"3"

According to Wikipedia, a “prime number (or a prime) is a natural number which has exactly two distinct natural number divisors: 1 and itself.”

To continue, “An infinitude of prime numbers exists, as demonstrated by Euclid in about 300 BC. The first thirty prime numbers are:

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 113

… The number one is by definition not a prime number… The property of being a prime is called primality, and the word prime is also used as an adjective. Since two is the only even prime number, the term odd prime refers to all prime numbers greater than two.”

The number “3” is one of the talked about prime numbers maybe in the same league as the number “7” with 7 Deadly Sins and Akira Kurosawa’s 7 Samurais, “13” with bad luck and Friday the 13th, hmmm “5”… all I know is that “Bioman” and a basketball team have 5 members/players… and I think boy bands.

“3” may represent good and bad luck as pointed out by some movies. In the movie “Stealth” which starred Jamie Foxx, Josh Lucas and Jessica Biel (where they form a stealth fighter strike team), as a more advanced unmanned fighter was about to be added to their team, Jamie’s character quipped that such action is bad luck since “4” is no longer a prime number. Another movie, “Letters from Iwo Jima” also mentioned the number 3. One scene in the movie shows Ken Watanabe’s character (General Tadamichi Kuribayashi) approached by Kazunari Ninomiya’s character (Private First Class Saigo) and thanked him for saving his life for the second time. Ken replied that everything happens in three’s so he wonders when or how would be the third time. By the end of the movie… the general saved the private’s life for the third time thus confirming that everything happens in threes.

Ramon Tulfo, whose column I fail to miss in The Philippine Daily Inquirer, observed the occurrence of events by threes in his article last November 13.

"…Several days after the accident at the intersection of Arnaiz Avenue and Osmeña Highway in Makati City that killed Dulce Saguisag, wife of former Sen. Rene Saguisag, and injured the senator, another road mishap killed three people in Marikina.

The first and second accidents were related in that they were caused by blatant violation of traffic rules. The first was caused by the driver of the dump truck who allegedly tried to beat the red light; the second, was reportedly a result of drunk driving.

When traffic enforcers look the other way, reckless drivers have a heyday.
* * *

Haven’t you noticed that big mishaps come in pairs or threes?
If there’s a plane crash, it’s followed by another plane mishap.

Remember when a helicopter bearing senatorial candidate Luis “Chavit” Singson crashed?

That was followed by another helicopter crash.

And then a third one.

I’ve noticed the striking coincidences since I covered the police beat in the 1970s and 1980s when I was also assigned to cover disasters.

Why is that so? I have no answer. Do you?.... "

Then on November 13, 2007, just past 8 PM, a first in Philippine history happened. A bomb was remotely detonated at the House of Representatives killing four personalities and others injured. The bombing/explosion is a “third” in less than two months in the Luzon area, first… the Glorietta bombing or gas blast followed by the Cavite dynamite explosion. The events are said to have no relation since the Glorietta blast investigation is leaning towards accidental methane gas explosion due to poor building/facility management by the Ayala’s (thanks to the geniuses at the PNP). The Cavite dynamite explosion is also an accident… though it’s a big question why on earth there’s a dynamite factory in a residential area? Such explosions are being claimed as nothing to do with terrorist. Somewhat odd or coincidental that prior to recent events, there was a report that there’d be terrorist attacks and twice have occurred where considerable amounts of dynamite were left by the roadside, one in manila and another at a bus terminal somewhere in the Visayas. Terrorists operating in the Philippines do not immediately claim responsibility over such events as what happened with the Super Ferry incident years back and maybe after a few months or years, new evidence might surface to prove otherwise.

Seeing the news update thirty minutes after the “Batasang Pambansa” bombing and upon hearing that Representative Wahab Akbar was badly hurt, I already assumed that it was a hit. My assumption was further strengthened when the police said that the bomb was remotely detonated. My position is that if it’s an attack at the Philippines Congress as a whole, it should have been detonated with a timer. My initial assessment as to who’s the culprit… the military seems to be the only one capable and since the Marines accuse the representative’s men as the ones responsible for the beheadings of their comrades. With the following operations by the PNP, they believe that they have the ones responsible. Pretty fast for an organization that is usually slow to react. Something’s not right though regarding the suspects. They say they’re Abu Sayyaf operatives and yet they have access to government installations like the House of Representatives? And is it a standard operating procedure to return to your hideout once you’ve made a hit? When you pick a hideout, do you really have to choose one with a history of police and military raids? Indeed there are a lot of questions that needs to be answered.

