By Bong Pedalino

Maasin City (25 January) — Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair Jose Melo was right. “We are comfortable with the preparations that we have,” the man in-charge of the action for the 2010 computerized elections was quoted as saying.

“The pace of the preparations is going quite well. We have invested a lot here so I wish we would all support it,” Melo declared — and I can feel his grit, his firmness of mind and spirit, his courage and determination as he spoke.

Truly, support — and trust — is all the Comelec needed as we got underway in this crucial chapter of our collective political life as a Filipino people.

***

The “we” in “We have invested a lot here …. ” does not pertain only to the Comelec; it also covers the wide-ranging stakeholders of society, as the nation itself stands to benefit from this historic-setting, first-ever automated polls.

And so, having a part in the success pie, all sectors should have contributed something concrete to make this happen. But what have we got?

Instead of contributing to efforts like education and information to voters, some sectors are content on merely raising concerns not in any way helpful to attaining a smooth conduct of automated balloting.

“The scenario of no proclamation, the nationwide failure of elections — these are just apocalyptic predictions. These apprehensions are not helping. We should all calm down and soon, we will see that our objectives will be attained,” Melo stressed.

***

This is not to dismiss outright the worries that are voiced out. Rather, our attitude should be to handle purported problems as birth pains for the upcoming high-tech polls, and not treat those like the end of the world for the body politik.

Rather than sowing anxiety, which the negative impressions would tend to foment, we should be challenged into finding solutions, and not take the occasion as an opportunity to lecture pessimistic thoughts on a purely optimistic development.

Now let’s itemize at least three causes of concern, and directly engage this bull right on its head. Worry number one is on schedules and deliverables — as expressed by some lawmakers and critics.

Solution: schedules for training on how to use the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines by teachers and Comelec personnel, even the general public, were already laid out for February and March. As to the PCOS, there is still the whole month of February, wherein Smartmatic is expected to comply with about half for what is lacking to have 100% delivery.

***

Worry number two: failure of elections. Solution: Stick to time-able, follow everything as planned, fix and address every issue as it crops up along the way.

Finally, worry number three: questions on reliability and integrity of equipment and personnel, as expressed by the Bishops. Solution: Actual field tests so far showed the machines performed as mandated, and competent information technology (IT) personnel had enough knowledge in handling this task.

In fact, the CBCP statement also offered a solution to the worry it foresees: to help in educating voters regarding the automated election system, and to have a fallback position should there be glitches in the system and logistics — something the Comelec had already considered.

Suffice it to say that the Comelec has been doing all these things not just to get it right; the poll body is also doing the right thing. Once and for all, let us trust them.

***

LOCAL FRONT: The provincial Comelec office here in Southern Leyte had disclosed their training schedule in February and March for a wide section of stakeholders. Let us hope and pray that all these schedules push through as scheduled, along with similar activities in other provinces, so that we will experience the maiden holding of computerized elections with pride and in flying colors.

ODDLY YOURS: The “sari-sari”store mentality — or when a neighbor opens a store, a nearby neighbor also opens a store, until a single stretch of road will be full of sari-sari stores — is not exactly a unique Filipino trait. Ten years ago, Google, this $ 100 billion-plus internet-based company, was all by its lonesome self as a search engine. With Google’s mind goggling success, there are over a hundred internet search engines available nowadays. Still, Google responds to more than 150 million queries daily all over the world in less than one-half of a second, and about 40% of these asked questions are search requests.

Google, the company, was formed by accident. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google’s founders, met at Stanford University in California one weekend in 1995. It was said that Brin has an opinion on everything under the sun, and Page disagreed with him at every point. But the two had a passionate love of trying to mine large volumes of data, with a burning desire for quick and instant answers at every turn, an obsession common to both. Since many big Internet companies were not convinced with their idea of sharing information with the rest of the world, the two went on their own, raising cash from friends, and using their credit cards to the maximum. In searching for a name of their company, they settled on “Google”, a slight variation on the word “googol”, which means a number with 100 zeros. The rest is history. (PIA-Southern Leyte)

Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers of Southern Leyte including the DAR Provincial Officer and a non-government organization went to Ormoc City last Monday, January 18 to inquire about Tapioca Industry.

Agapito “Yongyong” Pongos, National Chairman of Philippine Tapioca Board and proprietor of Early 7 Marketing introduced the cassava industry to the visitors from Southern Leyte.

