snowball from the barangays to the city, leaving drug personalities no place to run and hide.
We can always understand that. For the past years, Bohol has never “hosted” drugs as problematic as this.
Then provincial commander Constantino Barot showed not much drug apprehensions. Sources even revealed that an expressed instruction to the police stated: drug is not a police priority. Let the PDEA do it.
As it appears, it seems a legitimate order. The PNP is not principally tasked with the drug problem, as the law provides. On it are usually unnamed PDEA agents.
But, intelligence community reports can never be stopped; not even by powerful people who want it stopped. Like water seeking its own level, reports have a nasty habit of getting to popping in analysts tables who treat them as A-one.
Since Police Director Dennis Agustin took over from Col. Barot, the biggest puzzle started to take shape.
As it appears, Colonel Agustin pieced a puzzle so tough to solve that lives of a police chief and several officers have to be offered to enlighten us about the diabolical ogre we are facing.
Anybody following the high stakes drug drama would agree, when the police shrugged off the drugs responsibility, they allowed the seeds to root enough to send shivers upon police and prosecutors pursuing drug cases.
Which led many to ask: Has Capitol been involved? A pesky candidate has also accused Gov. Chatto of this.
While we are not that quick to the conclusion that Capitol is protecting, things are shaping. And the shape, unfortunately, is that of a fat lie sitting at the Capitol.
Today, we hit the second month after three sachets of drugs were found at the Capitol.
As much as we wanted the full details of the story, it took a brave old man, weeks to leak a plot to hide the drugs. And another month before an order to investigate was issued.
Two months of investigations, and all Capitol can do is accuse the old man and his school of planting drugs at the Capitol? While this alleged school is not entirely drug-free, it would be tough to imagine how Capitol could side sweep into a fallacy of ad hominem just to draw flak away from the government.
You see, Capitol had a window opened to cast away the issue on drugs. Had it exercised diligence in coming out with investigations, or appeased the Boholanos with the heads of workers who tested positive in the drug tests, it could have side-stepped away from controversy.
Unfortunately however, after two months, that window has closed.
by admin | Sep 12, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita
The provincial government of Bohol under the leadership of Gov. Edgar Chatto hosts the 2nd Negosyo Center in the province which was formally opened on September 4, 2015 with Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino as guest speaker during the opening ceremonies.
The Negosyo Center is located within the Bohol Investment Promotions Center office at the back of the capitol building. BIPC Head Ms. Inday Dominise along with DTI officials, Gov. Chatto, Mayor John Geesnell “Baba” Yap and various other government officials participated in the blessing ceremonies of the new center. They then proceeded to the Governor’s Mansion for the opening program.
Gov. Chatto lobbied for the realization of the Negosyo Center within the provincial capitol building as this is expected to help ease business registrations due to the Bohol One Stop Shop facility at BIPC. It is also expected to help startups and existing businesses to network with suppliers and buyers as well as financial institutions to help with raising capital.
Dominise said that in the coming months, the Negosyo Center will be the venue for various training sessions open to all business owners who are interested.
by admin | Sep 12, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita, Tech Talk
The Department of Science and Technology – Information and Communication Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) will conduct a Home Based Outsourcing workshop on September 23, 2015 at 1:00pm to 5:00pm at the Bohol Cultural Center.
Registration is free and open to anyone interested to learn about how to engage in outsourcing jobs.
The workshop is co-organized by Upwork, a freelance jobs portal and Online Jobs University.
Interested participants are encouraged to pre-register at the Negosyo Center of the Bohol Province (Bohol Investment Promotions Center) or through the Bohol ICT Council Facebook page.
by admin | Sep 12, 2015 | Local News / Bohol Balita
Contributors: Jerome John J. Gabin & Jude Bernard T. Guieb
The Department of Trade and Industry – Bohol Provincial Office (DTI – Bohol), in cooperation with the Bohol Fabrication Laboratory (Fablab) and Bohol ICT Council, is organizing the Bohol Idea to Innovation (BHL i2i) Competition which will commence this coming October 2015. This initiative aims to spark creativity and innovation in the province of Bohol.
The BHL i2i Competition, the first of its kind in the province, is a program that promotes innovation and start-ups through digital fabrication. It aims to support the participants in developing technology-based solutions to local problems. It is an end-to-end approach to develop ideas into minimum viable products through the facilities and technologies available at the Bohol Fablab, the first fabrication laboratory in the country. It will be open to all aspiring students and innovators of Bohol.
The competition is composed of four (4) stages: a) boot camp stage; b) prototyping stage; c) co-creation stage; and 4) the exhibition stage.
The competition will be kicked-off by a Boot Camp, a two (2) day event where competitors will undergo various lectures before they go into the ideation phase, preparation of presentation materials and pitching. Winning ideas will qualify for the next stage and will be supported by DTI in the development of prototypes. Teams may avail of the services and technical support of the Bohol Fablab during the prototyping stage.
An added feature of the competition is the product co-creation process with Japanese mentors before the presentation of the final prototype for judging. Through this process, teams will have the chance to further improve their prototypes through knowledge and technical expertise sharing from Japanese counterparts before the final presentation in March 2016. Winning competitors will have the chance to present their prototype during the Fab Asian Network 3 (FAN3) in 2016 which will be held in India.
For more information and details regarding the competition, interested participants may visit the DTI – Bohol located at 2nd Floor, FCB Main Building, CPG Avenue, Cogon District, Tagbilaran City, Bohol or call (038) 501.8828/ 501.260/ 411 3302 and look for Jerome and Jude.
DTI-Bohol Provincial Director Nanette Arbon (right) presides the meeting with stakeholders for the BHL i2i competition. In attendance are the board of directors of the Bohol ICT Council, academe representatives and DTI staff. Mr. Yutaka Tokushima from Keio University and Shiro Takaki of JICA/JOCV are also in attendance.