Back to the numbers thing, some number and conspiracy theorist as published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer have suggested patterns in the dates of bombings. If New York have 9/11, Bali with 10/12… Manila’s recent bombing is 11/13. As the article suggest, there might be something lurking about to happen that will likely take place on December 14… that’s 12/14.

Be safe everybody and pray for peace!

picture! by my friend Vhlad using a Nikon D8O  

Global Warming!

A friend from college sent me this message regarding a signature campaign...

"Let us help stop Global Warming now and make sure that the world we live in stays alive!

Visit http://www.warmingsign.org to sign up and get facts on Global Warming.

Help us spread the word by forwarding this message to your contacts and friends."

Light Bulb

How can we save the environment, save energy and affect climate change in our own small way and at the same time? Simply change your light bulbs with CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) bulbs.

CFL bulbs consume less power than the traditional incandescent light bulb, which has been around for more than a hundred years. CFL will outlast incandescent ones and although they cost more, the cost is considered negligible as compared to the amount of savings with your electricity bill. I am a proponent of the use of CFL but lately I found out its bad effects if not handled properly. Experts have been debating on the hazards of using CFL because of one of its component, mercury.

Mercury, Hg on the periodic table, is toxic and can be inhaled or absorbed by the skin.

From Wikipedia;

“A study has shown that acute exposure (4-8 hours) to calculated elemental mercury levels of 1.1 to 44 mg/m3 resulted in chest pain, dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, impairment of pulmonary function, and evidence of interstitial pneumonitis.

Acute exposure to mercury vapor has been shown to result in profound central nervous system effects, including psychotic reactions characterized by delirium, hallucinations, and suicidal tendency. Occupational exposure has resulted in broad-ranging functional disturbance, including erethism, irritability, excitability, excessive shyness, and insomnia. With continuing exposure, a fine tremor develops and may escalate to violent muscular spasms. Tremor initially involves the hands and later spreads to the eyelids, lips, and tongue. Long-term, low-level exposure has been associated with more subtle symptoms of erethism, including fatigue, irritability, loss of memory, vivid dreams, and depression.”

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, mercury in the air “can come from both natural and man-made sources. Coal-fired power plants are the largest man made source because mercury that naturally exists in coal is released into the air when coal is burned to make electricity.”

Based from the facts mentioned, we can greatly reduce energy consumption and mercury (that affects our health) generated by coal plants if we use CFL bulbs. But we can’t always have the best of both worlds and there is always a trade off. Since CFL bulbs have small quantities (some consider it negligible) of mercury, the problem arises after it has served its useful life. Unlike ordinary trash, they must be properly disposed and that is the problem. Waste management in the Philippines although there is already a law is still in the medieval times. Even if responsible citizens do their job with segregation, the garbage collector simply reverses what you have done after you give them your trash. So even if CFL’s have miniscule amounts of mercury once they reach the dumpsite, they form a sea (or just a river… a lake perhaps?) of mercury! The best way for now is to keep your busted CFL’s and wait till some agency/manufacturer decided to buy or take them back for recycling.

But there is hope with regards to lighting applications, LED (Light Emitting Diode) which is more energy efficient and maybe more environment friendly is in the pipeline… but for now… we have to contend with the lesser evil.

Click here for EPA fact sheet

Lafayette’s Environmental Management System

Rapu Rapu is an island of Albay located in the Bicol region and is considered a 4th class municipality (that means they have an average of P13,000,000 to P21,000,000 annual income for the last three years). Lafayette Mining Ltd. is an Australian mining firm involved with gold, silver, copper and zinc exploration and extraction and they have setup Rapu Rapu Processing Inc. (RRPI) as their local counterpart in the Philippines. According to its website:

“Rapu-Rapu mineral resource currently supports an eight-year mine life capable of producing approximately 10,000 tonnes of copper in concentrates, 14,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrates, 50,000 ounces of gold and 600,000 ounces of silver annually.”