He told the visitors how their farmers can benefit on this program. The MARO would just introduce the program to the farmers while Early 7 will support the technology. Pongos also assured the market of their produce.

With the existence of the memorandum of agreement between ADB, DAR and Early 7 the farmers will have a sure income. San Miguel Corporation and Eastern Petroleum also showed their interest in buying the product.

Pongos discussed on how to avail the program and showed to the visitors how big the income of a farmer would earn in just a hectare of land in one cropping.

He said a farmer will spend not a single centavo because a loan could be secured from a bank for it will be acquired through a loan from a bank.

They can even inter-crop with corn to have additional income. At present, the E7 has 8 varieties of cassava. The variety would depend on the location and soil the farmer would plant.

Pongos also informed that he delivered worth 16 hectares of “paca” of cassava in Isabela last November 9. Quezon province agreed to plant for as long as Early 7 can supply the “paca.”

Early 7 have programs also for sweet potato for wine, sugar and malunggay.

A delegate said that they went to Early 7 upon the recommendation of the Visayas State University when they asked about the variety for cassava industry during their Techno-Gabay training in Southern Leyte.

The delegation was headed by the DAR Provincial Officer Susan Palanca. With her were MARO Alex Gonzales of San Francisco, Rima Anunuado and Rogelio Manlangit of Sogod, Pablita Lumangcas of Pintuyan, Engr. Franco Cinco of Anahawan, San Ricardo and an NGO (San Francisco Multi-Purpose Cooperative) through its chairman Guy Escabal and Hilario Bolataolo.

The NTC is drafting a new circular which will mandate telecommunication companies to shift to this new unit of billing, the per six-second pulse, compared to per-minute charging for local exchange carriers (LEC) and wireless landline calls.

The six-second per pulse billing would hopefully avert the continued slowdown in usage of landline services whose rates are more expensive than those in the new scheme, NTC Region 8 Director Samuel Young said.

The NTC started to implement the six-second pulse billing for mobile phone calls on December 6.

The scheme charges a “flagdown” of P3 for the first two pulses. The flag down rate and the sum of the eight remaining pulses for the first minute should not exceed the prevailing rate.

Director Young said that with the new billing scheme, a cellphone to cellphone call will be much cheaper compared to a call from landline to cellphone and vice versa which would lessen traffic in landline. Landline to mobile call is charged at least P8 per minute.

Mobile calls are charged between P6 and P 7.50 per minute. With the new scheme, consumers would be charged that much for the first minute but will only pay for what it consumed for the succeeding six-second pulses

The succeeding pulse rates for the first minute is at 0.56 per pulse and 0.75 per pulse for the succeeding minutes.

The total bill for a 30-second voice call will only be P4.69 compared to the charge of P 7.50 under the old billing.

A call lasting for one minute and 30 seconds will be billed P 11.25 compared to P15 under the old scheme.

The pulse billing will be the default billing mode, which means subscribers need not dial or register to a certain number to use the new unit of billing.

The per-second billing on phone calls does not cover international call service. (PIA

ORMOC CITY, Leyte – Forty Elementary schools and eight national high schools in the city on Friday received personal computer sets and printers from the city government in a simple turn-over ceremony at the Ormoc City Division Cutural Center.

Mayor Eric C. Codilla after distributing the computers said the idea of giving the school the 48 schools came from vice Mayor Nepumoceno P. Aparis as he sees the need for it. He said that the computers are intended for teachers to upgrade themselves into the new methods of teachings so that their pupils and students will be upgraded also.

City councilor Felomino Maglasang the chairman on education of the city council said this is just a part among the many supports that the city has given to the local DepEd division.

Maglasang disclosed that aside from the computersand printer sets the city also constructed at least 130 classrooms to decongest students per classroom and the fencing of many school for its safety. He added that Mayor Codilla is a good father to the city and that being a good father he would always give whatever the DepEd asked form him.

Codilla explained to the DepEd that the city could attain almost all the needs asked by the DepEd “because we have resources.”

Mayor Codilla pointed out that the city’s good collection of Real Property Taxes allows the city have a huge resources to finance the needs of the DepEd. He said that good collection of Real Property Taxes came in even without increasing local taxes. “It’s a matter of good collection.” Codilla pointed out.

Codilla however said that this computer sets could be a challenge to teachers in teaching their pupils and students to ensure quality education because they could now access and downloads the proper teaching methods. Mayor Codilla emphasized that teachers should teach their students the right thing because if there teaching will be wrong they would alsolearn the wrong teachings.

