Overseas Filipino Workers
(OFW) and other Philippine News
News Articles
> ALEJANDRO
ROCES: NATIONAL ISSUES IGNORED IN THIS COMING ELECTION
> MAX SOLIVEN: "GET READY
TO HAVE YOUR VOTE STOLEN"
> PINOY OVERSEAS DEPLOYMENT
UP IN JANUARY
> 1ST PHILIPPINE MEDIA SUMMIT
TACKLES CORRUPTION
> RP ECONOMY REGISTERED
5.5 PERCENT GNP GROWTH IN 2003
> BOO CHANCO: PINOYS WILL
COVER THE WORLD!
> GOOD NEWS ON E-GOVERNANCE
ALEJANDRO ROCES: NATIONAL ISSUES
IGNORED IN THIS COMING ELECTION
MANILA, January 27, 2004 (STAR) ROSES AND THORNS By Alejandro R.
Roces - An ad in television has been projecting the images of three
former
Southeast Asian leaders who led their respective countries to peace,
progress and prosperity. The ad ends asking our local politicians
to
follow their examples.
Historically, our nation has been the second most economically
advanced country in Asia, (next only to Japan) since the Spanish times.
After
the Marcos misrule, we became the poorest country in Asia after
Bangladesh.
Our presidential election used to be a choice between the country’s
two top statesmen. Issues were discussed. Now, the candidates do not
even have to show knowledge of the issues. Media exposure has taken
the
place of personal qualifications. And election itself is mostly
entertainment. If this trend becomes the people’s basis for
their choice of
candidates, we will even be more backward than Bangladesh.
The truth is that up to this point in time,
the public does not know
what are the issues that should be the basis for their choice of
candidates, which should be determined by their stand on those issues.
What
does Fernando Poe, Jr. stand for? No one knows. He is just banking
on
this popularity as a movie actor to get all the votes he will need
to be
elected as president.
The truth is that our voters today are not as sophisticated and
intelligent as before. They are no longer influenced by their education,
but
by media, television and radio. They cannot tell the make-believe
world
from reality. Erap Estrada’s popularity, for instance, has not
declined. It has been steadfast from the time he was a movie idol
to the time
he was president and up to now when he is in jail after his impeachment
from the presidency. His admirers see him as the movie hero who
conquered all problems.
Election is only four months away. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
will definitely present our national problems before the people. And
she will present her program to tackle these problems. Will Fernando
Poe,
Jr. do the same? Or will he merely entertain the crowd? If this is
what
we can expect for this coming election, then we know th answer as
to
why we now lie behind all countries in Asia.
It is not too late for Fernando Poe, Jr. to come out with his program
for government. At the moment, the general public impression is that
he
is not even familiar with the national issues. His movie fans, of
course, couldn’t care less. They believe that he can overcome
any problem
the way he does on the screen. The problem is that when you are
president, you are not dependent on any screenplay or director. It
is how you
face and solve the nation’s problems that will determine your
success.
MAX SOLIVEN: "GET READY TO HAVE YOUR VOTE STOLEN"
MANILA, January 27, 2004 (STAR) BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven - Notice
the quotation marks in the above headline. This is not a warning issued
in the Philippines regarding our coming May 10 elections. This is
the
title of an article in one of America’s leading and bestselling
magazines, GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly), in its issue of last
November 2003.
In that candid assessment, Los Angeles-based journalist Mike Gray
reveals that electronic voting equipment can be "programmed"
by the
manufacturer to fix n election in favor of certain candidates. Hello.
The
subhead of the article says: "The next time you step into a voting
booth,
you may find a computer behind the curtain. Be afraid. Be very afraid."
Gee whiz, I’m scared already. If they’re worried about
their
electronic voting machines in the US – what about those newfangled
doodads
imported by our Commission on Elections from South Korea, the home
of the
horrible $4.2 billion LG Card Company scandal in which that country’s
biggest credit card company went belly up?
The scandal hit LG Card’s creditors to the tune of five trillion
won
– hurting 10 banks and six insurance firms. The bankrupt card
firm, a
unit of South Korea’s second biggest conglomerate, the LG Group
(your TV
set may be made by them), is in much deeper trouble. Its debt exceeds
its assets by 3.24 trillion won.