I am quite not sure as to how much precious metal that can be extracted from the amount of concentrates mentioned above but simply put, our country is really rich in mineral resources and is considered one of the top mining destinations in the world. If only these resources are explored internally, we may be earning more than the present arrangement of our government with foreign firms… but then again… maybe not.

According to reports, on October 11 and 31, 2005, Lafayette allegedly discharged wastewater into the sea with above acceptable levels of cyanide. The discharge affected the local fisherman due to considerable amount of fish kill that resulted. If my memory serves me right, the local population’s health was also affected as skin irritations emerged. Their operation was suspended and was fined by a huge amount by the DENR.

Recently, Lafayette or RRPI has acquired ISO 14001: 2004 certification through Certification International Philippines Inc. (CIPI). The Philippine Daily Inquirer on September 3, 2007, Business Section, published the news. For a mining firm that was dubbed the flagship-mining project of the government, the news kind of slipped under the radar as I was expecting at least half of a news page paid advertisement.

ISO 14001 is simply a standard designed for operating an Environmental Management System (EMS) authored by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) through technical committees. It is the counterpart of ISO 9000 series that is for the implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS). Acquiring such certification is no joke, as it requires a company to identify all the operational factors that might affect the environment, its impact and corresponding countermeasures. It also requires a company to implement projects that would eliminate or reduce waste made by its day-to-day operation.

I was once asked regarding what should a community/government require from a mining firm before giving them permission to start mining even if the DENR already issued an ECC (Environmental Compliance Certificate). My immediate reply was first they should have an environmental management system in place. But even if they present such system and they have completed the certification process through a third party certifying body, it’s not enough to embrace mining. ISO 14001 if implemented by the book will bring forth progress without sacrificing the environment. One mining firm in the northern parts of Luzon claimed to have successfully implemented the system and has brought sustainable development to its neighboring communities. Even if mining firms subject to a periodical audit through a third party certifying body, the government must also perform it’s own periodical audit or better… surprise audits.

Why perform a separate audit? Isn’t it redundant?

It is redundant but the reason behind it is that most companies do not take their EMS seriously. And when I say companies, it covers big, small even multinational ones. I think multinationals are more prone to violations of their standards than small ones due to the size and complexity of their organization. Aside from the obvious good reasons that companies acquire certification, some just do it for the sake of completing a requirement from a customer and worst of all is to just show off. Some certified companies suffer from selective/amnesiac implementation. They only implement their system when there is an impending audit, worst… on the day of the audit itself.

Lafayette needs to be given a chance to erase their previous failure in environment protection and conservation. Maybe ISO 14001 is one step. But… given their record, the government and the people must not sleep on this one.

September 2007

September is a very important month for me because my girlfriend’s birthday falls on the twelfth day of the month. Early this month, I have searched and picked the flowers and the cake she loves online, a practice I have mastered for the last two years (online purchase, that is).

Here are some interesting dates for September and feel free to add:

1. September to the civilized world is renowned due to the infamous attack of terrorist organization Al-Qaeda on American soil. September 11, 2001 marks the date when the twin towers (World Trade Center) of New York fell.

2. Yesterday, September 11, the peso closed at 47 pesos to 1 dollar.




3. Japan, September 12, 2007 is the date when Shinzo Abe, the youngest post World War II Prime Minister, resigned.







4. Philippines, September 12, 2007 is an interesting day for the country as it would be remembered by Filipinos as the day when a former President, Joseph Estrada, of the country is convicted by the courts (Sandiganbayan) for the crime of plunder.

5. Today, September 12, the peso closed a little better than yesterday.










For two instances in my life, I have shared important dates with the unlucky 13th President Erap. The first is January 20, 2001, which is the day my younger brother exchanged vows with his better half. At the same time in Manila, Filipinos were amassing at Edsa of what is to be known as Edsa II (for me there’s only one People Power and that’s Edsa 1) to depose President Joseph Estrada. The wedding started with Erap still as the President and ended with a new President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

After six years of trial, Erap was sentenced to 40 years in prison and is compelled to pay 542.7 million pesos plus 189 million pesos (Jose Velarde Account) and his so called “Boracay Mansion.” He is however entitled for an appeal that his attorneys must submit within 15 days. Does this mean we have to wait for another six years before they execute the sentence?