Newly installed city schools Division Superintendent Sol Lumarda accepted the challenge of the mayor and assured him of the quality education that everybody wants.

November 27, 2009

MAASIN CITY – Smartmatic TIM Corp., has assured that the technical survey they are conducting in Southern Leyte would be finished by end of November but gave no assurance that demonstration of Precinct Count Optical Scan machines would be done at all in the province.

Coordinators in Southern Leyte of Smartmatic-TIM the automated elections contractor, has so far surveyed for signal strength, physical set up, reliable power supply and other technical requirements the municipalities of Macrohon, Limasawa, Malitbog, Padre Burgos, Libagon, Liloan, San Francisco, Pintuyan, Anahawan, Hinundayan and Silago.

“The rest of the towns in the province will also be surveyed and shall be finished by end of November,” said a coordinator, who refused to be identified for lack of authority to speak. “So far we didn’t see any problem at all, because we will be bringing satellite disks for areas without signals.”

The Comelec contractors met with provincial and city Comelec registrars at the city’s office on Thursday evening.

Smartmatic TIM has tapped manpower firm Ventureslink to hire the support personnel in the province at least one personnel for every polling center. IT personnel will be hired for 15 days.

PICOS

“It’s up to the Comelec. We have delivered the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PICOS) machines at least one for every region,” said the coordinator when asked if there would be a demonstration of the machine in the province.

They said they would rent warehouses to deposit the machines three days before elections. “Watchers are allowed to be around the warehouses to watch to make it more transparent.”

Lawyer Antonio Gulay, provincial election supervisor said, he doubted that a demonstration would be possible (in the province or city) considering that only one machine for demonstration is available for the entire Region 8.

“We were suggesting that at least there’s one for every province but this was not yet acted upon,” said Gulay.

Asked what the size of the ballot is, “It depends on how many partylist parties would be accredited.” So far, it’s bigger that A4.

The purpose of the program was to help the of tech-voc graduates to have a chance in interacting with employers through interview and get a chance to be hired on the spot, taken as On-the-Job trainee or be an active member of the manpower pool of the company/firm.

At 8:00 o’clock in the morning, the job bridging program registration area was filled with people eager to witness and participate during the event, TESDA graduates in different qualifications gather along the vicinity to have a chance to apply a job for the skills they have. There were 118 job applicants abroad and 20 for local employment, 36 guests, 40 CNSAT and Provincial Office Staffs and 322 High School students from CNHS and DepEd-CNSAT.

Different local employers were present to grace the event like the DPWH, BILECO, Lucky 5 Catering Services, and Twin Hut Pizza. Thru POEA, three Tacloban based recruitment agencies also grace the event like, Mother’s Way Overseas Manpower Specialist Corporation, New Era Placement Agency Corporation and Pacific Mediterrnian International Manpower Agency, Inc.

Government officials present during the event are Hon. Glenn A. Chong, Representative Province of Biliran, Hon. Arnelito C. Garing, Municipal Mayor, Gemma G. Adobo, Municipal Vice Mayor, Hon. Jessie A. Lamoste, Barangay Captain of Brgy. Libertad, Cabucgayan, Biliran, and Mr. Avelino Hernandez, Provincial Administrator who represents Hon. Rogelio J. Espina, Governor of the Province of Biliran.

The program was divided into four parts, first was the registration of guest and participants and was followed by the opening program held at the TESDA-CNSAT ground.

The opening ceremony was started with an invocation lead by Aurora Mendoza and followed by Mrs. Rosario Sanoria for the Philippine National Anthem. Furthermore, Hon. Arnelito S. Garing, Municipal Mayor of Cabucgayan, Biliran welcomed the participating employers and guest in his message. Engr. Juan M. Sabulao, TESDA-Regional Director had also his message discussing the purpose of the Job Bridging program conducted by the TESDA Biliran Provincial Office.

Ms. Rosario P. Jervoso, POEA Regional coordinator delivered her speech pointing out the avoidance of the illegal recruiters and the available jobs whether in local and abroad. Meanwhile, Mr. Lino R. Severino, Supervising TESD Specialist introduce the participating employers and agencies who were there to grace the event.