If they can’t count in South Korea, how can automatic counting
machines manufactured there be regarded by our Comelec as A-1, or
completely
reliable?
It’s not merely GQ which is concerned about the easy manner
in which
such machines can be tampered with. If you’ll recall, the International
Herald Tribune (January 19) ran a strongly-worded editorial: "The
Betrayal of U.S. Voters" (already quoted in this corner last
week).
In that hortatory piece, the IHT Editors declared that "most
immediately obvious is the problem of voting technology . . . As now
discredited punch-card machines are being abandoned, there has been
a shift to
electronic voting machines with serious reliability problems of their
own."
As that daily, published worldwide, pointed out, "Many critics,
including computer scientists, have been sounding the alarm: through
the
efforts of a hacker on the outside or a malicious programmer on the
inside
or through purely technical errors, these machines could misreport
the
votes cast."
Sanamagan. The Mike Gray article in GQ – citing the flawed
November
5, 2002 elections in Atlanta (Georgia), incidentally the home city
of
CNN – quoted an expert, Professor David Dill, a Stanford University
computer scientist. Dill declared: "A lot of bad stuff happened
in Georgia.
The machines weren’t working very well, and the programmers
had to do
some last-minute software patches on all 22,000 machines in the state.
That’s a bad situation. They didn’t have time to retest
the software."
What about those automated counting machines so dearly beloved of
Comelec Chairman Ben Abalos and his six commissioners?
Not only did we never had a chance to test them, but the software
hadn’t arrived yet from South Korea before the Supreme Court
wisely struck
the deal down. Why the "delay" in delivering the software?
It’s good
that I’m the gullible, not the suspicious, type. Otherwise I
might have
jumped to the unfair . . . er, conjecture that the Korean manufacturers
needed a list of the qualified candidates for the Presidency, Vice
Presidency, etc., before "completing" the software.
Gray disclosed in his GQ exposé that Diebold Election Systems
had
sold the State of Georgia the 22,000 DREs used in the 2002 election.
Diebold is not some fly-by-night corporation. Gray notes that "the
new
touch-screen ballot works something like an automated teller machine,
and in
fact one of the major suppliers of electronic voting equipment is
Diebold Incorporated, a leading manufacturer of ATMs."
Gray conceded that the DREs supplied by Diebold had "impressive
advantages" such as "they are chad-free, the results are
available
instantly, and, like ATMs, they can be programmed to speak your language".
"However," he avers, "electronic voting requires
a leap of faith. Not
one person in a thousand has any idea what actually goes on inside
the
circuits of an ATM, yet we touch the screen and take the cash with
casual confidence in the bookkeeping. Since counting votes is arguably
more
important than counting money, one question immediately comes to mind:
When I touch the square for ‘Abe Lincoln,’ how do I know
the computer
didn’t actually store my vote under ‘McClellan’?"
Sus, if you vote for GMA, how can you be sure the new-fangled Korean
automatic counting machine wouldn’t "give" that vote
to FPJ, Ping,
Raul, Brother Eddie, or Gil?
In the Philippines, where things go wrong more often than go right,
especially during election time ("I wuz robbed!"), can we
put our trust
in those machines?
When the Supreme Court last January 13 nullified that P1.3 billion
contract of April 15, 2003, for the supply of at least 2,000 ACMs
(Automated Counting Machines) by Mega-Pacific Consortium, that decision
may
have saved us from sleepless nights worrying about who will really
be
elected President in May. I’m not saying the ACMs were intended
to be
"pre-programmed" for you-know-whom – but you’ve
seen how they’re so worried
in high-tech America.
In low-tech RP, what do you think?
* * *
Professor Dill is widely regarded as "an expert in the field
of
computer verification". This means "the science of figuring
out whether a
system is doing what it’s supposed to be doing".
He believes not only that the DREs "are vulnerable to being
rigged
but that it would also be relatively easy to insert a corrupt ‘Trojan
Horse’ program that would alter a whole state election - say,
Georgia‘s."
Dill’s colleague, David Jefferson of Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, has an even more sobering take: "Almost certainly
1 or 2
percent . . . of all votes cast nationally on a particular vendor’s
equipment
could be switched without detection, changing the outcome of many
close
races across the country, including even the presidency."
