Author: tonyo

Comparing Globe Tattoo, SmartBro and Sun Broadband Wireless

tonyo20091128More and more Filipinos have again gone wireless to connect to the internet. Recently, the three major wireless telcos have pushed down the cost of their wireless broadband modems or dongles to as low as P888 in a common effort to outsell competitors. The competition has gone so fierce that rivals Smart and Globe have come out with ads claiming their respective wireless broadband service is faster. Curiously, both did not include Sun in their ads.

This post and the next one(s) hope to provide an independent take on the wireless broadband services of Globe, Smart and Sun Cellular.

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Blogfest.asia gathers Asian bloggers

Blogfest.asia: Change and Responsibility (Photo by Charles Mok on Flickr)
Blogfest.asia: Change and Responsibility (Photo by Charles Mok on Flickr)

Scores of bloggers and social media users, joined by vendors and various organizations, gathered from Nov. 5-8 in Hong Kong’s Henry Leong Community Center for Blogfest.asia, arguably the first gathering of bloggers from across Asia.

Participants came from a good number of countries and territories: Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.

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Outshining the fake halo of empty reformist rhetoric

Sen. Escudero announces resignation from NPC (Photo courtesy of Yahoo PH)
Sen. Escudero announces resignation from NPC (Photo courtesy of Yahoo PH)

Sen. Chiz Escudero today surprised the nation by announcing his resignation from the Nationalist People’s Coalition and begged for time to make a final decision on a possible presidential candidacy in 2010.

Speaking before media and supporters at Club Filipino, Escudero railed against party politics and attempted to tackle specific people’s issues — surprise! surprise! — as he explained his decision to resign from his erstwhile party:

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Good news: Blogfest.Asia and AsianCorrespondent.com

blogfestI have a couple of good news to share.

First is about what is touted as a gathering of Asian bloggers, Blogfest.Asia ’09 set to be held on Nov. 5-8 in Hong Kong.

Among the speakers are fellow bloggers Blogie Robillo and Juned Sonido. They will share insights on “Peace Initiatives through Blogging” based on the experience of Mindanao bloggers as well as introduce the Philippine blogosphere to the participants.

I will also be a Blogfest.asia speaker on the topic “Bloggers and social media users in the aftermath of typhoons Ketsana and Parma”.

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‘Climate change’ and a new Philippine leadership

bad09rpToday’s Blog Action Day comes soon after the latest survey updated the nation on the horserace among the prospective candidates for president in next year’s elections.

As Filipino bloggers and the Philippine online communities (and those in many parts of the globe as well)  take on the issue of climate change, I wish to pose these questions to these same candidates and their political parties and coalitions:

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Comelec throws out 26 partylist groups

comelecsealThe Commission on Elections en banc on Tuesday adopted a resolution deleting 26 partylist organizations from the official list of accredited national, regional or sectoral parties, organizations or coalitions under the partylist system.

In Resolution No. 8679, signed by the Chairman and all commissioners,  the Comelec cited Section 6 of Republic Act 7941 (Partylist System Law)  which states that the poll body may remove or cancel the registration of partylist groups that fail to participate in the last two elections or fails to win at least two percent of all votes cast for partylists.

The deleted partylists are:

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Paypal apologizes, seeks to “move forward” to help bring aid to typhoon victims

logotxtpowerSoon after turning over to the Philippine National Red Cross the last check from  TXTPower’s fundraising campaign for typhoon Ondoy’s victims, I received a call from Mr. Mario Shiliashki, general manager of PayPal Southeast Asia & India.

Mr. Shiliashki told he was “reaching out on behalf of the company” to apologize for the incident and assured the company’s respect and support for the efforts of Filipinos and our friends abroad to provide relief aid to victims of the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. He said that what had happened would help improve Paypal’s processes and procedures.

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Relief aid urgently needed in typhoon-ravaged Cordilleras

Our summer capital submerged in muddy water
Pepeng (Parma) submerges Baguio City, the Philippines' summer capital, in muddy water (Photo by Associated Press grabbed from Yahoo! News)

The people of the Cordilleras are sending the rest of the country and the world  a call for help, a plea for support, in the middle of horrible tragedies in Northern Luzon caused by typhoon Pepeng (Parma).

More than 200 deaths have been recorded in the Cordillera areas alone. The stench of rotting corpses has apparently replaced the smell of strawberries in Baguio City. This urgent appeal includes a request for donations of lime to be applied on bodies of those who died in landslides near our beloved City of Pines.

URGENT APPEAL FOR SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF TYPHOON PEPENG IN THE CORDILLERA, PHILIPPINES
Oct. 9, 2009

BAGUIO CITY—The Cordillera Region in Northern Luzon, homeland of indigenous peoples collectively known as Igorots, is one of the areas hit most with Typhoon Pepeng, after the supertyphoon Ondoy. This mountainous region may not have been as victimized by the flood, but the very nature of the land and terrain has resulted in massive, disastrous landslides that claimed both properties and lives, especially in the mining-ravaged areas of Itogon and Mankayan in Benguet province.

