senator enrile tells a lie and we love him for it

Enrile fumes over lost phone load 
By Aurea Calica Updated May 28, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines – An irate Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said he would summon officials of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to explain why subscribers like him were losing cell phone load even without using it.

“There’s an expiration? Eh bakit nila tinatanggal? Di ko naman ginagamit. (Why did they take it? I didn’t even use it.) What is their right to confiscate my money without even so much as saying I beg your pardon. Aba’y ‘di pwede ‘yun (That can’t be),” Enrile told reporters.

The 85-year-old Senate chief said he had P387 load on the morning of May 25, but lost it in the evening without ever using it.

“Then yesterday, I loaded P600. I did not use my telephone. In the afternoon it’s already P519. This morning it went down to P445. Inuubos, aba’y ang galing naman na serbisyo publiko ito (It was lost. This is some public service),” he said.

Enrile said the NTC must explain why it was not able to monitor and protect the public from this practice, adding that subscribers should also not be charged for promotional messages.

“Why should they send me messages that I do not want? We are going to look into this,” he said.

“Panloloko talaga (This is a scam). My God, what is their right? What is the ground for them to charge me for something if I’m not using their line or using their service?” he asked.

Enrile said subscribers should also not be receiving unsolicited messages. “I don’t like them to be texting me, these telecom companies. What for? And if they do, they should be the one paying for it, not me. And I’m going to raise this issue, not for my sake but for the sake of the public,” he said.

He said he pities ordinary people who may only afford to load P30, only to lose it after three days even if they are not using it.

He said the NTC must be alert to protect the public from these kinds of irregular practices and must explain whether it approved such charges.

read in full here: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=472052&publicationSubCategoryId=68

 

senator enrile said exactly the same words many cellphone subscribers have long been complaining about – these TELCOS STEAL THE MONEY OF SUBCRIBERS. and cellphone subscribers have no protection against the thieves.

we love what enrile has said, we will love him even more if he does something to stop this wholesale robbery. but, come on, senator ponce enrile, the multi-millionaire who owns numerous multi-million companies, long time politician and public servant using a PRE-PAID SIM???

nobody will believe him!

though senator enrile may have told a lie, we love him just the same for speaking out for cell phone service subscribers. we forgive his lie.

why manny pacquiao should not run for public office

we don’t know for sure if manny pacquaio, the country’s boxing hero will run for congress or not.  on some days he seem to be saying he will but on some we’re not sure what he is saying.

he has seeked approval from the comelec to accredit a political party, so that is a sign of his intention to run.

but when he is asked a direct question by reporters, he fudges his answers. he seem to be saying yes he will but it does not sound definitive.

should manny pacquaio run for political office?

i think i heard him say in an interview he wants to run for elective office because he wants to “help the people”. it is what all candidates say. it is also the most generic answer any political candidate can give to that question. being such a pandemic answer among all candidates that i think it has lost meaning.

but let us not judge for now. let us say pacquiao means it.

what does “help the people” mean? that is actually the question i want pacquaio to answer the most. in what ways will he help the people if he is a congressman?

pacquaio is the closest any one living filipino closest to being a national hero. in his lastfight, i will not be exaggerating if i said around 99.99% of filipinos were tuned in to their radios and tv set  cheering him on. when pacquaio won, 99.99% of filipinos cheered for him.

not only did we hear the loud cheering, we also heard the pride and inspiration that his won sparked in 99.99% of all filipinos. he is to us the picture of a pinoy who by hard work, smarts and power catapulted himself to global stardom. we knew that it wasn’t just filipinos who cheered and admired him, it was the rest of the world as well. he is not just a national hero, he is world class and a champion in the world history of all boxing.

and we love that. we are awed by it. we are proud. and that inspires us.

with those, i do not think there is any other filipino now who has helped the people in a bigger and more profound way as pacquaio has done.

his plan of becoming a candidate is driven by his desire to “help the people”. does he not know that he is already doing that. does he not know that in fact no other filipino is able to help the people as much as he has been doing with his boxing triumphs?

his winning his fights help us believe in ourselves, in the capabilities of filipinos. it gives pinoys hope and rekindles in great measure our belief that in this country of ours, hard work, doing the right thing and excellence delivers dividends. his victories jolts us out of skepticism about our capabilities and how individual efforts can change thing.

if pacquaio wants to help the people, he can do this best by being who he is, by being the best that he can be  – by being a champion boxer, not as a congressman. we do not think he will be able to achieve the kind of help to the people by being a congressman than being a champion boxer.

the best help he can give the people is for him to continue to be who he is, to be exactly the person we admire him to be – the world class boxing champion who is a pinoy.