With the conviction, the message is clear as to what the Sandiganbayan wants to convey to all government officials. Even if it took six years, Justice will be served… eventually.

Makes me wonder, after 2010, after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s term, will justice be served?

Where is my billing statement?

At the end of this month, I’ll be on my third as a Smart Bro subscriber. And if you’ve read my previous blog, it was not all happy moments for me. Twice I requested for on-site tech support and numerous phone calls were made to their customer care group.

For the first month, I was not able to receive my billing statement so I said to myself gee… this service maybe for free? On the following days, I received a text message telling me to pay a certain amount for my broadband service. The only available mode of payment for me would be through the bank. But before I went to the bank, I visited Smart’s local “office” and asked for my billing statement. They said they are not the ones in-charge for it, they do not accept payments and suggested that I checked our local post office. I went to the post office, asked the person there to check if I have a mail from Smart Bro and found out there’s none. Conveniently enough, the post office is near the bank where I do most of our family’s banking needs. I asked a friend who works for the bank on how they handle payments for Smart Bro and she told me that I need to present the billing statement because they need a portion of it for processing. Feeling being passed on too many times, I tried checking on my friend who is also a subscriber and she said that I don’t have to pay anything because I haven’t received my billing statement. She has a point, as a customer, I think I have the right to be presented of the bill I have to pay (although I already know how much). Another point is for traceability, keeping receipts of any purchase is the same as keeping billing statements as proof of services/products received. I called their customer service and they told me my billing statement was already sent and suggested that I view the statement on the web. On their website, I need to enroll before I can view it so I clicked “register.” I need to enter my “account number” which was supplied to me when applied for the service but I don’t know what is a “service reference number.” So I checked their online help and found out that the service reference number is printed on my billing statement! Pissed with the whole thing, I decided not pay the first month although it bugged me most of the time that I did not.

The end of the following month is approaching, and again I am yet to receive my billing statement. I called their customer support again and told them my problem regarding the service reference number and it turned out, what was given to me initially was not my account number but my service reference number… ay sus! So knowing both numbers, I was able to register and view my billing statement online but I stressed that they have to still send my printed statement. All I have to do to finally pay my dues is to print the online statement and present it to the bank. With this kind of setup, I don’t know if Smart is saving up on paper in order to save trees from being cut, stop climate change, save the world or their just being cheap or worst they can’t get their act together. My previous suspicion is of course not their intent because I am the one printing and wasting paper… di ba! The funny thing is, after two days of paying my first two months bill, I received a letter from Smart Bro telling me to settle my dues and here’s the first part,


Dear Valued Subscriber,

You may have overlooked payment for your latest Smart Bro bill with Account No. XXXXXXX, or failed to receive your previous month’s billing statements, which may explain the overdue status of your account.


Thank you for calling me a valued subscriber but I prefer screwed. Well, at least they suspect that I failed to receive my billing statement. The question is, are they doing something about it or they really want to save a lot of trees?... which is a good cause by the way.

Nearing the end of my third month as a subscriber, my billing statement is still nowhere to be found… I guess I won’t pay this month’s bill again and just pay it after two months. I am too trying very much to save those trees… and save the world.

Are you a satisfied SmartBro Subscriber?

For the past two weeks, I have experienced intermittent connection and slowness with my broadband connection and my Internet service provider is SmartBro, a subsidiary of Smart Communications Inc. For three days, I dismissed the sudden status of my connection and did not bother to contact their customer support thinking that it may be just a routine maintenance thing. On the following days, I was getting frustrated for having to restart my connection almost every 10 or 15 minutes so finally I called their customer support and determined upon troubleshooting over the phone that my antenna is somehow not directed to their base station which come off as funny thinking that their people were the ones who installed it. I guess they made the notion when I mentioned I started having problems after two typhoons passed. With their diagnosis, they’ve sent their tech support (which is a contractor but different from the guys that installed my antenna) to correct the position of the antenna and they said that my antenna is pointing in the wrong direction which made me think what the $$%#^@$&& is going on?! But I suspect that they were just saying that and I think they configured me with a different base station, which I doubt because I am still using the same router address. But somehow they have corrected one of my two problems, my connection is now more stable hmmm… so maybe they really did something right this time.