What should bother us is the very real possibility such a "Trojan
Horse" micro-chip might be inserted in the machines, enabling
an outside
hacker with the code in his or her possession to switch names in the
machines "without detection". Multiply this by hundreds
of hackers, and
you have a surefire election victory for the anointed "one".
"An attack," the author Gray underscores, "would
most likely take
place at the vendor’s factory where the machines are assembled
and
programmed."
Jefferson explains that "by far the easiest mode of attack
is to
tamper with the software while it is in development." In this
scenario,
Gray says, "a single corrupt programmer at work on the operating
system
could insert a code that would shift a few votes here and there on
a
random basis. Jefferson says it would be virtually undetectable."
Anyway, since it is the Comelec which decides election protests,
and
the next venue for appeal is the slow-moving Electoral Tribunal,
everything could be "over" in a wink if "flawed"
machines are utilized in our
May elections.
The High Tribunal wisely nixed the idea entirely. Will it stay nixed?
"The roster is almost a who’s who of computer-science-department
heads and associates from M.I.T., Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Princeton,
Cal
Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Purdue, Berkeley and Penn State – all
leading
technologists who are alarmed by what they fear is sloppy engineering
encased in a shroud of secrecy," the GQ article declares.
Gray warns that "if you try to find out anything about the
inspection
process or how the machines work, you’re met with the answer,
‘It’s
proprietary, we have to keep that secret.’ Professor Bill says
that the
manufacturers’ obsession with secrecy is understandable. If
a competitor
steals the operating software, it could be a commercial disaster.
Unfortunately, this need for security means that nobody is allowed
to see
the source code other than the original programmers and the people
at the
independent lab who certified it."
I think the Comelec should go, full blast, into preparing for manual
balloting this May – alas, the old-fashioned way. We’ll
still have to
"perfect" those "new" electronic machines, before
we use them
disastrously, and I’m afraid that won’t happen before
this election. It’s too
late to force them through.
C’mon. Let’s be practical. Let’s go.
* * *
The Customs officials who permitted the 19 container-vans of imported
chickens to be smuggled out of the port of Batangas are potential
"importers of death". Each container allegedly held 25 million
kilos of
dressed chickens – and these (no matter how the government insists
that
only "live" chickens are dangerous) could at this moment
be spreading the
deadly bird flu.
In any event, the sudden deluge of chickens imported from dubious
sources overseas could result in a panic among our population. Our
own
local poultry-growers could face bankruptcy if an alarmed consuming
public
were to "boycott" chickens entirely. See what mischief those
corrupt
Customs officials have created?
The shipment was supposed to consist of chickens from Canada and
the
United States, but had come here by way of the port of Kaohsiung,
in
Taiwan. Six of the 19 containers which vanished from Batangas have
already been found "empty" in Navotas, Metro Manila. This
surely means those
doubtful chickens are already on the market. Who knows whether they
really "came" from the US or Canada, not Thailand or Cambodia,
or Viet
Nam? The Taiwanese, who smuggle drugs, may not be above a chicken
switcheroo.
The bird flu "terror" is rapidly escalating by the day.
Six have
already died in Viet Nam. One has just been confirmed dead in Thailand.
One
is admittedly down with bird flu in Indonesia, probably dead by now.
Another case has been confirmed in Cambodia. Pakistan has just reported
it has one case.
Seven countries have already been affected by this death-dealing
disease. Are we going to be the eighth? No thanks to our Customs crooks
and
the venal "importers" who could not be found at the fictitious
address
they indicated. They should go to the lethal gas chamber if people
begin dying here. They may not even get there. They could get lynched.
What bothers me is an earlier sketchy report that 2,000 containers
could "not be accounted for" by Customs. This amazing report
came a week
ago. What did those "missing" containers . . . well, contain?
Chickens?
Shabu? Peking duck? Contraband of various sorts? The explanation given,
if I recall, is that they were "lost" by the computers.
Gee whiz.
Nobody commits a crime in this country anymore. Losses are blamed
on
computers. Nobody’s guilty, except a machine. Which brings us
back to the May
election. Will we still bring in the machines?