2010 SWORDS – words that define the 2010 election

we are starting a new series in this blog – 2010 SWORDS. these are 2010 Election SUPER WORDS (errr, SWORDS = Super Words). these are the super words that will be invented during the election year in 2010.

we are a people who like  to invent new words whenever big events happen in our lives. some are in english, some in pilipino but always these words are given new meanings that does not exist in any dictionary. 

they are like code words that only pinoys know the meaning of. we are keeping with this tradition by starting the list with  our very  own entry into the list of  2010 SWORDS.

we also like the idea of swords being able to cut through the clutter of other words (ahem!) spoken and written on topics about the election. we expect many will be written and spoken, getting a 2010 SWORD enables us to communicate very efficiently and effectively. rather than write a paragraph,  a few sentences or a few words to explain something, one word will suffice and do the job as well.

one example, that has been invented a few years ago is : “presidentiables”. we all know what that means : people who have declared themselves to be a candidate for the presidential election in the country. that’s 1 word vs a sentence made up of 16 words. twitter, which allows only 140 letters/spaces  per message,  will be so proud of us! 

please submit your own entries by posting a comment in this post.

here is the beginning of the list:

1. (2010) SWORDS = Super Words. words that are given new meanings, for better or for worst,  during the 2010 election.
2. advocacy =  used by presidentiables to define their election campaign advertising campaigns that they are airing before the official and legal campaign period. they are obviously election campaign ads but they cannot call it as such as by law it is illegal to air these ads before the start of the official campaign period.  

Erap Estrada declares he is a presidentiable

seen on abs-cbn news tonight – erap launches his JEEP  Ni Erap to launch his candidacy for the presidency in 2010. he says he will be running on the same platform he ran under the last time he ran for the presidency.

we have added estrada’s name to the poll.

JEEP NI ERAP, the literal jeep. scanned from PDI

we had a hard time finding the news article on erap’s latest move at the PDI. after some search, we found it on page 10, right in the middle of the newspaper. that is probably a good indication as to how serious the editors of PDI find this new development to be or how much interest they think it has among its readers.

read the article here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090516-205328/Estrada-relaunches-JEEP-ni-Erap

youtube: the comelec toilet “scandal” source of malice, of truth or idiocy?

here is putting this mildly – we do not know what to make of this comelec toilet scandal. reading it in the papers and then finding it in youtube made us chuckle.

(“scandal”  is filipino slang to mean a home video usually of the sexual kind.)

F.F. Cruz on YouTube: It’s not what you think

By Volt Contreras, Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:22:00 05/15/2009

MANILA, Philippines—Like most “video scandals,” this 26-second clip drew strong denials from its supposed cast of characters.

A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official and a businessman vying for the P11-billion contract to automate the 2010 elections have come forward to denounce a “malicious” video recently posted on YouTube.

They were referring to a piece of footage, taken inside the men’s toilet of the Comelec main building in Intramuros, Manila, in which construction magnate Felipe F. Cruz Sr. appeared to be signing documents on the lavatory.

The video’s title suggested that “waiting” for Cruz to finish signing was Ferdinand Rafanan, chair of the Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC).

The insinuation, based on the posted commentary generated by the video, was that documents relating to Cruz’s tender were being rushed in order to be secretly “inserted” in the sealed bids way past the Comelec’s May 4 deadline.

read in full here: http://tinyurl.com/og4qqg 

we actually do not believe it one bit. but it’s a good topic to discuss.

there are nagging questions about the video:

• how did this happen? mr. cruz was at the comelec offices for official business in relation to his company’s bid for the automation of the 2010 election. he just felt the need to take a piss, went to the toilet then his staff looked for him inside the toilet to get him to sign the document? did the staff wait for mr. cruz to finish his piss or were the documents signed before?
• or were they already inside the room of the comelec for the meeting and then the staff arrived told mr. cruz he needed to sign the documents and they decided to sign the documents inside the toilet? is it normal for people to think the toilet is the best place to sign business documents?
• why the hell were they signing apparently important business documents inside the toilet at the comelec? who does that? why do that? the freakin document will reek with you know what!
• these people who were having the document signed and the person signing it — did they not see someone was video-recording the whole thing? looking at the shot, it was not as if the video camera (probably a cellphone) was being hidden. it was in plain sight and being held at eye-level for heaven’s sake!v they did not see the person recording it and did not ask him to stop?!
• when you see someone video-recording inside the toilet, you KNOW it cannot be a good thing. ya perv!
  this person who took the video – what is this, he hangs out inside the comelec toilet looking for people to video record?
• was this a chance recording? like he hangs out inside the comelec toilet and looks for chance victims?
• or did this person intentionally stalk mr. cruz as he went inside the toilet to intentionally video-record him?
• is this a demolition drive on ff cruz or a corruption expose? who is doing it and why?

i have to admit, there are so many things wrong about that video. many things about it do not make sense. is this what youtube make us do?