In one of my “sessions” with their technical support representative where I tried so hard to be calm and respective (I was once a tech support a few years back and I know the feeling when you encounter irate callers and it’s not the tech supports fault in the first place), I asked them how I can monitor the speed of my so called “broadband” connection and they responded with three independent sites which comes as again really funny. I choose Smartbro instead of Digitel (that’s the only choices here in Iba, Zambales folks!) because of observations I made from Internet Café’s and the fact that I won’t be bothered for bills of a separate telephone line which Digitel requires, but man!.. How could some company like Smart cannot even produce a decent tool for measuring the speed of it’s broadband service while Globe has it’s own! Sigh… I think it’s nice to have a Globe Broadband provider around when you need one. So, regarding the speed test sites, here it is: www.testmy.net, www.2wire.com and www.speedtest.net. I am sure there is a lot of speed test sites out there, if you know one, tell me! But before, I was using the Globe speed test site, which I can no longer access and I believe more credible.

Being in the Quality Assurance work for quite some time (but not anymore, technically), I did a basic but strategic inspection scheme. I’ve measured using two of the speed test sites I mentioned at different times of the day and here are my findings. During the day when there are a lot of subscribers logged in (obviously), I get a speed that ranges from 33 kbps (as if I’m using dial-up connection!) up to 120 kbps that’s up to 7 PM. It improves usually after that… and I get to enjoy 300 kbps and up at 1 AM when everybody’s asleep! How convenient?

Well I signed up for 384 kbps… the 56 kbps of the late 90’s. Let me be clear on this one, I was not coerced by any competing telecoms provider in writing this… this is honest to goodness experience of a customer who got screwed! I just saw the Globe broadband ad the other night, they’re offering a speed of 512 kbps for what I am paying right now but it’s not yet available in my part of the world. I just hope when they decide to bring it here, all of present SmartBro subscribers consider switching. If that happens, then I might enjoy the 384 kbps as advertised all by myself and watch the other network slow down too.

But I am not mad about it really… this is the pitfall most ISP’s in the Philippines are in anyway. As I mentioned earlier, I was a tech support rep for what must have been the most successful ISP way back in 1998 when Internet connections are just up to 56 kbps, we encountered this kind of problem with speed and unluckily I was at the receiving end of angry customers who could bathe you in an instant if ever they were in front of you (personally). I have a feeling that telecom company’s big or small, will always play out the cheaper setup when it comes to provincial networks thinking we’re just farmers anyway. I don’t know if they ever build networks that are really capable in handling the total population of a community (in my case, a rural one) where they can very much estimate potential subscribers (or they may again have under estimated… again we’re just farmers).

I guess that’s how it’s going to be in the Philippines, they would advertise that their broadband speed is up to this speed but never really deliver most of the time. But in fairness, SmartBro ads quite did not promise they would deliver the speed they advertise, they use the phrase “up to ____ kbps” as a disclaimer. But it really sucks knowing you’re not getting what you paid for… where’s the justice in that?

PS… before I sleep last night, I again measured my broadband speed (as OC as I can be)… and it’s just 237.7 kbps!

Toy Soldiers…

When I was growing up in Zambales in the early 80’s, we used to play “baril-barilan” (war games) and the whole neighborhood is our battlefield. Uninhabited lots simulate jungle terrain, neighbors overhead water tank as over watch posts, mango trees as ambush positions, neighbors compound for urban close quarters combat, you name it. We don’t have air soft pistols and rifles back then but my friend has a replica of a Tommy Gun and an M1 Garand and the rest either a plastic pistol bought from the market or simply your index finger and your thumb making an L shape simulating a gun. You just know you’re hit when you hear “Bang! Bang!” or “Ratatatatat!” or the soft tone single shot “bang..” that’s only used when you are able to sneak close to your enemy. Of course it may sound silly now, but back in the low-tech days, honesty in claiming to be hit is the rule of the game. I like guns because of the complexity behind it, I prefer not to handle the real thing either fire one.