As for the Customs mess, what are we to do? Smuggling by the hundreds
of container vans has been going on for the past three Administrations,
or even earlier than that. One "businessman" has frequently
been
mentioned with regard to containers being spirited out of Customs
warehouses,
or from ship to shore. He has never been arrested. Nor have his Customs
confederates ever been brought to book.
Don’t ask me for "proof". Just seek, and you shall
find.
TOP
PINOY OVERSEAS DEPLOYMENT UP IN JANUARY
MANILA, January 31, 2004 (STAR) By Mayen Jaymalin - Overseas
employment grew in the first month of the year, boosting government’s
confidence that the value of the peso would improve soon, as overseas
Filipino
workers (OFWs) have begun sending remittances home.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) yesterday reported
that hiring of OFWs this month went up by 4.2 percent, compared with
figures from the same period last year.
POEA chief Rosalinda Baldoz said the government recorded an average
daily deployment of 3,236 OFWs this month, over a hundred more OFWs
than
the 3,107 deployed daily in January 2003.
Baldoz cited data indicating that a total of 96,621 OFWs were already
deployed abroad, compared with the 87,000 skilled OFWs hired in January
2003.
Land-based workers posted a 7.2 percent increase to 75,752 from
70,640 last year, while deployment of seafaring OFWs declined from
16,359
last year to 14,869 this year.
Labor officials expressed optimism that deployment of Filipino
seafarers will soon increase and so will the dollar remittances these
seafarers will send home.
DOLE officials said the country still recorded growth in remittances
last year, despite a serious decline in the number of Filipinos hired
abroad, due to the adverse impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS), the United States-led coalition war in Iraq and the prevailing
global economic slump.
Remittances from millions of OFWs are keeping the country’s
economy
afloat, labor officials said.
TOP
1ST PHILIPPINE MEDIA SUMMIT TACKLES CORRUPTION
CLARK FIELD, PAMPANGA, February 1, 2004 (STAR) By Yasmin Arquiza
-
Media bribery and conflict of interest among prominent personalities
and
news media owners were highlighted in the first Philippine summit
for
the news media that ended here yesterday.
Many of the details in the three-day conference were off-the-record
due to the sensitive nature of information divulged in the workshops
and
plenary meetings, with several participants openly talking about
problems in their daily grind.
Some provincial journalists said many of their colleagues were forced
to compromise their profession due to low or delayed payment for
stories. STAR columnist Jarius Bondoc said he was told that in some
radio
stations, reporters had no need for regular pay as a press card was
enough
for them to solicit money from news sources.
Delegates from major newspapers and broadcast media stressed that
news media need to be profitable and competitive to resist attempts
to
resort to bribery.
The STAR is one of the convenors of the three-day first summit of
the
Philippine News Media called "Media Nation: Leading the Way in
Our
Unfolding Nation."
Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Isagani Yambot said the company
had fired three reporters on corruption charges.
Juan Miguel Luz, a member of Pagbabago@Pilipinas who facilitated
the
last day of the meeting, raised the issue of conflicting interest
among
news media owners who had other business affiliations.
"Conflict of interest is at the heart of governance,"
Luz said,
adding that the news media has to scrutinize its ranks in the same
way that
it examines news subjects.
Many delegates were critical about former media personalities who
still maintain television programs after they are elected into office.
Asked about the difference between such officials and relatives
or
public officials themselves who maintain newspaper columns, Yambot
said
his company had no rules on the latter but he would look into the
issue.
Another lively debate focused on the role of media in molding public
opinion, especially in political choices. "We might be asking
too much
of ourselves," said Inquirer columnist Rina Jimenez-David.
BBC journalist Mike Nugent, who gave the closing speech at the
conference, agreed with David’s observation. A veteran of conflict
reporting
in strife-torn areas such as Afghanistan, Nugent expressed reservations
about media trends in Mindanao, where he had just attended a workshop
on peace reporting.
"I don’t think we should be advocating peace, but I think
we can have
an influence in bringing about peace," Nugent said. He stressed
that
journalists can help clarify various aspects of a conflict situation,
but
"we cannot always assume that peace will be the outcome of good
reporting."