Third part was the Job Bridging Proper where recruitment agencies and employers interviewed the applicants. Anent to that, a total of 111 job applicants were scheduled for second screening, 23 are hired immediately but still subject for medical checkups while three were hired as an on-the-job trainees. Skills Demonstration was also presented during the event where the High School students were being toured in different qualifications for them to know the programs and services offered at TESDA-CNSAT.

The fourth and the last part of the program is the Closing ceremony where the participating employers, guests and participants were given a certificate of appreciation. (PIA 8 with data from TESDA-Biliran)

Now, the people of Tanauan no longer have to go to Tacloban City in order to conduct withdraw or deposit transactions. They only have to go to the lobby of the Municipal Hall of Tanauan and do their business there. This means big savings in time and effort, plus lesser exposure to risks.

The ATM was inaugurated last October 30, 2009 by no less than Gov. Jericho L. Petilla who was represented by Hon. Remedios L. Petilla and the Vice President of the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB), Mr. Miguel Angelo Villa-Real, according to Tanauan Town Mayor Roque Tiu.

Mayor Tiu said that he proposed to the PVB through Ms. Ma. Daisy Sibya, the Bank’s Assistant Vice President / Area Head for the Visayas, the installation of the ATM at the town hall in order to service the needs of the town’s people and those from the neighboring towns. Ms. Sibya, after visiting the town hall and observing the viability of the proposal, immediately recommended favorably to their Head Office in Makati for the facility.

Opening the ATM on October 30 was very timely because of the long weekend due to the observance of the All Saints and All Souls days.

The Tanauan building guard observed that many clients availed of ATM services during the weekend. The many who took advantage of the presence of the ATM were not only the town’s residents but also residents of the neighboring towns.

During the ATM inauguration in Tanauan, the Philippine Veterans Bank also announced that the bank will also provide a computerized payroll system to the LGU of Tanauan and will facilitate the installation of a customized computer for the biometrics. The salaries and wages of the officials and employees will soon be through the ATM.

PVB also promised to install the electronic Business Permit and Licensing System Mayor Tiu further disclosed.

Gov. Petilla, in his Message read by his mother, Hon. Remedios Petilla, among others, commended the LGU of Tanauan for the new facility which enhanced the LGU’s being known as a trendsetter of good governance.

He made mention that the LGU now boasts of many services aside from the ATM like the free Wifi connectivity, Job Kiosks, eCenter, eSkuwela, TV at the spacious taxpayer’s lounge with elegant chairs, Techno Gabay Center and soon, a spacious training center for TESDA-related vocational courses.

Governor Petilla also commended the PVB for the installation of the ATM in Tanauan which according to Gov. Petilla, will definitely not only assist the clients with their banking needs but also spur the economic activity of the town specially that Tanauan was adjudged as the Most Business Friendly Municipality in the Philippines in 2006 and 2008. (PIA

ORMOC CITY – The city government of Ormoc has earmarked P50 million for the establishment of a state-of-the- art diagnostic laboratory service to serve its residents and nearby towns.

Ormoc City mayor, Eric Codilla

Mayor Eric Codilla said that the amount would be used for the construction of a three or four storey building, which is expected to start early next year.

He said that a state of this state of the art and advance diagnostic laboratory center will be the first in the region that would serve patients not only from the city but to all residents in the neighboring towns and provinces.

Codilla said “There is a need for a modern diagnostic center because the nearest state of the art laboratory is in Cebu City.”

He added though, there are diagnostic center with modern equipments in Tacloban City, Maasin City and a private hospital here “but the prices of their services is quite high and is a burden to poor residents of the city.”

The city mayor pointed out the center is not mainly built to compete with the private hospitals and other diagnostic centers but its main purpose is to serve the poor people of the city who cannot afford to go to Cebu City, Tacloban City, and Maasin City for laboratory testing.

He disclosed that the proposed center will be equipped with computer topography scanner, x-ray, all laboratory tests, ultrasound, 2D-Echo, and all other kinds of diagnostic services.

He also pointed out that because the city has already completed all its major projects like the new city hall and the advanced water system, he believes that venturing into the diagnostic center is another major project that would be beneficial to his constituents.

But he clarified that it would only serve outpatients and no admission will be allowed.

Codilla clarified that the city could not afford to build a hospital so that the diagnostic center would be a good alternative.

10/21/2009 | 07:36 AM

SAN FRANCISCO – After bogging down in the recession, Internet advertising is regaining the momentum that has made it the decade’s most disruptive marketing machine.