So we grew up and computer games like “Counterstrike” have replaced our childhood game. I haven’t really improved with counterstrike and I remember my brother giving me a lot of headshots every time we square off. Instead, I got addicted playing SOCOM: US Navy Seals on the Playstation 2 where you play the alpha team leader of a four man fire team divided into Alpha and Bravo. You can play it online like the fast paced Counterstrike or you can play it offline with set and bonus mission objectives. There’s a lot of weapons to chose from, heavy machine guns, sub machine guns, rifles, shotguns, grenades, body armor etc. and each has its own use for a specific situation/mission. With close quarters, you’ll need a high fire rate weapon such as a submachine gun. In jungle settings, take your pick among sniper rifles such as SR-25 where you can attach a silencer or an assault M4 rifle also with silencer, the menacing AK-47, deadly M16 and the sniper come semi automatic grand dad M14 and many others. The outcome of each mission depends on how you have selected your weapons load out and of course your team tactics.


The Philippine Marines recently had an encounter in Basilan where they’ve conducted rescue operations for the kidnapped Italian Priest, Fr. Bossi, who’s already been freed. As their transport got stucked in the mud on their way back to base, they came under fire allegedly from 400 to 500 men believed to be MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) members and Abu Sayyaf. There were 14 Marines killed, 10 of which were beheaded, considered as the worst defeat of the corps in many years.

Watching the actual footage of the firefight by a GMA-7 TV reporter who was with the marines, you could feel the confusion and the condition of our troops who were outnumbered 8 to 1. Ambushed, surrounded by almost a battalion of enemy combatants, it’s considered a feat that the marines were not decimated. In any combat situation, malfunctions, misfires, weapons jams are a given but when I saw the way mortar rounds misfire not just once or twice, government troops are at a loosing end. After the investigation conducted by AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), they found out that moisture might have affected the performance of munitions. They also recommended that storage of mortar rounds be changed from paper tubes to plastic containers that I think is expensive. Maybe if they place silicon desiccants inside each container, it might solve the problem with moisture? We have a history of copying everything American; I am wondering if our military cared to follow military quality standards set by the US?

I’ve watched a lot of war movies and there’s a lesson to be learned in watching these films. One of my favorites is “Black Hawk Down.” There is a scene in the movie where one soldier bragged that the operation would be finished quickly that he doesn’t have to wear body armor and so when things gets out of hand he died because of that mistake. Troops of other countries see the need of protecting their soldiers by making them wear body armor even on patrols/guard duty. Our soldiers have all the necessary training and tactics but as you would see on TV, they enter hostile territories with minimal or no body armor at all. Body armor will cost our government a lot if we are to give each and every soldier his own. I guess it wouldn’t hurt if only military personnel conducting special missions are given the needed protection. Body armor increases survivability of soldiers and even their morale and effectiveness in combat.

For the mean time, they have to do their job with what they have and when they break… they bleed… no special adhesive can put them back in one piece.

National Broadband Network V1.0?

The Philippines is flooded with a lot of American TV shows, be it on free local TV or cable. A lot of local cable TV show providers looking foreign produced has sprung up with most of the content purely American. It’s not that bad since they are more entertaining and for the most part cutting edge especially in terms of upcoming technologies in communications which sometimes makes me wish our government should have. Shows like CSI, they can access other government organization databases like the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to check on identities, match DNA and other information they need with a particular case. In 24, satellites are utilized to track down suspects hoping that they would lead them to the “big boss.” Such systems may or may not be in existence but just imagine what one can do with such tools at your disposal.

Our town has been computerized for the last five years. For a third world country and not being considered a first class municipality, I’d say, that’s not bad. Recently there’s a buzz regarding plans by the government to build a National Broadband Network (NBN) focusing more on wireless technology. I never thought such an idea would ever come by in my lifetime since the government is faced with a lot of other things to attend to. If ever it pushes through, it’s going to be huge, maybe bigger than the Biofuels Act.

The network once established would facilitate better communications between agencies, municipalities and other sub units within the government. In mobile communications, the government is expected to reap savings, as they would not be relying on third party service providers most of the time. High-end cellular phones nowadays are considered hybrid cellular phones which can handle GSM, 3G, EDGE and WiFi. VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol was limited to personal computers before but since hybrid phones have WiFi, mobile VOIP is now possible. For inter-building communications, PABX systems and all that wires with it will no longer be needed making offices more mobile less clutter.