Querubin takes 1st step in Senate run

Querubin takes 1st step in Senate run
By Vincent Cabreza, Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:59:00 05/14/2009

 MANILA, Philippines—Detained Col. Ariel Querubin Wednesday took the first step toward his bid for a Senate post in next year’s elections, registering as a voter, hugging mothers and kissing babies.

The bemedalled Marine officer facing rebellion charges got a “daylight pass” from his cell at military general headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo and at 4 a.m. was driven for the five-hour trip to Bauang, La Union, with four military escorts.

It took the 53-year-old Querubin 45 minutes to register at Barangay Acao, after which he waded into the crowd like a true politician, embracing mothers and smooching babies. Former grade school classmates volunteered to campaign for the soldier who has been detained for three years for allegedly attempting to overthrow the Arroyo administration in 2006.

read in full here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090514-204911/Querubin-takes-1st-step-in-Senate-run

Colonel Ariel Querubin : February 27, 2006

Standoff at Fort resolved
By Joyce Pangco Pañares and Michael Caber

THE standoff at the Philippine Marines headquarters was resolved peacefully last night when the new commandant declared he was firmly in control of the situation and that he and his men would follow the chain of command.

New Marine commandant Brig. Gen. Nelson Allaga announced the resolution of the crisis at around 10 p.m., when he and Marine Col. Ariel Querubin appeared before a group of reporters in front of the Marine headquarters inside Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. “We will follow the chain of command, we will follow the Constitution, we will follow the duly constituted authority,” Allaga said, squelching rumors that a new military uprising was in the offing.

The Marines began to leave the compound shortly after to return to their barracks. The crisis began when the commandant of the elite Marines was relieved, which prompted a group of fully armed soldiers under Querubin’s command to gather at the headquarters building in support of their sacked commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda.

read in full: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news01_feb27_2006

Memo To: Mar Roxas – On Korina Sanchez, Love & Marriage As A Marketing Strategy

mar roxas and korina sanchez engaged to marry

dear mr. roxas,

we are happy to hear your announcement to marry ms. korina sanchez. we wish you all the best on this one.

the announcement was done very publicly. well, of course we expect it to be that given that you are a senator and ms. sanchez is a popular media practitioner. doing this in any different way seem to be out of character. and yes, there is the 2010 presidential election to which you have set your sights on.

what called our attention to this one is the way it has been publicly done. it was done just like consumer marketing companies do it – it’s like event marketing to us. how else can you explain the fact that korina sanchez even guested at wowowee, the most popular noontime tv show in the country.

it is unmistakable, marrying korina sanchez, love & marriage is a marketing strategy. we have a few points:

• timing, as in any marketing activity specially of this kind is most important. you want it at just the right time – not too early that it’s impact fizzles out before and not too late that it will no longer have an impact.
• on this love & marriage marketing strategy, we think your timing was off – it was too early.
• more importantly, we think it’s the wrong component of the love & marriage marketing strategy that you employed.
• we think it’s too early as the election is still too far off. as you can see now, it has had minimal impact. it created a bit of a buzz but it was very short-lived.
• did you actually propose to ms. sanchez? how did you do it? we think you missed out on this component which could have been turned into a much better story. you should have proposed to ms. sanchez in a most romantic way. you missed out on the “kilig” factor had you initiated a very romantic and dramatic proposal.
• you know have a long engagement – that opens you up to chismis and intrigue from now on. well, that goes for the both of you. the chismis and intrigue is certainly an unwelcome distraction and might bring unwanted issues. 

bottom line, we think the love & marriage marketing strategy was ill-conceived, not thought through and poorly executed. sayang!

but all is not lost. it can still be saved. we are prepared to enumerate fresh action steps to revive this marketing strategy and that is the next topic here in 2010 presidentiables.worpdress.

yours truly,

~2010 presidentiables.wordpress~

philippine labor: unemployment at record high 1QTR 2009

First Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey: Adult unemployment at record-high 34.2%, 13% of them left old job, 12% were retrenched

Social Weather Stations

The First Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, fielded over February 20-23, 2009, found adult unemployment rising to record-high 34.2%, or an estimated 14 million, from 27.9% or estimated 11 million from the previous quarter.

The survey also found that of those unemployed, 13% voluntarily left their old job, while 12% were retrenched, consisting of 9% who were laid off and 3% whose previous contact was not renewed.

Unemployment has been over 20% since 2005

Adult unemployment in the SWS surveys has been 20% and above since May 2005, except for December 2007 when it was 17.5% [Chart 1, Table 1].

In the SWS data series which began in 1993, unemployment was below 15% until March 2004, and then ranged from 16.5% to 19.0% from August 2004 to March 2005.