Other delegates pointed out that one of the difficulties of the
news
media in providing adequate coverage is the varying levels of
professional skills in the industry.
George Lewinski from public radio station kqED in the US said that
in
his country, it would be "virtually impossible for anyone to
enter the
profession without some sort of basic journalism degree" or training.
Reporters have to go through rigorous internship before they can get
a
break in the American news media, he added.
Media owners need to be conscious about the quality of their
reportage, as technological advances such as the Internet have allowed
the
audience to react in various ways to news.
Despite the problems, some of the most senior journalists in the
summit believe that the news media would be able to overcome their
difficulties.
"There is still hope. We can be catalysts for change if we
think
beyond bread-and-butter issues," said Dave Sta. Ana of Radio
Veritas.
About 100 delegates, including corporate sponsors and
Pagbabago@Pilipinas members, attended the conference at the Holiday
Hotel. The participants did not reach any conclusion or issue any
conference document.
"This is an open-ended conversation, a conference without an
agenda,"
said Chito Salazar from Pagbabago@Pilipinas.
TOP
RP ECONOMY REGISTERED 5.5 PERCENT GNP GROWTH
IN 2003
MALACANANG, February 1, 2004 (STAR) The Philippine economy
registered remarkable growth in 2003, surmounting global and domestic
hurdles
and negative assessments.
Fiscal authorities forecast a 4.2 to 5.2 percent growth in gross
national product (GNP) for 2003, but it went better at 5.5 percent
from 4.5
percent in 2002, thanks to the astute handling of the situation by
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her team.
Despite global economic slowdown, the severe
acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS), the US-Iraqi War, a failed mutiny, destabilization
attempts,
the Philippine economy stood resilient.
Most private sector analysts, credit rating agencies and multilateral
agencies indicated a growth below the government projection of 4.2
to
5.2 percent but GMA and her team, getting solid support from the
services sector and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), with an 18.8
percent
upsurge in remittances, proved them wrong.
"The numbers show the economy continues
to keep its internal dynamism
going, despite the many adverse global and domestic economic and
political developments that buffeted the economy in 2003," Socioeconomic
Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority
director
general Romulo Neri said.
"We need to continue this trend, this uptrend in growth in
order to
have a sustained basis for uplifting the condition of the average
Filipino," said President Macapagal-Arroyo, visibly elated over
the continued
growth under her stewardship.
The peso had gone down vis-a-vis the dollar the past few days but
Malacañang was taking it in stride. Indeed, before the weekend,
the peso
showed signs of recovery.
"The economy is well and moving upward but the peso is being
pummeled
by political bickering, coupled with isolated military adventurism.
This is a transient problem and we will get over it soon," Presidential
Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
With the strong performance of the economy last year, the government
has projected a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.9 to 5.8
percent for the year.
"The 2004 forecast are hinged on continued macroeconomic stability,
anchored on fiscal discipline and stable financial currency markets.
This cannot be achieved by government alone and needs the cooperation
of
all," Neri said.
The GDP grew 4.5 percent in 2003 despite a slowdown in the last
quarter of the year but remittances from OFWs boosted the GNP to its
5.5
percent rise.
GNP is income earned in the country (GDP) plus income earned abroad.
The service factor proved to be the biggest factor on the domestic
front in 2003 at it grew 5.9 percent from 5.4 percent the previous
year.
It was at its strongest in the last three months with a quarterly
growth of 6.5 percent, led by the transport, communications and trade
subsector.
Agriculture, despite the El Nino phenomenon, still went up 3.9
percent from 3.3.
Increased consumer spending, from 4.1 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent
in 2003, proved the primary factor in GDP rise, Neri said.
"Private consumer spending remains robust in part due to the
growth
in overseas compensation income and low inflation environment. The
greater variety of choices in the consumer market also contributed,
spawned
by increasing competition among producers and retailers," Neri
added.
Records from the National Statistical Coordination Board indicated
an
upswing in private food consumption to 4.7 percent from 3.4 in 2002.
Household operations went up 2.8 percent (2.3), clothing and footwear
3.4
percent (2.7), and fuel, light and water 5.0 percent (0.6).
TOP
BOO CHANCO: PINOYS WILL COVER THE WORLD!