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Winners of the Philippine Blog Awards 2009

Grabbed from the Philippine Blog Awards website
Grabbed from the Philippine Blog Awards website

Bloggers trooped Friday night to the PETA-Phinma Theater in Quezon City for the Philippine Blog Awards 2009 which carried the theme “One Blogging Nation”.

I had the privilege of sharing the stage with Benj Espina of Atheista.net, a fellow crew member at Bloggers Kapihan, as presentors for the last four award categories. Last year, both Benj and I won awards for best personal blog and best news and media blog categories.

Here is a list of this year’s winners I was able to take note of through my Twitter posts Friday night:

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Now it can be told: Paypal ruined online donation drives for Ondoy victims

Grabbed from wordpressboy.com
Grabbed from wordpressboy.com

[UPDATE: Paypal has apologized.]

Yesterday, TXTPower turned over to the Philippine National Red Cross a fourth check (P493,047.20) containing donations sent in by folks worldwide who answered TXTPower’s call for donations for victims of typhoon Ondoy in the Philippines.

We did this project with one simple cause in mind: Provide people across the world a way to safely and securely make a donation for typhoon victims in our country. And we are glad and heartened by the trust given by nearly 1,000 donors from 37 countries who pitched in a total of P1,678,437.63 in donations already in the hands of the Red Cross.

But unknown to many,  Paypal intervened last week, froze the account we used for accepting donations, and ruined our fundraising campaign

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President Arroyo and disaster preparedness

Shows how we really feel about Gloria (Grabbed from a Plurk)
Shows how we really feel about Gloria (Grabbed from a Plurk)

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who partied with Prospero Pichay on Wednesday night amid devastation caused by typhoon Ondoy, proudly spoke about disaster preparedness in her last state of the nation address:

International authorities have taken notice that we are safer from environmental degradation and man-made disasters.

As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be prepared

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Full text: Rep. Uy’s privilege speech exposing the butcher Jovito Palparan

Jovito Palparan (Courtesy of Bulatlat.com)
Jovito Palparan (Courtesy of Bulatlat.com)

A low-profile Member of Congress broke his silence last week and launched a stinging tirade and expose against controversial former general-turned-Bantay Rep. Jovito Palparan.

Palparan is widely known as “the butcher” for “inspiring” the extrajudicial murder of activists when he was still an officer of the Philippine Army. If you remember, despite this bloody human rights record, President Arroyo singled out Palparan in one of her SONA speeches.

In his speech last Sept. 14, Rep. Reynaldo Uy of Western Samar did not mince words. It was at times shocking, at other times humorous, but the speech highlighted once more how Palparan demeaned the Philippine Army before and further besmirches Congress at present:

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Full text: Statement of DFA’s Romulo saying he won’t quit

DFA Sec. Alberto Romulo (Courtesy of the DFA)
DFA Sec. Alberto Romulo (Courtesy of the DFA)

DFA Secretary Alberto G. Romulo today rejected calls for him to resign his post after expressing support for Sen. Noynoy Aquino’s bid for the 2010 presidential elections. Malacanang was obviously rattled by Romulo’s expression of support for Aquino, who has been very critical of President Arroyo, so much as so that the Palace junior spokesperson has gone to the extent of insulting perhaps the most senior member of the cabinet.

Here is Secretary Romulo’s full statement:

The comments that I have on the candidacy of Sen. Noynoy Aquino has created some concern from various quarters. These comments were originally made in a private conversation. When the comments saw print, I sought, to put things in perspective by explaining that my long years of association with Tita Cory and the Aquino family was the basis of my position.

I have to make it very clear that such comments do not in any way diminish my service and support for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Neither does it mean that I am moving to the opposition, I am standing by the President until the end of her term and beyond.

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Good news: Consumers score victory as House panel reconsiders vote on text tax

txtpower2Due to some technical problems, the TXTPower website has gone awry today. I’ll be posting here our press release regarding the outcome of today’s hearing held by the House Committee on Ways and Means regarding the text tax.

Consumers score victory as House panel reconsiders vote on text tax

Besieged by opposition from all sides, the House Ways and Means Committee took back its Sept. 8 vote in favor of the still-unnumbered substitute House Bill imposing a five-centavo tax on text messages and all other mobile phone services, national and international.

“This is a victory for consumers. We hope the House will totally stop it and archive it, along with all previous text tax bills since 2001,” said TXTPower president Anthony Ian Cruz.

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Full text: TXTPower position paper on the 5-centavo text tax

txtpower1(Submitted to the Hon. Exequiel Javier, Chairman, House Committee on Ways and Means, by Anthony Ian M. Cruz, President, TXTPower.org Inc. [TXTPower] on Sept. 22, 2009)

Thank you to the distinguished Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee for extending an invitation for us to attend this hearing. Allow us to note the similar circumstances when this same panel reportedly voted to approve the new tax last Sept. 8. The said meeting was held immediately after a long weekend and did not provide the public, including oppositors, an opportunity to attend, participate, raise questions and to basically be heard.

On behalf of consumers, your taxpaying constituents, we in TXTPower wish to express our strong and unconditional opposition to the proposed five-centavo new tax on mobile phone services and the setting up of a metering device to purportedly check on revenue streams of the telecommunications firms.

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