The way I look at it, it’s not just savings from mobile communications that the government would benefit from. Since the network is primarily a data network, interconnecting all agencies data systems would result in improvements of the way government services are being delivered. I have one inconvenient experience with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) a couple of years ago regarding car registration. We have acquired a pre-owned pick-up truck and we have to register it in our local LTO but we are not able to register the automobile without first getting some certification from where it was originally registered and that is in Manila. So we went to Manila to get the certification and while there I met somebody from Samar who basically needs the same document but in his case just for the second hand engine he bought from Manila. I am from Zambales that is four to five hours’ drive to Manila but I pity the person from Samar, I think he needs to ride a ship or an airplane to go to Manila. Imagine the cost incurred by us just to get the certification, a piece of paper not even worth 500 pesos that could have been done thru e-mail.

Another sector that would benefit from it if included is education and labor. A lot of public schools lack decent libraries but recently, a lot of public schools have established computer laboratories with the aid of mostly politicians. With the NBN, these computer laboratories can also serve as virtual libraries by connecting to the Internet, therefore filling the gaps brought by outdated libraries and the so called declining teaching skills. Implementing such a network will require a lot of personnel but it’s not a problem since our country is churning out IT professionals that rival countries like India by the minute. But the question is, will they stick with the government or rather bail out like the rest of migrating Filipinos because of meager pay.

Is now really the time for this project? Some would say the money would be better spent for education. Building more classrooms, books and improvement in the education system should be the priority of the government, which is really true. If only we have research capabilities and resources like other countries, we could build this network on our own, no need for others to do it for us like the Koreans do. At the end of the day, technology would actually dictate whether it’s the right time. We may as well wait for another two years or four because the technology is still in its early stages (for the VOIP and WiFi). Issues of coverage and reliability will be its Achilles heel, better wait for the next evolution of 802.11.

E-jeep, not the Pyramid country!

The Philippine Jeep is one of the things that we Filipinos can be identified with. It has been our countries prolific mode for mass transport for almost fifty years. It is a groundbreaking achievement of Philippine Automotive although it is only a modification (innovation) of the World War II army jeep. Through the years the jeep has taken a lot of shapes, colors, designs and last thing I’ve checked even air conditioning. The only downside with the jeep is that most of them are powered with old diesel engines that are known for emitting most of the carbon that is giving us a major headache right now. Carbon emissions from these engines are now a thing of the past thanks to the passage and enactment of the Bio-fuels Law that mandates oils firms to add one percent of coco methyl ester to diesel and five percent ethanol to gasoline (Miguel Zubiri, take a bow, you have every right to be a senator of this country). But that’s another story.

This year, the jeep would take on its next generation platform, the “e-jeep.” The e-jeep boasts the promise to be the first electric powered vehicle for mass transport on four wheels, which is a first in the Philippines, and maybe even the whole world. But sad to say, no Filipino will be credited to this endeavor since it’s made in China. Right now, Bacolod and Makati City are testing out its viability. Should it be fully adapted, this would greatly reduce carbon emissions hence contribute in solving the worst crisis of all time, “climate change.”

I have mixed reactions when I first read about it through the newspapers. I’d say it’s a bold move that can only be successful with the backing of the government since the initial cost is not that cheap compared to the conventional one. It might bring the price of fossil fuels down should we no longer be dependent on it. It would make commuting in the city convenient and cheaper (we wont have to cover our nose when we commute or maybe we’d still do due to dust). The e-jeep is dependent on electricity and so where would it get it? The plan is that there’d generators using organic waste as fuel. Organic waste is abundant but will it suffice should this idea blows out of proportion? Maybe yes, maybe no. Probably it would still rely on major electric companies for its juice and that’s our dilemma. We are a country that has so much potential for other means of energy but preferred those that are considered environment un-friendly. The e-jeep would have been more environment-friendly and efficient if only it made use of solar panels on its roof that is not that difficult to do but would make the cost of an e-jeep a little higher.

Climate change is a global crisis, what we do now as a country is a big thing but what other countries would and would not do is crucial. Will the e-jeep live up to its promise? Again, maybe no… maybe yes.