MANILA, February 2, 2004 (STAR) DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco
-
Without an effective population program, it is difficult to see how
our
country can catch up with development in the next few decades. The
national pie is hardly getting bigger, yet more and more are struggling
to
share the little available. On the other hand, it is perhaps time
to
take this population pressure as a given and work around it. One quick
solution is to more systematically send our people away.
And they are going away, out of extreme need. According to the
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), close to eight
million
Filipinos are now working in 162 countries. We are now deploying new
workers at a rate of 850,000-900,000 a year, or over a million a year,
if
we include the undocumented ones of about 25 percent more.
And we can only expect more Filipinos to leave in the next 20 years
or so. The International Labor Organization found out that the outward
pattern of migration only reverses when per capita incomes reach a
threshold of $5,000. With our per capita income estimated at approximately
$926, we are still a long way away.
This strategy of sending our workers abroad was resorted to during
the Marcos years as a temporary measure to help relieve the unemployment
pressure. But the inability of our economy to take off, thanks to
lackluster national leadership, made this strategy permanent despite
official denials.
But why deny? We should take control of reality! It
is time for us to
come up with a more organized effort to deploy our people in all
corners of the world. People are our number one export product. Production
of
people is our number one cottage industry that requires no fiscal
incentives. There should be active marketing coupled with an
honest-to-goodness training effort to ensure highest quality.
I think it was the Filipina consul-general in Guangdong who told
us
that in China, they are not embarrassed to admit that they have to
take
this route of sending their people abroad to earn a living. As a
result, the Chinese government has a more involved participation in
the
process.
The example I remember being cited is the deployment of Chinese
nurses to Britain. Apparently, the Chinese government negotiates this
on an
official basis to cover everything from salaries to tenure to protect
their nurses. The Chinese government also takes responsibility for
training, including English language courses and homeward remittances
of
money.
In our case, the POEA steps in only in the
final stage of deployment,
after private recruiters have come to terms with the worker and the
employer. Often, the worker is left to fend for himself or herself
in a
strange land. There is also no government program to train workers
in
skills that are of high demand abroad. There is no real effort to
screen
who gets to go abroad. That TESDA clearance is a money making joke.
At
the very least, we should stop the criminals and the criminally inclined
from tarnishing the Pinoy image abroad.
There is no doubt that worker remittances from abroad have kept
this
country afloat through the years. Government estimates that in 2003,
remittance inflows will reach $7.5-8 billion, an amount equivalent
to
roughly 10 percent of the country’s GDP. This represents significant
buying power in a consumption-led economy like the Philippines.
From the larger perspective of the world, the strategy makes sense.
A
report presented to the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting
in Davos
last week, raised profound questions arising from demographic trends
sweeping the globe and their economic consequences. As much as 95
percent
of all children in the 21st century, Davos conferees were told, will
come from the Third World.
On the other hand, Europe and Japan are faced with a sharply
declining population that is also ageing fast. Italy’s retirees
will outnumber
its active workers by 2030. Over the long term, the study estimates
that Japan would have to increase immigration 11 times over existing
rates
to make up for its low fertility rates. That’s simply unacceptable
in
xenophobic Japan.
Labor shortages are being forecasted in some countries, with dire
consequences on their economies. Among others, the supply of goods
and
services may not meet demand and standards of living in many countries
in
Europe and Japan. Assuming current demographic and economic trends
hold, the study estimates the EU’s share of total global output
will shrink
from 18 percent today to 10 percent in 2050. Japan’s share would
decline from eight to four percent.
The United States stands out as an exception in this trend of
declining populations among developed countries. This is because of
immigration. Americans may complain about their somewhat more liberal
immigration policies but immigrants have contributed greatly to sustaining
their
economy and keeping future prospects brighter than Europe.
In fact, the Davos study recommended remedies governments and
business have at their disposal. The list includes increased immigration.
They
also need "to develop ways to tap surplus labor pools in developing
countries through greater economic integration than ever before."
They
must be referring to the growing trend for outsourcing.
The moral lesson is simply, we can no longer think in terms of narrow
nationalities and countries anymore. Nations must accept increasing
interdependence and erosion of sovereignty. Borders must be opened
not
just to manufactured goods and services but also to migration. The
developed countries need our teeming excess people as much as we need
to send them away to balance demands on our resources in the third
world.