 

source: http://www.sws.org.ph/

“Ako Ang Simula”, “Ako Mismo” – Ako Nalilito, May Duda

(english back translation of title: “I am the start”, “I myself” – I am confused, Suspicious”)

i don’t think anyone will miss what just happened. “ako” (me) all of a sudden became very important in the last few weeks.

first, we were called attention to “ako” during the pacquaio-hatton fight when we saw these long list of celebrities declaring “ako mismo”. its a well produced tv ad and a damn expensive ad to produce given the wall-to-wall celebrities appearing in the ad. this is probably the most expensive tv ad produced in the country’s history on the talent fees alone. (view the ad here: http://the-wawam-file.blogspot.com/2009/05/pldt-smart-telecoms-ako-mismo-ako-may.html) 

Ako Mismo

 then just last night, “ako” came up again in a different form, “Boto Mo, Ipatrol Mo, Ako Ang Simula” (Your Vote, Patro It, I am the start) through abs-cbn.

ako ang simula

question: has the ad industry and broadcast media ran out of creativity that they are unable to come up with phrases or titles that are different from each other? must they be so similar to each other?

the names of these “advocacies” are so close together that i think people will confuse one for the other, although reading the websites will tell you they are very different in what they are for but admittedly they use the same core consumer insight.

“ako ang simula” is abs-cbn’s vehicle to get content from its viewers through text (SMS) and video (MMS) for the election. apparently they have done this previously where viewers sent them text and MMS on what people witness to be election irregularities.

“ako mismo” is supposed to be an advocacy to get citizens involved in nation-building or changing the country. we do not know yet what this group will do in the end, but it is asking for “commitments” and personal information from participants.

the first one, “ako ang simula” is very clear in intent – to gather content for their news and programs for the tv station from viewers. the second one, “ako mismo”  is unclear in intent and what it is for.

we like to raise a few red flags for “ako mismo”.

• first, this movement’s objective has not been stated. you need to be careful with groups like these. ignore the fact that celebrities are in the ad and even they did not say what this group od for.
• second, it is gathering a lot of personal information for those who join it. and it is through the internet that they are doing this. you know how it is in the internet – giving personal information is a big no-no. the website says they now have 90T signatories. it has become a big group, we wish them well.
• third, this is being funded by smart and pldt – the largest telecoms in the country. the kind of information they are asking participants to give out is very useful demographics data for a business like smart and pldt. also, they can sell the personal information you give them to other tele-marketers.
• fourth, press releases have said DDB, an ad agency is managing the whole thing. DDB is the ad agency of smart and pldt.  DDB as an ad agency will not do anything for free. it does things for clients. this is no exception – they are doing this and getting paid for by smart or pldt.

the biggest problem we have on “ako mismo”  is very simply it has not stated its goal/s. we do not think it is wise to join a group, give so much personal information to anyone or any group that has not stated what the group is for and what will it do. and one more – it is plainly not safe to give your personal information on the internet.

next in this blog: what is the good thing about this? 

ako ang simula website: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/botomo

ako mismo website: http://www.akomismo.org/main.php?s=whois

how vitwater made a fool of manny pacquiao

making a fool of a celebrity in a celebrity tv ad

in ads, a lot of effort is put into making the talents, most specially celebrities to look in the best possible light. ad agencies hire professional make up artists, costume designers and the best cameramen to make sure the talents look good on screen. directors are very particular to make sure that aside from making sure the storyboard is delivered, the talent should also look good. some celebrities even make it part of the their contract that their preferred make-up artist are hired for tv ads they appear in.

clients choose talents in their ads, specially celebrities, because they bring something good to the ad and the product. use a well loved celebrity and they expect sales to go up.

so why did vitwater make manny pacquiao look bad in their ad?

read in full here: http://tinyurl.com/cpkojn

gilbert who? introduces himself in tv ad

there is a gilbert something who declared he is a presidentiable. while we did not know who he is, we got to know him during the pacquiao-hatton fight when we found out gilbert who? is gilbert tedoro, the concurrent secretary of defense.

teodoro aired close to 5,000 spots during the pacquiao-hatton fight. we think adding up the total number of seconds teodoro’s ads appeared during the fight would be longer than the actual fight itself which lasted only two rounds. the significance of that is that he spent a lot of money in airing his ads.

meet teodoro who? with this ad: 

the tv ad is really an introductory ad for gilber teodoro. we do not think people know who he is and what he did for the government of arroyo. this ad explains what he does.

the ad also helps us spell his last name, T-E-O-D-O-R-O and gave the letters new meaning all of which spell out what we need to do in an emergency. oh, dealing with emergency is one of the things t-e-o-d-o-r-o is r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-l-e for in the arroyo government.

we are of course t-h-a-n-k-f-u-l that teodoro told us what we need to do for emergencies. while the ad told us these things, we will probably remember the correct spelling of his name. the only problem of course is that emergencies do not happen that often. but since we see the ad very often on tv, he is hoping we will remember his name very often.