The signs of an online revival are emerging even while advertising in print and broadcasts remain in a slump that has triggered mass layoffs, pay cuts and other upheaval.

Internet advertising was just about the only bright spot in the third-quarter reports of two major newspaper publishers, Gannett Co. and McClatchy Co. Meanwhile the companies still are dealing with steep declines in print ads — an imbalance most analysts predict will take years to address.

The harsh reality is that much of the advertising in long-established media, particularly in the classified sections of newspapers, will never rebound to pre-recession levels, said Lauren Rich Fine, a longtime media analyst who is now a professor at Kent State University.

That grim outlook contrasts with the fact that advertisers are increasingly allocating more of their budgets to the Web. That’s where their customers are spending more of their free time. On top of that, Internet ad rates are less expensive, and the returns on online ad investments are easier to quantify.

Even when they buy time in other media, advertisers are realizing they need to be promoting their wares on the Internet too.

“You can draw a straight line from the time when people hear an ad on the radio or television to when they search for that company on the Internet,” said David Karnstedt, chief executive of Efficient Frontier, which helps manage ad campaigns on search engines.

These trends will give Internet advertising 19 percent, or nearly $87 billion, of the worldwide ad market in 2013, up from just 4 percent, or about $18 billion, in 2004, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wilkofsky Gruen Associates.

That would make the Internet the third-largest marketing medium. Television is expected to remain on top, with $168 billion, or 36 percent of the global ad market, down from 35 percent in 2004. Newspapers would still be No. 2, but their $92 billion in advertising revenue is projected to account for 20 percent of the global ad market, down from 28 percent in 2004.

For now, though, some types of Internet advertising — real estate, travel and help-wanted, in particular — remain in the funk they fell into in the first half of the year, when US ad revenue on the Web fell 5 percent. (That was still far better than the 12 percent to 29 percent declines suffered by US newspapers, radio stations and television broadcasters.)

David Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer, thinks it’s too early to conclude the entire Internet advertising market is on the upswing. “It’s more like the patient had a 105-degree temperature and now it’s down to 100 degrees,” he said.

EMarketer expects Internet ad sales in the US to fall by nearly 3 percent in the second half of this year, slightly less than in the first half. The research firm expects a 6 percent increase next year followed by a 7 percent gain in 2011.

The most compelling evidence for an online recovery is being made by Google Inc., whose search engine powers an online network that has grown from $411 million in worldwide ad revenue in 2002 to more than $22 billion annually now. The company’s ad revenue rose 7 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace so far this year, and Google’s executives indicated they are gearing up for even more rapid growth in the months ahead.

Google could be an anomaly because its specialty — selling ads tied to online search requests — tends to be the last thing cut from marketing budgets and the first thing to attract more money in the early stages of a recovery.

The reason: Search requests have proven to be a highly effective way to identify consumers shopping for a specific product or service. And the ads typically cost advertisers only when the links are clicked on.

For instance, a Google ad tied to a search request containing the word “shoes” currently costs about $6.80 per click, while an ad generated by a request with the term “car parts” costs just 48 cents per click. Buying ads in major newspapers or on TV can easily cost thousands of dollars with no assurance the investment will deliver customers.

Besides the Internet’s lower prices, the Web’s tracking technologies make it easy to measure whether a search ad campaign is yielding adequate sales to justify the expense. If their online spending isn’t paying off, advertisers typically can pull the plug more quickly than in print and broadcast, which often require financial commitments that last several months.

The greater flexibility online makes it easier to gauge the mood of consumers by buying Internet search ads before ramping up spending in other areas, Fine said.

“I think a lot of (advertisers) are experimenting right now, hoping they can stimulate a little more demand,” she said. “Some of this could be wishful thinking.”

It might take longer to see an ad rebound at Yahoo Inc., which runs the Internet’s second-most widely used search engine. Yahoo’s forte is “display advertising” — online billboards and other more visual forms of marketing.

Companies still seem reluctant to spend on those more elaborate campaigns, partly because they tend to be more expensive and not as well-aimed as search ads. The reticence is the main reason Yahoo reported its third-consecutive quarterly decline in ad sales Tuesday. Yahoo’s ad revenue fell 12 percent after declining 13 percent in the first half of the year.

Even so, Yahoo isn’t being hit as badly as newspaper publishers; McClatchy’s print advertising, for instance, plunged 32 percent in the third quarter. Its online ad sales, on the other hand, increased 3 percent. - AP