Globalization will force us to think in terms of humanity, not
nationalities.
And yes, Pinoys will cover the world, whether
the world wants us or
not.
Plunging Peso
When asked to comment on the plunging value of the peso,
President-to-be FPJ replied: "Nagkakaroon lang ng chain reaction
‘yan. Pag nagbago ang dollar sa ibang lugar, may chain reaction
yan."
PhD Economist President GMA said just about the same thing, blaming
the "recovery of the US economy" for the peso’s decline.
Ano ba yan? Pareho ba ang economic advisers nila? Tagalugin na natin
at baka sakaling basahin ni FPJ. Bakit yung Thai baht hindi sumasadsad?
Dapat affected din ang baht ng "chain reaction" at ng "US
recovery".
Ginagawa pa tayong tanga ni Ate Glo at FPJ.
Sa totoo lang, demand and supply lang yan. Marami sa ating mga
kababayan ay nagpapanic buying ng dollars kasi walang tiwala sa stability
ng
piso o kaya sa pamamahala ng ating bayan. Worried sila sa budget
deficit, sa lumalalang peace and order at sa walang pag-asang pamumulitika.
Kaya sine-safety na nila ang pera nila sa pamagitan ng pagbili ng
dollars. Kahit yung mga OFW, tingi ang pag-convert nila ng dollars
nila sa
piso... yung para sa pang araw araw na pa-ngangailangan lamang. Pag
malakas ang demand at wala masyadong gustong magbenta ng dollars,
bagsak ang piso. Simple lang, di ba?
If the choice is just between these two, who can’t even properly
explain something out of Economics 101, there is no hope... we are
all
screwed.
Your Choice
Here’s something from Sonny Mendoza.
A pompous minister was seated next to a Texan on a flight to Dallas.
After the plane was airborne, drink orders were taken.
The Texan asked for a whiskey and soda, which was brought and placed
before him.
The flight attendant then asked the minister if he would like a
drink.
He replied in disgust, "I’d rather be savagely raped
by brazen whores
than let liquor touch my lips."
The Texan looked at the minister, then handed his drink back to
the
attendant and said, "I didn’t know we had a choice."
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@bayantel.com.ph
TOP
GOOD NEWS ON E-GOVERNANCE
MANILA, February 2, 2004 (STAR) By Eden Estopace - With the political
jitters brought about by the election season, the tumbling peso and
falling Moody’s ratings, the government entered 2004 with at
least one
bright spot – e-government is on the rise.
The National Computer Center (NCC), the government’s lead
agency for
its computerization program, reported that as of end-2003, 99.5 percent
of national government agencies (NGAs) are now online. Of the country’s
375 NGAs, only two still have to establish their presence on the web.
Although the original target for full government computerization
was
actually June 2002, the Philippine’s ranking in the World Economic
Forum’s 2003-2004 Global IT Report on e-readiness is encouraging.
In an interview with The STAR, Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera, the
newly appointed director general of the NCC, revealed that in the
overall
ranking of 69 countries, the Philippines ranked
20th in terms of the
quality of government online.
According to the 2003 e-readiness rankings,
produced by the Economist
Intelligence Unit, the Philippines ranked 12th among the 16 countries
in the Asia-Pacific region.
"We have a long way to go but one thing is for sure –
we need to work
hard to catch up with our neighboring countries," Rivera said.
Using the United Nations and the American Society of Public
Administration’s (UN-ASPA) criteria for the "Five Stages
of e-Government" for
measuring the country’s progress in e-government, the NCC reveals
that
there are now at least three government agencies that have reached
Stage
4 of the checklist for electronic governance – the Bureau of
Internal
Revenue (BIR), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National
Statistics Office (NSO).
These are the government agencies which now have fully integrated
Web
presence or the capability to conduct complete and secure transactions
online.
The BIR pioneered an online payment service at www.bir.gov.ph through
its Electronic Filing and Replacement System, an electronic processing
and transmission of tax return information, including attachments
and
taxes. It also offers other electronic services such as the Electronic
Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Application, Electronic
Broadcasting System and TIN Verification.
The SEC website, www.sec.gov.ph, introduced an online Company
Registration System called the SEC-iRegister. This online facility
accepts
electronic payments and corporate name reservation and registration
fees.
The NSO, for its part, uploaded its own PayPlus Online Payment
Facility of the e-Census at www.census.gov.ph which allows online
requests
for civil registry documents such as birth, marriage and death
certificates. Other services that are offered online include new application,
verification of application status, downloadable forms and vital
statistical tabulations.
Although most government agencies in the Philippines are far from
reaching this advanced stage, the NCC said the future of e-governance
in
the country is very promising with 91 agencies in Stage 3, 157 in
Stage
2 and 122 in Stage 1.
"The government intends to harness the full potential of information
and communications technology (ICT) to ensure wider access to
information and the faster and efficient delivery of government services
to the
public," De Rivera said.
The vision, he added, is for Filipino citizens anywhere in the world,
as well as foreign investors, to have electronic access to government
information and services.
The 5 Stages Of E-Governance
According to the criteria set by the UN-ASPA, a government website
is
considered in Stage 1 if it functions basically as a public information
source. This is usually a static page which contains only contact
and
statistical information about the agency and often, answers to
frequently asked questions (FAQs).
A government site is considered in Stage 2 if aside from basic
information, it also provides regular updates about the agency, including
documents and resources that may easily be downloaded, and has search
and
e-mail functions.
Stage 3 or the so-called "interactive Web presence" is
reached if the
site already acts as a portal with links to other related sites. Users
of websites in this stage can search specialized databases, and forms
can be downloaded or submitted online.
In Stage 4, websites have the capability to allow users to directly
access services based on specific needs and are ultimately secure,
allowing for complete transactions online such as for payment and
registration.
The goal, according to the NCC, is for government agencies to reach
Stage 4 and to fully utilize the electronic media in facilitating
government processes.
"The implementation of e-government should improve the quality
of
life of the people. They should be able to avail themselves of government
services 24/7 from the comfort of their own homes and offices. With
better information, the quality of decision-making and service delivery
in
government will also improve," De Rivera said.
E-government, he said, actually covers a wide range of applications
such as making use of multimedia broadcasting, radio networks, computer
networks, mobile phone communication technologies and other electronic
devices.
"The use of ICT could help the government meet socio-economic
development needs and help address such concerns as poverty, crime,
education, health and environment," De Rivera added.
The NCC director general admitted though that
Internet penetration in
Filipino households is still very low. He said strides in getting
government agencies, including local government units, to go online
should
be complemented by addressing issues about the public’s access
to
computers and the Internet.
However, this should not serve as a hindrance for the entire
Philippine government to aspire to reach Stage 5 of the UN-ASPA checklist.
De Rivera said that in Stage 4, there must be "a country website
where all services and links can be done through a single central
portal
and where all transactional services offered by the government are
made
available through a single integrated site."
At present, there is a government portal, www.gov.ph, although it
is
not yet fully integrated, De Rivera said.
The target this year, he said, is to complete the development of
this
premier government portal within the year.
One of the factors that could hinder this goal is the availability
of
funds. That’s why, De Rivera said, an ICT Fund was put up primarily
to
support government agencies in the development and implementation
of
ICT projects.
"Each agency has its own budget. But there is a P4-billion
e-Government Fund which was specifically established to fund e-Government
projects that are cross-agency in nature," he said. "The
Department of Budget
and Management (DBM) allocated a small percentage of the budgets of
government agencies, which is now the e-Government Fund."
Of the P4 billion, he said P850 million has been earmarked for the
Commission on Elections (Comelec) modernization project, P500 million
for
the Bureau of Customs modernization, P700 million for the Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR) computerization project, and P100 million for
the
Anti-Money Laundering Council’s ICT project. The rest of the
fund will
be distributed among qualified agencies.
Meanwhile, the two remaining government agencies that do not have
any
Web presence are finalizing their websites and hope to launch them
soon.
Lorna Sales, director of the NCC’s Plans and Programs Monitoring
Office, said that very soon, all government agencies will be online
and the
government’s portal will be fully established, serving as a
single
gateway for government transactions.
TOP
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